Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared-Chapter 108: An Uneasy Night

After experiencing the poachers on the first night and the wolf pack on the second night, perhaps the heavens could not bear to torment Gu Fan and his team anymore. The third and fourth nights passed peacefully without any bad incidents. Everyone even began to get accustomed to camping outdoors.

It was now the fifth day of the journey. According to Ouyang Jin’s father’s notes, they were supposed to encounter a rock that was black as a thorn, piercing towards the sky. However, they had been walking for half a day and had seen nothing of the sort.

Perhaps they had deviated from the intended path, or perhaps their progress had been slower than expected and they hadn’t reached the landmark yet. Either way, Ouyang Jin was not concerned and felt that the route could be adjusted accordingly.

As it was about to get dark, they set up camp as usual. Gu Fan called over Su Hui, Ouyang Jin, and Professor Luo and discussed his findings with them.

Yes, nothing had happened on the third night. But during the day, as they were collecting the triangulated spikes, Gu Fan discovered blood stains on some of them. This greatly disturbed him.

After the fourth night, Gu Fan checked again and found blood on some spikes. It appeared that despite the calmness of the third and fourth nights, something had been trying to approach their camp.

Gu Fan did not inform everyone of his findings for two reasons. First, he didn’t want to cause panic. Second, he wanted to hear the opinions of Su Hui, Ouyang Jin, and Professor Luo.

What to do now? It was the fifth night, and the unknown creatures might try to approach them again. Should they alert everyone to be vigilant?

In response, Professor Luo was petrified and insisted that everyone should be alerted immediately upon any suspicion.

Upon agreement, they called a meeting to inform everyone about Gu Fan’s findings. Solemn expressions filled the faces of the team members.

Gu Fan promptly reassured them, "The spikes have blood on them, but nothing has happened to us. This proves that those things have been deterred, which means we’re safe. We need to be careful, but there’s no need for excessive worry."

These words slightly lifted up their spirits, even though the thought of an unknown creature trying to approach their camp in the dark was scary. If it had failed on the third night, tried again on the fourth night, it might make another attempt on this, the fifth night.

At present, the creatures seemed to be wolves possibly thinking of Gu Fan’s group as prey. But they were not afraid. They had spikes for protection and various weapons for defense.

However, to find out what creature was trying to approach them, Jie set up a tripod and a camera to record the surroundings of the camp that night.

After completing all the preparations, everyone retreated to their own tents. Although unsure of what might happen in the night, they felt they had sufficient security.

Sleep eluded Gu Fan for a while and he started going through Ouyang Jin’s father’s notes. One entry spoke of a night watchman who disappeared during their future journey. Despite a long search, they couldn’t find him and suspected he might have run into wolves.

Strangely, the notes mentioned a small hole near the campsite. It was so small that an adult could not possibly fit inside. But there were clear signs of struggle around the hole, and they didn’t know what had happened.

One of them suggested that the missing man might have been dragged into this small hole by an unknown creature, but everyone thought it was highly unlikely because of the hole’s size.

Just as Gu Fan was engrossed in reading, he heard a faint whistling of wind outside. Then another gust came, which did not alert him much. But soon, he heard strange noises in the wind.

Gu Fan frowned and listened carefully. Indeed, there were noises that sounded like low growls, but they were muffled by the wind. Gu Fan was on edge, hoping that it wasn’t a pack of wolves.

However, after a while, the growling sounds disappeared, and nothing else happened. Only the sound of gusts of night wind was heard. Finally, unable to resist the heaviness of his eyelids, Gu Fan fell asleep.

Before he knew it, morning dawned. Everyone got out of their tents under the bright sun. Another beautiful day had begun.

Lu Yi couldn’t help but say, "We have been quite lucky with the weather since we started this journey. I’m happy. I wonder when it’s going to rain."

"Doomsayer, shut up!" Everyone chided in harmony, scaring Lu Yi into covering her mouth.

While collecting their belongings and the spikes this time, Gu Fan was more meticulous than before. Upon finding blood on one of the spikes, he immediately called over Jie and asked him to check if the camera had recorded anything the night before.

Jie immediately complied. He picked up the camera to review the recorded footage from the previous night. In order to hurry, he fast-forwarded it to four times the speed.

In the beginning, everything seemed normal. Nothing was caught on tape, nothing happened, except that after a long time, the tripod seemed to be knocked down by something. The camera lost its balance and fell to the ground. Therefore, the subsequent footage was shot very close to the ground, narrowing the field of view to a very narrow range.

This confused Jie: "The tripod I set up last night should have been very sturdy. It shouldn’t have been blown down by the wind?"

"Could a sudden gust of wind have done it?" Lu Yi suggested, and just as he finished speaking, everyone stared at the screen, startled. It seemed as if something had passed in front of the camera, not ambling along on four legs like a wolf.

Because the camera was on the ground, it had a limited angle and couldn’t capture the whole picture. Moreover, the conditions were poor and the footage was blurry. Still, it looked as if someone had crawled by on their hands and feet, and only the hands and feet were captured, not the head or body.

Lu Yi was puzzled: "What on earth is that?"

"The real question is where did this creature come from?" Gu Fan began examining the area and asked Jie to use a drone to scout out the surroundings for any clues.

The third night was like this, the fourth night the same, and now it was the fifth night. Everyone may seem fine, but there were hidden dangers everywhere. Gu Fan had a very bad feeling, fearing that they wouldn’t be this lucky on the sixth night if they didn’t find a solution.

"I found it, about seven hundred meters from us, looks like a hole." Jie’s discovery made Gu Fan’s face visibly drop, after which he immediately asked Jie to point out the direction, and he rushed over at once.

As they had agreed to act together, everyone naturally followed Gu Fan. After all, they might discover something.

By the time Gu Fan and company reached the location, there really was a small hole in the desolate terrain, so small that it seemed impossible for a grown man or even a wolf to squeeze inside.

"What on earth is inside?" Just as Lu Yi finished speaking, Su Hui spotted a trace of blood near the entrance of the hole. This significant discovery sparked everyone’s nerves.

If their guess was correct, the creature lurking inside this hole was the same one that had tried to approach the camp for three nights in a row but had to retreat after stepping on the spikes.

Lu Yi couldn’t help but say, "This creature has been following us for three days and nights and is a master at digging holes."

After Su Hui examined the dirt near the hole again, she confirmed that the hole was newly dug, casting another shadow over everyone’s hearts.

At this moment, Gu Fan noticed Ouyang Jin’s particularly ghastly face and immediately asked, "What’s wrong? Did you think of something? Tell us quickly."

Ouyang Jin looked hesitant and highly anxious, as if he was reminded of something that terrified him. He didn’t seem to want to say it, but under the pressure of everyone’s gaze, he scratched his head and finally gritted his teeth, "Fine, I’ll tell you a legend from the Outlands. Remember, you asked me to tell you, I’m not trying to scare you with it."

Upon hearing this, everyone became incredibly anxious, but they couldn’t help but listen.

Ouyang Jin continued, "In the Outlands, there exists a legend about ogres, and these creatures resemble humans but aren’t. They fear sunlight, so they usually come out at night. They possess sharp claws that can tear apart any animal, and not even a pack of wolves can stand against them. Moreover, they are exceptional at digging holes. Sometimes, they travel dozens of kilometers overnight. Then during the day, they dig a hole and sleep underground. People say that the tunnels dug by these ogres are intricate and complex, running through the whole of the Outlands for centuries. They appear and disappear unpredictably. There was once a rumor that a whole village disappeared overnight. The entire place was covered in blood, and there were several holes in the village."

Everyone fell silent, leaving the surrounding atmosphere deathly silent. The faces of everyone were pale, as Ouyang Jin’s tale was even scarier than a ghost story.

"You can’t be serious. There really are ogres and we’ve been targeted by one." After saying this, Lu Yi glanced at the hole again and instinctively moved away from it. Others did the same.

Gu Fan pondered for a moment, then said, "Regardless of whether the tale of the ogre is true, the crisis has continuously been looming over us. Hypothetically, if there indeed is an ogre underneath this hole, then being unable to move during the day, we could try digging the hole open to see what’s inside."

"That’s bold, but it seems right. Rather than being passive at night, why not take the initiative during the day," Lu Yi agreed instantly. Su Hui naturally wanted to see as well, whereas others were somewhat scared, feeling they shouldn’t disturb whatever was inside the hole.

Ouyang Jin was the first to take action and said, "No matter what, let’s just dig and see. Who knows, we might not have found the ancient kingdom of Qian Ye, but we might capture a live ogre. This could become a sensation nationwide, and we might even get on television."

His words were rather convincing, so convincing that it felt as if they’ve heard something similar before, leaving everyone puzzled. Meanwhile, Professor Luo’s face turned red.

Having said this, Ouyang Jin started to dig. With each plunge of his shovel, everyone’s heartbeat quickened, fearing that some bizarre creature might suddenly pop out.

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