Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared-Chapter 1618: Gathering Intelligence

The art of war begins with knowing both yourself and the enemy, and to achieve that, one must acquire sufficient intelligence.

Jie has already dispatched a most elite reconnaissance unit, who have never disappointed him, always managing to bring back useful intelligence.

However, this time, after a full seven days, not a single message has been sent back from the reconnaissance unit, and others have also tried to contact them, to no avail.

The situation does not look good; if no news arrives, preparations for the worst-case scenario must be made.

Gu Fan starts to examine the map, and based on the weapon base’s location, he realizes that the area is full of continuous and undulating mountains, making it quite difficult to locate the base within these highlands.

"Where could it be?" Just as Gu Fan begins to lose hope in the reconnaissance unit and plans to take matters into his own hands, finally, someone receives a message from them—they have successfully completed their mission.

Jie lets out a sigh of relief; now that they have the intelligence, they can formulate a plan. Thus, he immediately orders everyone to set out, mobilizing almost the entire main camp, and even commands other troops from different locations to provide support. They must capture that weapon base at all costs this time.

Everyone becomes busy, loading supplies and weapons onto each vehicle—it’s the first time for such a large-scale operation, and the thought is both nerve-wracking and exciting.

Gu Fan is being lazy, not helping with anything; instead, he observes Gu Xiaojin with great interest, watching his precious daughter fume silently.

"Dad, don’t think that by looking all apologetic, I will cool off," Gu Xiaojin says, arms crossed, embodying the demeanor of someone who is very angry and hard to appease.

Gu Fan just smiles lightly: "You’re mistaken; I’m not here to ask for your forgiveness, I’m just afraid you’ll be like your aunt. If I don’t let her go, she’ll sneak into the team anyway."

"Ah—this—" Gu Xiaojin is stunned because that is exactly what she had in mind.

Having her tactics exposed, Gu Xiaojin resorts to acting spoiled, speaking with a coquettish voice, "Dad, I don’t think I’m a little kid anymore. I can do what Auntie can do, and I won’t hold you back. I can definitely be a big help, just ask Uncle Jie. Didn’t my actions save everyone during that near-death escape?"

"You can go, but first, you have to tell me what happened to your aunt." Gu Fan has always wanted to know this, even if he suspects it to be bad news, he must know, otherwise, he’ll keep feeling suffocated.

Gu Xiaojin hesitates, her face showing difficulty, but she can’t withstand Gu Fan’s persistent gaze.

"Dad, I can tell you, but you have to promise me you won’t get agitated, won’t get angry, and then recklessly go fight someone out of impulse," Gu Xiaojin says timidly, not daring to look at the anxious expression on Gu Fan’s face.

Gu Fan feels a crushing anxiety, his breathing disordered and unable to settle himself, but he still nods stiffly, indicating for Gu Xiaojin to continue.

It turns out that when Gu Xiaojin was twelve, Su Hui had a fallout with the mysterious masked figure. Su Hui felt the masked figure was beyond redemption and decided to withdraw her support.

One night, seizing the moment the masked figure hadn’t returned, she took Gu Xiaojin and fled, hoping to escape the control of the masked figure.

Unexpectedly, the masked figure returned earlier than expected, and upon finding the house empty, flew into a rage, personally leading a pursuit after Su Hui.

Gu Ling used all means to cover Su Hui and Gu Xiaojin’s escape, delaying the mysterious masked figure’s pursuit.

As a result, Su Hui and Gu Xiaojin did get away from the masked figure’s grasp, but Gu Ling was caught and taken back, and after that, Gu Xiaojin never saw Gu Ling again.

Afterward, Gu Xiaojin did everything possible to gather information. There were rumors that Gu Ling had suffered severe torture and had been left a broken person...

"Alright, stop talking..." Having heard this much, Gu Fan couldn’t hide his look of disbelief, his eyes betrayed a trace of resentment, he clenched his teeth in secret, his entire body tense.

Gu Ling then tried to reassure: "Dad, I also heard this through someone else. It might not be accurate, don’t overthink it."

"He’s capable of killing Lin Xi, he’s also capable of killing Gu Ling." A surge of hatred rose in Gu Fan’s heart, and in a moment of anger, he misspoke.

Gu Ling’s brow furrowed: "Dad, you just mentioned a Lin Xi. Who is she?"

In an instant, Gu Fan’s heart skipped a beat, all his rage and impulsiveness vanished, as he rapidly tried to figure out how to cover up his slip of the tongue.

"She used to be one of us, saved my life, and was kind to me." Gu Fan could only come up with this explanation for now, appearing calm on the surface, but inside his heart was pounding.

Gu Xiaojin looked puzzled: "Lin Xi? He died at the hands of your future self, and I wasn’t even aware of it."

"This... It was my future self who traveled through time to our era and fought with us, harming many people, including Lin Xi." Gu Fan felt that if he talked too much about this, he would eventually give himself away, so he quickly stopped.

Gu Xiaojin responded with an "Oh," but still looked at Gu Fan with suspicion, feeling like Gu Fan’s gaze wasn’t quite right, as if he was deliberately hiding something?

Gu Fan had been brimming with murderous intent, but as soon as Lin Xi was mentioned, his murderous look faded away. His tense and hesitant demeanor seemed to indicate he did not want Gu Xiaojin to know who Lin Xi was.

If Lin Xi was just a friend of Gu Fan, why would he hesitate? Wouldn’t just plainly saying it be easier?

"Is there a problem?" Gu Xiaojin’s intuition as a woman told her that Gu Fan had thought carefully before mentioning who Lin Xi was, which meant that Lin Xi definitely wasn’t as simple as Gu Fan had stated.

Gu Fan even agreed to act together with Gu Xiaojin, assigning her tasks and even discussing the details with her. This feeling was as if he was deliberately changing the subject.

"It’s really odd. Why haven’t Uncle Jie, Uncle Lu Yi, my mom, or my aunt ever mentioned this Lin Xi? Dad, do you really have such a friend?" Gu Xiaojin asked with curiosity in her eyes.

Gu Fan immediately grew stern and scolded her: "What are you thinking about? A big battle is coming up. Do you know what you’re supposed to do next? If you can’t focus on the upcoming actions, then you shouldn’t go."

"Fine, I won’t ask anymore." Gu Xiaojin muttered resentfully. Although she said that, she was now more curious than ever about who Lin Xi really was and why Gu Fan couldn’t remain calm at the mention of Lin Xi, losing his cool.

Gu Fan, seeing Gu Xiaojin’s sly gaze, guessed what she was thinking, blaming himself for not being careful with his words.

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