Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared-Chapter 572: The Fog Comes Again

At six in the morning, just as the sun was rising, a pirate climbed to the mountaintop lookout. After a brief handover with another pirate, the latter descended from the mountain jubilantly.

Hidden behind a rock, Gu Fan watched all of this unfold. He checked his watch and calculated the time. They had arrived around four in the morning and it was currently six in the morning. For two hours, no one had relieved the lookout on the mountain. From this, Gu Fan came to a conclusion. "Two hours, the rotation must occur at least every two hours, maybe even more."

Su Hui asked, "What about the timing of our move? Should it be morning or evening?"

Gu Fan hesitated, "If we act during the day, even if we clear the lookout, there’s a chance we might be noticed when the ship moves out. But at night, we might encounter that fog again."

Lu Yi shared his perspective, "Perhaps the mist doesn’t appear every night. For all we know, it could also rise during the day. We don’t know the pattern here."

"But the pirates do. They’ve lived here for a long time and managed to survive. They’re clearly skilled. Plus, they almost avoided the fog this time, which suggests they know when it shows up." Gu Fan’s reasoning seemed valid. Su Hui guessed what Gu Fan was planning to do next.

Gu Fan’s intention was to continue observing the rotation times of the lookout. It changed at six in the morning, but when was the nocturnal changeover? They needed to ascertain this before making their move.

Su Hui agreed, "If we can force the lookout to reveal the pattern of the fog’s appearance when we dispose of him, wouldn’t that serve two purposes at once?"

"It’s a good plan, but if we slip up, it could mean losing everything." Gu Fan thought of a worst-case scenario. If they attacked the lookout and the pirate said that the mist usually appeared at night, then they would face a significant problem. Even if they eliminated the lookout and seized the ship, they wouldn’t be able to leave in the dead of night.

They needed to determine the lookout’s shift times, the position of the pirate ship, and the pattern of the Triangle Sea Area’s fog. They needed to clear up these three points before taking action. The difficulty seemed to be increasing.

After persevering the entire night, everyone was exhausted. They struggled to stay awake, but only for a while. Gu Fan had the other three take a nap first while he kept guard.

Glancing around, Gu Fan saw no other pirates on the mountain, apart from those changing shifts. It seemed the pirates didn’t intend to search the mountain, probably assuming that the lookout post gave a clear view of everything.

In this way, Gu Fan held on for three hours. As fatigue and sleepiness attacked him, Lu Yi woke up. He gave Gu Fan a pat, signaling him to sleep while he kept watch.

Without hesitation, Gu Fan thanked his friend and lay down on the ground to sleep.

In this way, the four of them took turns resting, ensuring they didn’t miss any changes at the mountaintop lookout.

At six in the evening, the pirate meant to relieve the mountaintop lookout finally appeared. A simple greeting and the shift change was complete. Gu Fan and his companions’ were delighted by their secret observation. Through this, they confirmed a fact: the shifts changed twice a day, once at six in the evening, and once in the morning at six. This left them with a twelve-hour window in between.

"Good, our task is complete. Let’s take advantage of the darkness and move," Gu Fan said, then led the group carefully down the mountain. They had to tread lightly and slowly, after all, they were on enemy territory.

Upon deeper analysis, the enemy knew the island’s terrain. Familiar with the area, they held the advantage of location. They also knew the patterns of the Triangle Sea Area’s fog, holding the weather advantage. Furthermore, they outnumbered Gu Fan’s group, hence, they also held the much-needed manpower advantage.

Breaking down their situation like this, Gu Fan realized that they had neither geographic nor numeric advantage. It was extremely disheartening.

They couldn’t compete on terrain or manpower in the short term. Yet, they could still hope to turn the tide by considering the weather. Gu Fan thought that if spoken in a pleasing manner, they might come across a single pirate and capture him. If they could force him to reveal the pattern of the Triangle Sea Area’s fog, they would have a chance.

But Lu Yi made a point, "Sorry, buddy, what would you achieve even if you captured one? Do you understand their language?"

This question hit the nail on the head. Gu Fan was quite disillusioned. His only method of breaking the enemy’s advantage turned out to be unfeasible. It felt as though all paths were blocked.

Jie reminded him, "Don’t forget, Ouyang Jin has lived here for a long time. And the crews frequently visit the Triangle Sea Area. Perhaps they know the language."

"Right, how could I forget that?" Gu Fan felt a glimmer of hope. The immediate task was to meet with Lin Xi, Ouyang Jin, and the captain to discuss the next move.

If all went as planned, Gu Fan desired to turn their passive situation into an active one. Instead of the pirates finding them, they wanted to go find a pirate.

As they were on their way, suddenly a blanket of mist swept in. It quickly consumed the woods, making Gu Fan, Su Hui, Lu Yi, and Jie extremely tense as their horrifying experience from the previous night reappeared.

Simply outpacing the mist was not a humanly feasible task. Gu Fan, Su Hui, Lu Yi, and Jie could only watch helplessly as it engulfed them. Seeing nothing but whiteness all around, their high-strung nerves were ready to snap.

Immediately, Gu Fan dropped to the ground, pressing himself against it. He listened intently for sounds that could indicate the threat of approaching enemies.

Unfortunately, his skills in this area were lacking. He listened for a long time but could discern nothing, leaving him utterly disappointed.

The sound of voices stirred their vigilance. They quickly hid behind a tree, peeking out to see what was approaching.

Turns out, it was a few pirates casually searching the area. As they looked for traces, sharing jokes and cigarettes along the way, they seemed completely unfazed by the mist.

Once the pirates had gone, Gu Fan knitted his brow in thought. He remembered the fear they had shown the previous night as the mist swallowed their cargo ship. Clearly, the pirates knew the mist concealed something horrifying.

But now, despite being engulfed in the same mist, the pirates on the island seemed blithely indifferent. Wasn’t this highly strange?

"What on earth could be the reason? What’s the difference between tonight’s fog and last night’s? Is it a matter of timing or something else?" Gu Fan began to ponder. Each dubious point had to be clarified. The more they knew, the better their chances of leaving the island safe.

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