Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared-Chapter 549: A Counter Trick

They sat in silence for a long while, the atmosphere thick with tension. Uncertainty and struggle flickered in Gu Chuanshan’s eyes, as if he was unable to make up his mind.

Finally, Mei Fang broke the silence, "We’re going to have to tell him sooner or later, let’s stop hiding it. Do you want Gu Fan to resent us for life?"

"Alright, I’ll tell you." Gu Chuanshan sighed, remorse coloring his face, "I never thought that without my saying a word, you would be able to uncover so much. It seems Luo Jingrong was right, you really were capable of finding Qian Ye’s ancient city and the floating island left behind by the ancient Super Civilization."

Gu Fan retorted unhappily, "That damned merchant. He really told you everything, didn’t he?"

Mei Fang was annoyed as well, "Exactly, if it weren’t for him, how much longer would you keep us in the dark? You chose to put everything at risk, do you want to worry us to death?"

"Mom, I was wrong, I won’t dare do it again." Reprimanded by his parents, Gu Fan lost his initial momentum.

Gu Chuanshan followed with a rebuke, "You were lucky this time. If you dare to do this again, I’ll break your legs."

"Yes, yes, it’s my fault." At this moment, Gu Fan felt so belittled by his parents that he could barely lift his head. He glanced at Su Hui, Lin Xi, and Gu Ling who were shaking their heads at his situation.

Suddenly, Gu Fan felt something was wrong and regained his spirit, "Mom, Dad, why are you blaming just me? You’ve been keeping things from me too."

"We’re parents and you’re a child. How could it be the same?" Gu Chuanshan and Mei Fang argued in unison, leaving Gu Fan completely defeated. He could only plead, "Alright, Mom, Dad, I know it was wrong for me to keep my adventures a secret from you. So, whatever you’ve kept from me, I won’t get mad. Please, just tell me."

Upon hearing this, Gu Chuanshan and Mei Fang seemed relieved, "That’s better. If you’d had this attitude at the outset, it would have saved us a lot of trouble."

The people standing by were left speechless. It turned out that Gu Chuanshan and Mei Fang, despite knowing that they’d let Gu Fan down, had decided to start off by berating him, denying him any grounds to be angry.

Then Gu Chuanshan cleared his throat and got to the point, "You start by telling me what you know, and I’ll fill in the parts you don’t."

"Alright!" Gu Fan liked this approach and began to share what he knew.

"You know more than I expected." Gu Chuanshan was surprised, "You’ve said so much, I don’t know what to add."

Gu Fan calmly replied, "I even know something you might not. Initially, the Destiny Stone was taken from a woman by our six families. This woman was named Qian Qing, a member of the Shennv Xuanhui. Just our luck, three Female Demons from Shennv Xuanhui have been asleep in their hibernation pods up to now."

"What, there’s also the Shennv Xuanhui in addition to that immortal devil." Gu Chuanshan and Mei Fang were shocked, and then glanced at Lin Xi, who was awkwardly standing aside.

An idea flashed across Mei Fang’s mind, and she quickly took off the bracelet on her wrist. Handing it to Lin Xi, her face full of fondness, she said, "This is the Gu’s family heirloom. I am giving it to you now, hoping you can take good care of Gu Fan in the future."

"This...this is not necessary..." Lin Xi pretended to refuse a few times before happily accepting it.

Holding on to Lin Xi’s hand, Mei Fang earnestly said, "Ever since he was a child, Gu Fan has been such a handful. As parents, all we want is for our children to find the right person to start a family with. You’ll have to look after Gu Fan from now on."

"Of course, certainly..." It seemed to Lin Xi that she had already been cast in the role. She was quite pleased.

Gu Fan gave a contemptuous glance to the side and lamented internally, "The progress in this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship is too fast."

"Alright, back to the matter at hand." Gu Chuanshan’s expression became serious. "Gu Fan, your hypothesis is correct. The reason our Gu family has elected to remain at the old house is that we possess something the other five families don’t - a blueprint. It’s this blueprint that features the island where the Destiny Stone was uncovered."

Gu Fan frowned, "So that’s why you’ve chosen a career in marine research - because you wanted to find the island through the blueprint and uncover the means to control the Destiny Stone."

Gu Chuanshan nodded, "Correct. After the five families moved away, I knew my time had come. I started to search for that island, pouring over twenty years of my life into the effort. Just when I was close to a breakthrough, that immortal devil appeared and took all my work, even the blueprint.". Gu Chuanshan finished speaking, clearly frustrated at his predicament.

Seeing his father’s bitter expression, Gu Fan sighed, "If you had told me sooner, maybe things wouldn’t have gone this far."

Gu Chuanshan did not appreciate the comment, "Are you blaming me? You’re no different, going on adventures behind our backs."

"I was wrong, I admit it! Dad, I only wanted to check on you, can we stop the blame game?" Gu Fan was scared and quickly begged for leniency.

The others felt sorry for Gu Fan. The parents, who should have been in the wrong, had somehow managed to turn the tables on him and scold him instead.

Su Hui chimed in, "Since the map has been taken away, along with the records of your oceanographic research, we can do nothing but watch the big boss succeed in his mission."

Gu Chuanshan shook his head, "Not necessarily. If these two things could really lead to the island, I would have found it a long time ago. There would be no need to toil over it for two decades."

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. If the big boss found that island and the method to control the Destiny Stone, his next target would most definitely be the old house of Gu Fan.

Think about it - the big boss already has immortality, if he managed to control the Destiny Stone too, who could stand up to him?

Gu Chuanshan gave a small smile, "To prevent such a scenario, I made a copy of the blueprint and hid it in a secret location. Gu Fan, go and fetch it now. As for my oceanographic research notes, I’ll try to recreate them as much as I can from memory."

"Right, that’s something I would have done if I were you, Dad." Gu Fan acquired the address and prepared to go find it but was held back by Gu Chuanshan.

"What is it, Dad!" Gu Fan saw his father’s hesitating expression and had a bad feeling. It seemed that his father was reluctant to face him with the upcoming news but Gu Fan smiled anyway, "Dad, didn’t we agree, we’re a family. No matter what wrongs we’ve done, we can forgive each other."

"Thank you, Gu Fan." Gu Chuanshan and Mei Fang looked at their son. Their eyes shone with relief and self-blame.

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