Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared-Chapter 570: Strange Ship

After a close shave, the captain took a headcount and realized they were short of three crewmen, who had just appeared on the wooden ship emerging from the mist. This cast a shadow over everyone’s hearts.

The surviving pirates had already fled the ship with guns in their hands. Who would dare to stop them?

Gu Fan searched but couldn’t find Qiao Ya, Dong Ni, or Su Lei. He was worried for their safety, but if they had encountered danger in the mist, they should’ve appeared on that wooden ship.

However, Su Hui felt the top priority was to figure out where they were, devise a way to call for help, and leave as soon as possible before the second wave of mist arrives.

The captain had tried several times to extract the cargo ship from its grounded position, but his attempts were unsuccessful. On top of that, no one responded to his repeated attempts at communication, leaving everyone in despair.

According to the captain, their only option was to wait for help. Plus, the captain mentioned that when the mist came, the pirates forced him to steer the ship towards an island, which seemed to be the island they were on now.

Hearing this, Gu Fan furrowed his eyebrows and immediately had someone check the surveillance. The surveillance showed that the pirates had disembarked from the ship half an hour ago and fled into the island without any hesitation.

Looking at the surveillance footage, Su Hui was doubtful. "These pirates seem very familiar with this island. As soon as they got off the ship, they knew where to go."

The captain sighed, "I had heard about pirates inhabiting some islands in the Triangle Sea Area. It seems to be true; this island must be one of their strongholds."

Gu Fan agreed: "It appears we are not safe just yet. Those pirates who ran off will quickly alert their companions, and more pirates will come. We will be in trouble then."

Lu Yi was anxious, "What shall we do then? We must run."

In response, the captain shook his head, "The cargo ship is grounded; we can’t leave."

"So, we just wait for the pirates to come knocking?" Xu Haowen’s worry was everyone’s worry. Who knows how many pirates would swarm them soon.

Gu Fan thought for a while and then gave this advice: "Everyone, get your self-defense weapons, food and drinks, and all kinds of supplies, and let’s get off the ship quickly. Remember, we need to move fast. If the pirates return, we might not be so lucky."

On hearing Gu Fan’s words, everyone scattered to make preparations. But the captain seemed skeptical, "Gu Fan, are you suggesting we hide on the island while the pirates are unaware? If we squirm away this time, we’ll be discovered eventually."

Gu Fan knew it wasn’t a good idea and sighed in frustration, "Then can you tell me, captain, do we have any other options?"

The captain pointed to the lifeboats nearby, "We could use the lifeboats to leave and wait for rescue in the ocean."

Gu Fan disagreed, "We won’t get far using lifeboats. The pirates will catch up with us quickly. Besides, do you think it’s safe on the sea after what we’ve gone through?"

The captain shuddered, meeting Gu Fan’s serious gaze. He knew Gu Fan was right. Hiding on the island was the best option they had, however inadequate it might be.

"Alright, I agree." The captain nodded, and Gu Fan also returned to make preparations.

Everyone grabbed their bags and disembarked one by one, stepping onto the island through the seawater. Jie launched a drone to scout ahead and saw a group of ruthless pirates charging towards the grounded cargo ship.

Knowing the direction from which the pirates were coming, Gu Fan immediately directed everyone to head in the opposite direction, successfully avoiding a head-on confrontation with the pirates.

Everyone hid in a patch of forest on the island, watching a large group of pirates board the cargo ship. A wave of relief washed over them, reflecting on what could have happened if they had moved any slower. It was a good thing that Gu Fan came up with the idea early.

Upon boarding the cargo ship and finding it empty, the pirates began to make a racket, seemingly displeased at finding nothing. Then, they disembarked and started searching the area.

"We need to leave, hide!" Led by Gu Fan, Su Hui, Lin Xi, Gu Ling, Lu Yi, Jie, Xu Haowen, Du Jun, and Qin Jia, along with the captain and eight crewmen—a total of eighteen people—fled deeper into the island, hoping to use the tree-covered landscape to evade the pirate’s pursuit.

After they had been running for a while, Qin Jia raised a question: "Running like this is not a solution. We can’t stay on the island forever. This is their territory. We can only escape by means of the cargo ship."

Indeed. But how could they possibly return to the cargo ship? Exhausted, everyone rested at their current location and began discussing the next course of action.

Lu Yi and Jie were on the lookout. They used a drone for surveillance and would notify everyone to flee at the slightest sign of danger.

"I have a suggestion. The pirates can’t possibly guard the cargo ship all the time. We wait until they are off guard, reclaim the cargo ship, and then figure out a way to leave." Du Jun did offer a good suggestion, but previous attempts had proven that the grounded cargo ship couldn’t leave the area—it had to wait for external help. To call for external help, equipment onboard the cargo ship was needed.

If they could sneak back to the cargo ship without alarming the pirates and use the equipment there to call for external help, it might work. But the captain had tried calling for help several times before, and no one had answered.

Whether or not it was worth taking such a risk remained uncertain. Everyone knew hiding on the island was not a solution either.

Gu Fan touched his chin, deep in thought, and then said: "The cargo ship is useless now. Contacting the outside world might not work either. Don’t forget what pirates do. They can’t just roam the sea aimlessly."

Hearing this, Su Hui was the first to understand, "That’s right, pirates have their own ships. Gu Fan, are you suggesting that we seize the pirates’ ship?"

The captain immediately expressed his opinion, "Yes, right now, that is the most feasible approach. But the pirates here are numerous. They have weapons. One slight misstep and we could be annihilated."

Gu Fan nodded, "Of course, the aim is to seize a pirate’s ship. We need to strategize around this goal. How can we do it without alerting them, minimizing the risk, like deceiving the enemy with a false move or luring the tiger away from the mountain?"

"Indeed, it would be stupid to confront the pirates directly. We should outsmart them." After the captain spoke, he noticed that Du Jun and the others were all looking at Gu Fan as if placing their hopes on him. The captain marveled at this, thinking, is this young man really that reliable?

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