Chapter 137 : Chapter 137
Chapter : 137
Rowena and William had disappeared!
The campsite they had originally chosen was empty and quiet, as if no one had ever been there. Only some messy traces were left behind, and there was no sign of Rowena and William.
Yan Yunqing frowned, picked up a branch, and bent down to poke the extinguished fire. No extra black smoke came out. He reached out to feel it, and there was still some residual warmth.
"They've been gone for a while." Yan Yunqing observed the surrounding environment and confirmed that there were no signs of a fight. Although it was messy, it was just the mess of a half-set-up camp that hadn't been cleaned up. "They... left voluntarily?"
No signs of a struggle meant that Rowena and William hadn't resisted, or they hadn't been able to resist.
This was even more terrifying than there being signs of a fight because it meant that Yan Yunqing and the others didn't even know why Rowena and the others had left.
"Did you find any danger when you were scouting the vicinity?" Yan Yunqing asked Robin, "Or did you notice anything unusual?"
Robin's face was also very ugly. Rowena was from the same village as him. In reality, they were related by blood in some way.
In addition, Rowena usually took good care of him at the academy, so Robin had long regarded her as half a relative.
Now that his relative had suddenly disappeared, and in such a dangerous place as the Norman Forest, it was really difficult for his face to look good.
Robin recalled: "There's a group of ghost-faced spiders to the north and a bear to the southwest. These are the only two dangers in the vicinity. I didn't find anything unusual when I was scouting before. If I have to say, it was only the strong smell of blood from your area, Little Captain, that caught my attention."
"Other than that, there was nothing else."
Yan Yunqing looked at Demetrius. He shook his head gently, indicating that he hadn't found anything either.
Demetrius had been by his side the whole time. Even Robin hadn't noticed any abnormalities, so it was obvious that Demetrius wouldn't have discovered anything either.
Yan Yunqing closed his eyes and recalled all of his recent experiences in his mind...
"Little Captain!" Robin suddenly shouted, "There's a trace here!"
Yan Yunqing's eyes suddenly opened, and he walked quickly towards Robin, "What?"
"Here!"
Robin made way. In front of him was half a footprint. The shoe size was very large, and it didn't look like it could have been left by Rowena or William.
Because the forest had sufficient water storage, the land here remained moist for a long time. If someone stepped on the surface of the land, it would leave footprints.
And for the campsite, they had deliberately chosen a relatively dry and open ground, so there were no extra traces left.
On the contrary, in this area far from the camp, traces of others passing by appeared because the land was moist.
Yan Yunqing searched around and confirmed that no demonic beasts had been here. Apart from the traces left by Rowena and William, there was only that half footprint of someone else.
This also made Yan Yunqing certain that it was not a coincidence.
After all, there were no other extra footprints in the vicinity, only this half one was left. And the land nearby was moist, so it was impossible to not leave footprints if one walked by.
This could only mean that the owner of the footprint had dealt with the traces they had left before leaving.
Why would they do that?
To take Rowena and William away? But Rowena and William showed no signs of resistance.
Did they voluntarily leave with the other party? Or did the other party use some means to force them to 'voluntarily' leave with them?
But at least it could be certain that Rowena and the others were not in life-threatening danger for now.
No matter what the purpose of the person who took them away was, since that person used such a euphemistic and cautious method, it was enough to show that TA did not want Rowena and the others to be harmed for the time being.
Otherwise, there would have been more or less signs of a fight at the scene.
Yan Yunqing tried to find Rowena and William's location on the minimap. Since they had formed a temporary team, they should be displayed as blue dots on the map.
Unfortunately, the minimap couldn't show their locations.
This was not unexpected. His minimap could only show the locations of people nearby. Beyond a certain distance, it could only display the map, not how many people were there.
This also meant that Rowena and William had already left the range that the minimap could display.
After searching for a long time, they found nothing except for that footprint.
Robin was a little discouraged. Yan Yunqing patted him on the head, "It's okay. At least they won't be in danger for now. Let's inform the teacher first."
Yan Yunqing glanced at his chat system. It was a pity that there was no one from Team A in his chat list.
He didn't know if it was because their favorability was not high enough or if some other condition was missing, but they had not been able to enter the friends list where they could chat.
If they could talk through the chat system now, they wouldn't be like headless flies, not knowing where to find people.
Demetrius raised an objection: "Are you going to use the caller?"
His dark brown pupils revealed a sense of indifference. His tone was as usual, not sharp, but he raised a very sharp question: "Then our score for this time will be gone."
Robin glared at him angrily, "Is the score more important than a teammate's life?"
Demetrius: "I didn't say that."
His voice was still calm. He tilted his head slightly, not meeting Robin's gaze. This time, he was surprisingly talkative.
"I can accept having no score, but can you? Can Rowena and William? If it's just a misunderstanding, they will have completely lost their score this time."
Robin was at a loss for words, unable to find anything to refute for a moment.
Yes, this score was not really important to Yan Yunqing and Demetrius. At most, Demetrius would not be able to be the head student next semester and would lose a series of preferential treatments from the academy.
However, Robin, Rowena, and William could not easily accept the impact of losing this score.
Robin had been in the school for three years, and this was his fourth year. If he failed to advance this year, he would only have one year left.
If he failed to advance to the second year for more than five years, the academy would advise the student to withdraw.
This was also the reason why Rowena had strongly recommended Robin to join this team.
As for Rowena, this score was equally important to her. Because she had been on the battlefield and been seriously injured, the academy's five-year rule would not affect her.
She still had at least three years to advance to the second year. However, the disability of her left palm meant that it would be difficult for her to meet such a kind and powerful teammate as Yan Yunqing next time.
No one would be willing to have someone who was very likely to drag them down as a teammate, even if this person's usual performance was not bad. But practical combat could never be fully explained by usual performance.
The same applied to William.
This year's practical combat score was very important to them.
If Rowena and William's disappearance was really just a misunderstanding, then all their previous preparations would have gone down the drain.
"But..." Robin still wanted to say something.
Demetrius added calmly: "We have a caller, and they should have one too, right? If they really encountered danger, with their strength, they should at least be able to press the distress signal before being attacked. But we haven't received any information."
If a teammate sent a distress signal, while the teacher came to the rescue, their callers would also notify them that their team had been eliminated.
After all, if they called for rescue, the entire team would lose the qualification to continue participating in the external training.
However, they had indeed not received any information now, which could only mean that Rowena and the others had not used the caller.
That was indeed the case. After all, Rowena and William were two people. If one of them was in danger, the other would definitely react, unless both of them lost the ability to use the caller at the same time.
This was unthinkable. Not to mention William, with Rowena's experience from fighting on the battlefield, she would definitely not be overconfident and would have a more accurate assessment of danger.
If the two of them didn't use the caller until they left, it meant that the situation at that time was within Rowena's control.
Yan Yunqing was thoughtful, "In that case, is it possible that the person who took Rowena and William away is someone they know? Or someone who looks harmless?"
This harmless person must also be logically harmless, otherwise, with Rowena's experience, she would never easily trust others.
Robin looked at Demetrius, then at Yan Yunqing, "Then... then what do we do now?"
Yan Yunqing glanced at Demetrius. Seeing his calm and composed expression, he didn't know what this guy was up to.
Although the reasons Demetrius gave were very reasonable, he still felt that the other party was simply trying to stop him from informing Teacher Walkley.
Just as Demetrius had said, this score was very important to Robin, Rowena, and William, but to Demetrius himself, it was just an insignificant score that might affect his position as the head student.
With the personality Demetrius usually showed, he would never come out to stop Yan Yunqing when he proposed to tell Teacher Walkley about this matter.
He didn't like to attract others' attention, let alone get into arguments with others. But now Demetrius had broken this setting and even gave such a convincing reason.
What's going on? The usually silent little mushroom can speak now?
In that case, he might as well go along with Demetrius's wishes and see what he really wanted to do.
Yan Yunqing nodded, "Demetrius has a point."
"Rowena and the others haven't been gone for long. Let's expand the search area a bit. We'll always find some clues.
Maybe it's really just a misunderstanding. If we really encounter danger, it's not too late to inform the teacher then."
"And with Rowena and their strength, if they feel it's dangerous, they will definitely use the caller themselves."
As he said this, Yan Yunqing selected a name in his friends list and opened the other party's chat page.
[Ri'an (Private)]: Ms. Penelope, my teammates have disappeared in the forest. It seems someone has taken them away. I'm not sure of the other party's identity. Could you please help me investigate?
Well, if I can't use the caller to ask for Teacher Walkley's help, then I'll just find the principal directly without using the caller. This way, our scores won't be canceled. It's killing two birds with one stone, nothing wrong with that.
It just so happened that he knew that Penelope had also come to this external training. What a coincidence, it could be used now.
[Penelope (Private)]: Your Highness?