Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 161 - 21 Shining Forest_2

Chapter 161: Chapter 21 Shining Forest_2

"Thirdly, the night before you set out, during our last meeting, the plan you shared with us was full of loopholes, it sounded like a hastily made up story. You don’t seem like an idiot who would carry out such a high-risk mission without a thorough plan. But if what you proposed was your so-called sophisticated plan, had I been your group leader, I would have kicked you out of the mercenary group long ago. This implies that you must have altered your plan when you talked to us. Why did you change the plan? To cover up your lies." Lina still maintained her impassive manner, and spoke in a flat, icy tone: "As a high-ranking member of the mercenary group, a commander of a vertical unit, when the plan you proposed was entirely dismissed by Pannis, you didn’t argue but rather agreed with Pannis’s plan. This suggests that you were never confident in your original plan, and you also believed it was unrealistic. But the problem lies in, why would you come without a feasible plan? That is your fourth flaw."

"What do you say?" Catherine stared at Dora: "Do you still want me to go on?"

"No, it’s okay." Dora shook her head with a bitter smile: "I knew that I couldn’t deceive you guys in the end, but I didn’t expect you to have discovered the problem so soon."

"Enough chit-chat." Catherine glanced at the cleared round area; the thick leaves that had originally covered the ground were all swept away, revealing the damp soil. Every two meters on the edge of this cleared area, stood a one-meter high metal pole, connected by a metal mesh, which thoroughly separated the campground from the external fallen leaves. Seeing the forming camp, Catherine nodded satisfactorily, preparing to set up the tents and shouted fiercely at Dora while tidying up: "Hurry up and tell us what’s going on."

"Wait a moment." Pannis suddenly stopped Dora, and walked over to Vivian. Vivian had been resting against a tree since she did not participate in cleaning the camp. Now, she was lying on the ground. Pannis approached and said, "Get up, don’t lie down here."

"What’s wrong?" Vivian looked up at the tree canopy in a daze, and responded with confusion upon hearing Pannis’s question: "This place is quite nice, the fallen leaves are soft and comfortable."

"You should definitely not develop this habit." Pannis said seriously: "Although this place may seem a bit safer now, once we really enter the forest, the fallen leaves often hide a large number of poisonous insects and snake-type magical beasts, so you absolutely cannot lie on the fallen leaves for long. It’s better to go inside the camp and lie down on a sleeping bag for a while, it’s safer there."

"Oh, alright." Vivian reluctantly got up with Pannis’s help, and staggered into the cleaned camp area.

"Okay, go ahead." Pannis said to Dora: "Actually, we’ve probably guessed some of it."

"Actually, I only concealed a little bit of the truth." Dora said somewhat awkwardly: "The issue with the thief group is real, and the group leader did send us here, it’s just that there’s a slight difference in the mission. The task the group leader gave me was just to find the trace of the thief group and then send someone to watch them. The cleanup would happen after I have returned to report, waiting until the invasion period of the magical beasts ends, and then the captain of the **First Squad of the mercenaries will lead people to finish them off. Moreover, there were originally four professionals of the Gold Rank, and all are of Beginner Gold Rank, but it’s said that one of them died two months ago, now there are only three Beginner Gold Rank professionals."

"Why did you deceive us," Catherine asked: "When you sought our help, you really wanted to wipe out the thief group with our group, right? Why do you have to do it yourself and not proceed according to the original plan?"

"Well, for some very personal reasons," Dora responded timidly: "The captain of the First Squad has some... designs on me, but I really don’t like him, so I wanted to disgust him a bit in this way."

"So naïve," Catherine rolled her eyes in response: "So what was your original plan?"

"The original plan is actually quite simple," Dora explained: "Forty-one people, three per group acting independently, and I would lead the last person left alone. Each group would keep a distance of three hundred meters apart to conduct a blanket search. We chose the more formidable people, in the case of a surprise attack by a Gold Rank magical beast, a group of three would suffice to support one another until others come to rescue. Moreover, a target of three people is relatively small, and more flexible."

"This plan seems like something a sane person would come up with," Catherine nodded, indicating that she accepted Dora’s explanation.

"There’s one more question," Pannis didn’t completely accept it, and inquired further: "In your method, finding a thousand hidden people within a hundred thousand square kilometers of forest would be nearly as challenging as finding a uniquely shaped grain of sand in a desert, surely you know something more?"

"Only that it’s in the southeast of the Gold Rank magical beast area of Shining Forest," Dora said: "As you know, in the Shining Forest, the rank of magical beasts gets lower as they get closer to the perimeter, so the territory of Gold Rank magical beasts is quite deep inside the forest. Knowing the southeastern part, the area isn’t particularly large, once we get closer, I should be able to find it."

"Alright, I understand." Pannis nodded: "You have someone on the inside."

"How, how did you know that?" Dora shouted in surprise, "Don’t spread this around. Someone from the thief group secretly defected to us, but since the thief group has strict control over information, we were only able to get this vague information. However, I am sure that person hasn’t been discovered and is definitely still alive."

"Presumably within a certain range, you can sense the presence of the insider," Pannis suggested: "I just don’t know how large the range is?"

"One kilometer in radius." Dora sighed with her face in her hands: "How come you can guess everything?"

"Do you understand the concept of the area of one hundred thousand square kilometers?" Pannis shrugged, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone: "If you didn’t have this method of sensing, you might not be able to find them even if you spent a lifetime looking in the forest."

"Alright." Dora spread her hands helplessly: "I’ve confessed everything, so what’s next? Make your judgment."

"Judgment?" At some unknown point, Catherine had moved behind Dora and Pannis. She delivered a kick to each of their butts, "Since a while ago, you two have only been talking and not doing any work. Get to work now."

"Yes, senior." Upon understanding the implication in Catherine’s words, Dora went over to Lina’s side joyously, ready to help her set up a tent. Lina gave her a glance without any expression, indifferently said, "Over there."

"What?" Dora asked, puzzled.

"Go over there." Lina gestured towards another tent in a mechanical way.

"Ah? Why?" Dora asked, baffled.

"In the way."

"Fine, fine." Dora was chased away with a gloomy face. On the way, she almost tripped over Vivian, who was lying in the center of the camp: "Wow, why are you lying in the middle of the road?"

Vivian opened her eyes and glanced at Dora in a rather bored manner. Too lazy to talk, she closed her eyes again and entered her own thoughts.