Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 596 - 63 Calm Vivian_1

Chapter 596: Chapter 63 Calm Vivian_1

"Snore... snore..." Dwarves, whether they were Mountain Dwarves, Hill Dwarves, or Cavern Dwarves, always snored so loudly. It was one of their characteristics. Ike’s earth-shattering snores echoed in the cave bathed in the light of the crystals, adding more life to it. The cave had been unvisited for many years, showing no signs of any man-made traces, only marks left behind by magical beasts crawling on the rocky grounds over the course of many years.

Several of them didn’t set up any tents. Given the environment, using tents was unnecessary. They didn’t even use sleeping bags. Everyone simply laid a blanket down and slept directly on the ground, quickly falling into a deep sleep. Pannis was the only one awake, reclining in a shadowy area while staring blankly at the ceiling where clusters of crystals glittered like stars. A coin was flipping in his fingers, appearing and disappearing as if it had its own life.

Today’s team was particularly tired. The demonized energy concentration on their route was already very high, which had left everyone uncomfortable. After a bloody battle with a demonic creature, the other five all needed high-quality rest to restore their energy for the next day’s adventure. As a result, Pannis, who was in the best physical condition and had the least energy consumption, was tasked with keeping watch for the night. Catherine had kindly insisted on taking over the watch duty during the latter part of the night, but Pannis had no intention of waking her.

Pannis, reclining in the shadows with a casual look on his face, wasn’t actually as relaxed as he seemed. He had been contemplating a crucial problem that he had inadvertently overlooked earlier. This issue was directly linked to the outcome of their mission. If he couldn’t figure it out, they were at risk of failing their task, which would also shatter Vivian’s only hope. In that case, this brave and talented girl might soon wilt.

"What is the reason behind it?" Pannis’s eyes held a look of bewilderment. Kyle never let his friends down, and as long as Kyle was there, every problem could be solved. The past glory felt like strong ironies, hitting the depths of his soul. Ever since Catherine had awakened him, Pannis no longer demanded perfection from himself, but at this moment, he especially wished he had that ability. He wanted to not disappoint his friends and to solve all the problems. However, he also knew very well that the notion of a perfect person was just a false illusion. Even deities have questions they couldn’t answer - let alone ordinary people?

A rustling sound suddenly came from the center of the camp. A petite girl with blue hair rubbed her eyes and stood up. She looked around blankly for a while until she finally spotted Pannis, then she walked stiffly over. Not until she reached Pannis and rested her head on his thigh, lying down facing away from him did she stop moving.

"What’s the matter, got a headache? " Pannis sighed in his heart but kept his expression unchanged. He sat upright, his ten fingers gently massaging the girl’s head. He said softly, "You’ve been working hard in the past month."

"What a silly thing to say. It’s for my sake that everyone has been running around for a month and coming to such a dangerous place. Yet you’re telling me that I’ve been working hard." Vivian shifted her head, finding a comfortable position to rest on Pannis. Softly, she said, "You guys are the ones who have been working hard, especially you. Carrying us all this far for a year has been a tough journey, hasn’t it?"

"But I did get the redemption I was hoping for." Pannis responded with a faint smile, whispering, "Your toughness, Lina’s loving kindness, Freya’s unique tenderness, and Catherine’s brusquely extended hand of salvation, each of you is some form of redemption for me. Thus over the past year, it’s not just me helping you guys but all of us supporting each other. Even if it was tough, we faced the difficulties together. The struggle wasn’t only mine."

"What sweet talk." Vivian wrinkled her nose, her eyes curving into a pair of crescents as she said with a smile, "It’s been over a year in the blink of an eye. It seems like just yesterday when I first rested on your leg. You were..."

"Ahem." Pannis interrupted with a cough, rolled his eyes to change the subject forcibly, "It seems that your recent health has somewhat improved. Your symptoms have not been showing up these days. How do you feel?"

"It’s not that my health has improved or my symptoms are diminishing." Vivian, leaning on Pannis’s leg, shook her head, "The symptoms of difficulty breathing have actually appeared a few times. But it’s odd, while I can sense my strained breathing here, no matter how little air my lungs take in, my body never has that stifling feeling as if it’s genuinely recovering. However, I think this is probably due to the strangeness of the air here as we’ve discussed before. As soon as I leave this place, I might return to my former state. Hehe, what a shame. Sometimes I think I might want to stay here forever."

"How could that be?" Pannis stopped the massage, caressing Vivian’s short hair gently, whispering reassurances: "When we leave this place, not only will you not return to your original state, but you will become a healthy girl. Like Lina, Freya, and Catherine, you will be able to run and jump freely, and you can speak with your own strength. At that time, you won’t want to stay here anymore."

"Haha, it’s really a promising future. I can run freely in the fields, clean up the fallen leaves in the yard with my sister, use my fists to knock on Freya’s head, and use my strength to play with Lina. During the play, Lina doesn’t have to carefully poke my face, afraid of poking my numb parts and hurting my heart. Everything is so beautiful, just like dreaming." Vivian moved her body from lying on her side to lying flat. Her deep blue eyes were calm like a lake, and she asked faintly, "But, do you believe it?"

"Why wouldn’t I?" Pannis paused in stroking her short hair, a subtle stiffness passed over his cheerful face, which quickly regained its normalcy, smilingly he said, "Isn’t that why we came here? Don’t forget what we agreed on earlier. No more fear, no more despair, even if there are only faint hopes, we should fight for it with all our strength. If you don’t even believe in it, how can there be any chance of healing you."

"No, you misunderstood me. I didn’t despair or afraid. But now there’s a big problem." Vivian smiled as if she had seen through everything, "Is that research center really here?"

Pannis suddenly fell silent, avoiding Vivian’s bright eyes, and said in a low voice, "At least that’s what the goblin records say. You saw it too, didn’t you? Why do you still have doubts?"

"Oh, it seems you indeed noticed this problem." Vivian pointed to her own eyes and said playfully, "Don’t forget my ability; I can see through your emotions, won’t you admit it yet?"

"Alright, I admit it." Pannis sighed deeply and said helplessly, "Indeed, I am also in doubt."

"Actually, until we entered the underground chasm of Earth’s Scar, I had no doubts. Even yesterday, I was full of expectations, even looking forward to it. When I was free, I was fantasizing about my post-healing appearance. Haha, how stupid." Vivian’s smile was bright, carrying a sense of total relaxation derived from liberation, there was no cloudiness in her gaze, "But when it came to today, with each step, my doubts grew stronger. Is the goblin’s research center really here? Could we have gotten it wrong?"

"Why would you think so?" Vivian’s liberated smile hurt Pannis’s heart. He asked emotionlessly, "What made you doubt?"

"It should be the same as you. When I found out that the strengths of the underground beasts were unexpectedly strong, I had to doubt." Vivian pointed at her lips as she contemplated, "Look, the goblin’s research center is not a hidden organization. Although it is secretive, the research topics and results are confidential. There would be a large number of researchers in the research center. As per the information from the Code Disk, tens of thousands of researchers all live normal lives and maintain close contact with the outside world. So, the question is, if the research center was built in the space below the eighth layer, how would the goblins enter and exit? Don’t forget that goblins are frail, especially those from the Second Era, whose physiques were particularly weak due to the development of machinery. How could those frail researchers break through the blockade of these layers of bugs and move safely to and from the research center? Drive puppets? But we’ve never found traces of puppets ever fighting, and moreover, out of tens of thousands of researchers, only a few have the ability to control Legendary Rank puppets. What about the remaining researchers? How many powerful puppets protection would be needed for a normal commute? So, the answer is clear, the research center is not here."

"It doesn’t have to be that way." Pannis replied reluctantly, "Don’t forget the underground laboratory of the Crying Cave is a typical counterexample."

"The problem is that they are different in nature." Vivian shook her head, "That research institute is not large, and is top secret. The researchers inside have a chance to leave only once in a few years, so they can use the Teleportation Array to move around. But it’s different here, every researcher here can move in and out freely every day. How much force would be needed to maintain the teleportation consumption of tens of thousands of people? And the most critical point, no matter how powerful the goblins’ Crystal technology was, they did not have more power than the Legendary Rank during that era. Would they really have the ability to set up a research center in this frightening area? Can such a huge building complex really be established here?"