101 Desert: Pass a San Check
107.
"No."
Without hesitation for even a second, Kara decisively rejected his proposal.
"...I promised Aria." Kara raised her head, her tone firm. Promises were extremely important to her. Once she made the decision, she would protect the farmer at all costs and ensure her safety on this dangerous journey.
Late in the desert night, the warm air from the fire slowly flows around in the light of the campfire.
The fleeting white breath from the blonde girl's mouth blurred her features for a moment. Kara lowered her head and rubbed her fingers together, her voice lowering a few degrees. "Besides... even if there is another danger, it can't be worse than the destruction of Krypton."
Krypton's fall didn't happen overnight. Before the apocalypse, Kara worked alongside strangers to stave off her homeworld's fate—even when it was doomed to fail. Through countless collaborations and struggles, she learned to trust her companions and accept the necessary price of that trust.
So even if she couldn't provide more help to the farmers in the next operation, at least she could stay and provide emotional support to Aria.
...So leaving Aria was absolutely impossible, even though Red Robin seemed to be thinking about her. After calming down, Kara could only thank him with an apologetic look: "Thank you for telling me about 'Superman'."
Hearing that Kal-El was still alive was undoubtedly great news for her, but now was not the time for her to look for him.
"However, I still think your assessment of Aria is a bit biased."
Red Robin didn't interrupt her like he had before, but instead quietly raised an eyebrow, making a gesture of willingness to listen.
His patience relaxed Kara a little, and she spoke carefully:
"...She was always trying to help others." Everything she did was there for everyone to see.
"So, unless 'Mr. Qi' is intentionally misleading, I believe the farmer would never do anything to harm anyone."
...Wow, that's a pretty high evaluation.
I have to admit, this Kryptonian girl's trust and sense of morality are quite impressive. Perhaps Kryptonians receive some kind of systematic education in noble values from birth, otherwise why would every Kryptonian who comes to Earth be so "shining with a strange light of humanity"?
Tim Drake realized he could approach it from another angle.
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, like a teacher patiently guiding his students: "It's interesting that you added the word 'unless' to our conversation."
Kara was startled and looked up at him, as if she couldn't believe that someone could be so pedantic.
Tim Drake: "In other words, if Aria is truly misguided, if she's a threat to the planet, you'll stand by me and help me stop her, right?"
It sounded like a reasonable assumption. Perhaps the environment of this civilization was even more hostile than she'd imagined, which was why they were so cautious. Kara hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "...If it really comes to that, I'll stop her."
"Very good, I think we have reached a consensus on some issues."
Red Robin raised his hand and glanced at the time on his wrist, as if he had decided to put an end to this conversation.
He stood up, straightened his uniform, and looked at Kara with a gentler look: "It's getting late today. I think even Kryptonians need to rest."
Red Robin bowed slightly and said goodbye to Kara in an especially friendly manner: "Well, have a good night?"
…
Sometimes one cannot go to sleep with too much on one's mind.
After wishing the Kryptonian girl a good night's sleep, Tim Drake urgently modified several pieces of equipment under the light before going to sleep with his clothes on.
The dream world was not always interesting and fantastical. In fact, he had been haunted by the same nightmare for several months.
Relying on drugs to fall asleep makes him feel that he has lost control of his body, and he cannot wake up in time when encountering emergencies in the middle of the night. Tim Drake has to deal with Aug carefully in his dreams while calculating how long it will take until the alarm time to complete the day's sleep target.
In his dream, Aug's face gradually stretched, then smoothed, eventually transforming into a flawless mirror. The light it shone from was cold and cunning, trapping him in a mirror maze.
Suddenly, the mirror exploded, and countless sharp fragments with a biting chill approached him. Red Robin was suddenly startled, as if he had been kicked out of a dream.
Tim opened his eyes and felt a dry throat - a common condition when traveling in the desert. He subconsciously raised his wrist to look at his watch - the time was exactly 6:00, not a second off.
He woke up at exactly six o'clock.
Outside the tent, brisk footsteps echoed. It was Aria. The farmer's footsteps were easy to spot. They weren't heading toward his tent, though; they were passing directly past. Kara sounded like she was right beside him, as Drake could occasionally hear a few muffled responses.
The sound gradually faded away. Red Robin took a deep breath and walked out of the tent after confirming that he looked fine.
"Good morning Red Robin!"
The farmer appeared out of nowhere, looking very energetic and running towards him, holding a coconut he had picked up from somewhere. His hair was even lighter in the dry desert air. "Did you sleep well last night?"
Tim Drake didn't say anything. Aria moved closer and seemed to see the dark circles under Red Robin's eyes through his broken eyepiece.
...Hiss, it seems like she hasn't seen this kind of unhealthy lifestyle for a long time. It really looks like the colleague in the game setting who may die suddenly at any time when she is working in JOJA.
"You don't look well," Aria said with concern. "Did you not sleep well last night?"
He was used to it, Tim Drake shook his head and was about to make up some excuse to get away with it, but the farmer took out a green thing with a red flower on it.
Remembering that he had previously refused the coconut, Aria found another kind of collectible that could be found in the desert and gave it to Red Robin.
"It's the fruit you saw yesterday. I think it tastes sweet..."
Every civilization has its own eating habits derived from its geographical environment, just like the Mexicans make tortillas with marinated beef and cactus, and eating cactus raw... is also possible.
Wait, Tim Drake came back to his senses. At that moment he almost accepted the gift from the farmer.
"No thanks." He forced a smile and refused decisively: "I feel fine, so I won't waste your things."
How could giving a gift be considered a waste? Aria's eyes widened slightly. Just as she was about to ask, Red Robin pulled out a desert map from her backpack and expertly changed the subject:
"I divided it into several areas last night."
When Red Robin started explaining the mission, he seemed like a different person. The farmer couldn't figure out who he looked like, but seeing his serious expression, she suppressed the doubts that had just popped up in her mind.
"--Since Mr. Qi wants us to look for mineral deposits, the geological compass I brought with me will come in handy."
A modified geological compass was pressed into Aria's hands. Red Robin marked their starting point on the map. "It can detect the direction of magnetic field fluctuations to a certain extent. We can proceed based on this..."
“…”
The farmer didn't answer, and Red Robin felt a little uncomfortable with the gap in their conversation.
He looked at her again silently. Just by looking at her, without even using any detective skills, Tim Drake could tell that Aria was deserting her.
Catching that cruising spot, Red Robin slightly folded up the paper map and asked rather good-naturedly, "What's wrong?"
"Um..." Aria's face showed a rare hesitation. She scratched her head, a little unsure whether this would undermine the other party's confidence.
Finally, as if he had finally made up his mind, the farmer ran a few steps away from him, pointing his hand to a place farther away.
It was not until Aria pointed to the arched mountains in the distance that Tim Drake realized that his view had been obstructed.
——His subconscious mind had just ignored the existence of this barren mountain.
The red mountain is composed of mudstone and sandstone. The layers of rock walls appear abnormally distorted in the morning light, as if they were crushed and reshaped by some huge force.
This kind of land shouldn't support life, yet two tall coconut trees suddenly sprouted from the base of the mountain. Their dense branches and leaves grew recklessly, concealing a deep cave entrance in their shadows as if intentionally covering it up.
“…”
The entrance to the cave was dark and deep, as if not even light could penetrate. Tim stared at it, feeling an inexplicable sense of familiarity creeping up his spine, as if something had been there long ago, staring at him, waiting for him to approach.
"I wanted to tell you just now, but you seemed to have made a lot of preparations..." She originally wanted to pretend for a while until Red Robin discovered it herself, but the other party was too perceptive and left no room for her to lie, so Aria had to give the answer.
However, this embarrassment soon drifted away from Aria's heart like a gust of wind blowing in the desert. The farmer used his hands as binoculars to take a look at the final destination of the three people's mission, and was extremely satisfied.
"I told you that you'll have good luck if you follow me! We don't even have to look for the mountain; it will find us!"
Aria chuckled, completely unaware of how strange it was that the mountain could move.
She was already some distance away from Tim Drake, and now that she was pointing out the target to her companions, she quickened her pace with an eagerness to try. While running, she did not forget to look back and greet her two friends who were left behind.
"Kara, Red Robin! Hurry up!" The key to open the Skull Cave can only be opened once in a file. If you miss this opportunity, you will never have it again!
“…”
In this deserted place, there were adventurers who ignored the unusual situation and were determined to find out what was going on. Red Robin felt that this operation was sliding towards the horror zone at a very fast speed.
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There are a few more today
After I finish today's update, I will send red envelopes to everyone who has been waiting before (bow)
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