Treasure Hoarders!! How could there be Treasure Hoarders!? The Chasm has clearly been sealed layer upon layer by the Liyue Qixing—why would there be Treasure Hoarders? And moreover, these Treasure Hoarders had even sneaked into the warehouse?
As expected, the Treasure Hoarders are all talents in their own right. To think they could even sneak in like this—who could blame Tartaglia for not making the cut.
After the Traveler dealt with the Treasure Hoarders, she went back to complain to Zhiqiong: What happened to the promised safety?
[Paimon puffed up in anger: "We're back! You big liar!"]
[The Traveler added: "The warehouse wasn't guarded at all! There were even Treasure Hoarders!"]
In response, Zhiqiong expressed confusion: How could that be? The guarding was clearly thorough—she remembered it crystal clear!
[Zhiqiong: "Hmm... That shouldn't be right. When I was guarding the warehouse, the Treasure Hoarders didn't even dare to get close."]
Yeah, when you were guarding it, the Treasure Hoarders didn't dare approach—so guess why they showed up afterward?
Turns out, you yourself are the warehouse guard! No wonder the warehouse was unguarded when you ran off here; even the Treasure Hoarders could waltz right in!
[Zhiqiong: "...Ah... Uh, right..."]
Zhiqiong had only just realized it herself—she was the guard!
The readers were speechless: Is this girl's name really Zhiqiong? If you hadn't said, I would've thought it was "Witless."
The Traveler didn't dwell too much on the issue either; after all, it was just a band of Treasure Hoarders. Better to just keep doing what needed to be done.
Following Zhiqiong's hints, Lumine began destroying the seals. Once all three seals were destroyed, Zhiqiong seemed to sense something.
The ground is shaking? The Traveler and Paimon couldn't feel it at all, and they curiously asked Zhiqiong how she had sensed it.
[Zhiqiong explained: "It's just a miner's intuition... If you grew up in the mines from a young age, you'd have a bit of understanding of the language of the rocks too."]
The language of the rocks! This phrase stirred up everyone's memories, and for a moment, they thought of Azhdaha.
He could communicate with the rocks—and in the truest sense, directly reading memories like that.
Speaking of which, Azhdaha had said that the reason for his initial rage was the mining in The Chasm. But it was just mining some ore veins—did Azhdaha really have to get so angry about that?
This was the thought of readers outside Liyue at the moment. As the story progressed with Zhiqiong drawing the map, their thoughts would undergo a "tiny" change.
To think it had been mined to this extent—Azhdaha would be the strange one if he didn't get angry! One had to say, Azhdaha truly had a good temper! He'd held out until now.
Back to the story: After the earthquake, Zhiqiong also mentioned Azhdaha's name.
[Zhiqiong: "That kind of earthquake that comes quick and goes quick too—the old folks in the mines are used to calling it... 'the meatball's breath.'"]
Meatball... Though he is a bit plump, you can't just call him that, right?
The readers really felt that this Zhiqiong should be called Witless.
Guizhong covered her small mouth to hide her amusement: Meatball—what a cute name. She wished Azhdaha could see it.
Unfortunately, Azhdaha's consciousness hadn't awakened yet, so he couldn't see it for the time being.
In the story, with all four seals destroyed, The Chasm's seal was thoroughly lifted, and only then could the Traveler and the Chasm exploration squad proceed deeper into The Chasm.
The members of this squad were somewhat interesting too: Zhiqiong was in charge of surveying, the Traveler was in charge of fighting, there was the Sumeru scholar responsible for research and finances, and the Liyue native responsible for equipment and logistics.
Finally, there was a Mondstadt bard who insisted on tagging along for some reason, though no one knew exactly what use he could be.
One could only say it was worthy of Mondstadters—free-spirited just like their Archon.
The group arrived inside The Chasm and set up a temporary camp, beginning their surveying journey.
Worth mentioning was that the Liyue native in charge of logistics, Sister Jinwu, even gave the Traveler and Paimon a piece of candy each, telling them not to quarrel—like a proper big sister.
During the surveying process, the Sumeru scholar handled the research, Jinwu managed the logistics, and Zhiqiong was in charge of drawing the maps. As for that bard, who knew what he was doing.
The Traveler helped Zhiqiong explore together, clearing away that ominous black mud.
But in the process of clearing, they discovered a spot where the black mud had "disappeared on its own."
An illustration appeared; in the illustration, there seemed to be a figure of a person—it looked like Yelan, but the readers couldn't recognize it.
Yelan herself wasn't surprised to appear here; as the Qixing's eyes and ears, she had probably been following from the shadows ever since the Traveler set foot in The Chasm.
The exploration by the group in the story continued: eliminating the black mud, drawing maps, fighting Abyss Lectors, and incidentally saving people.
The only problem was that, in this process, Zhiqiong's condition seemed to be getting worse and worse.
The readers inwardly cried out that something was wrong: At this rate, Zhiqiong wouldn't die, would she!?
The Sumeru scholar, Hayid, also noticed Zhiqiong's issue, so he advised her to leave The Chasm.
It was just that his words weren't very friendly; he kept talking about money, thinking that Zhiqiong was pushing herself so hard for the sake of money. He was willing to give her a large severance pay to let her return to the surface.
Though his tone wasn't great, the man himself was pretty decent.
[Zhiqiong: "If you want me to keep company with safety and boredom, I'd rather choose danger. Rather than lying paralyzed on a soft bed waiting for the end, let me leave my life here instead."]
["I know I'm... meant for this place. I don't belong to the cushy job at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, nor to Hayid's Mora."]
["The act of 'adventure' itself, or the meaning of exploration and challenge—those are things only us ordinary mortals with flesh and blood can truly experience."]
This was her own will, and others couldn't say anything about it. But at least at this moment, the Traveler hoped that Zhiqiong could rest for a bit.
Under the Traveler and Paimon's persuasion, Zhiqiong agreed to rest and return to camp; the road beyond the gate would be up to the Traveler to walk alone.
The readers breathed a sigh of relief: Zhiqiong wouldn't die—Lucian was the same as always. When you think someone's going to die, they won't; when you think they won't die, they will.
Beyond the gate were five large crystal stones and mechanisms. The Traveler went around purifying the pollution on the crystal stones one by one, then drew her sword and struck the largest crystal stone (Nail of the Cold Heaven) once.
The intense vibrations awakened the sleeping "beast"—a Ruin Serpent burst out from underground!
Dealing with this Ruin Serpent wasn't too difficult for the Traveler, but the problem was that the serpent kept burrowing in and out, leaving the Traveler with a feeling of not knowing where to even start.
At that moment, another illustration appeared: in the illustration, it was Yelan's lips painted with purple lipstick.
She raised the bow in her hand, condensed an arrow, and with one shot struck the Nail of the Cold Heaven. The immense power caused the Nail of the Cold Heaven to fall, smashing fiercely into the Ruin Serpent.
Yelan smiled, didn't even meet the Traveler, and turned to leave dashingly.
This was Yelan's first official appearance in Lucian's book (referring to the illustration), and quite a few people expressed to Yelan's illustration: "Big sis, I'm available!"
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Barbara: About That Gathering
"Ah... I fainted afterward and was sent home by my sister... What a shame I couldn't look more at Ba... Lord Venti's eyes!"