Koleda's fury flared when she heard Principal Elton's words, but the bandits, realizing negotiations had reached a dead end, chose to settle things through force instead.
However, the Hollow was still unstable at the time. If a fierce battle broke out, it could easily trigger an expansion.
The bandits clearly didn't care. After leaving several men behind to hold back Koleda and the others, their leader escaped alongside the principal.
"Damn it! Those guys still got away!"
Koleda bit her lip, wishing she could chase those bastards down and smash each of them with her hammer.
"Don't worry, Koleda. We'll find them," Wise said, trying to calm her down.
When it came to locating targets within the Hollow, that job naturally fell to the world's most reliable and powerful artificial intelligence.
"Fairy, I'm counting on you."
[|Affirmative. Collecting Hollow expansion data. The Hollow is currently highly active, and the volume of information requiring capture is substantial. Assistant No. 2, please maintain an adequate power supply.|]
Fairy spoke with a faint hint of excitement in her voice. Standing nearby, Belle quietly unplugged her phone charger the moment she heard that.
Before long, Fairy completed the data collection.
[|Master, I have detected a human voice near the Hollow during its expansion. It does not belong to any member of the team. The transmission is as follows.|]
[|"Follow me... this way... transfer student..."|]
Hearing the voice, Koleda frowned slightly, clearly startled.
"This voice is... Ami?"
The surprise quickly turned into concern. Ami was Koleda's classmate from when she had gone undercover at the school.
From what she said, it was pretty clear her two other little friends had to be there too.
"Why are they here? No... I need to confirm their situation first."
Leaving such young children inside the Hollow was far too dangerous. The expansion might have already spread into the school.
No one knew how many children had been caught inside.
Compared to chasing those scumbags, the safety of the children mattered far more. So everyone chose to leave the Hollow first.
Not long after, Wise received the news and hurried to the Belobog Industries construction site at the school.
After checking the roster, they found that most of the students had not been caught in the Hollow. Only three were missing: Ami, Lixia, and Dan, the same three little friends who had been arguing earlier.
"It's all my fault. If Ben had been the teacher back then, he would have handled it far better than I did..."
Grace lowered her head, her eyes filled with guilt. Seeing this, Wise tried to reassure her.
"Grace, this isn't your fault."
"Exactly! It's the principal's fault for being irresponsible and causing the Hollow to expand. I definitely won't let him get away with this!"
Koleda joined in to comfort her, but the most urgent matter now was entering the Hollow to find the three children.
They were just kids, physically weak and likely without any Ether Resistance. Thinking about that, Wise decided he wouldn't go back. There simply wasn't enough time.
"Everyone, I'll go in with you."
"Huh? Wise, are you serious?"
Koleda questioned Wise, doubt and confusion lingering in her voice. But after a moment, she seemed to recall something and fell silent.
She remembered the overwhelming strength Wise had shown earlier when he fought off a group of thugs by himself, along with his unusual physique.
In the end, Wise entered the Hollow with the others, while Eous was taken over by his sister.
Fairy quickly began scanning the Hollow for areas showing signs of life. To speed up the search, everyone had to split up and investigate separately.
That arrangement wasn't a problem. Although Koleda suspected Wise wasn't weak, she was still a little worried, so she chose to team up with him.
Wise could clearly see through Koleda's thoughts. Being cared for like this felt strangely warm.
However, with everyone around, and to not embarrass her, he could only hold back his restless hands for now.
Shortly after the group went their separate ways, Wise and Koleda stumbled upon a weakened gang member.
On the condition that they would take him out of the Hollow, the man confessed everything.
He admitted that he had taken the job after his girlfriend dumped him and that he had been living through what felt like 'over 60 years' within the span of a single year.
That meant this Hollow had existed for more than two months. Aside from that, there was no other information worth noting.
Just then, Anton suddenly sent an emergency message, saying he had found a child, but the area around him was swarming with Ethereals.
The two immediately rushed over when they heard the news. On the way, they also ran into Ben, who was hurrying in the same direction.
After clearing the Ethereals together, they finally regrouped safely. The child Anton had found was Ami, and through her, they learned several important details.
For example, that bastard principal was actually her father. Thinking about it now, it made sense why Ami had suddenly been asked to transfer schools.
She had entered the Hollow this time to find out what her father was really up to.
Koleda was speechless when she heard this. The words 'bastard' and 'scumbag principal' that had been on the tip of her tongue instantly became impossible to say in front of Ami.
Perhaps it was because she had once gone through something similar herself. In the end, she simply couldn't bring herself to insult a child's father right in front of her.
After a short conversation, Ami was shocked to hear that other children had been caught in the Hollow. She quickly guessed that they were her two close friends.
With that, she decided to join everyone in the search for them.
Because of the Hollow's expansion and the rising Ether activity, the Ethereals inside had grown far more dangerous, though the group hadn't run into any serious problems yet.
Meanwhile, things were going differently on the bandit side.
Principal Elton seemed distracted and barely paid attention to the bandit leader's words, as if he'd caught the sound of his daughter's voice somewhere in the Hollow.
From what he said, his worry and concern for his daughter were obvious. He might not have been a good principal, but he could at least be considered a decent father.
Just then, Koleda appeared before them. The principal was furious when he saw her, yet he still calmly tried to shirk responsibility.
Through his words, it was as if the darker side of human nature was being laid bare.
"I only did what every adult would do. Put such a choice in front of ten thousand people, and ten thousand and one would make the same decision," he said arrogantly, while Koleda looked at him with clear disdain.
"No one I know would do that, because it's wrong!" Koleda retorted.
"Ha, that sounds like something a child would say."
"If even a child knows it's wrong, do adults not know?"
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