Afternoon
Inside the Video Store on Sixth Street.
"Ding, my ears really feel softer than before!"
Hoshimi Aya exclaimed, touching her own ears in surprise.
The fur on her ears indeed felt much better than before, and after touching them, her hands carried a faint floral scent of some unknown origin.
"That's right! Although this one is a bit expensive..."
"...it has received many positive reviews from the Humen."
Ling said with a slight sense of pride.
She had searched for this special ear-care essential oil for a long time.
Even though it was a bit pricey, looking at it now, it was definitely worth the price.
Absolutely worth every penny!
"Mmm, it really works well."
"My ears feel much more comfortable."
Hoshimi Aya nodded in agreement, although she didn't know exactly how many currency Ling meant by expensive.
She figured it couldn't be more than ten thousand currency, since a bowl of ramen was only a little over a hundred; it couldn't possibly cost much more than that.
Just then, Zhe, who had just returned the demon blade upstairs, came back to the secret room.
"Right, it's been so long..."
"And we can't get any information from our end. Why don't we ask Belle over there?"
Zhe inquired, as he was quite concerned about Anby's companion.
"Belle has such wide connections; she should have found something already, right?"
Ling pondered. They didn't know much about the Black Market, after all, as members of 'Phaethon,' they had no need to frequent such places.
So, they knew very little, only that it was a rather chaotic place for trading things that couldn't see the light of day.
Seeing this, Zhe nodded, took out his phone, and dialed Belle's number.
The call was answered shortly after ringing, but the person who picked up was not Belle.
"Hello, is this the Proxy?"
"What do you need?"
"Belle is not available to take calls right now."
Anby's voice came through the phone, but after Anby finished speaking, Belle's furious voice suddenly erupted from the receiver, "Bastard! Tell me! Where did you sell our friend?!"
At Belle's location, Belle was interrogating a semi-conscious hostage while seven or eight other people lay scattered around them.
Mao You and Billy were busy searching for anyone still conscious to question.
They had been too rough earlier and forgotten to leave one intact.
The one in Belle's hand was currently the best-looking person at the scene.
"If you don't talk today!"
"I have plenty of strength and means to make you talk!"
As she spoke, Belle viciously slapped the man in her grip again.
Meanwhile, at Anby's location:
"That Proxy, it's a bit noisy over here."
"We will come to you later after we finish up here. Let's not talk for now."
After saying that, Anby directly hung up the phone, imitating Mao You's method, testing to see if anyone else was conscious.
Anby delivered a heavy kick to the nearest person, but there was no reaction. Anby then moved to the next person and delivered an equally hard kick.
In this manner, Billy, Mao You, and Anby kicked back and forth over a hundred times.
"Anby, give me my phone back. I'm calling a private doctor."
"I refuse to believe I can't get answers today!"
Belle said angrily, dropping the man in her hand and snatching the phone back from Anby.
...
Time returns to the Video Store.
"Uh..."
"Sister, Aya, it seems Belle has found news about Anby's companion."
"But the situation doesn't sound good."
Zhe recalled Belle's agitated tone from earlier. It was the first time he had seen Belle like that.
The situation must be quite bad.
"Mmm, although the phone wasn't on speaker earlier, I could still hear it."
"This shows the situation must be quite serious, or Belle wouldn't have lost control like that."
Ling frowned.
"Mmm, but Anby said they would come here after they finish dealing with things over there."
"We don't know the specifics of the situation either, so we can only wait for Belle and the others to arrive."
Zhe sighed as he spoke.
Hoshimi Aya listened to Ling and Zhe but didn't interject. She could already guess the general situation with Belle's group.
The incident had happened. Belle's group had likely found the shady shop that sold Twiggy.
But they were too late; the person had already been sold. So now they were trying to find out information about the buyer.
"Ling, Zhe, let's ask Belle what happened later."
"See if there's anything we can do to help."
Hoshimi Aya said quietly.
"Mmm, that's all we can do."
"Aya, Sister, don't be too sad. Maybe there's still a chance for a turnaround."
Zhe said with a smile, trying to comfort them.
Just as Zhe finished speaking, there was a sudden, urgent knocking at the door.
"Didn't we post the 'Closed Today' sign?"
"How could someone be here?"
Ling frowned, wondering who would come looking for them at this hour.
"I'll go open the door and see who wants to see us."
Zhe left the secret room and opened the main door. He saw a man in a full suit and a hat rush in.
"Hoo, I'm exhausted."
The suited man gasped for air.
"It's you, why are you here?"
Zhe asked, confused. The person before him was one of their long-term business partners, the Shepherd.
Ling recognized the voice as someone familiar and walked out, followed by Hoshimi Aya behind her.
"Why are you here?"
"Is something the matter?"
Ling was slightly surprised and curious. Usually, people only came by when they had something important to discuss.
"Of course! This is big news!"
"Do you have any tea? I came in such a hurry, I'm a bit thirsty."
The Shepherd licked his dry lips. Suddenly, the Shepherd noticed Hoshimi Aya standing next to Ling.
"A new face..."
"Zhe, Ling, aren't you going to introduce me?!"
"But I feel like I've seen this face somewhere before."
The Shepherd stroked his chin, thinking.
"This is Aya, a fighter we recently took in."
"Aya, this is the Shepherd."
"One of our partners."
Ling introduced them with a smile, and Hoshimi Aya nodded.
"I remember now!"
"You are the Void Hunter Hoshimi Miyabi!"
"Wow, I didn't expect you guys to know such a big shot!"
The Shepherd exclaimed in shock.
"I am not Xing Jianya, I just look a bit similar."
"You can call me Aya, just like Ling and Zhe do."
Hoshimi Aya explained.
"Alright, let's stop talking about that."
"What news did you bring this time?"
Ling steered the conversation back. She was eager to know if the Shepherd had brought any good news.
Otherwise, the Shepherd wouldn't have rushed over here.
...
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