Sixth Street
Inside the Video Store
"So sleepy!"
"Does this news broadcast have a hypnotic effect?"
Hoshimi Aya, monopolizing a sofa all to herself, lay on it watching the evening news on TV and yawned.
It was true that resting after finishing work made one drowsy.
But she still felt it was the television's fault.
"I didn't expect Vision Company to have so much shady stuff going on."
Zhe watched the TV and pondered.
"Ha~"
"Brother, what happened?"
Ling asked after finishing a commission and exiting the link state.
As for Eous, The Hollow wasn't far from here; it would walk back on its own.
Seeing this, Zhe recounted what he had just witnessed.
Suddenly, Nicole and Anby rushed in.
"Nicole and Anby, why are you here?"
"I remember you two were supposed to take the airship to the Supreme Adjudication Court today, right?"
Zhe inquired.
Hoshimi Aya, who had been lying on the sofa ready to fall asleep, sat up upon hearing this, perked up her ears, and listened in.
She had reason to suspect they were about to step into some strange plot again.
"That was supposed to be the plan, but I feel like there's something we need to discuss with you."
"I knew I wouldn't be able to settle down even if I went to court."
Nicole was somewhat uneasy.
"What happened?"
"Nicole, what do you need to discuss?"
Ling asked doubtfully.
"Didn't you ask me to help make a connection a while ago?"
"To find the hacker Rui En to decrypt that storage unit belonging to Bai Zhi Heavy Industry, right?"
Nicole explained.
"Uh, Nicole, could it be that you suddenly had a change of heart today?"
"And you didn't tell us you weren't familiar with him at all, did you?"
Zhe thought of something and inquired.
"How could that be!"
"Other times might be understandable."
"You still doubt my connections now?!"
"Even if Rui En is a hot commodity on the Inter-Knot, you still have to give me face."
Nicole said proudly.
"It's just that recently, something strange seems to have happened on her end..."
Nicole's tone became low.
"...That sounds very familiar..."
Hoshimi Aya murmured softly upon hearing Nicole's words.
She had an impression of this part of the plot.
It seemed they had to go to Balai Tower to save someone.
She felt quite regretful about the Gemini twins inside.
Their grandfather didn't know they had become Etheralss and were already dead.
But he still received their company's debt collection notice and continued working to pay off their debt for them.
When she reached that part, she genuinely wanted to curse someone.
The plot returned to Nicole.
"Do I smell a conspiracy?"
Ling asked doubtfully.
"I can't say for sure if it's a conspiracy."
"The situation is this: recently, I and some people who know her have been intermittently receiving blank text messages from her."
"At first, no one thought much of it, but this state has lasted for half a month. Besides sending these messages, she's been completely gone, as if she evaporated."
"And today feels even more off. Before, it would only ring every few days, but this morning my phone has already rung five or six times."
Nicole explained.
"Fairy, check the address where the mobile messages are coming from."
"Perhaps she's run into some trouble over there."
"These messages might be her cry for help."
Hoshimi Aya interrupted.
"Received. The address from which the message information was sent is not encrypted. After parsing, the coordinates are located within Neo-Eridu City, near a building named Balai Tower."
Fairy replied.
"Wait a minute!"
"What did you say? Ba... Balai Tower?!"
Nicole was shocked when she heard Fairy's words, and her face turned deathly pale.
"What's wrong?"
"Is there a problem with Balai Tower?"
"Your face has gone completely white."
Zhe looked confused.
"Proxy, it seems you aren't very interested in things like urban legends."
"Balai Tower is the collective name for two twin towers. Ghost stories about it have been quite popular here recently."
Anby explained.
"Stop! Anby, cut it out!"
"In short, the fact is that those two buildings were swallowed by The Hollow years ago!"
"Ordinary people can't achieve information transmission between the inside and outside of The Hollow like you can."
"How could Rui En's messages possibly be coming from there?"
Nicole interrupted the ghost story Anby was about to tell.
It was already scary enough knowing this news; it was better not to hear ghost stories.
"It should be that place."
"Fairy's abilities won't be wrong."
Hoshimi Aya affirmed, never doubting the capabilities of this intelligent butler.
"Yes, that's right."
"Since this matter is troubling Nicole so much,"
"and we are also eager to find Rui En for help, what do you think about us going over there to investigate?"
Zhe contemplated.
"Huh?!"
"Are you saying we should investigate on-site?"
"Brother, your courage seems to have grown quite a bit lately."
Ling teased.
"Can't be helped. You two always drag me along when you watch horror movies because you're scared."
"So my courage naturally went up."
Zhe said helplessly.
"Nicole, if we go investigate Rui En's whereabouts, we might have to enter The Hollow."
"Can you lend us Anby and the others?"
"You know, although Aya's strength is formidable,"
"the issue with her blade hasn't been properly resolved, so it's better to have Anby and them follow along."
Zhe inquired.
"Of course, you can. I wasn't counting on them for the court hearing anyway."
"Oh, right, here's something for you. It might be useful when looking for someone later."
After speaking, Nicole handed Ling and Zhe a secretly taken photograph of a girl wearing a hood.
Hoshimi Aya then took the room key from Zhe and excitedly ran upstairs.
A short while later, Hoshimi Aya came jogging back down with a blade.
...
Near Balai Tower
Hoshimi Aya, Anby, Twiggy, Cat-Yo, Billy, and Eous arrived next to a sculpture. From this vantage point, they could clearly see a Void.
"We finally made it. Where is Balai Tower anyway?"
Billy stretched his arms.
"It should be in The Hollow across the river."
Anby said, pointing to The Hollow opposite them.
"Yeah, that's the rooftop of Balai Tower."
"It's probably due to the shrinkage of The Hollow, which exposed a corner of the Balai Tower's rooftop."
Hoshimi Aya pointed to the exposed corner of the building above The Hollow while sipping her milk tea.
"So the messages Nicole received likely came from there, right?"
Cat-Yo said with a grin.
"Stupid cat, isn't that obvious?"
Twiggy said dismissively.
"What did you say?!"
"I am not a stupid cat!!"
Cat-Yo became indignant, and the atmosphere between the two started to become tense.
"Whoever interrupts me, I'll call them out."
After saying that, Twiggy disdainfully turned her head away.
She was still holding a grudge against Cat-Yo for snatching the 1000 currency that morning, even though that 1000 currency originally belonged to Cat-Yo.
But that didn't stop her from mocking Cat-Yo.
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