Chapter 348: Sensing Something Was Wrong
Miyabi slowly retracted her leg, planting her boots firmly back onto the ground. She stood perfectly straight, her crimson eyes calmly meeting Bringer's furious glare. Her expression remained entirely undisturbed, as if she had just swatted away a mildly annoying fly rather than assaulted a key figure.
Her voice rang out, clear and frigid, cutting through the tense air and distinctly reaching the ears of everyone present.
"The meaning is quite simple," she stated faintly, her tone carrying an almost arrogant level of frankness.
"As you can see, I, Hoshimi Miyabi, am a self-willed individual who acts entirely on her own desires. I found this Perlman highly disagreeable, so I kicked him back inside. That is all."
She paused, letting her sharp gaze sweep over the livid Bringer. "And my colleagues, as you just 'personally'confirmed, were heavily'coerced' into this matter by me."
"Now, I am the principal offender. This act was born of my own personal willfulness. Therefore, I will return with you to 'cooperate with the investigation'."
Her underlying message was crystal clear. She intended to draw all the accusations and unwanted attention entirely onto herself, temporarily freeing Tsukishiro Yanagi, Soukaku, and Harumasa from this painfully obvious political framing.
She would offer herself up as bait, walking directly into the tiger's den to uncover exactly what sort of treacherous tricks Bringer was truly playing in the shadows.
The muscles along Bringer's jawline twitched violently. He stared intently at Miyabi, his chest heaving as he struggled to contain his boiling rage.
His carefully laid trap—one designed to capture the entirety of Section 6 in a single, decisive swoop—had just been violently torn open. Miyabi had dismantled it in an utterly unreasonable, yet logically unassailable manner.
He felt like a complete clown. All his careful calculations and political maneuvering had fallen completely flat against sheer, unapologetic force.
"...Good! Very good! Hoshimi Miyabi, you certainly have guts!" Bringer squeezed the words out through tightly gritted teeth. His complexion darkened so severely it looked as though ink might drip from his chin.
He knew perfectly well that under the watchful eyes of the surrounding crowd, he couldn't forcibly arrest the other three 'coerced' members of Section 6. The optics would be disastrous for his faction.
Ultimately, he had no choice but to swallow his towering rage. He ground his teeth together and violently waved his hand. "Take her away!"
Several PubSec officers stepped forward, their movements stiff and highly cautious as they secured a pair of specialized, heavy-duty restraining handcuffs onto Miyabi's wrists.
Miyabi offered absolutely zero resistance. Only right before stepping into the armored transport vehicle did she pause. She glanced back over her shoulder at Yanagi and the others. Her crimson eyes remained entirely calm, conveying a heavy, silent entrustment.
Yanagi, Soukaku, and Harumasa stood rooted to the spot. They watched silently as their Section Chief was escorted into the back of the transport, a complex and heavy weight settling over their chests.
Bringer released a cold, derisive snort, refusing to spare the remaining operatives another glance. He quickly ducked into his own sleek command vehicle. The PubSec convoy sped away moments later, tires screeching against the asphalt as if staying a single second longer would only compound his utter humiliation.
The immediate crisis appeared temporarily resolved, yet the oppressive atmosphere lingering in the air refused to lighten.
Back at the video store, Wise had been closely monitoring the entire confrontation through Eous's visual feed and the remaining encrypted communication signals. He frowned deeply, his brow furrowing as a strong, nagging sense of incongruity began to swirl in his chest.
Bringer and his men... hadn't they left far too hastily?
Even though their grand scheme had been violently derailed by Miyabi's sudden intervention, beneath all that performative anger, Wise had detected a distinct... sense of urgency to retreat.
It was almost as if their primary target, right from the very beginning, was never Perlman. Nor was it the entirety of Section 6. What if their true prize was... Hoshimi Miyabi, a Voidhunter, herself?
The mere thought sent a sudden chill racing down Wise's spine. Was Perlman truly that important to Bringer's faction?
Or was capturing—perhaps even controlling—a living Voidhunter their deeper, far more urgent objective all along?
Just as Wise found himself lost in deep thought, desperately trying to grasp that fleeting, dangerous sense of incongruity, Yanagi's voice crackled through the comms, interrupting his internal analysis.
"Proxy, we are ready. We will immediately return to the Hollow to search for Perlman. Please provide the necessary pathing support."
Wise snapped back to reality. He checked the monitors, realizing that the remaining three members of Section 6—Yanagi, Soukaku, and Harumasa—had already adjusted their combat status. They were actively preparing to re-enter the Hollow entrance. The spatial tear had just experienced a violent, localized explosion; thick plumes of ether-laced smoke and dust still billowed from the rift, heavily fraught with unseen dangers.
Their expressions remained entirely firm. There was absolutely no sign of hesitation or fear, even after losing Miyabi, their primary vanguard and strongest combatant.
Wise's chest tightened slightly. He knew this was not the time for him to sit back and ponder conspiracy theories alone in the dark. He had to focus on ensuring their operational safety inside the Hollow.
"Understood. Please wait a moment," he immediately responded, his fingers flying rapidly across the HDD system's control console.
"Fairy, focus on calculating the structural stability of the Hollow surrounding Perlman's last known coordinates. Map out the shortest and safest path, and make sure to completely avoid any ether energy turbulence and secondary collapse zones."
Fairy efficiently executed the command. [Command received. Calculating... Calculation complete. Pathing map generated and successfully transmitted to Deputy Chief Tsukishiro Yanagi's personal terminal.]
"The route map has been sent to your device," Wise informed Yanagi simultaneously. "Additionally, Deputy Chief Yanagi, given Miyabi's current situation, I strongly recommend having Eous withdraw from the frontline for necessary maintenance and recharging. We need to be fully prepared in case of other potential emergencies."
"You all possess specialized Section 6 communicators, so you should be able to maintain a stable connection with me within a certain depth of the Hollow."
"Understood," Tsukishiro Yanagi readily agreed, her tone strictly professional. "Keep the comms open."
Wise quickly inputted a command, having Eous begin its autonomous return to Random Play along a relatively safe, pre-mapped path.
At the same time, he expertly multitasked, feeding Fairy a rapid series of new instructions. "Fairy, allocate a dedicated portion of your computing power to closely monitor all public news networks and social media platforms across New Eridu."
"Focus entirely on screening for any breaking reports or online discussions regarding Section Chief Hoshimi Miyabi 'collaborating'with Perlman, or being'suspected of illegal activities'."
"Also, conduct a highly complete search of all online terms, forum discussions, and historical data related to 'Hoshimi Miyabi.' Pay special attention to... any deep-web speculations or rumors regarding the true source of her power."
That nagging sense of incongruity in his chest only grew stronger by the second.
Bringer and his team had gone to extraordinary lengths. They had even sacrificed several of their own subordinates and carefully arranged lethal bomb traps. Ultimately, they seemed to have successfully 'caught her red-handed,' allowing them to legally take Miyabi away in chains.
However, logically speaking, such highly 'explosive' news should have instantly ignited public opinion across all of New Eridu. It should be causing a massive, catastrophic impact on the reputation of Section 6 and the Public Security Bureau as a whole.
But why... why had the internet remained completely dead silent up until now? The enemy hadn't used their single most effective weapon: public opinion. This was far too abnormal.
Unless their actual goal was never to tarnish Section 6's reputation. Or, at the very least, that wasn't their sole primary objective.
Wise's sharp intuition screamed at him that the enemy was strictly after Miyabi herself. Yet, the very idea seemed extremely absurd.
Who exactly was Hoshimi Miyabi? She was one of the very few active Voidhunters in New Eridu. She was a walking, breathing strategic-level force—a literal human nuclear bomb.
Who in their right mind would be crazy enough to actively provoke, let alone attempt to control, such a terrifying existence? Doing so would be tantamount to absolute self-destruction.
Fairy's holographic interface shimmered steadily across the monitors. A massive, invisible stream of data surged and rapidly filtered within the AI's core processors.
Wise stared intently at the main screen, his eyes tracking the scrolling code. He desperately tried to glean a single, solid clue from the complex and diverse web of information. Yet, it was constantly like peering through a thick, heavy fog; he simply couldn't pinpoint the crucial missing link.
[Based on network information retrieval and semantic analysis,] Fairy's crisp electronic voice reported the initial results. [No public reports or large-scale discussions regarding Section Chief Hoshimi Miyabi and the Perlman case have been found. All related information currently remains under a strict, high-level blockade.]
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