"Rails, platforms, carriages... an old subway hub. Then this must be the Cretan Hollow."
Inside the Cretan Hollow, a visitor who had been forced to come here muttered to herself, taking stock of her situation after clearing out the surrounding Ethereals.
Anby: "Good, my headphones aren't broken. The recording function works...
Ahem... this is Anby Demara, a full-time employee of the Cunning Hares general services agency. Due to an accident, I fell into a companion Hollow.
I have no Carrot, nor any help from a Proxy. My probability of getting lost in the Hollow is as high as 96.4%.
I will keep an audio record of my experiences on this journey. That way, even if I am unfortunately killed or corrupted into a monster by Ether, I can leave evidence for others to investigate.
Anby's Hollow survival log, entry one: based on my surroundings, I can confirm that I am in the old subway hub area of the Cretan Hollow.
The terrain here is complex. If I do not carefully judge which direction to take, my chance of rescue will decrease by 37.8%. If anyone still doubts the spatial distortions within Hollows, please use my recording as evidence to emphasize their dangers. Do not enter a Hollow without professional investigator qualifications, or else..."
Billy: "-Aaaah! Isn't that Anby?! Thank goodness!!"
A voice interrupted Anby's last will and testament. It belonged to a robot wearing a red jacket who had just crawled out of some wreckage. He was Anby's coworker, Billy Kid.
Billy: "I knew you'd be safe and sou-
Whoa?! Hey! Why are you suddenly swinging your sword?! You nearly cut me just now!"
Billy had just been about to give Anby a hug when she held her blade against his neck. Thoroughly frightened, Billy immediately raised his hands in surrender, nonexistent cold sweat running down his face.
Anby: "I have encountered another intelligent individual. He looks very much like my coworker, Billy Kid."
Billy: "What are you talking about? It is me! Billy!"
No matter what Billy said, Anby continued coldly recording her Hollow survival log.
Anby: "An investigator once encountered an Ethereal in a Hollow that could imitate human speech and behavior. Just after the investigator rescued the Ethereal impersonating their teammate from the Hollow, the monster revealed its true form.
The city suffered enormous losses. In the end, the crisis was only resolved thanks to an investigator sacrificing themselves to push the Ethereal back into the Hollow."
Billy: "Come on-Ethereals are done for the instant they leave a Hollow!"
Billy explained to Anby, speechless. From the details, he also guessed where this 'incident' had come from.
Billy: "What you just described was a movie, wasn't it?! Oh, that thriller that came out recently?!"
Faced with Billy's answer, Anby suddenly felt a little guilty, but continued recording.
Anby: "...The victims of that incident made up a long list. I read all of it."
Billy: "Those are called the credits!"
Billy covered his face and explained once again, speechless. Anby, too, was getting fed up with Billy interrupting beside her, so she said to him:
"Question: who would you most like to have dinner with?"
Billy: "Huh? Have dinner with? Well, obviously... the tokusatsu superhero, Starlight Knight!"
By this point, Anby was even more convinced that he was Billy, but she was not satisfied with his answer. So she raised her blade again, making as if to bring it down, which terrified Billy.
Billy: "Wait, wait, wait! Put the sword away! I'll talk, I'll talk!"
After racking his brains, Billy gave the correct answer with a lovestruck look:
"...It's the star of the late-night drama 'Oh~ Sweetheart,' the lovely Monica... ah, haha."
Anby: "Alert canceled. The individual suspected to be Billy Kid is the genuine article.
Reuniting with Billy Kid can improve my chances of survival by over 67.8%. I'm glad you're all right, Billy."
Having heard his answer, Anby put her blade back in her backpack in satisfaction and offered Billy a little reassurance.
"I told you it was me. Sigh-we only just got blasted down here by those three missiles, and you already...
Uh, ahaha, I really didn't expect that thing Boss Nicole had to work so well. It even withstood an explosion like that, haha..." After a warning look from Anby, Billy immediately changed the subject.
Anby followed his lead. "Unclear. Although I've seen Nicole use it a few times before, it now appears to be unexpectedly reliable."
Billy: "Hmm... hey, right, it seems like quite a while has passed since we fell down here. Boss Nicole must be trying to figure something out up there.
Uh, but would he be willing to spend money hiring help? This is Boss Nicole we're talking about, hahahaha..."
Under Anby's gaze, Billy's voice grew quieter and quieter, while Anby gave the fairest answer:
Anby: "Based on Nicole's habitually restrictive income-and-expenditure model, I believe your concern that he might not bring help is reasonable."
Billy: "Damn... now that you've put it that way, I'm starting to seriously worry.
...Anyway, let's not overthink things. Let's work together to get through whatever comes next. Same as always: you take point, I'll handle fire support."
Anby: "Mm."
Then the two raised their blade and guns and began exploring the Cretan Hollow.
"What the hell is all this? Does every last one of them keep things buried this deep? There's nothing worthwhile here."
"I'm sorry, sir. This is all we could dig up."
Huojin sat in his office, his left hand braced on the desk to support his head while his right rapidly swiped through the large spread of holographic images above the desktop.
In the dim surroundings, holographic charts, text, and data flashed before his eyes at high speed: 0.01 seconds to read, 0.01 seconds to swipe away and dismiss, 0.01 seconds to load a new image.
Bored, Huojin scrolled through New Eridu's daily data reports for the past five years, which included real-time intelligence on many industries and various organizations and factions.
Yet all of this was something Huojin could have read in an instant simply by connecting himself to the network, but he insisted on manually scrolling offline, wasting time.
"Forget it, forget it. No more killing time here."
He stopped his hand after scrolling for who knew how long, then lightly tapped the desktop to dismiss the densely packed holographic projections above it.
"Sir, do you not intend to visit the young lady first? Or would you like me to notify her?" asked the butler who had been standing silently beside him.
Huojin: "No rush. Keep it from her for now. Let's wait until she fishes out those two little employees of hers. I'm planning to surprise her later!"
"Understood, sir," the butler said, taking a glass and bottle from a mechanical servant.
Huojin: "Right, send more people to monitor everyone who's been in contact with her recently. Report everything to me immediately.
Oh, send that to my network terminal immediately as well. I'm connected right now. I can't be so stubborn about this matter.
And the target of her current commission-send more people in there to look for it. I plan to take a look at that thing before they retrieve it."
The butler opened the bottle and poured its pungent, unidentified liquid into the glass.
"Very good, sir. Personnel are being reassigned... if I may ask, sir, what arrangements would you like made now?"
Huojin took the glass offered by the butler and looked at the unidentified liquid inside, swirling it clockwise in his hand.
"Hmm... arrangements, huh? I just took a look. It seems you bought me a rather nice living genetic specimen on the black market not long after I went to sleep. And it appears to have quite a connection to that little employee of my daughter's."
The butler nodded slightly. "Yes, sir. The item is currently stored in your underground warehouse. Would you like to inspect it?"
Huojin opened his tightly locked lower jaw, revealing a concealed feeding port, and drank a little under half a glass of the unidentified liquid. After a pause, faint wisps of mist sprayed from around both ears.
"I'll go take a look now. Transfer her to my laboratory. I was just thinking of tinkering with something to clear my head."
"Very good, sir. Arrangements are being made."