(Skipping recommended)
As Wise followed Nicole's group, his senses frequently froze and repeated themselves. After Nicole and the others cleared out the nearby Ethereals, Wise asked whether anything unusual was happening on their end.
Anby: "Hmm... the air around here seems to have gotten a little heavier."
Billy: "That's right, the resolution of my visual sensors seems to have dropped a little too."
When Nicole's turn came, it happened again.
Nicole: "That means we've already... (anomaly)... right, Proxy?"
Wise: "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Nicole, what did you just say?"
Nicole thought Wise had just been distracted.
Nicole: "Hey, don't space out while you're guiding us. You're Phaethon, the Proxy I paid a fortune to hire! Hmph, watch out, or I'll leave you a bad review on Inter-Knot!"
On Wise's end, it happened again.
[...watch out, or I'll leave you a bad review on Inter-Knot!]
It was happening more and more frequently. Even the slowest person would have realized that something must have gone wrong with their HDD system.
Wise: "Something might have gone wrong, but I'm still a little annoyed."
Belle: "Brother, it's not 'something might have gone wrong.' Something really is wrong with the HDD. There's an error message in the background.
Hold on, I'll debug it while it's running."
Back on Nicole's end, they had also noticed that Wise and Belle were having problems. Billy was the first to ask:
"Manager? Should we keep going?"
Belle: "Everyone, the Hollow activity seems to be affecting the HDD's signal. Be careful!"
Wise said nothing more. After calling out to Nicole and the other two, he continued guiding them.
But they had barely gone any farther before the HDD system started reporting errors one after another.
HDD: [...] [Data connection unst-st-stable.] [Attempting to reconnect.] [WHHHHITEEE] [NNoi$...]
The HDD's positioning system also began making frequent errors.
Belle: "Wait, the target's location seems to have changed."
Across the computers, the HDD's position marker instantly jumped somewhere farther away. Nicole was still unconcerned, unaware of the situation with Phaethon's HDD.
Nicole: "We can't expect monsters to stay put, after all..."
But suddenly, the HDD's position marker started jumping all over the Hollow, then filled most of the screens' field of view, until every signal finally cut out.
Belle: "Strange, is this... a system malfunction?
Could the displays be malfunctioning?
Hold on, I'll adjust the HDD equipment."
Belle spent a while adjusting the HDD, but every attempt failed. In the end, she had no choice but to fetch an old, oversized television screen from the corner.
Belle: "As for the size... we'll have to make do." (Muttering to herself)
"Nicole, are you all doing okay?"
After waiting a good while without a reply from Nicole, Belle asked the three of them again in confusion:
"Nicole? Anby? Billy?"
At that moment, the newly recruited television screen and the ones that had been working fine before all lost their signals too. Belle was now somewhat at a loss.
Belle: "Brother, why has everyone's signal gone offline?"
Before Belle received an answer, her brother Wise's senses suddenly snapped back from Eous, severing his connection to Eous. For a moment, Wise was still struggling to recover.
Wise: "...Hah... hah... hah..."
Belle: "Huh? Brother, why did you suddenly come back?"
Wise: "I didn't come back myself. I was kicked out. The HDD's connection to the Hollow has been severed."
Belle: "Start emergency debugging right away!"
Wise: "Right!"
Belle worked away at the keyboard for ages, but none of the screens showed any response at all.
Belle: "No good. I've tried everything available, but I still can't restore the connection."
Wise: "Strange. The technology the HDD uses shouldn't be so easily affected by Hollow activity.
But the biggest problem is Nicole and the others. Without the HDD, we have no other way of contacting anyone inside the Hollow."
Belle: "Hmm... without a Carrot or a Proxy... even with Ether aptitude, they'll still suffer corruption if they stay in the Hollow too long."
The siblings fell into thought. Finally, Belle was about to use the last resort that wasn't the last resort.
Belle: "There's only one thing left to try-
Restart it!"
Then Belle confidently pressed the restart button on the desk. Seeing Wise give her a strange look, she replied with a grin:
"Isn't that how the superstition goes? Just cut the power and wait a moment, and every problem will sort itself-"
Before Belle could finish, Wise interrupted her in surprise:
"Belle, didn't you already force it to shut down? Why is the system interface still lit up?"
Looking at the HDD's current system interface, Wise seemed to realize something.
Wise: "Could the connection failure..."
Belle: "Not be caused by something on 'this end'?"
At that moment, an evil laugh came from the computer:
"Kekekekeke...
I thought you'd never notice...
Phaethon!"
Clearly, it was the culprit behind the HDD system's malfunction.
???: "Oh my, the famous Proxy Phaethon. Looks like you're nothing special after all.
As you can see, this system belongs to me now."
Wise: "What do you want?"
???: "What do I want? Hehe, my demand is simple. I want the safe's password."
At that moment, Wise and Belle still wanted to try playing dumb to sound out the other party's temperament.
Wise: "The safe? Wait, what's that?"
???: "Playing dumb? Hey, hey, do you still not understand the situation? Hand over the safe's password, now."
Belle: "You can say that, but we can't know something we don't know."
???: "Wrong answer.
Hmph, you really won't shed a tear until you see the coffin. Fine, looks like I'll have to jog your memory.
This device I'm controlling right now seems rather important to you."
Wise: "Wait, is this guy trying to-"
Clearly, the other party was preparing to threaten them.
???: "Your punishment for lying."
HDD [System notification: Formatting data station... Formatting complete]
Belle cried out in alarm: "No, the α data station-"
???: "Do you understand now? All I have to do is move a finger, and the things you're so proud of will become meaningless zeros and ones.
I'll only deal with a portion this time. Remember, your fate is in my hands now.
Your clients provoked someone they shouldn't have and touched something they shouldn't have. Namely, that safe.
I know perfectly well that you got the safe's password from Bailao's data disk. Think carefully before you answer."
Belle (quietly): "That bastard..."
???: "Oh, speaking of your clients, those 18□0(g(whole[wQdamn(ur^mouth unlucky fools are st^vegNJO{Q□stealal□mouthsis ill wandering blindly arounblackNvegseat d the Hollow right now... hissss... hiss."
Something seemed to have gone wrong on the hacker's end, but he quickly adjusted it back.
"＊＊, why is this lousy machine acting up too? Whatever, where was I? I just recorded something nice. Maybe these videos will help you make up your mind.
Phaethon, I'll send them over to you.
I've left you access to the video retrieval function. Find another medium to play them on, and hurry up!"
It had to be said that this hacker was rather considerate.
Belle: "Another medium? What equipment could we possibly use at a time like this... ah, the television!
Okay, I'll transfer the videos onto a videotape."
Belle and Wise worked on the videotape, discussing things quietly as they went...
Wise: "To think the great Phaethon's system actually got hacked. How embarrassing."
Belle: "Hmm... I think this might have something to do with Nicole."
"Whatever the case, we can't waste time. Nicole needs our help right now. Let's hurry and look at what that guy sent us!"