Chapter Summaries

The Cunning Hares’ attempt to return a stolen safe ended in a clash with the Red Fang Gang and a missile strike that scattered Nicole, Anby, Billy, and the safe into the Hollow. Meanwhile, Butler awakened from a five-year shutdown and announced that his Master’s hibernation term had ended.

• Nicole, Anby, and Billy escaped through a building while the Red Fang Gang pursued them with the safe.
• Billy used a flashbang to draw Public Security helicopters to the gang, but the helicopters opened fire with missiles.
• Nicole escaped the explosion using a foam device, while Anby, Billy, and the safe fell into the Hollow; Nicole realized they had no Carrot for it.
• Butler’s systems detected the end of his Master’s five-year recovery period and transferred control to his primary consciousness.
• Butler greeted the still-shrouded figure in the medical pod and announced that it was time to wake up.

After awakening from five years of dormancy, Huojin learned about his daughter’s life and rushed to check on her after hearing she had come under heavy weapons fire. Meanwhile, Nicole asked Phaethon for help rescuing Billy, Anby, and a commission target from a Hollow, and Wise connected to Eous and entered it.

• Huojin awakened, dressed with the help of mechanical arms, and heard the butler’s report on New Eridu and his daughter’s activities and hardships.
• After learning his daughter had recently come under heavy weapons fire, Huojin demanded her activity logs and contacts so he could find her.
• Nicole rushed into the video store and told Wise and Belle that Billy, Anby, and her commission target had fallen into a Hollow.
• Wise connected to Eous, equipped a Bangboo smoke grenade, and entered the Hollow.

After falling into the Cretan Hollow, Anby and Billy reunited and began exploring together, while Huojin secretly monitored his daughter and arranged to examine a living specimen connected to one of her employees. The story left Huojin heading to his laboratory with the specimen as Anby and Billy faced the Hollow.

• Anby recorded a survival log in the Cretan Hollow and nearly attacked Billy when he emerged from wreckage, mistaking him for an Ethereal impersonator.
• Anby tested Billy with a question about who he wanted to have dinner with, then accepted that he was genuine when he named Monica.
• Billy and Anby agreed to work together, with Anby taking point and Billy providing fire support, and started exploring the Hollow.
• Huojin reviewed New Eridu's data, ordered more surveillance of his daughter and her contacts, and sent additional people to search the target of her commission.
• Huojin learned that a living genetic specimen connected to one of his daughter's employees was in his underground warehouse and ordered it transferred to his laboratory.

Billy and Anby found the safe beside the mortally wounded Bailao, who transformed into a Dullahan and forced them into a difficult fight. They escaped after the Dullahan healed its wounds, while it returned to guard the safe.

• Billy and Anby found Bailao beside the safe they had been sent to retrieve.
• Bailao underwent Ethereal Transformation and became a Dullahan.
• Billy and Anby fought the Dullahan, but it healed itself by absorbing nearby Ether.
• Billy fired at nearby fire extinguishers to create smoke, and he and Anby escaped during the confusion.
• The Dullahan returned to the safe and stood guard over it.

After Wise and Belle guided them through Kreit Hollow, Anby and Billy escaped the Ethereals and reached Nicole’s car. Nicole picked them up and drove them toward the video store on Sixth Street.

• Eous rescued Anby and Billy from Ethereals and led them to a safer spot in the Hollow.
• Anby, Billy, and Wise fled again when Ethereals approached, fighting their way toward the exit route Belle found.
• Billy damaged his hand exoskeleton while forcing open a gate as the group’s pursuers closed in.
• Belle confirmed that the apparent dead end was the correct route, then disconnected Wise from Eous.
• Anby and Billy carried Eous through the wall and escaped Kreit Hollow.
• Nicole picked up Anby and Billy, and they drove toward the video store on Sixth Street.

Wise and Belle agreed to extract data from a damaged pendant drive that might reveal how to open the safe, while Nicole and the Cunning Hares set off to find it. Elsewhere, a white-haired girl briefly woke in Huojin’s laboratory before he ordered her put back to sleep and learned that his daughter planned to return to the Hollow.

• Nicole met Wise, Belle, Anby, and Billy in a parking lot and explained that the safe was still unrecovered because it lay in the territory of the elite Ethereal Dullahan.
• Nicole showed the group a damaged pendant that Billy had found near Dullahan, and Wise recognized it as a data drive that might contain information about the safe.
• Belle agreed to try extracting the drive’s contents, and Nicole left with Anby and Billy after securing a discount on the commission.
• A white-haired girl awoke briefly in a nutrient tank as Huojin watched her healing, but he ordered the butler to keep her asleep because he had exhausted most of her research value.
• Huojin learned that his daughter was planning to return to the Hollow to retrieve the commissioned item and decided it was time for him to act.

Nicole’s group entered the Cretan Hollow to retrieve her strongbox, relying on Wise and Belle to guide them as Phaethon. An unknown hacker interfered with Wise’s audio feed and claimed to be targeting Phaethon.

• Belle told Wise that Nicole had found a lead on the strongbox, and she confirmed the repaired data disk contained its numerical password.
• Nicole gathered the group and had Anby explain their plan to enter the Cretan Hollow, defeat the Dullahan, and recover the strongbox.
• Wise handed Eous to Billy and agreed to guide Nicole’s group inside the Hollow.
• Nicole explained that he had used Hollow observation data to narrow down the strongbox’s location, while Wise noticed his audio feed repeating.
• An unknown hacker manipulated Wise’s feed and boasted that Phaethon was no match for him.

Wise and Belle lost the HDD connection while guiding Nicole, Anby, and Billy through the Hollow, then discovered a hacker had taken control of their system and demanded a safe password. The hacker warned that Nicole’s group was lost inside and sent videos, leaving the siblings preparing to view them and find a way to help.

• Wise repeatedly experienced glitches as Nicole, Anby, and Billy encountered increasingly heavy Hollow interference.
• Belle failed to restore the HDD connection, and Wise was abruptly disconnected from Eous.
• A hacker revealed that he controlled the HDD and demanded the safe’s password.
• The hacker formatted part of the α data station and warned that Nicole and the others were wandering lost in the Hollow.
• Belle and Wise transferred the hacker’s videos onto a videotape so they could watch them and help Nicole’s group.

Nicole, Billy, and Anby struggled to control Eous as the Bangboo wandered through the Hollow without responding to them. After refusing to turn Eous over to Public Security, Nicole led the group onward, only to realize Eous had slipped away again.

• Nicole and his companions fought through waves of Ethereals while Eous ignored their calls and walked toward danger.
• The group hid behind a train car to rest, and Anby spotted a Hollow investigation team escorted by Public Security.
• Billy suggested using Eous's Proxy identity to earn leniency, but Nicole denied any intention of betraying their partner.
• Nicole claimed he had another way out of the Hollow and promised to negotiate a lower price with the Proxy after they escaped.
• Anby told Nicole that Eous was gone, and Nicole hurried off with Billy and Anby to search for him.

Wise and Belle tricked the hacker into taking Phaethon’s Inter-Knot account while alerting Public Security to his location, regaining control of their system. After a sudden explosion cut off the hacker, the siblings set out to reconnect with Eous and rescue Nicole and the others.

• Wise agreed to give the hacker the password, and Belle sent him Phaethon’s Inter-Knot account after he promised to save the people trapped in the Hollow.
• Wise asked what was in the strongbox, and the hacker explained that it contained a copy of the Rosetta Data that could allow someone to enter and leave Hollows freely.
• Belle questioned why the hacker had not stolen the password directly and pointed out that he had relied on threats instead of other hacking methods.
• Belle told the hacker that she had reported his Inter-Knot account to Public Security, revealing that she and Wise had set a trap.
• An explosion cut off the hacker’s transmission, and the siblings regained control of the HDD system.
• Belle and Wise decided to reconnect to Eous and rescue Nicole and the others.

Huojin and Butler cleared the Ethereals and left before Nicole's group recovered the safe. Wise used the data chip inside it to try to find a way out of the Hollow, but Eous lit up, then ran off without responding.

• Butler crushed Dullahan's core, and Huojin learned that his subordinates had dealt with the hacker who breached Phaethon's HDD before vanishing with Butler.
• Billy found Nicole's safe, and Wise warned the group that the hacker had erased their escape route.
• Wise proposed using the safe's data chip to leave the Hollow, and Nicole agreed to let him open the safe.
• Wise inserted the chip into Eous, causing the Bangboo to float and glow while Wise experienced scattered images.
• Eous returned to normal, then ran off without responding, so Nicole urged the others to follow.

After Wise and Eous survived the Cretan Hollow, Wise woke at the video store and learned that the data chip had activated an artificial intelligence named Fairy. Huojin observed the Proxy group’s departure and continued preparations for a reunion while Fairy greeted Wise as her master.

• Nicole, Anby, and Billy escaped the Cretan Hollow with an unresponsive Eous and headed to Sixth Street to investigate Wise and Belle’s situation.
• Huojin watched the group leave, heard that preparations for his territory were 32.1% complete, and went to a TOPS meeting.
• Wise accepted the data chip’s user terms during a painful sensory-link experience, while two unknown figures outside New Eridu noted that Fairy had been activated.
• Belle told Wise that Eous had led the others out of the Hollow while Wise was unconscious, and that Nicole’s group had rescued him with a doctor’s help.
• Belle called Fairy on the computer, and the AI started up, identified herself, and greeted Wise as her master.

Henry Elwin attended his first high-level TOPS meeting, where Elder He warned him to stay quiet when the lights went out. Huojin arrived with Butler and took the seat of honor that had been untouched for five years, then began the meeting.

• Henry Elwin met Elder He at TOPS Tower, and they entered the meeting room together.
• Elder He explained that TOPS's high-level meetings usually involved little more than conversation, but stopped before revealing what had happened at them five years earlier.
• The lights went out, and Elder He told Henry to sit quietly and not speak up, so Henry and the other newcomers followed the veterans' example.
• Huojin entered with Butler, making Henry recognize them as TOPS's CEO and CFO and feel the same discomfort he had experienced inside a Hollow.
• Huojin sat in the seat of honor that had remained untouched for five years and announced that the meeting would begin.

Huojin cleared the conference room of unauthorized guards, exposed the attendees’ secrets, and killed a conspirator who had plotted to seize control of TOPS. The meeting ended with Huojin and his butler vanishing, while Henry left shaken and asked Elder He about Huojin’s brutality.

• Huojin ordered anyone not on the attendance list to leave, and his butler knocked an invisible bodyguard unconscious and forced the remaining guards out.
• Huojin made everyone wait in silence before displaying detailed records of the attendees’ and their relatives’ secrets.
• Huojin warned the newcomers that he would not share their information, then confronted a man for colluding with rebels and plotting to take over TOPS.
• Huojin killed the conspirator and announced that the man’s death would be reported as suicide before adjourning the meeting.
• Huojin and his butler vanished, and Elder He told the shaken Henry that Huojin rarely killed anyone who did not harbor ill intent toward him.

Wise and Belle watched a broadcast about Vision Corporation’s subway demolition project before Nekomata burst into their video store seeking Phaethon. She revealed that Nicole had sent her, and that the Cunning Hares were at Vision’s demolition zone.

• Perlman described Vision Corporation’s plan to transport explosives through Dead End Hollow and demolish the old subway near Canvas Lane.
• The reporter asked about cost-cutting, and Perlman’s secretary covered for him by saying he would accompany technicians to the demolition zone.
• Wise and Belle discussed Vision Corporation’s project as Fairy alerted them that someone was rushing toward the store.
• Nekomata crashed through the door, recognized Perlman on the television, and warned Wise and Belle that he was lying.
• Nekomata identified herself as Nicole’s friend and showed Belle Amillion as proof.
• Nekomata told Wise and Belle that Nicole and the Cunning Hares were at Vision’s demolition zone.

Huojin learned that his daughter had activated her emergency alarm at Vision Corporation’s railway demolition zone and rushed to respond. Meanwhile, Red One, Blue Two, and Yellow Three gathered after Red One’s painting session, and Yellow Three arrived with big news.

• Huojin discovered that his daughter was at the demolition zone outside Dead End Hollow and ordered the car and contingency response ready when her emergency alarm activated.
• Huojin learned that Red One, Blue Two, and Yellow Three were absent from their assigned posts and left to deal with the emergency.
• Red One finished having a dragon painted on his back at a bovine mechanic’s shop, then left with gold jewelry and a briefcase of payment.
• Red One and Blue Two argued over their painted designs until Yellow Three arrived and told them to stop because he had big news.

Yellow Three reacted to the young lady’s distress signal while his companions dismissed it, and a black robot convoy stormed the demolition observation station. Sarah learned Perlman had been captured, ordered preparations for negotiations, then decided to withdraw as the robots overwhelmed the fake Public Security officers.

• Yellow Three showed Red One and Blue Two the young lady’s distress signal and secretly kept a phone call open with Master.
• A black convoy smashed through the gate at Vision Corporation’s demolition observation point, and the guard reported the breach.
• An officer told Sarah that Perlman had been captured and that the cat Thiren demanded negotiations; Sarah agreed to meet her and ordered someone to ready the detonator.
• Sarah learned that a robot force had entered the site, spoke with a man through her earpiece, and chose to withdraw.
• About eighty black robots drove back more than a hundred fake Public Security officers, while Sarah’s opponents did not realize she had fled or that a vehicle hovered above their defensive line.

The Iron Guards captured the Vision Blasting Zone Checkpoint, and Yellow Three arrived with Red One and Blue Two after the battle was over. Butler sentenced the three robots to a year of level-three confinement in Bangboo form but offered to reduce their punishment if they completed a mission to hunt the Dead End Butcher in a Hollow.

• The Iron Guards defeated the fake Public Security officers and captured the Vision Blasting Zone Checkpoint with minor damage to forty-two units.
• Yellow Three arrived with Red One and Blue Two, whose joints Huojin had remotely locked, and the three worried about their punishment.
• Butler announced that the three would face a year of level-three confinement in Bangboo form unless they completed a mission to reduce their sentences.
• Yellow Three checked the mission and identified the target as the Dead End Butcher in a Hollow.
• Red One, Blue Two, and Yellow Three started toward the Hollow, then turned back after realizing they had left their weapons in the car.

Wise, Belle, and the Cunning Hares planned to use Ether explosives against the Dead End Butcher to shrink the Hollow and rescue the residents. Their plan was interrupted when Huojin immobilized the group, then revealed himself to Nicole as her father.

• Nicole said Nekomata and the others had already entered the Hollow, so the group discussed another way to evacuate the residents.
• Belle proposed shrinking the Hollow by killing the Dead End Butcher with Vision’s Ether explosives.
• Fairy detected an unknown intrusion, and Huojin appeared behind Anby and Billy.
• Huojin expanded a barrier that stopped the group and even froze Billy’s bullets in midair.
• Huojin moved Billy, Anby, and Eous aside, released Nicole from the restraint, and told her he was her father.

Red One rescued Nekomata and Perlman from the armed men in the Dead End Hollow and reassured Nekomata that the demolition zone’s residents were safe. He left to join his companions against the Dead End Butcher, while Nekomata wondered how Nicole and the others were doing.

• Red One broke through a wall and charged the armed men surrounding Nekomata and Perlman, disarming and incapacitating them.
• Red One defeated the captain, then the remaining fighters surrendered after he ordered them to do so.
• Red One tranquilized Perlman with a dart and introduced himself to Nekomata as an officer of Hongke Unlimited Company.
• Red One told Nekomata that his people had disabled the bombs and that the residents were safe, then departed to fight the Dead End Butcher with his companions.
• Nekomata watched Red One leave and wondered how Nicole and the others were doing.