Zhong Yan's life returned to normal after that day.
Going to school and returning home, then enjoying two days off every week, had already become a routine for him.
At the same time, due to the upcoming municipal elections, the authorities had significantly intensified their crackdown on Proxies and Hollow Raiders. As a result, the Phaethon siblings had also reduced the frequency of their incursions into the Hollows.
During one such exploration in the past, they had encountered an elite squad from the Hollow Investigative Association. Fortunately, Zhong Yan had his investigation license for Hollow Zero on him at the time, which saved them from trouble.
If his identity as a Hollow Raider were ever exposed, it would undoubtedly bring chaos to Zhong Yan's life. For his safety, Belle decided to scale back their operations and instead focus on investigating Hollow Zero.
At the very least, within Hollow Zero, they were official investigators and didn't have to worry about being arrested by government agencies—though the level of danger was slightly higher than in regular Hollows.
Still, as long as they were careful and avoided encountering an Ethereal on Nineveh's level, they should be fine. Unless luck really turned against them.
By the way, summer break was fast approaching. The most obvious sign of that was the exponential increase in Zhong Yan's schoolwork at home.
Luckily, he had already studied high school material for a few years. Apart from certain subjects related to Hollows and Ether that were hard to grasp, he had a solid understanding of most theoretical topics.
As for foreign languages... in this world, the concept of a "foreign language" didn't even exist, so naturally, there were no language classes.
But peaceful days are often disrupted in the most unexpected of ways.
Zhong Yan first noticed something was off this morning.
Ellen didn't show up at school today, which wasn't unusual. After all, Victoria Housekeeping's work was demanding. It wouldn't be surprising if she missed school for a whole week.
What was unusual, however, was that she didn't respond to Zhong Yan's messages.
So, he called the Victoria Housekeeping hotline, hoping to check on her safety through customer service.
The response he got was that the entire Victoria Housekeeping quartet, including Ellen, was currently unable to provide services due to undisclosed reasons.
That only further confirmed Zhong Yan's suspicion that Ellen was in trouble.
But that wasn't the end of it.
…
At the same time, in a video rental store on Sixth Street—
The sibling duo had just opened for the day and hadn't even greeted their first customer when a frantic figure burst into the store.
When they got a good look, they realized it was Nekomata.
At that moment, Nekomata looked like she had just come out of a brutal battle—her body was covered in visible wounds, and blood was streaming from her injuries, quickly soaking the floor of the shop.
Seeing this, the siblings were momentarily stunned before immediately shutting the newly opened store door.
Only then did Nekomata, her breath weak, finally speak up: "You guys... you have to go save Nicole and the others. They've been captured! They said they're going to use them for human experiments—please, you've got to save them!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Nekomata suddenly began coughing violently. Blood surged from her throat and sprayed from her mouth onto the ground.
Seeing her condition, Wise rushed to retrieve the emergency medical kit they kept at home and began stopping the bleeding.
Meanwhile, Belle kept asking her what exactly had happened.
"Belle, notify Zhong Yan immediately. If possible, ask him to call in Uchiha for help. This enemy... they might be stronger than anyone we've faced before." While bandaging Nekomata's wounds, Wise didn't forget to send Belle for backup.
The first person they thought of, naturally, was Zhong Yan. But with three out of the four members of the Cunning Hares taken down, it was clear that Zhong Yan alone wouldn't be able to rescue Nicole.
What they needed now was a powerful ally—and Uchiha was the best candidate.
Hopefully, Zhong Yan could persuade him to join.
Not long after, Nekomata's bleeding was finally stopped. She quickly informed them of the location where Nicole was being held and insisted on leading the siblings in the rescue operation.
"Belle, you handle the HDD system. I'll go meet up with Zhong Yan outside the Hollow. No matter what happens, we can't lose any of our teammates." Wise said gravely.
All they could do now was wait for Zhong Yan and Uchiha to arrive.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Belle assumed it was Zhong Yan and quickly went to open it—only to find a curvaceous woman standing outside.
The woman smiled sweetly at Belle the moment she saw her and said, "Little sister, I'd like to borrow a couple of tapes. Could you recommend something for me?"
Belle thought she was just a regular customer and was about to explain that they weren't open for business today when she heard Nekomata shout from behind.
"It's her... she's the one who attacked us in the Hollow!" Nekomata struggled free from Wise's hands as he tried to apply more medicine. She attempted to rush forward and pull Belle away, but her injuries were too severe—she stumbled and collapsed to the ground.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation upon hearing Nekomata's words, Belle immediately tried to close the door—but everything went black, and she lost consciousness before she could do anything else.
Seeing Belle collapse, Wise's expression grew dark. With Zhong Yan still absent and Nekomata heavily injured, they had no way to defend themselves.
This was a deadlock with no solution.
"Be good and come with me. If you still have some use left, you might just get a second chance at life." Stepping over Belle's fallen body, the woman entered the video store and slowly advanced toward Wise.
Wise reacted by grabbing Nekomata off the ground and cautiously retreating.
When they reached the archive room, he extended his hand and, almost absentmindedly, picked up a small metal ball from the desk.
That metal ball was a self-defense gadget Zhong Yan had given him during the Red Fang Gang operation. Since he hadn't needed it at the time, he'd kept it ever since.
With Belle still lying at the doorway, Wise couldn't act immediately. He waited until the woman reached the archive room entrance before pressing a button on the metal ball and silently counting to three.
As soon as the count ended, he hurled the metal ball with all his might and dove with Nekomata to the corner of the room, shielding her with his body.
A burst of intense electrical light exploded at the archive room's doorway, instantly knocking out the ceiling lights. Every electronic device shorted out and shut down.
The woman hadn't expected a counterattack in that situation and didn't react in time—she took the full brunt of the blast.
Not long after, the sparks began to fade, and Wise immediately got up to check on the situation.
At the entrance to the archive room, half of the woman's body had been completely destroyed. But what was shocking wasn't blood and flesh—it was the colorful particles drifting from her body.
Those were... Ether particles!