The call ended, and as the connection was cut, Andrew couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Speaking with such an old fox always made one feel a wave of mental exhaustion, especially when the old fox's objectives were unclear.
Throughout the entire process, the other party had maintained the position of an absolute benefactor, yet with just a few short sentences, he had successfully made it impossible for Andrew to refuse.
This method of winning people over through subtle influence and the lure of benefits...
One could only say, as expected of the top man in the City Administration.
After all, if his method when facing someone he needed to befriend was subtle inducement, then when facing opponents, he would subtly make them check and balance each other, engaging in infighting.
That was the truly defenseless approach.
In the face of such a situation—where one couldn't tell if it was a sugar-coated shell or genuine goodwill—the best method was to heighten one's vigilance.
However, the benefits the Mayor offered this time were simply too good for Andrew to refuse.
So, he decided to secure the upgrade for the H.D.D System first and worry about the rest later.
Looking at Von Lycaon, who had been standing quietly to the side waiting silently, Andrew spoke up:
"Sorry to trouble you this time as well."
Andrew had always had a very good impression of this Wolf Thiren who maintained an extremely respectful attitude towards him.
However, in response to this, Von Lycaon spoke with great humility:
"No, it is my honor to be of assistance to you."
By now, the task the Mayor had entrusted to him was thoroughly completed.
However, before leaving, out of trust in Andrew's judgment of character and recalling the Mayor's previous arrangements, Von Lycaon hesitated again and again before finally speaking up:
"Shopkeeper, may I ask a favor of you?"
Andrew didn't beat around the bush and nodded directly.
"Sure. Is there something I can do? You can tell me directly."
"No, it is not a major matter. It is just that the Mayor suggested I recruit some suitable candidates to join Victoria Housekeeping, but I have not encountered anyone suitable on my end so far."
"Therefore, I would like to ask you to keep an eye out. If you encounter any suitable candidates later, I would be grateful if you could recommend them to me."
This was indeed not a big deal. Andrew agreed immediately while asking:
"Of course I can. Are there any conditions or requirements? I can keep a lookout for you."
Von Lycaon pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
"As long as their Ether resistance is sufficient, that will do. As for other aspects, I trust your judgment."
This requirement was really... neither high nor low... It felt like these vague conditions without clear criteria were actually the hardest to deal with.
However, despite thinking this, Andrew still took the matter to heart.
With the final objective achieved, Von Lycaon delayed no longer. After bowing slightly once more to take his leave, he turned and completely departed from Andrew's smithy.
Watching the message regarding Belle's teacher in his hand, Andrew didn't delay either and immediately walked towards the Random Play Video Store.
After all, for that pair of siblings, this was bound to be an incomparably important matter.
Andrew approached the second floor of the video store and arrived in front of Belle's room door.
By this time, the girls' tea party (conspiracy) between Belle, Astra Yao, and Evelyn had ended. The three of them were now sitting together on the sofa, watching a videotape Belle had carefully selected.
Pushing open the door, Andrew saw the rapt expressions on Astra Yao and Evelyn's faces; they didn't even notice his arrival.
This immediately made Andrew a little curious about what kind of film it was.
But as he walked closer to take a look, he discovered that what was playing on the screen was the full recording of Astra Yao's concert that Belle had filmed with her own phone earlier.
Subway. Old Man. Phone.
Wait, no.
Belle doing this was one thing, but why were Astra and Evelyn—the people who actually experienced it—watching it so obsessively?
Why was this?
A slightly bewildered Andrew looked at the three immersed people. Not wanting to disturb them, he had no choice but to silently watch this not-so-long 'public execution' from behind them.
As the three prepared to rewind and watch it again, clearly still wanting more, Andrew, having waited for quite a while, had to speak up to interrupt:
"Belle, didn't you say this videotape was a top-secret route tape of Random Play that only the Store Manager and special customers could see?"
"And isn't it a bit inappropriate to play this right in front of the concert's main star?"
Only then did the two notice Andrew's existence. Astra Yao immediately chuckled softly and said:
"I think it's fine! Before, because the DGA Entertainment filming equipment was positioned quite low, a lot of it was broken due to the debris and shockwaves."
"Many good angles couldn't be used due to the damage. The version the officials sent me earlier was actually not as good as this one from Belle!"
At the same time, regarding Andrew's query, Belle became even more self-righteous following Astra Yao's words. She said:
"Astra is naturally a special customer of our Random Play Video Store! Andrew, don't talk nonsense! I have my own discretion regarding special customers!"
Watching the two singing the same tune, Andrew could only shake his head helplessly.
For some reason, he felt like scenes like this would happen often in the future.
Shaking his head to toss that possible future to the back of his mind, Andrew took out the envelope the Mayor had given him and, under Belle's surprised gaze, handed it to her.
At the same time, he shared all the intelligence the Mayor had mentioned on the phone.
The moment Belle saw the photo clearly, the situation unfolded exactly as Andrew had predicted; emotions of incomparable excitement and joy instantly surfaced on her face.
"Lemnian Hollow... Could it be, Teacher is still alive? Is she right there?!"
Countless possibilities surfaced in her heart. After years of indefinite waiting and zero results, today, suddenly, there was a tangible clue.
And this clue was brought to her by Andrew.
After all, although it was provided by the Mayor, if not for Andrew, the possibility of the other party gifting it to her would have been microscopic.
Even if they gave it, they would certainly use it to make her do something.
But now, because of Andrew, this extremely important intelligence was placed right in front of her just like that.
Belle immediately threw herself excitedly into Andrew's embrace, her voice filled with endless gratitude and agitation.
Under Astra Yao's slightly curious gaze, it took quite a while for Belle to return from her excited state to her original self and begin to calm down.
Feeling Belle's emotions, Andrew looked at her and said:
"Do you want to go investigate right now? Don't worry about anything else. With me here, even if we're treated as spies, those people can't stop us."
Although waiting a month would be more suitable, if Belle really couldn't wait, Andrew wouldn't mind channeling his inner Jotaro Kujo for once.
To find someone, he'd just beat up everyone present equally.
After all, she had been searching bitterly for seven years. Now that she had finally found a clue, it was understandable to want to knock on their door immediately if she couldn't wait.
Andrew understood this very well.
If everything could be decided by pure reason, then one wouldn't be human.
But what made Andrew feel relieved was that Belle, having calmed down again, was not swept away by the rush of blood to her head, nor was she dominated by her emotions.
She shook her head and said:
"No, that's not right. This matter is still too strange. Moreover, if that is just a projection or a clue from the past, going there now would be of no help. And if Teacher is truly there right now, we need to be even more careful not to leak any information."
Staring carefully at the woman in the photo, Belle tried meticulously to distinguish all the details in the foreground, but aside from discovering that the scene was full of corrupted atmosphere, she found nothing.
She sighed with a bit of unwillingness, yet she had no intention of changing her mind.
"The Mayor was right. Now is simply not the time to go in for an investigation. Although I really hope Teacher is truly still alive, it's not too late to draw conclusions after investigating clearly."
And regarding the implants in her eyes, Belle felt a wave of warmth in her heart.
"So Teacher has always been caring about us... That's great..."
This intelligence was equally incomparably precious, causing the self-doubt Belle had held for a long time to dissipate significantly.
After all, no matter what, with her teacher Carlos—who was like family—having completely disappeared, Belle had unconsciously developed a sliver of suspicion after searching for so long.
She had also suspected whether her teacher was hiding something.
However, after feeling this care from the past, although the suspicion didn't vanish completely because of it,
Her mood unconsciously relaxed a lot.
It was like discovering, years after a mother went missing, through other means, that she had actually loved you all along.
Belle solemnly put the photo back into the envelope and looked up at Andrew, who was watching her with concern.
The warmth in her heart grew even stronger.
This made her sigh from the bottom of her heart: choosing to bring him out of the Hollow due to her responsibility as a Proxy when she first met Andrew was truly the right decision.
Thank you, Leader Joyce, for letting me meet Andrew in the Hollow.
But now was not the time to talk about these things. As Belle pushed Andrew and Astra Yao towards the room door, she said:
"Alright! Next, it's my turn to tell this good news to my older brother!"
Seeing Astra Yao hesitating slightly, seemingly wanting to stay and keep her company, Belle spoke very generously before the other party could open her mouth:
"Astra, didn't you want to see what Andrew's shop looks like? Why not go take a look now?"
Knowing she wanted to properly digest this sudden influx of massive events by herself, Andrew and Astra Yao didn't insist.
Under Andrew's lead, the three of them walked together towards the Seliana Smithy.
With the closing of the door, the smile on Belle's face remained as she immediately took out her phone.
A call was made. As it connected, the noise of old men on the pier and the sound of waves crashing came through, followed by Wise's urgent voice.
"Hello? Sis, whatever it is, say it later. Your brother has a fish on the line!"
After quite a while, Wise's panting voice finally continued.
Before Belle could speak, Wise started talking to himself:
"Sis, how did you know your brother just hooked a fifteen-kilogram giant grouper? Let me tell you, it almost got away just now. If it weren't for your brother blah blah blah..."
Accompanied by her unscrupulous brother's expansive rambling, and having reached the limit of her tolerance, came Belle's roaring scolding like a violent storm.
"Stupid brother! Stop fishing on the pier! Come back immediately! Andrew found intelligence on Teacher Carlos!"
Following the sound of a bucket overturning, there was the sound of a big fish falling into the water.
"NO! MY FISH!!!"
Wise, who had shouted subconsciously, realized the situation and couldn't care less about the heartbreak. He immediately corrected himself:
"Wait, no, no! Wait there! I'm coming back immediately!!!"
Meanwhile, on the other side, Astra Yao followed Andrew to the Seliana Smithy.
Looking at the somewhat familiar shop in front of her, Astra Yao was momentarily stunned.
Evelyn, standing aside, also felt a moment of trance.
However, due to the passage of time and the many changes Andrew had made to the shop's decoration, as well as the strange and bizarre weapons in the workshop attracting their attention,
They didn't recall where this sense of déjà vu came from.
Evelyn looked at a dagger made from the limbs of a Thunder Spider in front of her, and a trace of interest instantly flashed in her eyes.
The unique shape, resembling a dart, and the slender blade made this dagger appear very distinctive. At the same time, the purple fluorescence of Ether energy flashed across it from time to time.
Seeing Evelyn interested in the dagger in her hand, Andrew explained to her directly:
"This is a dagger made from the tip of a Thunder Spider's amputated limb. It's considered a failed product. I actually have quite a few types of things like this here."
Evelyn was a little puzzled hearing this. She tested the blade body and found it to be extremely hard; it should be more than adequate to serve as a dagger.
Facing Evelyn's confusion, Andrew explained:
"Although the claw tip is very sturdy because the Thunder Spider needs to forcibly grip surfaces and walk in various places, it has a fatal flaw."
"A flaw?"
Andrew nodded and said:
"Because a Thunder Spider's explosion involves a simultaneous detonation of the whole body, even the sharp claws will explode immediately upon being injected with Ether energy. This causes this dagger to be as dangerous as an unstable bomb."
"Most importantly, because it explodes upon injection, if used as a throwing weapon, the cost of an Ether battery for an additional device to control the injection time is actually about the same as making a separate explosive. It's completely not worth the loss."
Listening to Andrew's explanation, Evelyn actually became interested.
As long as Ether energy was injected, it would work... Then what about injecting it through threads?
As Evelyn voiced her proposal, Andrew's eyes instantly lit up.
He had indeed considered lengthening the detonation rod before, but he always felt that once made with a stick attached, it looked suspiciously like a Japanese Kamikaze Lunge Mine no matter how he looked at it. And the skill difficulty for using threads was too high; he simply couldn't find suitable personnel.
So, this thing had been tossed to the back of Andrew's mind as something useless—'tasteless to eat but a pity to discard'.
But with Evelyn's reminder today, Andrew suddenly realized that Evelyn seemed to be the perfect existence adapted for this weapon.
As long as there was no need to add a detonation device, the cost of this thing was unbeatable.
A single Thunder Spider had four legs, and these things appeared in swarms as soon as they showed up.
He couldn't use them all up; he simply couldn't.
And with the subsequent experiments, unsurprisingly, Evelyn, who had been using this mode of attack all along, adapted to this very well.
The sharp characteristics of the Thunder Spider could pierce a part of the shell of most heavy-armored units. Detonating it again under such circumstances was like a bunker-busting bomb; it could instantly blast a considerable hole in the shell.
It directly elevated Evelyn's armor-piercing ability by a large step.
If Evelyn's threads had struggled greatly when facing heavy armor before, then using this could be said to have completely made up for her shortcomings.
Now, as long as it wasn't an overly powerful Ethereal or monster, Evelyn possessed the ability to fully cope with humans and military mechs.
However, this could only be called a pleasant surprise.
To make their self-preservation capabilities even stronger, Andrew had prepared a little something else.
____
New Story: Stardew Valley: What Do You Mean They All Became My Servants
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