"Damn it, we've been dragged into a Hollow..."
While Zhong Yan and Anby searched for an exit, on the other side of the Hollow, Zhu Yuan stood silently, her expression tense as she looked at the streets around her, slowly being corroded by Ether Crystals.
She had originally only intended to investigate the Red Fang Gang's whereabouts on the Fourteenth Street. She hadn't expected a sudden Hollow Disaster—or to get pulled in herself.
Right now, she had only a standard-issue pistol with limited ammunition. She didn't even have a Carrot that could assist her in escaping.
Trying to survive in a Hollow under these conditions was practically a death sentence.
But as a member of New Eridu Public Security, even if suspended and inwardly afraid, Zhu Yuan wouldn't lose her resolve.
In her eyes, this district had only just been overtaken by the Hollow. That meant there were likely still many civilians who hadn't managed to evacuate in time.
Her mission now was to gather these unarmed civilians—because inside a Hollow, a single Ethereal could easily result in mass casualties.
Meanwhile, outside the Hollow, the Hollow Investigation Association responded swiftly. Before long, they had formed a temporary squad to enter and rescue any civilians not yet transformed into Ethereals.
"The Hollow Investigation Association is acting fast. Belle, how are things on your end?" Wise, seated in an inconspicuous car by the roadside, looked out at the deployment of the investigation team. He contacted those inside the Hollow via comms.
Things weren't going particularly smoothly for Belle. Since she was the only one controlling the HDD system, her Carrot rendering speed was noticeably slower than usual.
Fortunately, this Hollow had only just formed, and its internal structure remained relatively stable. For now, there was no sign of node distortion.
"Looks like there are still a lot of civilians trapped inside..." At that moment, Nicole caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure stumbling in the distance, face filled with panic and disorientation. It was likely just a regular person caught in the disaster.
She turned to Billy and said, "Billy, I'm giving you a task—gather all the civilians nearby and protect them from Ethereals."
Billy, in the middle of polishing his twin pistols, blinked for a second, then twisted his mechanical torso and shouted with enthusiasm, "Leave it to me! This is the sacred duty of a Starlight Knight!"
With that, Billy dashed off to find the lost and frightened civilians.
Seeing his recklessly gung-ho attitude, Nicole hurried to add, "Be smart about it after you find them! Tell them you're with the Hollow Investigation Association—don't go blabbering about being a Hollow Raider! They won't trust you if you do! And don't wander too far!"
"Relax, boss! I won't let them know I'm a Raider!" Billy called back with a reassuring gesture as he jogged ahead.
That only made Nicole more anxious. But at the moment, Billy was all she had to work with. Given her nature, there was no way she could just ignore those helpless civilians.
In this kind of situation, she could only hope Billy's metal brain didn't decide to rust up at the worst possible time.
...
"H-Help me..."
Zhong Yan looked down at the civilian in front of him—still somewhat conscious, but already nearly transformed into an Ethereal. With a swift motion, he drew his sword and severed the man's head.
At the very least, the man wouldn't have to suffer any longer.
"That's the seventh civilian who's turned already... Looks like quite a few people got trapped in this Hollow." Zhong Yan let out a quiet sigh as he sheathed his blade.
They hadn't found a single sign of an exit. All they'd encountered were lost civilians—some of whom had transformed into Ethereals right before their eyes.
With no other option, they had to kill them to prevent further casualties.
"The Ether density in the air is getting heavier. This Hollow's nearly fully stabilized," Anby said, her expression grave. They'd already found two spatial nodes earlier, but neither turned out to be the exit. They were now verging on completely losing their way inside.
She was holding up for now—but Zhong Yan wasn't so sure about her.
Maybe it was those movie tropes rubbing off on her, but even after he'd reassured her multiple times, Anby still seemed to think he was just putting on a brave face.
What's more, under the excuse of "checking" on him, she occasionally made some physical contact. Whether it was intentional or not was anyone's guess.
Knowing Anby, though, she probably wasn't being that calculating.
This can't go on... As time dragged on, Zhong Yan felt a growing unease gnawing at him.
Sure, he knew Wise and Belle were likely working on a way to rescue them—but that would take time. Anby wasn't like him; she couldn't just ignore the corrosion and keep moving inside the Hollow.
The longer this dragged out, the worse it would be for her. She might not be showing it, but from her slightly strained expression, Zhong Yan could tell—she was already struggling.
He had to think of something.
Then, as if summoned by that very thought, something long unseen appeared before him.
A translucent interface flickered into view—displaying various details about Zhong Yan himself.
They say every transmigrator needs their cheat, and this was his: the [Uchiha Panel].
A long time ago, he had already redeemed every item available in the panel. The ones that remained were all marked as non-redeemable.
Take the Rinnegan, for instance—the ultimate evolution of the Sharingan. But unlocking it required an enormous amount of exchange tokens, far more than he currently had.
To get those tokens, he had to perform acts befitting of his "Uchiha" identity.
Slaughtering most of the Red Fang Gang not long ago was exactly the kind of action that aligned with a certain famous Uchiha from a hidden leaf village ramen meme, and it had earned him a decent number of tokens.
Even so, his current options were still extremely limited.
Among the entire list of items in the store, only one could be exchanged.
[Shadow Clone Technique]
A staple Jutsu in the original work. And for some reason, despite being a basic B-rank technique, its exchange price was absurd.
A full thousand tokens.
That was on par with the cost of evolving his Sharingan into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Still, there was good reason for the high price. From a narrative standpoint, the [Shadow Clone Technique] wasbroken—especially for someone in Zhong Yan's position.
After all, once he mastered it, the odds of anyone discovering he was an Uchiha would drop to nearly zero.
Wasn't that exactly what he wanted?