Ye Qingfeng shook his head, trying to clear his jumbled thoughts, then jogged to the intersection, opened the car door, and got into the passenger seat.
"Hold on tight, we're off!"
Before Ye Qingfeng could even fasten his seatbelt, Nicole slammed on the gas, launching the car toward Sixth Street.
Ye Qingfeng quickly buckled up, then rolled down the window beside him. The rushing wind from the speed helped him feel a bit better.
The journey was uneventful, and the Cunning Hares arrived safely at Sixth Street.
Nicole parked the car and led the three of them to the front of a video store.
Ye Qingfeng looked up at the unassuming shopfront and thought, The saying 'masters hide among the people' really is true.
Just then, a young man and woman walked out of the video store. Seeing them, Nicole greeted, "You're here! Perfect timing!"
[Ding! Potential Romance Targets: Belle and Wise]
[Initial Favorability for Both: 0%]
Hearing the system's prompt, Ye Qingfeng couldn't help but feel surprised. It had been a long time since a new target appeared—the last one was that green-haired little girl at the Public Security Bureau...
"Nicole, you guys got back really fast," Belle said, tilting her head slightly and resting a hand on her chin. "You didn't run any red lights, did you?"
"Nope~ We only passed through ordinary green lights and... green lights with an R-value of 255!" Nicole crossed her arms. "Already checked. No tails followed us."
"Anby, what's a green light with an R-value of 255 like?" Billy whispered to Anby beside him.
"Same as your jacket." Anby's reply was, as always, concise and direct.
Red light...?
"Nicole, we've rescued your people. Can we settle the outstanding payment now?" Wise, who had been quiet until now, looked at Nicole and asked.
"Hold on a sec! The job isn't finished yet, is it?" Nicole's cunning fox-like eyes glinted slightly as she kindly reminded them. "My commission was: 'Bring my people and the item out.' We've only completed the first half!"
"Oh, there was that part about bringing the thing back too... Brother, do you remember?" Belle played dumb, looking at Wise beside her.
"Hey! You just said something that really hurts our business reputation, didn't you?!" Nicole raised a hand, lightly covering her mouth. "The commission isn't complete until we retrieve the safe!"
"Based on the situation observed before evacuation, the target safe is within the activity range of a high-threat Ethereal," Anby stated, explaining the safe's current status. Billy then added:
"Right, it's that Red Fang Gang boss who got corrupted by Ether, transformed into a high-threat Ethereal."
"Anby and I tried to grab the safe by force, but that guy was no ordinary opponent. We hadn't recovered it by the time we evacuated."
Anby's probably talking about that white-haired guy... though by now he should be considered an Ethereal.
Ye Qingfeng recalled the scene inside the Hollow, feeling more and more uneasy the more he thought about it...
"Boss Nicole, by the way, what's actually in that safe? Why are we going to such lengths? Is it worth it?" Billy asked Nicole sincerely.
"Heh heh!" Nicole chuckled lightly. "You'll find out soon enough. Check this out!" She produced a fang-shaped pendant and showed it to everyone. One end was a red beast's fang, but the other end, to Ye Qingfeng, was clearly a USB drive.
"A fang necklace? For me? How nice!" Belle squinted her eyes, her face full of delight, her tone noticeably lighter.
"Dream on!" Nicole instantly doused Belle's hopes without hesitation. "It's a small storage device. Belobog's stuff. I found it in the building on Fourteenth Street before we left."
"I looked into it before. That stinky old man always kept this data drive on him. It must contain important information!" Nicole said with full confidence. "I'm sure it's related to the safe's password!"
Beside them, Ye Qingfeng suddenly felt a bit bored for some reason. Although he hadn't examined the safe too closely at the time, he roughly remembered it used a numerical combination.
Unfortunately, he wasn't very good with numerical combination safes.
And they were probably going to have to go back into the Hollow. Even if he volunteered to go along, Nicole definitely wouldn't agree.
Even if he did go, he'd just be a burden. To put it simply, there really wasn't anything for him to do now!
"However, it appears to have sustained some damage."
"The body of the drive is charred."
Anby and Billy added their observations.
"Phaethon! Can you guys figure something out? With that complicated computer in your shop?" Nicole looked expectantly at Belle and Wise. After all, she wasn't good with this sort of thing, and she didn't have a usable computer either. She could only count on the siblings.
"The HDD's performance is mostly dedicated to processing Hollow data. But if it's just extracting the contents of the drive..." Wise crossed his arms, silently considering the feasibility, then suddenly looked up at Belle beside him. "Sis, I might be able to try repairing it using the computational power of the HDD system."
"Great! Then it's settled!" Nicole, excited that it was possible, clenched her fists. "We'll first try to investigate the safe's location inside the Hollow. We'll contact you once we have a lead!"
"Until I contact you for the retrieval operation, feel free to tend to your own business!" Nicole reminded them before leaving. "Don't forget about extracting the data!"
"See you later, managers!"
"Take care."
Anby and Billy also bid farewell to the siblings before leaving. No one seemed to realize they should introduce Ye Qingfeng to the brother and sister.
"Hey man, first time meeting. May I ask your name?"
"Just call me Wise." Wise pointed to Belle beside him. "This is my sister, Belle."
"Hello! Hello! Brother Wise, you certainly look the part of a talented individual." Ye Qingfeng smiled warmly and extended his right hand generously.
"You must be Ye Qingfeng, the one Nicole mentioned. You flatter me." Wise was somewhat surprised by the young man's demeanor but shook his hand with composure, a faint smile also on his face.
They shook hands lightly and released each other's grip.
"First meeting, a small gift. Please don't mind it." Like a magician, Ye Qingfeng produced a videotape and offered it to him. "After all, you two did save my life."
Because Ye Qingfeng liked to wander around, he often bought interesting things. This videotape was something he'd stumbled upon in a secondhand shop. Not only was it dusty, it looked utterly ordinary. But after wiping off the dust and searching for it on his phone, he discovered it had been out of print for a long time. Apart from being a rarity, there was nothing particularly special about it. Thinking it wasn't expensive anyway, he bought it.
That night back at the Cunning Hares, he watched the entire tape. It was a documentary with an artistic feel. For someone like him who had never had any entertainment growing up, it was quite interesting.
He wouldn't say he loved it, but he didn't dislike it either.
And now it happened to have a use!
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A/n: New content and Story posted on my patreon go check it out!
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