Belle and the two others took Eous and headed towards the Crete The Hollow.
"Let's go. All we need to do now is wait for Belle and the others to reach near The Hollow."
Saying this, Ling walked towards the secret room.
...
Hoshimi Aya silently followed Ling into the secret room.
She remembered that this time her computer was hacked, and Phaethon's account was lost.
However, it seemed to be a blessing in disguise, as she gained an intelligent housekeeper named F-something. She couldn't remember the name anyway.
She'd talk about it when it appeared. She really couldn't remember the English name, she only remembered its alias was 'Fairy'.
She truly couldn't recall that specific English name.
Soon, Belle and the others entered The Hollow, and Ling also synchronized her senses with Eous.
But after synchronizing, the signal was poor, and Ling could barely hear what Belle and the others were saying.
After a while, Ling was forcibly kicked out of the sensory synchronization state.
"Ling, what's wrong?"
"Why did you suddenly come back?"
Zhe, who was tidying up documents, came to Ling's side and asked with concern.
"I was forcibly logged off."
Ling said, rubbing her temples.
She also couldn't figure out why the connection suddenly broke; this had never happened before.
"Ling, someone might have hacked into our computer."
Hoshimi Aya reminded her.
At this point, saying it shouldn't affect getting that intelligent housekeeper later.
Ling and Zhe were startled by the remark.
"That's right, I didn't expect you to react so quickly."
"As expected of Phaethon!"
"You immediately discovered the problem!"
The HDD computer screen changed, and a cartoon avatar appeared, speaking.
"Who are you?!"
"What do you want to do?!"
Ling questioned the small figure on the screen, realizing the seriousness of the situation.
"Who I am isn't important. What's important is that, as you can see, this system now belongs to me."
"If you don't want everything in this system to be wiped out, then hand over the safe password."
The mysterious person said with a malicious chuckle.
Ling silently tried to regain control of the system, but no matter what, she couldn't.
"Don't try. You won't be able to regain control of this system."
"Just obediently tell me the safe password."
"Don't try any tricks; time is very limited for them."
After speaking, the mysterious person displayed the scene of Belle and the others in The Hollow through Eous.
Belle and the others were seen fighting Etheralss, while also calling out Ling's name.
However, Eous, whose control had been seized, did not respond to them but walked forward on its own.
Seeing this, Belle could only grit her teeth and follow. Without a Proxy and without a Carrot, there was only a dead end in The Hollow, so now she could only trust.
"Hurry up."
"I don't have that much time to waste with you!"
The mysterious person switched back to the previous screen.
"I..."
Hoshimi Aya reminded Ling and Zhe to resolve it using the Rope Net account, just like in the game plot.
Suddenly, Hoshimi Aya felt a dizzy spell, and her hand unconsciously reached for the hilt of her blade, pulling it out slightly.
The blade was surrounded by pure black flames, a sight that startled Ling and Zhe next to her.
"Aya, are you okay?"
Ling asked Hoshimi Aya with concern.
"I... I'm fine!"
"I can hold on!"
"The feeling isn't very strong; I can control it."
Hoshimi Aya said, forcing the blade back down.
It was fine just a moment ago, so why did the blade lose control as soon as she was about to reveal the game's plot twist?!!
No, that's not right.
It shouldn't have lost control because she wanted to reveal the plot early.
It must have been some other reason that caused this situation.
Meanwhile, Ling was contemplating how to deal with the mysterious person. In the end, just like in the original plot, she used Phaethon's account to report and apprehend them.
Hoshimi Aya also recovered, and this time the feeling was not as intense as before.
It must have been triggered by some necessary condition for it to lose control, but she didn't know what that trigger condition was.
"Aya, are you alright?"
"What happened just now?"
Zhe came to the sofa and asked Hoshimi Aya, who was sitting there.
"It's nothing, just a brief loss of control."
"I can suppress it!"
Hoshimi Aya said, silently looking at the demon blade tail-less.
...Alright.
"If you don't want to talk about it, I won't ask further."
"If you need help, just say so."
Zhe said to Hoshimi Aya, then returned to Ling's side.
Ling had already reconnected with Eous and heard Belle and the others' disappointed complaints.
"Awoo~ I've been corroded by The Hollow, I'm going to turn into a monster~ Awoo awoo!"
Saying this, Anby bit into Billy's mechanical arm.
"Hey, Anby."
"Don't bite my hand, don't you find it hard on your teeth?"
Billy said calmly, a complete change from his previous exaggerated demeanor.
"Sorry."
"Just kidding, I wanted to make Belle happy."
"Turns out I'm still not very good at this."
Anby said expressionlessly.
"But it's true."
"If we stay in The Hollow for too long, even with Aether-adapted physiques, we'll turn into Etheralss."
"It's just that we'll be slower than ordinary people."
Billy said, crossing his arms.
"Sigh~"
"This really isn't something I'd do."
"Cunning Hares, who loves money as much as life, my creed is clearly to mind my own business and only care about myself!"
Belle said, somewhat blaming herself.
They had dragged on for too long; if this continued, they would also turn into Etheralss.
"Could it be... Belle is unexpectedly a good person?"
Ling said, having regained sensory synchronization.
"Heh, a good person!"
"To lose my life in The Hollow for these two insignificant words, I'm such a fool...!"
Belle suddenly realized something mid-sentence and screamed frantically.
Belle, your counter-arc is too long.
Ling said, looking at Belle.
"Ling! Is it really you?!"
Belle said, somewhat disbelieving.
They had tried every method before, but there was no response.
"You've waited a long time. Actually, we recovered a while ago."
"Anby and Billy were making a fuss, and you were busy being sentimental, so you didn't notice."
Zhe interjected.
After a brief chat, everyone set off again, searching for the safe.
After this series of events, they finally found the safe and defeated the superior Etherals Durahan.
As in the original plot, Ling gained control of Fairy and led everyone out of The Hollow.
Meanwhile, Hoshimi Aya had already returned to her room to study the demon blade, wanting to know why it suddenly lost control.
However, after half a day of research, she still couldn't figure it out.
Hoshimi Aya had no choice but to return to the secret room to see how Ling was doing.
As soon as she entered, she saw Zhe pacing around Ling, looking very anxious.
...
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