Sixth Street was as lively as ever. The moment Ignis stepped out of the metro station, he felt the surge of energy in the air.
At the entrance of the toy shop, new gacha machines had been installed, and several young people were trying their luck. Everyone wanted the hidden prize, of course, but that depended entirely on fortune.
As the Salamander passed by, he took a glance. It was Starlight Knight merchandise—looked like keychains. He could mention it to Billy later; that guy would definitely be interested.
Just after turning the corner—Ignis saw two familiar faces: Public Security Officer Zhu Yuan and her petite senior, Qingyi.
Ignis's exceptional height made him instantly noticeable to them, but neither greeted him first. Instead, they continued passing out the flyers in their hands to the passing residents.
It seemed that they were clearly in work mode, not convenient for casual conversation.
Remembering what Boss Nicole had said about maintaining good relations with them, the Salamander simply followed the flow of pedestrians and walked over, offering a greeting to the two officers.
"Long time no see, Miss Zhu Yuan. Qingyi—saw you just yesterday."
"Ignis, good to see you." Zhu Yuan even gave him a warm smile as she handed out another flyer. "So you and Senior Qingyi get along well?"
"Zhu Yuan, please. I only ran into him while I was playing chess yesterday. He merely decided to observe the match on his own. There is no such thing as a private relationship." Qingyi denied it immediately.
"That's not wrong. I followed on my own." Ignis admitted without hesitation. "But you didn't drive me away either. And I didn't say a single word through the entire match. I'd say that qualifies as observing in silence like a true gentleman."
"You live pretty far from here. What brings you out this way?" Zhu Yuan asked.
"Came to borrow some tapes from the rental place here—and return a few for a colleague." Ignis lifted the bag in his hand, showing the tapes that Anby had borrowed.
"Recently, illegal activity has been on the rise. The New Eridu Public Security in the Janus Quarter is launching a Public Safety Awareness Month to help educate citizens. There's going to be a seminar held at the Lumina Branch in a few days. If you have the time…" Zhu Yuan looked at Ignis, extending the invitation.
But Zhu Yuan, you've got an actual criminal standing in front of you—arson, possession of dangerous weapons, murder, fabrication and possession of illegal weapons and explosives. If any evidence surfaced, even a death sentence might be considered lenient.
"Well… you know how work is for the Cunning Hares—we're a human resource dispatch agency. Noone knows when we'll suddenly be assigned elsewhere." Ignis declined smoothly. And even if someone had to attend, we'd just obviously send the dependable Anby.
"That's true. Right—have there been any disturbances on your end recently? If you encounter trouble, contact Public Security immediately. Do not act on your own."
Just a few days ago he had handled a major operation. Who knew whether Public Security had even noticed the surge of missing person cases? Fortunately, everything had already been burned to ashes. Markus even sent people to clean up afterward—there shouldn't be any noticeable traces left…
"Yeah, a new little gang cropped up. Just a bunch of kids." Ignis still told them something—not that it mattered. Public Security couldn't do much anyway. As long as these kids didn't commit serious crimes, heavy intervention wasn't possible. And they were minors—legally a special group.
"Alright. I'll contact the branch near your area and have them keep an eye out." Zhu Yuan nodded and unfastened the handwritten slate at her waist, jotting down the note. "Then I'll get going." Ignis made a quick farewell.
"Go on, go on." Qingyi waved him off. "I know for sure you're not coming to the seminar."
"Senior!" Zhu Yuan looked embarrassed. "You shouldn't say that right in front of him."
"He won't mind. He's not that petty. Besides, I'll bet you, Zhu Yuan—they absolutely won't come to that seminar."
Of course. What Hollow Raider would wander into a Public Security event for fun? Go look at their own bounty poster?
The Salamander looked down at the flyer in his hand. It was mostly a few lines of text and half of a man's face. A standard tough-guy face—the type with natural authority. But compared to true battle brothers, it was lacking; veterans who crawled through real fire and steel carried an aura that frightened people on sight.
[Do not trade with Hollow Raiders / Beware Hollow disaster insurance fraud / Do not buy Bangboos through illegal channels / Watch out for Bangboo theft.]
Simple and clear enough—except New Eridu practically coexists alongside Hollows. Everyone traded with Hollow Raiders openly or discreetly. As Ether sold on the open market wasn't cheap, and though raiders' goods weren't always reliable or legally sourced, they were guaranteed to be cheap. Nicole had mentioned they recently found a stable ether vein in Hollow Zero, but the job that day was debt collection—with the creditor tagging along. Missing out on a big score had left Nicole extremely frustrated.
The Salamander flipped the flyer over and shoved it into his pocket. It wasn't useful, but tossing it after only a few steps felt improper. At least dispose of it somewhere farther.
When he approached the video rental shop, Belle was already waiting at the entrance. Seeing the giant approaching, Belle hurried over to open the garage door.
"Finally." Belle turned around, putting on an intentionally annoyed expression. "A big job came in a few days ago, but Nicole said you were injured—unconscious."
"Ran into some trouble. But it's handled. Your 'big job'—did you finish it?"
"Finished. Scared me half to death." Belle began recounting the events of the past few days.
"We were supposed to help Belobog Heavy Industries recover their missing intelligent construction machines. But when we found the last one, it said that Khors was calling out to it. Oh—Khors is Koleda's father. He suddenly disappeared after withdrawing a sum of money."
"Grace analyzed the signal the machine received. It came from the prototype of the current construction machine model. According to the data, the signal originated inside a Hollow, so we went to guide them inside to retrieve it."
"I had a bad feeling then. I wanted to call you, but you were seriously injured and unconscious. The signal was unstable, so we had to bring all three machines inside for a triangular position fix. When we found the prototype and dragged it out—an unknown Ethereal suddenly jumped us."
"It attacked immediately, but the machines pinned it. Then it instantly activated, fusing all three machines into a mechanical monster shaped like a scorpion."
"Belobog Heavy Industries fought hard. In the end, Koleda piloted the prototype, ramming the thing onto the spike of a nearby monument to stop it."
Belle exaggerated every detail while talking, practically gesturing with her entire body. Clearly, she had been truly terrified.
Ignis could already tell she was omitting part of the truth—but it didn't matter.
"Sounds like an interesting enemy. Shame I didn't get to fight it." Ignis shifted to the reason he had come. "So—why did you ask us here?"
"Well, about the prototype—Koleda's father didn't run off with the money. He used it to purchase the prototype and drove it into the Hollow to fight the Ethereal." Belle pulled a data chip sealed in a zip bag from her pocket. "This is the storage unit taken from the prototype. Nicole knows a hacker named Rain. She can crack it."
"Understood. I'll deliver it safely to Nicole." The Salamander took it and pocketed it—accidentally knocking the Public Security flyer loose.
"What's this?" Belle picked it up curiously and unfolded it. "Ah—they've already arrived?"
"They? You know Zhu Yuan and Qingyi?" Ignis suddenly felt the world shrink.
Belle nodded, keeping the flyer. "They saved my life two days ago. My brother and I were getting new licenses. On the way, an out-of-control vehicle nearly hit me. Zhu Yuan rushed in, grabbed me, and pulled me out of the way. Then Qingyi stopped the car with her baton. If not for them—I'd be done for."
"And funnily enough, after we helped Koleda recover the prototype, the officers who arrived to handle the scene were also those two. Sometimes the world really is small." Belle flipped the flyer over again and pointed to the man's long face. "This guy is their superior—Bringer. He arrived with a massive group of Public Security officers and immediately had people take pictures of him."
"I remember he's involved with the Janus Quarter Public Security Division, right? Really good at using every opportunity to promote himself." Ignis recalled hearing Nicole mention him, but hadn't expected the real man to look like this. A hardened-warrior look—yet still stealing credit from subordinates.
"The remains of the monster were sent to HAND for processing," Belle added. "Zhu Yuan made that call. But Bringer didn't seem pleased."
[H.A.N.D.]—the Hollow Affairs & Neutralization Department—was New Eridu's elite force for Hollow matters. No wonder Bringer felt someone took credit from him.
"Right, you seem to know Zhu Yuan and Qingyi too." Belle asked curiously. "Mind telling me?"
So the Salamander told her about the ordeal with the Mountain Lion Gang—and a bit about Emile Volt.
"If one day I need you to guide me into a Hollow—to find the Mountain Lion Gang's hideout—would you take that request?" Ignis's eyes glowed like flame as he watched Belle.
"No problem. Leaving those violent thugs around only increases danger. But I'm a Proxy—you'll have to pay properly."
Ignis nodded, then handed her Anby's rented tapes. "Then I'll head back. Contact me if anything else comes up."