The matter involving the Red Fang Gang had more or less come to an end with Zhong Yan and the others escaping the Hollow.
As for Nekomata, after receiving proper medical treatment, she was eventually brought into the Cunning Hares at Zhong Yan's request.
Afterward, Zhong Yan even treated everyone to a lavish meal, as a show of gratitude for Nicole's open-mindedness. Without her nod, it would've been nearly impossible for the Nekomata to join.
As for Uchiha, though he had killed Miguel Silver, Nekomata held no intention of seeking revenge.
Not only was the difference in power vast, but more importantly, in her eyes, he wasn't some cruel and murderous villain. Aside from the Red Fang Gang massacre, there wasn't much about him to criticize.
In fact, to others, Uchiha's actions weren't necessarily a bad thing. After all, the Red Fang Gang were widely considered murderous terrorists—Uchiha had merely skipped over the Public Security Bureau's lengthy legal procedures.
In short, this matter could only be summed up in four words: utterly satisfying.
The Nekomata's position differed from the others, so her perspective on this was different as well, but she wouldn't define Uchiha solely based on that incident. Especially since there were so many other things that could define him.
If she had to use one term to describe him, it would be: righteously wicked.
...
A few days later.
It had been some time since the Hollow disaster. During that period, post-crisis operations from the Hollow Investigation Association and New Eridu Public Security continued, and the majority of Fourteenth Street was now uninhabitable due to the Ethereal Corruption.
Those rendered homeless were temporarily relocated to pre-arranged shelters, and would be moved elsewhere once accommodations were arranged.
As for Zhong Yan, his life had gradually returned to normal. After several days of recovery, he was back to full form.
It was a rare holiday today. With nothing to do, he slept in until noon. The first thing he did after getting up was sit at his desk and begin preparing the manuscript for the newest volume.
There were fewer than three days left before the deadline to send in his draft, yet he hadn't even finished half of it.
That said, Zhong Yan wasn't panicked at all. A volume wasn't that long, and he already had the outline ready. All he needed to do was fill in the details and flesh it out.
However, just as his fingers were about to touch the keyboard, his gaze was drawn to the safe in the corner of the room.
That safe contained Fairy, one of New Eridu's four major artificial intelligences.
Come to think of it, between all the rest and recovery, he'd yet to deliver the AI to the sibling duo.
And since today was a holiday, it was a good chance to pay them a visit in Sixth Street.
Still, with less than three days left until the deadline, Zhong Yan felt a bit torn.
Should he write... or pay a visit?
In the end, Zhong Yan chose both.
He raised his index and middle finger before him. In a puff of smoke, a shadow clone identical to himself appeared in the room.
Letting a clone write for me—how genius is that?
Zhong Yan inwardly praised his own cleverness, while the summoned clone rolled his eyes and begrudgingly took a seat at the desk to type.
Honestly, this was better than any smart AI—totally worth the outrageous cost of learning [Shadow Clone Technique].
...
A little later that afternoon, inside the [RandomPlay] video store of Sixth Street—
Since it was a holiday, there were noticeably more customers than on workdays.
Fortunately, the front desk was manned by Bangboo #18, and a volunteer staffer was also in-store thanks to their personal interest, so Belle and Wise weren't too swamped.
Wise was browsing news articles in the archive room, while Belle sat in her room, phone in hand, hesitating over whether to message Zhong Yan.
She had wanted to text him over half an hour ago, but couldn't come up with a good excuse. After countless drafts and deletions, she finally settled on something basic.
[Belle: You there?]
Such a simple greeting… maybe too simple.
She lay on her bed with the phone beside her pillow, like she was bracing for judgment.
Just ten seconds later, the phone buzzed—Zhong Yan had replied.
[Zhong Yan: I'm here.]
[Belle: Where are you?]
[Zhong Yan: Downstairs at your place.]
Her reaction was delayed for a moment, then she sprang up and rushed to the window. Sure enough, she spotted Zhong Yan across the street.
He was chatting with Officer Mewmew, the New Eridu Public Security mascot. Whatever they were talking about had Zhong Yan smiling ear-to-ear.
After the exchange, he turned and began walking toward the video store.
Tapping away on his phone, a message arrived for Belle:
[Zhong Yan: You free? I've got something to discuss with you and your brother.]
[Belle: Of course. Wait in the lounge—I'll get him now.]
She rushed down to the archive room to fetch Wise. When he heard that Zhong Yan had come, he was pleasantly surprised and quickly invited him into the archive room, locking the door to ensure their conversation stayed private.
"I thought it'd be a long time before we saw each other again," Wise started, breaking the silence. "Didn't expect it to be this soon."
Zhong Yan smiled faintly. "When I'm busy, I'm really busy. When I'm free, I get itchy just sitting around. Gotta find something to do."
"Still," Wise raised an eyebrow, "I doubt this visit is just because you're bored, right?"
"Naturally not."
With that, Zhong Yan reached into his pocket and pulled out a USB-like data drive.
"I came today to hand this over to you."