"Hollow? Junior Investigator exam? I'm bored to death!"
Barely two hours into the Hollow, Ruby was already restlessly tapping a stick she'd picked up from who knows where, her face full of boredom.
There was no helping it—this Hollow expedition was painfully dull. The Ether concentration was low, which meant poor Ethereal quality and pitifully few of them around.
So far, the strongest Ethereal they had encountered was just a Tyrfing, and even the largest swarms barely reached twenty at a time.
Either Ellen or Phaga could easily wipe them out on their own—hardly a challenge. It was nothing like the chaos of Hollow Zero.
Ellen, guarding Ruby's side, twitched her lips and rolled her eyes. "This Hollow's really disappointing. It can't even keep Miss Ruby entertained!"
Ruby puffed up her cheeks at that, clearly not pleased.
"What's that supposed to mean? You make it sound like I'm hard to please! If this were Hollow Zero, I'd be getting chased around by Nineveh right now! Even if it's not that exciting, back when we just started school, at least I'd be speeding through traffic!"
Yikes—so she isn't hard to please?
Ellen could only shake her head helplessly.
The once-innocent girl's excitement threshold had long been raised by all the big adventures they'd seen together. Now, compared to those, normal Hollows just felt small… almost gentle.
At that moment, Phaga returned from his scouting, umbrella in hand. Hearing Ruby's complaint, he paused for a beat, then smiled faintly beneath the shadow of the umbrella. "Give the poor little Hollow a break. It's meant for a Junior Investigator exam—you can't expect them to throw in a Dead End Butcher, right?"
"Fine, I forgive it."
Ruby sighed dramatically, as if accepting a husband's weakness, then crossed her arms and ran her fingers through her hair. "By the way, didn't the examiner say the music box should be playing nonstop? Did either of you hear any music?"
"Nope."
Phaga shrugged, and Ellen shook her head too.
If Phaga hadn't heard anything, Ellen definitely hadn't either.
"That's weird. We've circled the entire outer zone already. Could it be the examiner moved the music box deeper into the Hollow to test us?"
Ruby tapped her lips thoughtfully as she strolled past Phaga to the front of the group.
Ellen followed slowly behind, lost in thought.
It was true—since the Hollow was small, none of them had taken it too seriously. Ruby's carrot device might not have been the safest, but it was definitely the fastest way to scout the perimeter.
And yet, they still hadn't found the music box.
That meant either, as Ruby said, the examiner had taken it deeper in—or they'd simply forgotten to turn it on—or an Ethereal had destroyed it.
"There's no way the examiner actually brought it into the depths. That'd be ridiculous!"
Hands on her hips, Ellen frowned, her voice tinged with annoyance.
After thinking it over, she picked the most plausible of the three absurd options.
If they'd forgotten to turn it on? That'd be even worse!
If it had been destroyed by an Ethereal? Impossible—Ruby would've noticed if there were any left standing.
If that really happened, they should've at least found the remains along the way.
So, after ruling out the other two, no matter how strange it sounded—the last one had to be right!
"Hehe, whatever! Let's go check out the Hollow's depths!"
Ruby spun around, walking backward with her hands clasped behind her back, leaning forward playfully.
"C'mon, it's still early. We've got time to spare, and maybe the examiner really is down there!"
Phaga and Ellen exchanged glances.
That actually made sense. They both nodded.
Ellen crossed her arms, half-squinting. "Alright, fine. But be careful, Ruby. The deeper zones might not be as gentle as the outer area."
"Hehe, I know!"
Ruby's eyes gleamed mischievously before she grinned. "Besides, with you two here, what could possibly—whoa whoa whoa~!"
Suddenly, Ruby's left foot slipped on a smooth pebble, and she fell backward with a loud—
Thud!
Ruby hit the ground. After a long moment, she sat up, clutching the back of her head. "Owwww!"
Ellen and Phaga hurried over. Ellen crouched in front of her, sighing in exasperation. "See? I just told you to be careful! Turn your head—let me check if it's bad."
"It's fine, just a tiny scrape."
Once Ellen confirmed the wound wasn't serious, she let out a relieved sigh.
Phaga chuckled softly. "Look on the bright side—at least you just fell and scraped yourself instead of tumbling into a spatial rift."
"Mmmph! It was an accident! Stop being so snarky!"
Ruby brushed the dust from her sleeves and clothes, stood up again, and kicked the pebble that tripped her. With one hand on her hip, she pointed ahead confidently.
"Watch this! I'm the future Legendary Investigator—I wouldn't just fall into a rift!"
After saying that, Ruby took two steps forward, pulled out her datapad, checked it several times, then confidently jabbed a finger toward the air.
In an instant, a crack appeared before her, tearing open sharply.
"See!"
Ruby proudly stepped aside, gesturing grandly toward the spatial rift, completely forgetting her embarrassing fall.
"Ruby knows exactly where spatial rifts are—there's no way I'd fall into one!"
Phaga smiled slyly. "But I heard from Ellen that you fell into two rifts back in Hollow Zero."
"T-that was to save you!"
Ruby puffed her cheeks, stammering. "The first time I found Phaethon! The second time I found Section Six! I'm amazing, okay!"
"That's true," Phaga admitted with a shrug. There was no arguing with that.
"Since you know that, keep your eyes open and see what cool thing Ruby finds this time!"
Beaming proudly after Phaga's acknowledgment, Ruby lifted her chin and stepped into the spatial rift.
A burst of violet light engulfed her vision, the surroundings fading into a hazy mist.
...
Elsewhere in the Hollow, a fierce brawl was underway.
One side wore police uniforms, while the other was a riot of mismatched colors—street thugs, clearly.
Among the gang members, one Rat-Thiren woman stood out in her sharp clothes, squaring off against a Cat-Thiren officer.
The Cat-Thiren gritted his teeth, blocking the rat's sharp, unpredictable strikes one after another. "I despise your underhanded tricks!" he spat.
"Do you now?"
The Rat-Thiren's lips curled. Twirling her talon-like weapons, she lunged the moment the cat opened his mouth to shout.
The Cat-Thiren quickly raised his baton to block, sparks flying as their weapons clashed and locked together.
But instead of retreating, the Rat-Thiren leaned in close, her chest brushing the air between them as she murmured, "Too bad. I love underhanded tricks... Who's there?"
Her sudden shout echoed across the battlefield, making everyone turn toward the source.
A spatial rift had torn open in a wall behind the gang, and a girl in a school uniform stepped out.
Ruby looked up and instantly spotted the most eye-catching patch of white amid the crowd. Beaming, she waved toward the Cat-Thiren. "Uncle Seth! You're... uh, not looking so great lately."
Halfway through her sentence, Ruby realized dozens of hostile eyes were fixed on her. A few belonged to familiar faces—like Officer Qingyi—but most were thugs who looked ready to kill.
Ruby's feet shuffled backward nervously.
"Ruby! Run! Don't look back!"
The instant Seth recognized her, his expression twisted, and he shouted with all his strength.
His roar jolted the thugs into motion. One helmeted brute barked, "That girl's connected! Grab her!"
The rest of the gang immediately broke away from their fights with the officers and charged straight toward Ruby.
Panic flashed across her face as she turned and bolted, screaming, "Phaga! Ellen! Save me!!!"