“Awoo. I’ve been corrupted by the Hollow and turned into a monster. Awoo, awoo.” Anby sat right next to Nicole, doing a completely deadpan impression of a cute monster.
“Yes, yes, yes! Brother Li, exactly that pose! Look at the camera! What?! You have a new move? Quickly, let me see!” Billy cheered wildly.
“Hmph, watch closely!” Li Qianqiao smirked, his hand inserted Mission Memory into the Faiz Pointer.
READY!
Li Qianqiao then pressed the ‘ENTER’ button of the Faiz Phone on the Driver.
EXCEED CHARGE!
“Crimson Smash!”
A red cone flew towards a wall, Li Qianqiao threw a Rider Kick into the cone, the red cone and his leg merged into one like a deadly red drill and BOOM!
“AAAAHHH! That was so cool I could die! Do another one!”
Setting aside those two dynamic goofballs, Nicole was sitting in the corner looking completely dead inside.
“Sigh… that really doesn’t sound like something I’d do…” Nicole muttered gloomily.
EXCEED CHARGE!
“Take a smash from my camera weapon!”
BOOM!
BOOM!
“The money-obsessed Cunning Hares… who supposedly never care about anyone else…” Nicole continued to wallow in self-pity.
1 — 0 — 3
SINGLE MODE!
Phew—
“Only looking out for ourselves is my…”
1 — 0 — 6
BURST MODE!
“…creed…”
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
A small pebble that was blown away by the destruction of Burst Mode, suddenly bounced off Nicole’s head.
“YOU TWO!! Enough, cut it out!” Nicole finally snapped.
She lunged forward and threw a punch at both Li Qianqiao and Billy.
An incredibly clean double hit!
Except Nicole immediately managed to hurt her own hands in the process.
“Ah~! My hands! Damn it! You two behave yourselves!” Nicole roared, clutching both of her wrists in agony.
“Yes, ma’am…” The two answered in unison.
Li Qianqiao didn’t dare mess around anymore; an enraged Nicole was truly terrifying.
As for Billy, he valued his upcoming bonus too much to push his luck.
“Sigh, how did I get saddled with you two absolute headaches…” Nicole rubbed her temples helplessly.
Anby stepped forward to comfort her.
“Don’t be mad, Nicole. Maybe Billy and Little Li just wanted to liven up the atmosphere.”
“Yeah, Nicole. Little Li and the others didn’t do it on purpose.” Belle chimed in over the comms.
“I’m not mad at Billy and the others, I’m just—” Nicole realized and gasped.
“Eek—! Proxies, is that really you guys?!”
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Actually, we’ve been online for quite a while now. We were just so engrossed watching A-Qiao’s amazing performance that we forgot to notify you.” Wise explained, his tone carrying its usual calm, smiling demeanor.
Li Qianqiao felt a sudden wave of embarrassment wash over him.
“So… Brother Wise, you guys saw everything?”
“Mhm, it was spectacular.” Belle evaluated playfully.
“Though it was a bit chuunibyou, Little Li, you’ve fulfilled a dream that every Tokusatsu geek could only wish for in their entire life. Being a little dramatic is completely understandable.”
Li Qianqiao’s face flushed completely red underneath his armor.
Thank goodness he hadn’t canceled his transformation yet, otherwise he would have dug a hole and buried himself right there.
“Ahem, since the Proxies are back, let’s hurry up and retrieve my safe!” Nicole ordered, clearing her throat.
Everyone quickly readied their gear and followed Eous toward the safe’s signal location.
Along the way, Wise caught everyone up on the hacker attack they had just dealt with.
“Hmm… I see. The Manager’s equipment was hijacked by a mysterious hacker, which is why we lost contact.”
Anby, however, was still worried about the video file.
“But what about the video that hacker leaked online?”
“But the video spread way too fast. There’s no way to delete it across the net in the short term, so we decided to focus our efforts on getting you guys out first.”
“So according to what you said, there’s something fishy about that data disc containing the password?” Nicole asked.
“We checked the security logs of the HDD system. That’s the highest probability.”
“Which means that Red Fang Gang was just doing someone else’s dirty work.” Li Qianqiao interjected.
“If Sis Belle and Brother Wise hadn’t stepped in to intercept it, you guys would have been completely toast.”
“We’re so lucky to have you, Manager! You’re just like Kamen Rider Build’s trusty best friend, Ryuga—incredibly reliable!” Billy cheered.
“Ryuga? Who’s that?” Belle asked, thoroughly confused.
“Brother Li told me about him! Said he’s—mph!”
Li Qianqiao quickly clamped his hand over Billy’s mouth.
“Ah, haha, nothing, just a really awesome guy who happens to take a lot of Ls, that’s all.” He quickly shifted the topic.
“Anyway, we’ve been inside the Hollow for too long. Even with Ether-aptitude constitutions, we shouldn’t push our luck. Let’s hurry.”
Anby nodded in agreement.
“Little Li is right. If we stay any longer, Hollow corruption will inevitably set in, our combat effectiveness will drop, and we might not be able to handle any unexpected dangers along the way.”
Li Qianqiao sighed.
“Anby, even you’re calling me that now… Forget it, call me whatever you want.”
Billy stroked his chin.
“Unexpected dangers? Could it be that old guy from the Red Fang Gang who got corrupted into a high-level Ethereal?”
Li Qianqiao cracked a grin.
“Maybe! He’s probably hate-watching us from some dark corner right now.”
Nicole shuddered, rubbing her arms.
“Ew, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Alright, no time to waste, let’s move out! Proxies, we’re counting on you to keep tracking the target!”
“No problem. Look, cross through that Hollow fissure up ahead, and you’ll reach the vicinity of the safe in no time.” Belle guided.
Following the direction Belle indicated, a fissure about the size of a cave entrance indeed came into view.
Without wasting any words, the group plunged right into the fissure.
Li Qianqiao felt a wave of intense dizziness hit him, as if his entire body had been tossed into a washing machine.
It felt like his dinner from last night was trying to make a violent comeback.
Shortly after, his boots hit a familiar solid surface.
They had landed.
Li Qianqiao breathed a sigh of relief, desperately fighting back the urge to vomit.
He definitely didn’t want to throw up inside his helmet.
Steeling himself, he quickly caught up with the others.
Belle noticed his awkward posture through Eous.
“Are you alright, Little Li?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just my first time crossing a fissure, so I wasn’t quite adapted. Don’t worry, I’ll adjust in a second.” Li Qianqiao thumped his chest armor reassuringly.
“That’s good! Huh? Wait a minute, look! It’s the safe!” Eous trotted over to the container.
“Found it!” Anby said happily.
“Ha! Talk about luck!” Billy cheered.
“That is my safe!” Nicole squealed with joy.
As everyone gathered around the safe, Anby, standing guard at the rear, sensed a sudden disturbance.
She spun around just as a massive, armor-clad Dullahan Ethereal materialized out of thin air!
Anby quickly raised her blade to block the incoming heavy strike, getting flung back several meters from the impact.
The sudden ambush caught the rest of the group off guard, forcing them to scatter backward.
Anby stabilized her stance, her expression dead serious.
“Spoke too soon.”
“Darn it, talk about rotten luck!” Billy cursed, drawing his guns.
“That is MY safe!” Nicole was thoroughly furious now.
She pointed a finger at the Dullahan and hurled a string of bleeped-out profanities, “You motherfucker! I don’t have time to waste on you! Little Li! I choose you! Quickly, use that Lightning Drill of Doom move of yours!”
“It’s called Crimson Smash!”
EXCEED CHARGE!
Li Qianqiao leaped high into the air, locking his targeting laser onto the Dullahan, shooting a red cone towards the monster and merged his Rider Kick with the cone, forming a deadly red drill Rider Kick.
“Consider yourself the first soul crushed under my heel! WRYYYYYY!”
Facing the incoming ultimate move, the Dullahan had no time to dodge and could only lift its heavy shield to block.
With a deafening explosion, the Dullahan’s sinful existence dissolved into nothingness.
Li Qianqiao stuck a clean landing, flipping his wrist as the particles of the defeated Dullahan disintegrated into the wind behind him.
“Haha! Finally, finally…” Nicole lunged forward toward him.
“Whoa, so sudden?!” Li Qianqiao scrambled to catch her, thinking it was a celebratory hug.
“I’ve found you!” Nicole bypassed him entirely and threw herself over the safe behind him.
Li Qianqiao sighed in disappointment, cancelling his transformation.
“I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up…”
Belle suddenly spoke up through Eous to stop Nicole, explaining that during their clash with the hacker, the escape routing data from the Hollow had been deleted.
The fallback system contents inside the safe could help them leave, but they needed Nicole’s explicit permission to access it.
Nicole immediately agreed without a second thought.
Belle was briefly stunned by her quick decisiveness.
Brushing her doubts aside, she opened the safe and prepared to insert the encrypted data chip into Eous.
Just then, Anby raised a cold question.
“Hold on, there’s one thing I don’t quite understand.”
“Your real body is safely outside the Hollow. You could have easily walked away from this mess. Why did you risk coming back into the system to help us? Do you have some other hidden agenda?”
Nicole hissed under her breath, trying to signal Anby to drop the interrogation.
Belle found the suspicion a bit tragic.
“What a bizarre question.”
The atmosphere around them turned incredibly heavy as the members of the Cunning Hares fell silent, waiting for an answer.
Li Qianqiao leaned against a nearby broken wall, smiling silently.
He knew Belle wouldn’t abandon them; even if he hadn’t altered the timeline, her answer would be exactly the same.
“Because I’m your Proxy!” Belle’s voice rang out clearly through Eous.
Li Qianqiao nodded to himself.
Yep, that’s exactly the Belle I know.
Seeing that their heart-to-heart was wrapping up, he walked over to join them.
Belle had already slotted the data chip into Eous’ forehead interface.
Instantly, a blinding, pure white light erupted from the Bangboo’s body.
Li Qianqiao, who had just walked over, shouted entirely in shock in his mind: Holy crap!
Are you secretly Ultraman Hikari?!
Eous doesn’t even have a built-in light projection system, where the heck is this light coming from?!
When the blinding light finally receded…
…
Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen back at the video store, Belle had completely collapsed onto the desk, slipping into unconsciousness.
In her mind, lines of an ominous user agreement were flashing rapidly, demanding her consent.
Her head throbbed with a splitting pain that refused to stop until she selected ‘AGREE’.
I literally have no choice.
This was the final thought in Belle’s mind before she completely blacked out.
…
When Belle finally opened her eyes, she saw Wise and Li Qianqiao standing right by her side, their expressions full of deep concern.
“Ah, you’re finally awake.” Wise breathed a heavy sigh of relief, the massive weight lifting from his chest.
He comforted her gently, “Don’t worry, everything’s fine now. You’re safe at home.”
“Where’s the data chip? Where are Little Li and the others? Wait, how on earth did I even get back here?”
Faced with Belle’s rapid-fire questions, Li Qianqiao gestured for her to take a deep breath and calm down, then explained how they had safely navigated out of the Hollow after she passed out.
Hearing his explanation, Belle breathed easy.
It looked like everyone had made it out in one piece.
“Sis Belle, there is one piece of bad news, though.” Li Qianqiao pointed over at the main HDD console, a strange, knowing smirk playing on his lips.
“It looks like our system caught a virus.”
“A virus?” Belle walked over to the console, thoroughly confused.
The numerous monitors in front of her suddenly began flickering wildly, lines of complex code cascading down the screens in an incredibly advanced, futuristic fashion.
“System boot sequence complete…”
At that moment, a massive digital eyeball materialized on the central screen, accompanied by a cold, synthesized female voice echoing clearly through the room.
“I am the Type-3 General-Purpose Super-Integrated AI. Development Codename: Fairy. Hello, Master. Furthermore… I am not a virus!”
Saying that, Fairy’s digital iris shifted, seemingly giving Li Qianqiao a very sharp, electronic glare.