In front of Ballet Twins Building.
The dusk fell, a cruise ship docked, and a bizarre statue stood in the sunlight.
It thinks…
therefore it is still thinking.
More than half of the Ballet Twins Building twin towers were swallowed by the accompanying Hollow.
Coupled with the rumors of hauntings here, although quite a few busybodies came, overall, it really couldn’t be considered a crowded place.
Aria and Tenshi flew across the sky without drawing too much attention…
probably.
“Mom, Mom! Look quickly, someone is flying in the sky!”
By the railing near the river, a little boy pointed at Aria and Tenshi, who had just flown over his head and were rapidly approaching the twin towers, and shouted loudly.
The woman, who had just gotten off work and been pestered by her child to come out and explore urban legends, clearly had no mood to care about such things.
She lowered her head, looked at her son, put on a stern face, and scolded him:
“Have you finished your homework!?”
The excited smile on the little boy’s face instantly froze and gradually faded.
The corners of his mouth pulled downward, and he closed his eyes: “Ah wuwuwu——I just wanted to tell you that someone is flying in the sky, wuwuwu…”
People’s joys and sorrows are not the same.
The child on the ground was still crying, while the girls in the sky had already burrowed into the Hollow.
After landing, Aria turned on the projection once again.
Tenshi turned her head and asked Aria beside her.
“Aria, the client should have sent the radish (a time-sensitive Hollow map) he used earlier. When Nangong and Sunna came to do the commission, they should have followed this as well. Do you still have a backup?”
“Let me see.” Aria immediately took out her phone and tapped on it.
“The commissions were filtered with the help of the Wishing Fairy, I should have it here… Found it.”
After finding the radish, Aria quickly loaded it.
“This way, go upstairs from this staircase.”
After loading the radish data, Aria reached out and pointed at the staircase on the edge.
The two girls moved forward quickly, climbed the stairs, and traversed the corridors.
Most of the lighting systems inside the Ballet Twins Building had failed, and the occasionally functioning light sources were not enough for people to clearly see the road at all times.
The two girls shuttled rapidly through the darkness.
Aria activated the night vision mode, and it was not difficult to see the road in the darkness.
One of her hands tightly held Tenshi’s hand.
Actually, Aria planned to carry Tenshi and run directly, after all, Tenshi’s health had never been very good.
For her, picking up Tenshi, who weighed only 40kg, was not difficult at all, and even somewhat easy.
But Tenshi refused.
After going up a few floors, the two simultaneously lightened their footsteps, and Tenshi also deliberately slowed down the rhythm of her breathing.
Movement came from above.
It wasn’t that kind of rustling tiny movement, but somewhat noisy footsteps and meaningless buzzing.
The girls exchanged a glance, slowly stepped forward, poked half their heads out from below the stairs, and cautiously peered toward the hall above.
It was Ethereals.
A large number of Ethereals!
Encountering a large number of Ethereals was no good thing, but for Tenshi and Aria at this moment, this was instead good news.
This indicated that something here had attracted them.
It was very likely Nangong and Sunna who were hiding.
“It’s Tyrfing. Although it only has one hand, the blade formed by the ether crystal on its hand is extremely sharp. Its drunken-like steps are very cute, but every movement might be the charging up for a slash. Hmm… are there about seven?”
Tenshi’s wine-red eyes were half-squinted, reflecting the situation of the hall above.
Her line of sight was mainly focused on those wandering Ethereals, and some related information about them quickly popped into her mind as she tallied their numbers.
Tyrfing had a humanoid shape with a tail, one of its arms was overly long, and ether crystals gathered on it to form a blade.
As for some others, they were also humanoid in shape, but without legs.
Ether crystals grew on their bodies, making them look like crosses as they floated.
“And… Phantoms. They don’t need to get close; instead, they directly use condensed ether to attack like throwing stones. There are five of them.”
Afterward, Tenshi’s gaze fell upon a few little things close in appearance to her own “Withering Heart Attack”, as well as a few other floating Ethereals whose masks and ether cores combined into hideous faces.
“Little Blastcrawlers, five. And three Wraiths adept at disguising themselves as statues and attacking with sword-like weapons on their arms.”
“There are so many Ethereals, maybe all the Ethereals nearby were attracted here.”
“But I don’t see Nangong and Sunna… Aria, did you see them?”
Tenshi turned her head to look at her close friend beside her.
“No, but, Tenshi, look over there.” Aria shook her head.
As Aria spoke, she reached out and pointed to a corner of the hall.
Tenshi looked over.
An art sculpture was placed there, and behind the shadow of the sculpture, a shivering little fellow could be seen.
Tenshi squinted her eyes to let herself see more clearly.
That little fellow had rabbit ears and a roly-poly body; it was a small grey Bangboo, and the eyes on its facial monitor presented a “＞﹏＜” expression.
“It’s the commission target,” Tenshi said.
“Since we ran into it, let’s take it along the way.”
“Tenshi, there are too many Ethereals ahead, a big battle is inevitable.”
Saying this, Aria had already taken out her weapon.
That was a pair of cheer sticks; although they looked like cheer sticks, they were actually energy blades.
“If other Ethereals are drawn over in the middle, remember to hide quickly.”
With that, Aria stood up, ready to act.
But Tenshi grabbed her.
“Wait, Aria, to solve them all at once, this is the time when we need—”
As she spoke, Tenshi took out her Blastcrawler-like creations from her schoolbag.
“Go, Withering Heart Attack.”
After Tenshi put down several small “Blastcrawlers”, they immediately crawled toward the Ethereals, their short little legs stepping on the ground and making a “clatter clatter” sound.
The Ethereals didn’t notice anything unusual; even those few real Blastcrawlers actively approached.
This made it convenient for Withering Heart Attack to complete its positioning.
Soon, they occupied the edges and center of the hall, completely enveloping this gathered group of Ethereals.
“Although they are just made from ether batteries, they are more than enough to deal with them,” Tenshi said like this, with a little bit of light in her eyes.
Aria subconsciously glanced at Tenshi.
And at the very instant Aria turned her head.
“Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang bang bang!”
Withering Heart Attack exploded, a chain reaction of explosions instantly covering the hall.
The Ethereals entrenched here fell under the impact of high temperature and firelight, and after their cores were destroyed, they began to dissipate rapidly.
“Mm-nene (Save, save me!!!)!”
The Bangboo hiding in the corner let out a scream, hugged its head, lay on the ground, and trembled endlessly.
The sound of the explosion made Aria abruptly turn her head to look at the hall, and she said somewhat dryly:
“Tenshi, what did you say they were made of just now?”
[Your invention makes Aria feel shocked and worried. Shock +89. Worry +44.]
“Ether batteries,” Tenshi replied.
“Hmm…” Aria looked at the scene of the explosion, then looked at Tenshi, “Goodness…”
“What’s wrong?” Tenshi asked.
“Nothing.” Aria shook her head, “I was just wondering, what would you be like if you hadn’t met us?”
“Maybe an evil scientist squatting in a workshop developing dangerous weapons.”
Tenshi blinked twice, looked at Aria, raised her hand to prop up her chin, and said in a serious tone:
“If I hadn’t met you guys.”
“I might not be around anymore now.”
“You’re not allowed to say that!” Aria reached out to cover Tenshi’s mouth.
[Your honest remarks make Aria feel slightly annoyed. Worry +180.]
Tenshi instead grabbed Aria’s outstretched hand with both hands and shook her head:
“My illness is like this.”
“If someone accompanies me, it will deteriorate more slowly.”
“With you guys around, I’ve lived until now.”
Tenshi felt Aria’s hand in hers tremble slightly.
[Your remarks cause Aria’s emotion module to generate a sorrowful electric current. Sadness +144.]
“Then we must find Nangong and Sunna, we will always stay with you. Let’s leave this place first.”
Aria squeezed back Tenshi’s hand, controlling her strength very well so that one could feel cherished without hurting or breaking human flesh and blood.
Then, Aria withdrew her hand and quickly ran towards the location where that Bangboo was.
Then she scooped up the Bangboo in her arms.
Tenshi quickly followed from behind.
The two girls didn’t stay here long.
After all, with such an explosion just happening, Ethereals would surely gather here very soon; they should find a safer place first.
The girls’ cautious behavior spared them a disaster.
Not long after Tenshi and Aria left, a five-member squad silently sneaked over.
These people wore uniform special combat suits and held energy rifles in their hands.
The five stayed together, their muzzles aimed in different directions, advancing in a well-trained manner.
“Captain, there’s nothing here, the people should have already run away,” a subordinate reported.
The person at the head nodded, their gaze sweeping across the hall scene.
The shattered ground, damaged walls, and scattered debris and wreckage—the explosion had left its mark here.
“The people who came consciously evacuated ahead of time. We must absolutely not let these guys carrying explosives continue to stay inside this building,” the captain ordered.
“Yes,” several team members replied in unison.
Right at this moment, a series of footsteps came from below.
There were sounds of metal and stone colliding, the sound of leather shoes tapping on the floor…
And the voice of a young girl speaking could also be heard: “Right here, the explosion sound just now came from this place! Was it caused by the kidnapped Rain? Or could it be…”
The five thugs immediately turned around, raised their guns, and aimed over.
A group of people rushed up.
A white-haired wolf Thiren dressed in butler attire, a mature lady floating like a ghost wearing a maid outfit, an impatient shark Thiren, and a green-haired twin-tailed girl holding a chainsaw with a timid expression.
There was also a Bangboo wearing an orange scarf with the number “01” written on it.