One month had passed since her probation period began, and Fu Hua had also figured out the daily rhythm of Random Play.
Wise was responsible for tending the shop, greeting customers, and organizing the shelves, while Belle spent most of her time in front of the computer on the second floor, occasionally coming down to help out.
The siblings had a clear and tacit division of labor: Belle was responsible for taking commissions on the Inter-Knot and analyzing Hollow data, while Wise handled logistics and external reception.
Fu Hua’s presence was like an inconspicuous screw.
She wore that blue martial arts uniform and red-rimmed glasses, helping wipe away the dust on the shelves, sorting and numbering videocassettes, and occasionally running errands to the convenience store at the corner to buy a few things.
She was very quiet when working and never talked much, but her movements were deft and meticulous.
Wise observed her for two days and found that her method of sorting videocassettes was more reasonable than the one he used before, cross-indexing by era and genre making them clear at a glance.
After a month of getting along, Belle and Wise gradually stopped avoiding her when talking.
In their eyes, the current Fu Hua was just “a poor, ordinary girl who needed protection”.
Fu Hua actually rather enjoyed this feeling of “being protected”.
In her past life, she was a gaming otaku who had to carry everything by herself, and no one ever thought she “needed protection”.
Now, Belle would run over to help when she carried heavy objects, muttering “Don’t push yourself”.
Wise would hand over a cup of warm water when she worked overtime organizing videocassettes, chatting with her about relaxing and interesting anecdotes.
The looks the two gave her carried a cautious care for a newcomer girl.
In her third month on the job, Belle took the initiative to lead her into the room where the HDD was placed.
This place was divided into several areas—a large sofa, a wall of videocassettes, and a wall crammed with various equipment hung with monitors, with a complexly shaped computer terminal right in the center.
Beside the doorway, on a small platform, stood a Bangboo with a roly-poly body, two large ears on top of its head, and a scarf with the number “01” wrapped around its neck—Eous, Phaethon’s exclusive Bangboo.
“This is Eous.” Belle patted the Bangboo’s head, and the Bangboo emitted two crisp electronic sounds, “Mn-nah!
Mn-nah!”
“Cute, right?”
“Very cute.”
“Aiyo, Fu Hua~ Smile a bit, I’ll tell you a secret, oh.” Belle leaned close to her, lowering her voice, her eyes sparkling with the excitement of “I’ve got some huge gossip here”.
“Actually, my brother and I are Proxies!
The legendary Phaethon!
Surprised?
Shocked?”
Fu Hua blinked.
Of course she knew, but looking at Lynx’s cute little expression, Fu Hua couldn’t bear to burst her bubble.
An appropriate look of surprise appeared on her face.
“Proxy?
You mean…
the kind who take commissions on the Inter-Knot and guide people into the Hollow?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Belle seemed very satisfied with her reaction.
“My brother and I can connect our consciousness to Eous through this machine to enter the Hollow and guide Agents.”
“I’m the one responsible for linking Eous and going in, while my brother operates the data outside.
Our teamwork is super awesome!”
“Legendary…
How awesome…” Fu Hua’s gaze drifted across those flashing screens, her voice carrying a cautious probing.
“Then…
is it really very dangerous inside the Hollow?”
Belle’s smile faded a little, but it lit up again very quickly.
She squatted down in front of Fu Hua and looked into her eyes earnestly.
“It is extremely dangerous!
But we only do navigation and various forms of assistance, and are not responsible for direct combat.”
She paused, reached out to rub Fu Hua’s cheeks, her palms warm and firm.
“But don’t worry, we are Phaethon!
We never let ourselves fall into danger, and with my brother’s assistance, our safety rate is 99.999%.
So you don’t need to look at me with such a worried face.”
Fu Hua was silent for a moment; she knew Belle was comforting her, thinking she was worried about their safety.
“Mm, if there’s anything you can’t handle, please be sure to call me.
I will definitely protect you!”
Belle laughed and pinched her cheek again.
“Alright, alright, don’t worry about us!
Just help us mind the store properly; professional matters should naturally be left to us ‘professionals’ to solve!”
Fu Hua lowered her head, her azure blue eyes flashing with an elusive light through her red-rimmed glasses.
[I Am Super Hao: Little Belle is so gentle!!!
Ah!!
I’m gonna die~]
[It’s Zhou P Too: Feels like Fu Hua is about to become the siblings’ pet canary]
Late at night, eleven-thirty.
The hustle and bustle of Sixth Street gradually subsided, and most of the neon lights dimmed.
Random Play had also closed its doors, and a faint light shone from the HDD room on the first floor—Belle and Wise were still working.
Fu Hua lay in the utility room that had been converted into a bedroom, listening to the footsteps coming from downstairs.
Belle’s steps were light and quick, like a fawn stepping on fallen leaves, while Wise’s steps were steady and slow, every step planted firmly before taking the next.
The two walked alternately, occasionally exchanging lowered-voice conversations; Belle’s voice was crisp and smiling, and Wise’s voice was deep and gentle.
Across the floorboards, she couldn’t hear clearly what they were saying, but she understood that this was the tacit understanding only family members who lived together day and night possessed, and it was best for her not to disturb them too much right now.
Fu Hua closed her eyes, and in her mind, the system interface unfolded silently.
[Popularity points have accumulated to 87 points]
At that moment, a red exclamation mark suddenly popped up in the upper right corner of the system interface.
[Warning: Abnormal fluctuation of the associated Hollow detected.]
[Location: Northeast of Sixth Street, approximately 800 meters away]
[Hollow Level: C-Grade]
[Multiple lower-tier Ethereals reactions detected inside, Hollow stability is declining, and the impact range is expected to expand within 2 hours.]
[People are detected trapped inside the Hollow, Host, please rush to rescue them immediately!]
Fu Hua opened her eyes.
Her azure blue eyes lit up in the dark like two faint flames.
“I didn’t expect this, Lil’ System, you actually have this kind of rescue mission?”
[Of course!
System I am a super good person!
In Lil’ System’s view, the audience cannot be absent from the world of fun!]
[Aiyoya!
Stop talking nonsense!
Go quickly, Host, if you lie down for a while longer, the people inside are going to “evolve”!]
“Got it, got it.
A tiny system dares to order your Host Lord?
You really have quite some nerve.”
Fu Hua listened sideways downstairs; Belle and Wise were still talking in low voices, occasionally accompanied by Belle’s laughter.
They hadn’t noticed the abnormality of the Hollow yet; the fluctuation magnitude of a C-Grade Hollow was relatively small, and even Phaethon might not be able to capture it at the first instance.
By the time they discovered it, it might already be too late for the trapped people.
Fu Hua sat up silently, groping out a flat metal box from under the bed.
The box opened, neatly folding inside was a set of Valkyrie armor.
“Shadow Knight: Shadow Knight Yuelun”
This was something she scammed from the system a few days ago, but the stingy Lil’ System actually went ahead and sealed the armor’s “Eclipse Form”, which made Fu Hua secretly curse the system behind its back for several days.
As a prototype fourth-generation Valkyrie God-Slaying Armor, unlike “White Knight: Moonlight”, it was equipped with almost no ranged weaponry and was a completely close-combat specialized armor.
In exchange, what she got was ultra-high mobility that even other God-Slaying Armors couldn’t match.
Fu Hua took off Xunyu’s blue martial arts uniform, revealing a slender yet not thin physique full of a sense of power; her red-rimmed glasses were gently placed beside the pillow.
With swift movements, she put on the shadow knight armor.
The tight black combat armor fitted the curves of her body, with lightweight armor at the joints.
The whole set of armor had almost every inch of material exuding a certain sense of power compressed to the extreme, while weighing almost nothing.
Finally, she put on the matching mask—a black half-mask exposing only her mouth.
In the mirror, she could hardly recognize herself.
She was no longer that ordinary girl wearing red-rimmed glasses who looked a bit honest and dazed and needed to be protected, but a warrior exuding a sharp aura all over.
The “Eclipse Form” of the shadow knight armor had not yet been activated.
The system showed that the current popularity points were 87, still falling short of the 500 points required to activate the Eclipse Form.
In the Eclipse Form, the high-concentration compressed particles in the power reactor would be released at maximum rate, the two sets of flying blade thrusters at the waist would be fully deployed, and the armor all over her body would turn into an orange-red resembling a total lunar eclipse.
In that state, the output power of the armor would increase significantly, the speed would reach its ultimate, approaching and closing in on the enemy with the momentum of thunder, followed by a storm-like strike.
But now, all she could use were her basic physical fitness, combat skills, and a few small auxiliary gadgets on the armor.
However, dealing with an Ethereal in a C-Grade Hollow was enough!
Fu Hua pushed open the small window of the room and climbed out silently.
Her toes lightly tapped on the external air conditioning unit, and her entire body landed like a withered leaf without making a single sound.
The night of Sixth Street was quiet and profound.
Fu Hua lowered her head and glanced at the warm light seeping from the first-floor window—Belle and Wise were still there, staying up late to work for some commission.
They didn’t know that somewhere eight hundred meters away from them, a Hollow was silently expanding, and there were trapped people inside.
And likewise, they didn’t know that the “ordinary girl who needed protection” in their eyes was currently wearing black close-combat armor, walking towards that Hollow all by herself.
[O is Superior Person: Holy shit, she’s doing it for real!]
[Universe Gai Liuzi: This set of black armor is so handsome!
Is it hidden armor?]
[Mid-air Shoe Changing: Acting as a newbie by day and a big boss by night, I love this contrast so much]