Before Yan could speak, Fu Hua smoothly continued to add,
“Besides, when I came in, the guiding radish used for exploration was already lost along the way.
If I want to walk out of the Hollow alone, I can’t do without someone to lead the way.”
“Instead of being trapped here and waiting idly for rescue, it’s better to travel together with you.
Once we finish exploring the depths of the Hollow together, you can just drop me off on your way out.
You get an extra helper who is familiar with the factory’s terrain, and I can also evacuate safely.
This is a win-win situation to begin with.”
Soukaku was chewing on an energy bar and chimed in vaguely,
“Sister Yan~ What does she mean by ‘win-win’?
Does it mean both people get to eat more food?”
Yan explained softly with a helpless tone,
“It means both sides can benefit.”
Soukaku tilted her head, her Tail tip pausing in mid-air, and asked with a blank and innocent expression,
“Then…
can it be exchanged for snacks?”
Asaba Harumasa lazily chimed in from behind,
“To put it bluntly, it means getting the job done without having to work overtime.
For you, it means going back earlier to keep eating snacks.”
Soukaku’s eyes lit up.
“Then I want a win-win too!”
Yan reached out and gently pressed down on Soukaku’s shoulder, soothing her in a low voice,
“Be well-behaved.
I’ll leave some red bean buns for you when we get back later.
Stop messing around for now.”
After saying that, she raised her eyes to look at Fu Hua.
Fu Hua could clearly feel Yan’s scrutinizing gaze.
At this moment, she was secretly weighing whether this “detective” wearing red-rimmed glasses truly had the strength to go deep into the high-risk Hollow; why she was able to retreat unscathed after facing dozens of Ethereals head-on just now; and at the same time, she was carefully distinguishing the truth from falsehood in Fu Hua’s words.
After a moment of silence, Yan slowly spoke, her tone calm and steady,
“Are you really familiar with the internal environment?”
“I have carefully explored this factory.
Every facility layout, every main route, and every hidden branch road inside is clear to me.
Whether it is the mining area, the chemical production area, various equipment passages, or emergency branch roads, I know them like the back of my hand.
I can guide you accurately and will never take a detour.”
Yan was silent for a moment, her eyes carrying careful consideration,
She slowly raised her eyes, her crimson eyes gentle yet resolute, looking straight at Fu Hua, her tone peaceful yet clear and powerful.
“Keep up, stay close to the team.
You don’t need to do anything; protecting yourself is the most important thing.”
Fu Hua calmly nodded, raised her hand to roll up the cuffs of her beige jacket another tight fold, neatly revealing the shirt cuffs inside that had turned white and frayed from being repeatedly rubbed by aether crystal debris, took the ‘radish’ handed over by Yan, stepped forward steadily, walking at the very front of the team, and navigated familiarly toward the factory corridor deep within the Hollow.
Miyabi walked slowly slightly behind and to the side of her, her right hand resting naturally on the hilt of her blade, maintaining a state of vigilance.
She looked a bit dazed, yet serious and meticulous.
Soukaku followed closely by Miyabi’s side step by step, still chewing on an energy bar, her cheeks puffing in and out, full of innocence and cluelessness.
Her fluffy Tail swayed casually, the Tail tip occasionally brushing against the aether crystal debris scattered on the wall, scraping out faint rustling sounds, her heart filled with simple joy.
Asaba Harumasa walked leisurely at the rear of the team, his pace still lazy and seemingly careless.
However, the hand hanging by his side already had a thin yet sharp streak of lightning lingering between his knuckles.
Looking relaxed, he was actually silently paying attention to the surrounding movements, ready to handle any unexpected changes at any time.
As for Yan, she walked in the middle of the team, her expression gentle and meticulous.
Her long-handled blade had long been properly put away, and at some point, she was gripping a small aether energy detector, gazing softly at the constantly refreshing data stream.
While moving forward steadily, she quietly kept an eye on the movements of the team members ahead and behind her.
She meticulously controlled the energy changes within the Hollow while silently caring for the entire team, acting as a qualified “parent” who handled things thoroughly and warmly.
When the team reached the first fork in the road, the aether energy detector in Yan’s hand suddenly emitted a soft, delicate buzzing sound.
She lowered her head slightly, her gaze falling on the constantly jumping screen, and then softly called out to stop everyone.
“The aether concentration has risen by another five percentage points compared to just now.
The deeper we go into the factory, the denser the energy fluctuations become.”
Her fingertips lightly tapped the instrument’s screen, locking onto the position accurately.
“The source of the abnormal fluctuations should be in the northeast direction, about six to eight hundred meters away from us.”
“The core area of the chemical plant happens to be in the northeast direction.” Fu Hua raised her hand to gently push the red-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose, her gaze resolute.
“This matches my previous preliminary speculation completely.”
“You mentioned earlier that you suspect it was a subsequent chain reaction triggered by an explosion in the aether energy storage room, right?”
At some point, Yan had opened her portable notebook, her pen tip landing steadily on the page.
Writing at an extremely fast speed, she recorded the key information word for word, her tone gentle yet clear and well-organized.
“There are traces of illegal modification on the pipes outside the storage room.
You had already confirmed this point during your initial exploration?”
“There are clear welding joint remnants left on the outer wall of the pipes.”
Fu Hua slightly weighed her phrasing, her tone calm and rational, trying as much as possible to speak with the tone of a detective who conducted rigorous deductions after on-site exploration.
“I compared the welding technique with the nameplate codes of the surrounding equipment and determined that the pipe modification time was just shortly before the Hollow outbreak.
Normal factory pipe welding uses standardized solder proportioning for construction, but the solder formula of these welds is completely substandard, and it is definitely not the trace of low-temperature flux left by standard construction.”
“When surveying the site back then, I also found a shattered liquid aether gauge dial nearby.
The remaining scale on the fragments showed that the internal pressure value before the explosion far exceeded three times the standard threshold.
Under normal circumstances, the measurement scale would never reach such a high value unless someone deliberately locked the valve at the upper limit of capacity and forced it to operate at overload.”
Holding her pen, Yan quickly wrote down a few more key points in her notebook.
Her pen tip paused gently on the paper surface, and then she raised her eyes to look at Fu Hua, her gaze meticulous and gentle.
“That being said, it is highly likely caused by human illegal operation, forced overload, and the coincidence of hitting the Hollow.
Even if it wasn’t intentional sabotage, it still counts as severe illegal construction and operational errors.”
“The direction is basically correct.” Fu Hua replied in a deep voice, her tone resolute.
Yan closed her notes and nodded gently to Fu Hua.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
Yan closed her notebook, giving Fu Hua a slight nod, her tone gentle and sincere, with a timbre that carried a natural gentleness and elegance.
She put away her notes, looked up at the road ahead, and softly motioned for everyone to continue moving forward.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”