“The scenery in this Hollow is not bad, except the aether concentration is a bit high, and the pedestrians on the road are way too enthusiastic—look, here they come again.”
Casually, she punched apart an intermediate Ethereal that lunged over, aether scattering.
“A stroll?” Anby repeated the word, her expression still calm, but her gaze clearly carrying a few more hints of vigilance, “Taking a stroll in the Hollow?”
“Why not?
The air is fresh—well, not quite fresh, but exciting enough.
The scenery is unique, and you even get free sparring partners.”
Fu Hua looked around at the approaching Ethereals, her tone as breezy as if she were introducing tourist attractions.
“It’s just that these sparring partners aren’t very durable, shattering at a mere touch with no sense of achievement.
What do you guys think?
Little adult with the green headphones?”
Anby froze.
Not because of the absurd logic of a “stroll”, but because of that address.
“Green…
headphones?”
“Uh-huh,” Fu Hua pointed at the decoration on her body, “green.”
“That’s black!
Black!
Are you colorblind?!”
The tips of the young girl’s ears quietly turned red.
Billy couldn’t help laughing out loud beside her, earning a fierce glare from Anby.
“And you, chuunibyou android,” Fu Hua turned to Billy, “what are you laughing at?
Your first reaction upon seeing me earlier was neither vigilance nor combat, but studying which tokusatsu show my armor resembles.
Inside the Hollow, surrounded by Ethereals, with only thirty percent ammo left, is your processor loaded with combat programs or an anime watchlist?
And after arguing for so long, did you actually recognize who it looks like?”
Billy’s laughter stopped abruptly, the light in his mechanical eyeballs flickering wildly as if his CPU was overloaded.
“I was…
that was…”
Billy completely stalled.
Of course he wanted to answer; his database had at least a dozen tokusatsu films that could be used for comparative analysis, but he had been infuriated by the nickname “chuunibyou android”.
If he seriously answered which movie the armor resembled now, wouldn’t that substantiate the accusation of “only studying tokusatsu shows inside the Hollow”?
But if he didn’t answer, wouldn’t that be equivalent to admitting he couldn’t recognize it?
A fanatical fan of the starlight knight couldn’t recognize which work a cool set of armor resembled?
This was an insult to his fan identity!
[Billy fell into an existential crisis]
Eous let out two “Mm-nah!” sounds.
Ling’s voice came from inside the Bangboo, carrying a tremor of trying hard to maintain composure but obviously breaking down.
“Um…
Mr.
Masked Superhero out for a stroll, the Hollow structure is increasingly unstable.
Can we retreat first before discussing the armor issue?”
Fu Hua turned her head, her eyes looking through the mask at Eous.
Its round body, two big ears on top of its head, and short little legs stood on the ground covered in spreading aether crystals, its electronic eyes flickering with helpless yet nervous light.
“Oh—” Fu Hua drew out her tone, the amusement in her voice almost overflowing, “the donkey-eared shortie actually spoke.”
Eous’s electronic eyes flashed fiercely several times, and it took a good while before Ling’s voice came out, her volume obviously raised by several folds: “Donkey, donkey-eared shortie?!”
“Isn’t that right?”
Fu Hua tilted her head, counting on her fingers, “Ears like a donkey, legs are short, and it goes ‘mm-nah’ when it calls—donkey-eared shortie, how vivid.”
“This isn’t a matter of whether it’s vivid or not!
Who taught you to give people nicknames?!”
“Senior Sparkle taught me!
You always gotta find some fun when you’re out for a stroll.”
Fu Hua’s tone was so sincere that one couldn’t tell whether she was truly explaining or just stoking the flames.
“Look, the Hollow is so boring, with pitch-black walls and fluorescent green sludge everywhere.
It’s rare to meet three interesting passersby; what a waste not to give them nicknames.”
“What do you mean by ‘interesting passersby’—?!!”
“You guys, of course: chuunibyou android, Lord Green Headphones, donkey-eared shortie,” Fu Hua pointed at them one by one, her tone as breezy as taking attendance, “how recognizable!
Next time we meet, as soon as I call out your nicknames, you’ll know it’s me.
Convenient.”
Eous’s short little hands clenched into fists, Ling’s voice carrying a grinding-teeth tone: “You—!!!”
“Careful!”
With one punch, Fu Hua turned a lower Ethereal pouncing from behind the Bangboo into powder, her movement as fluid as the extension of a dance.
“Alright!
Donkey-eared shortie, stop spacing out and chatting in the Hollow; that’s not a good habit.
Although these sparring partners aren’t durable, they still know how to ambush.”
“Isn’t this all because of you?!”
Anby watched this scene and suddenly felt a bit more balanced in her heart.
Fu Hua clapped her hands and looked around.
The number of Ethereals was still increasing, and the aether concentration deep within the Hollow continued to rise.
In the northeast direction, that huge energy source was slowly awakening; White Guy “Dulahan” was turning into an elite Ethereal bit by bit.
“Alright, small talk time is over,” her tone remained brisk, but her movements suddenly became sharp, “a big guy is coming from deep within the Hollow, and your current state is not suitable to say hello to it.”
“A big guy?” A hint of tension crept into Billy’s voice.
“An elite Ethereal, close to the high-risk threshold, named Dulahan.
Sounds pretty bluffing, right?” Fu Hua smashed an aether entity lunging at her with one punch, her tone as relaxed as chatting about the weather, “Chuunibyou android, you only have a few rounds of ammo left; Lord Green Headphones has also consumed over half of her stamina, and donkey-eared shortie, the Hollow structure is deteriorating, your navigation system needs an update.”
“Anyway, retreat!”
Anby fell silent for a fraction of a second, then nodded, “Retreat.”
No one objected, and the team began moving toward the exit.
Fu Hua followed behind the team, escorting them throughout the entire journey.
Ethereals swarmed in from all directions—lower, intermediate, and occasionally one or two elite upper-level individuals—all cleared out by her one by one.
Her movements were clean and neat, yet her mouth never stopped.
“Android, to your left.”
“Saw it!
Wait, can you stop calling me that nickname!”
“Got it, android.
Green Headphones baby, there’s one to your right.”
“Received.” Anby slashed down with a blade, then paused, “…
It changed again.”
“Ayo-yo-yo, Headphones baby!
What a cute title.”
The temperature of Anby’s little face was gradually rising, Billy’s mechanical joints were clicking away, and Eous’s short little legs rolled at lightning speed, as if using speed to express its master’s dissatisfaction.
The aether concentration deep in the Hollow was still rising.
Suddenly, they saw White Guy accelerating toward transforming into an Ethereal.
His body was being covered by a black-green crystalline carapace, his head was turning into a black-hole-like abyss, the core crystal was condensing and forming within it, and one arm had completely crystallized, turning into a huge bone blade.
That damaged safe lay right at his feet—Fairy’s carrier, the key to all future plots.
“Th…
This is!”
“Let’s go, stop thinking about it.
The Dulahan I mentioned is this one.”
“No, our safe is right there!!”
“Alright, android, stop looking.
Go back and replenish your state first; we’ll talk about it next time.”
Fu Hua glanced in that direction, then withdrew her gaze, dragging the others to escape.
The safe wasn’t going to run away; they could come back to retrieve it next time.
Right now, she needed to safely escort these three guys who had been enraged to the point of turning red out.
The team passed through the corridor, approaching the Hollow exit.
The fissure opened up at the end of their field of vision, and the outside night seeped in through the gap.
Real air, real temperature, real world.
Fu Hua stopped in her tracks.
“Alright, I’ll see you guys off up to here.”
Anby and Billy turned around, looking at her, while Eous stopped at the edge of the exit.
“You…” Anby’s gaze was serious, as if she wanted to see through the mask to make out Fu Hua’s face, “Who on earth are you?”
Fu Hua tilted her head, a faint trace of a smile flashing in her eyes.
“Alright then, you cute little things.”
“See you next time ~”
Fu Hua’s tone was brisk and joyful, like promising an interesting appointment.
“By then, let me see what you guys look like being wildly chased by Ethereals ~ Hehehee.”
As her words fell, Fu Hua tapped her toes lightly and her figure soared into the air, quickly disappearing into the night of Fourteenth Street like a peregrine falcon.
From behind came Billy’s belated roar, Anby’s voice striving to remain calm but obviously carrying emotion, and Eous’s continuous “Mm-nah mm-nah”s—Ling was already too angry to speak.
[Bao Bao Cat: Ah~ So bad, I love bad women so much~]
[Call Me Queen: Ling was called a donkey-eared shortie, and even the Bangboo’s fur puffed up in anger!
Hahaha]
[Pheasant Wholesale Market: “Let me see what you guys look like running away next time we meet” Wow oh~ So good at flirting, everyone is so shy.]