As a member of the Hollow Special Operations Section, Tsukishiro Yanagi of course knew this.
In theory, breaking through the strata to reach another space was not an impossible operation.
Especially in Hollows where spatial movement was relatively stable, it was even considered routine.
But the difficulty of this kind of thing always lay in how to know what was on the other side of the strata.
Because space had a topological structure, the distance of waves in space remained consistent.
On radar displays, a Hollow appeared as a completely flat plane, revealing no information about terrain or structural variation.
Only after reaching the corresponding position, through point-to-point calculations, could one determine the true relative positions of two points in physical space.
Thus, exploration in a Hollow was more like revealing a map in a game—before reaching a location, there was no way to know what exactly was there.
So whether it was ordinary Hollow Raiders or professional organizations like the Hollow Special Operations Section, everyone used this method of “physically mapping the world with their bodies.”
…This guy actually knows in advance what’s on the other side of the space?
Is his ability some kind of four-dimensional radar?
But Tsukishiro Yanagi quickly realized that this thought was absurd.
Not to mention that “four-dimensional radar” and this digging ability hardly seemed like the same kind of power, even if he could confirm a location, it didn’t necessarily mean his detection could bypass spatial constraints.
Because she remembered that he actually knew the location of that factory building—maybe he had calculated it.
As a combat-oriented personnel, Tsukishiro Yanagi was least familiar with spatial positioning and computation inside Hollows.
With her experience, that kind of work was only done by properly trained Hollow investigators.
Although most Proxy users on the market were just people who had picked up a few calculation models and were passing themselves off as experts, the guidance ability this man had just displayed clearly showed he was extremely familiar with this Hollow.
So knowing this kind of “shortcut”… didn’t seem strange.
What Yanagi didn’t know was that if people from the Investigation Association heard someone doing this, they would only be even more shocked.
Because only professionals understood just how high the computational and modeling cost of carving out a temporary shortcut inside a Hollow really was.
This was the so-called “complexity blind spot”—because a nuclear power plant generates electricity by pressing a button, people who don’t understand it think electricity can be generated just by pressing a button.
But this did calm Yanagi down somewhat.
After all, if the other party were truly outrageously capable, she would instead worry whether his appearance here had ulterior motives.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m digging toward the factory where your teammates are hiding.
It should be connected in a bit.”
…As expected.
Yanagi raised her hand to check her watch.
Fifty-two minutes left… Although she was anxious, if they could reach the factory quickly, it would indeed save far more time than taking a twenty-minute detour. The source of this chapter is g.com.
She glanced at the girl tucked under her arm, then toward the depths of the tunnel, and asked in confusion, “Do you need help?”
“No need… alright, it’s already through.
Come down!”
“Huh?
That fast?” Yanagi froze slightly, not expecting that “a bit” would be this short.
Without hesitation, she jumped down while still holding the girl under her arm.
Only after landing did she realize how orderly the passage was.
The cross-section of the tunnel was incomparably precise.
The walls were smooth, the angles perfectly consistent, and even the steps beneath her feet had evenly spaced platforms like it had been deliberately constructed.
Because the geometry was so perfect, there was not even any need for support beams, and there was no sign of instability in this man-height (two-tier) passage.
If she hadn’t known there was no tunnel here before, she would never have believed this had been dug only minutes ago.
Yanagi touched the wall and carefully made her way forward through the tunnel, soon seeing Russell sitting at the edge of the passage, already finished with his work.
The man was breathing heavily as he wiped sweat from his face, yet even so, he still refused to remove his fox mask.
…Looks like using his ability like this is quite exhausting for him.
Yanagi, unaware that Russell was simply out of shape, felt a trace of emotion in her heart.
She quickly walked to the exit of the tunnel, and a strong mixed smell of machine oil, rust, and scorched metal hit her face.
The thick burnt odor was clearly left behind from the earlier explosion of Typhon’s mech.
“The location is definitely correct, but you should go in first,” Russell said.
“They don’t know me.
I’m afraid they’ll panic and open fire if I show up.”
“Mm, thank you for your hard work.”
Yanagi nodded, then pulled out a handkerchief from her waist and reached out as if to wipe his sweat…
But halfway through the motion, she suddenly realized the other party was a man, not Soukaku with snacks stuck to her mouth.
Her face instantly felt a little hot, though she still maintained the demeanor of a composed city woman and simply placed the handkerchief in front of him.
“Um… you can use this to wipe your sweat…”
“Oh.”
Russell accepted the handkerchief a little blankly.
Yanagi nodded calmly, then stepped out of the tunnel.
·
Russell remained in the same motion, holding the handkerchief.
The reason for his hesitation wasn’t actually Yanagi’s earlier gesture of wiping his sweat. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Because at that moment, he hadn’t even realized what she intended.
It was only after she left that he understood.
What he had been fixated on was where she had taken out the handkerchief from…
Yanagi’s outfit consisted of a shirt, a waist guard, and a hip-hugging skirt.
The handkerchief had indeed been tucked in her waist guard—but the position she pulled it from… from his perspective, it looked like it had been drawn from beneath the lower left hemisphere of her full chest…
A very proper-looking beauty pulling a handkerchief from that area to wipe someone’s sweat—any man would have a hard time not overthinking it.
So for a moment, Russell’s brain completely stalled.
Even after receiving the handkerchief, he hesitated over whether he should actually use it.
After all, it had come from that place.
Sitting on the steps of the tunnel, Russell held the handkerchief motionless for nearly ten seconds.
It was white, made of pure cotton, with extremely fine dark patterns embroidered along the edges—so subtle they were almost invisible unless you looked closely, only noticeable through the slight raised texture under his fingertips.
No text, no pattern, nothing that revealed the owner’s identity.
But a faint soap scent mixed with something softer and warmer drifted into his nose from his palm.
Russell stared at it with unusual seriousness.
Then he abruptly lifted his head and turned toward the smooth, featureless wall of the tunnel.
A voice sounded in his mind: It’s just normal social etiquette.
When someone hands you tissue, do you sniff it?
Then why would you sniff a handkerchief?
Another voice immediately retorted: But it came from under the southern hemisphere.
The first voice calmly pointed out: That’s a waist guard.
The inner layer is a normal storage place.
That’s your own filthy thinking; don’t blame where she stores things.
The second voice was unmoved: Southern hemisphere.
Underneath.
The first voice panicked: Think carefully—you’re supposed to be the cool, taciturn expert type right now!
The second voice persisted: Southern hemisphere.
The first voice: You—!
The second voice: So…