Thirty million Dennies—
Hearing that number, even Billy, Anby, and the members of the Sons of Calydon looked visibly stunned.
They knew they'd made a lot this time, but they hadn't expected it to be this much.
Nicole cleared her throat.
"As agreed, seven million Dennies go to you, the Sons of Calydon..."
As she spoke, she handed one of the suitcases to Caesar, the leader of the Sons of Calydon.
Caesar opened it, took a quick glance, and his eyes lit up with excitement.
"Seven million—finally, we've got the funds to rebuild Calydon Town..."
But then he frowned slightly.
"Wait... Piper, Lucy, help me count this. Isn't it a bit too much?"
Lucy just glanced at the contents and said, "No need to count. It's close to ten million."
Piper nodded. "Three million extra."
Everyone turned to Nicole.
"I already invested a million Dennies into building Calydon Town, didn't I? Now I'm adding another three million. Let's finish building not just the town—but Calydon City too."
Caesar was deeply moved. "Thank you."
"No need for thanks," Nicole replied with a smile. "I told you—this is a business investment."
To most people, investing in the outer ring was a fool's errand with zero return.
But Nicole knew Calydon Town was different.
And now, with a golden statue appearing in Calydon Town, her resolve to invest there was even stronger.
Of course, she had her own reasons.
Land prices in New Eridu were getting out of control, and the welfare home's lease was expiring in a few years. Renewing would cost a fortune—add the expense of renovation and rebuilding, and Nicole simply couldn't afford it.
If, in the next few years—or decades—Calydon Town could grow into something real,
relocating the welfare home there might not be such a bad idea.
But for now, it was just a thought.
Whether that would actually happen depended on how far Calydon Town could go.
"Alright, pack the Dennies away. To celebrate this major win, dinner's on me tonight—let's hit Lumina Square for a feast."
"Yay! Blue mackerel time!" Nekomata cheered.
Billy cleared his throat. "I say we hit the Starlight Knight restaurant."
Nicole shook her head. "Too low-end. We earned thirty million—of course we're going somewhere fancy."
But before heading to Lumina Square, they had one more stop to make—
Sixth Street, to pick up the Phaethon siblings from the video store...
Half an hour later, in front of the video store on Sixth Street, an SUV and a truck pulled up.
Nicole stepped out of the SUV, carrying a suitcase—the share of Dennies for the Phaethon siblings.
Inside the store, Nicole didn't hesitate and barged straight into Belle's control room with Sam Li and the others in tow.
"Nicole? Sam Li? Caesar? What are you all doing here?"
Nicole casually dropped the suitcase on the desk.
"Obviously, we're here to give you your share of the Dennies, just like we agreed..."
She popped open the suitcase.
Seven to eight million Dennies in small bills filled up half the case.
Belle stared in shock. "That much?"
"Eight million, just as promised."
Belle hesitated. "Honestly... you don't have to give us that much."
Sure, eight million was what they had agreed on.
But truthfully, during the search for Golden Bangboo and Platinum Bangboo, she and her brother hadn't contributed all that much.
They only managed to find Golden Bangboo once—and even then, he got away.
Noticing Belle's reluctance, Nicole said seriously,
"Hare's House always honors its contracts. Just take it."
Sam Li stood silently nearby, giving a slight nod of approval.
"Now get your stuff—let's hit Lumina Square for a big dinner and celebrate our win."
Belle looked at Wise.
She picked up the suitcase and drove out with her brother Wise and the others, heading toward Lumina Square...
Meanwhile, on the other side of New Eridu, inside the Security Bureau—
Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, Seth, and the rest of the officers involved in the operation had returned from the C75 Hollows.
There was no question about it—
The operation had failed.
They had located Golden Bangboo more than once and even set up ambushes, but still let both Golden and Platinum Bangboo slip away.
As soon as they got back, Zhu Yuan, Seth, and Qingyi were summoned to the conference room.
There, facing the Bureau leadership and other members, Zhu Yuan gave a simple rundown of what had happened.
Things started smoothly.
As soon as they entered the Hollows, they received intel from the Hollow Investigation Association pinpointing the locations of Golden and Platinum Bangboo.
But unfortunately—Hare's House beat them to it.
Later, when they finally tracked Golden Bangboo again and rushed over,
Hare's House had already gotten there first—again.
No one managed to catch him.
It wasn't just once. This happened multiple times.
Every time, Hare's House showed up before they did.
Every time, Hare's House was one step ahead of the Security Bureau.
Zhu Yuan was baffled and even began suspecting there was a mole from Hare's House inside the Bureau or the Investigation Association.
But that didn't hold up either.
One time, Zhu Yuan acted alone, without relying on intel, and managed to find Golden Bangboo by herself—
Only to discover that Hare's House had already arrived ahead of her.
"That's the situation. It seems Hare's House has some other method of tracking Golden Bangboo—something even more advanced than what the Hollow Investigation Association uses. They've been one step ahead every time..."
At the beginning, they could still compete with Hare's House to locate Golden Bangboo.
But later on, they couldn't even find a trace of him—let alone pinpoint his location.
They searched until nightfall—
Never saw Golden or Platinum Bangboo again.
And it wasn't just them.
Other forces and gangs had the same experience.
They scoured the entire Hollow and never found Golden Bangboo.
"The Hollow Investigation Association has concluded that Golden Bangboo and Platinum Bangboo have disappeared from the C75 Hollows..."