While Arataki Itto thought he was in Natlan, carrying his long sword and holding onto Ushi as he searched for the Traveler and Paimon within Hollow C41...
On the other side of Hollow C41, Sam Li, Nicole, Anby, Billy, Nekomata, and Soldier 11 had just entered. They were using the map obtained from Phaethon to search for the location of an old-era tycoon's warehouse.
The car rumbled through abandoned streets.
Just like in other Hollows, the buildings here had been eroded by the Hollow for decades. The ground had collapsed, structures were in ruins—everything was desolate.
Hopefully, the warehouse was still intact.
Inside the car, Nekomata kept glancing around.
"Nicole, this is weird. There's not a single Ethereal in sight."
Nicole smiled. "Didn't I already say? The Hollow was cleared out by professionals three days ago—it's in a decline state now. It's probably the work of the Hollow Special Operations Division. They must've cleaned out all the Ethereals..."
Nicole especially liked Hollows that had just been suppressed.
But full of old-era treasure.
If they were lucky enough to find a former tycoon's warehouse, they could make a killing. Maybe even stumble upon crates of Dennies.
Just thinking about it made Nicole chuckle to herself.
"Soldier 11, you're about to hit a tree."
Soldier 11's reminder brought her back.
Nicole quickly pulled herself together. "Relax, I've got this. I'm a solid driver. We're almost at the warehouse marked on the map. Everyone, get ready..."
Billy nodded. "Nicole, we've been itching to move!"
A few minutes later, they found the warehouse.
Nicole pulled over by the roadside and led Sam Li, Anby, Billy, and the others toward the building.
But as soon as they entered, they ran into a corroded old-era robot, partially consumed by Ether.
Before they could react, the robot had already attacked.
Thankfully, these relics—especially after decades of erosion—were far weaker than before.
Soldier 11 raised her blade and, with a single slash, cut the robot in half.
Billy jumped back, startled. "That was fast—"
Soldier 11 said calmly, "On the battlefield, always keep your eyes open."
When it came to alertness, even as professional agents, they clearly weren't on the same level as Soldier 11, who'd seen real war.
Nicole stepped to the front. "No time to waste—let's go. There's a door here, the warehouse should be inside."
Old-era warehouses usually had two layers of security.
One was a smart electronic lock...
The other was a mechanical lock...
Nicole checked it—turns out the electronic lock still worked. She used pre-collected intel to unlock it.
Once inside, Nicole was stunned.
The place was a mess. Shattered resource crates everywhere, signs of struggle, and garbage strewn across the floor.
Nicole picked up a broken resource crate—one glance told her it was completely empty.
Raiders had already been here.
"Those damned raiders took everything! I swear, I'll never forgive them..."
"Nicole, calm down. From the authorities' point of view, what we're doing also kinda counts as raiding..."
"Shut it. Start searching—see if they left anything behind."
Nicole searched high and low, but only found a few more damaged crates.
Like the first one, all were empty.
Billy sighed, disappointed. "Nicole, we blew it. Let's just go back and enjoy the Golden Week."
Nicole gave him a swift kick. "What kind of defeatist talk is that? I told you, this Hollow was the base of an old-era financial giant—there are tons of warehouses. This was just the smallest one!"
With that, she pulled out the map from Phaethon and marked another location.
"Next stop—this one."
"Meow... that's so far away..."
While the group chatted, Anby pulled out a portable Hollow observation device.
"Nicole, there's a shift in the Hollow's data..."
Compared to when they first entered, both the Ether concentration and activity had risen slightly.
That kind of change was rare in a declining Hollow.
Nicole frowned. "What's going on?"
Anby paused, then said, "Could be a sensor error... or maybe the Hollow's reactivating."
They'd seen a few Hollows do that in the past two months.
But even now, Anby couldn't be sure what it meant.
Nicole thought for a moment. "Look, there's a lot of us, and we came in armed. Even if we run into a Notoriety Ethereal, we'll be fine... We're heading to the next warehouse."
They had Sam Li on their team.
If a Notoriety Ethereal showed up, all it would take was one move from Sam Li to take it down—no sweat.
Everyone piled back into the car.
Following the map, they drove toward the next warehouse location.
Crossing one ruined street after another...
They were nearly there when—
A gunshot rang out up ahead.
Or maybe gunfire from the Hollow Investigation Association or security forces?
Nicole wasn't sure, but she decided to go check it out.
To avoid being seen, she parked the Hare House off-roader beneath a half-built structure, then led the team on foot toward the sound of gunfire.
More shots rang out from a different direction.
"Billy, Anby, go check that side!"
"Sam Li, Nekomata, Soldier 11—you're with me. Let's see what's going on near the warehouse."
Nicole had finally tracked down the second warehouse—no way was she letting someone else loot all the resource crates.
Finders keepers. At the very least, Hare House deserved half.
Nicole, Sam Li, and the others passed through a narrow street and slipped between rows of abandoned towers, finally spotting a massive warehouse up ahead.
But the moment she saw it, Nicole froze.
There, beside the warehouse, stood two towering Ethereals—viciously tearing into a group of raiders. Before Nicole could even think of helping, the raiders were already slaughtered.
The sheer size, the overwhelming presence, the brutal attacks...
Nicole recognized them instantly—these were Notoriety Ethereals.
Her first instinct was to retreat with her team.
But just as she started to move, she forced herself to stop.