Hoshimi Aya, Corin, Ellen, and the others waited for quite a while.
Eous was brought over by Lina's two Bangboos, Dusura and Annatasha.
After delivering Eous, the two Bangboos flew back.
"Proxy, you're here."
Ellen listlessly put away her handheld game console.
"Ling, the power generation room is very close."
"The journey isn't very far."
Hoshimi Aya explained.
"That's right, Master Proxy."
"Let's set off quickly."
Corin looked at Eous.
Soon, the group arrived at the location of the power generation room. After an inspection, they finally determined that the power generation devices were missing their core modules.
That is, the place where the fuel was supposed to go was empty.
The group began their journey to find fuel. All the fuel they found along the way was taken by Corin.
After finding enough fuel, they returned to the fuel storage.
And restarted the equipment.
"Phew~ The preparation work for the generator is finally complete."
Corin breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, thank you everyone for your hard work."
"Ling, let's contact the central control room next."
Zhe's voice came from Eous.
Afterward, Ling began contacting Lykan and restarted the power supply.
Finally, the group agreed to meet in front of the central courtyard, which was the location of the large gate that had been closed earlier.
The iron gate slowly rose.
"The door is open, that's great!"
Corin looked down at the slowly rising large gate happily.
As for Lina, she had been continuously praising Ling all the way, making Ling's mouth pout from all the compliments.
The group walked forward, went up the stairs to a platform, and spotted a small yellow bag.
Upon seeing it, Ling immediately recognized it as the bag belonging to the person they were looking for. She opened the backpack and pulled out a music player, but there was a countdown timer on it, which scared Ling so much that she immediately threw it away.
However, after the countdown ended, a melodious piece of music played.
"There's something nearby."
Hoshimi Aya placed her hand on the hilt of her knife.
Ling, who was originally about to step forward to retrieve the music player, immediately stopped in her tracks.
Seeing this, the others also became vigilant of their surroundings. Before long, a Etherals wearing something resembling a ballet dress descended from above.
"No, that's not right."
"There are other gazes watching this area."
Hoshimi Aya frowned as she looked at the Etherals descending from the sky before her.
"There are others?!"
"Aya, can you find them?"
Ling asked.
"I can, but..."
Hoshimi Aya hesitated; the creature before her was clearly an elite monster.
"Miss Aya, you can leave this to us."
"You go ahead with confidence."
Lykann noticed Hoshimi Aya's hesitation.
Seeing this, Hoshimi Aya nodded, transforming into a streak of red light, bypassing the Etherals in front of her.
Meanwhile, the members of Victoria faced the Etherals opposite them. However, shortly after they engaged in combat, screams were heard not far from them.
"Rebels?!"
Hoshimi Aya looked at the group of people she had knocked unconscious on the ground and guessed.
Not long after, Ling and the others also arrived here.
However, for some reason, Ellen didn't know if she had fainted or fallen asleep, so they ultimately proposed leaving for the time being.
The group returned to the location of the previous square. The members of Victoria were interrogating the rebel they had captured.
"...Is it that terrifying?"
Hoshimi Aya sat on a chair, listening to the screams coming from not far away, looking puzzled.
It didn't look like they were using any torture methods, so why were they screaming as if their mothers had died?
After waiting for about ten minutes, Ling hurried over.
The interrogation by Victoria Housekeeping was almost over. The rebel revealed all the information about the situation they were in and where they were being held.
Beside the statue
Lykann, Ling, and Hoshimi Aya gathered here.
"Master Rope Master, as smart people like you, you should know what I want to ask next, right?"
Lykann asked with his eyes closed.
"You want to ask if we are hiding some information from you."
Ling replied in a low tone. She originally thought it was just a simple kidnapping case, but she didn't expect it to be complicated.
"Precisely. Balai Tower is occupied by rebels and bandits, and it seems Miss Rui En is very important to the enemy."
"If Master Rope Master is unwilling to exchange information frankly with us, I'm afraid our subsequent actions will also be affected,"
Lykann pondered.
"Subsequent actions?!"
"Are you saying you are still willing to cooperate with us now, instead of handing the matter over to the Public Security Bureau for handling?"
Ling was a bit surprised, after all, they possessed a certain official status.
"Miss Proxy, you must understand that the employers of Victoria Housekeeping are undoubtedly people with considerable prestige and status in Neo-Alledo."
"With the status of our employers, if maintaining property rights alone requires relying on the Public Security Bureau, Victoria Housekeeping cannot allow such rumors to arise, damaging our masters' reputation,"
Lykann explained. Regardless, the rebel matter needed to be resolved properly.
"Furthermore, since it has been confirmed that Miss Rui En has been kidnapped, Victoria Housekeeping naturally cannot stand by while bandits commit such atrocities by misappropriating the master's property,"
Lykann explained.
In the end, Ling chose to reveal Rui En's identity information.
However, whether it required reporting or something else, Lykan took his leave after giving a brief notification.
"Aya, let's go."
"Let's go see how the others are doing."
Saying that, Ling pulled Hoshimi Aya toward where the seats were.
They saw Ellen curled up asleep on a bench.
And Corin was watching over her nearby.
"Master Proxy, Miss Ya, you're here,"
Corin smiled as she saw the two approaching.
"Still sleeping?"
As she spoke, Hoshimi Aya took out a lollipop from her pocket that hadn't been used yet and stuffed it into Ellen's mouth.
Miraculously, Ellen's mouth moved, and then she woke up from her deep sleep.
"Huh?!"
"How magical!"
Ling looked at the scene with some novelty.
Hoshimi Aya then stuffed all the candies in her pocket into Ellen's embrace, then sat down next to Ellen and grabbed her tail to stroke it.
"Ellen, I brought some more here."
Saying that, Ling also took out the candies she had on her person.
Ellen ravenously ate the candy, chewing it up immediately upon putting it in her mouth.
She temporarily didn't have the energy to pay attention to the person next to her stroking her tail.
She allowed the other person to stroke her.
After a while, once Ellen's sugar intake was almost replenished, she pulled her tail back.
"I shouldn't have spit out that candy earlier."
Ellen complained, regretting not accepting the petting earlier.
If she had known she would be petted, she shouldn't have spat out that candy back when they were in The Hollow; she should have accepted it instead. While eating the candy just now, she felt the person beside her both stroking and pinching her.
The feeling was very strange to her.
Seeing this, Hoshimi Aya pulled out another lollipop from some pocket, stuffed it into Ellen's mouth as a bribe, and pulled her tail over again.
"Take my gift, what's wrong with me touching you?"
After saying that, Hoshimi Aya deliberately pinched it.
...
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the fanfiction has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 or more chapters in advance over on my patreon: patreon.com/FTLGenBen
Also every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone, Thanks.