Inside Ellen's hospital room, Zhong Yan's unexpected appearance cast a heavy stillness across the already silent space. Lycaon stared blankly at the young man, confused as to how he had even found out.
"Sorry to intrude. I came to visit Ellen." Zhong Yan seemed completely unaware of the awkward tension, calmly closing the door behind him and walking straight to the bedside.
Ellen showed no signs of waking. She lay on her side, still and pale, an IV tube inserted into the back of her hand.
The wound on her arm, having not been cleaned properly at first, had begun to fester. Fortunately, Shark Thirens possessed remarkable regenerative capabilities. The injury wouldn't leave any lasting damage—she just needed time to heal.
Lycaon said nothing at first, quietly observing Zhong Yan. After a pause, he finally spoke.
"Ellen's injuries are severe. The doctors say it'll be at least three days before she regains consciousness. But she's not in any life-threatening danger."
He paused briefly, then continued. "Zhong Yan, right? Ellen's mentioned you before. Said you were close friends. I didn't expect you to come visit her so quickly."
Zhong Yan shook his head. "Ellen is my only friend at school. If something happened to her... I'd be completely alone. No matter what, I can't lose her."
As he said this, he noticed the approval in Lycaon's eyes.
Clearly, Lycaon recognized and appreciated his sincerity. But there was something else in his expression—something he held back.
Zhong Yan didn't press. Instead, his attention returned fully to Ellen.
...
Meanwhile, deep inside the Hollow—
Zhong Yan's twenty-nine shadow clones had swept almost the entire companion Hollow. Aside from the earlier discovery of the one who had captured Ellen and Lycaon, they found nothing.
So, they expanded their search—targeting every spatial node connecting to other Hollows.
Some led to other Companion Hollows, some to other Original Hollows, and a few even to Hollow Zero.
It would be impossible to search every Hollow linked to those nodes.
But then, one clone discovered a trail of blood on the ground.
It started near the estate where the group had been ambushed and stretched toward a corner of the Hollow.
There, embedded in the ground, was a node leading directly to Hollow Zero.
Clearly, after capturing Nicole and Billy, those people had escaped through that node.
With this new intel, the clones mobilized immediately.
Elsewhere, in the video store on Sixth Street—
Fairy had been combing through surveillance footage from across New Eridu. She managed to track the route Belle and Wise had been taken.
Their captors had headed toward one of the entrances to Hollow Zero located near the city.
With both leads converging, Zhong Yan launched a new phase of the investigation. What surprised him was the destination:
An unexplored zone within Hollow Zero—one never touched by the Hollow Investigative Association.
...
Across a vast, seemingly endless plain, one of Zhong Yan's shadow clones stood atop a ruined building, staring into the distance where jagged skyscrapers rose into the sky.
That had once been the urban core of Old Eridu.
When Hollow Zero expanded, it swallowed the entire district. What had once been a thriving metropolis was now abandoned.
Due to the rapid and unstable expansion of Hollow Zero, the Hollow Investigative Association hadn't dared to return.
Now, it had become a staging ground for the human-Ethereal hybrid organization.
"There's... way too many Ethereals here..." Zhong Yan muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing.
The streets below were choked with them—former citizens of Old Eridu who'd been caught in the Hollow's expansion and transformed.
The number of high-threat Ethereals here dwarfed any outer zone. There were even giant-class ones, each ruling a section of the city like a tyrant.
Thankfully, none were on the scale of Nineveh. Otherwise, a single clone like this would stand no chance.
The trail of blood that had led here vanished upon entering Hollow Zero.
As Zhong Yan scanned the area, the Ethereals around him began to stir.
It was like they'd been signaled—they surged toward his location.
Ranged Ethereals began launching projectiles from afar.
Zhong Yan's expression hardened. To avoid draining his real body, he opted to evade with pure movement.
But then, the giant Ethereals began moving as well.
Bestial howls echoed through the district as a tsunami of Ethereals charged like an apocalypse.
Zhong Yan had no choice.
He brought his hands together in quick seals, and from beneath his mask, a torrent of flame surged forward.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A wave of fire, vast as a tidal surge, exploded outward, engulfing the attacking Ethereals. The air itself shimmered with heat.
Countless Ethereals burned to ash in the inferno. The sheer scale of devastation was staggering.
But Zhong Yan didn't celebrate.
When the flames faded, the look in his eyes darkened.
Ethereals had no group intelligence. They couldn't coordinate to target a single person—not unless guided.
The only logical explanation was that they were being controlled.
And the ones capable of controlling Ethereals were exactly who he was after.
This wasn't a coincidence. The blood trail earlier—it had been bait.
He had walked into their trap.
Now the question was—
Can they really handle a fish this big?