Gravity Cinema, main lobby.
Arden arrived as promised.
And waiting for him was not only Ellen, but also her three companions.
"Don't misunderstand! It's just that these three were scared and needed a reliable guy to watch the movie with, so I called you!"
The movie they were going to watch was Painted Skin, produced by Suibian Film & Media Company.
"Got it, got it!"
Typical tsundere behavior—of course he understood!
"Hello, everyone!"
Arden greeted Ellen's three companions.
"It's Daoist Arden, that's great!"
"Now even the scariest movie won't be frightening anymore!"
"Daoist Arden, who is she? One of your wives?"
Arden didn't come alone. Beside him stood a tall woman. Considering that the news of Arden marrying four wives had already spread throughout New Eridu, the guess of "one of his wives" was quite reasonable.
However, that wasn't the case.
"Shh~~! Don't make it public."
Arden acted mysteriously and signaled the woman beside him to lift her hood.
"It's Astra—mmph!"
Just as one of the companions was about to shout in surprise, she covered her own mouth.
"Whoa, the lead actress of Painted Skin is here in person. That's unbelievable!"
Astra Yao was one of the two female leads. Yes—she played the Painted Skin female ghost.
"Um… could I get your autograph?"
"Let's watch the movie first. Autographs and photos are fine afterward."
"Okay!"
...
Even with Arden, the Daoist of Yunkui Summit, present, Painted Skin was still extremely terrifying.
Not to mention that the ghost herself was sitting right beside them. (Kek)
Ellen's three companions were so scared that they clung to Arden like koalas, making him feel rather helpless.
"So scary!"
And it wasn't just the three companions—even the ghost herself was terrified. Astra Yao clung tightly to Arden's arm and refused to let go.
...
Arden was utterly speechless. "Didn't you act in it yourself? What are you afraid of?"
"When filming, the scenes were all green screened. I couldn't see myself… I didn't expect it to be this scary when it was released!"
"Uh… alright!"
Astra Yao's explanation was somewhat reasonable.
At the scene, aside from Arden, who remained unmoved, Ellen also showed no fear at all. She just kept eating popcorn and drinking soda.
Ssssss…
The sound of the empty straw instantly dispelled the horror atmosphere.
"Ellen, aren't you scared?"
Arden asked curiously.
"Of course I'm not scared! Woo woo woo!"
After putting down the empty cup, Ellen tossed dried fish snacks into her mouth.
Ellen eating dried fish looked like cannibalism at first glance, but sharks eat fish in the ocean anyway, so there was nothing wrong with it.
"You know my work environment. If I were afraid of ghosts, I wouldn't have lasted this long."
Hearing Ellen's reply, Arden thought of the members of Victoria Housekeeping—werewolves, ghosts, chainsaw maniacs… each one was no less frightening than Painted Skin.
"And my next assignment is to investigate a haunted building."
Haunted building? The Ballet Twins Hollow?
Arden thought to himself.
"Be careful at work. If you run into trouble you can't handle, call me."
"Mm, I will."
...
After the movie ended and saying goodbye to Ellen and her companions, Arden returned to Waifei Peninsula with Astra Yao.
Two days later.
Knock knock knock~!
Arden was inside accompanying Ju Fufu when knocking sounded from outside.
"Who is it?"
Arden got up and walked to the door.
The door wasn't locked. If it were Yixuan Shifu or Sweety, they would have pushed it open directly.
"It's me!"
Evelyn Chevalier's voice came from outside.
"Come in."
Knock~!
The door was pushed open from outside, revealing Evelyn Chevalier's figure.
"Is something wrong?"
Only Evelyn Chevalier was there. Astra Yao was nowhere to be seen, which made Arden a little curious.
"I have a friend… um, an organization friend. Of course, like me, she left the organization long ago."
Evelyn Chevalier explained carefully. "She was kidnapped and is in danger, so…"
"So, you came to me for help?" Arden finished her sentence.
"Yes."
...
Ballet Twins Hollow.
Evelyn Chevalier's friend—the kidnapped super hacker Rain—was trapped in the Ballet Twins Hollow.
Arden immediately contacted Yiji and learned that Belle was also assisting Victoria Housekeeping with clearing the Ballet Twins Hollow. The two sides decided to cooperate.
Victoria Housekeeping would move first. Arden would follow afterward.
That's right—Arden planned to act alone.
They were just thugs. There was no need for Yixuan Shifu to step in. She staying by Ju Fufu's side made Arden more at ease.
"Husband, turn right at the next corner, then go upstairs… be careful, there's a wave of Ethereals."
The Bangboo following behind Arden spoke with Yiji's voice.
It seemed that Arden's tuition hadn't been wasted. In such a short time, Yiji was already able to use remotely controlled Bangboo to guide paths inside the Hollow.
"Mm."
After turning the corner, Arden indeed encountered a group of Ethereals that had come to "welcome" him.
The Ballet Twins Hollow had been corroded by the Hollow long ago, so encountering Ethereals was normal. However, compared to Hollow Zero or the Lemnian Hollow, this Hollow's scale was much smaller, so the Ethereals here were relatively weaker.
"Hmph! Overestimating trash!"
Even facing one versus many, Arden didn't take these low-level Ethereals seriously at all.
In Arden's view, compared to humans, Ethereals had one major flaw—low-level Ethereals had no brains. Even with a massive power gap, they would still charge forward recklessly.
If these Ethereals were replaced with human thugs, the moment they saw Arden, they would probably turn around and flee.
But Ethereals wouldn't.
Therefore, Arden would be delayed a little.
"Sword of Red Heaven!!"
The long sword that had accompanied Arden for many years shattered during the large mine battle, so he exchanged for a new immortal artifact from the points shop—the [Innate Sword Embryo]!
Driven by Arden's power, the sword embryo transformed into a crimson longsword—the [Sword of Red Heaven]!
"Divide!"
Immediately afterward, countless crimson sword phantoms shot into the sky, circling above Arden like schools of fish, numbering in the thousands.
"Go!"
Arden formed a sword gesture with two fingers and pointed remotely at the charging Ethereals.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…
In an instant, the Ethereals group was drowned by crimson sword phantoms, turning into dust and fragments that scattered away.
Alright—he was delayed, but only by a tiny bit.
...
"Sword of Wisdom, draw!"
Boom~~!
A blocking wall collapsed in front of Arden.
Between two points, a straight line was the shortest path. Under Yiji's guidance, Arden moved toward the designated meeting point via the shortest route.
"Ara ara~ Daoist Arden, we meet again."
Behind the fallen wall, a gentle, big-sister-like maid gracefully lifted her skirt and gave Arden a polite bow. Her tone was soft and warm, like a spring breeze.
"I'm also very glad to see you again, Miss Rina."
===BREAK===
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