The farce, which Billy had sparked, lasted for several minutes before it stopped. Ye Qingfeng looked at Nicole, who was leaning on her knees and panting heavily, and at Billy, who was lying motionless on the ground, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily. He really hadn't seen this dark and twisted side of the sibling pair, Belle and Wise! By the way, Billy looked miserable, but he was probably fine. But Nicole, doesn't your hand hurt?
"Phaethon, remember to give me that discount." Nicole slowly stood up, shaking her slightly red and swollen right hand, and announced loudly, "Operation: Recover the Safe, continues!"
Ye Qingfeng proposed that he would protect Eous and lead the way since he was running low on ammunition, while Nicole and the other two fought quickly and decisively. The proposal was unanimously approved by everyone.
Initially, Ye Qingfeng wanted to just tuck Eous under his arm for convenience, but Belle strongly objected. He had no choice but to hold Eous in his arms and let it guide the way. Ye Qingfeng had a detailed map of the Hollow in his mind, but it didn't show the safe's exact location. He could have used divination, but there was no need. Divination wasn't one hundred percent successful, and every time he used it, Ye Qingfeng felt it had some kind of vague, intangible effect on him. Besides, the Proxy had the location data for the data disk inside the safe.
Soon, thanks to the efforts of the Cunning Hares and Eous's guidance, they arrived at the safe's location.
"Found it!"
Everyone spotted the safe lying on the ground at a glance. Nicole bounced up excitedly, "That's my safe!"
Nicole hurriedly ran towards the nearby safe. Billy made a finger gun gesture with both hands and followed closely behind her, "Ha~! What luck!"
Ye Qingfeng also breathed a sigh of relief. Holding Eous, he followed behind the two, "Hopefully, there are no Ethereals causing trouble this time."
Anby, at the very back, also relaxed her guard. She had just taken one step forward when a strange feeling flashed through her mind. Almost instinctively, her right hand grabbed the hilt of her sword, and she drew it with incredible speed to parry behind her.
"Clang—!"
At the same moment, the Dullahan Ethereal that had appeared behind Anby at some unknown time swung its blade down. The immense force struck her sword with a loud clang, creating a shower of sparks and pushing her forward several meters.
Before his mind could even process it, Ye Qingfeng hugged Eous tightly and dodged sharply to the side.
"Ah!"
Hearing the sound, Nicole and Billy also reacted and dodged to the side.
"Quick, find a place to hide!"
Ye Qingfeng immediately squatted down, placed Eous on the ground, gave it a gentle pat on the head, and then gave it a light push on its back.
Eous took advantage of the push and scurried to a corner in the distance. Seeing that Ye Qingfeng was still standing still, it anxiously shouted, "Qingfeng, get over here!"
Ye Qingfeng slowly stood up, gave Eous a faint smile, raised his left index finger to his lips in a "be quiet" gesture, and reached into his pocket with his right hand to pull out a pistol.
A magnetic voice entered Belle's ear at that moment, "Don't get discovered, little one."
Ye Qingfeng turned and walked to the side of the Cunning Hares trio, joining them in staring at the oppressive-looking Ethereal in the distance.
"Found it!"
Anby stared warily at the Dullahan.
Billy, who had narrowly escaped disaster, scrambled to his feet and couldn't help but exclaim, "That was lucky!"
A gun barrel suddenly extended from Nicole's handbag, aiming at the Dullahan in the distance. She gritted her teeth and roared, "That! Is! My! Safe!!"
Standing behind the other three, Ye Qingfeng raised his pistol with one hand, aiming at the Dullahan's head while glancing around and muttering under his breath, "Hopefully, there are no other Ethereals causing trouble this time..."
At this moment, Wise, watching the scene through Eous's vision, couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for the Cunning Hares trio. His peripheral vision inadvertently caught sight of Belle's flushed face, and he immediately asked anxiously: "Belle, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Ha—ha—!"
Belle leaned weakly against the back of her chair, taking deep breaths.
"Brother..."
"Yes?" Seeing the usually lively and cheerful Belle now speaking weakly, Wise's concern deepened.
"Qing... Qingfeng's embrace was so comfortable!"
"And his voice just now was so dreamy!" Belle suddenly turned her head to look at Wise and exclaimed, "I feel like my ears are pregnant!!"
Eous: ...
Wise: "..."
Wise stared at Belle with a blank expression, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
His sister was a lost cause!
Wise's gaze shifted from Belle, who was slumped in her chair with a flushed face, back to the four people fighting the Ethereal through Eous's vision. As he watched, he felt something was off. Nicole was looking for opportunities to smack her handbag against the ethereal. Billy was constantly pulling the triggers with both hands, making his two revolvers fire like a rifle yet wasn't doing much. Only Qingfeng wasn't on the offensive like the rest! When he was far from the Ethereal, he would fire a couple of shots, but as soon as he sensed it moving towards him or even had the possibility of getting close, he would immediately holster his gun, turn, and create distance.
It was only thanks to Anby's impressive skills that she managed to hold off the Ethereal, ultimately exhausting it to death! To say the least, aside from a slightly dirty hem on Ye Qingfeng's clothes, the other three had sustained some degree of wear and tear. The sweat on Anby's forehead had dampened her hair, the ground around Billy was littered with shell casings, and dust had gotten on Nicole's clothes, making her look quite disheveled. Only Ye Qingfeng still looked calm and composed.
"Haha—!" Nicole stood behind Anby and Billy, watching the dissipating Ethereal. She let out a light laugh, raised her hands in front of her, and with a beaming smile, sprinted forward, "Finally... finally...!"
Anby and Billy, who were standing in front of Nicole, both raised their hands to welcome her high-five.
"Found you—!"
With stars in her eyes, Nicole shot straight between the two of them, completely ignoring their raised hands, and pounced on the safe.
Seeing this from the back, Ye Qingfeng smiled helplessly. He raised his hands and ran over to the two of them, slapping their outstretched palms hard.
"Qingfeng, you're the only one who's good to me! Sob sob..." Billy cried dramatically
"From now on, if I have a hamburger, you'll have... a wrapper!"
[Beep! Favorability with Anby and Billy has both increased by 5%!]
[Anby's current favorability: 50%]
[Billy's current favorability: 50%]
Hearing the announcement in his mind, the corner of Ye Qingfeng's mouth curved into a slight smile.
With their current favorability towards me, there's no problem calling myself the team pet of the Cunning Hares!
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