Very soon, Belle reestablished the connection with Eous inside the Hollow.

As her consciousness entered Eous's small body, she was met with the sight of Eous being repeatedly squished and molested in Sol Mercer's arms.

"Boss Nicole, it's been so long already. Are the managers still not done?"

Billy sat on the ground, utterly listless.

"Sigh, I don't know either." Nicole answered weakly, "Let's wait a bit longer. I really don't want to waste the money I spent on intel!"

"..."

Belle listened quietly, unable to suppress a smile.

Classic Nicole.

Even now, instead of worrying about her life, she was fixated on the money spent for intel.

Billy, head hung low, mumbled, "But if we wait any longer, we'll turn into Ethereal."

Anby raised her small white hands, forming little claws. "Awoo~ I'm corrupted by the Hollow! I've turned into an Ethereal! Awoo awooo!"

"Anby, that's adorable."

Sol Mercer chuckled at Anby's performance.

With her slightly chubby, baby-soft cheeks and such a serious monster impression, the contrast was just irresistibly cute.

Nicole sighed. "Anby may be cute, but I'm more concerned about the denny situation right now."

"Relax. I think Belle and the others will pull through."

Sol Mercer comforted her while tugging on Eous's ears.

"Thanks for the faith. We already did!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Belle had Eous leap out of Sol Mercer's arms.

Since she was synced with Eous's senses, the ear-pulling was just too much.

"Eh? Manager! You're back!"

Billy jumped up from the ground, shouting in delight.

"That's right! I'm here to save you!"

Eous placed his hands on his hips, puffing up with pride.

"Proxy, what the hell happened back there? You had us worried sick. If you don't explain properly, I'm docking your commission!"

Nicole fixed her eyes on Eous, asking seriously.

Wise spoke through Eous's public channel. "Apologies. We were hit with a hacker attack. Disconnecting was our only option."

Belle added, "That's right. After a long battle of wits, we managed to regain control of the system—but it cost us the Phaethon account."

Nicole propped her chin up with one hand, analyzing aloud. "So based on the Proxy's story, it sounds like that hard drive with the password had something shady about it—just like Sol Mercer warned."

"Exactly. I combed through the HDD's entire security framework. That's the most likely scenario," Wise nodded, a bit regretfully. "Should've listened to Sol Mercer earlier. I was too careless."

Back then, he thought his skills would catch anything—but he still fell into the trap.

Belle tilted her head, puzzled. "That reminds me, Sol Mercer, how did you know the hard drive was a problem?"

"Well~" Sol Mercer smiled. "It's basic common sense not to plug in a random hard drive you found. Sure, it might have some 'good movies' inside, but the odds of viruses are way higher."

"Good movies?"

Belle understood some of it… and didn't understand the rest.

"Ahem, sis, you don't need to know about that!"

Wise quickly cut off Belle's imagination.

Even if she was already corrupted, he didn't want to push her deeper. Those spicy movies were better left unmentioned.

Nicole, however, ignored the jokes and frowned. "So, the Red Fang Gang was after that safe because they were hired by someone else too."

Anby analyzed, "If the manager hadn't gotten involved, we would've been the ones hacked instead."

"This is such a huge headache!" Nicole was furious. "I thought this was just a clean black-market gig. Turns out it's another shady setup! You really can't trust those crooked middlemen!"

Billy chimed in with a sigh. "We should've known. A generous commission handed to the Cunning Hares, knowing our rep? Definitely a trap."

Anby added her jab. "If nothing changes, we're probably going to keep getting jobs like this. No one else wants to hire us."

With Cunning Hares' reputation, only the most questionable jobs would land in their laps.

"Anby, don't be so defeatist," Nicole rallied. "We've got a new ace now. Things are bound to turn around!"

"Burgers will be ours! Premium gun oil will be ours! Everything will be ours!"

With Sol Mercer clearing a Hollow on their behalf, Cunning Hares now had a shining promotional banner!

"Oh oh oh! Boss Nicole's right—we've got a bright future ahead!"

Billy shouted, fired up with renewed energy.

Anby agreed with a calm smile. "As long as we're all together, things will turn out fine."

"Ahem, I have to remind you all—" Belle interrupted the spirited moment with a serious tone, "Although I've regained control of the HDD system, all data inside has been deleted. Meaning, we don't have a Carrot to guide you out of the Hollow."

"That's just a small issue."

Nicole waved it off nonchalantly.

She had seen the Carrot data in Sol Mercer's phone with her own eyes—getting out was no big deal.

"Eh!?"

Belle was stunned.

No Carrot in the Hollow was practically a death sentence.

And that's a small issue?

Just a tiny thing—like a life?

Nicole explained, "Sol Mercer took on a Hollow-clearing commission this morning. He used that as an excuse to borrow a Carrot from Public Security earlier."

"Ah, that makes sense. Then it's all good."

Belle immediately relaxed, a wave of clarity washing over her.

Though… there was also a trace of disappointment.

She had been hoping to swoop in as a savior. But with Sol Mercer's thorough prep, that wasn't happening.

No chance now to see Sol Mercer shocked and overflowing with gratitude…

"Well, if everything's settled, then the safe recovery operation continues!" Nicole reignited her fire. "I'm gonna make that damn middleman pay ten times the commission!"

Everyone chuckled, and under Eous's lead, they headed deeper into the Hollow once more.