flstandardbreds Chapter 334 Corinne: Here's Johnny!
Chapter 334 Corinne: Here's Johnny!
Not long after, the cat led Ies into the Dead End Void. Before the cat could even marvel at Phaethon's superb skills, Kiana and Mei, who had entered the void earlier, caught them red-handed.
"You two, I have elderly parents to support and young children to raise, and I really can't make ends meet, so I sneaked in! Please, please let me go, meow!"
Kiana looked at the trembling cat in front of her with a twitching smile, then sighed helplessly and said, "Don't worry, we won't attack you for now."
"R-Really...meow."
It's understandable that the cat was scared; she knew perfectly well who the two people in front of her were.
Kiana Kaslana is a member of the renowned Kaslana family, a family famous since ancient times. This family is known for its abundance of Void Hunters; it's said that Kiana herself and her sister Bianca Durandal both possess Void Hunter-level strength, though neither has accepted the title from the mayor. However, it's a foregone conclusion that the two Kaslana ladies will become Void Hunters in the future, and another member, Raiden Mei, also comes from a powerful family.
The Raiden family is also a family with a long history, and its subsidiary ME Corporation is one of the top companies in the TOPS Group. Its father, Raiden Ryoma, is a well-known researcher in Neo-Eliri and one of the backers of the Anti-Air Section 6.
Raiden Mei's strength is equally impressive; although she may not be as strong as Kiana, she is still a Void Hunter-level being.
It can be said that when faced with these two, the cat has no ability to resist at all and can only accept its fate and pray that the other party will deal with it leniently.
"real."
Mei stepped forward and slowly extended her hand to Nekomata. Nekomata, seeing the hand slowly approaching, instantly closed her eyes in fear. But after a long time, she still didn't feel her hands being bound. Instead, she felt an unfamiliar touch on the top of her head.
The cat opened its eyes again and found that Mei was gently stroking its hair, just like she was petting a cat.
Although the cat wanted to say that it wasn't a cat, it didn't speak up to stop the other party because of the comfortable touch on its head and the other party's identity.
Ies, standing at his feet, dared not make a sound, fearing that the other party would discover their secret.
Seeing that the cat was gradually relaxing its guard, Mei continued to explain, "We came here for another reason. We received intelligence that told Section Six that there were still some survivors inside the Dead End Void, but Vision Industries ignored the suggestion to suspend the project here. So Kiana and I came here to conduct a secret investigation."
Hearing this, a glimmer of hope appeared in the cat's eyes: "So that means..."
"In other words, since this is a secret operation between the two of us, we will temporarily set aside your issues. However, in return, you must remain under our surveillance throughout your subsequent operations. We will settle accounts with you afterwards."
"So, in the end, you'll still get arrested?"
The cat lowered its head dejectedly, its ears drooping as well.
"But if you can provide additional information, Kiana and I might be willing to make some concessions, how about it?"
The cat communicated with Ies through its eyes, and in the end, the outside world's Zhe made the cat agree to the other party's conditions.
"Alright, I'll tell you the truth as long as you keep your promise!"
"Of course, but it's not enough for just you to agree, Miss Cat-Heart."
"W-What do you mean it's useless if only I agree?!"
The cat's expression became flustered at a visible speed, while Mei revealed a meaningful smile.
"Of course I'm talking about you and this Mr. [Phaethon] next to you, or more precisely, Mr. [Phaethon] who is having a real-time conversation with you through Mr. [Phaethon]."
"!"
H.D.D.'s former master suddenly stood up, staring incredulously at Kiana and Mei on the screen. Unbeknownst to him, Kiana had already circled behind Ia and subdued her.
"Playing dumb won't work. Kiana and I already know your true identities, so it's best to give up resistance sooner rather than later. We'll decide how to deal with you based on the situation."
"..."
After thinking for a long time, Zhe opened his somewhat dry mouth: "When did you find out? And how many people know about this?"
"Don't worry, not many people know about this, not even within the Airborne Division 6," Mei explained. "We know your identities thanks to Bronya."
"Wait! You know Bronya? Or have you been controlling Bronya all along?"
Zhe had heard a rumor that when the Sixth Anti-Air Division captured a rope maker, they wouldn't immediately hand him over to the police station. Instead, they would control him to extract more information about the rope makers until he revealed all the rope makers they knew.
"It would be disrespectful to say that we have Bronya under control. Bronya is an old acquaintance of ours. If you were to investigate her background, you would find that we attended the same university as her, and that her company was even funded by me and the Kiana family."
“Master, what they said is correct,” Fairy confirmed from the side.
"So Bronya revealed our true identities from the very beginning? And you actually protected a legendary rope craftsman; it seems you're not entirely impartial among yourselves!"
“Fahd, whether it’s Zhe or Ling sitting across from you, you need to understand that sometimes some clandestine methods are necessary. That’s why the rope net exists. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the Public Security Bureau has increased its efforts to arrest rope makers. Have you seen them actually targeting the rope net? Don’t forget that although the rope net is a dark network, it’s so open that even ordinary citizens can easily find the entrance online. Do you really think that the higher-ups have no way to track down every rope maker inside the rope net?”
"..."
Zhe fell silent. Only then did he realize that even if the police couldn't trace the creator of RopeNet, a dark web site that was practically an ordinary forum website, was it really impossible to trace the ordinary accounts within RopeNet?
Some skilled rope crafters might hide their IP addresses, but what about others? There are plenty of rope crafters who don't know how to hack. While making a radish does require the latest hole data, obtaining that data doesn't necessarily require hacking skills.
Bribing the investigators of the Void is also a method, and there are many other methods that I don't want to list. If what Mei said is true, then the person who created this net may be someone from above!
Zhe shook his head, banishing the terrible thought from his mind, but one thing was certain: Bronya might indeed have been sent down by those above to become a rope craftswoman.
"...So what do you want me to do?"
Hooked.
Mei's lips curled up slightly before disappearing again: "It's simple. For some reason, our radish was accidentally damaged (we didn't even bring it), so we urgently need a new radish to continue our mission or find an exit."
"I see, so that's why they need our help?"
"That's certainly one of the reasons. Another reason, of course, is that we can't let the tunnel raiders and rope makers escape."
"But you promised to let us go if we cooperated and provided information, right?"
"Well, but as I said before, we'll make a decision based on your performance. If you perform well, we don't mind treating this as if we didn't see it."
Even if they didn't perform well, Kiana and the others wouldn't do anything to Tetsuya and the others. After all, they are the main characters. How could the plot continue if the main characters were locked up in jail? But Tetsuya and the others didn't know this. Now they could only hope that Kiana and the others would keep their promise.
"Then we'd better do our best."
"So you agreed?"
“Do we have any other choice?” Zhe said with a wry smile. “But I’m very curious how you found out about us. You know, just a few days ago the police department received an anonymous tip about Faetong.”
“Since we know Bronya, we also know that you recently abandoned the Phaethon account. As for how we recognized you, do you remember what this cat-like creature said to you back then?”
"I-I'm sorry!" Nekota apologized. "Also, my name is Nekomiya Mata, you can call me Nekota if you don't want to call this Nekota."
"Alright, alright, Miss Nekomata, shall we set off now? You seem to be in a hurry, is there some progress at Vision Industries?"
The cat asked in surprise, "W-how did you know?"
“It’s simple, your expression betrayed you,” Kiana said. “Although the cave raiders all look tense when they encounter us, and eventually give up when they see there’s no hope of escape, you’re different. Perhaps your acting is indeed good, but I still saw from some of your micro-expressions that you haven’t actually given up hope of escape at all. And you also kept showing signs of anxiety. Is it because Vision Industries is about to start the final demolition project?”
Kiana didn't actually figure it out through micro-expressions; she used her powers of consciousness to read it directly and tell Mei. However, it's better not to say such things out loud.
“That’s right. Just recently, the news reported that the last train loaded with explosives was ready to depart, and the president of Vision Industries would personally detonate the explosives upon arrival at the designated location,” Zhe said. “But since you didn’t know about this, it means you’ve been inside the Void for some time now, right?”
“That’s right.” Kiana admitted without hesitation, “After all, we need to verify the authenticity of that information, so we naturally need to investigate as quickly as possible. However, we encountered this hollow, infamous man named Yi Hai—the Dead End Butcher—on the way. In order not to waste time, we chose to detour and avoid conflict with him.”
Kiana then spread her hands and sighed, "But who could have known we'd be discovered by the Dead End Butcher? Our carrots were destroyed while we were trying to escape his pursuit, and then we unexpectedly met you all in the cave."
"So, you've probably been in the cavity for quite a while now, haven't you? Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the erosion symptoms?"
"Don't worry, this amount of time is nothing to either me or Kiana," Mei said.
"Are you sure everything's okay?" Zhe asked, still a little worried.
"Really, really, don't we know our own bodies?" Kiana laughed. "We'll tell you if we really can't take it anymore, so you can rest assured."
Having said that, Zhe didn't say anything more. He was genuinely afraid that if the other party changed their mind and insisted on arresting them, it would be troublesome.
A short while later, led by Zhe, the group arrived at the foot of a bridge, where a train carriage was blocking their way at an incredible angle.
"Hey, what's going on with this carriage, Rope Maker? We didn't get on the wrong train, did we?" the cat asked again.
“There’s nothing wrong with your route,” Ling analyzed from the side. “Judging from the way this carriage has been damaged by Wei Li, it looks like it was thrown here by Yi Hai.”
The cat trembled again, saying, "This power is terrifying..."
"Your next destination is across the train carriage. Do you have a way to get there?"
“If it were me, I might be able to barely crawl over, but with Bangbu with me, it’s impossible,” Cat analyzed. “Besides, there are deep pits all around caused by sinkholes, so it’s not very realistic to go around them. Most importantly, the two of them can’t squeeze through either.”
Indeed, putting aside the fact that only a short and agile cat could squeeze through the gap between the carriages, even if Kiana and Mei were agile enough, their size simply wouldn't allow them to squeeze through that gap.
"There's no need for that. We can just cut an opening," Kiana said, stepping forward.
"Huh, that voice is... Miss Kiana?"
Just then, a girl's voice came from the opposite side of the carriage, and Kiana recognized the voice.
"That voice... could it be Corinne on the other end?"
"Y-that's great!" Colleen on the other end of the line clearly breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally, I've met someone I know!"
"Little Corinne, can you tell me how you got here?" Kiana asked.
"I came to this cave with Mr. Lycan and the others because of some missions, but... but a very dangerous skeleton just passed by, and my companions and I got separated while avoiding it! I don't have any Carrot Data with me, Miss Kiana, can you help me?"
"Of course! But you might have to come over first."
"Oh, I see. Please step back a little, Miss Kiana. It might be dangerous if you approach the carriage too close."
Kiana stepped back slightly and gestured to Colleen that they could begin, after which there was silence on the other side of the carriage.
After a while, there was still no reaction, so the curious cat pressed its ear against the carriage to try and hear what was going on.
Then a circular saw blade appeared not far from her.