After bidding farewell to Pei, the boy walked alone along the road of Ninth Street.
As he looked around at the unfamiliar streets, he lowered his head, lost in thought.
"Not home, huh... I wonder what he's usually doing around this time." he murmured, and when passing a narrow alley, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Inside the alley, someone had built a small shelter, and nestled inside were several kittens, licking at a half-finished bowl of milk.
Seeing this, the boy couldn't help stepping forward, crouching down to gently pet them.
He remembered that when he was younger, he'd often see kittens in this alley, and would use his allowance to buy food to feed them.
But that was a long time ago. If he hadn't seen them again today, he might've forgotten about it altogether.
After playing with the kittens for a while, the boy soon chose to leave.
His next stop was Sixth Street.
In his memory, there should be a video store there, run by a man and his sister—both of whom he knew.
The sister had a child too—someone he also knew, someone very close to him.
This time, he had come to the store primarily to see her child.
...
Inside the video store, Wise had just unlocked the front door to begin the day's business, when the first customer arrived.
"Hello, can I help you with something?"
Usually, a clerk would be manning the front, but since this was the first customer of the day, and he happened to still be there, Wise decided to greet them personally.
"I'm just browsing." The silver-haired boy glanced briefly at Wise, then shifted his gaze to the shelves and began scanning through the titles with deliberate care.
Incidentally, he'd already watched most of these tapes—and without paying a dime.
Back when he was small, he'd often sneak them with his younger siblings, and the three of them would secretly watch together in a room.
"Brother, Lan just pooped again, come help me change his diaper!" came Belle's voice from upstairs. Accompanied by the sound of a baby's cries and footsteps, she soon appeared on the stairs holding Zhong Lan.
At first, she'd just planned to ask Wise for help, but when she caught sight of the boy standing near the shelves, she froze for a moment.
For some reason, her first thought was that he looked like Zhong Yan.
But the stark difference in hair color quickly dismissed that notion.
Right then, Wise also came back to his senses. He stepped forward, taking Zhong Lan from Belle's hands, and said to the boy, "Sorry about that, feel free to look around. When you're ready to check out, Bangboo is at the counter."
With that, the siblings took Zhong Lan back upstairs.
Before going, Belle couldn't help glancing once more at the boy standing by the shelves.
After they left, a ripple passed through the boy's expression.
"Lan..." he muttered softly, then turned and walked out of the video store—without taking a single tape.
Because he knew... those things weren't his to take.
...
Meanwhile, deep within Hollow Zero.
Zhong Yan stood atop a crumbling high-rise, overlooking the eerily calm view below as he activated his Rinnegan to begin scanning.
Down on the streets, countless Ethereals roamed.
Among them were some with unusually unstable energy patterns—as if they'd developed a form of self-awareness. They moved erratically, as if searching for something.
Soon, one of them found a spatial rift and dove in without hesitation.
That action immediately drew the attention of others. Most didn't follow, but a small number did—charging in after it without a second thought.
Seeing this, Zhong Yan didn't hesitate. He flashed forward, aiming to pass through the rift as well—but was suddenly attacked by nearby Ethereals.
"Get out of my way!"
With a roar, he swept his arm outward. A surge of power erupted from him like a shockwave, shattering the surrounding area.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The attackers were instantly obliterated.
Once he confirmed the area was secure, Zhong Yan passed through the spatial rift.
As the hazy light faded, he found himself once more in New Eridu.
And just as he had expected, the Ethereals that had passed through were still alive—roaming the streets and continuing their search.
Fortunately, this was a remote area with few residents. Otherwise, passing civilians might've suffered catastrophic damage.
With that thought, Zhong Yan didn't hesitate. He activated Amaterasu, incinerating all visible Ethereals in an instant.
Task complete, he activated Kamui and returned to Hollow Zero.
"Those Ethereals were definitely implanted with the Exaltists' drug... and they were acting under someone's orders. There's no way they could be that intelligent on their own."
The scene left Zhong Yan deep in thought.
He began to consider—do the Exaltists now possess the means to control Ethereals? And even if they could, could they really give such precise orders?
Then, a chilling possibility crossed his mind.
Could the Exaltists have made a deal... with the lord in Hollow Zero's depths? Otherwise, how could these Ethereals move so strategically?
"Seems I need to pay that monster a visit myself..."
Realizing that things were approaching an irreversible point, Zhong Yan understood—he needed to act.
The single greatest threat in Hollow Zero... was the Ethereal Overlord.
Though it remained unclear if there was more than one such creature, either way—it had to be destroyed.
Because if it ever emerged from the Hollow, even Zhong Yan might be forced to make unbearable sacrifices just to stop it.
Without hesitation, he activated Kamui and sent himself to the Hollow's deepest depths.