"What's wrong? What happened to the railway?"
Nicole's voice trembled as she looked at Wise, trying to understand why he sounded so panicked. Before he could answer, the soldier pinned beneath Nicole foot hurried to speak.
"P-Perlman, sir, please don't worry. I already blew up the only rail leading to New Eridu. They can't get out!"
"What did you say?!"
Nekomata's eyes widened as she looked at the guard on the ground holding the detonator.
Perlman himself couldn't help but curse.
"You, you... you idiot! We were supposed to blow up the railway after we got out! Because of you, those damned commoners are stuck here, and now we're trapped too!"
"Eh! R-Right, it seems so..."
Perlman looked like he was about to faint from sheer anger at his subordinate. Just then, Anby and Billy returned, and they did not bring good news.
"Nicole, this is bad. We found enemy reinforcements everywhere. What do we do now?"
Nicole let out a quiet curse, then moved without hesitation.
"Damn it! Grab this shorty, we're getting on the train first."
They hurried into the train's cockpit, and the reinforcements who had arrived were calling out to Perlman from outside.
They asked if he wanted heavy firepower to wipe out the intruders, but what came back was Perlman's trembling, desperate voice.
"Don't, don't shoot! I'm in the cockpit! I'm being held by these scu... by the ladies and gentlemen of the Cunning Hares. Hold your positions, hold your positions! Do you hear me? If I get even a scratch, the company will come after every one of you!"
Under Perlman's threat, the armed personnel outside hesitated for a moment, but the situation was still far from safe.
Just as Nicole and the others were still struggling to figure out how to deal with the destroyed railway that kept them from evacuating, Nekomata suddenly let out a small laugh.
"Hey, hey, what's so funny? Why are you laughing at a time like this?"
Billy stared at her, confused by the way she kept chuckling. Nekomata simply reached into her clothing and pulled out a small pendant.
"No, I'm not laughing at what you said. During the fight, I happened to find my family heirloom."
Inside the pendant was a small photo. One of the figures was clearly Nekomata, and the other was someone every member of the Cunning Hares would recognize at a glance.
"One of the people in the photo is you, and the other is... Miguel Silver, leader of the Red Fang Gang?!"
Nicole stared at the photo in disbelief, and Nekomata finally began to speak.
"That's right. I lied to you. I'm not an enemy of the Red Fang Gang. I'm one of the orphans they took in back on Canvas Street." She went on to explain why she had approached the Cunning Hares and the others.
Although she had left the organization and never returned after becoming disappointed with the Red Fang Gang's later actions, she still remembered that Miguel Silver was the one who took her in.
He had shown her kindness, and she once believed she should avenge him. But after spending more time with Nicole and the others, Nekomata gradually began to see things differently as she watched the way they treated her.
And when she learned that his death had no direct connection with the Cunning Hares, it left her with even less reason to cling to the idea of revenge.
"I've made up my mind. I'll negotiate with Vision Corporation and find a way to settle this" Nekomata said in a firm voice. "Don't worry. With Perlman as leverage and my background from the Red Fang Gang, this plan is sure to work."
Nekomata opened the door and left, moving so fast that even Anby could not react.
When the train door closed again, its solid frame made it impossible to break through in time, leaving them no choice but to watch helplessly as she walked off with the armed personnel.
Once Nicole and the others finally left the cockpit, their first instinct was to chase after Nekomata, since the people from Vision Corporation were always trouble to deal with.
But they could not ignore the residents on Canvas Street either. While they hesitated, Wise suddenly came up with an idea.
They only needed to make the Hollow shrink, and that would allow all the residents to evacuate quickly.
The best way to do that was, naturally, to kill the Ethereals inside it. But there were way too many ordinary ones, and clearing them all would take forever.
So the group decided to aim for the strongest thing in the Dead End Hollow, the Dead End Butcher. Taking down even one Dead End Butcher was worth way more than cutting through thousands of the weaker Ethereals.
As for how to kill him?
The answer was simple. They would rely on the equipment already supplied by Vision Corporation. With that many explosives, even a Dead End Butcher would not survive.
"I hope it ends quickly. I have a bad feeling about this" Wise said as he glanced toward the path Nekomata had taken.
He was feeling very uneasy, but it was not the time to get distracted, so everyone moved forward with the plan.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Nekomata set out to meet Vision Corporation's representative, still keeping Perlman as her hostage.
The person was a woman dressed in red, surrounded by a circle of armed soldiers. The group was discussing why Perlman had been taken hostage.
As for Nekomata, she was just as direct. The moment she saw the woman in red, she went straight to the point.
"Are you the person in charge here? My request is simple. Vision Industries just needs to stop the demolition and rescue the trapped residents, and I'll hand him back to you."
"Hmph, that sounds easy when you say it. If we did what you're asking and a massive scandal broke out, how would Vision Corporation explain itself to the public?" The woman let out a sharp sneer. "And who exactly are you? Showing up alone to negotiate with us, aren't you afraid you're taking on more than you can handle?"
The woman in red clearly had no intention of agreeing to Nekomata's demands so easily, but Nekomata seemed to have expected that and offered her own response.
"My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself. To be completely honest, my name is Nekomiya Mana, and I'm from the Red Fang Gang."
Hearing Nekomata's words, the armed personnel surrounding them were somewhat surprised, as how could they not know the infamous name of the Red Fang Gang?
Nekomata's idea was simple. Vision Corporation would dump all the blame on her and the Red Fang Gang. That way, they could clean up their reputation and even look good for stepping in to rescue the trapped residents.
"How about it? Not a bad deal, right? As long as you..."
Before she could finish, the woman in red suddenly pulled out a pistol and shot Perlman, who was standing right beside her.
"Eh?!"
"Relax, he's not dead. It's just a tranquilizer. Let me teach you something. Before you try to negotiate, you should know the real value of the bargaining chip you're holding. Too bad Perlman isn't as important to us as you thought."