When Maoyou saw that a little loli had come through, she regained her composure and climbed up from the ground, "Phew, you scared me to death! I thought it was some unknown mechanical monster!"
Corinne's cheeks flushed crimson upon hearing this, and she bowed repeatedly, "Ah! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I should have said something beforehand!"
At this moment, she also noticed the IES standing below and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, so the one who was talking to me just now was this Bangboo... It's my first time seeing a Bangboo Investigator!"
Just then, Hu Tao, fearing further complications, interjected, "Little Corinne, don't ask too many unnecessary questions, okay?"
"Since you've enabled us to proceed along our planned route, we should naturally help you find a Hollow exit. But on one condition: don't say anything unnecessary along the way, alright?"
Corinne panicked a little, "Ah, I'm sorry, I was being presumptuous... Um, I agree to your request. Please, you must take me out of this Hollow, I beg you!"
So, the three, with the newly joined Corinne, quickly rushed to the nearest exit on their planned route.
It must be said that with Corinne's addition, the battles along the way were indeed much easier. This made the three secretly wonder: How could a regular household services company employee be so skilled at fighting Remnants?
However, both sides had their own secrets they couldn't reveal, so they tacitly avoided mentioning words like "Investigator" and "household services company" along the way.
Before long, everyone reached the nearest exit. Corinne bowed solemnly to the group and then left the Hollow.
Afterward, Ling confirmed the train's location with Fairy again. Fortunately, there was still plenty of time, so everyone rushed non-stop to the train station's control room and secretly altered the demolition train's route.
Finally, when the train passed through the tunnel Fairy had designated, the three "uninvited guests" were already waiting for it there.
Seeing the decelerating train pass by, Hu Tao and Maoyou exerted themselves, tossing Ling onto a front car of the train, "Go, Ropemaker! It's up to you!"
Suddenly, the sharp-eyed Maoyou noticed something unusual inside the carriage and quickly followed Hu Tao to that carriage. To their horror, they discovered that there was a large group of armed personnel dressed in Officer uniforms inside the carriage!
On the other side, the IES on the roof was following Fairy's guidance to a skylight on this carriage. Before Maoyou and the others could stop it, it had already squeezed through the skylight and entered.
"Oh no! The Ropemaker is in danger!" Maoyou didn't care about anything else, accelerated a few steps, and finally climbed onto the carriage! Fortunately, the train's speed had slowed down considerably by then, otherwise she would have been thrown off.
Seeing this, Hu Tao also quickly accelerated and climbed onto the carriage right behind Maoyou.
At this moment, the IES inside the carriage looked at the several guns almost touching its face and wanted to cry without tears: "It seems this train is loaded with more than just explosives—the news didn't mention this!"
Just as one of them was about to fire, the door on the other side of the carriage was suddenly kicked open, and then a ball of flame suddenly rushed in, catching everyone off guard: "Wah! So hot!"
At this point, a person dressed as a leader among the armed personnel shouted loudly, "Why are you all panicking?! Public Security Bureau uniforms are fireproof! Everyone, give me..."
However, before he could finish his sentence, the adjacent car window suddenly shattered, and Maoyou flew in with a kick from outside, directly striking him in the face, rendering him unconscious on the spot.
But the other people in this carriage were not ordinary small fry; they immediately entered combat mode: "All together! Surround them!"
Thus, Hu Tao and Maoyou engaged in a fierce battle with the armed personnel inside the carriage. They were agile and coordinated:
Hu Tao, holding the staff of homa in one hand, swept or chopped at the surrounding enemies, while with the other hand, she performed incantations, continuously releasing fireballs to disrupt the enemies' movements. Maoyou, with her flexible movements, weaved through the crowd with her twin blades, occasionally striking down enemies.
After a bitter struggle, they finally broke through the armed personnel's defenses and reached the IES. Hu Tao pulled up the IES and shouted, "Let's go!"
But just as they were about to leave the carriage, an armed person suddenly rushed out from a corner and fired a shot at them!
Maoyou, quick-witted, blocked in front of Hu Tao and the IES. With a flash of her blade, the bullet was deflected, but her shoulder was grazed.
But she didn't flinch, enduring the pain to continue fighting. Finally, they successfully escaped the armed personnel, jumping off the train with the IES.
After landing, Hu Tao looked at the injured Maoyou and said with concern, "Thank you, Maoyou."
Maoyou grinned, "It's nothing. Let's quickly find a safe place, lest they jump down and catch us."
So, they hid in a secluded corner. Hu Tao took out her portable medicine and carefully applied it to Maoyou's wound.
Meanwhile, Ling was communicating with Zhe, "Brother, you saw what happened just now. What's going on?"
Zhe said helplessly, "I don't know what's going on. Fairy is currently rewinding through the surveillance, but that will take a lot of time."
Then, he changed the subject, "However, it's not all bad news. The news just said that Long View announced the demolition has been postponed until tomorrow night due to technical reasons."
The three sighed in relief, "So, our plan wasn't a complete failure."
Zhe: "Yes, you all come back first. We need to re-plan our next move."
...A while later, the three returned to the video store and discussed the next plan with Zhe.
Zhe spoke first, "First, it's pretty clear that Long View definitely has something fishy going on!"
Hu Tao agreed, "Exactly. Long View must have discovered that the train deviated from its route, but they hid it from the media."
Ling said indignantly, "More importantly, Long View clearly said that the train was an unmanned train carrying explosives, but it was full of heavily armed soldiers! IES almost lost its life!"
Maoyou added, "After climbing onto the train, I overheard their conversation. They were saying things like, 'This mission is so troublesome, having to dress like this,' and 'My shoes don't fit well,' which clearly indicates they aren't real Public Security Bureau personnel."
Zhe nodded, "Yes, these people and those in Canvas Alley could all be Long View Company's subordinates, but the source of this equipment is hard to say..."
"The worst-case scenario is that we also have to fight against corrupt elements within the Public Security Bureau."
Fairy interjected at the opportune moment, "Master, according to my monitoring, the train you delayed earlier is almost at its destination. This will lead to more people strictly guarding the residents."
This statement made everyone fall into contemplation. Suddenly, Hu Tao had a flash of inspiration: "I've got it! We can exploit the enemy's defensive loopholes and directly bypass the Hollow to reach the monitoring point where Perlman and his team are!"
"Afterward, we'll quickly seize the train parked there, drive it along the railway inside the Hollow to Canvas Alley, and finally, it will only take a few minutes to get everyone out of the blast zone."
Ling pondered for a moment and agreed, "That's certainly feasible. With a large force guarding the front, the troop strength near the monitoring point will be very limited."
"Moreover, the vehicle itself has some resistance to erosion. As long as we get out of the Hollow quickly, the residents won't be eroded."
Maoyou quickly asked, "Fairy, can you drive the train out of the Hollow to New Eridu in the shortest possible time?"
Fairy: "Affirmative, shortest route has been planned."
So, Zhe clapped his hands and said, "Alright, it's settled then! Everyone is tired today, so let's rest up. We'll start acting first thing tomorrow morning!"
After bidding farewell to the others, Hu Tao returned to her shop, lay on her bed, and recuperated, preparing for the decisive moment the next day.