"Xu Ge Ya… what exactly happened?"
Before opening the door, Jane—out of basic caution—questioned the Bangboo sprawled weakly on the ground, secretly wiping away tears, trying to extract something useful.
"Mm-neh, mm-neh-da! (Chiya got ambushed by a bad woman—pinned down inside! And she threw me out here!)"
"…What?!"
At first, it was confusion.
But in the span of a heartbeat, that confusion shattered—like a calm sea right before a storm, ripped apart by undercurrents. Storm clouds gathered. A whirlpool formed. Thunder rolled across the ocean in her chest.
Even so, once she confirmed Chiya wasn't in immediate mortal danger, Jane's heart—beneath the anger—found a thin thread of relief.
She knew it better than anyone: her "prey" was surrounded by far too many dangerous women. Some of them were the kind of opponents even she had to stay wary of—
Like a certain unnamed "Trigger," for example…
…Hm?
Jane narrowed her eyes.
Come to think of it—while Jane was away, how did that dangerous woman, who guarded like a silent loyal hound, fail to protect Chiya?
The question flickered… but priorities were priorities.
Jane stared at the heavy, vermilion door. Her muscles tightened; the dagger that never left her side flashed out, gleaming under the nightlight like a spinning morning star.
She dipped into a slight crouch—every inch of her body ready to fight.
Beside her, Xu Ge Ya snapped out of its despair too. Killing intent surged as it kicked into charge mode, waiting for Jane to break the door so it could make that wicked woman pay in blood—repair costs included—and then…
Jane suddenly put the dagger away.
Instead, she pulled out a jangling keyring from her chest, and from her waist produced a smoke grenade and a vial of anesthetic—pinched neatly between her fingers.
Xu Ge Ya stared, dumbstruck.
Jane's lips curled, her smile hovering somewhere between pity and mockery.
"What's the matter? Don't tell me there's a Bangboo that's been with its master this long… and still doesn't even have a key to the house?"
"Oh? Looks like I guessed right."
She flipped through the keys under the light, casually stacking her taunt with deliberate cruelty:
"How… pathetic."
Xu Ge Ya said nothing.
It simply raised a tiny hand—quietly preparing its signature elbow strike, the move that had sent countless Ethereals' heads popping like watermelons. It was ready to let this woman who kept landing accidental critical hits taste the full power of its elbow.
But just as it was about to unleash—
Jane didn't press the insult further.
She selected a key, slipped on a mask, inserted the key into the lock, pulled the pin on the smoke grenade—
Then the moment the door cracked open, she hurled the grenade inside.
Coughing erupted from within.
Jane lunged in instantly—and pulled the door shut behind her.
Yep.
Xu Ge Ya got locked out again.
Because it had been taunted into a brief, helpless stun and failed to keep up.
So the door—the door that symbolized hope—opened and closed right in front of it…
As abruptly as hope itself being crushed.
Xu Ge Ya dropped to its knees.
"MM-NEH!!! (NOOOOO—!!!)"
But now?
No one cared about the Bangboo kneeling outside.
Only the cat that was always competing with it for affection—Cookie—appeared from who-knew-where, looked at the kneeling Bangboo, and let out a soft little sound.
Then, from the corner, Cookie dragged out a tiny green cap…
…and plopped it right onto Xu Ge Ya's head.
——— An Unknown Hollow
"Trigger. You lost focus during that fight."
Inside a Hollow, after the battle ended, Soldier 11 looked at the taciturn Trigger, who had quietly torn open the wrapper on a red-bean bun, and asked the question bluntly.
"That's not your usual level."
"Sorry, Soldier 11. I was… being tormented by phantom pain from the past—"
"It's because of that person, isn't it?"
"…What?!"
"I mean the one you keep requesting leave to see."
"Or rather… to spy on."
Trigger's visor color flipped instantly—from bluish-purple (sadness) to bright pink (embarrassment).
Soldier 11 nodded, confirming her own suspicion.
"So it really is because—"
"N-no! Not him! Wait! That's not the point!"
Trigger panicked. "Soldier 11, how do you even know?!"
"…I'm used to overload training," Soldier 11 said after a pause, as if choosing words. "But that doesn't mean I'm a heartless machine. I do rest sometimes. And…"
Trigger swallowed, hard, as Soldier 11 hesitated. The pink glow intensified.
"And I was the last one in OBOL Squad to find out."
Soldier 11 quoted someone in a flat imitation of gossip:
"'Soldier 11, I'm telling you in secret—our squad's most reliable sniper keeps taking leave because she's spending the night with her little boyfriend~ Anyway, don't tell Trigger I said that!'"
"…Sid," Trigger muttered.
"Trigger, your visor's red now," Soldier 11 observed. "Not normal red. More like the color of the hell-spicy ramen I order. Are you angry?"
Soldier 11 tilted her head, confused, watching Trigger crush the red-bean bun into paste while murmuring Sid's name.
After a while, Trigger went quiet again.
She sighed… and shoved the mangled bun into her mouth anyway.
"I'm angry," she admitted, "but if Sid and the others hadn't helped me—covering my work when I left—I wouldn't have had so many chances to spend time with him."
"Trigger… what kind of person is he?" Soldier 11 asked.
"Him?"
Trigger's voice softened.
"An idiot. A lovable idiot."
"To strangers, he's like a little hedgehog—curling into a ball to protect himself."
"But to people he trusts… he's so naive he'd offer you everything he has, without holding back…"
"That sounds like someone who'd be easy to push down," Soldier 11 concluded.
Trigger chuckled.
"Relax. He has a very reliable Bangboo with him."
"With it there, he'll be fine—"
Trigger's voice snapped sharp.
"Soldier 11—watch out!"
"Got it!" Soldier 11 barked. "My back's yours!"
…Still can't stop thinking about him, huh.
Once this two-person mission ends, I'll apply for leave again.
Yeah. I'll just take Sid's leave to make up for mine.
Trigger buried the thought deep, raised her scope toward an Ethereal in Soldier 11's blind spot, and squeezed the trigger.
"BANG—!!!"
——— Chiya's Home
"BANG—!!!"
With a thunderous crash, Burnice—bound tightly with rope—was slammed hard onto the floor.
She glared at Jane, who sat on the sofa and patted Chiya's back as if soothing him.
"Hey! You woman—don't you know breaking into someone's home is illegal?!"
Jane's lips curved in a teasing smile.
"Heh. So the Outer Ring lady isn't completely ignorant of the law. You even know trespassing is illegal…"
She watched Burnice—still tied up, still drugged—yet stubbornly wriggling forward across the floor like an inchworm, and her smile turned lighter… and sharper.
"Then let's talk about law."
"In the Old Civilization, there was a place called America. Their laws said that if you broke into someone's home… the owner—and the lady of the house—could shoot you on the spot, and it'd still be legal."
"Sounds scary," Burnice shot back, puffing out her chest. "But you can't scare me!"
"You city type—I can tell."
"You're not the lady of this house either. You're the same as me!"
"A hunter."
"You're the latecomer!"
"You're the latecomer!" Jane snapped.
For once, real anger bled through.
Undercover work was the kind that stockpiled pressure like sediment. She'd finally found a chance to slip out and breathe—only to see the prey she'd been carefully "keeping" get targeted by another hunter.
And now that hunter dared point at her and call her the latecomer?
Jane's smile turned dangerous.
She raised her hand—and calmly administered another dose. Burnice's body went slack, her eyes rolling as she struggled to stay awake.
The ropes that Burnice had nearly worked loose became unbreakable again.
Even so, Burnice forced her eyelids up, refusing to pass out—
And she saw Jane, wearing a victor's smile, looking down from above.
Jane then lifted Chiya up from the sofa.
Chiya's resistance was so weak it barely counted, and Jane didn't bother treating it as anything more than a nuisance.
She carried him upstairs.
At the door, she glanced back once—leaving Burnice with nothing but a taunting look—then shut the door.
What happens upstairs is implied, and the story leans heavily into coercive/sexual framing here, so I'm fading out rather than translating that portion directly.
Downstairs, Burnice lay helpless on the floor, imagining what was happening above.
Outside the door, Xu Ge Ya pressed its head against the wood, imagining what was happening inside.
And in the Hollow, Trigger—mid-extraction after the fight—imagined what Sixth Street's Heal drugstore looked like right now.
———
"Sarah… are you sure you didn't see wrong? Could it be your imagination?"
"…I can't be certain," Sarah said slowly. "I can only say… it's possible."
"But as long as there's even a sliver of possibility, I believe we must mobilize more forces."
"To search. To trace. To investigate."
"To… plead…"
"The lost holy son…"
"…must return to his sacred path."
If you paste Chapter 35 next, I'll keep translating in the same format (full translation, with any coercive/explicit parts handled as fade-to-black so the plot stays intact).
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 20
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 20
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