The Hollow Investigation Association had specialized detection equipnt.
In just a few minutes, they sent Zhu Yuan the approximate locations of Golden Bangboo and Platinum Bangboo.
Zhu Yuan glanced at the map and imdiately locked onto a target.
"Seth, get in the car—let's move!"
Instead of following the route taken by Hare's House, she used the coordinates from the Hollow Investigation Association to take a shorter path.
...
At the sa ti—
Nicole and Sam Li were following the trail of coins left behind by Golden Bangboo and Platinum Bangboo, but the two had vanished without a trace.
In the end, even the coins scattered along the road were nowhere to be seen.
Nicole was visibly frustrated.
"Damn it, I've never seen such slippery Bangboos. We actually lost them."
Soldier 11 sighed in annoyance.
"It's because you got distracted by the gear coins and Dennies on the ground. You gave them the perfect chance to slip away. If not for that, we could've caught them back at the stadium."
Ever since her days with the Defense Forces, Soldier 11 had always been known for her fast and efficient approach—everything had to be quick and clean.
Back at the stadium, if Nicole hadn't dragged her down, she might've caught both Golden Bangboo and Platinum Bangboo on her own.
Nicole wasn't having it.
"Those two Bangboos were way too fast. We wouldn't have caught them anyway, so I figured I might as well make so money while we were at it. No sense coming back empty-handed..."
Even if they couldn't catch the Bangboos, as long as they kept following them and scooping up the scattered coins and Dennies, they might've made millions.
With that thought, Nicole turned to Belle, who was controlling Eous.
"Any luck? Have you found their location?"
Belle shook Eous's head.
"The Hollow Investigation Association must've realized their network was compromised. They threw up a temporary firewall. It's going to take so ti to break through."
Billy sighed.
"Zhu Yuan's squad probably got intel from the Association. Honestly, we should've just stuck with them—maybe we'd have caught those two by now."
Nicole groaned.
The Bangboos were even faster than she'd expected. She was behind the wheel and still got left in the dust.
After a mont of thought, sothing clicked.
She quickly turned to Sam Li.
"You guessed right once before—try again. Where do you think those two ran off to?"
Everyone looked at Sam Li.
They didn't have high hopes, but any lead was better than sitting around waiting.
Sam Li scanned the area, paused in thought, and pointed to a neighborhood on the eastern side of the Hollows.
"Let's check over there—might be sothing new."
"Alright, we'll go with Sam Li's hunch. Billy, let's move. You can step on it this ti."
"Got it! Nicole, Sam Li, Anby—hold on tight. We're going full speed."
...
With a new direction, Billy picked up the pace.
But things didn't go as smoothly as Nicole had hoped.
The Hollows were just too vast, and searching for two tiny Bangboos among all the buildings was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Along the way, not only did Nicole fail to find Golden Bangboo, she also ran into plenty of others searching for them—
Agents from other agencies...
Fierce outer-ring gang mbers...
Professional rcenaries hired by major corporations...
Suddenly—
Billy spotted sothing.
"Nicole, look over there."
Nicole followed his finger.
"What is it? Did you spot Golden Bangboo? Wait—is that the truck up ahead? Looks familiar..."
Billy nodded.
"It's the Sons of Calydon's truck."
Anby spoke up seriously.
"Nicole, we should team up with the Sons of Calydon. Those two Bangboos are too agile. Just us alone won't be enough—even if we bump into them, we might not be able to catch them..."
Just like back at the stadium—
If Hare's House and the Sons of Calydon had each blocked one exit, they could've cornered Golden Bangboo inside and catching it would've been easy.
Hearing that, Nicole didn't hesitate.
"Billy, catch up to them—now."
Billy gave a nod.
"Leave it to ."
And with that, he stepped on the gas.
But overtaking Piper's truck wasn't going to be easy.
Soon, Lucy spotted sothing in the rearview mirror.
"Piper, there's a car tailing us."
Piper perked up.
"Trying to pass ? Co back in twenty years."
With a sharp turn of the wheel, she drifted and steered the truck into another street.
Who knew—
The SUV behind them drifted too, sticking close on their tail.
It had been a long ti since Piper had run into such a persistent opponent.
She was just about to hit the backup boost when she heard faint shouting.
"Piper! Lucy! Boss lady! Hold up!"
"Lucy, boss—did you hear sothing weird?"
"Sounds like Billy. Don't tell he's in that car behind us?"
"Lem check... yeah, looks like it's Billy."
Piper looked in the rearview mirror and spotted a red figure in the driver's seat of the SUV—it was probably Billy.
Next mont, she hit the brakes and pulled over.
Billy noticed the truck slowing down, quickly swerved, and narrowly avoided crashing into it.
He only managed to stop after driving a few dozen more ters.
Billy stumbled out of the SUV, panting.
"Piper... you drive way too fast..."
He wasn't tired—just tense. The adrenaline had his chest tight and his breathing off.
Right after, Sam Li, Nicole, Anby, Nekomata, and Soldier 11 all stepped out.
They ca face to face with Piper, Lucy, and their boss, Caesar.
The two groups exchanged greetings and imdiately eyed each other's vehicles.
Seeing that neither side had caught Golden Bangboo or Platinum Bangboo, everyone let out a sigh and began exchanging intel.
Billy asked, puzzled,
"You guys are chasing Golden Bangboo too? Why were you in such a hurry? Even if you saw them, you wouldn't have had ti to react."
Piper explained,
"We saw Golden Bangboo heading toward the east side of the Hollows. We were hot on its trail."
Unfortunately—
The Bangboos were just too nimble, and the abandoned buildings in the area made it even harder to catch them.
Even with Piper's top-tier driving skills, the Bangboos still gave her the slip.
Seeing everyone downcast, Nicole made the call.
"Let's team up. If we combine forces, we can corner those two Bangboos."
Caesar agreed right away.
"Deal."
...
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