Completely unexpected was the fact that Zhu Yuan had actually gone out of her way to search the entirety of New Eridu. Andrew didn't press the issue any further, letting out a subconscious sigh of relief as he thought his nonsense had successfully pulled the wool over her eyes.
But what he didn't expect was this.
Although she didn't show it, for Zhu Yuan, who had already come to regard the other party as a trusted person, she couldn't feel happy about it at all.
As a friend, she hadn't been treated with honesty.
Even if she understood, Zhu Yuan still felt extremely stifled in her heart.
But regardless, right now it was just a suspicion. Before there was concrete evidence and the truth was placed right in front of her, Zhu Yuan was unwilling to believe that Andrew would hide anything from her.
Thus, she prepared to verify it through her own methods later, to try and find the answer.
However, the specific verification was a matter for later. Looking at Andrew, who was indeed unharmed in front of her, the worry Zhu Yuan had held while rushing over was thoroughly put to rest.
She shook her head and said, "However, with this, the fact that your phone couldn't be reached makes sense."
"Phone?"
As soon as Zhu Yuan said this, Andrew slapped his forehead hard, suddenly realizing that because the previous attack had been too sudden, he had left his phone directly at the scene.
"Crap! My phone is still sitting up in the private room!"
The moment he thought about how he was still on a call with Belle, Andrew had an ominous premonition. He immediately greeted Zhu Yuan and then hurriedly ran upstairs.
Watching him run up in such a flustered panic, her originally irritable mood dissipated slightly, and Zhu Yuan couldn't help but reveal a helpless smile.
Just as Andrew ran off, a solemn-faced Evelyn approached this trustworthy police officer.
Regarding this attack, she had quite a few doubts that needed Zhu Yuan's answers.
Evelyn had a premonition that this time she could get her hands on a good card to use against the DGA Entertainment board of directors.
It wasn't impossible for it to even be a trump card.
Although she had a positive impression of Evelyn, whom she had just met yesterday, Zhu Yuan didn't have a good expression for DGA Entertainment, which hadn't heeded the notification to evacuate.
Although the final result was that there were no casualties, this was only because Andrew was here.
If there were no one like Andrew to turn the tide next time, then the final result would inevitably be incomparably tragic.
So, the justice in her heart left Zhu Yuan with no goodwill toward any of the personnel from DGA Entertainment.
However, because she was Andrew's friend, Zhu Yuan did not refuse the other party's attempt to strike up a conversation.
Although the exchange between the two was very stiff at the beginning, upon discovering that Evelyn was completely in the dark, Zhu Yuan's attitude gradually softened again.
Very quickly, Evelyn obtained the most important intelligence from Zhu Yuan and returned to Astra Yao's side.
However, at this moment, Astra Yao, who had already finished calming down, was looking with a guilty conscience at the large-scale equipment in the distance. Because of the previous overload operation, it was now emitting black smoke while occasionally popping off two electric sparks.
Discovering Evelyn appearing beside her, Astra Yao scratched her head with a bit of embarrassment.
Subsequently, with the expression of a child facing a parent after causing trouble, she blinked her eyes, leaned close to her ear, and whispered conspiratorially, "Eve, do you think if we say this equipment suffered normal wear and tear caused by the concert, we can fool those old geezers?"
Evelyn was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, but thinking of the intelligence she had just confirmed, as well as the documents she had asked her former hacker friend to steal...
Evelyn, who already had full confidence regarding those old geezers on the board, nodded without any hesitation and said, "Rest assured. I think those old geezers on the board will understand. After all, for those people to whom money is life, the Young Miss can now be said to be the only opportunity for them to continue living."
Unaware of what was happening downstairs, Andrew quickly arrived at the private room where he had originally been via the stairs.
Fortunately, the phone was still sitting in its original position, untouched.
Perhaps because the position was high enough, Andrew's previous battle hadn't affected this area.
However, when he picked up the phone and saw the video call was still connected, along with Belle's teasing smile on the screen, Andrew knew his ominous premonition had come true.
But for the sake of the last shred of possibility remaining in his heart, Andrew asked tentatively, "Belle? Did you see everything?"
"Of course!"
After confirming it was Andrew on the other end of the line, the smile on Belle's face became increasingly unbridled.
"This is the best viewing platform in the venue, after all! How could I possibly hang up! By the way, my recording didn't stop either~"
Under Andrew's gradually dying gaze, Belle displayed the high-definition video footage recorded and quality-restored by the H.D.D System.
In the footage, the phone, looking down from above, had captured the center of the entire venue clearly, perfectly recording everything from before.
And at this moment, Belle chose to twist the knife.
She leaned close to the screen and said with great interest, "Andrew! Do that thing again~ That thing!"
As she spoke, she picked up a nearby umbrella with her left hand, pretending it was a long lance, and grabbed a pot lid directly with her right hand. Then, imitating Andrew's movements from that time, she said, "You cannot take another step forward, for this is your end."
Instantly, unable to bear it any longer, Andrew slapped his hand over his face.
Clearly, it had just come out naturally during the battle; he hadn't thought about the recording at all.
And now, seeing Belle imitate him, he felt a sense of public execution.
Furthermore, this time it was recorded, so it could be watched repeatedly later.
Don't do this kind of thing!
On the other end of the phone, Belle didn't notice that Andrew was already about to burn out. She scrolled through the Proxy Net, talking to him enthusiastically about the situation online.
"Also, the video of your battle earlier has already gone crazy on the Proxy Net! There are videos from all kinds of angles!"
"What?!"
More terrifying than being filmed during a moment of 'social death' was having that video uploaded to the internet and widely circulated at the same time.
Belle scrolled through the Proxy Net, enthusiastically telling him about the situation: "Astra's concert has already become the greatest concert in New Eridu! The scenes that looked like they only appeared in movies have made these videos spread all over the Proxy Net!"
Hearing this, Andrew felt a bit numb.
After all, Andrew hadn't gone online before, so he didn't know how much chaos the appearance of the Diablos had caused in New Eridu.
At the same time, he had no concept of Astra Yao's popularity, nor was he clear on exactly how many people were constantly paying attention to the concert's status.
Under such circumstances, as someone who confronted the monster's flesh and blood head-on, powerfully slaying it while turning the tide to save everyone at the scene, Andrew became an object of admiration.
No one would fail to look up to him.
Everyone was extremely concerned about what exactly had happened during this period.
And the fifteen thousand people at the concert scene had almost all become fanatical die-hard fans, currently posting frantically on the Proxy Net to express the excitement in their hearts.
It highlighted a trend: if you had a video, post the video; if you didn't have a video, use a picture of the Diablos corpse to enhance credibility.
The only thing that made Andrew rejoice was that he was wearing a mask and armor, so for the time being, not many people knew his true face.
However, everyone on the Proxy Net was feeling regrettable.
After all, almost all the videos had issues with their angles. And among the relatively better ones, there weren't many that were complete.
Especially when the Diablos finally pounced towards the high platform, fear and panic meant people had no mind to continue filming at that moment.
Flipping through the videos on the Proxy Net, Belle suddenly had a bright idea and said, "That's right, Andrew! Mine is the only one on the entire Proxy Net that filmed from start to finish, and captured everything!"
Hearing this, Andrew, who had originally been somewhat completely numb, became alert once again. He asked with some uncertainty, "What are you going to do?"
"Do what? Of course, I'm going to properly develop the video store's business!"
Golden light flashed in Belle's eyes, looking just like she had been infected by Nicole's money-grubbing nature.
"This is a Random Play Video Store exclusive tape! As long as we say our store has this, the threshold might get worn down by people stepping over it!"
Thinking about it, since he was powerless to change it, Andrew simply stopped agonizing over it.
As the saying goes, when a person calms their mind, so-called 'social death' is nothing more than a breeze brushing against the face. Thus, putting aside his hesitation, he immediately argued on rational grounds, "I think as the protagonist of the videotape, I should get a share of the profits this tape makes later!"
However, as if she had imagined what would happen later...
Belle seemed to suddenly react. She immediately put away her previous money-obsessed appearance and protected the videotape in her hands within her embrace.
Immediately following that, Belle wore an expression of guarding her food and said, "Even if they want to rent it, I'm not willing! This is a Random Play Video Store top-secret tape that only the Store Manager and special customers can see!"
Just Andrew as he was now had already made so many girls fall for him; if this videotape were released, what would happen then?!
Secretly saying 'that was close' in her heart, Belle firmly put the videotape away, placing it in a very hidden corner of the video store.
This back-and-forth, super-fast face-changing caught Andrew somewhat off guard.
But Andrew didn't care too much. The Diablos corpse was waiting for him downstairs, and he had actually already wasted quite a bit of time.
So, Andrew greeted her and wanted to hang up the phone.
However, at this moment, he was stopped by Belle shouting again.
"Andrew, let's go out and play together tomorrow, okay?"
The monster invasion that suddenly appeared again today had once again plucked at Belle's nerves. As someone who had experienced sudden loss, she was already unable to hold back.
Andrew didn't think too much of it.
However, hearing this made Andrew realize that ever since their relationship was confirmed until now, so many days had passed, and he was either striking iron or running out to do commissions. He had almost never accompanied Belle!
If this were any other girl, she would probably have started making a fuss long ago.
Thus, Andrew nodded in agreement without hesitation.
"No problem!"
With the phone hung up, Andrew returned to the center of the venue.
Andrew specifically first picked up the broken horn that was snapped off during the charge earlier and put it into his storage bag. Subsequently, what Andrew scraped off first with his Hunter's Knife was the heart of the Diablos, which was both a delicacy and possessed extremely high medicinal value.
Then it was the leg meat, the tail meat, and finally the various materials.
The previous bloodletting wounds had even reached the point of draining the blood contained within the meat, taking the already perfect meat quality directly up another level.
As an old Hunter who wanted to be a Head Chef, Diablos meat was recognized as delicious.
No Hunter would be willing to miss it. So taking advantage of the meat being fresh to carve it off first was Andrew's favorite thing to do.
Subsequently, it was the collection of those forging materials.
Heavy Armor, Heavy Shell, Twisted Horns.
Andrew even managed to touch two Wyvern Gems.
However, as a monster that hadn't been eroded by Ether, the Wyvern Gems were naturally just ordinary Wyvern Gems, and didn't possess the uniqueness of the Odogaron's.
Accompanying the partitioning of each material, at this moment, Andrew suddenly discovered the benefits of that originally non-existent system.
There was no Guild to restrict the number of carves. All materials highlighted the principle that if you carved it off, it was yours.
Under the sluggish gazes of the others, the Diablos gradually lost most of its parts in their eyes, though the hideous dragon bones still allowed one to make out the Diablos's ferocious form.
The problem was that they didn't even notice where Andrew had stored the things, as if they had completely vanished.
Very quickly, only a large pool of blood left behind when the Diablos was injured remained at the scene.
Andrew didn't let go of a single one of the Diablos's most important horns. Scales, sharp claws, teeth—almost all the edible meat was sliced off. Even the important skeletal parts were not left behind.
Although it sounded a bit unpleasant, whether in terms of thickness or hardness, the Diablos could indeed thrash the Odogaron.
If the Odogaron Lance used Diablos bones as the basic frame material, the overall strength would even increase quite a lot.
Of course, the weight would also definitely increase substantially.
All usable materials were directly picked clean by Andrew. Even the scales that were smashed down earlier were found by Andrew using Scoutflies.
It wasn't that Andrew was truly lacking materials to this extent.
Rather, it was that as far as Andrew knew, there were quite a few anti-human organizations in New Eridu.
According to what Belle said before, among them, the most famous cult group, the Exaltists, liked to create monsters through experiments, which was something everyone knew.
If these materials were taken by the other party, who knew what kind of variables would occur.
Maybe one day they would suddenly pull out a 'Big Baby'.
Just like Ultraman, humans creating their own daddies has long been the norm, so one had to be guarded.
Thus, Andrew even buried the bloodstains clean using the ground that had been pulverized during the battle as dust.
If they could still utilize this, then Andrew had no other moves.
Very quickly, the police who came to seal off the scene arrived, and the audience present was gradually evacuated.
As for the autograph session originally scheduled after the concert, it naturally couldn't continue.
As a star, Astra Yao had to participate in the subsequent temporary press conference as a representative. Similarly, as a hero of Public Security, Zhu Yuan also had to participate.
They had originally wanted to invite Andrew to participate together, but Andrew, afraid of exposing his identity, decisively refused. So Astra Yao could only be dragged into the room by Evelyn with a reluctant expression.
And Andrew, looking at the quantity of materials displayed on the panel in front of him—enough to make a full set of armor plus weapons for a Diablos with plenty to spare—couldn't help but reveal a smile like an old farmer during a bumper harvest.
____
New Story: FGO: Building a Lostbelt from Scratch, the Winner is Canon
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