Because both Pei Guang and Firefly were focused on themselves, and since Something Unto Death hadn't attacked either of them, they didn't notice that the creature had already escaped.

By the time they came back to their senses, Firefly looked at the half of a body slipping away with a whoosh and froze in surprise.

"It… ran? It ran away?"

"What ran—huh? It ran?!"

Pei Guang, who had been studying the new ability he'd just acquired, turned his head to see that Something Unto Death had vanished.

Pei Guang said, "No big deal. I already marked it. Next time it shows up, we'll just eat it again."

The taste of death wasn't great, but it gave stat bonuses!

Still, Pei Guang felt a little regretful that so far they'd only encountered one of those things. He couldn't help wondering: if there was a second one, could they make it reproduce somehow?

What? Gender issues? Not a problem. For players, even if they were the same gender, if the system wanted them to reproduce, it would still happen.

On the other side, Acheron had been watching Pei Guang's entire battle, and now, seeing him so deep in thought, she had only one urge: to leave as soon as possible.

In her experience, even the most radical factions would consider people like Pei Guang too extreme.

With the enemy gone, Pei Guang turned curiously to Firefly and asked,

"By the way, why didn't you return to reality? You know, if I hadn't checked your position when I came out, you'd have been a goner just now."

Hearing the concern in his voice, Firefly placed a hand on her chest, gazing at him with soft, melting eyes.

"I'm sorry… I had agreed to meet someone here, but things got a little complicated. Actually, I…"

Firefly bit her lip, unsure how to bring up what she'd discovered or what she wanted to do.

Pei Guang said, "Hm? You've got something to say but don't know how to start? Don't torture yourself—come on, we should regroup."

"Regroup?" Firefly asked.

"Yeah. According to the message Stelle sent me, we're supposed to meet up in the Dreamscape's Reverie Hotel lobby. Since we're already inside the Reverie Hotel, we can head straight there."

Even though phones couldn't be used for communication inside the dream, their group could still exchange information by leaving messages in a shared storage space and checking them later.

It wasn't fast, but it worked.

Firefly looked a little uncertain, and Pei Guang reached out to pat her head.

"Don't overthink it. Trust me—we'll definitely find the Watchmaker's treasure. And don't worry about someone getting there first. If it's not us who finds it first… then we'll just have to take it. Treasure belongs to whoever's capable enough to claim it."

Watching Pei Guang's calm expression, Firefly wasn't sure if she'd boarded a pirate ship—but it was too late to worry now.

They'd even driven off Something Unto Death, so what else could she do but follow along?

Besides, she didn't really dislike it. Exploring together like this… actually felt kind of nice.

After Pei Guang told Acheron where they were headed, she quietly followed. In a place this unfamiliar, sticking together wasn't a bad idea.

The group made several turns and arrived at a large hall. Inside were a few monsters from the Dreamchaser Troupe, all of which Pei Guang dispatched with ease.

But just as he was about to leave, his gaze fell on a fountain at the center of the hall.

It wasn't an ordinary fountain: it was a Memory Bubble Fountain. When it felt Pei Guang's eyes on it, it sent an inviting ripple toward him.

Mesmerized by its beauty, Pei Guang found himself walking closer.

Firefly noticed his movement and watched him carefully. After confirming that he wasn't being controlled or hypnotized, she curiously followed at his side.

Pei Guang approached the Memory Bubble Fountain.

From the body of a teacup with a face flowed the liquid of memory, pouring into a massive bubble that seemed to open its arms and beckon him closer.

Pei Guang drew near. The enormous teacup head above the fountain stared down at him with wide, unblinking eyes, as if shouting:

"There are three of you, and five prices to pay. You are one of them."

"Drink it! This is the destiny of a Dreamchaser! Otherwise, you will meet misfortune!"

"Uh-huh-huh!"

Pei Guang stared silently at the arrogant expression on the teacup's face, then pulled out pen and paper, scribbled something down, and dropped it into the shared storage space.

After a moment, he took out Stelle's bat: thanks to the "Watermelon" special effect, what Firefly and Acheron saw was a bat shaped like a giant watermelon head with eyes and a mouth, utterly ridiculous in appearance.

Pei Guang looked at the teacup head gushing with memory fluid, wound up, and smashed the bat right down on its head.

"There are three of us, five prices to pay? Fine, today I'll make you the price!"

"Misfortune? You're right—every cause has its effect, and I'm your retribution!"

"Don't make such disgusting noises at me!"

Pei Guang cursed as he swung the bat again and again. The watermelon head's voice joined in, shouting,

"Who gets this, huh?! Family, who understands?!"

Pei Guang's combined physical and psychological assault, aided by the bat, left even Acheron staring blankly for a few moments. But soon she recovered and asked, somewhat worried,

"What… exactly are you doing?"

Pei Guang replied, "Me? It looks like a loot drop. Trust me: whenever you're walking down a street and see something that stands out like it's glowing, you've got to give it a try. You never know—you might find something weird but useful."

He continued swinging the bat relentlessly, pummeling the teacup head both physically and mentally.

Finally, with a loud crack, the teacup head shattered and from it dropped a single peach.

A peach as big as its own head.

"...?"

Seeing the peach, a question mark practically popped above Pei Guang's head.

He'd had plenty of weird drops after fighting monsters along the way, but this was the first time something had dropped a piece of fruit.

What kind of logic was that?

Picking it up, Pei Guang stared at the peach, not even sure where to start roasting it.

[The Great Sage Equal to Heaven's Peach: A white peach even the Great Sage found delicious. It really is very tasty. Give it to someone who likes fruit to raise their favorability toward you.]

"…"

Pei Guang stared speechlessly at the item description.

A favorability item? He really hadn't expected that smacking a random annoying thing on the roadside would drop something like that, but who was he even supposed to give this to?

Who could eat a peach bigger than their own head?

Just as he was thinking that, he suddenly felt a gaze filled with complex emotions.

Following the feeling, he saw that the usually silent Acheron was staring at the giant peach in his hand.

Pei Guang waved the peach a little, and her gaze followed it back and forth.

Pei Guang: "You like it?"

Acheron: "There's… a familiar scent on it. Of an old friend."

Pei Guang: "Then it's yours."

"Thank you…"