Early the next morning, in the room next door, March 7th got up full of energy as usual.
After freshening up and getting herself ready, March 7th cheerfully headed out to the lobby to wait for Pei Guang and Stelle to come out. At first, she was very patient.
But as time passed, she started to notice something strange. Three whole hours had gone by, and the two of them still hadn't shown up.
"…Something's off. Seriously off. Don't tell me… the two of them secretly went out to have fun without me? Hmph! Getting up that early to go play and not even telling me? This lady is gonna be mad~"
Just imagining Pei Guang going off to have fun without her left March 7th feeling extremely annoyed. So she pulled out her phone and sent him a message.
Message sent. But ten minutes went by, and Pei Guang still hadn't replied?
March 7th frowned. "Huh? Not answering? That's not right. Wait… don't tell me…"
At that moment, the great Detective March 7th suddenly had a bold guess: "Hehe~ don't tell me they're still sleeping in because they got tired playing? Hmm~ just thinking about everything that's happened these past few days is making me feel sleepy too~"
March 7th really did feel exhausted from all the running around recently. Although it was tiring, she still thought Aetherium Wars was a lot of fun to play.
"Whatever, I'll go wake them up! If they don't get up soon, we'll have less time to play today~"
March 7th glanced at the time and decided to go wake Pei Guang and Stelle. After all, they'd agreed yesterday to go to the Victory Zone together, and now it was getting late. If they didn't wake up soon, there wouldn't be enough time, so naturally, she went to get the two of them up.
Humming a little tune, March 7th walked back to the lounge area. She went to Stelle's room first and was just about to knock when she realized the door didn't seem to be locked—so she opened it directly.
But the moment the door swung open, her entire expression froze. On the bed inside, Pei Guang and Stelle were lying there without a shred of propriety.
Stelle's head was buried under the pillow, one leg flung across Pei Guang's body. Pei Guang wasn't doing any better: his upper body was half-hanging off the bed, sleeping face-down.
"Well, well! You two… went off and had fun behind my back, didn't you?!"
At that moment, March 7th felt a twinge of irritation: naturally, not because Pei Guang and Stelle were sleeping together, but because they had fun and didn't invite her!
But soon, she realized she wasn't really mad about that. That was just an excuse. The real reason felt a bit deeper…
Just as she was lost in thought, Pei Guang, still lying on the bed, sensed something and instinctively opened his eyes. By then, March 7th had already walked up to him.
Pei Guang's upper body was still hanging off the edge of the bed, so when he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a very familiar view.
"Ah… a familiar sight."
March 7th: "?"
Seeing Pei Guang wake up and mumble nonsense, March 7th was momentarily stunned. Then, blushing, she glared at him: "Does it look good?"
Maybe it was the blood rushing to his head from sleeping upside down, but Pei Guang instinctively blurted out: "Looks great!"
But the moment the words left his mouth, Pei Guang suddenly realized something was off. Just as he sat up and was about to say something, March 7th, cheeks flushed, chirped playfully: "Hmph~ Good thing I had foresight and wore safety shorts~ Alrighty~ Get up already, or we won't have time to play today~"
On the surface, March 7th kept her tone light and casual, but her face was red all the way to her ears. Seeing her flushed expression, Pei Guang calmed down as well. And in that moment, a strange atmosphere settled over the room.
Just as they were about to say something, they suddenly heard movement from the bed behind them. Turning their heads instinctively, they saw Stelle holding her phone, recording, and speaking to the two of them: "Don't mind me, carry on, just pretend I'm not here!"
Even though that's what she said, Stelle's face was filled with excitement, curiosity, and anticipation.
How to put it? Stelle was actually really looking forward to something happening between Pei Guang and March 7th. That way, she could learn by example and not be totally clueless when it was her turn.
Unfortunately, nothing ended up happening. March 7th simply said, "Get up already! We're heading out~" and fled the room.
Pei Guang also quietly got up, freshened up, and eventually joined Stelle in the lounge. By the time they arrived, March 7th had already returned to her usual cheerful self.
Seeing the two of them walk out, March 7th crossed her arms and asked curiously, "So what were you two doing last night? Why so late getting up today?"
Pei Guang recalled, "It's not what we did last night—it's everything we did yesterday. Specifically…"
Pei Guang explained what had happened the previous day.
As she listened to his account, March 7th asked curiously, "So that means… there really are ghosts on the Xianzhou Luofu… only they're actually these Heliobi~ Ah, I'm really curious what these Heliobi look like. I wonder if we could get a photo?"
Pei Guang replied, "If you want pictures, we can head over to Fyxestroll Garden on the Luofu after we're done playing today and snap some shots of the Heliobi. Come to think of it, there are still a lot of Heliobi wandering out there that need to be captured. For all we know, one of the people chatting with us on our phones could be a Heliobus."
Hearing that, March 7th shuddered. "Eek~ So creepy, don't say that! What if the Heliobi lures people in like that, then eats them?"
Now that she knew what Heliobi were, March 7th couldn't help but picture a horrifying possibility after hearing Pei Guang's comment.
"Like~ what if, to avoid detection, the Heliobus disguises itself as a cute girl to lure in young men, then drains their energy and in the end—!!! Eeeek!! So scary!"
The more she spoke, the more into it she got—and the more scared she became.
But Pei Guang thought she kind of had a point, and so he praised her: "Hey, you know, that actually sounds pretty plausible. But now I'm curious: have you read something like that before? Why is your imagination so spot-on?"
March 7th: "Of course! I've watched those cursed horror tapes before. Oh right, Ah Guang, have you ever watched one? If you haven't, how about we watch one together tonight?"
Just thinking about how Pei Guang had spent the entire night playing with Stelle yesterday made March 7th feel a bit unhappy. So, she decided to invite Pei Guang to watch something fun together tonight.
Naturally, she would never admit it was because she was too scared to watch that kind of thing alone and wanted to bring him along. That would be too embarrassing to say out loud.
Upon hearing the invitation, Pei Guang's eyes lit up instantly: "Of course! Let me tell you, I've got nerves of steel: I'm not afraid of any monsters or ghosts."
March 7th: "Hmph~ Liar. Who was it at that inn that screamed after getting scared by some kind of spirit?"
Pei Guang pointed at March 7th: "Wasn't that you?"
Stelle puffed out her chest proudly: "That's right! And me too!"
March 7th: "What's there to be proud of about that?!"
The three of them chatted and laughed as they walked along. Today, their plan was to research various strategies using the Aether Spirits they'd gathered.
Now that they'd already defeated the other championship contenders, the only thing left was to wait for the finals and face off against the remaining contenders—and the previous champion.
When it came to winning, Pei Guang was determined. In addition to his perpetual-motion-like infinite summon build, he had also come up with strange new strategies like Ice Fatty Nuke Build, Permafreeze Build, Infinite Goldfish Build, and Hunt-Perpetual Build.
But these strategies still needed to be tested with different chip combinations to find the most effective setups. After all, in Aetherium Wars, chips were the absolute core of any battle.
Today, the three of them had come to Herta's Space Station. Compared to the Luofu, this place actually had more players. The reason was simple: the Luofu was at least a place most people could go.
But Herta's Space Station? That wasn't a place just anyone could get to. The fact that it was one of the Victory Zone venues meant a lot of people wanted to see it for themselves. It was naturally a great place to find skilled players to spar with.
Pei Guang and the others were full of high hopes, but reality hit hard. Because the moment they arrived at Herta's Space Station, they were immediately intercepted by Asta.
Asta: "Ah Guang~ you guys went to the Xianzhou Luofu, right? Have you heard of the local group called Foxian Beauty Chat?"
At first, Pei Guang thought they were about to trigger some sort of quest. But after hearing that line, he immediately turned to look at March 7th.
March also seemed to remember her rant back at the hotel, and she swallowed nervously before speaking in a low voice: "Um… this beautiful fox fairy lady… are you saying you want us to… find her? Or go look for her on the Luofu?"
Asta: "Oh? You already know about this?"
Asta grew excited. To her, this confirmed that Pei Guang and the others really were the right people for the task. She had barely said anything and they already guessed her intent—how perfect.
Seeing Asta's reaction, March 7th muttered to herself: "No way… I actually guessed right?"