Huohuo's two slaps left everyone in silence. At the same time she moved, Pei Guang equipped the light cone "I Go Up And Kick", then also raised his own hand and gave Cirrus two loud smacks.
"Ehe~"
Along with the sound of slaps came Pei Guang's cheerful voice. As soon as Huohuo slapped Cirrus, she dismissed the Creation Furnace and turned to run.
Originally, Huohuo had mustered all her courage for those slaps—afterwards, her legs felt weak. But when she heard Pei Guang's gleeful "ehe~" and saw him carrying her and dashing off, a sudden… joy welled up inside her.
As Pei Guang ran, Tail popped out: "Not bad, you're really good at getting under people's skin. Forget Cirrus, even I feel irritated just imagining myself in its place."
Pei Guang replied, "Of course! I've always been good at annoying people. Huohuo, I'm going to put you down now. Don't worry, I've already got that thing good and taunted."
Pei Guang's light cone could greatly boost his taunt value. Unfortunately, Cirrus didn't have a physical butt for him to target, and Pei Guang didn't know its specific weaknesses—so he couldn't trigger his unbreakable taunt ability.
But with Huohuo's double slap plus his own, the aggro was firmly locked on him. Now, it was up to Huohuo to decide what to do next.
At that moment, everyone could feel the terrifying aura coming from Cirrus. A powerful suction radiated outward from its position, covering all of Fyxestroll Garden.
"I'll kill you!!!"
Cirrus's furious voice echoed throughout the Garden. Its sheer rage sent ripples even into the nearby cave-dwellings, where people could feel its wrath from afar.
But Pei Guang seemed completely unfazed. After placing Huohuo on the ground, he began twisting his body: "Hahahaha? Why so serious? Woohoo~ Hahahaha~ Prank time~ And this time, the target… is you~ Hahahaha~"
Pei Guang was doing the Idle Death Gamble Dance: the same dance he had just taught Huohuo. Not only did it boost his luck, it was also top-tier material for taunting enemies.
As he danced and jeered, he topped it off by raising both middle fingers. The manic laughter, the mocking dance, the sarcastic tone: it all snapped a mental string named "rationality" inside Cirrus's mind.
At that moment, it felt like it wasn't just Pei Guang mocking it—it seemed to see a whole crowd of masked faces laughing at it.
"I'll kill you!!"
Cirrus quickly realized its suction wasn't affecting Pei Guang at all. In that case, it chose to charge forward directly: to kill Pei Guang with overwhelming force.
Seeing Cirrus rush at him, Pei Guang remained perfectly calm. He pulled a bag of mixed trash from his inventory, flung it straight into Cirrus's path, then turned and bolted.
The bag of garbage landed squarely on Cirrus's giant eyeball. As the trash spilled out, the expressions of Xueyi and Huohuo froze. Even the bystanders were stunned. As for Cirrus… its emotions were unimaginable.
"AHHH!!! AHHHH!!!"
Cirrus let out a scream like a groundhog. It had had enough: it was going to tear Pei Guang to pieces!
With its mind blank, it dashed after the fleeing man.
As Pei Guang ran, he kept mocking: "Aha~ Why so serious? Hahahaha~ Later, loser~~"
Cirrus: "If you've got guts, stop running~!"
Pei Guang: "Run, run, run~ You can't catch me, you can't catch me~"
Within a few seconds, both Pei Guang and Cirrus had vanished from sight.
As the area settled down, Huohuo finally processed what had happened and spoke in a small voice, "Mister Ah Guang… might be in danger…"
Oddly enough, in the past she would've been shaking uncontrollably from fear. But after that wild ride with Pei Guang today, she found herself… less afraid. Especially after seeing Cirrus get trash-dunked. She felt something stir inside her: a strange, new feeling she hadn't noticed before.
As Huohuo spoke, Stelle walked over holding her bat. "It's fine! Ah Guang said he's got tons of experience dodging ghosts. A mere Heliobus won't find him. Still, we can't just sit here: something tells me he can't handle that thing alone. We might have to find a way to help him."
Xueyi said, "I… don't have a particularly effective method either…"
The Ten-Lords Commission did have ways to suppress Heliobi, but Cirrus was far too powerful. There simply wasn't enough time to prepare the specialized gear needed. Given too long, Pei Guang's body might be reduced to dust.
Stelle's eyes gleamed with intelligence. "You can't do it alone, sure—but we've got four people here."
Huohuo asked, "Four? Me, you, Lady Xueyi… and who else?"
Tail: "Who else? Obviously me, the great one! Right?"
Stelle nodded. "Exactly! That makes four of us, and four is the perfect size for a standard squad!"
Huohuo interjected, "Then what about Mister Ah Guang?"
Stelle: "He's the fifth member of our four-person squad. Ahem. Don't worry, Ah Guang's definitely one of us."
Xueyi: "Then… how shall we deal with it?"
Stelle pulled out the specialized thermal weapons that Pei Guang had made for dealing with ghosts and monsters. Since Pei Guang said they worked, she believed in them: they would work.
Ever since Pei Guang made his move, Stelle had noticed that a row of thermal weapons had been added to the shared storage space. They were the same anti-ghost weapons Pei Guang had proudly shown off to her and March 7th during the day.
Back in the previous environment, these things had indeed caused considerable damage to the Heliobus.
At the time, Cirrus had been too small, making most attacks miss, but now things were different. With such a massive eyeball, Stelle felt like even with her eyes closed, she could land a hit with the RPG Pei Guang had provided.
At this moment, Stelle was pulling out one thermal weapon after another, specially made by Pei Guang for dealing with ghosts—or rather, Heliobi. Seeing all these weapons, Huohuo swallowed hard. "Are these things really effective?"
Stelle nodded. "Of course they are! These are high-efficiency tools designated by Ah Guang himself. And we've already tested them: they do damage. If something can be hurt, that means it has an HP bar. And if it has an HP bar, even a god can be taken down for fun!
Alright, stop doubting—gear up! We can't keep Ah Guang waiting, or he might actually get eaten! But just relying on these won't be enough. The real specialist against Heliobi is you, Huohuo. Ah Guang and I will hold Cirrus off, you're the one who has to deal the real damage."
Huohuo hesitated. "Can I really do it?"
Stelle nodded again. "Of course you can! Like Ah Guang always says: this is your personal growth quest. Since it's your quest, you're obviously the one who plays the biggest role!"