The disappearance of its target didn't make the monster leave.
Instead, it prowled cautiously, purple-black mist seeping into every room. Within that thick fog, a single massive eye scanned the surroundings.
Inside the trash can, Pei Guang and Firefly peered out through the narrow gap. The sight of the dark mist made Pei Guang's whole body tense.
"What… is that?"
Firefly shivered when she saw the eye moving through the mist, sweeping across each room. She could feel it: an unmistakable sense that the eye was looking directly at her.
Her fists clenched tightly. If Pei Guang hadn't been beside her, she might've jumped out to fight the thing head-on already.
Compared to the nervous Firefly, Pei Guang forced himself to stay calm, observing the creature carefully through the narrow slit.
"That eye… it's just part of the body. This kind of eerie atmosphere—it feels like it's made of a blend of too many things. Just looking at it gives off an insane sense of power…"
He mentally compared it to every enemy he had faced so far and had to admit: this thing radiated more pressure than even a Lord Ravager.
What? But aren't Lord Ravagers the Aeon of Destruction's Emanators?
For a player, that didn't matter. Compared to story bosses who died to scripted plot events, monsters like this, those that appeared mid-narrative as pursuers, were far harder to deal with.
Even watching through the narrow gap, Pei Guang could feel it: the danger wasn't the creature itself, but the act of being alive in front of it.
Normally, no player would ever wish death upon their own character, but facing this thing, Pei Guang had the chilling thought: maybe dying in front of it would be the best possible ending.
It was like a mirror, reflecting the futility of life before death. Birth marks the beginning, death the inevitable end—and all beings must eventually face it.
That feeling alone was enough for Pei Guang to conclude one thing: this enemy couldn't be fought head-on.
And if he wanted to keep exploring this dungeon, if he wanted to push forward in Penacony's storyline, then he'd have to do it while being chased by this thing, uncovering the truth behind both this place and Penacony itself.
Something clicked in Pei Guang's mind. He took out his Dreamscape Pass. The invitation from the Family was still tucked inside, and on it, he saw one key sentence:
"Awaiting you at the end of your journey—only the sweetest flavors and the most delightful melodies."
Reading that, then glancing again at the huge eye monster patrolling outside, Pei Guang couldn't help muttering, "Yeah right. Sweet flavors and delightful melodies my ass. This thing has nothing to do with either."
He flipped through the Dreamscape Pass's section on the "Golden Hour," and laughed softly.
"As I thought… there's something wrong with this entire area. They said the Reverie's Hotel is being renovated, but it looks to me like it's been completely taken over by that thing."
While Pei Guang analyzed the situation, the black mist outside began to fade. Only then did Firefly whisper, "Are we… safe?"
Pei Guang replied, "Safe, for now."
"For now…"
"Don't worry too much. My guess is that as long as we don't mess around before we finish exploring this dungeon, it'll just chase us—it won't fully engage. But don't let your guard down. In horror scenarios, one careless move and we die to a scripted event. I've got a really bad feeling about this monster."
Pei Guang loathed scripted deaths more than anything.
No matter how strong you were or what buffs you had, in most cases, once the story decided you were dead, you were dead.
Sure, some modded games let you bypass that with features like [Can't Be Targeted], but Pei Guang didn't have any mods or cheats—and with his luck, gambling on it was suicide.
"So… we can't beat it?"
Pei Guang shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's technically beatable, but I doubt it's killable. And if we rush in without understanding how it works, that's just an instant game over. Still…"
He glanced at his inventory. "Just because we can't win doesn't mean we can't mess with it a little."
A good player never just waits to die during a chase. Even if he couldn't fight it directly, Pei Guang planned to annoy it somehow.
Too bad it didn't seem remotely human: what humans found annoying probably wouldn't even register for it.
When Firefly heard that Pei Guang had a plan, her eyes lit up. "Then let's give that big guy a real beating!"
She started to rise, but just as she stood up in the trash can, Pei Guang felt a sudden, gut-deep chill.
He instinctively looked up—nothing above them.
Then, snapping his head to the side, he saw the wall of the trash can ripple with purple-black mist… and from it, a huge, unblinking eye emerged.
It had no expression, no voice, but Pei Guang could feel its intent: "Found you."
"8&1£#!"
Pei Guang instantly drew his weapon, flames of Savory Truefire erupting as he lunged forward and stabbed straight into the eye.
The creature jerked back, avoiding the strike, and reappeared on the other side of the wall.
At last, Pei Guang saw its full form…
Its body was a patchwork of limbs and claws, with enormous wing-like appendages covered in countless eyes. Its purple-black flesh rippled with movement, and every single one of those eyes turned, fixing directly on Firefly.
It ignored Pei Guang's attack completely and lunged at her.
Fortunately, both of them were still half inside the trash can, and Pei Guang's instinctive counter had forced it back for a moment, buying them precious seconds to react.
Pei Guang also noticed that the monster's target wasn't him: it was Firefly.
At that moment, something seemed to click in his mind, but there was no time to think it through. He moved purely on instinct.
He grabbed Firefly and pulled her firmly into his arms, his other hand already producing a syringe.
The monster's claw reached for Firefly, but Pei Guang's syringe shot straight toward the eye on its head. The monster was fast, but Pei Guang was faster.
The syringe pierced its body, and Pei Guang pushed the plunger down, injecting the liquid inside.
The monster, which had been seconds away from slashing at Firefly, suddenly froze mid-motion—like someone had hit a pause button.
After a few seconds of silence, all of its eyes turned toward Pei Guang.
It stared at him, this strange being that dared to interfere, but for some reason, it couldn't attack him.
Its body began to convulse, twitching violently, then smashing itself into the surrounding walls. After several collisions, the creature's form completely vanished.
The whole process had been so fast that Firefly barely understood what had just happened. All she'd seen was Pei Guang jab the thing with a syringe—and then it was gone.
"Why did that monster… run off by itself? It looked like it was in pain too."
Pei Guang looked down at the syringe in his hand. "Because I filled it with a mix of two kinds of coffee."
Firefly blinked. "The one you gave me?"
Pei Guang first nodded, then shook his head. "Partly. The rest is Himeko's coffee. Turns out it's not only effective on the Masked Fools: it works on that thing too. Too bad I don't have much of it left!"
As for why he didn't use only the Sleepy Coffee: it was because he had a feeling it wouldn't work well on this kind of enemy. That's why he added some of Himeko's blend.
Even so, there was still enough of the sleep formula in it to knock out a normal target.
But the result was clear: the Sleepy Coffee didn't put the monster to sleep. Instead, Himeko's coffee made it run away.
Pei Guang stared painfully at the few remaining bottles of Himeko's coffee in his inventory. He'd accepted a mission from her, during which Himeko had brewed an absurd amount of coffee for him.
Before entering the dream, she'd even given him a few temporary ones.
But the real unlimited supply was only after completing her mission, and right now, what he had was just this small stash she'd handed him before.
Nowhere near enough.
The stuff clearly worked on this monster, but using even one bottle meant losing one forever.
"As expected, there's no such thing as a useless item on a new map… damn it! Why did I have to grab the wrong one and give it to Sparkle?!"
Remembering how he'd accidentally handed that coffee to Sparkle before, Pei Guang felt a deep sense of regret. That item was obviously top-tier, capable of forcing the pursuer to retreat temporarily, and he wasted it.
Good thing Sparkle didn't know what he was thinking.
If she did, she'd probably kick him halfway across Penacony. That coffee had nearly made her experience a "fate worse than death" in the dream, and he dared to say she wasted it?
He should be grateful she didn't charge him for psychological damages.