While muttering complaints under his breath, Pei Guang's mind was already racing, analyzing everything from their first encounter with the monster.
From the moment they met, he had noticed the monster's target was always Firefly. Then he remembered what the Clockie Boy had said earlier:
"The key to reaching the deepest part of the Dreamville lies within one of them."
And sure enough, it was with Firefly that he'd arrived at this special map. That meant Firefly truly was the key to entering Dreamville.
But why was the monster after her? Was it because she could uncover Penacony's secrets?
Pei Guang shook his head. That didn't fit the story logic.
Firefly was a stowaway with her own goals: she might be the key to advancing deeper, but she probably had nothing to do with the secrets themselves.
That left two possibilities.
The first: the monster saw Firefly and simply wanted her dead.
The second: Firefly's actions somehow fulfilled the "key" condition, giving her the qualification to enter deeper layers of the dream, and that qualification could extend to others.
In that case, she had become the key. And with that qualification came a test… this monster being her trial.
The first possibility didn't need further analysis: they could just avoid it. But the second one opened up new ideas.
The Watchmaker's legacy said: Seek the impossible within Penacony.
So… could this monster represent that "impossible" within the dream? If they could pass its trial, would that mean they could reach a deeper dream layer—and obtain the Watchmaker's true legacy?
Pei Guang began connecting all the clues.
Maybe he didn't have the full truth yet, but he believed that by piecing things together, he'd eventually find what he was looking for.
But, before that, he and Firefly needed to get out of there.
Pei Guang said, "This place isn't safe. We need to move before that thing recovers. I don't have many of these items left."
Firefly nodded firmly. "Got it!"
She followed as Pei Guang led the way out.
While the two of them continued exploring, elsewhere in another room within the same dream map, Stelle suddenly woke up from her sleep.
"Mm? What's this? Did I fall asleep? Is this… a deeper layer of the dream?"
She'd been having fun with Sparkle all this time, until, just moments ago, Sparkle's expression suddenly changed.
Tossing her a quick line—"Grayhair, you're too slow. I don't have time to play with you anymore."—she struck without warning, knocking the completely unprepared Stelle unconscious.
When Stelle woke up again, she found herself back in the hotel.
But as she stared at the floating text in the air and listened to the strange sounds echoing through the halls, a bad feeling crept over her.
"This place feels weird… I should hurry back and find Ah Guang."
She was about to head out to look for Pei Guang, but just as she opened her mini-map, she suddenly heard a commotion in the hallway.
Curious, Stelle opened the door and peeked outside—only to nearly jump out of her skin.
There, lying in the middle of the corridor, was a monster covered entirely in eyes. Its body twitched violently, rolling its blank, upturned eyes as though it were having a seizure.
The entire creature shuddered on the floor, the countless eyes trying (and failing) to close.
"So creepy…"
Just like Pei Guang earlier, Stelle felt an intense wave of discomfort just from looking at it.
But, as Pei Guang often said: a scavenger never leaves empty-handed. And as someone personally taught by him, Stelle wasn't about to ignore an incapacitated enemy.
Unlike Pei Guang, though, she didn't have much gaming experience.
Horror games? Survival thrillers? Never really played any. She didn't know the flow of those things. She barely knew what a "pursuer" was supposed to be.
All she remembered was Pei Guang's one golden rule: "If you can loot the corpse, loot it. Even if it's not fully dead, smack it a few times. You might get something good."
Looking at the convulsing monster, Stelle thought the same thing. It was clearly down and twitching: no harm in grabbing a few items, right?
But seeing how massive the creature was, she frowned, unsure where to start.
She thought about messaging Pei Guang, but when she pulled out her phone and sent a message… "Huh? No service?"
"Guess I'll just have to improvise… Hmm~ let's see… this'll do."
Stelle pulled out her trusty bat. She swung it a few times, then aimed at the monster's smallest arm.
"Hmm~ this one looks easy to break. Alright then—Let's go!"
The bat flared up with pure Destruction energy, the light cone she carried empowering her with massive strength.
She gathered her power to the limit and slammed the bat down.
With a resounding crack, the monster's arm was smashed clean off. The impact also triggered her weapon's taunt effect.
"Guys, you won't believe this: today I ran into a total cringe boss! It's called 'Something Unto Death'! Like seriously, how pathetic is that? What kind of name is that, huh?!"
Because of the watermelon-pattern effect on her bat, the weapon even started to mock the monster.
Whether it was from the pain or sheer offense at being taunted, even the memetic creature couldn't take it.
In an instant, Something Unto Death's eyes snapped back into focus.
Purple-black mist began seeping into the air. Within it, countless eyes turned to stare straight at Stelle.
Holding the arm she'd just knocked off, Stelle glared right back, even more defiant.
"What are you staring at? You think having more eyes makes you tough? I'll show you what real power looks like, then you'll know who trained me."
She pulled out the War-Flaming Lance and thrust it straight at the largest eye on its head.
Thanks to the lingering effects of the coffee earlier, the monster had regained some awareness, but its body still couldn't move fast enough.
It had no time to dodge. The spear pierced its eye clean through; Stelle twisted and pried, yanking the huge eyeball out in one motion.
She had been about to go for a few more when she suddenly felt it: an overwhelming sense of death, pressing down so hard her whole body trembled.
"Not good—danger!"
Realizing something was wrong, Stelle immediately activated her teleport. Her destination was clear: Pei Guang and Firefly, who were still on the same map.
To her, it was simple. Just a monster, no big deal. Ah Guang would definitely have a way to deal with it.
In a flash, she appeared right next to Pei Guang.
Seeing her suddenly pop into view, Pei Guang brightened. "Eh? What brings you here?"
Stelle huffed. "Sparkle hypnotized me! When I woke up, I was here. I was gonna head back to the Golden Hour, but since you were here, I came over. Oh—right!"
Excitedly, she pulled out two items and handed them to him. "Look! I just saw this big eyeball-covered monster on my way here. I smashed off one of its arms and got one of its eyeballs too! Do you think these are useful?"
Pei Guang's initial joy froze.
He stared at the items in her hands, blinking.
…Why did that eyeball look exactly like the one from the monster he'd just driven off?
And that claw… was that its claw too??
Still confused, he accepted them. But the moment they touched his hands, his expression stiffened.
A system message appeared before him: "Death has taken notice of your presence. Player, prepare for an attack from 'Death'."
"…Huh?"
For once, Pei Guang was the one left speechless. Stelle had managed to baffle him completely.
What the hell did she do? How did picking up a couple of monster parts get him marked by Death?
And wait a second: this monster's name was Death?
Didn't the Family say Penacony didn't have death? Then what exactly was going on with this thing calling itself Death?!