Listening to Huohuo's account, Pei Guang praised, "Not bad! Dropping gems right from the start: I'm remembering this one. Honestly, Huohuo, you're really adorable~"
Pei Guang smiled at her, "Alright, alright~ I'm being sincere. I don't know what you were like before, but from what I've seen since meeting you, you're a brave little girl who faces fear head-on and uses her own willpower and determination to defeat the Heliobi."
Huohuo: "Eh? Really?"
Huohuo, who had been a little upset, immediately lit up inside upon hearing that compliment.
Tail said, "Alright, alright, say a word less, or her tail's gonna curl up to the sky."
Stelle looked at Tail, "Aren't you her tail?"
Tail: "I—! You two really dare to talk to me like that? Aren't you afraid of getting beaten to death?"
Pei Guang thought seriously and replied, "Not really. The ones who wanted to beat us to death all ended up beaten to death themselves."
Pei Guang continued, "But now's not the time to chat. Let's think about how to get out of here. This Heliobus looks useless now, so we'll have to figure it out ourselves."
Cirrus said, "Who are you calling useless? I..."
Cirrus still wanted to argue, but when she saw Huohuo's plunger, Stelle's RPG, and Pei Guang's flamethrower, she fell silent. None of these three were easy to deal with, and she absolutely did not want to get poked by that plunger again: it was just too painful!
Stelle asked Pei Guang, "So what do we do now?"
Pei Guang thought for a moment, "Let's look around! We came in through a mirror, so there should be another mirror that'll let us out. If it's not a mirror, then maybe there's some enemy we need to beat. If it's neither, then we'll figure something out ourselves."
Pei Guang stayed calm, now that he had an idea for getting out. But since there was still plenty of time left in the day, he decided to save the teleport charges as much as possible, just in case.
On his side, the chances of an accident were low, but back on Earth, there were plenty of possibilities. If something happened there and he had no teleport charges left, it'd be really bad.
While Pei Guang explained, Huohuo listened intently. She realized that ever since she met Pei Guang, her luck seemed to have improved. Because of that, she decided she needed to remember everything Pei Guang said: maybe it would help her against monsters and demons someday.
Led by Pei Guang, the group began exploring the labyrinth.
After wandering around for a while, they actually found some puzzles. The puzzles were simple: smash this jar to open a door, open that treasure chest to unlock another path.
Without hints, Pei Guang would have had to brute-force the solutions, but during the search he noticed that each puzzle had clues. The clues were easy, about a grade-schooler's level, as if the designer was worried the people trapped inside wouldn't figure it out.
This made Pei Guang pay closer attention to Cirrus, because he had the feeling this place was a carefully designed space meant for outsiders.
The designer probably hadn't expected a "player" like him to show up.
Just as Pei Guang was wondering whether Cirrus was the mastermind and whether he should take her out early, they opened a new door and saw a mirror.
Huohuo said, "Look, there's a mirror here! Ah Guang, you were spot on~"
Seeing the mirror, Pei Guang pushed his earlier thoughts aside and proudly said, "See? There's a mirror here! From experience, I can tell we'll find the way out through it."
As they talked, a voice came from the other side of the mirror: "This voice... Huohuo? Pei Guang? Come over here!"
Pei Guang: "Hm? Xueyi's voice? Did she realize we were missing and find the mirror we entered through?"
Hearing Pei Guang's voice, Xueyi on the other side sounded relieved: "It is good that you are unharmed. Fyxestroll Garden has been swallowed by a force of unknown origin. Be careful."
Pei Guang said, "Unknown origin, huh? We caught a Heliobus here who said the illusion space was created by a Heliobus called Furynox. Could it be that one?"
Xueyi replied, "Unknown. The priority is to rescue you from the maze. Come, pass through the mirror and join us."
Huohuo said, "Lady Xueyi, we're coming now."
As she spoke, Huohuo stepped through first. Stelle looked at Pei Guang, asking worriedly, "It'll be okay, right?"
Pei Guang said, "What could go wrong? If someone had the power to insta-kill us, they wouldn't have bothered setting up a space to trap us. Only those without that ability rely on tricks and scare tactics, hoping fear will make us slip up. Let's go! Let's see what's waiting for us."
The group passed through the mirror, and after crossing it, they arrived in an empty, open space.
Huohuo looked around instinctively and said, "Did we... come above Fyxestroll Garden?"
Pei Guang shook his head. "Doesn't look like it. We should still be inside."
Huohuo looked left and right, noticing three bronze mirrors around them. "So many mirrors…"
Seeing this, Cirrus slinked over with a sly look. "With so many bronze mirrors, could it be…"
Pei Guang said, "It's definitely this environment trying to stop us from leaving!"
Tail added, "You're right. This place keeps changing, trying to block us from getting out."
Stelle turned to Pei Guang. "Then what should we do? Just pick one and crash into it?"
Huohuo suggested, "How about we… check each one carefully?"
Pei Guang fell into thought. "Logically, checking one by one is a good method. But! It's too slow. And even if you go up and check, how would you tell if it's real or fake?"
Huohuo got nervous. "Then, then what should we do?"
Pei Guang grinned. "Heh, of course! We leave everything to luck."
Hearing this, Stelle was shocked. "Ah Guang! No! You have the worst luck ever!"
At that moment, Pei Guang got excited. "Exactly! I always lose when I bet, but I figured it out. This time I'm not gambling, I'm just leaving it to luck. And besides, I have a way to boost my luck."
The last few words made Huohuo a bit excited. "Boost luck? Is that… possible?"
Pei Guang said proudly, "Of course! Plus, it's exactly because I'm so unlucky that I need to rely on luck this time! Besides, there are only three mirrors, one-third chance. Even if I fail, you guys can still pick again. And we've got backup ways to escape, so it's not really gambling."
Stelle thought about it and realized it made sense. "Tch, sounds pretty reasonable~ Should we try it?"
Pei Guang said, "Let's try! Come on! Today I'll teach you guys a way to boost your luck. Remember the chant and moves I'm about to show you. If it works, Huohuo, you should do it often, and your luck will improve a lot."
Pei Guang walked a few steps forward, stood in the open space, and took out a speaker. The moment he pulled it out, Stelle's face turned serious.
Huohuo saw the speaker and glanced at Stelle. When she saw Stelle's serious expression, she nervously asked, "Is… something about to happen?"
Stelle nodded. "Yes! Huohuo! You have to watch Ah Guang's moves carefully, because whenever he pulls out the speaker, it means he's getting serious. And it also means something earth-shattering is about to happen."
Huohuo nodded hard. "I'll watch carefully!"
Tail also looked over curiously. "Good grief, I gotta see what crazy thing this guy is up to."
Cirrus didn't say anything, but all its attention was locked onto Pei Guang. It could feel that Pei Guang was definitely its biggest obstacle, and it had to find out what he was planning.
By now, Pei Guang was ready. He reached out, turned on the speaker, and the intense intro music blasted out.