Huohuo carefully pulled the coffee bottle back out of the person's mouth. Feeling the murderous gaze fixed on her, she forced a polite but awkward smile.
At that moment, the Furynox fragment felt deeply insulted. It was ready to seriously punish the little girl in front of it, maybe even devour her.
It raised the weapon using the body it controlled. Watching this unfold, Huohuo was on the verge of tears.
She was so scared her legs gave out completely: she couldn't even run!
Hearing her plea for help, Tail originally wanted to intervene, but upon noticing Pei Guang approaching, it obediently stayed in its role as Huohuo's "tail."
Huohuo was terrified. But just as the enemy was about to strike, Pei Guang and Stelle stepped up and demonstrated what "professionally offering someone coffee" looked like.
Pei Guang and Stelle walked up beside Huohuo. Stelle whipped out her bat and smashed the weapon right out of the enemy's hand.
Pei Guang then took the coffee from Huohuo and said reassuringly, "Even if you mess up, don't be afraid. Our coffee is special: no one can resist the temptation of coffee."
Pei Guang opened the bottle cap. And as the cap came off, the person controlled by Furynox looked at the opened coffee bottle in his hand, as if she saw a black, laughing century egg beckoning her.
This dark-purple egg was so perfect, so dazzling. It felt like the only destination in the entire universe. It felt like a kind old grandmother inviting her to gather on the other side of the river.
She couldn't refuse the invitation. Not only her: the Furynox fragment inside couldn't resist either.
She took the coffee from Pei Guang and drank it herself. After just half the bottle, she fell into a sleep as peaceful as a baby's.
Huohuo gasped in shock. "T-this actually works?"
Pei Guang: "Of course it does! No one can resist the temptation of coffee!"
Stelle chimed in with a dry comment: "When we first found this coffee, we took turns drinking it several times. Sometimes when I'm tired, I still like to grab a cup."
Huohuo: "That scary? W-wait, will I be affected too?"
Pei Guang thought back: "Nope! According to our tests, using it on others doesn't affect the user. Also, after drinking a lot, people build up a bit of resistance—but so far, no one has ever resisted it on their first try."
Huohuo: "That's… amazing…"
Pei Guang: "It really is. Come on! Let's take care of the rest of the Heliobus. I can't promise an unlimited supply of this coffee, but it's more than enough to help you deal with them!"
At that moment, Huohuo's eyes welled with tears. After all these years, she had finally found a method that suited her. Sure, it was a little strange, but for Huohuo, the fact that she could successfully recover Heliobus fragments was the biggest step forward.
As for whether the method was embarrassing? She'd already been embarrassed for over thirty years: she wasn't afraid anymore.
What mattered now was that it worked, and that gave her peace of mind.
And so, under Pei Guang's guidance, Huohuo steadily improved. But from Tail's point of view, this wasn't "improvement": this was evolution. Before meeting Pei Guang, Huohuo had been timid and scared of everything.
How had she come to the point of launching sneak attacks?
And not only sneak attacks: her technique had gone from clumsy and chaotic to fluid and practiced. And it had only taken five people! If this were a game, Tail could practically see the "skill level up" notifications flashing across the screen.
As the ambushes continued, Huohuo grew more and more skilled. Whether using coffee to knock them out or using her talismans to directly force out the Heliobus fragments from within their hosts—she could now do it all.
Their group advanced steadily, and before long, they arrived at a large plaza. At the same time they reached it, Xueyi came charging in from another direction.
Seeing Pei Guang's group arrive simultaneously, Xueyi, looking a bit tired, spoke up: "I've defeated all the spiritfarers manipulated by Furynox. Holding back while still winning was a real pain. How did your task go?"
Huohuo: "We defeated them too~"
Pei Guang shook his head. "Correction—not we. Huohuo did it alone."
Huohuo looked at Pei Guang a little embarrassed. "If it weren't for you all…"
Pei Guang: "Don't confuse cause and effect. We only gave you the tools to take them down: the one who actually did it was you. Along the way, Huohuo's the one who took down every single one of them."
At that moment, Tail popped out from behind Huohuo. "I can confirm that. This little one… after spending time with them, I almost don't recognize her anymore."
Tail was the one who felt the change most clearly: just yesterday, Huohuo was still a little girl who cried at everything, but after just one day of running around with Pei Guang, she'd already changed so much.
Was it really change, though? Maybe not. It was more that Huohuo simply trusted Pei Guang. And everything Pei Guang taught her was truly effective.
With Pei Guang present, Huohuo felt like she finally had someone to rely on.
Tail had always controlled her body, and after each mission, Huohuo never really knew what had happened. The judges from the Ten-Lords Commission had taught her many skills, but when the time came to use them, no one had ever backed her up like Pei Guang—supporting her without interfering with her will.
It wasn't that the Ten-Lords Commission didn't want to help; it was that the enemies they faced left no room to provide that kind of help. Every operation required full effort from every member.
It was nothing like how Pei Guang handled things, almost like playing around.
Xueyi noticed the change too. Unlike before, Huohuo now held a toilet plunger in one hand and a coffee bottle in the other. She gave off a sense of confidence: there was noticeably less fear in her eyes.
Seeing this, Xueyi smiled slightly. "Huohuo, you've grown."
Tail chimed in, "Sigh~ At this rate, I'm going to be out of a job. I'll be useless~"
Huohuo said, "That's not true, Mr. Tail. With you around, I always feel safe~"
Tail grumbled, "Well, thanks for that, I guess!"
But just as Huohuo was feeling a bit proud of herself, a voice echoed through the air—Cirrus.
"Not bad! Not bad! With all of you around, this operation has gone much more smoothly!"