Pei Guang gave Misha one last glance before turning away.
In a world themed around dreams, the appearance of a being only visible to players, or rather, only to certain special people, wasn't something hard to understand.
In Pei Guang's eyes, maybe this Misha was the final boss of the area, or at least someone connected to the final boss.
For a player, even if he could guess that Misha had something to do with Penacony and the trials he would face, he wouldn't go out of his way to cause trouble for Misha.
After all, this boy spoke politely and even helped carry luggage.
A cute NPC who shows goodwill: most normal players wouldn't deliberately pick a fight with someone like that.
Besides, what if he caused trouble for Misha now and ended up blocking the story?
Sure, killing the boss early would be efficient, but if it broke the progression, that would just be ridiculous. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel-fire.net
Pei Guang and Stelle followed March 7th to the front desk, where a large crowd had already gathered.
Seeing so many people, March mumbled nervously, "Why are so many gathered at the counter… don't tell me we've run into trouble again?"
Pei Guang looked at her. "Tell me, who's the real prophet here, you or me? How come your words always come true more often than mine?"
March ignored his teasing, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him. "We're in trouble again, Almighty Ah Guang, hurry and solve it for us!"
Stelle: "Almighty Ah Guang!!!"
Pei Guang was speechless.
If this went on, he felt like being "praised to death" by his teammates was inevitable.
Still, it wasn't a big problem; since his teammates had put a debuff on him, he'd just have to cancel it himself. As long as he wasn't the one proclaiming himself "invincible," or whatever they called him this time, that so-called debuff wasn't an issue.
After all, Pei Guang always introduced himself to outsiders as a piece of trash, which counteracted his teammates' "toxic buffs."
As soon as Pei Guang approached the counter, he overheard the receptionist, named Alley, explaining to Himeko: "I'm sorry, but there really isn't any such name in the system…"
Himeko: "But the Astral Express clearly received a confirmation that rooms had been reserved for us. Could you please check again?"
From their exchange, Pei Guang quickly understood the situation: the rooms had been booked, but there was an error with the names.
He leaned toward March 7th and whispered, "Looks like we're being treated like easy targets, huh?"
March 7th: "Huh? Really? I thought this was just normal identity verification. And remember, when we agreed to head to Penacony, you and Stelle hadn't boarded yet. Doesn't it make sense your names aren't on the list?"
Pei Guang shook his head. "Nope, that doesn't add up! We were invited here. If something went wrong, the hotel should have contingency plans. Instead, not only do they have no backup solution, but they're stalling Himeko and Welt at the counter. Look—the people in line are already getting impatient. I can smell the plot kicking in.
Classic setup: when players want to stay somewhere, there's always some mishap stopping them. Back in Belobog, we got one night before being put on the wanted list. Here? They're just straight up blocking us."
As an experienced player, Pei Guang could sense the script unfolding.
Traditionally, whenever the player's party tried to check in somewhere, obstacles always cropped up. Usually, this was when some new character would pop up, help smooth things over, and use the chance to bond with the party.
After all, any competent worker knew how to deflect responsibility.
In this case, Alley could've just calmed Himeko and Welt, reported the issue to her superiors, and let management handle it, while she went back to helping other customers.
But instead, she was holding up Himeko and Welt.
Either she was impossibly stupid (which her coworkers' reactions suggested she wasn't) or she was doing it on purpose.
It was the perfect cliché setup, and one that served the story well. A bit of friction helped players meet new characters and NPCs.
Classic or not, though, Pei Guang wanted to play around a little.
If the plot wanted to annoy him, he'd annoy it right back!
March 7th noticed his expression and leaned close to whisper, "You look like you've got an idea?"
Pei Guang nodded. "I do. But I'll need Stelle to play along."
Stelle: "What do I do?"
Pei Guang: "Just improvise."
While Pei Guang was preparing, Alley continued speaking to Himeko: "Let me check again, please hold on… Astral Express, Platinum Suites, four rooms in total: Mr. Welt Yang, Ms. Himeko, Ms. March 7th, and Mr. Dan Heng. Those are the only reservations on record…"
Four names total. But as Himeko had pointed out, there were five of them. The headcount was already wrong, never mind the details.
At that moment, Pei Guang stepped forward and addressed Alley.
"That's correct. I'm Dan Heng. If your system didn't list Stelle, that's normal, that's because she just turned one month old today. She's still a minor with no legal capacity to act on her own, so naturally she should stay in the same room as her guardian, me."
March 7th almost burst out laughing, while Stelle planted her hands on her hips and declared with a straight face: "I'm only one month old!"
Pei Guang pressed on, dead serious. "By the rules, anyone without legal capacity must stay under a guardian's care. That's why we only booked four rooms. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Alley hesitated. "Th-that… in theory, that's fine. But… she's only one month old?"
Her expression made it very clear she wasn't buying it.
Pei Guang sighed in mock defeat. "No one believes me. Honestly, even I don't believe it: she was born just yesterday, and she's already as tall as her mom."
At this moment March 7th couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, while Alley maintained a professional smile as she looked at Pei Guang: "Hello, we…"
Alley was just about to tell Pei Guang not to make trouble, but Pei Guang calmly pulled out some medical documents.
After placing them on the desk, he explained with composure: "This is a physical examination report from Herta Space Station. It clearly states that her age is only one month. This one is from the Xianzhou Alliance, and it's enough to prove the authenticity of the report.
If you don't believe me, you can verify it through any channel with Madam Herta or the Xianzhou Alliance. Is it the Alliance's tests you don't recognize, or the Genius Society's you don't recognize?"
At that moment not only the staff fell silent: Himeko and Welt also stared at Pei Guang in shock!
The two of them leaned over curiously to take a look, and when she did, even Himeko almost failed to hold back her laughter.
Because the reports Pei Guang brought out were indeed genuine—every stamp and certification was real. But the contents?
March 7th leaned close to Pei Guang and whispered: "Nice! When did you even prepare this?"
Pei Guang: "I made them earlier. To deal with certain special events, I prepared reports for all ages. Don't worry, they're all authentic, I've already smoothed everything out."
Pei Guang really had made proper arrangements with both Herta Space Station and the Xianzhou Luofu, and when he prepared these reports, he had explained his idea in advance.
That was why the documents he produced were all legally valid: no matter how you checked them, they came out real.