Amid the noise and chaos, everyone split into three groups to investigate Robin's "death."
First was Himeko: she took Stelle back to the real Penacony, planning to communicate with the family leadership to see if they could obtain useful information.
According to everyone's analysis, if Something Unto Death truly had a special killing logic, then Firefly and Robin couldn't be the only ones attacked in such a short time.
Pei Guang's actions were simple and direct. He planned to take Firefly and March 7th to directly find Something Unto Death.
Pei Guang's purpose was clear: whether that thing sent people to the real Penacony or actually killed them, either way it absolutely could not be allowed to remain. In addition, Pei Guang planned to ask passersby along the way how they viewed death.
As everyone knows, in games, no matter how sealed the information is, no matter how fast things happen, melon-eating bystanders always have odd and mysterious clues.
As for Welt, he had his own plan.
Originally, he planned to act alone, but the peach eater chose to act with him after a moment of silence.
Himeko and Pei Guang's groups moved first.
Once they were far enough away, Welt looked at Acheron and finally spoke: "I originally thought you would act with Pei Guang."
Acheron: "There is no need. In Penacony, no one can harm him, and no one can influence him. As for you…"
Acheron looked at Welt's face with a faint nostalgic expression. In the world she lived in, she once had twelve blades, and Welt's appearance was very similar to the first blade's inheritor.
Similar face, similar temperament…
Having traveled countless worlds, Acheron had seen countless existences similar to herself and her friends. Their faces, experiences, and even personalities were similar.
She knew these people were not the friends she once knew, they just looked alike, but when she encountered them, she was willing to accompany them for a while when necessary.
Looking at Acheron's appearance and listening to her voice, Welt took a deep breath: "I understand what you mean…"
Welt understood her meaning. He didn't refuse, but immediately prepared to move.
As for Acheron's secrets? Since Pei Guang brought her, and she could calmly stay with the group watching Pei Guang and Stelle mess around, that already proved she was on their side to some degree.
Yes—in Welt's eyes now, Pei Guang was a standard friendly-unit detector. If someone could run with Pei Guang and calmly watch his antics, they were definitely not a villain.
And besides, that face… different world, different experience may create different personalities in the same face, but compared to someone who looks like Luocha, Welt trusted someone who looked like Mei more.
Welt also had things to do. He planned to explore this dream world more deeply and see if he could obtain other clues.
To Welt, this was also the richest war he had ever fought.
While Welt and Acheron acted alone, Pei Guang, Firefly, and March 7th prepared to look for Something Unto Death.
The plan was great: just go straight and find it, and once found, it would be a good biting session.
But just after splitting up and passing through the plaza, Pei Guang's attention was caught by a disheveled figure: none other than Aventurine, whom they had separated from only a few hours ago.
Aventurine was stumbling in the middle of the plaza, carrying a bag and asking the people around him about something.
Firefly also noticed Aventurine's condition and asked in concern: "He… that's Aventurine, right? Why does it feel like… he's hurt?"
March 7th: "Exactly! It's like there's something wrong in his head, the whole person seems dazed but is forcing himself to do something."
Pei Guang: "Then what are we waiting for? We are good people who always help when others are in trouble — let's go ask what's going on."
Pei Guang didn't have a good impression of the IPC, and liked IPC staff even less, but as a player, Pei Guang was a pure pragmatist.
IPC people? If you treat me well, give me quests and rewards, and don't block my progress, then you're absolutely a good person! But if you block my tasks or get in my way?
Sorry…IPC dog, taste my sword.
But clearly, after multiple interactions, Aventurine was not the latter. They even bathed together the first time they met.
So seeing Aventurine in trouble, how could a player not help?
Besides, Pei Guang was thinking: maybe he could use this opportunity to raise Aventurine's affection. If that worked, he would have two high-affection characters in the IPC high ranks.
In the future, when he went to blow up the IPC building, maybe Aventurine and Topaz would help open the gate and greet him.
In the plaza, Aventurine's head buzzed as he carried out his plan.
After Pei Guang left earlier, Aventurine didn't follow, but instead had a private meeting with Sunday. The meeting went very well, and everything was proceeding according to plan.
But unexpected events occurred during execution.
He didn't expect the power of Harmony to be so aggressive, nor did he expect the great Sunday to be afraid of acting against Pei Guang—and instead act against him.
Yes, Sunday forcefully injected the power of Harmony into Aventurine.
Perhaps influenced by Pei Guang, perhaps overhearing some outrageous comments Pei Guang made while monitoring, originally Sunday planned to inject just a small amount of Harmony power, but in a moment of ruthless impulse, he injected a huge amount.
This resulted in Aventurine now finding even walking difficult.
The only good news was that although the injected power was excessive, Sunday set a time limit for full harmonization: he still had over ten system hours left to move freely.
"Hah, bullying the weak but fearing the strong…"
Aventurine complained about Sunday, but after a moment of thought, he felt it wasn't unreasonable.
Forget Sunday: even he himself would be stunned by the things Pei Guang pulled out. He was a gambler, one who even dared to gamble his life.
But what is gambling? Probability, possibility. Yet when facing Pei Guang, he felt some things were impossible-level events—plus Pei Guang was genuinely ruthless.
He'd heard it: the Duke Inferno's palace was bombarded by Pei Guang in a Star Destroyer battleship, and the whole planet was blasted clean.
Oh! He also casually learned from Dr. Ratio that from the moment the Duke Inferno provoked Pei Guang to the moment his planet got blasted, not even a single day passed.
If you ignore all other factors, just that "must-repay-a-grudge" attitude alone—even diamonds would have to give him face.
The only thing that made Aventurine feel fortunate was that Pei Guang, compared to many high-status figures, was unexpectedly easy to get along with.
At the very least, he'd never heard of anyone else who could be convinced to help just with a lollipop.
"Damn it, why did I think of him again?"
While moving and enduring the power of Harmony, Aventurine forcefully shook his head after Pei Guang's image appeared in his mind. He didn't know why, but ever since that Harmony power appeared in his head, the person he thought about the most was Pei Guang.
"Could he actually be the Aeon of Harmony?"
Maybe his brain was too muddled, but Aventurine actually dreamed that Pei Guang was the Aeon of Harmony.
And just as he was laughing at his own imagination, Pei Guang suddenly appeared, making him freeze for a moment.
Maybe because his imagination earlier hadn't faded yet, looking at Pei Guang suddenly standing in front of him, Aventurine instinctively spoke.
"You really are the Aeon of Harmony?"
Pei Guang had originally planned to check Aventurine's condition, but after hearing that, he was left a little confused.
"Me? Of course not. Don't talk about Aeons, up to now the only 'class' I've got is Trailblazer."
While snapping back, Pei Guang looked at Aventurine, whose eyes had already turned chaotic.
"Bro, what's wrong with you? A few hours ago you were normal, why do you look like someone got into your head? You said the Aeon of Harmony just now? Don't tell me you got influenced by the Harmony power?"
Hearing Pei Guang guess it perfectly, Aventurine only managed one word: "Yes."
Receiving the confirmation, Pei Guang nodded. "Really. Tell me exactly what this 'Harmony' effect is? I've got some items on me, maybe one will work."
Aventurine: "Effect? It's like my head's foggy, so many voices… haha! Maybe soon I'll become part of Harmony too."
Pei Guang rubbed his chin, tasting the explanation carefully.
After thinking for a long time, he nodded. "Hmm~ why does that sound like mind control?"
The description immediately reminded Pei Guang of mind control, and once he thought of mind control, he thought of a certain bald commissar.
Back in the day, he also played four roles alone: today he was the Allied commander, tomorrow the Soviet commander, the day after that a devoted cultist to the commissar, and in the end he even became the resistance's artificial AI.
Because of that, Pei Guang had a very deep impression of mind control. Remembering Harmony's description and looking at Harmony's effects…
A Family that believes in harmony has its own thoughts, and those who don't believe get force-merged into Harmony?
Understood! He completely understood!
Penacony was a psychic beacon, made specifically to control anyone who didn't believe in or cooperate with Harmony?!