"Hey! Hey! What's wrong?"
When Pei Guang fell silent, March 7th and Dan Heng ran over. Pei Guang's behavior was very unusual—he had been smiling just a moment ago, speaking words that others couldn't understand, but the next second, he had gone completely silent, almost as if he were lifeless.
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I just suddenly felt a bit tired~ After all, doing so many tasks can be mentally exhausting. By the way, is there a place to rest? I'd like to lie down for a while."
March 7th and Dan Heng noticed the odd tone in Pei Guang's voice. The two exchanged glances, and then March 7th smiled brightly, "Of course! I'm a bit tired too, so let's all go rest together."
Dan Heng nodded, "Let's go together."
"Thanks."
Pei Guang thanked them and got up, once again putting on a smile.
He had already adjusted his mindset. A moment ago, when he saw there was no option to quit, he felt a bit lost. But then he thought about it differently—if he couldn't quit, then so be it. As the saying goes, the road ahead will always open up, and the boat will naturally straighten out when it reaches the bridge. Maybe this is just a game where you can't exit until you clear it. He should try clearing it first. But honestly, he was indeed a bit tired; otherwise, he wouldn't have thought about quitting.
Since he couldn't quit, he decided to find a place to rest for a while.
The three of them walked back to the crowd. Meanwhile, Himeko was engaged in a conversation with the station master of the Herta Space Station. However, just as the three returned to the group and were about to rest, something strange happened above them.
Red alerts appeared around the space, followed by a giant hand reaching into the space station's protective shield. Looking up, they saw a massive creature called the Doomsday Beast attempting to break through the shield and enter the station.
The space station's station master, Asta, immediately turned to Himeko and her team, "You guys take the train and leave; I'll stay behind."
"But..." March 7th was about to say something.
Himeko immediately turned around, "Yes, we're leaving."
She recognized what it was—this was the Doomsday Beast, an extreme embodiment of the power of destruction! The form of energy it carried was unknown, and it had a powerful energy source from an antimatter engine, giving it the strength to completely destroy the Herta Space Station.
"Wow... what a massive creature. I wonder how it compares in size to the Elden Beast. We're doomed!"
As Pei Guang made a sarcastic remark, March 7th shot back, "Don't say such discouraging things! We need to move quickly!"
But as they prepared to leave, Pei Guang didn't follow. "I'm not going."
He looked up at the giant creature that was about to tear through the shield, then looked at the wooden sword in his hand, and made a decision.
"Do you know what a fully open-world game means? It means I can try to change the ending to one I want. There are many NPCs here, and I haven't finished their series of tasks yet. If I leave now, many of them will die, and once they're dead, the tasks will be gone. How can I leave with so many tasks unfinished? I'm not willing to. I can't leave."
"Stop saying foolish things! You're shaking!"
Pei Guang retorted, "I'm not scared; I'm excited. I never thought I'd encounter such an open-world game in my life. I wouldn't be satisfied if I didn't try some extreme gameplay!"
March 7th let go of his hand at that moment, and Pei Guang looked at Stelle, "This might be a dual-line quest. I'll see if I can complete the task of stopping this creature. You follow the main quest, and we'll meet up later."
Stelle, seeing the determination in Pei Guang's eyes, nodded, "I'll wait for you."
Dan Heng then held March 7th back, "Trust him!"
Although they had only just met, no matter how strange Pei Guang's behavior was, Dan Heng had observed his actions. He believed Pei Guang had a reason for staying behind.
They had no chance of winning against such a powerful entity; staying would only be a burden.
March 7th took a deep breath, "Stay alive! You still owe me a debt!"
Hearing this, Pei Guang raised a clenched fist, "Don't worry! I'll use my Flame Punch on it! Besides, I'm not stupid: I'll only do what I can."
With that, March 7th turned and left with Himeko. She chose to trust Pei Guang. Since Himeko wasn't familiar with Pei Guang, she didn't say much, but she trusted March 7th and Dan Heng's judgment.
As the four of them left, Pei Guang, holding his wooden sword, walked to Asta's side.
"You're the station master here? Honestly, if I don't leave, will you die here?"
Asta stared intently at the Doomsday Beast in the sky and smiled at his question, "Maybe. But you should go. It's the station master's duty to protect this place."
Pei Guang shook his head, "Protecting is your duty. My reason for staying is simple: I don't know who I am, and I don't know where I am, but I do know that I can go on a killing spree."
As a player, even in a game where he couldn't quit, Pei Guang felt no fear. If he died, so be it—either he would quit or be completely wiped out. Besides, his online friends had mentioned that he had one chance for a severe injury to be reset, so he assumed that was true.
In Pei Guang's view, since this was a game where he couldn't quit or load a save, he wouldn't bet on the NPC's death outcome. If he wanted to go wild, he'd do it when he could quit and restart from scratch. For now, he would try to protect these NPCs.
The Doomsday Beast tore through the space station's shield.
Seeing the enemy in the sky ready to launch an indiscriminate attack, Pei Guang shouted to Asta, "Hey! I might be able to taunt it so that it focuses on me and stops attacking everyone else. You protect yourself."
"Alright..."
Without hesitation, Pei Guang looked at the approaching Doomsday Beast, extended his right hand with a clenched fist, and flipped it off, "Come at me!"
"?"
The Doomsday Beast had initially intended to launch a powerful attack and then pursue the Stellaron. To it, the people in the space station were too weak; a casual strike would suffice. The one carrying the Stellaron was its target. But as it charged down to attack, it noticed someone taunting it???
Pei Guang checked his system panel and found that he had indeed gained a taunt skill. As he looked at the enormous creature, he prepared for battle.
"Parry!!!"
He tried to parry again, but against such a massive creature, his parry was ineffective. The Doomsday Beast grabbed Pei Guang and tried to crush him, but no matter how hard it squeezed, it couldn't crush him.
It wasn't that Pei Guang's body was tough, but he was using his wooden sword as support. With its infinite durability, no attack could destroy it.
The Doomsday Beast, realizing it couldn't crush this small thing, threw Pei Guang aside with a powerful swing and flew off. Asta, who had been about to attack, saw the man who had been standing beside her being thrown away and, together with the Doomsday Beast, vanished as well.
The Doomsday Beast nearly instantly caught up: it wanted to kill this bug while chasing the Stellaron!
However, what the Doomsday Beast didn't know was that even a seemingly weak bug could be deadly if not guarded against.
Caught again, Pei Guang picked up his wooden sword. He had been observing the beast and noticed that it had a "big bead" in the middle, glowing brightly—a clear weak spot.
So, as it approached again, Pei Guang, holding his wooden sword, waited for the creature to get closer. As it did, Pei Guang raised his wooden sword and stabbed forward.
"This is... a weak point attack!"
Pei Guang wasn't aiming for just any spot; he targeted the Doomsday Beast's antimatter engine, its core. Normally, such a core would be impervious to ordinary attacks, but this time it faced the infinitely durable wooden sword, and the antimatter engine exploded.
Meanwhile, Stelle, March 7th, Dan Heng, and Himeko were running toward the station.
As they ran, March 7th nervously asked, "Will that guy be okay? When is Uncle Yang coming?"
Himeko: "He should be here soon. If he dared to stay behind, it means he has the ability to delay it. He'll be fine."
Stelle: "I'll use this bat to avenge him!"
March 7th: "This isn't the time to talk about death!"
Dan Heng: "The station is just ahead."
March 7th excitedly said, "Great! Huh? Where's the train?"
Just as the four of them reached the station, a massive figure and a person fell from the sky.
Amid the smoke, a figure stood up, muttering, "Aim where it glows, and you can't go wrong! Capcom never lies—playing so many Resident Evil games wasn't for nothing."
"Are you okay?"
As the smoke cleared, Pei Guang, in pain, staggered out and said in a shaky voice, "Where there's smoke, there's no injury! Of course, I'm fine. That thing... it should be dead, right?"