Seeing Pei Guang's unsteady form, March 7th excitedly ran over, while Dan Heng helped support him.
Pei Guang then recounted his recent experience: "That thing, after my observation, seems to be a patchwork creation driven by something strange. Each part of its body is incredibly strong, but if you break the core, it's done for."
Dan Heng, hearing this, couldn't help but comment despite his usual good manners, "No one would believe that—breaking an antimatter engine is not that easy."
Pei Guang laughed, "Who knows? Maybe my attack had more positive matter than antimatter? Or maybe it's some special mechanism? Doesn't matter; the important thing is it's dead. This time, the boss left a corpse, so we should loot it thoroughly."
Seeing this, Himeko also relaxed. No matter how it was done, the fact that Pei Guang stayed behind and risked his life during a crisis made him a good person in her eyes.
As for how he won? That wasn't important. But from his appearance, it seemed he barely survived.
March 7th, meanwhile, took out a camera and said, "Come on~ Smile~ I'll capture this moment for you."
"Cheese~"
Pei Guang smiled, Stelle looked relieved, and Himeko finally relaxed completely.
The Doomsday Beast's attack had been swift, and while everyone's attention was on Pei Guang, his focus was on the Doomsday Beast. He was already calculating how much material he could salvage from the massive creature.
Since he was the one who killed it, all the materials should rightfully belong to him. However, considering Stelle was a newcomer and trapped like him, he decided to share some. He'd also give some to March 7th for her concern and to Dan Heng for helping him stand. As for Himeko... he wasn't familiar with her, but out of gratitude for her support earlier, he'd give her some as well.
As he eyed the Doomsday Beast, his companions, seeing that Pei Guang was fine, also relaxed. In this era, even broken bones or damaged organs weren't major issues; as long as someone was alive and treated promptly, they could recover almost fully.
However, just as they relaxed, a sudden change occurred. The Doomsday Beast, which had appeared lifeless, suddenly raised its head, firing an energy beam powerful enough to melt anything.
This was its final resort, a random attack with no precise aim. But, as if drawn by fate, the orange-yellow beam was directed at March 7th.
Everything happened too quickly. With everyone's attention on Pei Guang, they hadn't noticed the Doomsday Beast's movement. By the time the attack was launched, March 7th had no time to react. Facing the fatal strike, she could only widen her eyes in helplessness.
"Watch out!"
Pei Guang, however, reacted faster. Since his attention was always on the "corpse", he noticed its intent to attack first and shouted a warning. But due to his injuries, his brain was a split second too slow.
Yet, his body didn't lag behind: having faced countless bosses, even if only on a screen, his trained reflexes allowed him to dodge instinctively when a monster made a move.
He kicked Dan Heng away and lunged toward March 7th, but then... Pei Guang lost consciousness. In his fading awareness, he vaguely heard March 7th's choked, anxious voice and Stelle's rare expression of concern.
"Who... else is here?"
Pei Guang's consciousness finally returned, and when he awoke, he found himself wrapped in bandages, lying in a hospital bed.
Pei Guang regained consciousness, but when he woke up again, he found himself covered in bandages and lying in a hospital bed.
"So, I didn't log out of the game…"
He opened the system panel again and saw that various stats had increased, along with a bunch of strange new skills and a wide variety of materials, tools, and equipment in his inventory. His initial excitement quickly faded.
"Is March 7th okay?" Pei Guang mumbled. Just as he spoke, the door to the room was pushed open. "I'm fine!"
March 7th, Dan Heng, and the Trailblazer all entered the room. March 7th was carrying some gifts, which she placed on the bedside table. "Thank you~ If it weren't for you…"
Pei Guang excitedly asked, "Since you're thanking me, is there any mission reward?"
"Hmph! Of course, there is! Ta-da!"
March 7th held up a camera and placed it in Pei Guang's hands. "I thought long and hard about what to give you to show my gratitude, and I decided to give you one of my treasured cameras. How's that? Are you happy? Once you've recovered, I'll personally teach you how to use it."
"Oh, oh, oh! That's awesome! All that effort wasn't in vain. I didn't expect the mission reward to be unlocking the camera feature. This is great! With this, I can capture interesting scenes and beautiful moments."
Seeing that Pei Guang's speech had returned to its usual oddness and his tone was back to normal, Dan Heng began explaining his condition: "You and March both dodged the final blow, but some debris hit you, knocking you out for half a day. However, your body is strong, and with a little more rest, you'll be fully recovered."
Listening to Dan Heng's description, Pei Guang understood how he'd passed out. After pushing someone out of harm's way and covering them with his body, he had avoided a fatal strike. However, the explosion had caused a lot of buildings to collapse, and some debris hit his head, which was the final straw that knocked him out.
After explaining this, Dan Heng also thanked Pei Guang: "Thank you for saving my life."
Pei Guang hadn't been able to tell who that beam of light was targeting. Although it turned out to be aimed at March 7th, if it had been aimed at Dan Heng, Pei Guang's action would have still kicked him out of the danger zone.
Pei Guang excitedly asked, "Oh? Did I increase my favorability? Is there a reward for that?"
Dan Heng replied, "Once we return to the train, I'll personally give you something."
"That's awesome~" Hearing that there was a reward for the mission, Pei Guang was so happy that he forgot all his worries.
At this point, he started playing with the camera: "I didn't expect that even in this game, you have to learn how to take pictures. This is the first time I'm photographing a girl. What do I need to consider for a photo? Hmm… depth of field, focus…! March~ give me a smile~"
"Cheese~~"
Hearing his request, March 7th smiled, and Pei Guang pressed the shutter button, capturing March 7th's smiling face on the camera.
"Hmm! I'm very satisfied!"
Seeing Pei Guang looking satisfied, March 7th leaned over and said, "Let me see! Let me see!"
However, when she saw herself in the photo, the smile on her face froze.
At the same time, Stelle, curious about Pei Guang's photography skills, also leaned in. But before she could get close, March 7th quickly snatched the camera away.
"No way! No one can see this! It looks terrible, I'm going to delete it!"
Thinking of her usual serious photos, where she looked cute and playful, and then comparing it to the one Pei Guang took, she felt like she looked ridiculous.
She wanted to delete this embarrassing photo, but just as she was about to press the delete button, she hesitated: remembering that this might have been Pei Guang's first time taking a picture of someone, she decided against deleting it.
"Never mind! I won't delete it. Consider it a reward for you, but you can't show it to anyone! Absolutely no one! If anyone else sees it, I'll lose favor with you!"
"What? Then I definitely won't show the photo to anyone, not a soul!" Hearing that he might lose favor, Pei Guang instantly remembered March 7th's request. If it were a task where losing favor had serious consequences, he would probably ignore it. But since this one didn't affect him much, he figured it was best to keep her favor.
Pei Guang took back the camera, and as he looked at the face of the first person he had captured, his previously restless mood calmed down. The somewhat silly smile in the photo was truly heartwarming.