This time, the Bloodhound Family had provided Pei Guang with a large amount of Clock Credits.
With plenty of funds in hand, Pei Guang and his team returned to the Clockie Boy statue, planning to get something from it.
Even Sparkle was a little curious about the rewards from Clockie Boy.
When they arrived by the statue, Pei Guang patted it and said, "Clockie Boy! Come on out, I brought you what you wanted."
But his call didn't make Clockie Boy appear.
Watching Pei Guang call out like that, Stelle pursed her lips curiously. "Well? Did that Clockie Boy come out?"
Pei Guang shook his head. "No. Did I get the pose wrong?"
Recalling the posture he used last time to summon Clockie Boy, Pei Guang pressed his palms together, extended his index and middle fingers, and jabbed them toward Clockie Boy's butt.
This time, his poke hit not a soft backside, but solid stone.
Stelle asked, "So?"
Pei Guang replied, "He's not here."
Stelle pulled out her bat. "Are we being played?"
Just as Pei Guang was about to answer, the ticking sound of Clockie Boy's voice echoed beside Pei Guang and Stelle's ears.
"Tick-tock! Help! Help me!"
From across the street near the statue, Pei Guang and Stelle heard the faint cry for help.
Pei Guang said, "Looks like we're not being played—he's in danger. Let's go save Clockie Boy!"
Stelle nodded eagerly. "Yeah! My bat's been waiting for this!"
After all the fun she had at the border earlier, Stelle's excitement hadn't faded. Even now, she still wanted to swing her bat at something twice.
What? Why not use the War-Flaming Lance? Too big—hard to handle.
Compared to the lance, a bat felt much better for sneak attacks, especially when she heard that crack of a skull: there was a strange, satisfying thrill to it.
Pei Guang and Stelle rushed ahead, and seeing them suddenly take off, Firefly and Sparkle quickly followed behind.
Sparkle glanced curiously at Firefly. "You can't see that Clockie Boy either?"
Firefly nodded. "Mm… no, I can't."
Sparkle smiled. "Interesting~ really interesting…"
Her grin, and not just that, was contagious: seeing Sparkle's smooth, glowing back radiating with seven colors, the nearby onlookers couldn't help but smile as well.
Meanwhile, by the side of the street, Clockie Boy was shouting loudly for help.
"Help! Tick-tock! Someone's gonna die, help me!"
"Stop yelling, we're here!"
Pei Guang's voice cut through Clockie Boy's cries. Seeing Pei Guang appear, Clockie Boy's whole clock face lit up. "Tick-tock! Waaaah, I didn't think you'd actually come!"
Stelle tilted her head, eyeing the overly expressive Clockie Boy. "So this is the living Clockie Boy, huh? Looks pretty good."
Pei Guang nodded approvingly. "Very good. And his butt's soft to the touch."
Stelle stared at him in shock. "How do you know that?"
Pei Guang said matter-of-factly, "I poked it before! You wanna try later? I can even take a picture for you. That way, when we're fighting in Penacony, we'll have something decent to shout about.
There's no point yelling things like 'I'm Jing Yuan's friend,' or 'I'm the savior of Belobog,' or 'I'm Herta's collaborator'... none of that means anything here.
The Bloodhound Family doesn't care who you are unless someone from above says so.
But if you drop Clockie Boy's name, that's totally fine. Nobody in Penacony doesn't know Clockie Boy.
So imagine shouting during a fight, 'I poked Clockie Boy's butt!': now that gets you some respect."
But as Pei Guang thought about it, a bad memory surfaced: back in the Memory World, when Aha kicked him.
Wait a minute… was that what Aha was thinking too?!
While Pei Guang and Stelle could see Clockie Boy, Firefly and Sparkle, who couldn't, were both staring nervously at the empty space they were looking toward.
Sparkle asked, "There's really something here?"
Firefly said, "I don't know… but judging from their expressions…"
Sparkle chuckled. "No problem~ let me take a look~"
Her eyes glowed red for a moment, but unfortunately, even with her special ability, she still couldn't see the mysterious presence there. Still, watching Pei Guang and Stelle's reactions, she started to think of something amusing.
Sparkle was ready to stir up trouble, while Firefly watched her warily.
Even if Pei Guang didn't mind having a chaos-lover in the group, Firefly remained cautious: this girl clearly knew things, and could cause chaos at any time.
While those two had their own thoughts, Pei Guang turned back to Clockie Boy. "You said 'help,' right? Who's in danger?"
Hearing Pei Guang's question, three big exclamation marks appeared above Clockie Boy's head. "Misha! He's in trouble—tick-tock! Help! Help!"
The name "Misha" made Stelle's expression turn serious.
When they'd met Misha before, Pei Guang had told her that normal people couldn't see him. And now, here was Clockie Boy, asking them to save Misha—while he himself also seemed invisible to most people.
If she couldn't spot the anomaly here, Stelle felt she'd be letting down all the training Pei Guang had put her through.
She glanced at Pei Guang and nodded slightly. Pei Guang, not understanding what she meant, just nodded back.
Sparkle, on the sidelines, fanned the flames. "Oh? You two are communicating in some secret way only you can understand? What're you talking about?"
Pei Guang spread his hands. "No idea."
Sparkle pouted. "I don't believe you."
Pei Guang shrugged. "Doesn't matter if you do or don't."
Pei Guang had no way to deal with Sparkle's overactive imagination.
Stelle had just given him a signal, but he wasn't a mind reader. It wasn't combat mode right now, so he had no idea what Sparkle was imagining.
Anyway, this wasn't the time to dwell on that. Pei Guang pressed a hand on Clockie Boy's head. "Enough yelling for help. Take us there and show us what's going on."
"Tick-tock! Misha's right over there! I'll lead you!"
Because of his nerves, the Clockie Boy's whole body was flickering with golden sparks. Seeing the sight and his current state, Pei Guang couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.
"Seriously, we're not about to run into the most powerful member of the Legal Department here, are we?"
Complaints aside, Pei Guang and Stelle still followed along.
After walking a short distance with the Clockie Boy leading the way, Pei Guang saw a group of people surrounding Acheron and Misha.
Under their leader's direction, the group was angrily encircling Acheron, while she looked at them with a faint headache.
At the center stood a man who looked like their boss, arms crossed and sunglasses on, glaring at Acheron. "You don't understand the rules, huh? Let's see how I'll deal with you."
Seeing herself surrounded, Acheron's expression turned tense. Misha wanted to step in to calm things down, but no one around them even glanced his way.
Watching this, Stelle turned toward Pei Guang and muttered, "Ah, all familiar faces. So—hero rescues the beauty again. You or me?"
Pei Guang replied, "I already did that once. This time it's your turn. Though saving two at once does sound kinda exciting."
Firefly blinked. "Two…?"
Pei Guang ignored her confusion. It was too much trouble to explain right now. Better to go over the plot and intel later when things settled down.
The Clockie Boy stood nearby with his hands on his hips, watching the scene calmly. "See? See? I wasn't lying! Misha's in danger!"
Pei Guang glanced at the Clockie Boy, then at Acheron and the people surrounding her. He didn't believe that bunch could really harm Misha.
Based on what the Clockie Boy said, Misha being in danger couldn't be from them, so there was only one possibility left: for Misha, or maybe for the Clockie Boy, Acheron herself was the dangerous one?