With Pei Guang hyping her up, Huohuo found her confidence again.
"No problem! If you say it's fine, th-then I believe it'll be fine!"
Not far off, March 7th looked on at Pei Guang sweet-talking people with an exasperated expression. She felt like Pei Guang could talk anyone into anything wherever he went.
No, wait—calling it sweet-talking might be wrong. At least, Pei Guang always did deliver on whatever he promised. The problem was that before delivering, he sounded exactly like a con-artist.
Still, watching one cute girl sweet-talk another cute girl… she had to put a stop to that! Other than Stelle, she didn't want a second person trying to steal Pei Guang from her.
Her current situation was bad enough: every time she wanted to invite Pei Guang out to play, Stelle always tagged along. And when she was sleeping, Stelle would sneak off and hang out with Pei Guang too.
This time was a rare exception—thanks to official business, she could actually come along with him—but Stelle was already on her way.
Just thinking about it made March 7th feel so frustrated!
Under Pei Guang's persuasion, Huohuo finally agreed to his request. At the same time that Pei Guang finished his preparations, Stelle also got ready on her end.
After a quick phone call, Stelle arrived with her group. When the sudden scenery shift occurred, everyone froze in surprise.
"Where are we?"
"Is this the Xianzhou Luofu?"
"Foxian Beauty~ Huh? There's a foxian little sister here!"
Including Wen Furei, there were five people in the group Stelle brought over. She had already given them a heads-up, so they knew the Trailblazer had used her powers to bring them to the Xianzhou Luofu in an instant.
As soon as they arrived, they couldn't wait to find the Foxian Beauty they had arranged to meet online.
Seeing so many unfamiliar faces, Huohuo swallowed nervously. "U-um… can I start now?"
As Huohuo asked, Tail, who had been quiet until now, couldn't help but comment, "Seriously? You're gonna eat them?"
Pei Guang ignored Tail's jab and nodded affirmatively. Seeing this, Huohuo took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Hello! Gentlemen, are you… are you looking for our young lady? She has been waiting for quite a while—please, come inside~"
Standing at the instance entrance, Huohuo gestured politely. Hearing her voice, everyone's attention turned to her.
"Oh oh oh! The Foxian Beauty is inside? Foxian Beauty, we're coming!"
"Foxian Beauty, please look at me! Look at me!"
"…"
"…"
Apart from Wen Furei, the other four dashed inside, eyes gleaming. That's right: Wen Furei stayed behind. Because the moment he saw Huohuo, his eyes lit up completely.
"Oh! Beautiful foxian little sister! I can't believe I'm really seeing a foxian: this is amazing!"
Huohuo was dumbfounded. She hadn't expected anyone to actually take a liking to her. "U-um… Ah Guang…"
Huohuo looked pitifully at Pei Guang. Noticing her gaze, Pei Guang walked over to her side. "Uh, you might be misunderstanding. Huohuo doesn't count as the Foxian Beauty. See? Her tail is fake~"
As he spoke, Pei Guang pulled off Huohuo's tail. It even squirmed a little in protest when he tugged it, but then reconsidered—after all, it had gotten a lot of perks from Pei Guang. Plus, Pei Guang could hit harder than it could fight, so the tail obediently let itself be held.
Seeing the tail in Pei Guang's hand, then noticing Huohuo's charm paper and her unexpectedly smooth and flowing outfit, Wen Furei looked completely devastated.
"What… the foxian little sister isn't a real foxian? Wait… the Foxian Beauty is fake too?"
Maybe it was the sight of Huohuo's tail being pulled off, but his rationality finally came back online. The remote charm from the Heliobus also weakened significantly in that moment.
Looking at Wen Furei's drastically changed expression, Pei Guang nodded seriously. "To be honest—yeah, she's fake. In fact, that 'Foxian Beauty' you're talking about? Biologically speaking, not even a woman."
Fake. Not a foxian.
These few words hit Wen Furei like a bolt from the blue. That's right: "not a woman" wasn't even the main issue for him. The first two points were the real deal-breakers.
If Pei Guang had just told him it was fake, Wen Furei might have doubted it. But now that he had seen the fake tail with his own eyes, Pei Guang's words were suddenly very convincing.
At that moment, Wen Furei felt an unprecedented kind of heartbreak. His first moment of infatuation had ended in crushing disappointment. But within this endless sorrow, his willpower strengthened.
The faint allure Tutu had left on him was finally and completely shattered.
His reason had returned, but that only made the pain worse: because from beginning to end, he hadn't been bewitched by beauty, but by the idea of a foxian. Now, having seen with his own eyes that the foxian had no tail, and hearing that it was all fake, the blow to him was immense.
Looking at the suddenly dejected Wen Furui, and recalling how unique his name was, Pei Guang gently spoke to him:
"Brother, don't be sad. Even though that foxian was fake, there are real foxian girls on the Xianzhou Luofu, you know?"
That sentence instantly lifted Wen Furui's spirits. "There are foxian girls?!"
Pei Guang replied, "That's right! But if you really want to meet a real foxian girl, you'll have to go through the official channels with Asta and apply for a work assignment to Luofu. After all, what you've done here counts as sneaking in. If Luofu blacklists you, you'll never get to interact with foxian girls again!"
Wen Furui, who had just been crushed by Pei Guang's earlier words, perked up again upon hearing this. "Got it! I'll go apply with the station manager right away! O great Trailblazer, please send me back to the Space Station! I need to submit my official application to go on assignment to Luofu! foxian girls~ Ehehe~ foxian girls~"
Watching the excited Wen Furui, Pei Guang gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. "No rush. Let's wait for the other four to come out disappointed after meeting the fake foxian, then I'll take all of you back together. Oh, and before we go, how about a bottle of coffee to calm yourself down?"
Wen Furui looked at the bottle of coffee Pei Guang handed over. "Thanks. I really do need to calm down right now."
He didn't overthink it, he took the bottle and downed it in one go.