Chapter 116 - 115: You’ve Been Tricked!

Time passed slowly. Several hours later, Stelle woke up from her sleep. It had been the most refreshing rest she'd had in days, especially since she had the luxury of resting on a puppet's lap pillow. She grabbed some snacks from her backpack, fed them to the puppet, and then put it in standby mode before storing it in her inventory. Feeling recharged, Stelle stepped out of her room with a cheerful, "Good morning~~~" From the room next door, March 7th emerged, yawning. "It's already the afternoon~ Ahhh~ That was the best sleep I've had in days." Stelle, curious, asked, "Have we slept at all since entering the Underworld?" March 7th, with a bit of sass, replied, "We did, but you woke us all up with your yelling. Hmm~ I still feel a bit tired, though. But there's so much left to do today~ Eh, whatever, we'll deal with it later. Wait, do you hear that? Is Ah Guang... singing?" March 7th, who had still been half-asleep, suddenly perked up, her eyes widening in horror. Pei Guang singing was never a good sign! This was a hotel, and while she could tolerate Pei Guang's singing, what about the other guests? No! This had to be stopped immediately! March 7th and Stelle rushed to Pei Guang's room, banging loudly on the door. March 7th shouted, "Ah Guang! Stop singing immediately! If there's a song to be sung, I'll be your vocalist!" Stelle added, "The other guests are innocent bystanders! Think about their affection levels! They're all about to hate you!" At that moment, Pei Guang opened the door. "Seriously? I'm just singing because I'm in the mood. Why are you two freaking out?" Seeing the panicked expressions on their faces, Pei Guang teased, "March 7th, you probably won't get the reference, but Stelle, you definitely will." Stelle tilted her head, "I will?" Pei Guang pulled out his phone. "I'll send you a screenshot." Pei Guang had woken up early, but since Stelle and March 7th were still asleep, he hadn't wanted to venture out on his own, so he had stayed in his room, playing on his phone. Yesterday's events had reminded Pei Guang of the importance of understanding this world's background a bit better. For example, when they fought Cocolia and encountered the Aeons, he had no idea about the background lore behind the Aeons he encountered. His "class change" at the time had been pure guesswork. Though he eventually became a Trailblazer thanks to a lucky break when the Astral Express intervened, Pei Guang had decided that next time, he would do more research beforehand to avoid another awkward situation like that. The more he researched, the more he realized how full of "memes" this world was. On top of that, he noticed the level of danger was quite high. The enemies they would face in the future seemed daunting. Stelle received several screenshots from Pei Guang, mentioning things like the Aeon of Destruction, the Aeon of Erudition, and the Aeon of Harmony. But what stood out most was the special note Pei Guang had made about the Aeon of Elation—it seemed to match something in the database marked by strange symbols. March 7th leaned in. "What's wrong? Something off?" March 7th had carefully studied the information in the data banks as well. As a Trailblazer, it was important to know the universe and its various forces so that when they encountered factions, they could communicate in ways that aligned with their interests. Hearing her question, Pei Guang joked, "How should I put it? On the surface, these things seem impressive, but when you look deeper, it feels like they're either crazy or clueless. Some of them act like addicts, while others preach about balance. But this Aeon of Elation... they're so joyful that even I started feeling happy just reading about them." Stelle's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Oh? What kind of joy are we talking about?" Pei Guang smirked, "Have you read the description of the Masked Fools?" Stelle replied, "Yeah, their description of Elation is..." Pei Guang interrupted, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Looks like you don't get the joke. Pain... too much pain. Let me sing it for you." With that, Pei Guang began singing the famous "Never Gonna Give You Up." He didn't remember the entire song, but Pei Guang knew the core lines well. After all, anyone who'd spent a significant amount of time on the internet had heard it before. "Never gonna give you up, Never gonna let you down, Never gonna run around and desert you, Never gonna make you cry, Never gonna say goodbye, Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you." Stelle and March 7th listened in confusion as Pei Guang sang. This time, he sang relatively well since the song was so catchy and simple that even he could pull it off without much issue. As Pei Guang sang, his body naturally started swaying to the beat. To him, this joke was something any seasoned internet user would have used or at least known. But seeing the confused looks on Stelle and March 7th's faces, Pei Guang sighed. Stelle chuckled awkwardly. "I, uh, don't get it." March 7th asked curiously, "Care to explain? It looks like there's something funny about this whole thing." Pei Guang nodded. "Oh, it's definitely funny. The full name of the song is Never Gonna Give You Up, but it's also known as 'You've Been Tricked.'" March 7th blinked. "Huh?" Stelle added, "What?" Both of them had implanted sensory beacons that allowed them to understand English, so they could read the meaning of the song title. But how did 'You've Been Tricked' relate to the original title? Seeing their puzzled expressions, Pei Guang explained, "Once upon a time, when a highly anticipated game trailer was about to release, someone shared a link, saying it was the trailer. But when people clicked on it, it was just this song. The game was super popular, and the song became just as famous. That's how this whole 'trick' spread. Every time someone sent you a link or video that seemed legit, it would just be Rick Astley singing this song." Feeling that his explanation might not fully capture the experience, Pei Guang got an idea. Pei Guang grinned. "Hang on a second! It's hard to get the feeling just from words, but if I show you, you'll understand right away." Using his Star Destroyer AI, Pei Guang quickly created a version of the song, complete with a near-perfect MV, then uploaded it to a website. He did a quick search on trending topics and noticed that Aeon-related content was incredibly popular. That gave him an idea for some irresistible clickbait titles. "Breaking News: An Aeon Got Stabbed in the Butt? Watch the Video for the Truth!""A Supercomputer Has Calculated the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Why is the Answer '42'?""Shocking! The Aeon of Nihility is Actually a Purple Century Egg?""Did Aha Really Help Improving Marriages?" As he created the video, Pei Guang decided to keep it in line with the world's lore, so he gave the character dancing and singing in the video a goofy mask. The funny mask, combined with the catchy lyrics and the misleading yet attention-grabbing title, completed the package. For the video's description, Pei Guang simply wrote four big characters: "You've Been Tricked." Once the video was uploaded, Pei Guang shared the link and description with the Astral Express family group chat.