Nero and Yanqing's conversation was heard clearly by Apyra.
The casual attitude of those two caused it pain. Something called self-respect had turned into a pile of worthless trash lying on the ground, something anyone could step on.
At this moment, Black Cutter let out a string of sword cries.
"Hehe, old thing, you've fallen into my hands now, haven't you? Hmm?"
Whether it came from the wishes of countless beings, from the Stellaron, or from the blessing of something else, Black Cutter released its power toward Apyra.
That power seemed far less simple than it looked. Under its influence, the sword that Apyra had transformed into began trembling.
Then another sword flew out from it. That sword was light and short, emerald green all over, with the four words "Flying Leaves Leave No Trace" written on the blade.
The moment the sword emerged, Apyra let out a terrified scream. Then the sword shattered and disappeared before everyone's eyes.
"My swordsmanship! My swordsmanship! How can you do such a thing? How can you do something like this?"
Amid Apyra's cries of grief, people finally realized what Black Cutter had done.
Heliobi were beings that fed on the emotions and memories of others. But now, Black Cutter had stripped away and erased Apyra's memories related to swordsmanship, leaving behind only the memories that were unimportant to it and the emotions that had built up over time.
Watching the martial arts it admired most being stripped away one by one, while being powerless to stop it, was extremely painful for someone like Apyra, who had broken laws through force.
As expected of a sword forged from a Stellaron, Black Cutter was truly too evil.
Without Nero keeping it in check, it would definitely have become a great boss that brought disaster everywhere.
As one sword after another, one sword technique after another, was stripped from Apyra, the Heliobus itself became more and more transparent.
By the time the last sword shattered, it could no longer even let out cries of sorrow. Only a tiny flame remained floating in midair, smaller than a candle flame. It really looked like a bent, hunchbacked old man in his twilight years.
Seeing everything Black Cutter had done, Cirrus's body trembled slightly.
The longer she stayed beside Nero, the more terrifying she found this young man.
Not only did he possess all sorts of unreasonable abilities, but even his sword was this heaven-defying.
Cirrus knew very well how huge a blow this was to Apyra. After all, the guy worshiped strength above all else and loved slaughter. Black Cutter's move had directly taken away the thing Apyra relied on most.
If even the emotions had been taken away, perhaps Apyra could have returned to the original form that the Spirit of Starlight should have had.
But now, these emotions that remained, the very foundation of Apyra's personality, had become its eternal chains and instruments of torture.
Just thinking about it was enough to make one despair.
Suddenly, the tiny flame that remained of Apyra trembled slightly. Its hoarse and crazed voice rang out as it roared at Nero and Black Cutter.
"What kind of ability is this? Despicable villains! Despicable villains! Bring out your real skills and compete with this old man! What is this? What is this!?"
"Black Cutter is my weapon. How does that not count as defeating you with my own ability?" Nero said with a smile as he looked at Apyra. "Times have changed, Apyra."
"Despicable villain! Moralless brat!" Apyra shouted in complete collapse.
If it were an ordinary person, they might have shown off their own strength and made Apyra understand that even in terms of raw power, it wouldn't have been their opponent.
But this was Nero.
Apyra becoming like this meant the mission was already over. There was no need to do anything more.
So he paid no attention to Apyra's shouting.
He merely patted Huohuo's shoulder and said, "Catch it with the gourd. Remember to send it to the factory together with Xiyan by express delivery. These two must enter my factory."
After all, this kid truly had no bearing of an expert at all, and he held grudges.
For Heliobi that insulted him like this, compared to crushing them, he preferred that they remain this energetic and then work properly in the factory.
The more energetic they were, the more unwilling they were, the more hatred and anger they had, the later they would start slacking off.
The later they started slacking off, the more motivation they would have. The more motivation they had, the more work they would do. The more work they did, the better the factory's profits would be.
———
That day, the Ghost-Hunting Squad gathered once again in Fyxestroll Garden.
The Luofu Miscellany sent Guinaifen a silver plaque, making her so happy that she kept smiling.
Stelle lowered her head to look at the plaque, then raised her head to look at Guinaifen.
Although it really did give people a sense of achievement, the practical Stellaron baby spoke up.
"Besides the medal, is there anything more substantial?"
"Nope!" Guinaifen said. "You know as well that Luofu Miscellany is just a small website focused on paranormal stories. Even this plaque wasn't really made from silver."
"But this is definitely worth celebrating," Sushang said from the side. "What do you think? How about we go have a meal in Aurum Alley?"
"I think that's fine, but let's talk about that later." Guinaifen thought Sushang's suggestion was good, but she had something else to say first.
"Actually, I called everyone here this time because I think we all share this award.
"Every one of us is an irreplaceable part of the team. Without everyone's help, how could we have created such eye-catching program effects?
"So, I want to... give this plaque to everyone."
"There's only one plaque. Even if you give it to us, how are so many people supposed to split it?" Cirrus said. "Little girl, don't let excitement cloud your mind."
"Mhm." Nero nodded in agreement with Cirrus. "Besides, the account belongs to you, so you should keep it yourself. In the end, this thing isn't really useful to us anyway."
Guinaifen's expression froze for a moment. For Nero, this plaque really didn't seem like anything rare.
Based on what she had seen, with Nero's popularity on the Xianzhou, Guinaifen had no doubt that if he wanted to, he could receive pure gold plaques until his hands went numb.
"Ahem... Anyway, I've decided to record a video on my Luofu Miscellany account and give an acceptance speech."
"And then collect some questions from the fans and do a Q&A session with everyone together. We can treat it as giving something back to the fans. What do you think?"
"I have no objections!" March said proudly, as though she were already a superstar adored by the masses.
Afterward, everyone selected some comments together, then went to Starskiff Haven to find a place with good scenery and started filming.
The first question chosen was for Guinaifen, asking why she became a streamer.
Guinaifen answered, "Because the conditions and timing were just right. I can perform in front of the camera and interact with everyone in real time. It's lively, and I like it too. Don't you think making a living this way is pretty cool?"
As expected of a professional streamer, Guinaifen seemed to know very well how to increase interaction with viewers.
When someone asked whether she would continue streaming in the future, her answer was naturally yes.
After answering many more questions, Guinaifen's part of the video was finished.
Next came everyone else's.
For example...
"I often see Guinaifen appearing with the tall gray-haired beauty. Does she have a partner? If she does, then what about the pink-haired beauty who looks very lively?"
This question instantly left both Stelle and March speechless.
After quietly complaining that the question was too abrupt, March used her usual line, "Mind your own business when it comes to pretty girls," as her answer.
Stelle, meanwhile, straightforwardly stated that she was still underage... which was actually true.
After that there were questions about Sushang and Huohuo, while the questions concerning Nero were left until the end of the video.
But there were simply too many questions about Nero. Going through them one by one would have been a huge task, enough to make Fu Xuan's Third Eye overheat just from filtering them.
So Guinaifen directly picked the one with the most likes.
"Nero, what made you decide to stream ghost hunting together with Guinaifen?"
To that, Nero answered, "Because it's fun."
If the Ten Lords Commission hadn't required secrecy, Nero had actually wanted to show Cirrus in the video as well.
But for now, one sentence of "because it's fun" was enough.