"So you were attacked by a girl in red, then fell into a strange place, and were chased by monsters?"
The Astral Express crew gathered in the lobby of the Penacony hotel in reality, discussing the suspicious points encountered in the dreamscape earlier. The most attention was naturally paid to Caelus's experience after disappearing and being rescued by Twilight.
After hearing this information, March 7th pondered hard, rubbing her temples, then slammed her palms together as if realizing something: "I get it, there must be a conspiracy behind this Penacony!"
"March, we know this even if you don't say it…"
Dan Heng sighed. What kind of expectation did he have for March 7th's brain? Thinking this, his gaze couldn't help but drift towards Twilight on the other side again, then quickly retracted.
Alright, at least March 7th's aesthetic sense is online. This white dress suited Twilight quite well, just that it concealed her figure a bit. She had clearly developed into a mature beauty, yet wearing this made her look similar to March, like a young girl—well, Twilight was only four months old now, dressing a bit younger didn't seem wrong…
Twilight continued to sit there, silently watching Welt and Himeko discuss the information.
If she remembered correctly, Black Swan, the Memokeeper, should have been here around this time, providing them with a lot of information, such as the identity of the Masked Fool [Sparkle] who attacked Caelus and Firefly…
But whether it was because they arrived too early or for some other reason, this older sister didn't seem to appear, and the job of fishing Caelus out of the dreamscape was done by Twilight herself.
Without Black Swan providing information, investigating Penacony would be a bit harder, but it also gave Twilight more opportunities to shine. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing for her.
At this moment, Caelus silently leaned closer to Twilight's ear and whispered cautiously, "Twilight, why was your attitude towards Firefly so bad in the dreamscape earlier?"
Although he was basically certain that Twilight's bad attitude towards Firefly was due to jealousy, Caelus felt it was better to confirm again just in case, considering how rarely Twilight expressed hostility towards a completely unfamiliar girl.
"She lied to you."
Twilight's answer was simple and direct, but it also reassured Caelus somewhat. Twilight's intuition had always been sharp. Perhaps she felt Firefly was hiding something from him, so she thought she was a bad person intentionally deceiving him… Fortunately, it wasn't some yandere statement like [She's deliberately getting close to you, she's a homewrecker!].
But Caelus felt he had interacted with Firefly for quite some time and hadn't detected any hostility towards him… Everyone had their secrets. Perhaps Twilight was just being a bit harsh on Firefly because she cared too much about him.
"I don't think she has any ill intentions…" Caelus rubbed Twilight's head. "Let's not be so fierce towards her later, okay?"
"Mhm…"
Rest assured, she wouldn't bother being fierce to others if there was no benefit~
But before that…
"What exactly did the person who attacked you look like?"
Hearing Twilight's question, Caelus subconsciously recalled: "Red clothes, small build, black twin-tails hairstyle, with a white fox mask on her head—uh, Twilight, are you asking this because you're planning…?"
"She dared to attack you." Twilight blinked her innocent eyes. "I'll go scatter her ashes."
"Twilight, didn't Uncle Yang tell you not to read my novels anymore?!"
"Don't worry, I'll dispose of the body cleanly. The train's database has methods for destroying corpses and erasing evidence…"
"That's not the problem!"
…
Ultimately, the Astral Express crew determined the course of action for Penacony, which was—no specific course of action, continue investigating separately.
After all, they currently had no clues, and the Harmony Festival wasn't scheduled for a while yet, so there was no urgency.
Most others chose to continue investigating in the dreamscape. After all, Penacony's dreamscape could be said to be its main body. Twilight, however, wanted to solo-kill Sparkle offline for daring to hurt Caelus. The others couldn't persuade her otherwise and could only let her stay in reality.
And Twilight strongly insisted on staying offline for another reason… Her illness didn't seem to affect her much in the dream.
Although not feeling pain sounded like a good thing, it was quite bad for Twilight, the person involved—if it didn't hurt, how could she play pitiful? If she didn't play pitiful, how could she earn energy!
Whether for the grand plan or the small plan, she had to choose to stay in reality. She just didn't expect the Express crew to actually leave someone behind specifically to watch her, preventing her from really demolishing Penacony. On Jarilo-VI, Twilight wrecked their landmark and no one could manage her, but Penacony was one of the cash cows of the interstellar faction [The Family]. If she wrecked this place, the Express crew would really have to pay damages later…
"Uncle Yang, why do people here like dreaming so much?" On a high point in Penacony, Twilight leaned on the railing, looking at the hotel resembling a giant anthill, asking doubtfully.
"Perhaps because reality is too cruel, making people want to escape… I think facing reality might be the true way of life." Welt shook his head. The sight of countless people in Penacony indulging in beautiful dreams reminded him of the Stigma Project Kevin once tried to implement on Earth, so he naturally had no good impression of it.
He wondered how things were on Earth now. Did that lunatic Kevin really succeed…
"How strange. I think being awake is better."
Twilight tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand these people's actions, which also made Welt somewhat puzzled: "Don't you like sleeping very much, Twilight?"
"Not really… It's dark and boring after falling asleep." Twilight shook her head. "But when I'm awake, it's tiring… After falling asleep, it's not tiring."
Twilight's answer surprised Welt. He had always thought sleeping was purely Twilight's hobby, never expecting there was such a reason… Was this also because of her body?
Thinking of the curse-like illness on Twilight's body, Welt fell silent for a moment.
He wondered if constructing the Abyss Flower could save Twilight.
But then he thought about how that thing reportedly couldn't even heal a certain warrior's injuries in the Previous Era, and he found it difficult to hold onto hope.
Sigh, what a useless inventor…
Whenever he thought of this, Welt felt very uncomfortable… There were so many villains in this world living freely, even immortally. Why was Twilight's life as fleeting as a mayfly?
Why? Is this fair?
If this was really dictated by the rules, was there a way to transcend the rules…
Thinking like this, Welt's gaze subconsciously shifted towards Twilight—Where did she go?!
Welt instantly became alert. He had only taken his attention off her for two seconds, how did she disappear?!
It's over, this hotel isn't going to explode, is it?!
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