"Chill. No matter where ya come from, once this bullet goes in, you'll realize none of that matters."
A cowboy and a serpent confronted each other.
"The Intelligentsia Guild? No… those bookworms who only know how to read don't have your kind of crazy energy. Genius Club?"
Boothill casually threw out his guesses. The cowboy's sharp eyes remained fixed on Mobius, who was staring at the barrel pointed at her.
He smelled the madness that belonged to geniuses all over Mobius.
Especially in her eyes. Deep in those pupils was a level of insanity he couldn't ignore.
An evil scientist caught before she could even start trouble. Perfect timing, he hadn't found Dr. Primitive yet. If she couldn't give him a clear explanation, he'd really start hitting her to death.
His eyes narrowed, the modified fingers rubbing against the trigger, the scent of gunpowder thickening in the air.
Mobius didn't doubt for a moment that this first interesting little laboratory mouse she'd met since coming out would pull the trigger without hesitation if she didn't explain herself properly.
Hmm~~ and what exactly should she explain? What was there to explain?
Smiling faintly, her right hand slowly lifted to her cheek, fingers spreading to cover half her pretty face.
Her red lips parted, and Mobius chuckled: "Don't you want to know what happened here?"
"Oh? That I'm a bit interested in. Then hurry up and tell me something useful."
Boothill snorted and shook the barrel in impatience.
Just as he prepared to hear what valuable intel Mobius had,
"I don't know~." In that instant, something indescribable flashed through Boothill's mind.
'Really? She messing with me?!'
Once he recovered, Boothill's gaze turned dangerous. He'd found himself a real precious little treasure.
Nobody had ever dared jump around in front of him like this, and suddenly this unknown woman shows up?
"Then go take a nice long nap!"
"But I'm guessing your troubles have something to do with those bouncing little monkeys from before."
"Continue." Boothill gestured with the gun and growled.
Watching Boothill switch between several emotions, Mobius' smile grew more like her old self.
What an amusing little mouse. Miss Black Swan and Miss Messenger had said it before, the ones who dealt with the dangerous things behind the scenes always had their lives hanging on a thread.
And the Galaxy Rangers had once vanished for a long time, until recently, when this Mr. Boothill caused a scene in Penacony and gathered them.
The scene had been quite spectacular.
In fact, on her way to Penacony, Mobius had heard many rumors of the Galaxy Rangers' exploits.
After staring at Mobius for several seconds, Boothill slowly lowered his gun.
"Fine, genius. Tell me everything you know. Don't try to hide anything, or I'll blow your head open before you get the chance." Boothill grumbled, already feeling a headache.
These 'genius' types always spoke in riddles, but he had to admit they did have some real skill.
You couldn't exactly expect a cowboy to study confusing things like they did.
Mobius didn't comment. Getting her head blown open? Even being chopped into tiny bits wouldn't scare her.
But before that, she figured she could at least cut off this little mouse's mechanical arm.
Judging by how he acted, he probably replaced parts all the time anyway.
Her mental script was already prepared, and she recited it word for word:
"Slumbernana Monkey, a cartoon character that exploded in popularity overnight, sweeping through all of Penacony. Only the Godzilla can rival it."
"I didn't come here to listen to stuff any random person on the street could tell me. If you don't have something useful, don't block my way."
Impatient, as expected. Mobius shook her head lightly, smiling as her lips parted again.
"Haven't you investigated it? Some of the people obsessed with Slumbernana Monkey… have quietly disappeared into Penacony's dreamscape."
Like a bucket of cold water down his spine.
Boothill's pupils trembled.
Areas he had overlooked were suddenly cleared of fog.
People disappearing in Penacony? Strange?
Not strange at all, in fact, it would be strange if only a few disappeared.
Visitors from all across the universe flooded in. Ever since the IPC took over Penacony, the population had skyrocketed.
Who wouldn't love a dream city with safety, backing, and endless entertainment?
This city swallowed terrifying numbers of people every day.
Even the IPC couldn't track everyone, much less Boothill, who wasn't on friendly terms with them.
If not for the messy request from Rappa, plus Dr. Primitive… Boothill would rather be having a drink on some small asteroid outside Penacony.
"Slumbernana Monkey?! Well, I'll be damned!"
A hot wave shot from the metal in his chest straight to his skull.
He finally understood why he could never find those monkeys.
Turned out they'd never hidden at all.
The Slumbernana Monkeys lounging everywhere on the streets were all their eyes, no, wait, something this dumb-looking couldn't possibly be an intelligence network.
Which left only one possibility: The Slumbernana Monkeys were all mediums for their plans.
Damn it, how could he forget what Dr. Primitive was best at?
He could regress civilizations to their most primitive state in the physical world… and, Don't forget: Dr. Primitive was an Emanator of Erudition!
Realizing this, Boothill's expression darkened at once. His sharp eyes scanned the streets filled with sitting and lying Slumbernana Monkeys.
This number…
"A bit too few," Mobius suddenly said.
"Indeed, it is a bit too few." This time, Boothill didn't fire back with his usual sharp tongue at Mobius, instead, he nodded in agreement.
He had personally witnessed more than once the planets Dr. Primitive had visited. Those scenes were hell for any civilization.
Hundreds of millions of apes wandering in the ruins that used to be their homes. Compared to that misery, Penacony's current situation was almost… comfortable.
"Do you know where the one responsible for all this is?" Boothill continued asking, his attitude much better than before.
"Only the person sitting above everyone else is most suited for this kind of thing. But your identity will easily alert the snake." Mobius lowered her gaze slightly, looking at Boothill.
"Heh, you know, cowboys often get into fights over all sorts of issues. And do you know how I resolve it when that happens?"
"I'm all ears." Rubbing his knuckles, Boothill lowered his head slightly, his right hand resting on the grip of his revolver.
His steps casually moved toward a DreamJolt Troupe Assistanana standing in the corner. The arrogance of his posture made the Assistanana glance at him nervously.
…
"Eh?! The Galaxy Ranger!" In the principal's office, the research ape who had taken over the place snapped his head up, staring toward the direction of Dreamflux Reef.
"That's… how?!"
Bang!!
He knew two Rangers had slipped in.
But he had just been fine moments ago! How did he suddenly fall apart the second he turned his back?!
Professor Primon couldn't figure it out.
At this point he could only blame it on the Ranger suddenly going crazy.
The experiment wasn't finished yet; he absolutely couldn't let them force him out now… Professor Primon grew anxious.
The experiment was progressing far less smoothly than expected. The IPC's control over Penacony was far stronger than the Family's.
Of course, that alone wasn't enough to make him panic.
Dr. Primitive's research far surpassed the IPC's.
The problem was that the true owner of this place was that giant who had gazed upon the Aeons multiple times.
Running experiments here was dangerous, yes, but the risks were directly proportional to the gains. If successful, the benefits would push his research to unprecedented heights.
Such temptation was something no researcher ape could resist.
"What a pain. There still aren't enough Slumbernana Monkeys. The timing for the Slumbernana Project is far from ready. And now we've attracted Rappa…"
He felt the need to accelerate things. Just a little.
...
"Uwah!" March 7th lifted her leg and stomped hard.
Thunk!
A Dream Troupe Assistanana's screen shattered under her boot. It trembled twice and lost its colorful display forever.
"Are you alright, miss?"
"Thank you, I, I'm fine…"
The petite Pepeshi girl trembled as she got up, looking fearfully at the now-dead Assistanana.
"What happened? Why did the Assistanana suddenly act like that?"
"We don't know yet, but someone is definitely behind this. Go find the IPC's people and stay at their outpost, it should be safer there."
Dan Heng said, his voice low. He had just pierced two Assistanana with his spear.
They had only been apart for a short moment, and already such chaos had erupted. Truly unpredictable.
The pepeshi girl nodded, thanked them again, and hurried toward the nearest IPC office.
"No time to waste. We need to crack open the mastermind's skull fast, or more attacks will definitely happen."
Stelle weighed her bat, checking the corners where more assistants might be hiding.
Just as the group was discussing,
Clap, clap, clap.
A crisp, layered applause suddenly echoed, drawing attention.
The three turned instinctively.
"Professor Rick?" Seeing who it was, March 7th no longer had her initial excitement. Instead, she was wary.
For good reason, with all this noise, anyone sensible would avoid the area. Yet he showed up here, perfectly calm.
Just that alone told March 7th something was wrong.
"…." Standing on Rick's shoulder, the mechanical frog-like assistant director crossed his arms and lowered his head, using his beret to hide his face.
Even from afar you could feel his annoyance. This left March 7th momentarily stunned.
Awkwardly, she scratched her cheek.
"Whooo!" Stelle bat cut through the air with a sharp whistle.
Stelle placed one hand on her hip, head held high, brimming with confidence.
"Spit out your conspiracy plan right now, or I'll take apart your spring!"
"!!!" Hearing such inhuman words, the assistant director jerked his head up, his big digital eyes flashing with utter disbelief.
Dan Heng paused, this was the first time he'd ever seen such clear emotions on a mechanical creature.
So this was the value of an assistant director.
"Well, it seems the Protagonist has some misunderstandings about me… but I can explain."
Even with the bat pointed at him, Rick still wore a cheerful smile.
Stelle lowered her bat. She'd listen first, then decide whether to hit him.
"It goes like this…" Rick briefly explained why he was here.
And his explanation left them puzzled.
"Chasing the perfect movie shot… and then getting infected by the Slumbernana Monkey memetic virus!"
March 7th repeated Rick's words.
When she understood, she sucked in a sharp breath.
Hiss!
So this was the ambition of a legendary director. Despite being a universe-famous filmmaker, adored across the stars, capable of living a life of luxury even if he stayed in bed for the rest of his days, he still decided to face off against the notorious Dr. Primitive?
March 7th really wanted to crack open his head to see what kind of brain he had.
"No wonder. That explains why the Assistanana's acted like that toward the students… and those lively Slumbernana Monkeys."
Dan Heng nodded slightly, speaking calmly.
"We already knew Dr. Primitive wasn't a good person, but I didn't think he'd go this far in Penacony."
March 7th also noticed the Slumbernana Monkeys Dan Heng was eyeing and felt angry.
These were living people!
"Hurry up and tell us where that guy is! How dare he cause trouble on my turf? Doesn't he know I'm a shareholder here?!" Stelle immediately flexed her Baseball bat again.
"Uh…"
"Uh…"
"…"