Aventurine's face was unreadable, his expression shrouded. His body was covered in mud and bruises. A string of red code on his neck stood out prominently.
"You're back, Number 35. Like your amulet?" a cold voice rang out.
Aventurine's tone was low, "Can a 'product code' serve as an amulet?"
"Shut up. I didn't permit you to speak, Sigonian hyena."
Aventurine bit his lip. He indeed stayed silent.
The cold man's voice carried a hint of satisfaction, "Those men in black suits didn't say much, so I don't know what tricks you used to survive that massacre back then. But I think you're lucky, so I bought you. From now on, you and your luck are my assets, understood? Your first order is simple: besides you, I bought another thirty… hmm, thirty-four slaves. Go play a 'game' with them—two days, come out alive, prove your worth is the real deal."
"You're insane."
"Heh, just testing the merchandise."
"Aren't you afraid your money's wasted?"
"Hahaha." The cold man's laughter grew louder, "I've got plenty of money, little blondie. The galaxy-wide slave market never lacks self-entitled brats like you. But you've got a nice face, so plenty of clients bet their fortunes on a scrawny kid like you. Go, don't disappoint your master."
Aventurine sighed heavily, "How much did you spend?"
"What?"
"My price. How much did you pay to buy me?"
"Ho, curious about that?" The cold man paused, as if recalling a product's price, "Fine. Sixty Tanba coins, no more, no less."
"I want to bet with you. Half of sixty, thirty coins… if I come back alive, you give them to me. Dare to bet?"
"Haha, you want to gamble with me? Sure, you've got guts!" The next moment, the cold man's voice turned vicious, "But sorry, no way. Slave, don't forget your place—you don't even qualify to sit at the table. You're just a chip, tossed out by others, meant to either bring back more chips for your master or… never come back. 'All or nothing'—don't embarrass me, Lucky One."
[Alright, I admit it.]
[Aventurine!]
[Uh, this backstory, I admit it's pretty painful.]
[Real-life battle royale?]
[Who's this voiceover? Can we knife this guy? Stop obsessing over your B-tier female character and stabbing us.]
[This attitude is straight-up dehumanizing!!!]
[When it comes to spiking my blood pressure, miHoYo's the pro.]
The scene shifted, the camera cut.
"Gallagher, what wind blew you in?" A spirited woman stood at the bar, greeting Gallagher.
"Some old friends dropped by. Got time, Siobhan?" Gallagher gestured to the group beside him.
"I've been free all day. Everyone, welcome to Dreamjolt Hostelry—everything on the drink menu's for sale, except SoulGlad, we don't stock that boring stuff; nothing in this bar's for sale, except happiness, which you can buy, hoping you leave with a hearty laugh. What do you want to drink? I'll whip it up."
March 7th looked at Siobhan in awe, "Look, such a cool big sister—just like Serval's vibe!"
Caelus nodded, "Definitely cool."
[Serval-neesan joined Penacony in another form.]
[She's kinda cool.]
[Alright, I declare, I'm Siobhan's dog.]
[March 7th's got good taste.]
From there, Gallagher proposed a request to mix a specific cocktail. Caelus and March 7th took on the task of gathering ingredients.
Not long after, when the two returned, they caught Siobhan and Amie's conversation. With the help of a clockwork trick, Amie left. From this exchange, the audience learned Siobhan's identity was far from simple.
After preparing the cocktail ingredients, Gallagher mixed a drink. Here, the video turned interactive, with Gallagher delivering nine different lines:
"With this glass of 'Aurumaton,' I salute you, Dreamchaser, to the golden dream."
"With this glass of 'Dream Within a Dream,' I salute you, sober person— to the forefathers who dug their own graves."
"With this glass of 'Premature Burial,' I salute you, Dreamer— to time standing still."
"With this glass of 'Dead Sleep,' I salute you, Lost Lamb— to the ghosts of the past."
"With this glass of 'Farewell, My Love,' I salute you, Truth-Seeker— to unfulfilled wishes."
"With this glass of 'The Long Goodbye,' I salute you, Watcher— to a bitter childhood."
"With this glass of 'Ticket to the Graveyard,' I salute you, Nameless— to those already dead and those soon to die."
"With this glass of 'Murder and Creation,' I salute you, Reformer— to great vengeance."
"With this glass of 'Pursuit of Evil,' I salute you, Trailblazer— to the sorrowful truth."
[Wow, these lines are awesome!]
[Not bad, classic middle-aged uncle vibes.]
[To everyone!]
After some praise, Himeko brought the topic back, "This true flavor… is it related to that Mikhail?"
Gallagher gave a slight smile, "Heh… you know quite a bit, as expected. Guess I've got no reason to hold back. Let's dive into the case, and of course… I'll throw in Mikhail's story."
He gathered his thoughts, "First, the conclusion: based on the Family's clues, this Firefly isn't a local, nor an invited guest. In other words… she's a bona fide stowaway. I got fooled by that girl too—guess I'm getting old. But on the Star of Festivities, stowing away isn't rare or hard to track. After the incident, the Bloodhounds acted fast, tracing her in both dream and reality. But the result… only bad news, and the most headache-inducing kind. This girl vanished into thin air, leaving no trace in the dream, no body in reality, as if she never came to Penacony."
March 7th covered her lips with both hands, her eyes instinctively glancing at Caelus, "Huh? Doesn't that mean…"
"There might still be a turning point?"
Gallagher sighed helplessly, "Turning point… you mean she might not really be dead? Wake up, the eyewitness to this case is you, isn't it? I'll be blunt: this girl's situation… let alone you, even the Bloodhound Family's never seen anything like it."
Himeko: "'Never seen'… so in Penacony, 'death' is a real thing, isn't it?"
"You saw it yourselves, what's there to hide? A city with a shiny surface always has a dark underbelly—grown-up stuff, no need to spell it out. If you think this alone is enough to question the Family, that's too naive. Even in the Sweet Dream, accidental deaths happen—so what? These rare events… only affect a tiny few. If you really want to dig into this case, you need to understand the Family's real 'trouble.'"
"I'm guessing now's the time to talk about that 'Mikhail' story."
"You're sharp. The Astral Express got that music box, right? Know what secret's hidden inside?"
"A message: 'Take in all the impossible things in the dream, seek the legacy of Penacony's father, the 'Watchmaker,' and then answer: why does life choose to slumber?'"
Gallagher clapped his hands, "Not a word off."
March 7th noticed Gallagher's expression, "Hey, why're you smiling… did you write it? Pretty poetic."
[March 7th's starting to prophesy.]
[Bookmark this, he spoke up.]
[Looks like it's gotta be Gallagher.]
[Invincible, kid.]
[March 7th said it, could he really have written it?]
"I'm the officer handling the case, how could I not know… I bet you've also noticed this message didn't come from the Family—and their relationship isn't exactly friendly?"
Himeko nodded, pondering for a few seconds, "It's still just a guess. It's hard to believe Penacony's father and its actual managers are so at odds."
"Now I can tell you, absolutely correct. The Family long ago saw the 'Watchmaker' as an enemy, but since he's elusive, only living in the commercial myth he created, the Bloodhounds couldn't catch him. So, I'll ask you: have you ever wondered why the Family tolerates the 'Watchmaker' sending out these joke-like messages, letting you come as invited guests, stirring up chaos here?"
"You want to use this chance to make the 'Watchmaker' slip up?"
"Now you see why the Oak Family authorized the Nameless to assist the investigation but keeps things from you. Because the 'Watchmaker' isn't some legend of the dreamland—he's the most unspeakable stain in Penacony's branch history, the root of all dreamscape anomalies." Gallagher crossed his arms, "Still not getting it? I mean… Mikhail, the Family's betrayer—he's the one and only 'Watchmaker.'"
[Huh??]
[For real?]
[The Watchmaker's the big boss behind the scenes?]
[The Family's betrayer is the big boss?]
[What's that supposed to mean?]
[It means different perspectives—the Watchmaker might not be a villain, could be a hero.]
Some time later… To make the story clear and engaging, Gallagher decided to educate through entertainment, leading Caelus and the others to Clock Studios Theme Park.
From Gallagher, they learned about Penacony's history. Initially, Penacony was a prison under the Interastral Peace Corporation, salvaging memoria for the Garden of Recollection. But prolonged exposure to high-density memoria created a unique phenomenon. Countless individuals' dreams intertwined, and people began meeting in dreams, living lives as vivid as reality.
A prison remains a prison. Led by a prisoner named Hanunu, the inmates shattered the Corporation's shackles, fighting for freedom. With the help of other companions, they finally won that victory. And the 'Watchmaker' was among them.
"Hanunu liberated the frontier prison but didn't live to see peace. Barren resources, external threats, and divided prison districts… Asdana's future was still precarious. Until the historic 'Watchmaker' extended an olive branch to the Family, aiming to turn this prison into the glittering Star of Festivities… only then did 'Penacony' earn its name, stepping onto the stage of the cosmos."
[Why do I feel like I've heard this story somewhere?]
[America's Civil War?]
[No, the Revolutionary War!]
[Stop arguing, just watch.]
After listening to this lengthy tale, Himeko interjected, "So that's why he's called the 'Father of Penacony.'"
March 7th raised a question, "But you just said the 'Watchmaker' is the Family's betrayer? You also said you're his companion, so you're…"
Gallagher's face was etched with sorrow, "I'm not his companion—I'm one of his many 'children.' But I am a traitor, not to the Family, but to… Mikhail."
"What did you do?"
"I did nothing… that's the greatest betrayal. Like you, I once had inseparable companions. We poured our hearts into Penacony, but the Oak Family… betrayed us. Mikhail grew old, unable to protect his children. We left the Family, seeking our own path, becoming traitors to the 'Harmony'… though the true betrayer was someone else. They still praised the 'Watchmaker's' name publicly, while secretly nailing him to a pillar of shame." Gallagher's last words were almost gritted through his teeth.
The next moment, he regained his calm, "Even so, we still hoped to clear his name. If we could expose the true traitor, the mastermind behind it all, Penacony's 'Harmony' could return to its rightful path… but we lost. Over endless time, the dreamland was too deeply affected. Under relentless pursuit, I gave up… like a stray dog. The Family took me back, gave me the officer's job—forgiveness on the surface, punishment in truth. Since then, I've cut ties with my companions… and my past. And Mikhail… I heard he died in a corner no one cared about, a place no one could find. I knew then that the old Penacony was gone forever."
Gallagher continued talking about the 'Watchmaker.' Until his final line, "How ironic. What's the difference between these stowaways now rejected by Penacony and the dreamchasers hailed as pioneers a few Amber Eras ago?"
Then he left.
March 7th watched Gallagher's dejected figure, "Mr. Gallagher… he's really a man with a story."
[Damn, Gallagher's last line hits hard!]
[Sweating buckets, brothers…]
[This series won't get banned, right?]
After gathering plenty of intel, the Astral Express trio contacted Welt Yang. Welt Yang said they could trust Acheron, and they were heading deeper into the Dewlight Pavilion.