After Sparkle's voice faded, Himeko turned to the group gathered around her.
"Everyone, what are your thoughts?"
Welt pondered for a moment before speaking. "Although we know this Masked Fool has certainly set a trap for us within the Memoria bubble, she's right about one thing. We currently have no leads whatsoever regarding the Watchmaker's legacy. If we continue searching aimlessly in the dream world, we'll likely find nothing. I think we should go in, but we must also have someone stay outside to secure our retreat."
"Uncle Yang is absolutely right. In that case, I'll be the vanguard."
Fu Zhu stepped forward and placed his hand on the Memoria bubble. The next second, his figure vanished from before them.
Himeko was taken aback by this, frowning as she muttered, "Fu Zhu is a bit hasty this time... Welt, Little March, I'll have to trouble you to stay on guard outside."
"Alright." "Okay."
Himeko then looked at Acheron, Firefly, and Black Swan. Although she tentatively believed the three of them held no hostility, if she left them all outside, Welt and March would be outnumbered.
Black Swan was the first to grasp Himeko's meaning, stating with a smile, "I shall go in as well. As I've said, I am here to seek cooperation with all of you on the Express. As a show of good faith, please allow me to accompany you."
Firefly was quick to speak up as well. "For certain reasons, I need to stay by Fu Zhu's side for the time being, so I'll go in too."
Acheron looked from one to the other, then nodded. "I'll go too."
"Alright, let's go together, everyone."
Himeko and Xing were the first to step forward and place their hands on the bubble. The two of them vanished, and Firefly's group followed suit, entering the Memoria bubble.
---o---
Inside the bubble, Fu Zhu opened his eyes and found himself in a corridor of The Reverie Hotel. However, this version of the hotel was much dimmer than the one outside, and numerous small Memoria bubbles drifted through the hallways.
Fu Zhu opened his minimap for a look and found the area around him was completely empty, with no signs of any living beings. This puzzled him. What exactly was Sparkle up to?
Still, he didn't act immediately, instead waiting where he was for a while.
Fu Zhu believed that with Himeko's and the others' personalities, after seeing him enter the bubble, they wouldn't wait too long before arranging for someone to come in and investigate with him.
However, Fu Zhu watched the time on his phone. A full fifteen minutes passed, and there was still no sign of Himeko or the others on his minimap.
"We were separated?"
This was the only possibility Fu Zhu could think of. Himeko and the others would never let him investigate alone in here. The only explanation was that they had been deliberately teleported to another area upon entering the bubble.
Fu Zhu had no choice but to put away his phone and proceed on his own. This Memoria world was finite, after all; it couldn't expand infinitely like an MC world. He would run into them sooner or later.
He hadn't walked far when he noticed something was wrong with the layout of the surrounding scene. The corridor before him was upside down. He was currently walking on the ceiling.
After walking a little further, he arrived at the hotel lobby. He looked up and down, realizing he was on the high-flung ceiling, while the doors to the other areas were on the ground floor.
At that moment, a string of white characters suddenly appeared before his eyes, like subtitles in a movie.
[Hehe, the rules of reality don't apply in a Memoria bubble!]
"Thanks for the kind reminder, but whether in reality or in a dream, I only follow my own rules."
Fu Zhu took out some cobblestone blocks from his inventory and placed them directly under his feet, forming a staircase that led him down to the door on the "ceiling." But just as he was about to open the door, the white text appeared on it once more.
[You and I both know that death is impossible in a dream. That's because the power of Harmony influences the dreamscape. But what if it's [Remembrance] or [Harmony] itself?]
[If I were you, I wouldn't open this door. There's an unwelcome guest behind it! Opening this door could be fatal!]
After reading the two lines of text, Fu Zhu couldn't help but frown. He knew Sparkle was up to something, but what exactly was she plotting?
"You'd better hope I don't catch you. Otherwise, your butt is in for a world of hurt."
[Ooh~ By the God of Elation, if you spank the great Sparkle, the great Sparkle will definitely broadcast the video everywhere and ruin your luck with the ladies!]
"Are you some kind of magnet?"
Fu Zhu retorted speechlessly, then pulled open the door and walked through. Behind the door was another long, narrow corridor, but this time it wasn't upside down. Moreover, he noticed that after opening the door, two markers had appeared on his minimap.
[Former Head of the Oak Family - Gopelmu]
[Envoy of Nihility - Acheron]
Among them, Gopelmu's marker was a hostile red. It was obvious that he was the "unwelcome guest" Sparkle had mentioned.
---o---
"This festival has gathered far too many uninvited guests. Though [Harmony] is all-encompassing, for the peace of Penacony, I must ask some of you to leave. Planet of Festivities has no place for you, Envoy of Nihility. A person who lives in the shadows should not step onto a brightly lit stage."
Acheron's eyes were downcast. She turned to look at the group of 'people' who had appeared behind her at some point. She merely glanced at them, her cold tone laced with a hint of disdain.
"As one who lives in the shadows, we should be no different. At the very least, you should show your true form when speaking to another."
"...Hehe, another reason you cannot be allowed to stay. But before that... the other guest who has been eavesdropping, why don't you also step onto this brightly lit stage? At least before I expel you, you can both experience the final radiance of the Planet of Festivities."
Acheron also turned her head to the other side. On the other side of the entrance, Fu Zhu was leaning against the railing, looking down at them.
Fu Zhu raised an eyebrow and looked at the group of 'people,' a grin spreading across his face. "We Nameless have always been the brightest stars in the cosmos. Quite unlike you."
"Unlike me? Hehe... but I feel we are not so different. You, who walk the Path of [Trailblaze], have become an Envoy of Finality. Isn't that quite similar?"
Fu Zhu let out a strange "hmm." He felt that there was something not quite right about Gopelmu's words, but now was not the time to dwell on it.
Fu Zhu leaped down to Acheron's side, looking up at the group of 'people' before them.
"Courtesy first, soldiers later? Or should we just get straight to the fighting?"