"Himeko, what's going on here?"
Inside a luxurious suite within the Memoria bubble, Himeko, Trailblazer, Firefly, and Black Swan stared with grave expressions at the "Robin" lying in the bathtub before them. All three of them were well aware that news of Robin's murder had briefly broken before, and though it was quickly suppressed by The Family, they had all seen that news report.
And now, "Robin's" corpse lay quietly before them, as if they had arrived at the scene of the crime.
After a glance, Black Swan saw through the facade. Her lips parted slightly as she resolved the confusion in Trailblazer's and Himeko's minds.
"A Memoria bubble is generally constructed from a specific memory. It seems the bubble that little Fool prepared for us contains the truth of Miss Robin's death."
"Then who killed Robin? Where's the culprit?"
Trailblazer rushed forward, opening all the closed doors in the suite. She even checked under the bed, searching the room thoroughly, but found no clues related to the killer.
"Isn't the culprit that little Fool? It's just that all the guests have arrived, so why hasn't she shown up?"
Black Swan's gaze swept around with some puzzlement, carefully examining the surrounding Memoria substance for any abnormalities. But after a full scan, she didn't find anything unusual about the room.
Himeko's brow was furrowed. She walked to the side of the bathtub and reached out to move "Robin's" body, but found no wounds on it, until she noticed that "Robin's" hand seemed to be clutching something.
Himeko gently pried open the hand and found a slip of paper in "Robin's" grasp.
"Look at this note."
Himeko called over Trailblazer, Firefly, and Black Swan. The three immediately gathered around, looking down with Himeko at the line of small characters written on the note.
[Memetic Entity of the Memoria]
Himeko, Trailblazer, and Firefly didn't know much about this Memetic Entity, so they could only turn to the expert for help. The three of them turned their heads in unison to look at Black Swan.
Seeing the three look over, Black Swan's brow couldn't help but tighten. She spoke in a low voice, explaining for them.
"A Memetic Entity of the Memoria is a lifeform of memory that has detached from a physical body. It only appears in places with abundant Memoria substance. It's extremely rare and dangerous. From the looks of it now, it's possible that the one who killed Miss Robin was some kind of Memetic Entity being used by that little Fool."
After hearing Black Swan's explanation, Firefly then remembered The Family's guarantee to tourists that the dream was absolutely safe. "But didn't The Family say the dream is completely safe? Then why would Miss Robin die?"
"I'm not sure." Black Swan shook her head with some regret. "Although I am a Memokeeper, there are countless types of Memetic Entities. It's impossible for me to know them all. While the world of the beautiful dream is protected by the power of Harmony, it's not out of the question that this Memetic Entity, native to Penacony, possesses some power that can bypass Harmony."
Just then, the television in the room suddenly lit up, startling Trailblazer so much that she immediately pulled out her baseball bat and stood in front of Himeko, staring warily at the TV, which was now flickering with static.
After a long moment of vigilance, Trailblazer saw that the television was still just flickering with static. She scratched her head, a little confused. "The TVs in the dream world can break too? That's not very 'beautiful'."
With that, she walked towards the television, baseball bat in hand. Seeing this, Himeko quickly reminded her, "Be careful."
"Mm."
Trailblazer walked up to within a meter of the television, then swung the bat in her hand and gave it a tap. However, she controlled her strength and didn't smash it to pieces.
After all, this was the only thing in the entire room that had suddenly acted strangely. It was probably the Masked Fool's doing. Rather than having no activity at all, it was better to see what she was up to.
With Trailblazer's tap, the static on the television screen was instantly fixed, and the screen now displayed a chibi avatar of Sparkle.
"Heehee, thank you to the enthusiastic little gray-hair for helping Lady Sparkle fix the TV! As a reward, I'll let you all see the entire process of the crime!"
The moment Sparkle finished speaking, the television screen went black again. Immediately after, Black Swan felt the concentration of Memoria substance in the suite rise sharply. She instantly floated forward, pulling Trailblazer back to Himeko's side, then stood protectively in front of the three of them.
"Be careful. This room seems to be undergoing some kind of change."
As Black Swan had warned, Trailblazer, Himeko, and Firefly all began to look around warily.
A moment later, the four of them discovered a projection of Robin had suddenly appeared in the room. At this moment, she was looking at the door with a terrified expression. Following her gaze, the four saw that a blurry human figure had appeared at the suite's doorway at some point, its form and gender impossible to discern.
Seeing this, Trailblazer couldn't help but turn her head to complain at the now-dark television screen.
"This is what you're showing us? We can't even see a face. Why don't you just make the killer's model a little black shadow?"
The moment Trailblazer finished speaking, the blurry figure at the door suddenly changed, becoming a form of pure black, with only a pair of sparkling eyes and a mouthful of large white teeth, looking even more bizarre.
Seeing this, Trailblazer blinked, then turned her head back to the television. "Can I take back what I just said? How about we just show the killer's identity?"
But this time, Sparkle didn't respond to Trailblazer's request.
The group could only watch as the little black shadow walked step by step toward Robin inside the room. As Robin backed away, she looked nervously at the person and asked.
"Who are you?"
The four of them immediately stared intently at the little black shadow, anticipating its answer, but...
"Beep—"
The little black shadow opened its mouth, and out came a censored sound, leaving them all dumbfounded.
Trailblazer was getting annoyed. "If you don't want people to know, then don't broadcast it! What's with the censorship!"
Firefly was also getting frustrated by Sparkle's repeated pranks. "The temperament of the Masked Fools is all the same. They all love to play tricks."
Just as the group thought this was another one of Sparkle's pranks, a ferocious-looking monster suddenly tore open the space beside them and crawled out. The projection of Robin turned pale upon seeing this, her legs giving out as she stumbled backward, inadvertently bumping into a small tea table.
Trailblazer, who had been angry a moment ago, immediately perked up when she saw the monster. She turned her head to look at the projection of Robin, and everything clicked.
"This monster is the Memetic Entity that killed Robin!"
Trailblazer's words were met with agreement from Himeko and Firefly. But Black Swan, upon seeing the Memetic Entity, couldn't help but frown. She felt something was off.
The four of them just stood there, watching as the Memetic Entity, under the little black shadow's direction, approached Robin. Just as Trailblazer thought they were about to see the scene of Robin's death, Black Swan suddenly cried out a sharp warning.
"That's not right! This Memetic Entity is real!"
The moment Black Swan's voice fell, the Memetic Entity turned its head and charged at the four of them.
It happened so suddenly that Trailblazer only had time to raise her baseball bat to protect Himeko, who was closest to her. Firefly, for her part, immediately took out her transformation device and the Totem of Undying that Silver Wolf had given her.
The Memetic Entity's movements were swift. It bypassed Trailblazer and Himeko completely and zipped behind Firefly. Then, with a flick of its bladed tail, it pierced straight through the defenseless Firefly.
Firefly let out a muffled grunt as the massive bladed tail skewered her chest and lifted her into the air. She looked down in disbelief at the Totem of Undying in her hand, then was flung by the Memetic Entity, smashing into the wall.
"Firefly!"
Trailblazer cried out in alarm and immediately swung her bat, charging at the Memetic Entity. But the creature seemed to have no intention of fighting her. It once again tore open space and shrank back inside, leaving Trailblazer to swing at empty air.
Seeing the Memetic Entity had run away, Trailblazer could only curse under her breath before immediately running towards Firefly. But by the time she reached her, Firefly's body had already dissipated by more than half.
"This..."
Trailblazer stared in disbelief at the spot where Firefly was vanishing, the baseball bat in her hand involuntarily slipping from her grasp.
Just then, the wall of the suite suddenly shattered. Fu Zhu and Acheron emerged from inside. The moment Fu Zhu appeared, he saw the strange expressions on everyone's faces, and Firefly, who was disappearing, with only one hand left.
"What happened?"
Seeing Fu Zhu appear, Trailblazer immediately found her pillar of support. She rushed over and threw herself into his arms. "Old Bro, Firefly... she's dead again!"
"Again?"
Fu Zhu's expression changed. Just as he was about to switch to Observer Mode, he noticed that the last of Firefly's disappearing hands was holding a Totem of Undying. He was stunned for a moment.
He immediately surveyed his surroundings, taking in the all-too-familiar layout, and instantly understood everything.
"Don't worry, Firefly's not dead. It's just that someone wants you all to think she's dead."
Fu Zhu patted Trailblazer's shoulder to comfort her, then strode towards the corpse of Robin lying in the bathtub.
"Old Bro?"
Trailblazer looked at Fu Zhu, confused. Himeko and Black Swan, upon seeing Fu Zhu walk towards Robin's corpse, also immediately realized what was going on.
Himeko nodded with a look of sudden understanding.
"No wonder. That little Fool's reminders were always so timely. If she wasn't constantly observing us, it would be impossible to do that. And besides the four of us at the scene, that only leaves... one 'corpse'."
Fu Zhu looked at the "corpse" lying in the bathtub before him and cracked his knuckles.
"Still not showing yourself? Need me to help you take off your makeup?"
Poof! A puff of white smoke erupted from the corpse.
When the white smoke cleared, Sparkle appeared before them, hands behind her back and a smile on her face.
"Ta-da! Were you scared?"