Stelle immediately realized what she had to do.
"So you're saying," she said in a low voice, "we just need to kill everyone who's dreaming, and they'll all wake up?"
[You got it! As long as we have the ability to kill everyone in the Penacony dream, we will have, in effect, dismantled this so-called Penacony.]
Noldrei's words sounded like he was saying, As long as we flip the table, we're guaranteed to win.
Stelle thought it over and over, and the whole idea seemed a bit too outrageous.
She'd never experienced the joy of slaughtering people before.
In the past, she had always been the Galactic Baseballer, the great hero who saved civilizations in crisis across the universe.
And now Noldrei was telling her that all she had to do was kill everyone in the Penacony dream, and she would learn the secret of Penacony.
It sounded incredibly counterintuitive, but based on Noldrei's description of the dreamscape, it was also perfectly logical.
Right, if you can't reach true death in a dream, does that mean it doesn't matter how you kill people in the dream?
The impulse for Destruction in Stelle's heart was gaining the upper hand. For a moment, she felt an eager urge to try it.
A cosmic-level archvillain! She could experience something she'd never even dared to imagine in her wildest dreams?!
"This is something I never would have dared to dream of before..." Stelle mused.
[What a coincidence. You're dreaming right now, and we just happen to be people who dare to think and dare to act! Let's give Penacony a big one!]
"No, you have to give me some time to mentally prepare. Aigh, I'm a little excited. I never thought the Clockmaker's Legacy would mean something like this."
"I enjoy killing in my dreams." It sounds so incredibly counterintuitive.
Stelle thought the idea was too insane. With her abilities, she probably couldn't kill that many people.
The thought of randomly grabbing someone on the street and just doing them in... it made her feel like her image was a bit too much.
[Don't worry, it's all a dream. Look, you didn't even die from falling from the sky, so stabbing someone a few times or whacking them on the head with a baseball bat probably won't do anything!]
[Go on! This is the most wonderful dream. Didn't Penacony advertise that any wonderful dream can come true? We just want to have a happy dream where we run around killing people. What's wrong with that?]
"Are you trying to corrupt me, you bastard?!"
Stelle was starting to suspect her brain wasn't working right. She kept feeling like Noldrei was about to do something bad to her.
[Not at all. I genuinely believe that 'death' is the 'impossible thing.' So, what's wrong with us giving all the people who come to Penacony the 'impossible thing' and sending them to find the Clockmaker's Legacy?]
'*I guess that makes sense...*'
Stelle was now beyond just feeling an eager urge. Her hands were starting to itch, as if she were missing something she should be using to try something out.
Maybe... I should just charge at everyone on the street with my lance?
Stelle was already being led astray by Noldrei. She did agree with his theory about the "impossible thing," but the problem was...
Wasn't she the one who was supposed to be looking for the so-called Clockmaker's Legacy?
Why was she now supposed to be sending others to find it?
"Could it be... that I'm the one who's supposed to die?"
Those words startled a young woman who was just about to approach her for a deeper conversation.
She had actually been following Stelle for a while, but hadn't dared to strike up a conversation, especially after seeing Stelle muttering to herself, looking serious one moment, angry the next, and then frustrated.
To be honest, a Stelle like that was a little scary.
She looked like she wasn't mentally sound.
Just as she couldn't wait any longer and was about to approach Stelle, she heard that shocking sentence.
"P-please, don't do anything rash!"
She rushed forward without hesitation to stop Stelle from entertaining such thoughts.
"Huh?"
Stelle looked up at the girl who had suddenly spoken to her, a few question marks popping up above her head.
"Who... are you?"
The pretty girl was none other than Firefly, who had been hiding nearby for some time!
[T/N: A poem by Du Fu about fireflies is quoted here, describing their brief, ephemeral beauty and eventual fate in the autumn frost.]
"I-I'm Firefly. I heard what you said and was afraid you were thinking of doing something... so I came over..."
"You're one of the Nameless, right? Is this your first time in Penacony?"
Firefly identified Stelle's status right away.
Stelle wasn't suspicious. After all, people on the Express liked to display their Trailblaze passes in conspicuous places, so it wasn't surprising to be recognized by someone who knew about the Astral Express.
"Oh? If you want an autograph, not today..."
Stelle was still agonizing over whether she should start slaughtering people. Now that a cute girl had suddenly appeared, it was hard to make a move right away.
The girl had just come up to console her and tell her not to seek death, and she was going to suddenly pull out her lance and send her on her way? Wouldn't that be too much?
"I-I didn't mean that. You didn't seem right just now. You were also invited by The Family, right? How about this? There are lots of interesting places in Penacony. I'll take you to see some of the fun spots first."
"Don't worry. As long as you relax here, you won't have too many worries on your mind. Let me be your guide!"
Hearing this, Stelle immediately tossed all her worries about how to slaughter people to the back of her mind.
[Hey, aren't we supposed to be looking for the Clockmaker's Legacy? We have a direction now, we should be working hard!]
'*Don't be like that. I can tell just by looking at you that you have no experience being hit on by pretty girls! As a popular Galactic Baseballer, I have to fulfill the requests of pretty girls no matter what.*'
[Simp!]
'*Shut up! Can you call it simping when it's between two women?! You don't know anything!*'
Stelle had gotten used to it by now. She argued with her mental cheat engine while chatting with Firefly.
"So what's fun in Penacony? I've looked around, and it doesn't seem that different from other amusement spots in the universe."
"It's alright, it's alright, I'll take you there," Firefly consoled her. "Don't worry so much. And there are many places here that aren't as simple as they look on the surface. There are lots of interesting spots. The Golden Hour is also known as 'Midnight.' This dream represents people's wish for today to never end."
'*How should I answer her?*'
[Staying up late is to make today's happiness last, while sleeping in is to make tomorrow's troubles arrive late.]
"I get it," Stelle said, as if enlightened. "Staying up late is to make today's happiness last, while sleeping in is to make tomorrow's troubles arrive late."
Hearing such a fitting description, Firefly looked at her with even more admiration. "Exactly! You said exactly what I wanted to say. Come on, I'll take you to some fun places!"