"We meet again. I didn't expect to receive your help here."
Acheron remembered encountering Stelle in the dreamscape. Back then, Stelle had quickly come to her senses and returned to the hotel.
"It's nothing. I was just experimenting with the Clockwork Trick."
Stelle offered a simple explanation.
"Is that the Clockie only you can see?" Firefly asked curiously.
"Clockie?" Acheron glanced around, a look of realization dawning on her. "No wonder there's a vague power in the area. Perhaps this is an effect of the Memoria. You might be more perceptive than us, which is why you can see things we can't."
Stelle nodded to Misha and Clockie, then asked, "What happened? Why were you surrounded by The Family here?"
"It seems some Masked Fools were causing trouble earlier, creating a lot of problems," Acheron said with a sigh. "That's why I ran into trouble here."
'*Masked Fools? Could it be the person who was pretending to be Sampo?*'
Stelle had a flash of inspiration. She remembered the room key, took it out, and handed it to Acheron. "I also ran into a Masked Fool," she said seriously. "See if this is the one. She pretended to be my friend to get close to me, but I saw through her and killed her. I estimate she's either returned to reality or sunk into a deeper dream. If you run into her..."
"Don't hesitate. Just cut her down!"
Acheron's eyes glinted as she solemnly took the room key from Stelle.
She pocketed it and nodded. "I understand. The next time I see her, I won't give her any chance to cause trouble. I just didn't expect you to have the ability to see through the disguises of these Masked Fools."
Stelle grinned. "Her acting was terrible. Besides, isn't this just a dream? What's wrong with me killing a person or two? It's not like anything real will happen."
Acheron's expression turned quite peculiar at her words. For a moment, she didn't know what to say.
"Acheron, let me tell you," Stelle said immediately. "I've already found the way to unlock the Clockmaker's Legacy. The impossible thing in the dreamscape is death. So, if we kill more people in the dream, we can send more people to have an audience with the Clockmaker."
"The more we kill, the more people will go to the Clockmaker. In the end, the secret of the Clockmaker's Legacy will be exposed to the public. That way, all of Penacony will descend into chaos."
"And at that time, the mastermind who used the secret of the Clockmaker's Legacy to lure us here will be exposed."
"Don't worry about the so-called Family, and don't worry about whether the people here will die. The Penacony dreamscape is actually a cage to lock away secrets. No matter how beautifully they decorate this dreamscape, they can't change its fundamental nature as a cage."
"Go find the secret of the Clockmaker's Legacy without fear!"
Stelle enthusiastically promoted her philosophy to Acheron.
For a moment, Acheron couldn't quite grasp what she meant. She was still baffled by the idea that the Nameless of the Astral Express had already cracked the secret of the Clockmaker's Legacy.
They've already solved it? And they're even planning to announce it to the public?
How is this so... unreal?
All you have to do is kill people to solve the problem of the Clockmaker's Legacy?
It sounded completely absurd.
Only then did Acheron remember that Stelle had just openly killed a Masked Fool and even told her about it.
"You're saying you just killed that Masked Fool?"
Stelle completely ignored the shocked expressions on Clockie and Misha's faces.
The two of them were utterly speechless, their heads buzzing.
Could it be that the wonderful town of Penacony is about to meet its end? Why does this Nameless seem a bit... unhinged?
Stelle nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Ever since we entered the hotel, we've been telling everyone we've found the secret of the Clockmaker's Legacy, hoping to bait out the person who led us here. After a simple guess about the 'impossible thing in the dreamscape,' we decided to spread death to wake more people up from this Penacony dream."
"After we dismantle Penacony, we can get more secrets about the Clockmaker's Legacy. So? Want to join our killing crew?"
Acheron took a deep breath. She felt something was off, but she also felt that this plan might actually have some merit.
"Alright! Just tell me how we're going to kill people!"
"Wait! Tick-tock! Why did we suddenly start talking about killing people?! Tick-tock!" Clockie quickly jumped up to remind them of his presence.
"What killing? What killing! Don't talk nonsense! You can't die in a dream. We're just acting as a wake-up service."
Stelle declared that she wasn't killing people; she was just waking everyone up.
Only then did Acheron remember she was in a dream. Killing people in a dream wasn't really killing.
Those words instantly made Acheron relax. If they weren't actually killing anyone, then she could go all out without any worries.
Misha was also stunned. He hadn't expected such a method to force more people to seek the Clockmaker's Legacy.
But the problem was...
Firefly pondered for a moment. "If we just kill our way through, isn't that too inefficient? How long will it take to solve this?"
A victorious expression appeared on Stelle's face. "At first, I was a little worried that this solution might be too slow, but now I'm not worried at all. Didn't Acheron just say it?"
"The Masked Fools are participating in this event, you're a stowaway from who-knows-where, and this lady Acheron is a Galaxy Ranger. Add to that us Nameless, plus the people from the Corporation—I remember that guy, Aventurine, who was talking to Mr. Yang at the hotel entrance."
"With so many factions here, are they all just here for a happy vacation together?"
"If they're not here for the Clockmaker's Legacy, then they're here for Penacony's secret. And what is the secret?"
"The secret is that Penacony has a Stellaron!"
Firefly was even more shocked. She hadn't expected Stelle to expose the matter of the Stellaron as well.
Stelle wasn't worried about whether there was a Stellaron or not. After all, she had a Stellaron, and she was in Penacony. Rounding things up, wasn't that the same as saying Penacony had a Stellaron?
"I see..." Acheron was even more enlightened. She hadn't realized the waters in Penacony ran so deep. If things were stirred up, someone would surely start seeking answers.
And at that time, as long as Stelle put out the message that "killing" was the answer, all the powerful and influential people would start acting for their common interest.
To make Stelle's plan even more successful, Acheron proactively revealed the information she knew.
"Not only that," Acheron said, "but I also ran into someone from the Garden of Recollection on my way here. He should be a Memokeeper. Perhaps he can also help you with this matter."