Stelle's slaughter squad was growing.
It had now been joined by a stowaway and a Galaxy Ranger.
These two clearly possessed excellent butchering skills, far superior to a fledgling like Stelle in that department.
But Stelle had just received a super-powerful cheat from her good friend Misha, one that would allow her to do even more.
She was still expounding on her "grand cause of killing," describing to Firefly and Acheron a Penacony dreamscape that was doomed to collapse.
"I did some in-depth research on the new ability I got. I don't know why Clockie gave me this Clockwork Trick, but I found that it has some interesting aspects."
"For example, its emotion abilities aren't obtained directly. I can get these so-called emotion gears from other people, then use them on others to adjust their emotions."
"Between one and three o'clock is anger. Between three and six is calm. Between six and nine is sadness, and between nine and twelve is happiness."
"What does this mean?!"
Stelle had no intention of revealing Noldrei's presence within her. Acting as if she had come up with this brilliant idea all on her own, she said gleefully, "It means we can physically attack someone to make them angry or sad, then steal their emotion gear and load it onto someone else!"
"By spreading emotions like an enhanced infection, we can make everyone in Penacony angry!"
"Angry people always need an outlet for their frustration. This means everyone's personal aggression will increase, and the whole of Penacony will descend into chaos!"
"We just have to raise our banner and shout, 'You're all in a dream! Do whatever you want!' They'll definitely go crazy, burning, killing, and looting—committing every evil imaginable! That way, the so-called 'Sweetdream' of Penacony can no longer be maintained!"
"Our killing army will infiltrate every corner of Penacony!"
"Give me ten people, and I can bring misfortune to hundreds, even thousands. If you give me hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people, then I can wreak havoc on the entire Penacony dreamscape! Let everyone release all their pent-up, contradictory emotions in the dream!"
"They'll cry while they laugh, feel sad while they're happy!"
"What is this? This is sharing one destiny, breathing as one!"
Firefly felt that this situation was somewhat familiar. It looked like a scene from some online game where all the players had turned on PK mode and were slaughtering each other.
"Won't this still be too inefficient?" she asked worriedly. "What if members of The Family show up?"
Stelle looked at her in surprise. "Did you forget? I've got a new cheat. With the Clockwork Trick, we can easily dismantle those Family members, and even make them join our grand cause of killing!"
Firefly's eyes lit up. She hadn't expected the Clockwork Trick to have such a use.
"So you're saying, we can adjust our enemies' emotions to infiltrate their consciousness with our will and ideas, making them retaliate against Penacony indiscriminately?"
Acheron clearly had a better grasp of the situation. She saw the malicious potential of the Clockwork Trick at a glance.
"When that time comes," Stelle said excitedly, "we can create a good world in Penacony where everyone can kill everyone!"
'*Is that a good world?*'
Firefly was now beginning to question the difference between a good world and a bad one.
"Actually, I think what you're saying makes a lot of sense," Acheron said, clearly agreeing with Stelle's ideas. "If you can't do in a dream what you can't do in reality, then what's the point of dreaming? To give The Family of Penacony our credits?" She had further deduced the reality that Penacony's dream wasn't dreamlike enough.
At some point, the little femboy Misha and Clockie had already left.
They were like NPCs who had come specifically to deliver a cheat, without considering what Stelle would do after getting it. As for taking the cheat back, that didn't seem to be within their consideration at all.
"You two..."
Firefly felt that these two were even more suited to be Stellaron Hunters than she was. She even suspected that Stelle had some grudge against Penacony; otherwise, she wouldn't be so eager to destroy it.
"We have the cheat, we have the direction, and we have the people. What's there to hesitate about? Firefly, what's wrong? You can't bring yourself to do it? It's fine. It's my first time too. Nothing to be nervous about."
Stelle actually thought Firefly was being too nervous and too kind.
"I'm not! I didn't! I'm just worried, what if we don't find the Clockmaker's Legacy? I'm not worried about the killing. I'm worried about what happens if we're on the wrong path."
Firefly was more concerned about being directionally incorrect. She felt that the Clockmaker wouldn't create this kind of riddle for people to solve.
The dreamscape was a world pioneered by the Clockmaker. Why would he release his legacy in a way that would destroy the dream world?
Firefly felt that Stelle might have gotten it wrong.
Stelle puffed out her chest and guaranteed, "It's not wrong! Think about it. What is the Clockmaker's Legacy? And what is the impossible thing in a dream? All of this is predicated on the existence of the dream. To make it impossible, the only way is to destroy the dream!"
"Besides destroying the dream within the dream, what else is impossible for a dream?"
[Whether it's killing the people in the dream or waking them up, it all ends in the destruction of the dream. This world allows for creation, so it must allow for destruction! It allows for a beginning, so it must allow for an end! This is the law of the world! Where there is life, there is death. Where there is love, there is hate!]
"But in a dream, these things are all reversed... Can you understand? A dream is like a book written by a person. Although you may not understand it, it is, in fact, the conceptualized product of human thought."
[You see a good book, a useful book, but that doesn't mean the book has to control you, nor does it mean you must do as the book says.]
"Humans impose laws upon nature, but that doesn't mean humans are inherently divine. That is just idealism taking root and wandering in the human heart..."
[The beauty I feel in the dream doesn't mean it's beautiful to me. It can only prove one thing...]
"It proves, in reverse, what the pain I have received in reality truly is."