"So...?" the Dreammaster ventured.
"This is the so-called surprise I prepared. Just as I answered earlier."
Hearing Sunday say this, along with the other's expression and tone that did not seem like he was lying, the Dreammaster relaxed quite a bit, and even began to feel secretly delighted.
After all, it was normal for him to feel this way when the plan was going so smoothly.
But soon, the Dreammaster became puzzled again. He felt that this plan seemed a little too... normal.
Just as ripples gradually began to spread through the Dreammaster's heart, dozens of figures walked in. The last person to enter even locked the door securely, while Sunday in front of him slowly retreated.
"Sunday, what's going on? No, what does this mean?" the Dreammaster shouted when he sensed that the atmosphere was becoming wrong.
But Sunday did not answer him. Instead, a woman standing in front of him answered.
"Wuu wuu wuu... Mr. Sunday has completed his mission. He must be in a hurry to go find Miss Robin now... wuu... He has already apologized so many times. It seems this matter really affected him deeply."
Listening to the Noe's sobbing remarks, the Dreammaster looked completely confused.
"Wuu wuu... It seems you still don't understand. Forget it, you'll understand once you get to Nero's... Rift Factory. But before that, please relax and let me knock you unconscious. Wuu wuu... To catch you, Mr. Sunday even put righteousness before family this time. It really wasn't easy for him..."
The Dreammaster stood where he was and blinked in a daze. He found that all of his incarnations had already been restrained by the knights who had flooded in.
He finally realized that he had foolishly fallen into a trap, simply because he had trusted Sunday a little too much and had been overwhelmed by the information related to Nero.
"You... aren't you afraid of Harmony's retaliation for doing this?" the Dreammaster said, trying to sound tough despite his fear.
The next second, he heard a knight beside him answer, "Based on my observations of Penacony during this period, your family hasn't shown as much unity as we have. I don't think Harmony's Infinite Husband necessarily intends to help you take revenge on us."
Dreammaster: "..."
'Nonsense. Who could be more united than you people, the Knights of Beauty?'
In the end, the Dreammaster could only raise his head and look at the knights surrounding him with a slightly frightened gaze.
"Can we reconcile?"
———
[Dreamscape Depth: Sky]
When the blue light in his fellow knight's eyes, which had only been giving off a faint glow while he was idle, suddenly flashed twice before returning to normal, Argenti knew that Tiriandes' test was over.
His fellow knight had been idle for several minutes. Presumably, his deduction had been verified.
Argenti noticed that after Tiriandes recovered, he slowly turned his head to look at him. The brightness of his eyes changed for a moment, but in the end, he said nothing.
If Tiriandes had not been a mechanical intelligence but a real person, Argenti would certainly have been able to see an extremely complicated expression on his face at this moment.
The events happening in the dream on the other side had given Tiriandes a small shock. The story's development seemed to be gradually heading in a strange direction, giving one a somewhat abstract feeling.
Who exactly had caused the dream to develop this way was unknown, but no matter who it was, Tiriandes believed it absolutely could not be Nero.
In his view, although the child liked sending people to his factory to work, that little head of his still could not hold too many strange things.
Seeing that his fellow knight had remained silent for a long time, Argenti asked, "How is the situation?"
Only then did Tiriandes reply, "Let's say the deduction was successful for now. It's just that the development of the story is a little... strange.
"Overall, there's no major problem. Let's move on to the next test, completing a jump between dreams without following the existing route."
Argenti blinked, then nodded.
Although it felt a little strange, since Tiriandes had said so, there should be no problem.
Afterward, the two stood up, said goodbye to the others present, and quickly left.
Even after the two had left, Jing Yuan still had not arrived.
However, not long after they departed, Jing Yuan's figure appeared before everyone.
Jing Yuan, Dan Heng, and Little Lan had all come to Penacony.
As for why Little Lan was specifically mentioned here, that was because Little Aha and Little Yaoshi were not here.
Strangely enough, no one noticed that two cat cakes had quietly slipped away.
But considering that the shell of Little Aha now contained Big Aha, it was probably normal that no one noticed.
———
Unlike the dream with the depth of Dawn, the negotiations with Sunday had broken down in the dream with the depth of Sky.
The Astral Express crew in this layer of the dream were making their way deeper into the Penacony Grand Theater, heading toward the place where they would have their final battle with Sunday.
There was just one puzzling thing. The Grand Theater's opening of the Charmony Festival was imminent, yet the entire theater was strangely quiet. There were neither spectators nor staff.
The only outsiders here at present were the members of the Astral Express.
Himeko, Stelle, March, and Nero...
In this dream, Nero had not stayed behind at Dreamflux Reef to wait. Instead, he followed the others from the Astral Express into that dream bubble and witnessed the gift left behind by the Watchmaker.
———
[Not Long Ago...]
"May I ask, where is this...?" Misha looked at the surroundings and asked in confusion.
Following the information they had obtained from the Dreamscape Sales Store, everyone had arrived at the deeper layer of that empty dream bubble, in search of what the Watchmaker had truly intended to leave behind for those who came after him.
"Does this place look familiar to you, Misha?" Himeko asked.
"I... can't really say." Misha shook his head. "But I do have a feeling I've seen it somewhere before. Where is this?"
"This is a dream bubble. Our consciousness has entered it," Himeko explained. "This is a gift left to the Astral Express by a Nameless, but strangely, when we opened it, we found that there was nothing inside."
"Doctor Edward from the Dreamscape Sales Store told me that dreams are condensed from memories. If the core is empty, a dream bubble cannot take shape."
"So I thought that, as the hotel's bellboy and the friend of the Astral Express who knows Penacony best, Little Misha, perhaps you could help us solve this mystery?"
"Mm, I don't know much about dream bubbles. But if everyone wants to figure out what this big house is... I'll try my best!" Misha said.
"Then I'll leave it to you," Himeko said.
"Sis Himeko... I'm still really confused. Why did you decide that Misha was connected to this dream bubble?" March asked quietly from the side."
"I can't be certain. It's just a guess," Himeko said. "But since Misha feels familiar with this place... it means my guess might be correct."
Stelle scratched her head. "This scene looks kind of familiar..."
"Of course it looks familiar. The first time we encountered Sleepie was here," Nero said. "At the time, I thought you and Firefly had been attacked, so I slapped it down."