"Report the guest's condition." A middle-aged man's voice rang out in the alley, followed by a woman's voice: "The subject's mental state is normal. He has awakened."
"Where... am I?" Caelus looked around blankly and asked the man in front of him. "Golden Hour, Penacony. I'm Gallagher of the Hound Family. We failed to properly screen our visitors, and who knows what kind of monsters we let in. On behalf of the Family, I offer my deepest apologies."
"It was... the Stellaron Hunters." Caelus had yet to recover, and his speech was halting. "The Stellaron Hunters? Was it Blade, Kafka, or Sam?"
"No..." Caelus paused. "Their new member: Hanxing." "The Stellaron Hunters... have a new member?" Gallagher seemed a little surprised. "I'll record your statement. Tell me everything about his appearance and traits. It'll help us issue a wanted notice."
"Look out!" A golden shield appeared around Hanxing. An arm materialized and shot in front of Firefly, colliding with the blade on the monster's body. "How... is it so strong?" Hanxing had no choice but to turn back and take Firefly far away in an instant.
Suddenly, a magic circle appeared beneath the monster, and several purple arms shoved it against a wall. "Without the right method... there's no escaping the shadow of 'death'... unscathed." A woman's voice drifted over from the side, and a lady in purple appeared where the voice came from.
There was no time to think. The monster broke free again and attacked the three of them. Hanxing unleashed two more blasts of sword qi, driving the monster back and giving the three a brief moment to catch their breath.
"Who are you...?" Firefly looked at the woman in purple. "Relax, little sister. I'm on your side. Why don't you call me... Black Swan, the Memokeeper?" Just as Hanxing was about to charge forward, a card flew out, and the magic circle appeared beneath the monster again. A wave of pressure seemed to descend, pinning it firmly to the ground.
"Until we meet again." Black Swan tossed out another card, opening a spatial portal on a television. "Hurry," Black Swan said to the two of them. Hanxing glanced at Black Swan, then took Firefly by the hand and left without looking back.
"All right, we'll issue a wanted notice as soon as possible. Go explore the dreamscape without worry," Gallagher said to Caelus after hearing him out. Caelus was about to turn and leave when yin-yang fish appeared all around him. "Hehe, Little Grey Hair is so easy to fool. Go back to sleep without a worry-" Caelus then fell to the ground. Looking around again, only Sparkle remained.
"Cough, cough-cough... Where... did I end up? Is this still Penacony?" Hanxing awoke in the Dream Pool. The side effects of this Dream Pool were so severe that he could hardly imagine it. A trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Now he knew why most of those stowaways were unwilling to leave the dreamscape.
"Firefly... Firefly?" After taking a moment to recover, Hanxing remembered Firefly, whose hand he had taken as they ran out. But she did not get up as he had expected. She was still lying quietly in the Dream Pool.
"Forget it. I'll review what I've accomplished so far, then reenter the dreamscape and look for Firefly." Hanxing activated Star Eyes to heal his injuries, then began to review:
"First, we deceived the Astral Express, sending them in the direction we wanted. Then we entered Penacony's deeper dreamscape and found a monster and a Memokeeper." Though it seemed like a lot had happened, that was the sum of it.
"In any case, let's prepare to return to the dreamscape. Our objective goes beyond this," Hanxing said.