Boothill looked at Dan Heng in silence for a while before speaking again. "In any case, Brother Dan Heng, don't think too much about it."
"If you ask me, there must be some metaphysical will at work. Don't call me pessimistic, but if human free will can be trusted, then why do we need the Galaxy Rangers?"
"Once you attribute everything to the Aeons and Paths, things aren't that complicated anymore. Just like Lan will always walk the path of the Hunt, and just like even though Akivili has disappeared without a trace, the train still travels along the path of Trailblaze, never going off the rails."
"But I think Akivili's fall is also a precious legacy They left behind for the Nameless," Dan Heng said after thinking for a moment.
Boothill's way of thinking could easily explain the cause of things to ordinary people, but Dan Heng felt that even ordinary people shouldn't consider problems from only this angle.
Just like Professor Ratio, who had recently been chatting enthusiastically with Nero, always took great pleasure in hoping that fools could attain enlightenment.
"Oh, I guess it's because after losing an absolutely correct leader, the Nameless have to take responsibility for their own choices?" Boothill's thoughts were clearly not as shallow as he made them sound.
Perhaps he simply preferred to throw the answer to a choice at a simple question.
Dan Heng nodded. "Yes. I think the meaning of a journey isn't to set foot on an absolutely correct path... but to rely on one's limited knowledge and judgment to do one's best to choose the path that suits oneself among countless paths."
Boothill raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you've been through, but I agree that people have to take responsibility for themselves. No one can do it for them."
"And that's precisely why the Galaxy Rangers have to find that impostor themselves... and figure out what exactly she's trying to do."
"Ha, but we've been here for so long and that Memokeeper still hasn't shown up. We might as well go straight into the dreamscape and catch her."
Dan Heng nodded in agreement.
Just then, the bartender Anderson came over and said, "Are the two of you leaving? Then should I cancel the Asdana White Oak you just ordered?"
Boothill froze and turned to look at Anderson. "...Huh? Asdana White Oak? But didn't you just say..."
"Haha, looks like the two of you have had a bit too much to drink." Anderson's expression did not change, and he still maintained a good service attitude, but both Dan Heng and Boothill could tell that this seemingly normal bartender seemed to have a disagreement with them when it came to their memories.
"Just half a minute ago, you ordered a bottle of Asdana White Oak from me."
"Looks like your Memokeeper friend has come looking for you," Dan Heng said to Boothill. With such an obvious oddity, it only took a little thought to figure out what was going on.
Boothill blinked, then took the bottle of wine. "...Oh, right, right, right. Look at my brain. Too many cybernetic modifications will do that to you. Makes you forgetful!"
"Let me see... Damn it, it really is Asdana White Oak. There's a line written on it... 'I'll be waiting for you on the Astral Express.'"
"It's her message to you, no mistake about it," Dan Heng said. "She knows we're acting together, and she also knows the hotel isn't safe. We need to find somewhere that can hide us from prying eyes."
"After going all the way around, we still ended up back at the Astral Express." The corner of Boothill's eye began to twitch. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
The two of them hurriedly left Penacony once again and returned to the train.
As soon as the conductor, Pom-Pom, saw the two of them return, Pom-Pom said, "You're back? Two people got on earlier and said they were looking for passenger Boothill. I had them wait in the Parlor Car first, Pom."
"Oh! Perfect timing," Boothill said.
Dan Heng, however, frowned slightly. "...Two people?"
Pom-Pom spread out their short little hands, turned around, and pointed in one direction.
"Her. Although the Astral Express welcomes every passenger, you all keep sneaking in one after another... Are you people really going to keep treating yourselves like outsiders, Pom!"
Following Pom-Pom's voice, a figure slowly appeared inside the carriage. A faint smile hung on Black Swan's goose-egg-shaped face as she looked at Pom-Pom, who was waving their little hands.
"I'm sorry, Conductor. I was being discourteous. I mistakenly thought the Express was already very familiar with the Garden of Recollection... The situation on Penacony is complicated right now, and the only people left whom we can trust are the Nameless."
Black Swan was sincerely apologizing, because this time she had indeed taken things for granted.
After all, the "scent" belonging to her kind was very strong on the train. The Garden of Recollection had already stationed people aboard the train long ago, and just now, she had also had some exchanges with that Memokeeper.
During that exchange, she also learned a shocking fact.
That was, Nero had only learned the method of manipulating memetic essence recently. It was not even proper instruction. He had merely watched this fellow Memokeeper demonstrate some of the most basic operations.
And this was precisely what shocked Black Swan the most. That child had merely watched a few of the most basic manipulation techniques, yet had been able to reach that level...
Thinking of how the memetic essence had continuously collapsed around Nero in Penacony's sweet dreams, an absurd idea even arose in Black Swan's mind.
Fuli was like a grandmother who thought her eldest grandson wasn't getting enough to eat, constantly digging the power of the Path out of the river of memories and feeding it to that child.
As a Memokeeper, having such a thought was somewhat blasphemous, and the content of it was also rather abstract.
But faced with facts like these, Black Swan could not think of a better explanation.
No matter how talented someone was, there was no reason they could reach that child's level after merely watching it a couple of times.
Other than an Aeon chasing after them to feed them, she truly did not know what other reason could explain this.
"Are you that Memokeeper?" Dan Heng asked as he looked at Black Swan.
Black Swan came back to her senses from her strange thoughts and nodded at Dan Heng.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Dan Heng. I've seen you in other people's memories."
After saying that, Black Swan looked at the black-and-white interstellar cowboy.
"And Mr. Boothill... this is also our first meeting. I hope you liked that bottle of Asdana White Oak. You really do know how to order the hard-to-find stuff."
"You sure made me look for you." Boothill clearly had no interest in exchanging pleasantries. "I'll get straight to the point. Tell me everything you know."
"That is precisely what I intend to do." Black Swan was not bothered, and the smile on her face remained. "But before that, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Black Swan, and I am a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection. As for the story of that Miss Acheron..."
As she said this, Black Swan's gaze moved behind Boothill and Dan Heng. Acheron's figure appeared from behind them and slowly walked over.
"Perhaps she herself knows better than I do."
There was not much expression on Acheron's face. As usual, she looked as though she could not bring herself to take an interest in anything. An expression like this on someone good-looking was called silly, while on someone unattractive, it was called vacant.
"Hello, you two. I am Acheron.", That was what she said.
[🎉 Shoutout to Cash for joining p@treon. Consider joining to keep the stories going. Thank you very much.🤗]