(T/N): Here is an extra chapter for uh.. no particular reason.... at least for a specific chapter number of course... i just felt like it!
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Cipher silently melted back into the team.
Phainon didn't even lift an eyelid. "How's the harvest?"
"Tch."
Cipher pouted, shaking her terminal in annoyance. "Only fifty thousand credit points, not even enough for this demigod to buy a small dried fish."
"That Fool named Sparkle is craftier than a fox. This deal was a huge loss."
Phainon chuckled softly, saying no more.
He sank his consciousness to their deepest point, and the system's light screen unfolded silently.
"Name: Phainon"
"Body Melt: 58.1337%..."
Phainon's pupils constricted silently.
No.
This number was wrong.
The melting progress seemed to be out of control.
Is the dream itself accelerating my disintegration?
No... it's more than that.
Deep within Phainon's thoughts, there was an indescribable sense of incongruity.
This uncontrolled acceleration... why did it feel so hauntingly familiar?
It was as if this wasn't the first time it had happened.
It was as if he had fallen countless times on this path.
Regardless, everything was still within the plan.
His goal, from the very beginning, wasn't merely to toy with Sparkle.
A Masked Fool publicly outmaneuvering another Masked Fool.
Such a brilliant, daring, and 'Joyful' memory.
For a Memokeeper of the Radiant Stream, it was an irresistible, top-tier collectible.
He needed Black Swan.
And this memory was the bait.
As expected.
The moment his thoughts shifted.
An elegant figure stepped out from the gaps in the light and shadow, quietly appearing before the three of them.
She wore a luxurious purple gown, a veil over her head, and a pair of eyes that seemed to see through everything, quietly observing him.
Phainon slowly raised his head, his ice-blue pupils meeting her gaze, a faint curve on his lips.
"You've finally arrived, Memokeeper."
"After all, witnessing one Fool make a fool of another Fool, such a precious memory, is rare."
Black Swan's voice was gentle and magnetic. She curtsied slightly, her gaze lingering on Phainon, filled with undisguised admiration and curiosity.
"What should I call you? Mr. Phainon? Or... Masked Fool? Or perhaps the Trailblazer of the Astral Express?"
She extended her hand, her fingertips glowing with the radiance of remembrance, seemingly wanting to touch Phainon, to glimpse the memory that captivated her.
"Don't touch."
Phainon's voice was soft, yet it made Black Swan's movement freeze in mid-air.
"It's not that I'm unwilling to share," Phainon calmly explained. "My memory, you might not be able to bear it."
"Moreover, there's a bomb tied to my cognition, ready to explode at any moment."
Black Swan's eyes flickered, deep in thought.
She had just suffered a great loss not long ago. Although Phainon didn't possess that void, there was a feeling within his body that made her heart palpitate.
She didn't force a peek but carefully, like a feather, brushed her perception over the surface of Phainon's consciousness.
A cold, dead, and concept-erasing power indeed lurked deep within his cognition—
Anti-memetics.
However, Erudition was constructing a barrier, struggling to resist that erosion.
The next moment.
Black Swan's expression changed.
She discovered an even more serious problem.
The Phainon before her was a thousand times more complex and dangerous than she had anticipated.
"Mr. Phainon, you deliberately lured me here, didn't you?"
Phainon nodded frankly. "That's right. I need you to help me neutralize the effects of the anti-memetics. Then, my memories will be open for you to examine."
"Then I suggest you return to reality immediately." Black Swan's tone carried a serious warning for the first time.
"I still have some matters to attend to, I need to find your gray-haired companion, so... please wait in the room for a moment."
—
Not long after.
Room 0719.
Phainon's figure solidified in the room. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned and walked towards the dream-entering pool, preparing to leave the dream.
The cold liquid gradually receded.
He opened his eyes.
The expected ceiling of a hotel room did not appear.
What met his gaze was still the luxurious and illusory decor of Room 0719.
He tried again.
The result was still the same.
Phainon stood by the dream-entering pool, silent for a long time.
He understood.
The door to the dream had closed on him.
He was trapped in Penacony.
—
At the same time.
Reality, hotel lobby.
With Black Swan's help, Star was successfully brought out.
But immediately after, Black Swan informed everyone of even worse news, news about Phainon.
Not long after.
The door to Room 0719 was pushed open.
Himeko, Welt Yang, along with Star and March 7th, quickly walked in, following Black Swan.
Their gaze immediately fell upon the large dream-entering pool in the center of the room.
Phainon lay quietly within it, his eyes closed, his breathing steady, as if he had merely fallen into a deep sleep.
But Black Swan's face showed an unprecedented solemnity. "He really... can no longer return to reality."
Black Swan's voice was soft, tinged with a sigh.
"Miss Black Swan, what exactly is going on?" Himeko asked with concern.
"His situation is very complex," Black Swan said with a serious expression.
"Deep within his cognition, there exists 'anti-memetics.' That is a weapon that directly alters concepts. I cannot conduct any deep memory probing. Once I come into contact with it, for me, whose essence is a meme, it would also be fatal."
March 7th nervously covered her mouth, and Star's brows were tightly furrowed.
"However, through shallow perception, I still managed to grasp part of the truth."
Black Swan continued, her voice attracting everyone's attention.
"The sheer volume of Phainon's memories is... despair-inducing. Such a torrent of information, even for a Memokeeper, would require a long time to digest. Theoretically, any individual carrying this memory should have long since collapsed and gone mad."
"But he is able to maintain his sanity."
"All of this relies on another memory, extremely 'diluted,' acting as an anchor for his sanity. However, that memory has been encrypted by some extremely sophisticated means, which my current abilities cannot decipher."
Black Swan's gaze once again fell on Phainon in the dream-entering pool, her tone growing heavier.
"And in Penacony, this world composed of remembrance, the originally strange balance between the two memories is being broken."
"If... these two memories cannot regain balance, or rather, completely merge."
"I think, Mr. Phainon, might never wake up again."
The air was terrifyingly silent.
Welt Yang pushed up his glasses, quickly digesting this astonishing information, and summarized:
"According to you, Miss Black Swan, two completely different memories coexist in Phainon's mind. Now these two memories are in conflict, and if they cannot merge, he will be forever trapped in the dream world?"
"Yes."
Black Swan nodded, confirming Yang's analysis. "Not only that."
Her gaze swept over everyone present, her voice dropping even lower.
"The 'anti-memetics' in his mind is a ticking time bomb, temporarily suppressed by the power of other paths, and it hasn't exploded yet."
"But once that resistance collapses, and the bomb detonates..."
"All of us will fundamentally forget the existence of 'Phainon.'"