Chapter 169

Sunday: "And it certainly won't attract the family's subsequent occupation."

Sunday: "Since the company lacks the capability to properly govern the frontier prison."

Sunday: "Then it should yield the territory."

Sunday: "Moreover, if the company truly disapproved, why didn't it suppress the frontier prison from the start?"

Sunday: "Instead, now that the family has invested tremendous effort and turned the frontier prison into the Star of Grandeur, the company has begun to act..."

Sunday: "What the company is planning doesn't need me to spell out, does it?"

Potio: "That damn company is just like that—doing nothing all day, only scheming how to snatch greater benefits."

Potio: "It's like a dog sniffing out shit, wagging its tail and showing up."

Potio: "Even if beaten senseless with sticks and forced to flee with its tail between its legs, it never changes its nature—it still waits for the next chance to return!"

Potio: "It truly proves that old saying..."

Potio: "A dog can't change its habit of eating shit!"

Hua Huo: "Great! That's a fiercely aggressive statement!"

Hua Huo: "Brother Treasure, I accept you now~"

Potio: "Meow! Who the hell wants your idiotic approval?"

Potio: "Also, don't call me Brother Treasure—it sounds like a pet name!"

Hua Huo: "Alright then, Brother Treasure~"

Ying: "......"

The video continues.

The scene shifts.

It now moves to the hotel in the real world at the same time.

【I've watched her for a long time; my first invitation was in the hotel's banquet hall.】

【She sat in the corner of the crowd, silent, drinking only 'Dream Awakened'—one cup, two cups....】

【I told her this drink is spicy and bitter, not the taste of a sweet dream, only suited for those weary of Su Leda.】

【But she replied....】

【Is that so? But to me... they are indistinguishable.】

The Black Swan recalled her first meeting with Huang Quan.

【The real-world hotel room was surprisingly plain....】

【.... Just like your exterior, Young Lady Huang Quan.】

【It came without effort.】

【It's this music box—the invitation received by the Minmie Gang....】

【Your memories aren't yours alone—I know much, and foretell further—given the right methods, even the dead can speak.】

【The Minmie Gang—the outlaws who vanished after encountering you....】

【What did they endure?】

【Let me reveal it.】

The Black Swan entered Huang Quan's real-world hotel room,

picked up the music box,

and began using her methods to examine it.

【... Twelve markings.... Twelve Dreamscape Hours.... Father.... I offer it to you....】

【.... Well done.... Dubra.... No matter where they flee.... Minmie will come....】

After closing her eyes, the Black Swan heard this voice.

【.... There it is—faint, but it's Aflit's voice.】

【The other... must be his offspring.】

【This is the residual memory from when the invitation was first delivered... it ended abruptly.】

【Then what followed was....】

The Black Swan listened again to the sounds within.

【.... They hide in slumber.... seeking peace undisturbed by wind and rain....】

【..... Sons of Flame.... this is your rite of passage...】

【... She doesn't need to appear.... I alone am enough....】

【..... Shhh.... The outlaws who walk.... through destruction.... when did they ever fear death....】

The Black Swan heard murmurs.

【The Eternal Flame Manor has set out; pitiful people... they know nothing of what awaits ahead.】

【But the memory replay proceeds smoothly—she's coming.... soon, very soon....】

【No one else is here—no need for elegance here....】

【I must spare no effort....】

The Black Swan closed her eyes again,

attempting to reconstruct more memories.

【.... Closed】

【... What's this?】

【The memories after that... are blank?】

【How is that possible...】

【This music box fell into Huang Quan's hands and was brought by her to Pinoconny—that is fact, it should have been this way... but the process in between...】

【It was as if someone erased it? Who did it...】