Chapter 201

Sha Jin: "Who the hell are you people? Do you think you're worthy to intrude on the dreams we've poured immense effort into creating?"

Eula: "Of course—true equality among all people simply doesn't exist in this world!"

Eula: "Even families that worship Concord are no exception!"

Hu Tao: "Sigh... what a disappointing reality..."

Truth Physician: "Then it follows that Penacony's dream is nothing but a misnomer."

Truth Physician: "The reputation of the Festival Star is merely the result of promotion by the elite."

Robin: "I'm sorry... the family has let everyone down."

March 7th: "Robin Young Lady, you don't need to apologize—it's not your fault."

March 7th: "This was a decision made by the family's high command; you couldn't have changed it anyway, could you?"

Himeko: "Indeed, Robin Young Lady is a major star across the universe."

Himeko: "But within the family, you're probably still low-ranking and unheard."

Shenhe: "Yet Robin Young Lady's brother is the head of the Oakline family..."

Shenhe: "Even he can't make his voice heard?"

Yanfei: "Right? Mr. Sunday seems like he holds considerable power, doesn't he?"

Botero: "Hah—if his words carried weight, would his sister have been killed by some mysterious force?"

Botero: "Even after her death, he had to grovel and beg the company's lackeys for help just to seek vengeance."

Botero: "Tell me—does he really have that much power?"

Sunday: "......"

Sunday: "The family is not my personal fiefdom—I cannot deny that."

Sunday: "But... I will strive to change all of this!"

Sunday: "As I previously promised, one day, the family's dream will become a true... shared... dream!"

Zhong Li: "Then... may I ask, Mr. Sunday... what is the cost?"

Zhong Li: "And what form will that cost take?"

Sunday: "The cost may merely be the willing sacrifice of a few individuals... a trivial price."

Zhong Li: "......"

Zhong Li: "Mr. Sunday is indeed a noble man..."

Zhong Li: "But... is the cost truly only this?"

Zhong Li: "While immersed in the dream, one may enjoy happiness—but does it not also sever countless possibilities?"

Zhong Li: "After discarding these possibilities, will one not bear an even deeper cost?"

Welt: "Mr. Zhong Li's insight cuts straight to the heart of the matter."

Sunday: "....."

Sunday: "I accept Mr. Zhong Li's perspective, but these conclusions must ultimately rest upon reality."

Sunday: "Therefore... let this video reveal which philosophy is truly correct..."

Ying: "Uh... what are they even talking about?"

Stelle: "Booji Island."

March 7th: "I don't understand."

Silver Wolf: "Aba aba."

The video continues.

【Ah, Miss Huang Quan is quite the warm-hearted one.】

【Then how much do you know about the Gold-Stamped Hour?】

【I've heard it's the financial center of Penacony.】

Welt followed up with a question.

【Indeed, it is a fortress-like financial city, the economic heart of the dream.】

【The Pips of the Cloverline family maintain its operations, pumping blood made of paper currency to every corner of the giant Penacony.】

【Everyone there dresses elegantly and moves with hurried steps.】

【Working during the Gold-Stamped Hour is the greatest aspiration of every Pips child.】

【I encountered no one willing to speak with me.】

【I could only stand at the crossroads, watching wave after wave of people rush past like wind through steel jungles, all to lock their earned Clover Coins into bank vaults.】

【I don't know if they'll ever open those vault doors again.】

【But before I left, I witnessed a well-dressed Pips fall from the sky—and the people around him simply walked right through him.】

Navia: "Sounds like a place utterly devoid of humanity."

March 7th: "Like a bunch of cold-blooded capitalists who see nothing but money."

Stelle: "Speaking of which, I'm even angrier now."

Stelle: "You have to pay to buy things in a dream?"

Stelle: "Is this a joke?"

Stelle: "If you don't have enough money, you'll live miserably even inside the dream."

Stelle: "Just like Yingbao before—she couldn't even afford to buy herself a cake every day."

Stelle: "What kind of dream is this?"

Stelle: "I think you might as well charge people just to enter the dream..."

Sha Jin: "Friend... you don't seriously think... the family lets you enter the dream for free, do you?"

Topaz: "The place you live in the video — that was something I gave you for free, not something the family gave you for free!"

Topaz: "You still need to understand the difference between those two!"

Guinaifen: "Family, if you ask me — the family's Sweetdream Paradise is, in essence, just a luxurious high-end amusement park that happens to be called Sweetdream."

Guinaifen: "And if your status isn't top-tier, if the credits in your pocket aren't solid enough, you can't even get into a fancy amusement park like this!"

Guinaifen: "Once I put it that way, doesn't it make a lot more sense?"

Miss Sushang: "As long as the family stops with all those lofty, grand statements and just treats it as a plain amusement park, then yes, it does make a lot more sense."

Seele: "So... this is actually false, exaggerated advertising?"

March 7th: "I wouldn't really call it false advertising, would you?"

March 7th: "At least for people who qualify, this place really does feel like Sweetdream Paradise."

Venti: "Sigh, too bad for us locals — clearly we're not the qualifying sort."

Paimon: "Hey, Balladeer, don't sell yourself short like that!"

Sparkle: "Are you stupid?"

Sparkle: "The public face of Penacony, that Chicken-Wing Boy, is right here."

Sparkle: "If you just say something to him... would he really have the nerve not to give you an entry slot~"

Sparkle: "And if he really won't let you in, just smear him with nasty rumors and slander, hehe~"

Venti: "Eheh, I'm just an ordinary little balladeer — I wouldn't dare do something like that."

Sparkle: "A balladeer is perfect, actually — a balladeer is just right for spinning fake lies and singing praises~"

Sparkle: "Don't worry~ As long as you join the tavern and become a Masked Fool, the God of Funs will naturally protect you~"

Paimon: "Uh... just hearing that title leaves me a bit baffled — why in the universe would there actually be a God of Funs..."

Lumine: "I can only say, the world is vast and full of wonders..."

The video continued.

【It does match some of my impressions of the Pee-Pee-See people.】

【Then what kind of scene is it at that very romantic Golden Hour?】

Welt nodded,

then asked about Golden Hour.

【Perhaps Mr. Welt has also heard that there's a giant ship called the Radiant Feldspar moored above the Sea of Dreams, singing and dancing, night after night without rest.】

【I met an old woman there...】

【She waited at the harbor for the lover who had left years ago, waiting through countless hours in frozen time.】

【In the damp sea breeze, she spoke of her youth — like so many people who crave wealth and opportunity, they came to Penacony chasing their dreams...】

【But his consciousness vanished into the depths of the Sea of Dreams.】