Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 263 Gallagher (1)

Meanwhile, Gallagher led Kiana and the others to a place called the Dream Bar, where they met a woman named Shuweng.

According to Gallagher, these women named Shuon are the bartenders and owners of the bar. Everyone also learned that Gallagher is another person, namely a bartender.

Gallagher brought everyone here for two reasons. First, the location was remote, and most of the customers were members of the Dream Troupe. Yes, just like the name of the bar, most of the customers here were monsters from the Dream Troupe.

Despite their aggressive nature, these monsters from the Dream Troupe were once members of the Sweet Dream Troupe before becoming monsters who attacked others.

They usually become monsters in the Dream Theater due to the influence of some negative emotions. Although they are irrational at first, they will gradually gain rationality over time.

That's why Shu Weng quit his job and came here to open a bar specifically for the Dream Theatre Troupe, in order to help these misguided children get back on track as soon as possible. These are Shu Weng's original words.

Secondly, in such an important occasion, some drinks are naturally needed to ease the atmosphere, since what follows is going to be a very long talk.

As instructed by Galahti, everyone scattered to find the ingredients needed to make the drink, except for Kiana, who stood still without making any move.

"Miss Kiana, do you not like this kind of mixed drink?" Gallagher asked, waving his hand.

“No.” Kiana shook her head. “There are some private things I’d like to discuss with Mr. Gallagher privately during this time, so could you please excuse me, Miss Shuon?”

Shuweng turned to look at Galah, who shrugged, indicating that Shuweng should leave. Seeing that she had already agreed, Shuweng naturally wouldn't stop her. She got up and walked to the other side of the bar to start arranging the glasses. When Galah saw that only Kiana and he were left, he signaled to her that she could begin.

"Let me put it simply and clearly: Mr. Gallagher, is that meme called Death related to you?"

"I don't understand what Miss Kiana means."

"Do I need to be clearer, Mr. 'mysterious' Gallagher?"

"...How did you find out?" Gallagher asked in a deep voice.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Kiana said. “After all, the aura of those fifty-two different people on Mr. Galakh is just too obvious.”

"Is it that obvious? I thought I was disguising it very well," Gallagher sighed and admitted.

“No, Mr. Gallagher has disguised himself very well. It just so happens that I have the ability to see through dreams. For me, I can see the true nature of things in dreams at a glance.”

"I see." Gallagher breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems I still have a chance, but Miss Kiana, could you grant me one request?"

"what's up?"

"For us fiction historians, once the fiction is exposed, it means my identity will disappear. So could you please keep this secret for me? At least until I tell you myself."

Gallagher subconsciously used a respectful title for Kiana, and he was curious whether Kiana already knew about that matter since she claimed that nothing in her dream could hide from her.

"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret for you. But what I'm more curious about is your true identity. After all, Galakh is just an identity you created in your dream. You should have a real identity in reality, right? I don't believe that Mikhail would befriend someone whose identity is unknown, let alone entrust his most important keepsake to him."

As expected, Gallagher gave a wry smile: "So you really know everything. In that case, is my identity in reality that important?"

"That's true. If you count the time, Mikhail is already old. Even if you were younger, your physical body would have long since turned to dust in front of Mikhail, who has completely projected his spirit into his dreams. The only reason you can still exist in this world is because of the power of 'mystery'."

"That's why I'm asking you to keep this a secret for me, because otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to fulfill the last words Mikhail gave me on his deathbed."

“Mikhail’s last words… to be honest, they were completed the moment you saw the Star Train. You could have simply taken them there and given them the Dream Bubble, couldn’t you? But you didn’t. Were you testing them?”

"You already have the answer in your heart, don't you?... Can you tell me whether they have gained my approval in the future?"

Kiana was taken aback when she heard this. She looked at Galah in surprise, not expecting that he could actually perceive a trace of the truth.

"Judging from your reaction, I guessed right. It turns out this was just a dream within a dream, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"So your purpose in coming here is to take them out?" Gallagher glanced at the people on the Star Train who were busy all around.

"In the future, you personally handed that dream bubble to them. After learning the whole truth, they also confronted the mastermind behind everything. Unfortunately, they were no match for him who had stolen part of the Star God's power. You should have guessed what happened next. I came here to take them out."

"If that's the case, why don't you just take them away? With your power, it should be easy for you to do so, right?"

"I didn't expect you to not only guess that this was a dream within a dream, but also that Kiana is quite strong." Nian Gao's voice rang out from beside Kiana.

"Who is this…?"

"Her name is Nian Gao (rice cake), you can think of her as one of my relatives."

"I've already told you, I'm not one of your kin!" Nian Gao snorted lightly, then turned her head away from Kiana.

"You...and your companion's relationship is quite special."

"Let's get back to the topic. The reason I didn't take them out directly is because I made a bet with the mastermind behind it all."

"A bet?" Gallagher looked at Kiana with a puzzled expression. "Is it necessary to bet with a mastermind like him?"

"Well, how should I put it?" Kiana scratched her head, to be honest, she was a little troubled about how to explain the whole story to Gallagher without giving away any spoilers.

"To put it simply, the mastermind behind it all can't really be considered a purely evil person. The reason he pulled everyone into the dream was out of good intentions."

"Good intentions? I don't think it's good intentions for someone to pull others into a dream without their consent."

"He... could be considered a pitiful person. He was adopted by his family at a young age, and his family always taught him to guide others toward happiness. However, under the protection of his family, all he could see was the land of Pinocchio."

As he grew older and encountered more of the darker side of humanity, he began to ponder how to properly guide people towards happiness. But as I said, the world he could see was only Pinocchio's world, and all he could think of was leading people into a beautiful dream where they could live the life they themselves considered happy, while he carried the burden alone.

"Well, thank you so much to him," Galah said calmly, though Kiana knew that his heart was in turmoil.

"In the end, he's just a self-righteous person, someone who stands on a high point looking down on all living beings but doesn't understand humanity at all. His ideas seem incredibly naive to me."

“Haha, that’s true,” Kiana laughed. “After all, given his position, it’s only natural that he should do so. His intentions are good, but they’re unrealistic. However, the proposal he put forward is indeed tempting.”

"His proposal?"

“Seven days off,” Kiana said slowly. “He believes that the ultimate system for human society is seven days off, under which no one needs to work and no one will have any sadness or worries. And that is the ideal world he wants to realize.”

"To put it bluntly, he's still just a kid. How could such a world, which only exists in fantasy, possibly exist? Even if such a society is very tempting, there will be people who stand up to oppose it. After all, such a society means that everything will come to a standstill. Can humans who have stopped living still be called human?"

"So we wanted to stop him too," Nian Gao said, fiddling with his body. "But since that guy isn't purely bad, on the contrary, he's a good person, Kiana didn't want to stop him by force, which led to this bet."

"Is it just that your bet, or rather your plan, isn't going well?"

"I suppose so," Kiana sighed. "Although Hoshi and the others are resolute and always stand against him without hesitation when it comes to the final battle, that alone is not enough."

"Because this is that guy's dream, even if the people on the Star Train end up on the opposite side of him, he can reset the dream at any time, right?"

Galah placed the hastily prepared drink in front of Kiana, who disliked alcoholic beverages and therefore did not accept it. Instead, Nian Gao curiously stared at the bubbly drink and circled around it.

He then stuck out his tongue and began to lick the drink. It had a smooth texture upon entering his mouth, followed by bubbles bursting in his mouth. This novel taste immediately caught Nian Gao's eye, and he began to drink heartily, burying the entire snake head in the cup.

"Yes, because the standard for determining the winner is the number of people in the dream who take sides. Each time, the number of people who agree on the same point of view is the same at the end, so the betting game comes to a standstill."

"I see. So, is there anything I can do for you?"

"You are not needed, or rather, the place that needs you is not here, so I want to know if you have any intention of living."

"What do you mean?"

"Literally, your real body has long since dissipated due to the passage of time, and the identity in your dream is a false identity pieced together using information from those 'missing' family members. Once exposed, you will die completely, but I need you in my next plan. Of course, you can refuse, I have a backup plan, but the effect may not be as good as if you were involved."

"What's your plan?"

Kiana glanced at the group of people walking this way, then picked up the already drunken Nian Gao and put him on her shoulder.

"We'll discuss the specific plans later when they're not around. Right now, Xing and the others still need your guidance, so just stick to your original plan."

Just as they finished speaking, Xing and the others returned. They had seen Shu Weng leave from his original spot while they were looking for ingredients to make drinks. Then, another person came to Shu Weng's place, seemingly to ask him something.

However, the conversation between the two did not go well. Out of curiosity, Xing and March 7 also approached. Through their brief exchange, Xing and March 7 understood the general situation.

In short, Shu Weng was once the rising star of the Iris family, but for other reasons she left the Iris family and came here to open this somewhat deserted bar.

The people who came this time were actually her juniors, who wanted to persuade Shu Weng to go back and make a comeback.

However, Shu Weng was determined to get back on track; she was tired of everything on stage and now only wanted to help the Dream Theatre Troupe return to normalcy. Thus, the conflict occurred.

Since both women were women and neither had any actual fighting ability, the conflict was limited to arguing.

However, it wasn't a solution for the two to continue this cold war, so Himeko suggested that Hoshi use a clock trick to help Shuo resolve his current predicament.

Kind-hearted Xing readily agreed, and with her help, Shu Weng successfully escaped the entanglement from her junior. Of course, it was only temporary; to resolve the issue permanently, the two of them needed to have a proper talk later.

However, now was not the time. Seeing that the junior had already left, Shu Weng first expressed his gratitude and praised Yi Shuxing's skills. After all, mixing drinks in a dream was no easy task, let alone mixing a drink that matched the person's mood at the time.

What Shu Weng didn't know was that Xing wasn't actually trying to understand the person's feelings; she directly changed the person's emotions and used that as a basis to create that drink.

However, none of this mattered. Seeing that the immediate trouble had been resolved, Shu Weng led everyone back to their original spot.

"What are you talking about?" March 7 asked curiously.

"Just some trivial matters, like the heroic deeds on the fairy ship before March 7th," Kiana said with a smile.

"Although you're talking about heroic deeds, I feel like what you're saying doesn't quite fit the meaning of that word," March Seven said, squinting at Kiana. The doubt in her eyes was unmistakable; March Seven didn't believe Kiana's story.

"How could it be that your reasoning method on March 7th, which was completely wrong in process but correct in result, is worthy of me singing it out, okay?"

"See! It was just as I expected!"

"But I think it's pretty cool," Xing said. "Speaking of which, after we checked into the hotel this time, March 7th seemed to have said something, right? Something about a grand event that's not simple, family members turning against each other, families being torn apart, being separated by death, rivers of blood—those things left a deep impression on me..."

"Ahhhhh!" March 7th quickly shouted, interrupting, "Don't forget about those words!"

"Alright, stop farming for loot here," Himeko laughed. "Hurry up and hand over the materials you have to Mr. Gallagher. We have more important things to do afterward."

“That’s true.” After saying that, March 7th handed the materials he had collected to Gallagher.

After taking the materials from everyone, Gallagher began to prepare drinks for them. Soon after, he placed the prepared drinks in front of everyone.

"Drink up. I must say, the ingredients you found are truly excellent. On the contrary, I haven't been a bartender for so many years, so I'm quite rusty. Don't blame me for my poor skills later. After you finish drinking, let's get down to business."

After saying that, Galakh led everyone to a secluded corner. Although it was indeed deserted, there was still an outsider, Shu Weng, there, so it was not appropriate to discuss the case casually here.

When Shu Weng saw Galah lead the person to a corner, she immediately understood. She smiled helplessly and then continued cleaning the bar.

After all, even Galah doesn't want to reveal things casually, so it's better for Schou to know better than to go over there now.