Meanwhile, the infiltrators who had seized the other core node were momentarily caught off guard but then… another group arrived.
This new force was well-prepared, and they had numbers on their side.
Among them were even corporate Memory Matter wielders!
With their abilities, they avoided being pulled into the dreamscape.
Instead, they turned their weapons against the sleeping Blackplum Family members.
A massacre began…
In later records, according to Sunday, this massacre came to be known as the "White Desert Incident."
-------------------------------
When the unarmed and dream-trapped Blackplum family was slaughtered, the audience who witnessed this tragedy firsthand completely broke down.
...
: Damn it! No way! No, no, no, no!
: Not a single one left alive?!
: This is a war crime!
: Are these traitors and spies completely insane??!!
: Someone, help them!
: At least let one survive! I remember someone was hiding!
...
Those with sensitive hearts didn't even dare to look at the screen.
What followed was an even crueler scene.
The intruders did not spare a single corner; they thoroughly cleared out every last part of the defensive line.
Even the daughter of the family head, who was hiding.
When they saw these butchers mercilessly take away the peacefully sleeping girl, anger finally reached its peak.
...
: So in any era, the first ones that should be wiped out are those spineless rats!
: Old Mo... I... I want to eat fish... Yes, kill them all! Aaaah! Kill them all!
: I can't take it! I just want to rush in and slaughter these bastards right now!
: Traitors! You deserve to die!
: Aaaaaah! I don't want to watch this! MiHoYo! I want satisfaction! I want revenge!
...
At this moment, countless viewers let out anger filled shouts.
Everyone was seething with anger, yearning for the moment of counterattack.
After all, based on the usual pacing of Honkai: Star Rail, after such a long period of oppression, the coming revenge should be imminent.
But... this was A Dream of the Past, the "history" of Penacony.
...
On the screen, after the entire Blackplum Family was slaughtered, the last protective barrier was destroyed.
The Memory Zone immediately began expanding wildly, gradually engulfing the main city.
The skies above Penacony turned foggy, and all land-based detection systems failed.
Back when the Blackplum Family first lost contact, the main city had already noticed something was wrong, but at that time, they hadn't realized the gravity of the situation.
By the time the Memory Zone spiraled out of control, everyone finally realized—the situation had become completely irreparable.
The Seven Great Families— oh no, now it was the Six Great Families.
After a brief discussion, Mikhail led the Bloodhounds to the border in search of the truth.
Shortly after Mikhail and his men left the main city, a massive fleet appeared in the sky.
At last, the mastermind behind everything revealed themselves!
It was The IPC!
The IPC's fleet returned, descending directly on the very day the Memory Zone went out of control—without hesitation!
The previous betrayals and massacres all connected into one horrifying truth.
...
: I knew it! How could those spies suddenly betray us? Turns out it was their damn blood oath!
: Of course! The IPC! Damn it! You guys are everywhere!
: We barely had any time to develop in peace, and now these relentless bastards are back! When will the IPC finally perish?!
: I can't hold it in anymore! They've utterly crushed everything I believed in!
: Damn it, the way the IPC operates here is way too ruthless! This is nothing like how the Strategic Investment Department acted in the main storyline?!
...
The audience wasn't surprised to see the IPC.
What puzzled them was why these IPC forces acted so differently from Aventurine and Topaz.
But before they could think too deeply about it, the events unfolding on the screen answered their doubts.
In the main city of Penacony, countless residents rushed out of their homes in panic.
They ran frantically while looking up in horror at the sky.
From the darkened skies, a terrifying buzzing sound echoed continuously.
Above the clouds, monsters hidden in the mist loomed, ready to devour them all.
"Quick, run! Get far away from here, go to the Bloodhound's territory!"
The Hounds who didn't leave with Mikhail were doing their best to evacuate the residents.
However, the uncontrolled memories, combined with the terrifying noises coming from the sky, plunged everyone into complete panic.
A large number of residents crowded the streets, and stampedes occurred from time to time.
The war hadn't even officially begun, yet due to the panic, hundreds had already lost their lives.
...
"Brother, why is everyone so scared?"
A dirty little girl tightly clutched her brother's coat, hiding with him in a small alley to avoid being trampled.
Her innocent eyes were filled with confusion.
"It's okay, Hanunue will be here soon. No matter what's in the sky, Hanunue will defeat them!"
The brother patted his sister's head. He was only about ten years old.
The two had been separated from their parents due to the crowd and had no choice but to hide here.
But he couldn't show fear in front of his sister; instead, he had to stay strong to reassure her.
"Mm! Hanunue is the best!"
Sure enough, upon hearing Hanunue's name, the little girl's eyes sparkled, and she nodded vigorously, no longer afraid.
Just as the brother was about to say something else, the buzzing sound in the sky suddenly grew much closer.
A powerful tremor made the siblings instinctively look up.
The dark clouds covering the entire sky above Penacony were torn apart, and beams of light pierced through the shattered clouds.
And within this scene of devastation yet grandeur, massive starships, as enormous as mountains, hovered in the sky and slowly descended.
...
So that's what it was...
The monstrous buzzing sounds were actually the engines of these starships.
One after another, the starships, like apocalyptic beasts from myth, descended through the clouds and light, finally revealing their true forms before the people of Penacony.
The residents of Penacony had never before witnessed the true oppressive might of the IPC.
Even in the past, they had fought IPC employees on the ground, engaging in hand-to-hand combat—something at least within their realm of understanding.
But now, as these terrifying starships blotted out the sky and descended, everyone finally realized that the Interasteral Peace Corporation was serious this time.
After all, they were up against the largest organization in the history of the universe.
The countless starships tore through the clouds, descending from beyond the heavens, like the end of times arriving—an apocalyptic spectacle.
It made countless onlookers widen their eyes in shock.
This was also their first time directly witnessing the true nature of the IPC.
This oppressive feeling— it was just like a scene from a sci-fi doomsday movie, but even grander in scale.
Only this time, the setting wasn't Earth, but Penacony...