Black Swan's sudden question truly stumped him.
After a brief thought, he decided to give Black Swan a rather authoritative reply:
"Like family."
Hearing this, Black Swan was stunned.
What does "like family" mean?
Family is family, and non-family is non-family. What in the world is "like family"?
After giving Black Swan such an enigmatic answer, Bai Luan said goodbye to her, preparing to meet the friend who had helped Edward so much.
The friend Edward made in Penacony was named Luol.
Besides being a very thin and unremarkable waiter at the Dreamscape Hotel, he had another identity—he was also a Dream Weaver.
He specialized in helping people use memory to construct ideal Dream Bubbles, especially those involving reunion with family.
He had been doing this job for some time, so much so that even Robin knew about him.
It was also Robin who, after learning of Edward's purpose for coming to Penacony, introduced Luol to Edward.
He helped Edward customize a Dream Bubble, allowing Edward to see his wife; the wife in the dream was almost identical to the one in his memory.
Therefore, Edward was very grateful to him.
But his situation was not good.
To pay the exorbitant hotel fees, he lived very frugally in reality, lowering his quality of life to the absolute minimum, barely maintaining his vital signs.
He possessed the attitude that "It's fine if I am happy in the dream, as long as my body in reality remains alive."
This was clearly unhealthy.
Edward tried to persuade him to focus on his physical health and not invest all his assets into the dream, but with little effect.
Finally, Edward ran out of options and decided to seek help from Bai Luan.
Since Luol had helped the elderly Mr. Edward, it was only right that Bai Luan should help him in return.
However, the most he could do was talk to him; whether Luol listened was entirely up to him.
Soon, Bai Luan found Luol in the dreamscape.
Unlike the thin figure in the photo Edward had sent Bai Luan, Luol in the dreamscape was very healthy.
The moment Luol saw Bai Luan, he recognized his identity—after all, having become friends with Edward during their interactions, it wasn't surprising that he knew this information.
Without excessive pleasantries, Luol simply asked a quick question, then requested temporary leave from his post and led Bai Luan into a quiet room.
Clearly, this place was better suited for conversation than his workplace.
"I knew that if you were truly as good as Mr. Edward described, you would come looking for me."
Having arrived, Luol wasted no more words and spoke frankly:
"Sir, I know why you are here. Please leave. No matter what you say, I will not change my current life."
"Hey, don't be so quick to rush me out."
Bai Luan responded casually.
"Tell me why you do this. There must be a reason, right?"
In response, Luol sighed.
He had met far too many people like this.
As a Dream Weaver, he had helped many people reunite with deceased relatives in dreams, and after these people found closure in the dream, they often advised him to find "closure" as well.
Furthermore, there was a group of people who, upon hearing his story, felt they were his savior and came here to counsel him.
"Your life is wrong; people must eventually step out of the dream." — Every year, a few individuals would come, attempting to "enlighten" him with words and change his current lifestyle.
But in Luol's view, those positive, optimistic words encouraging cheerfulness were practically pointless remarks.
Step out... that's easy to say... If he could easily step out, why would he linger here?
Moreover, he didn't want to leave at all.
There was nothing wrong with a false world.
These people just couldn't understand.
Drowning in the dream was not a choice made out of confusion, but the answer he found after a period of bitter asceticism.
"Of course, I will pay you for the work time you missed to explain this."
This sentence from Bai Luan immediately boosted Luol's favorability toward him.
At least compared to the others before, Bai Luan wasn't wasting his time—he was going to pay.
Furthermore, even if Bai Luan hadn't said that, Luol couldn't possibly ignore him.
The other party's status was evident; how could someone like Luol have the right to refuse such a person?
Luol began to tell Bai Luan his story.
When he was young, he was a successful businessman who traveled around, accumulating substantial assets through his shrewd mind and eloquence.
He was accomplished in his youth, married, had a happy family with a son and a daughter, and was a winner in life in the eyes of others.
The turning point in his life occurred after a successful business negotiation.
He had made a fortune that time, and to celebrate, he planned to go on vacation with his family to a famous tourist planet.
Just as they were about to leave, his business partner suddenly proposed new revisions.
Reluctantly, he had to let his family depart first while he continued negotiating the plan with his business partner, intending to reunite with his family after the deal was finalized.
"I still remember the details of that day."
Luol's voice was slightly choked.
"My daughter was crying and clinging to me, and my wife had to forcibly pull her away. My son was sulking and ignoring me because I changed plans at the last minute.
My father was cursing the overly demanding business partner, and my mother straightened my collar one last time before they left.
I kissed my wife and watched them board the vacation spaceship—the very ship that encountered the Antimatter Legion."
At this point, Luol closed his eyes in pain.
His family died at the hands of the Antimatter Legion.
But the most infuriating and tragic part was that his family's death was senseless and illogical—the Antimatter Legion was merely passing by; encountering the Gang was pure chance.
His family was genuinely killed by the Gang simply as an afterthought.
For such an absurd reason, his family died, leaving nothing behind.
Everything about them turned into dust floating in the cosmos.
"Initially, I was furious."
Luol continued.
"My rage even led me, for a time, to walk Path of The Hunt.
I poured all my assets into vengeance, funding the Galaxy Rangers who were irreconcilably opposed to Destruction, establishing foundations to help wretched people in the same predicament as myself, and building a small fleet from scratch to seek revenge against the massive Antimatter Legion..."
But soon, Luol sighed:
"But later, I gave up on seeking vengeance against Legion.
I busied myself with it for over a decade, but all I could kill were mere grunts of the Antimatter Legion."
Luol looked at his hands; he had already lost count of how many Antimatter Legion grunts he had killed with them.
"Those things cannot even be called life; they are merely consumables randomly produced by Destruction, and they can never compare to my family.
No matter how many more of those things I kill, I will never feel the slightest sense of successful revenge.
Doing this only repeatedly reminds me that I am incompetent, only able to kill such things to vent my anger, and utterly powerless and helpless against the true source, the Lord Ravangers."
He did everything he could, yet he could never soothe his wounded heart.
In the end, he gave up on avenging himself against Destruction .
He gave all the results of his efforts over the years to the Galaxy Rangers he had been cooperating with.
He then came to Penacony, where he created Dream Bubbles about his family based on his past memory, drowning himself in false happiness.
"Many people tell me that dreams are fake, and that people must face the future soberly... Hahaha..."
Luol smiled helplessly, saying self-deprecatingly:
"I am a Dream Weaver; how could I not know they are fake?"
After laughing, he sighed:
"I am not a Short-Lived Species; my lifespan still has a very, very long time remaining.
After their deaths, longevity became my greatest curse instead.
Many people cannot understand the pain of this, and they simply advise me to use the rest of my lifespan to find a new family and seek comfort among new relatives..."
Saying this, Luol showed a smile that was not born of happiness, but one filled with resignation.
"But life is not a long road with a visible end; it is a candle flame in the wind that might extinguish at any moment.
I no longer have the courage to face the loss that could strike again at any time.
Such a thing is too painful and too cruel... experiencing it once was enough for me..."
He rubbed his face painfully, revealing his complete exhaustion.
"The passing of my family has already exhausted me, exhausted me to the point where I cannot set off again, exhausted me to the point where I just want to fall into a deep sleep.
In the first half of my life, I rushed around for money because I knew it was the foundation of my family's happiness.
Now I am still rushing around for money, but this time it is to see my family.
People... earning money is just to make oneself happy, and I spend money in the dreamscape to make myself happy. That's not a terrible thing, is it?"
Luol looked at Bai Luan, his gaze seemingly directed at all the people who had come to advise him, and he couldn't help but question:
"Why do you always advise me with the attitude that 'what I am doing is wrong'?
Is it because I spend my money in the dreamscape?
But don't you also use the money you earn for pleasure?
It's just that I spend my money in the dreamscape while you spend yours in reality. Essentially, there is no difference between us."
With every rhetorical question, Luol's intensity grew stronger.
"By what right do you think you are more sober than me?"
...