Honkai Star Rail: I am Godzilla, domineering and rampant.

After ending the communication, Jade's eyes darkened as she stared at the Technology Department employee in front of her.

"Director Jade, I really didn't know about any of this. Maybe you could ask the supervisor?"

----------------------------------

"Coming directly from a dream to Penacony, it's truly unimaginable."

Gazing at the dark mountain radiating intense heat in the distance, Himeko couldn't help but sigh.

The Astral Express's warp function could still be explained using the knowledge she knew, and Penacony's dreamscape was likewise constructed using various known technologies.

Precisely because of this, the uninvited arrival of Godzilla left her even more shocked.

Spatial traversal was already outrageous in reality, how could it still work within a dream?

At this moment, Black Swan was confirming the details with the messenger girl about how Godzilla arrived in Penacony.

"I'm not too sure. I was in his dream at the time. I just remember him standing up, stomping once, the ground cracking open, and we fell through, then we ended up in Penacony."

The messenger girl spoke in a daze.

Even though she was a Memokeeper, accustomed to all sorts of strange tales across the universe, this was the first time she had witnessed something like this, and experienced it personally.

Traveling directly from the Xianzhou Luofu into Penacony via a dream.

If the Garden of Recollection had this kind of method, wouldn't they already be dominating things?

But that's just wishful thinking, daydreams don't come true.

Black Swan remained silent in thought.

This kind of method really was intriguing.

"I'm only interested in that big guy right now. Darling, after all this time drifting in the universe, this is the first time I've encountered something like that. He won't eat me in one bite, will he?"

Boothill blurted out, staring at Godzilla's massive, winding form.

"Haha, as far as I know, Godzilla doesn't eat us. The Astral Express and Godzilla actually get along pretty well," Himeko replied with a soft laugh.

Hearing this, Boothill shook his head.

Strong in their own right, walking the Path of Trailblazing with many allies and powerful connections, and now with such a colossal backing, seems like this generation's Nameless are quite something.

At least they won't get randomly eliminated like some other Nameless by bizarre forces.

Himeko turned to Black Swan and asked, "I'm curious, how will The Family deal with this?"

No matter what, Penacony was The Family's territory, or at least in the eyes of the uninformed masses, it still was.

Yet even in such a dreamland where The Family had promised visitors safety, such a major event had occurred.

"The Family? Word is they're planning to spin it as an external evil force invasion, pretty standard and effective."

Black Swan replied softly.

"But that's not their real concern. What they're truly worried about is how Godzilla will act next. By now, The Family must already know that he has taken control of the dreamscape and is trying to use everything they've got to manage it."

Welt spoke up.

Everyone nodded in agreement. As he said, The Family cared more about Penacony's control than the tourists themselves.

At that moment,

"Himeko! We're here!"

A cheerful and slightly silly-sounding girl's voice rang out as three familiar figures appeared before them.

"You're awake, feeling okay?"

Himeko looked at Stelle and asked gently.

If anyone had truly relaxed after the big battle, it was this little gray-haired one, nobody could rival her.

She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, especially after days of running around. She'd

slept until late morning, so they let her rest while the others chatted in the lounge.

"Feeling great!"

Stelle flexed her arms proudly in a muscle-showing pose.

"Glad to hear it."

Himeko smiled at her continued liveliness.

"So hey, little gray-hair, that big guy, did you summon him?"

Boothill pointed toward Godzilla in the distance.

"Yep! As long as I'm in trouble, big bro will come help me!"

When Boothill brought up Godzilla, Stelle crossed her arms and beamed proudly.

"Incredible, now you've caused losses for both the IPC and The Family. Wonder who's crying harder right now."

Boothill chuckled, feigning 'sympathy' for the two major factions most affected.

"Oh right, The Family!"

Hearing the mention, March 7th perked up and hurriedly asked, "They're not going to give Godzilla trouble, are they? He did take over Penacony."

That kind of treasure trove, March 7th thought to herself, if someone stole it from her, she'd fight them to the end.

"Don't worry, The Family understands the situation," Black Swan said softly, and Himeko also nodded in agreement.

Boothill sneered: "Don't worry, little miss. The Family's precious babies don't have that kind of guts! Besides, Godzilla's the type that can blast an Emanator-level being head-on. Forget his real body, he already controls this dreamscape. You think they wanna mess with that?"

"Unless they can drag Eternal Centurion over here."

Boothill didn't know The Family all that well, but he understood how these kinds of powers worked.

The stalemate between The Family and the IPC over Penacony wasn't just because The Family feared the IPC's finances, they also worried about their Emanator.

Unless The Family had lost their minds, they'd never think of going 1v1 against Godzilla in real life.

"Haha, looks like you all know the Penacony situation quite well."

Just as everyone was mocking The Family, a familiar voice sounded.

Turning around, they saw Aventurine, dressed flamboyantly and perfectly composed, completely different from the flustered state when she last met them on Sunday.

"Whoa, speak of the IPC and here it is. Hey sweetheart, want a bullet to snack on first?"

Quickly drawing his gun, Boothill's eyes darkened slightly.

One hand pressed on his belt, no one knew if there was another weapon hidden there, but on the surface, just that one bullet was enough to send Aventurine's soul into the embrace of the Amber King.

"Hey hey hey, no fighting! If there's a grudge, let's sit down and talk it out. We just barely escaped from battle, surely we're not going to turn on each other now, right? Huh? Wait, is this guy even on our side?"

March 7th blinked and looked at Aventurine, her eyes full of questioning light.

So, is Aventurine one of them or not?

"Tch."

Impatiently putting away his gun, Boothill didn't even bother to glance at Aventurine. He turned his head and pressed down his hat, instantly easing the tense atmosphere.

"Phew, scared me to death. I thought they were really going to fight."

Patting her chest, March 7th let out a long sigh of relief.

"At least when it comes to Aventurine, Boothill probably wouldn't lay a hand on him... at least not right now," Black Swan said softly.

Hearing Black Swan's words, March 7th felt as though a little bug was clawing at her heart.

But thinking that this involved someone's privacy, she shook her head.

Forget it, a pretty girl wouldn't sprinkle salt in someone else's wounds.

"Mr. Aventurine, the crisis in Penacony is over. Shouldn't you be reporting back to the IPC now? Why are you here looking for us?"

Himeko asked with a smile.

"Hehe, to be honest, I came here this time on the IPC's orders." Aventurine bowed slightly, showing respect to Himeko, then to Stelle.

Himeko narrowed her eyes.

There's always something suspicious about abnormal behavior.

Aventurine is someone who pursues grand goals without regard for means. Of course, his disregard for means is somewhat different from others, he's even more ruthless to himself.

Though he's always courteous, this level of deference now was clearly not the same as usual.

Especially…

With a backward glance, Himeko realized that Aventurine's purpose in coming must be related to Stelle, or more precisely, to Godzilla.

Sure enough, Aventurine opened his mouth and said: "Miss Stelle, on behalf of the IPC, I formally request your cooperation, to persuade Godzilla to hand over the management rights of Penacony to the IPC."

"Shouldn't you be asking The Family about this?" Stelle feigned confusion.

Don't be fooled by her usual silly antics, she ranked fourth in intelligence on the Astral Express team!

This was clearly an attempt to use her as a bridge between the IPC and Godzilla. Sure, there might be benefits, but she wasn't interested!

The IPC had never left her with a good impression anyway.

"Hehe, any sharp-eyed person can see that The Family is no longer the one controlling Penacony's dreamscape. That person over there is."

Aventurine tilted his head slightly and looked toward the heaving "mountains" with a subtle smile.

He still held to his original view: as long as The Family dared, whether in reality or dreamscape, in a group fight or a duel, they could go challenge Godzilla directly.

No matter the outcome, he'd toast to The Family and avoid them in the future, never getting in their way.

Stelle shook her head repeatedly: "I can't make that decision."

"That's why I hoped you'd pass on the message. Don't worry, the IPC won't make things difficult. It has decided to take only 45% of the profits, and will gift 15% of that to the Astral Express, naming one of its members a lifelong shareholder."

"..."

"..."

Everyone present was stunned by the implications of Aventurine's words, but before they could speak,

"Wait! After all that chaos in Penacony, people are still coming?" Stelle's focus was always somewhere unexpected.

Even Aventurine was momentarily stunned before smiling: "Penacony is a dreamland for dreamers across the universe, a famous tourist destination. How could no one come? As for the incident…"

Aventurine smiled faintly: "To be honest, the IPC has already begun its public relations efforts to ease the news."

Half the media in the universe was in the IPC's hands, plus the credit-point system and various technological products and goods. the IPC's influence truly extended across the cosmos.

Every planet connected to the path of exploration had traces of the IPC.

That meant, for most people, if the IPC claimed the stars belonged to it, they wouldn't doubt it.

So spreading news about the transfer of Penacony's control was easy.

"Won't this affect the IPC?" Dan Heng asked in confusion.

"No. After all, Penacony's change of hands is a fact, unless The Family is willing to step forward and challenge Godzilla. But I think Godzilla won't bother with these minor squabbles. As for The Family… if they want, the IPC is always ready to set up a ring for them."

If Penacony were still under The Family's control, the IPC wouldn't have taken this approach, not just because of Penacony's uniqueness, but also due to the IPC's size.

If it acted unreasonably, it could cause unease among the many civilizations of the cosmos, leading to fluctuations in the credit-point system.

These fluctuations wouldn't hurt the IPC much but could briefly disrupt the credit system.

And Penacony wasn't worth that.

But the key issue, was Godzilla.

Once the dreamscape fell into Godzilla's hands, it would grow at a speed that shocked even seasoned observers.

Not just a fight with Godzilla, but a contest between The Family and the IPC for control of Penacony's management rights.

After hearing Aventurine's explanation, Himeko nodded slightly, looked at Stelle, who was confused by the complex web of interests, then turned to Aventurine and spoke.

"This matter needs to be decided by Godzilla, but it's not something that can be resolved in a short while. Why not hold off for a moment?"

"Of course, that would be ideal. A senior executive from the IPC is already on their way to Penacony, I'm merely here to deliver the message."

Aventurine smiled faintly. Business, after all, is about those who seize the initiative becoming king. The Family wants to compete with the IPC in this regard? Bye-bye.

...

Meanwhile.

The Alfalfa Family.

Oti Alfalfa, a great figure who has dominated the business world for nearly ten Amber Eras. His legendary stories have been compiled into books and circulated among the stars.

He was short in stature, with sharp eyes behind his round glasses that gleamed with a shrewdness beyond his years.

"That brat from the Oak Family stirred up such a huge mess at the end."

Frowning deeply, old Oti felt this situation was particularly tricky.

The struggle between The Family and the IPC had already reached a fever pitch, and now, at such a critical juncture, the Oak Family, as the manager of Penacony, made such a major blunder.

That alone would be bad enough. But the entire Oak Family turned out to be remnants of Order!

This directly caused The Family's credibility in the eyes of the guests to hit rock bottom.

If it were just that, it might not be a big deal.

Old Oti had weathered countless storms in the business world, at times like these, taking bold action was the best way to break the deadlock. He had long been considering what to do if this power struggle failed.

Going public! That was one risky move he had thought of, but it could work.

Of course, the IPC could easily counter that, perhaps even effortlessly.

But… now even the stock market is gone!

The entire Penacony had fallen into the hands of that beast called Godzilla!

What now? Should old Oti go negotiate with that giant beast?

That thing's tooth is taller than me! I, Old Oti wouldn't even qualify as a bite-sized dessert!

"Perhaps... we could consider giving up direct control over Penacony."

Oti's eyes sparkled. He knew The Family had no chance of retaking Penacony from Godzilla.

One wrong move, and it could come to a full-blown clash. With The Family's strength, going up against a powerful beast capable of descending into dreams and wiping out Lord Ravager's head-on? Heh, do we still think we're equals to the IPC?

Why not just go attack the IPC directly? Smash all their diamonds and emeralds, wouldn't that be better?

Unless they could summon Eternal Centurion, it was not possible, no one knew better than himselfthe current state of the Four Great Families.

The Eternal Centurion would never look down favorably upon them.

So, for now, the only path is...

"Abandon direct control over Penacony and trade for operational rights. That might be workable."

After much thought, Oti found this method to be feasible.

Sigh. Old Oti's old bones really couldn't take a beating from that big guy.

...

Xianzhou Luofu.

"So... the head of the Alfalfa family bowed out too?"

Upon hearing that Godzilla had conquered a vast territory in Penacony, wait, no, he had taken over the entire Penacony,

Serval was stunned on the spot.

Never had she imagined that Godzilla's latest involvement would end up tied to territorial conquest.

"Um... is he okay?"

Serval asked worriedly.

Godzilla must not get hurt.

"Relax. There's nothing in Penacony that can harm Godzilla. Didn't he easily defeat the Lord Ravager? But The Family, this time, they really took a big hit."

Topaz chuckled, pleased that The Family suffered a setback, and also happy for the progress of their plan to settle in Penacony.

As long as they maintained a good relationship with the Express Crew and ensured no one was being taken advantage of, everyone could profit together, and that way, Godzilla wouldn't be disturbed.

That was the conclusion Topaz had come to.

She had come to Serval this time precisely to get her onboard.

They were sisters, after all. With her little sister in such big trouble today, surely the elder sister should lend a hand?

Serval only agreed out of pure disgust for Topaz's syrupy tone.

"Huh? Are you talking about Penacony?"

Turning their heads toward the voice, they saw Qingque and Bailu, each holding two skewers in one hand and a cup of Immortal Joy Tea in the other, happily watching them.

"Qingque? Shouldn't you be at work right now?"

Topaz asked, puzzled.

"Hehe, Master Diviner apparently had some big business to attend to and left the Divination Commission. I saw the opportunity and came over! I even bumped into Bailu on the way, hehe."

Qingque showed zero awareness of slacking off. Her work was already done, and she just left a bit early, no big deal!

"Alright then, we were just talking about..."

After a quick explanation of the conversation,

"Penacony!"

"Now belongs to the big guy!"

"Does that mean we!"

"Don't need invitation letters anymore?!"

The moment Topaz finished speaking, both Qingque and Bailu's eyes lit up.