They won the Holy Grail War, but this turned out to be the Virtual Tree Universe.

Chapter 344 Is the core of Pinocene truly a disaster?
After handing Chadwick's memory bubble to Black Tower, Dan Lei, along with Himeko and Walter, rushed back to Dream Reef without stopping.

As for Black Swan, she naturally followed along, saying that Pinocchio's story was so fascinating that she had to document it all.

Upon returning to Liumeng Reef, Danlei discovered that Liuying had reappeared.

She had clearly confessed everything to Xing, and the Heroic Spirit Grammer stood silently beside everyone, letting Paimon examine her mech from all angles.

Meanwhile, Ying watched with amusement as Xing, San Yueqi, and Liu Ying staged a scene of protagonist × unexpected (hidden childhood friend) × current partner (Ying's perspective).

Of course, there was no jealousy or rivalry among the three of them.

As long as the fireflies don't talk to the stars, they become extremely withdrawn and will never speak to March 7th on their own initiative.

However, March 7th still harbored reservations about the identity of the Firefly Star Core Hunter and remained quite wary, so naturally she wouldn't approach him to chat as she usually did.

After all, don't really think that March 7th is silly; she's just simple-minded and doesn't remember things she's not interested in.

Even in normal mode, March 7 is still a qualified anonymous user, and he still has basic vigilance.

Of the three, Xing was the one who was extremely busy interacting with everyone to liven up the atmosphere.

It's a pity that it has little effect.

Moreover, it was only because Danlei returned before Artoria that she was able to fight the Heroic Spirits, the Grammer Cavalry, given her temperament.

The rest was the normal procedure. Xing explained the situation of Liuying to Danlei, Jizi, and Welt, indicating that Liuying could be an ally.

Himeko and Welt chose to trust Hoshino and temporarily adopted the same attitude towards Hotaru as March 7th, remaining vigilant while refraining from showing hostility towards her for the time being.

As for Dan Lei, he pretended to look Liu Ying up and down a few times, then pretended to sigh.
"Tsk tsk tsk, the famous Star Core Hunter Sam is actually such a little girl."

"You're a contestant in the Memory Master Competition, right? You've fooled me!"

After speaking, Danlei looked at the heroic Grammer cavalry and said...
"Personally, I can choose not to consider you an enemy, but my Heroic Spirit and your Heroic Spirit are bound to clash. Artoria rarely returns to reality and has found a suitable opponent, so as her Master, I must support her."

Dan Lei's meaning was very clear: he could bully others without participating in the war, but Artoria had her eye on the Heroic Spirits of the Grammer Cavalry, and the two were bound to clash.

Liu Ying didn't really want the battle to continue, because even if Dan Lei didn't leave the field, Artoria was still a formidable opponent.

Danlei and Artoria were not a pair that had to fight in this Holy Grail War.

Dan Lei explicitly stated that the Holy Grail ritual could be completed once all six Heroic Spirits had left the stage.

Now, the Servant Chadwick has become the first Servant to leave the field; five more will be enough.

Why insist on fighting Danlei's Rider when there are five easier opponents like Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Assassin, and Caster?

However, the Heroic Spirits of Grammer were full of fighting spirit and spoke directly.
"The Grammer cavalry never fear a challenge."

Dan Lei sensed that Artoria had arrived nearby, and curiously asked the Heroic Spirit Grammer Knight...

"Just to be on the safe side, let me ask you a question."

What is your wish in response to the Holy Grail's call?

The Starry Sky Train crew is also concerned about this issue, because it involves whether everyone can believe in this heroic spirit.

Ying's wish is simply to understand her brother's thoughts and the truth behind his plans. Everyone can accept this wish. Himeko has already told Ying that if they are left with only two players, they will play a game similar to Avalon, with a best-of-three format.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, and with Firefly nodding in tacit approval, the Heroic Spirit Grammer coldly spoke.

"We just wanted the Grammer to have a great ending."

We are weapons born to defeat the Zerg swarm.

Born to fight, that is our glory.

However, Grammer no longer exists.

We ultimately failed to completely eradicate the swarm.

Now, only one member of the Grammer Knights remains, and she has relinquished her membership in the Grammer Knights.

Therefore, we want to conclude the final battle of the Grail War with a victory in the Holy Grail War, after which the Grail will cease to exist.

The Grammer Knights will return to the graveyard in glory as victors.

The words of the Heroic Spirit Grammer were quite sincere, and Dan Lei didn't sense any flaws; they must be true.

Like fireflies, they are artificial beings, but they have not awakened self-awareness, making them purer than fireflies.

Fireflies are bad at lying, and the heroic Grammer Knights don't know how to lie; they only know how to carry out orders.

Moreover, Dan Lei astutely grasped the key phrase: "This heroic spirit refers to itself as we do."

At this moment, Artoria also came out and commented.

"For glory, a good wish."

After saying that, he took out his weapon and prepared to send the heroic Grammer cavalry away in glory.

Seeing this, Dan Lei quickly stepped forward to stop her and said...

"Artoria, don't rush, now is not the time to fight."

Save your duel with them for last; the Master won't participate in this war.

But fireflies must also have their own wishes, so this is not fair.

Therefore, let's postpone this duel until it affects the final allocation of the Holy Grail wish.

Since Dan Lei had said so, Artoria could only sheathe her weapon and nod to him.
"Understood, I'll listen to you."

Dan Lei stopped a major battle, and everyone else on the scene breathed a sigh of relief.

Himeko quickly changed the subject, saying with a smile
"I think it's about time. Let's all go find Gallagher and hear what this mysterious traveler with his destiny has to say."

Since Himeko has spoken, there are naturally no problems with the train.

Danlei and Liuying wouldn't dare to offend Jizi at this moment.

Soon, everyone except for the gold dust gathered in the square where Sunday was approaching.

Gallagher then brought along one of the people in charge of the Dream Reef, Mikael.

Next, Gallagher gave a detailed account of the true history behind Pinocchio.

This refers to the fact that the dream world is built around a star core, and nourished by the spirit of dream chasers and locals.

Gallagher brought Sunday here to have him, the head of the Oak family, testify.

Because Gallagher could see that Sunday was different from the other heads of the household who had long been corrupted by money; he was noble and had his own desires (ambitions), and he would not lie against his conscience.

So, knowing that through his recent visit, Robin and the others had come to believe in the existence of the Star Core, Sunday, just like in the game, acknowledged its existence and admitted that the Pinocchio Grand Theatre itself was the Star Core. Dan Lei, watching Sunday's compassionate demeanor, remarked that he had acted very well.

The most crucial destiny of order has not been exposed. Using the star core to attract the attention of the robin and the star train group is indeed a good choice.

However, on Sunday, he made it clear that he only knew of the existence of the Star Core and was unaware that it was nourished by the spirits of everyone in Pinocone.

Moreover, he directly sold Gopherwood, indicating that he suspected this dreamer was the culprit who used the star core to accomplish all of this.

Sunday's performance was Oscar-worthy; neither the Star Train crew nor Gallagher noticed anything wrong with it.

The robin absolutely believed in his brother.

However, regarding the matter of going to the dream with the robin the following Sunday to find the dreamer and confront him, Danlei said directly...
"I won't get involved in the matter of the star core; you can decide how to handle it yourselves."

I will refrain from commenting on this matter to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

Dan Lei said this, and March 7 asked in great surprise.
"Danlei, why are you avoiding the issue of the Star Core? Isn't this a great opportunity to save Pinocone?"

Dan Lei shook his head directly at this question.
"March, you're oversimplifying this matter. You should know that while star cores can bring about star core disasters..."

However, it cannot be denied that it is a natural super energy source, and so far, there has never been a case of draining a star core dry.

All major powers in the universe have considered ways to safely utilize the energy of stellar cores.

However, to this day, the major powers still cannot openly and safely utilize the energy of the star core, and can only seal it away.

Therefore, the logic of nourishing the star core with spiritual energy is not valid. The star core does not need any nourishment. Most of the people in Pinocchio are ordinary people, and even if you drain their spiritual energy, you still cannot maintain the energy output of the star core.

In other words, if Pinocchio really needs to draw on everyone's mental energy to support something, then it must be some kind of device that safely uses the energy of the star core.

Moreover, as a traveler of memories, I did not feel any abnormal depletion of my mental energy in Pinocone.

This proves that even if Pinocchio collected mental energy to support the system that used the star core, the mental energy consumed must have been within the safe tolerance range of ordinary people.

Otherwise, the memory-keepers active here would have noticed the problem long ago.

After saying that, Dan Lei looked directly at the black swan.

Although Black Swan didn't know what Danlei was trying to say, he still nodded and spoke the truth.
"Indeed, I didn't feel any extra consumption of mental energy."

If what Mr. Gallagher said is true, then Pinocchio either didn't drain my mental energy at all, or it drained very little, so little that I considered this amount of energy expenditure as normal wear and tear from daily activities.

After talking about the black swan, Dan Lei continued...

"Of course, it's also possible, as Mr. Gallagher said, that Pinocone is using the souls of intelligent beings after they die to replenish the device that uses the energy of the star's core."

Or perhaps only those who exhibit confusion, laziness, or cowardice will have their spirits heavily drained.

However, as far as I know, the number of abnormal deaths on Pinocene over the years is lower than on other planets, and the number of natural deaths is also lower.

No large number of visitors experienced lethargy after leaving the area.

On Sunday, you should have known about the unusual number of pinocemies that the family had been concealing.

Having said all that, Sunday naturally understood what Danlei meant and said directly...
"The Oak family alone has a record of several thousand people."

There are several thousand abnormal deaths that need to be concealed. Although these are lives, they are nothing compared to those on other planets.

To put it simply, the number of intelligent life that abnormally dies on most planets in the universe every day is several times greater than the number recorded by Pinocene.

Because on every planet there are homeless people who have lost everything; they will starve to death or freeze to death.

This doesn't even include those who died because of war and unrest.

Compared to the above, there are far fewer Pinocchio stowaways, down-on-their-luck dreamers, and people who commit suicide after investment failures.

Pinocchio's safety rating is among the highest in the universe. This isn't something the five major systems boast about; it's the result of the Interstellar Peace Corporation's rigorous review using the most discerning standards.

Therefore, even if all these concealed and publicly disclosed abnormal deaths are added together, Pinocchio can still be considered very safe.

This also proves that the Pinocone family did not intentionally kill too many people to sustain the use of the star core's energy.

From this perspective, it seems that the core of Pinocone's star did not cause a disaster, but rather served as the foundation for maintaining the star of the grand event.

Therefore, Dan Lei doubts the claim that the Star Core has been sealed in the game, because the Twelve Dreams based on the Star Core did not collapse quickly.

This contradicts Gallagher's statement that the Twelve Dreams are now constructed based on a star core.

Without the power of the Star Core, what can Pinocone rely on to sustain the Twelve Dreams?

Of course, Dan Lei only had doubts about the Star Core, since the company had moved in later and perhaps they could help Pinocchio maintain the current Twelve Dreams.

What Danlei wanted to express was very simple. After Sunday finished speaking, Danlei directly said...

"In conclusion, I believe that the core of Pinocene did not become a disaster."

Perhaps the contamination of the path of harmony here is indeed caused by the star core, but that does not harm ordinary people.

It didn't even affect the Star Train's silver tracks.

As for the collapse of the dream, I believe it was the result of Pinocene's unlimited expansion of the dream.

Therefore, the issue of the star core here is not a disaster, but a clash of ideologies between the five major families and the watchmakers.

I don't want to get involved in this ideological debate unless you provide evidence that a star core that has been operating stably in Pinocene for several amber epochs truly threatens everyone.

Dan Lei's words silenced everyone else.

The fact that the star core is harmless is counterintuitive to the Starry Sky Train crew.

But Pinocene's core has indeed been operating for so many years, and according to Dan Lei's explanation, it seems that it really hasn't caused any disasters.

So the Starry Sky Train crew turned their attention to Gallagher, wanting to hear his rebuttal.

Gallagher was clearly very angry at this point; he looked like he wanted to punch someone.

However, he did not refute it, clearly because he lacked data to support his claim.

Finally, Gallagher could only manage to utter one sentence.

“Mr. Danlei, how do you know that the death toll published by Pinocchio is accurate? And can’t you see the people here? They are all oppressed people of this planet!”

Regarding the topic of oppression, Dan Lei spoke with unusual ruthlessness.
"Pinocone's published death toll wouldn't be too far off, otherwise Interstellar Peace Corporation would have noticed the anomaly long ago and found an excuse to intervene."

As for oppression, I know Pinocchio is full of oppression, but I am not a savior and cannot go to a planet and help the locals fight against oppression.

I have my own identity. I pity you and am willing to give you some humanitarian material assistance.

However, regarding political demands, please forgive me, but I cannot help. Pinocchio's future must be fought for by the people of Pinocchio themselves; I will not lend a hand.

　In the Granmer Knights PV, there are male androids. At 2:17, in the line "At this moment, under the same starry sky," they don't just look like men; they speak in a male voice.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)