Butterfly

Ai Miye's eyes widened in shock. She stared at Hawkins in disbelief.

She pried Anna's hand away and immediately asked, "Anna, are you saying the captain is a dream creature?"

"Yes. He's a dream creature!" Anna said, looking at Hawkins with certainty.

Hawkins kept smiling. He neither rushed to defend himself nor admitted he was a dream creature. Instead, he watched Ai Miye with keen interest.

"Captain, are you really a dream creature?" Ai Miye asked.

Hawkins gave an ambiguous answer. "Ai Miye, you need to find the truth for yourself. What do you think—am I or aren't I?"

"Whether you are or not, we're not interested. Let's go, Ai Miye." Anna pulled her away and backed up.

Anna would not have been so cautious with an ordinary dream creature, but the Meme of the one before her came from Hawkins. She had to tread carefully.

Hawkins's smile gradually faded. He sighed. "Anna, why are you so hostile to me? Wouldn't it be nice if we were friends?"

"Friends? If you really want to be friends, why have you sealed off the space around us?" Anna suddenly stopped and asked.

Nothing around them appeared to have changed, but they were already trapped inside the City Lord's Manor.

Ai Miye sensed the subtle change too. She frowned at Hawkins. "So... you really are a dream creature."

"Do you know what Hawkins thinks of the two of you?" Hawkins asked, no longer bothering to deny he was an impostor.

Anna replied coolly, "Whatever the captain thinks of us is none of your business. Besides, you're just a Phantom of the captain in Ai Miye's mind. How could you know what he really thinks?"

"No, I do know. Precisely because I'm a Phantom of the captain you speak of, I can feel his