The puppet wore a black top hat, with a deathly pale face, narrow eyes, a crisp black formal suit, and gleaming pointed leather shoes. The slender cane in its hand spun with a creaking whirr like a windmill.
Zheng Qing was very familiar with that appearance.
This was the fellow who had hosted last year's Freshman Competition during the School Hunting Meet. Back then, it had frightened the first-year students by claiming that the Freshman Competition had an extremely high fatality rate—strictly speaking, that was not entirely wrong—and had left a deep impression on Zheng Qing.
"I don't like it."
Fatty Xin voiced the young publicly funded student's Mind Voice. "If I had a choice, I'd rather let Iseni host the hunting competition in that lousy accent of his..."
Iseni was a merman from Linzhong Lake. The fact that he had driven the fat wizard to choose a stammering, hissing merman instead showed just how terrible an impression this puppet had left on him.
"I don't like it either."
Dylan nodded in agreement, then folded his arms thoughtfully as he studied the puppet. "I'm just curious... do you think puppets dream too?"
These young hunters were all in a dream now, at the edge of the Illusory Dream Realm. In theory, an Alchemical Lifeform could not set foot in this region.
The only explanation was that this Puppet had already surpassed the limits of an ordinary Alchemical Lifeform and displayed certain traits unique to spiritual beings.
Zheng Qing's gaze at the puppet immediately gained a measure of scrutiny.
But he only gave it one extra look. As the captain of the Youzui Hunting Team, he had more important things to focus on at a time like this—such as confirming whether every hunter in the Youzui Hunting Team had arrived.
"Doctor,