Everyone's playing hide-and-seek: This crazy beauty has maxed-out third eyes.

Lin Sui'an reached up and touched the back of her neck, where there was a butterfly.

What kind of dream should he have? Lin Sui'an couldn't think of a better dream for the moment.

Just as the Maine Coon leaped up, ready to attack.

[Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream: Creating a Dream, Using It!]

Where Lin Sui'an couldn't see, the butterfly on the back of her neck flapped its wings, and a halo of light spread out, gradually covering the entire group of cats.

The Maine Coon cat plummeted from mid-air with a thud, the calico cat remained crouched on the spot with its pupils dilated, and all ten cats froze at the same time.

Lin Sui'an closed her eyes, her consciousness sinking into the halo of Zhuangzi's butterfly dream, and she began to weave.

The first layer of the dream.

A person stood at the entrance of the stadium, with his country's flag behind him. The flag was unfurled in the wind, its colors dazzlingly bright. The area around him was crowded with people; some were shouting, some were crying, and some were holding signs that read "Come back."

The man glanced back at the crowd behind him, then turned and walked into the arena.

Each player represents a country. Apart from the orange cat, Lin Sui'an doesn't know who the other nine cats were in their previous lives, their names, or what they looked like.

But she knew one thing: they, like her, were chosen by the game to represent their country as contestants.

They all once stood at the entrance to the instance, with everyone's expectations behind them.

The second layer of the dream.

In the arena, the lights came on, the game began, and that person was running, dodging, fighting desperately, and bleeding.

Teammates fell down nearby, some were shouting "Help me!", others fell silent before they could even shout.

Their hands were trembling and their legs were weak, but they didn't stop, because they all knew that if they lost, it wouldn't just be one person losing, it would be the entire country losing.

Lin Sui'an infused her dream with an emotion that was not fear, but responsibility.

The third layer of the dream.

victory.

The lights in the arena came on, and the player finally stood at the finish line, the flag behind him still waving.

She heard cheers coming from a very, very far away place. At first, there were only a few voices, but then more and more people joined together, growing louder and louder until they merged into a wave, like a tide. She looked down at her hands, which were covered in scars.

Won.

The fourth layer of the dream.

failure.

I fell into the game, there were no cheers, no cries, nothing at all.

Only in the quietest silence could you hear your own heartbeat slowing down.

Lin Sui'an added a scene to the final layer of the dream: after failing, he was forcibly turned into a cat by the game.

Four legs and a tail, squatting in the mall aisle, chasing after people from its own country.

It caught up with a person, slapped the person on the back with a paw, and the person fell down, screams echoing in the corridor.

The cat looked down at its front paws, where a small piece of fabric was stuck between its claws—it was a piece torn from that person's clothes.

The cat tries to loosen its paw, but can't.

The cat wants to stop, but it can't.

……

The halo of Zhuangzi's dream of a butterfly covered the entire group of cats, and the ten cats remained motionless, each in a different posture.

The Maine Coon relaxed its arched back, its four legs slowly bent, and the cat lay down on the floor.

The silver gradient dog's head was tilted to one side, its eyes were not closed, but its pupils were unfocused, and its focus was on something unseen.

The calico cat's ears drooped down.

The black cat's tail stopped moving.

The golden chin's pupils shrank to a slit, then slowly dilated, repeating this process three times.

The Ragdoll cat was lying on the ground with its front paws resting in front of its head and its nose touching the floor.

The orange cat was the last to fall, its round body rolling onto its side on the floor, its four legs curled up, and its tail tucked under its belly.

All ten cats were lying down.

Lin Sui'an opened her eyes and scanned the condition of the ten cats. In the body of each cat, the soul was trembling.

Is it useful? Lin Sui'an didn't know.

She crouched down, in front of the Maine Coon cat closest to her.

"Meow……"

The Maine Coon let out a very soft meow, completely different from its previous ruffled howl.

It was low, soft, and slightly breathy.

It's like asking something.

Lin Sui'an reached out and touched the Maine Coon's ear with his fingertips. The cat's ear twitched, but it didn't flinch.

"Do you remember?" Lin Sui'an's voice was very soft.

The Maine Coon's pupils focused for a moment, met her eyes, and then looked away.

Lin Sui'an's heart sank.

There was a response, but it wasn't enough.

The dream she created was vague and might not apply to all cats, because each player was randomly selected. Some were patriotic, while others were not, so her dream might not work for all cats.

Lin Sui'an stared at the struggling expression on the Maine Coon's face and withdrew his fingers from the cat's ears.

If it's not enough, then it's not enough.

She stood up, took a step back, and stood in the middle of the ten cats, carefully observing the condition of all the cats.

"Meow." The orange cat suddenly raised its head.

Lin Sui'an's gaze fell over.

The orange cat's eyes were wet. Cats' tear glands are structured differently from humans, so they don't cry because of emotions, but there was definitely a drop of water hanging from the corner of the orange cat's eye.

Lin Sui'an paused for a moment.

The next second, the silver gradient also raised its head, its pupils reflecting the ceiling above it, its focus unfocused.

The calico cat's ears stood up and then drooped down, repeating this twice.

Ten cats gradually raised their heads from their lying positions, some moving quickly and others slowly, their expressions ranging from alert to bewildered.

The orange cat's meow changed tone, the syllables squeezed out from deep in its throat, intermittent, as if it were trying to spell out a word.

Lin Sui'an squatted down in front of the orange cat.

The orange cat's four legs were trembling. The cat lay on its side on the ground, its belly heaving rapidly. A drop of water from the corner of its eye slid down its fur and landed on the floor.

Its mouth opens, closes, and opens again.

"Meow……"

That sound was too soft.

Lin Sui'an leaned closer to listen.

The orange cat's scent wafted onto her face, warm. It struggled twice, scratching the floor with its front paws, its claws making a screeching sound. Then it raised its right front paw and placed it on the back of Lin Sui'an's hand.

"You all remember."

Lin Sui'an didn't ask a question; she could see that the soul inside each cat's body was trembling, some trembling violently, others just swaying slightly.

"I don't know who you were, what your names were, or what country you were from."

She stood up and spoke faster.

"But you, like me, were chosen for this game."

"The game turns you into cats, making you chase your own kind, catch people, kill people, and pin the living down."

The black and white cat moved its front paw, leaving a white mark on the floor.

"Are you willing?"

The calico cat lay on the ground, its paws resting on her shoes, its eyes fixed on her. It opened its mouth; a cat's vocal cords are different from a human's, and the syllables distorted and muffled when squeezed out of its throat, with a heavy breathy sound.

Lin Sui'an squatted down and leaned closer.

"No, no..."

Lin Sui'an placed her fingers on the calico cat's head: "I heard you."

The calico cat's eyes lit up for a moment.

【Ding! 】

The game's notification sound suddenly rang out.

[Abnormal interference detected.]