A Psychiatrist's Bizarre Game Journey / Dream of the Mist

The flamingo remained expressionless, yet it had a look of sudden realization, as if to say, "So that's how it is!"

"Ugh...."

Zhijiansha sighed. She was really tired. Honghe and Zhou Ke'er together were just amazing, a perfect match for the ages. They were number one in their ability to mess with their teammates' mentality. They definitely deserve an award!

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131. My Cause of Death (Part Twelve)

"Oh! By the way, I forgot to tell you earlier, the woman I saw earlier is the one next to you. Well, that might not be quite accurate? I should say... she looks exactly like this girl? But I think they should be the same person."

Just then, as if remembering something, the flamingo squinted, casually pointed at the girl, and spoke to Zhou Ke'er and Zhijiansha as if it were completely unimportant...

Zhou Ke'er didn't react much, after all, this was expected. The girl he first met in the alley, who was actually Zhou Ke'er in disguise, looked exactly like the one next to him.

Zhijiansha was stunned. Her eyes widened as she glanced at the girl and exclaimed in frustration, "You're only telling us this now?! Does that mean she overheard everything we just exchanged?! You should have told us this from the beginning!"

"There's no need. If there's any information that can't be mentioned in front of her, Zhou Ke'er will stop it beforehand."

The flamingo remained silent, speaking with utmost certainty.

"Yeah, yeah! I haven't even said anything yet, why are you in such a hurry? There's no need, besides..."

Zhou Ke'er waved her hand dismissively, then gave the girl, who seemed confused and at a loss, a meaningful look. She narrowed her eyes and said slowly, word by word, in a slightly threatening tone, "Some things are better explained to the person involved again, as a kind of review. I just don't know if going to this extent will make you feel even a little bit of shame or guilt for what you did and what you thought."

"What...what are you saying? I don't understand what you mean?" The girl's eyes were panicked, and she subconsciously shook her head and stammered.

"Hmph, that's quite interesting. Why do so many people who get their true colors exposed always say that? This kind of rebuttal is practically like having 'That's right! You're talking about me!' tattooed on their faces and parading around like that!"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but chuckle, giving the girl a rather helpless look. She finally realized that this girl was not the same person as the one from before. Although she didn't know how she had done it, this was certain. "Fine, since you want to put up a fight, then Red Crane, don't hold back. Just tell her what's in the diary! Tell her directly, and she won't have anything to argue with, right? Why do you want to put yourself in such an awkward position?"

"I'll just give a brief summary of what's in my diary because I know it would be censored if I told it out loud, and I don't remember everything."

Honghe tilted her head, pondering as she summarized in her own words: "Compared to the large group of students led by Zhijiansha who bullied her, she seemed to hate me, the kind classmate who stood up for her and offered help, even more."

She used every vicious word she could think of to verbally abuse me in her diary, which actually taught me a lot; I can write it down and use it later. Even I feel chilled by those words; they're truly terrifying.

"Huh? Me? Am I the ringleader of a school bullying gang? No way!"

The sand between his fingers was startled again, pointing at himself in disbelief.

"First of all, who says that only delinquent leaders bully students? According to research, compared to those delinquent students who look fierce and have a bad reputation, a large part of the perpetrators of school bullying, well, to put it more directly, the majority are actually those students from wealthy families who are considered good students by teachers and elders."

Secondly... this plot reminded me of several old-fashioned stories, such as... the farmer and the snake, Mr. Dongguo and the wolf, and Hao Jian and the old lady.

Hmm... although I don't know the story behind the last one.

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin and analyzed the situation with an air of seriousness, glancing at the girl every now and then.

"Oh, there's one more thing that's already confirmed. After reading the diary, I had an idea on my mind, so I asked the girl directly. Unexpectedly, before she could answer my question, the system notified me that I had completed the second main quest, which means I know why I died. The answer is that I died because I helped the girl and offered her assistance. However... I haven't figured out how I died yet."

After thinking for a moment, Honghe added a point and looked at the girl, seemingly waiting for her to answer the question herself.

"No, I didn't do it!"

The girl shook her head frantically, denying it outright, and looked timidly at the sand between her fingers.

"It's obvious that it was Zhijiansha who did it. Isn't that a blatant fact? From the moment the flamingo's body appeared beside you, you should have already anticipated this outcome, right? After all, you were the instigator of the school bullying. How could you not have killed a few people?"

Zhou Ke'er, with an air of matter-of-fact, picked up the conversation, shrugged at the sand between her fingers, then looked at the girl again, a smirk playing on her lips, and continued, "However, even so, you should know that, generally speaking, people who commit school bullying will be very careful to avoid murder, after all, they don't want to get into trouble."

If it's just bullying, then the higher-ups can just dismiss it with a casual remark like "it's just kids playing around," and then move on.

But if someone dies, the situation changes completely. Furthermore, bullying others is their source of pleasure, or a way of finding a sense of self-worth. If the bullied person is gone, how will they derive their pleasure?

In conclusion, I'm guessing... it's probably because Zhijian Sha made a slightly excessive suggestion, then forced you to do it, and then... under the pretext of "psychological pressure" and "feeling of collapse," you killed Honghe with complete peace of mind, right?

Well, there's an old saying from the old era: "When a slave rises to become the master, he becomes even more ruthless than the original master," right?

"It's well-reasoned and convincing. But I haven't received any notification that the task is complete."

Honghe stared at Zhou Ke'er with dead fish eyes.

"Nonsense, I only gave a general account of the cause; I didn't deduce how you died."

Zhou Ke'er rolled her eyes and gestured towards the girl with her lip, "You'd be more efficient asking her directly."

However, I couldn't figure it out... What does this have to do with me? The Sand Between Fingers was the perpetrator, and the Flamingo was the rescuer who died because of it. I was just indifferent and didn't offer any help, right? At most, I was just a background character like the other students. Why me?

Or is there some hidden story I haven't discovered? Something that could make me stand out from the crowd? Could it be that you have a crush on me? And now that you've discovered I'm just standing by, you're turning your love into hate? That's too melodramatic!

"Just being indifferent is one thing, but that's pure scumbag talk, Mr. Scumbag."

"Sand between Fingers" couldn't help but complain.

"Tch, how dare you, the perpetrator, call me scum?"

Zhou Ke'er rolled her eyes and shrugged at the sand between her fingers in a very irritating way.

"These are completely different things! I didn't do it!"

The sand between her fingers argued innocently.

"Here we go again! Denying the facts, twisting the facts, shirking responsibility, Chang Wei, you still say you're not scum!"

Zhou Ke'er immediately shouted loudly.

Zhijiansha helplessly covered her face. If she continued to argue with Zhou Kexin, she would be a fool!

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132. My Cause of Death (The End)

The girl looked at Zhou Ke'er with a complicated expression after hearing his question. She seemed to want to say something, but she remained timid and didn't say anything.

Zhou Ke'er felt a chill run down her spine, and goosebumps rose on her skin—could it really be some kind of melodramatic plot of starting something and then abandoning the person? That would be too...

"Oh, I do know that. It's recorded in the diary that you have very similar family backgrounds and once made a promise: if you grow up and have your own families and children, you will never let them repeat your mistakes."

Well, speaking of which, she doesn't seem to have used any harsh words towards you in her diary. Even when she complained about your inaction, she mostly expressed it with understanding and tolerance.

"Hmm, I don't think she was responsible for your death."

Seeing that no one else was speaking, Honghe finally spoke up to Zhou Ke'er, still unhurried and expressionless.

"I see... So this module is also a propaganda video against school violence and domestic violence? I bet there might be family factors in your backgrounds that led to your deaths... whether directly or indirectly."

If that's the case, and I wasn't killed by her, then it's most likely suicide, right? But even if it was suicide, there should have been a trigger. If I remember correctly, the original person should be someone who has lost emotions, so there's no reason for them to commit suicide over something like this.

Wait a minute, that guy said before that the reason I didn't lend a hand was because I felt a long-lost sense of guilt.

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin, pacing back and forth in deep thought, muttering to herself, "So it was because of guilt that I committed suicide? No, it's not that simple! I only feel alive because of guilt, so how could I commit suicide because of that? If we consider family factors..."

At this point, Zhou Ke'er's eyes suddenly lit up: "That's right! It's because of exhaustion! To be precise, is it because you're tired of this emotionless and unfree life, so you decided to die while you can still feel emotions, rather than dying like a walking corpse later?"

But this requires a reasonable, emotionally charged reason. Since there was no prior intention to commit suicide, it's impossible to make such a choice without a reason at a certain point; there must be a plausible driving force...

Because this is not only an excuse to convince oneself to make a decision, but also a legitimate way to rebel against one's parents. If it's an impulsive act... then it's meaningless.

That's it! She caused the flamingo's death because of the coercion from the Sand Between Her Fingers! This reason should be enough to release her guilt and remorse! In this way, both explanations connect and make sense!

"Ugh... why are all the characters in this module psychopaths?! Is this the legendary puberty syndrome?!"

"Sand between Fingers" couldn't help but complain.

At the same time, a system notification sound rang out.

[Congratulations to player "Zhou Ke'er" for completing Main Quest II: "Find out why you died"]

"Don't act like it's none of your business. As a perpetrator, you must also have psychological problems. Plus, being placed in this module means it's 250% related to your family factors."

Perhaps... your death is related to your family background.

Zhou Ke'er shrugged and said to the sand between her fingers.

“Hmm, what you said makes a lot of sense.” Finger Sand nodded in agreement. “But how are we supposed to know how we died? Are we supposed to ask her?”

Although we were able to deduce why we died because we exchanged information,... without experiencing those suggestive scenarios, we basically wouldn't have been able to deduce how we died, right?

After all, even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. With so many ways to die in the world, trying to pinpoint the cause of death solely based on the reason for death is like searching for a needle in a haystack...

Can we go back to where we started and try again?

"I don't think that will work."

Zhou Ke'er shrugged helplessly. Because he didn't follow the rules from the start, he not only arrived here ahead of time, or rather, exceptionally—because normally, if one doesn't realize the hidden world view, the main and side quests should be completed on the original floor, and one might not even have to come here in the end—but also indirectly brought the Sand Between Fingers with him.

This means that although he can now act like an armchair detective, without conducting on-site investigations and relying solely on clues provided by others to deduce theoretically known information, the drawbacks are also quite obvious... namely, there is no way to figure out the cause of death. The only remaining method is to directly ask the girl, since it is an event she personally experienced, but it depends on whether she is willing to talk about it.

With this in mind, Zhou Ke'er and the other two turned to look at the girl in unison, their intentions quite obvious and almost self-evident.

"No, don't ask me! I don't know, I really don't know! I didn't do it! Don't blame me!"

The girl trembled all over, crouched on the ground with her head in her hands, and screamed loudly, her voice sharp and piercing.

At the same time, the entire space began to shake violently and even collapse in response to her screams.

Fragments of space flew about in scattered pieces, and behind the snow-white specks of light, a bottomless darkness gradually appeared.

"This relationship is about to fall apart."

Zhou Ke'er clicked her tongue, but didn't panic.

Since things have come to this point, and he doesn't have any items or skills to save himself, there's no need to make a futile struggle. It's just a pity that he couldn't complete all the main quests.

However, to his surprise, images gradually appeared in the darkness that was revealed.

It seemed to be on the rooftop of a school building. The girl had her head down, looking timid and hesitant. Honghe stood to the side, seemingly saying something, completely unaware of the resentment hidden in the girl's eyes.

As she was talking, Flamingo leaned against the railing as if out of habit. Unexpectedly, the railing broke, and Flamingo fell backward without warning. Her horrified eyes and the smooth, as if deliberately cut edge of the railing were visible.

The scene then shifts back to the rooftop. The girl seems to be trying to persuade someone, but Zhou Ke'er, standing at the edge of the rooftop, simply smiles and shakes her head: "I'm afraid I won't even be able to smile like this anymore. Let's end it here while I can still feel my own existence. I'm tired. It seems that the promise can only be kept by you."

With that, he smiled, opened his arms, and fell backward, his face full of relief and happiness.

Finally, it was on that rooftop again. Finger Sand looked at the girl and said excitedly, "You know what? I hate people like you the most! Your timid, cowardly manner is disgusting! Who do you think you are? All you do is complain about others, resent them, and think you've done nothing wrong!"

I will never become like you again, you know? The first time I saw you, I wanted to kill you! But now, I'm telling you, I'm completely different from you. You only know how to run away and back down when you do something wrong, but I'm different!

As she spoke, she suddenly jumped off the edge of the rooftop, as if she were trying to conquer some illusory and unattainable goal.

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133. Spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue mean it's time to sleep!

The module has finished and is currently processing the settlement.

[Player "Zhou Ke'er" has reached 100% progress in exploring the hidden world and is currently being randomly assigned a special reward.]