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

Congratulations on obtaining the equipment: "Trickster's Madness"

Title: The Magician's Madness

Type: Jewelry (Ring)

[Quality: Epic]

[Defense: Weak]

[Special Effect: Designates an item or piece of equipment, unleashing its maximum potential. The resulting effect is unpredictable. Once the energy is depleted, the designated item or equipment will be completely destroyed and cannot be recovered.]

[Note: The madman's final act not only destroys the enemy, but also himself.]

"Wow, this equipment looks pretty good, though it's a bit useless. But with this, I guess I have a last resort. I never figured out how to use that fake God's divine essence before; it was only good as a nuclear flashlight. Now, if I unleash this item, who knows, maybe I can summon an angel or even God..."

Zhou Ke'er nodded with satisfaction, accepted the sanity points reward, and then exited the settlement interface.

The next instant, Zhou Ke'er returned to the safe house in the main world.

"Isn't it supposed to be back in the original cabin? Well... once we go back, oh, I can teleport, but Red Crane and the others won't have a way to get here precisely anymore."

However, I remember that in order to prevent the loss of items and other items due to death in the main world, Finger Sand and the others left most of them in their original cabin, right?

If we can't go back, wouldn't that be the same as losing it?

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin thoughtfully, preparing to find a place to sit down and wait for Honghe and the others to finish settling the bill.

But then I suddenly discovered... that I was actually fast asleep on the sofa in the living room, feeling drowsy and tired.

What's going on? Zhou Ke'er thought she was going to sleep when she said she was logging off, but it turns out she was sleeping in the game? Why? Is it because she can sleep a few more hours in the game? But sleeping on the sofa is nowhere near as comfortable as sleeping in a bed!

This guy is really strange, he might have a mental illness...

"Hmm, you're done?"

Hearing Zhou Ke'er's light footsteps, Chun Juan Qiu Fei sat up alertly, glanced around warily, and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was Zhou Ke'er. He stretched and yawned as he asked, his eyes revealing a hint of fatigue.

What is this guy's profession in real life? His reactions are so sharp, he can't possibly be an assassin!

Zhou Ke'er glanced at the petite Chun Tuan Qiu Fei without leaving a trace, and quickly dismissed the funny guess. After hesitating for a while, Zhou Ke'er still couldn't suppress her curiosity and couldn't help but ask Chun Tuan Qiu Fei, who seemed to be about to take another nap, "Um, why are you sleeping in the game?"

Wouldn't it be better to just lie in bed and sleep after logging off?

No matter how you look at it, it's really weird to not play games in the game just to sleep, isn't it?

"..."

With droopy eyelids and thick dark circles under her eyes, she answered listlessly, "I have nightmares. In real life, I have nightmares and can't sleep. But I don't have nightmares in the game, and I can fall asleep then."

As she spoke, she closed her eyes again, dozing off slightly, her head nodding slightly.

"Nightmare? That could be some kind of psychological or mental illness! I'm good at treating these things. How about I take a look and see what the problem is? It's free!"

Hearing Chun Tuan and Qiu Fei's words, Zhou Ke'er perked up. This was his job, after all; he had to show off his skills!

What doesn't cost money?

As soon as Zhijiansha returned, she heard Zhou Ke'er's last words and subconsciously asked.

"Money, money, money! You get all excited as soon as you hear about money? This is serious business, kids shouldn't interrupt adults!"

Zhou Ke'er glanced at Zhijiansha with disdain, waved her hand, and acted as if she were telling a child to go away, saying, "Disobedient children don't get lollipops."

"???" Finger Sand was completely baffled. She looked at the flamingo that had just appeared and wanted to seek comfort, but seeing the flamingo's expressionless face, she gave up on the idea and squatted on the ground drawing circles with a wronged expression.

"This...can you treat this? I've seen many psychologists, but they're all helpless with this. Are you a psychologist?"

After hearing Zhou Ke'er's words, Chun Tuan Qiu Fa opened her eyes, tilted her head, and asked Zhou Ke'er in a puzzled tone, seemingly without much hope.

"Hey! I clearly introduced myself! I'm a psychiatrist! A psychiatrist!"

Zhou Ke'er said indignantly.

"Oh, I forgot, I was probably asleep at that time."

Chun Tuan Qiu Fei scratched his head and looked at the frantic Zhou Ke'er with a completely innocent expression.

"You clearly said you were just dozing off, not asleep! You're heartless, cold-hearted, and unreasonable!"

Zhou Ke'er muttered in a low voice, sounding quite resentful.

Feeling drowsy and tired, she glanced helplessly at Zhou Ke'er, about to say something, when the system notification suddenly rang out, startling her.

[The "Unnamed Squad" has been detected online with four or more members in an idle state. Member "Hejian Zhang He" has triggered a mini-game instance. Would you like to join? If you choose to join, you will be teleported into the instance. After the instance ends, the entire team will return to the safe house.]

"What do you mean 'unnamed squad'?! It looks terrible! Even 'Li Gou Dan Squad' would be better than this!"

Zhou Ke'er said this was absolutely intolerable!

Inwardly criticizing Zhou Ke'er for focusing on such a ridiculously off-topic point, Zhijiansha, having learned from past mistakes, chose to change the subject, asking, "Secret Realm? What's that? New game content? But I haven't seen any official game announcements about any updates."

"First, they might be constantly updating the game. Second, this might be a gameplay feature that was already set up in the game, but it just hasn't been triggered yet."

After all, we were the first team to discover the safe house. Look at the system notification; triggering this requires a team, so it's normal that there's no information about it on the forums.

Zhou Ke'er casually guessed and then clicked "confirm".

The next second, Zhou Ke'er appeared in a brightly colored little room. The decorations inside were incredibly childish, like something prepared for kindergarten children.

There was a large pile of card-like objects on the table in the middle, which looked like...something for people to play with?

Zhang He had been waiting here for a while. It seemed that he had already explored the small room and was now holding something that looked like an instruction manual, studying it carefully.

Following closely behind, Honghe and the others were also teleported over. Zhou Ke'er took the opportunity to move closer to Zhang He and began reading the instruction manual.

A short while later.

"Holy crap?! Isn't this Monopoly?! What the hell is this?"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but exclaim. So this game's secret realm was just for them to play Monopoly? What a stupid setup!

------------

134. I don't want to type! I haven't had enough of playing games yet! (Shouting)

"Monopoly? What's that?"

Zhijiansha fully demonstrated the valuable quality of asking questions when she didn't understand, and immediately asked after hearing Zhou Ke'er's question.

"Huh? You don't even know this?"

Zhou Ke'er stared in shock at the sand between her fingers, then a look of pity crossed her face: "Where did your childhood go? You didn't have a childhood, did you?"

"I don't know anyone who played old-fashioned board games in their childhood."

Seeing the look of utter disbelief on Zhijiansha's face, Honghe squinted and continued, "Monopoly is a board game from the old era. It's roughly based on dice to determine the number of steps a player moves, and so on..."

"Oh, what's the point of explaining the rules of this game? Anyone with a sound mind can easily figure it out after playing a round or two, right?"

Zhou Ke'er shrugged. "Besides, even if Monopoly is an old-era game, it's not like we don't have the rules and gameplay now. I remember there was a game company that claimed to have replicated most of the old-era board games, right? Among the series of games they released, there happened to be one similar to Monopoly, and I remember it was quite popular for a while."

"If I remember correctly... that was more than forty years ago, um... to be precise, it should be a childhood memory of our previous generation, right?"

Flamingo glared at him with dead fish eyes and retorted, "So, your childhood was like this, with a retro vibe?"

"..."

Zhou Ke'er couldn't refute it, so she turned her head away and scoffed inwardly. Then, she turned back to Zhang He, who had been silent all along, and asked, "Hey, Zhang He, how did you trigger this thing?"

"I don't know either... I don't really understand this triggering mechanism."

Zhang He raised his head and shook his head at Zhou Ke'er, saying, "Just now I simply walked along the main road and circled around the safe house. I found that unlike the ruins we just came from, this area, although also abandoned, is in relatively good condition, and you can still vaguely see traces of the past."

This safe house should belong to a villa area, but it is not in the suburbs. It should be on the outskirts of the city, as there are ruins of a shopping street not far from this area.

Furthermore, there were a few shops in the shopping street that looked better preserved than the others. I just randomly picked one and went inside, and that's how I triggered this secret realm. Come to think of it, that shop seemed to be a board game store, right?

However... the decorations and furnishings here are really not beautiful at all... in fact, they make me feel a little nauseous.

In the end, Zhang He couldn't help but complain about the decorations of the place.

"I see... But it sounds like these things shouldn't take this long, right? Could it be that this neighborhood or shopping street is very large?"

After listening to Zhang He's analysis, Zhijiansha asked doubtfully, "We ran a module once, although that module wasn't very long, but if you convert it to time in the main world..."

"No. Sand between your fingers, your observation skills are terrible, so lazy, so incredibly lazy!"

Before Zhijiansha could finish speaking, Zhou Ke'er shook her head and interrupted, "When we first returned to the safe house, didn't you notice the time marked on the clock hanging on the wall? Compared to when we first started the module, not much time had passed. I estimate that in the main world, the module time should be the same as the main world time."

"Huh?! There's a clock on the wall of the safe house?!"

Finger Sand asked in surprise, she really hadn't noticed this.

"...?"

Zhou Ke'er glanced at Zhijiansha with an expression as if she were looking at an idiot, "This silly child...maybe we can stir-fry him."

[Preparation time over]

[Four or more players have been detected participating in the instance, meeting the criteria for opening the instance]

[The secret realm officially begins]

The following are important points to note:

[1. This dungeon ranking uses a points system; any event encountered within the dungeon can result in an increase or decrease in points.]

[2. Players are encouraged to explore on their own how to gain and lose points.]

3. At the start of the dungeon, the player's score is not visible. To check the score, a special item must be obtained within the dungeon.

4. Players will not actually die in the secret realm. If a "death event" occurs, alternative plans will be automatically generated based on the player's previous actions to allow them to continue the game.

[5. The game ends when the number of rounds in the Secret Realm reaches 100, a player's score reaches the maximum value, or a player obtains the "Final Item".]

[6. Given that there are 5 players participating in the dungeon, the top three players in terms of points will receive random rewards, while the bottom two players in terms of points will be subject to random penalties.]

[The secret realm begins! We wish all players a pleasant gaming experience!]

After a long system notification sound, Zhou Ke'er and the others were teleported to their respective locations.

Zhou Ke'er found herself teleported to a small room. Several huge screens were hanging on the walls of the room, showing the locations of Honghe and the others.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

Zhou Ke'er first shouted a few words, but seeing that the others in the picture did not react, it seemed that their voices could not communicate.

Player "Zhou Ke'er" will roll the dice in the center of the room to determine the game order.