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

"Why? Why kill me before summoning me to be the hero?! It's not even written like this in novels!"

The boy readily accepted the setting of the other world, only complaining with slight surprise, and quickened his pace—there was a sound coming from that direction, so he had to avoid it by taking another alley.

"It's very simple, this question is very simple, but before that, I have to ask you a few questions."

Zhou Ke'er stretched, a sly look in her eyes. "Why do you think the human alliance was defeated by the Demon King's army?"

Here it comes, here it comes! Cold food is free. Hearing this, I suddenly felt a jolt. Zhou Ke'er's persuasion would not be absent, it's just a little late. It has that flavor!

As for Long Aotian, who was standing to the side, and the undead player nicknamed "I'm quite confident in my mixed coffee" (hereinafter referred to as Coffee), they also looked at Zhou Ke'er curiously upon hearing this, to see what explanation he had.

"Uh... because the demons are too strong?"

The boy scratched his head, looking bewildered, and hesitated before answering.

"You're wrong. Do you think there's much difference in strength between us and those guys you just met? Obviously not, so that's not a valid reason."

Zhou Ke'er shook her head matter-of-factly and continued her charade: "When one is utterly isolated, even relatives turn against them; when one is utterly supported, the world submits. War is about timing, location, and popular support, but the most important thing is popular support. When the people's hearts are with you, they will be utterly defeated. As for the human alliance's popular support..."

Ha, do you think the undead and ghosts among the demons just appeared out of thin air? If they had no resentment in life, how could they become vengeful spirits after death? Only humans would do something so self-destructive for the benefit of others on the eve of a great war.

"What a fallacy! Taking advantage of the teenager's lack of understanding of the real situation, she fabricated a twisted argument that seemed plausible. Zhou Ke'er is truly something else," Cold-Eat Rabbit nodded thoughtfully.

"You mean, this is all the fault of the people in your world? But what does that have to do with whether or not I'm killed?"

Although the boy was a little surprised by the explanation, he still focused on the key issue.

"Don't rush. You just heard those guards call that girl 'Your Highness,' right? Then you should know that they practice a feudal system of government, the kind with a king."

"Hmph, those human nobles are most concerned with their own power. What do you think would happen if a savior who truly resonates with the people emerged? I must tell you, most of the strong among humans were killed by their own kind."

Zhou Ke'er chuckled and explained unhurriedly, showing no sign that he was talking nonsense: "By the way, they used to summon heroes without killing them first, so why do you think they'd kill you now? You can probably guess that, right?"

Seeing the boy's still puzzled look, Zhou Ke'er sighed and finally explained, "Do you know why humans don't summon heroes at the beginning of a war? It's because they are working on perfecting a formation that can imprint a slave mark on a human's soul, and you, who are summoned after death... are in a soul state."

The mark of slavery on the body can be forcibly broken with magic power, but the mark on the soul is indestructible unless your soul dissipates.

Now you know why the human alliance suffered such a crushing defeat, right? Because we broke the slave mark on the previous hero they summoned, and that hero naturally defected to our Demon King's army.

"This...no way! Is it really like this?!"

The boy was stunned for a while after hearing this before exclaiming in disbelief.

"Tch...the adult world isn't without its dark side..."

Cold-cooked Rabbit glanced at Zhou Ke'er, who wasn't even blushing or out of breath, and said something with a double meaning.

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168. The Great Rescue of the Heroes (Part 4)

They traveled in silence, accompanied by Long Aotian's astonishment mixed with a thoughtful expression and an eerie atmosphere of silence. Before long, they arrived at the boy's home.

Zhou Ke'er quickly and subconsciously surveyed her surroundings. It was a simple two-story house. The first floor had a fairly large living room, and she hadn't gone up to the second floor yet, but it was probably the bedroom.

There were only a few pairs of shoes with similar styles on the shoe rack by the door. These shoes were for the same age group and should all belong to the boy. It seems that there is no one else at home, which can also be seen from the fact that he brought a group of strange-looking guys home without any scruples.

Coffee, who had been lost in thought, perked up as soon as she entered the living room and saw the coffee on the long table. She quickly walked over and exclaimed, "Wow, I didn't expect to find a coffee pot here, and a filter pot too! So you don't just drink instant coffee, do you? Where are the coffee beans? What kinds are there?"

It sounds a bit boastful, but I'm actually quite confident in my blending skills... Ah, here are the coffee beans, would you mind if I used a little? Thanks, please wait and see my skills."

He talked on and on, and before the boy could answer, he had already started rubbing coffee in his hands.

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but complain in her heart that ghosts could actually touch physical objects. Then she helplessly explained to the boy, "That guy was a famous coffee master in his previous life. He was beheaded because he accidentally gave a bad review to a nobleman's handmade coffee."

He still has a certain obsession with coffee; he's even forgotten his own name, but he only remembers coffee. So we'll just call him that. We hope you won't mind. Thank you.

"I see... What a pitiful person. I never imagined that humans in your world were so miserable..."

The boy naturally believed him, glanced at the coffee with pity, and then looked at Zhou Ke'er and the others. "By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Aisaka Taiga, you can just call me Taiga. I'm currently a high school student. As you can see from my family situation, I live alone. My parents are away from home most of the time and only send money back regularly."

Cold-cooked Rabbit, who has a very low threshold for laughter, couldn't help but silently shrug her shoulders when she saw Taiga's pitying look.

"Wow, it's such a waste that this great name isn't actually a violent loli."

Zhou Ke'er subconsciously complained, but no one responded. They all stared at him blankly, not knowing what he meant. It's so hard without a straight man! The first day of missing Honghe, I miss her.

"No, it's nothing. My name is Zhou Ke'er, and my race is a succubus. If the war hadn't broken out, I should be studying at the Demon Realm Academy. It's just a pity that I can only enlist in the army now."

Zhou Ke'er coughed twice and made up some nonsense.

"Hmph, you can call me Long Aotian! I come from the noble vampire clan, and I joined the army to revitalize my declining family and accumulate military merits so that I could be ennobled!"

Long Aotian tossed his hair and tilted his head back. "Don't feel pressured because I'm too perfect. After all, I'm just an ordinary person who's a little more perfect. Even the wisest can make a mistake. Sometimes we need everyone's collective wisdom. Don't belittle yourselves or use inappropriate analogies. I won't blame you. Perfect people are always so generous and tolerant!"

After hearing Long Aotian's words, Leng Chi Tu trembled for a moment, her face turning pale from trying to suppress her laughter. Zhou Kexin even suspected that if she were to play a game with Long Aotian, she might laugh herself to death. She finally spoke, "You can call me Leng... uh, Leng Tu, yes, Leng Tu. As you can see, I am an undead, but I don't have any tragic past... tsk, why does that sound like an attempt to cover something up..."

After listening to Cold-Eat Rabbit's last whispered musings, and glancing discreetly at the stitches all over her body, Dahe immediately wore an "I understand, I understand" expression, looking at Cold-Eat Rabbit with great pity. "So that's how it is..."

"Let's stop with the small talk. We don't have much time left. We need to prepare a strategy to stall until the Human King is captured."

Before Dahe could say anything more, Zhou Ke'er stood up and said, "Do you have any electronic devices here that can connect to the internet? Some of the technology from this other world can come in handy."

"Yes, there are, but... do they have electronic devices in another world?"

Dahe looked quite surprised upon hearing this, but he immediately got up, walked to the table in the middle of the living room, rummaged through the drawers, found a tablet computer, and handed it to Zhou Ke'er: "There's also a desktop computer, it's in the bedroom upstairs."

"No, of course not. I just learned how to use it through the relevant documents. It's not difficult. By the way, in order to cause some trouble for those guys, we can call the police first. Whether it's reporting them for the damage they caused to public facilities there, or just finding some excuse to frame them, it will be enough to make them suffer. This will also give us more time to prepare."

Zhou Ke'er reached out and took the tablet computer, casually offering a reminder.

"But what if the police come to question and investigate?"

Cold-cooked rabbit raised a question.

"You, me, and coffee are too obviously distinguishable, so of course we can't show our faces. And if Dahe is taken away for further investigation, that would be troublesome too. So if the police really want to send someone to investigate, we can only send Long Aotian, whose features are not so obvious. What do you think? It should be a perfect solution, right?"

Zhou Ke'er immediately explained, and then turned to Long Aotian and asked him matter-of-factly.

"Of course, leave this to me, I'll take care of it!"

Long Aotian naturally agreed without hesitation.

"That's good. After all, with that commotion there, someone might have seen us leaving, which could lead to the police coming to investigate. It's better for us to take the initiative. That way, we'll have more control than if we're acting passively."

Zhou Ke'er nodded and offered a few more explanations while continuing to work on her hands. Although tablet computers are rarely used now that mobile devices like smartwatches are more common, Zhou Ke'er had briefly consulted Lin Wen, who was very knowledgeable about electronic devices, so using them was not a problem.

"It's finally finished, everyone please."

Just then, Coffee carefully brought over several steaming cups of coffee on a tray, looking at everyone with hopeful eyes.

Zhou Ke'er was busy, so she just took it and put it aside. Seeing this, Coffee couldn't help but look very aggrieved.

Seeing Coffee's expression, Taiga quickly took the coffee, took a small sip, and said, "Thank you, it's really good!"

"That's great! I was worried that people wouldn't like it! I'm so glad you like it!"

Upon hearing this, Coffee immediately broke into a bright smile.

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169. The Great Rescue of the Heroes (Part 5)

Just then, there was a rapid knocking on the door.

Dahe stood up in confusion and subconsciously went over and opened the door.

Zhou Ke'er was so focused that she was a beat slow to react that she didn't even have time to stop him—she should have made these oddly-shaped people hide first!

But it was too late. After the door was opened, a middle-aged man in a police uniform was revealed.

"Hello, I received a report that a recent explosion is related to you all... Uh, are you cosplaying?"

As the police officer explained, he subconsciously glanced at the people in the room. When he saw the strangely dressed Zhou Ke'er and the others, he couldn't help but ask a question.

Fortunately, Coffee was standing behind the sofa, which conveniently concealed his lower body. Otherwise, he would have been terrified to see Coffee floating in the air without feet.

"Damn it, those guys beat us to it! Looks like our opponents aren't so stupid after all... they even knew to use the police to cause us trouble..."

Zhou Ke'er frowned, but she wasn't too panicked.

"Ha, who told you that? Detective Conan? Officer, it's unreasonable to interrogate someone without evidence."

Dahe was startled for a moment, but immediately put on an innocent and teasing look.

"That's not necessarily true. Maybe we have a Sherlock Holmes in our police station too?"

Upon hearing Dahe's words, the police officer's smile faded slightly, and he replied with a hint of sharpness.

"Sherlock Holmes? Is that the boastful, clueless amateur detective who can't distinguish between fantasy and reality because he's on too many drugs?"

Zhou Ke'er stared at the tablet, her hands never stopping, and without looking up, she made a sarcastic remark.

"what?"

Before the police could say anything, Cold-Eating Rabbit was shocked. She knew of the existence of this great detective from the old era, and... she was a fan of Hollis!

Cold-Eating Rabbit immediately retorted indignantly, "Are you kidding me? He was known as the 'Walking Library' in the Old Era, a famous detective with rich experience and an extremely high IQ! How can you say such things about him? What's your basis for this?! What gives you the right to slander him so casually?"

Please, we're on the same team, okay? Don't fight amongst yourselves...

Zhou Ke'er glanced helplessly at Leng Chi Tu, seeing her unconvinced expression, and guessing that if she didn't answer her, she would probably be in trouble again, so she had no choice but to explain to her: "Evidence? There are too many examples. Let me just give you one, for example... well, in the 'Spotted Band Case,' the murderer put the snake in a safe and fed it milk, but obviously, in an airtight safe, the snake would naturally suffocate to death."

Okay, let's assume that special safe is ventilated and that the snake is so gifted that it can survive with just a little oxygen, but feeding the snake milk is still a bit ridiculous, isn't it?

It's important to understand that only when a mother secretes milk will her offspring drink it. So, generally speaking, only mammals drink milk. Snakes are reptiles, not aliens, nor do they belong to the unclassifiable special cases like platypuses. So how could they drink milk?

This is as absurd as feeding a child frogs and dragonflies.

And... using whistling to summon snakes... isn't that ridiculous? Snakes don't have external ears, so they can't hear whistles at all. That's basic knowledge, isn't it? Even junior and senior high school biology textbooks would state that, right?

This kind of nonsense story is completely fabricated. People addicted to cocaine often fantasize about strange and bizarre things, so I say he's just overdosed on drugs.

Oh, right, I also remembered he has a special skill: disguise. He often dresses up as an old lady to go out on the street, but do you know how tall he is? I remember he's about 1.85 meters tall. An old lady who's 1.85 meters tall walking on the street...

Just imagine that scene. Anyone who isn't an idiot or blind can see that it's a disguise, right?

So, I think his reasoning all started with wild speculation. Besides... he has a drug addiction, and when it flares up, he becomes as terrifying as a madman.

Didn't Watson himself say that if he tried to stop Holmes when he was having an outburst... the consequences would be unimaginable? You know Holmes is an amateur boxer, right? Watson might have been beaten up by him a few times, so he wouldn't dare to contradict him.

Even so, he dared not break off his friendship with Sherlock Holmes, because he made a living by writing about Holmes's crime-solving experiences!

Poor Watson could only endure Holmes's boasting and fantasies, continuing to live with him. Even though he knew all along that the old lady was Holmes in disguise, he could only pretend not to know, waiting for Holmes to approach him and loudly proclaim, "Ha! You didn't expect that, did you? It was actually me!" Then he would feign exaggerated surprise and admiration—all for the sake of making a living!

Once Zhou Ke'er started talking, she couldn't stop, rambling on and on before finally stopping, still feeling like she hadn't said enough.

"How...how dare you say such a thing!"