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

Zhou Ke'er's expression inexplicably became somewhat strange, but she didn't show it. At least, neither the human nor the ghost present noticed it—the edge of the pit just now, whether she saw it wrong or not... there was a piece of something that looked cold and pale, and it looked like a bone no matter how she looked at it... Although she only glimpsed it for a few seconds before the pit was covered up, Zhou Ke'er was absolutely certain that the thing was the leg bone of some animal!

Furthermore, even if you were to think like Psyduck with your butt, you'd know that those aren't animal bones, but human bones! —This is Sadako's world, the eerie forest she created; how could there possibly be living, dead beasts in it?! Absolutely impossible...

So it can only be human bones... As for where they came from... it's not like they would deliberately generate several human corpses or bones and bury them underground as decoration, right?

Could it be... that Sadako is still secretly killing people? No, since it's stipulated that they can't harm people, and based on all the existing information, the conclusion is indeed that "ghosts cannot harm humans under certain rules," so this can't be the case...

Stealing corpses from the cemetery? That's too bizarre a hobby; the chances are slim. So it can only mean... that a long time ago, or at least for a period of time, the rules allowed ghosts to harm humans, but for some reason, and at some point, it was suddenly prohibited...

If that's really the case, then this module has a much greater range of possibilities...

Tsk, this is really giving (Jenny) a headache.

"Alright, all done. Um... Mr. Joker, are you leaving now, or staying a little longer? Oh, by the way, it seems you don't have a place to stay in this city, right? How about we stay here for the night?"

Sadako casually restored the area to its original state, then turned to Zhou Ke'er and asked, "If you don't mind, please come down with me. I live in this dry well."

"Hey...she actually asked you to live with her! Could it be that you were actually favored by goblins after you cut your lip...wait? How come your face looks normal again? You definitely had your lip cut before!!"

Upon hearing this, Zhijiansha couldn't help but lean closer to Zhou Ke'er and whisper something. But halfway through her sentence, she was suddenly shocked to discover that... Zhou Ke'er's lip had been cut open just moments before, but now it was completely healed. She couldn't help but raise her voice slightly and exclaim in surprise.

"Huh? Is that so?!"

Upon hearing what Zhijiansha said, Zhou Ke'er subconsciously touched the corner of her mouth, and it actually returned to normal. It felt as if the section from the corner of her mouth to her ear had never had a crack—really, that was a style he had carefully designed (copied)!

"That's right, that's right, this is my special ability! Any entity or object that is included in my world can change its appearance during the world-traveling process under my control."

Upon hearing the last exclamation from the sand between the fingers, Sadako immediately nodded and explained, "I thought it wouldn't be good for Mr. Joker to have a scar on his mouth all the time, so I took the liberty of removing it for you. What do you think?"

"Uh, no objection, no objection, thank you very much."

Zhou Ke'er was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. This ability was practically a bug... Coupled with Sadako's ability to freely travel between her own worlds, it could be used for smuggling... ah, no... in short, how could someone with this ability be short of money? Just bring in a few pieces of paper, alter their appearance, and take them out—that's mass-producing counterfeit money, isn't it?

Even if paper money can't be mass-produced this way due to anti-counterfeiting serial numbers, coins can always be produced... or jewelry made of precious metals. In short... with this capability, as long as you want to make money, you'll never be poor...

Cough cough, got off to a great distance.

"You're welcome. Sadako is happy to be of help to Mr. Joker, especially since you gave me such a great method without asking for a penny. In that case, please come with me. My house is quite big."

Sadako waved her hand and then floated back into the dry well. Her voice came from inside: "By the way, is the lady who's with Mr. Joker human? Don't worry, you just need to jump down. There are mats laid out below, so you won't get hurt."

Well, you should have said so earlier. This put not only Zhijiansha at ease, but also Zhou Ke'er a little more at ease.

In short, I don't want to fall and get half-crippled, have my identity discovered... that would be too embarrassing.

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

212. Strange and Weird (Twenty-One)

"Tsk, those little brats are pretty fast..."

The flamingo, which had no expression, twitched the corners of its mouth down slightly in displeasure—or rather, it pouted.

It's really embarrassing that three adults could lose track of a bunch of kids... But at least they caught them and beat them up a few times, so it wasn't too bad.

"Hey...we've just wasted such a long time at the start of the game on this pointless stuff..."

Yawning listlessly, feeling drowsy and lethargic, she muttered, "Not only is it pointless, but it also yields no results... those brats still managed to escape..."

"Tch, as if you weren't the one who just beat up that brat and was having a blast, get lost."

Honghe glanced at Chun Kan and Qiu Fei with half-closed eyes, made a "go away" gesture, waved her hand at her, and spoke in an extremely irritating tone.

"Ahem, well... we're all teammates, stop arguing... you both have valid points, the brat needs to be disciplined, but it's also true that time was wasted..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang He quickly spoke up to dissuade them, "It's such a small matter, saying you have to climb is a bit too much..."

“I didn’t curse at her. Hu Yingjun also told Hu Tutu to crawl, which is a very normal expression of behavior. You’re overreacting.”

Honghe spoke to Zhang He with a completely expressionless and self-righteous demeanor, which seemed quite convincing.

"Hu Yingjun? Hu Tutu? What's that... uh? What kind of meme is this that I've never heard of before?"

Zhang He scratched his head, looking bewildered, but didn't dwell on it too much. "Anyway, as long as it's not an argument, that's good. Teammates arguing with each other isn't a beautiful thing, and teammates turning against each other is even uglier..."

Yes, I didn't swear at anyone, it was just a way of saying "I'm her father".

The flamingo silently thought this to herself, but didn't say it aloud. Instead, she felt a little bored—although there was a satisfying feeling of "I insulted you and you don't even understand" when she used insults, it got meaningless all the time... It's like when you're being sarcastic and someone thinks you're praising them...

Zhou Ke'er is more fun; he can pick up on any joke.

"Sigh, whatever, I didn't even know that... Anyway, although it's already quite late, we should at least start preparing now..."

Spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue prevented her from understanding the flamingo's joke. Besides, she was too busy dozing off, and... every time she saw the flamingo's expression, she always felt that this guy was plotting to steal her pillow, which was quite scary... so she was too lazy to delve into it, shook her head and suggested, but before she could finish speaking, she heard a violent shaking sound coming from around the corner ahead.

Upon hearing the noise, everyone instinctively turned to look in that direction. Despite the noise, vigilance was still necessary; safety was the most important thing.

Not long after, a hideous head that looked like a dog but was covered in scales and armor suddenly emerged from the street corner and stared straight at Honghe and his companions.

A very thick and long tongue... well, perhaps the word "mouth organ" would be more accurate. Because it was like a very resilient hollow straw, with a tiny hole in the middle of the top of this "mouth organ," from which a strange, dark blue, purulent substance flowed incessantly.

"Wow...the teeth of this thing...they really look like stars in the sky."

Upon seeing this, Honghe blurted out the answer instinctively.

"Huh? What kind of analogy is this? What does it have to do with stars... It's not similar at all!"

Seeing such a ferocious-looking monster, and feeling drowsy in spring and tired in autumn, he became much more alert as his sanity plummeted. He grumbled at the flamingo's analogy while immediately turning around and running away.

Incidentally, because of the flamingo's bizarre analogy, she couldn't help but subconsciously glance at that grotesque thing's teeth... and it disgusted her terribly...

Indeed, the fact that humans brush their teeth is one of the most heartwarming things in the world...

"...because his teeth were yellow and far apart."

Flamingo turned around and calmly followed Spring Sleepiness and Autumn Fatigue, answering in a serious tone, her voice clearly conveying a sarcastic tone: "Huh? No way, no way? Surely no one can miss such an obvious meaning? Is that all? Nine-fold discount Aquarius?"

"..."

Zhang He, standing to the side, couldn't help but rub his arms. Honghe's lame joke... actually had a cooling effect... now he wouldn't have to worry about global warming caused by taking a deep breath!

The God of War returned home, heard such a lame joke, and with a single command, 100,000 brothers...

Ugh, what the hell is all this stuff...?

Zhang He quickly shook his head. It was all those random push notifications; they kept popping up and aggressively trying to get his attention while he was using his communication bracelet, making these extremely annoying things keep popping into his head for no reason...

As the flamingo ran, it pondered deeply, even having the leisure to glance back and see if the monster was following.

Although that thing did look quite disgusting, for some reason, it gave her a strangely familiar feeling... as if she had often dealt with this kind of creature before. Looking at that thing's ferocious and terrifying appearance, she felt no fear at all, completely indifferent... and even had a slight urge to pat its head?

Kouqu, where did you get this bad habit from!

Well, before I even turned around, I didn't realize that the monster, which had disappeared from sight, had suddenly and inexplicably emerged from another corner.

Yes, the "angle," to be precise, is roughly the 90-degree angle at the bend at the end of the path, where it turns against the wall on the inside of the path. Uh, from the perspective of the flamingos outside, it should be 270 degrees... Of course, both ways of saying it are the same, it's not a big deal...

The main problem is, how can this monster just squeeze out from the corner of the wall?! There's no way you could outrun it... unless you sneak into a room with absolutely no "corners"?

Similar to the cornerless room in Final Destination 2 where the only surviving female protagonist locked herself in to survive?

Hey, something's not right, this is so strange... Why am I so sure that the monster came out of the so-called "horn"? Where did this preconceived notion come from?

Halfway through her thought, Red Crane suddenly realized something was wrong. Was she being too presumptuous? Indeed, in that brief glance, even if she saw the monster emerge from around the corner, shouldn't she have suspected it was something like "capable of traversing space" or "able to suddenly appear from hidden corners"?

Why assume without any reason that the monster emerged from a "horn"? And why does it seem like that's how it should be...?

Could I have seen something similar in a book before? No way... I have absolutely no recollection of a monster like this... It's definitely not something I've seen before...

But why does it feel so familiar?!

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle!!"

Just as the flamingo was wondering about itself, a violent cutting and tearing sound suddenly came.

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

213. Strange and Weird Things (Twenty-Two)

Shaking his head, Flamingo banished these absurd thoughts from his mind. After all, the most urgent task wasn't to delve into such unfounded suspicions, but to escape the monster's pursuit—this was too strange! Why were they caught in a vicious cycle of chasing or being chased right from the start?!

Wait a minute... something's not right. The flamingo, who had been turning around every now and then to check what was behind her, and hadn't actually tripped and fallen like in a melodramatic horror movie, gradually sensed that something was amiss...

Although the monster appeared extremely ferocious and menacing from the moment it appeared, and it did indeed keep approaching Red Crane and the others... it didn't seem to be chasing them?

Because it didn't even glance at the flamingos and their companions, but instead kept shuttling back and forth between the various "corners"... It only appeared to be getting closer to the flamingos and their companions because of its constant shuttling... If it were really chasing them, this monster wouldn't need to do this at all, because its movement speed is much faster than shuttling. If it had used the time it spent shuttling between the "corners" to chase the flamingos and their companions... it would have caught up with them long ago.

Judging from the level of deliberateness... is it a side quest or a main quest?

Thinking this, Flamingo subconsciously slowed her pace, wanting to see if she could strike up a conversation with the monster—to trigger a quest, one needs a fearless spirit!

It's like you're being chased by zombies, and suddenly you see a fallen woman covered in blood, crouching by the roadside, crying and covering her face. If you don't go up and strike up a conversation... are you even human?! (Sound)

Just then, from the last "corner space rift" opened by that monster, a very faint but somewhat miserable and hysterical scream came out: "Impossible! No—impossible! I, Cronus... I, Cronus, actually!"

"Hmph, there's only one reason you failed, a very simple answer... and that's because you appeared before me!"

A familiar, cheerful female voice rang out: "You've finally been resurrected, so why don't you just hide quietly and eke out a living? Do you have to try and cause some big trouble, as if you're afraid no one will find out you've been resurrected?"

But the other side did not respond, and even the screams had stopped.

"Oh? Isn't this... Tindalos, the little puppy? You sensed the spacetime fluctuations and came running? Okay, okay, it's nothing, go back now~ good boy~"

A head with silver hair and an extremely long, iconic ahoge (a cowlick) peeked out from the crack, reached out and touched the head of the monster... well, since she said so, let's just call it a dog, and coaxed it with a grin.

Ah... no wonder the voice sounded so familiar! Isn't that the guide NPC who appeared when we found the safe house in the main world?! Flamingo recognized him at a glance...

Wait, isn't this guy an NPC from the main world? Why is he suddenly appearing in this mod? And it seems he just killed someone who called himself Kronos?

Hmm...this name sounds familiar...

"Deadface... oh no, Flamingo! What are you standing there for! Run!"

Just then, Chunkunqiufa and Zhang He, who had long since disappeared around the corner, finally realized that Honghe had fallen behind. They had no choice but to turn back immediately. When they saw Honghe standing there unharmed, Chunkunqiufa couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and blurted out a question—almost revealing what was on his mind.

Although most of it has already been said.

The silver-haired girl seemed completely unaware that Red Crane was standing to the side. She patted the monster's head and then disappeared with the monster. So, all that Chun Kunqiu and Zhang He saw was Red Crane alone.

"Ah, the wisdom of mortals..."

Honghe turned to look at Chunkunqiufei and Zhang He, who had run back, a strange light flickering in her dead fish eyes—like, to put it bluntly, the eerie luster of glass poured into murky limewater—and casually pushed up her non-existent glasses. “Haven’t you noticed? That monster wasn’t coming for us at all… It’s so obvious, you could see it at a glance…”

"Ahhhhh!!"

Without warning, a piercing scream interrupted Honghe's words—Hey, hey, hey, what's going on! Why is there another scream?! Why did you interrupt me again?! Is this some kind of impromptu setting that suddenly came into effect?!

The flamingo, its voice interrupted, narrowed its dead-fish eyes in annoyance. The light in its eyes dimmed as if it had been filled with carbon dioxide, revealing a dangerous aura.