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

The biggest difference between him and me in this respect is that I can reason with people, while Zhou Ke'er will first beat them up or use tricks to render them powerless before trying to reason with them.

"..."

Standing to the side, Zhang He was speechless—he began to doubt whether he had made a mistake by associating with this group of unreliable, and seemingly mentally unstable, people.

"...Perhaps. Although you might think I'm just using 'protecting humanity' as an excuse to satisfy myself...my actions did serve that purpose, and...I didn't use it as an excuse to force your gratitude, so...even if I was indeed satisfying myself, it doesn't hurt, does it?"

A twisted yet strangely relieved smile spread across the clown's comical face: "I know my place perfectly well. You all know what I'm doing, right... You're familiar with the story of the clown, the knight, the prince, and the princess, aren't you?"

"All knights are only fit to protect"... The knight chose to protect the princess, but the princess chose the prince... In the end, only the wounded knight was left.

However, even though the knight cannot win the princess's love, there are still others who understand him and pity him... Only the clown, no matter how much he gives, is just a clown forgotten by everyone.

So... from the moment I chose to abandon being a true human being and become what I am now, I was already prepared to become an incomprehensible, lowly "clown."

"Hey! I can't pretend I didn't hear that!"

Just as Honghe was about to squint and ask, "Huh? So what you're saying has to do with the watermelon salad and burgers we were just discussing?", a very arrogant voice suddenly came from somewhere—hearing the voice before seeing the person, and Honghe knew immediately that it was Zhou Ke'er with that familiar, smug tone.

Then Zhou Ke'er appeared on the low wall on the side of the road at some point, her hands gripping the top of the wall, her head resting on her right arm, and said very unhappily: "Willing to be humble is only your own business, don't drag the whole clown group into it, kora!!"

"You bastard who makes excuses for his own insignificance and ruins the reputation of an entire group—get lost!"

Just kidding. Zhou Ke'er had just passed by the street next door, intending to buy some paints and oil paints to continue his cosplay career. He happened to hear what sounded like a flamingo's voice from the side. He instinctively climbed up the wall to check the situation. Before he even showed himself, he heard this clown's self-deprecating remarks, which made him laugh in anger.

What? You're asking why Zhou Ke'er was just with Sadako? Why is she suddenly here again?

...

Who would have thought that the dry well wasn't filled with the gloomy decorations one might expect, but rather with a pink and delicate color scheme, looking just like a normal, ordinary girl's room!

If we let Zhou Ke'er sleep in that pink and dingy place for one night... no, no, no, let's spare him.

"Who are you?!...A ghost or a human?"

The clown was startled when he saw Zhou Ke'er suddenly appear on the wall. He couldn't help but ask what was wrong and took two steps back warily. He immediately noticed the cut corner of Zhou Ke'er's mouth... Clearly, Zhou Ke'er had cut it herself after leaving Sadako's place. The blood flow was huge, which scared Zhijian Sha so much that he almost thought she was possessed by some kind of ghost and was going to commit suicide.

The clown, startled by Zhou Ke'er's smile, subconsciously glanced at the dead woman on the ground.

"Huh? Isn't that the Slit-Mouthed Woman?... Oh, why is she lying on the ground? She's so dirty. What happened here? Who's this guy trying to steal my role? Hey, Red Crane?"

Zhou Ke'er noticed the clown's subtle movements and glanced over, only to be surprised to find that the woman lying on the ground with half her face exposed was none other than the Slit-Mouthed Woman whose scissors she had just stolen... no, borrowed! She couldn't help but ask, but as soon as she uttered the words "Red Crane"...

"Hey! What are you doing?! I'm going to fall! I'm going to fall! Ouch! Ouch! I bit my tongue... Ah Sha, what are you doing?! If you're holding me up, don't suddenly move around!"

Suddenly, Zhou Ke'er felt the sand between his fingers, which had been supporting him as he climbed up the wall, inexplicably let go without warning. Caught off guard, Zhou Ke'er lost his support and his short legs immediately dangled in the air. Caught off guard, his chin, which was resting on his right arm, slammed into the low wall with a "crack" sound and a muffled "ooh ooh ooh" of pain.

"It's all your fault! Don't use such misunderstood terms of address in front of the flamingos!"

Seeing Zhou Ke'er clinging to the wall with both hands, her chin hitting the wall but not having a spare hand to rub it, and still having tears streaming down her face due to her physical reaction despite having lowered her pain threshold, Zhijiansha could only helplessly step forward to help: "Also... if you can't hold on, then get down! Can't you take a detour?!"

"Waaaah, what's wrong with that nickname?! How did it cause any misunderstanding?! And... why can't I say it in front of the flamingos? I don't understand what you're saying at all..."

With the help of the sand between her fingers, Zhou Ke'er finally jumped down, squatted on the ground, held her chin in her hands, and looked at the sand between her fingers with teary eyes, complaining.

"....???"

The clown on the other side of the wall never expected things to turn out this way. This suddenly appearing ghost... seems to be a little dim-witted?

However... it seems he recognizes this group of people, as well as the monster he just killed.

Are humans and ghosts on good terms? ...How come he's never heard of this kind of ghost before? There's no information about this ghost on the organization's assassination list...

"...That really has Zhou Ke'er's style."

Flamingo stared with dead fish eyes and couldn't help but complain.

Because I was dozing off, I didn't see anything. I was completely dazed and confused, with no idea what had happened.

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217. Strange and Weird Things (Twenty-Six)

"Is that...someone you know? Or a ghost?"

The clown pointed suspiciously to the wall where Zhou Ke'er had been lying and asked Honghe and the others.

"Of course it's people..."

Seeing that neither Honghe nor Chunkunqiufei spoke, Zhang He had no choice but to answer himself: "Although he seemed a bit strange at first glance... he probably just had a sudden urge to play role-playing games or something... he is indeed a human."

"Beep beep"

Just then, the clown heard a few ringtones in his pocket. He instinctively took out his phone, opened it, and glanced at it.

"An urgent alert from the organization?... This!!"

The clown's expression shifted comically several times in a few seconds. He glanced incredulously at the wall where Zhou Ke'er had been perched, then suddenly turned wary towards Hong He and the others, gritting his teeth and roaring, "I never expected it to be like this! Damn ghosts, I almost fell for your tricks! Damn it... I actually trusted you just now, and I was right... Ghosts are all untrustworthy, you damn scum!"

"???"

Zhang He stared blankly at the clown who had suddenly changed his expression. The clown looked wronged, making Zhang He almost doubt whether he was actually a ghost. "What are you talking about... We're ghosts? How dare you slander me like this!"

"Speaking of which... I'm actually quite curious, how exactly do you distinguish between humans and ghosts? Not to mention humans, can ghosts themselves distinguish between other... uh, are they human or ghost?"

Seeing the clown's inexplicable change of expression, Honghe guessed it must be related to Zhou Ke'er. Although she didn't know what Zhou Ke'er had done, since he was already here, he must have a solution to this situation. Perhaps he came for this very reason. "If we were ghosts, could it be that you couldn't tell the difference? Does that mean you distinguish between humans and ghosts entirely based on appearance and words?... That's too inaccurate, isn't it?"

"Speaking of which, I'm quite curious about this too. If they can't distinguish, how do ghosts tell whether their target is another of their own kind that they can attack, or a human that they can't harm?"

Zhou Ke'er's voice came from the wall again. With the help of the sand between his fingers, he finally climbed up the wall with great effort. He squatted on it, panting, and asked, "Speaking of which, how exactly is the rule that ghosts and monsters cannot harm humans determined? Although I have asked others this question, they have never answered me."

The strangest question is: how exactly is intentional harm distinguished from deliberate harm? And how is the degree of harm determined? Is the harmful act prevented during its commission, or is it punished afterward? And if the former, how is the harmful act prevented before it causes any consequences?

The clown was momentarily stunned by Zhou Ke'er's question. He subconsciously began to think about the series of questions she had asked, but he quickly realized that... he couldn't even tell whether others were human or ghosts, so how could he possibly know how these rules worked?

But he immediately realized—this wasn't the time to dwell on such things! The short, strange-looking guy squatting on the wall in front of him... was actually a terrifying monster who could disregard the rule that "ghosts cannot harm humans" and had brutally killed a human right in front of the organization's members!

This message was relayed to the organization by a member who had barely escaped death at the hands of the enemy... Moreover, according to him, the reason he survived might be because the enemy was too lazy to do anything, or... deliberately left him to inform the organization, which was actually a declaration of war... or even that they completely disregarded the organization!

Thinking this, the clown cautiously glanced at Zhou Ke'er again. That's it, male, with a lip cut to the earlobe, wearing a suit, and speaking incoherently... all the features matched, this was the monster in front of him!

It's said that the organization had already sent the human group they had just partnered with to hunt him down, but despite finding absolutely no trace of him escaping, they searched the entire company and still came up empty-handed, as if he had vanished into thin air... This further proves just how terrifying this guy's strength is. I never expected him to actually appear here now!

Big crisis!

The clown was terrified by his own imagination. Although he had long been prepared to sacrifice himself, he had envisioned that... before the instructions were leaked, the cleansing plan would not be completed as scheduled, and he would have to fight the remaining ghosts in the end... but he never expected to encounter such danger here!

Moreover... according to the information relayed by the organization, if this one ghost in front of him is this dangerous, then what about the ghosts beside him who are clearly acquaintances, the ones he just mistook for humans...?

No wonder, I was just wondering why this guy not only got along well with humans but also knew ghosts... Turns out there were no humans at all, they were all ghosts!

These guys... are so insidious!

The clown grew angrier the more he thought about it, feeling his tender heart wounded. He glared resentfully at Red Crane and the others—but... even in this certain death situation, he hadn't given up! He had just sent a distress signal to the organization—though he didn't know why they hadn't stopped him from using his phone; perhaps they simply didn't care?

All he can do now is stall for time! As long as he can hold out until the organization sends reinforcements to surround and wipe out all these monsters, that's enough!

"...I have a feeling you're thinking about something rude?"

Zhou Ke'er looked at the clown's very interesting expression and couldn't help but scratch her head.

"Hey! Pull me up here too! Don't just climb up and leave me here!"

Zhijiansha looked up at Zhou Ke'er, who was squatting on the wall with her back to her and hadn't moved for a long time. Finally, she frowned and complained.

"Huh?! You're still here..."

Zhou Ke'er carefully turned her body to the side and looked at the sand between her fingers in surprise.

"??? I haven't left yet? Where am I going?"

The sand between her fingers revealed a question mark face.

"...No way, no way, you don't think I can just squat on the wall and drag you up here, do you?"

Zhou Ke'er looked at the sand between her fingers in surprise. "First of all, my arms aren't that long... Secondly... you're too heavy! I can't pull you! So you'd better just take a detour. People should have some self-awareness."

"???"

Finger Sand stared in shock at the shameless Zhou Ke'er. "To be honest, your level of shamelessness is truly eye-opening..."

"Hey, thanks for the compliment~"

Zhou Ke'er grinned—though her smile looked rather menacing.

"..."

Seeing that the clown seemed to have no intention of making a move, and that Zhou Ke'er, without him even trying to stall for time, had already started rambling on about completely unrelated things, she couldn't help but begin to wonder if she had mistaken a ghost for someone else...

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218. Strange and Weird Things (Twenty-Seven)

"Oh, by the way... if I'm not mistaken, you... are a member of that organization, right?"

After dismissing the fuming Finger Sand who had taken a detour, Zhou Ke'er suddenly turned to the Clown, grinning from ear to ear, and asked, "Did you kill Miss Slit-Mouth?"

No matter what, even if he didn't notice the woman lying on the ground was dead at first glance, it's impossible that he still wouldn't notice now. In addition, considering the scene where this guy was vaguely confronting Honghe and the others, it's not hard to deduce that he killed the woman.

Zhou Ke'er had just met that woman, the Slit-Mouthed Woman, and knew she was a demon. Demons have no reason to kill each other—although there's a slight possibility, it's negligible.

In that case, the conclusion is quite obvious—since he is human and looks a bit strange, and may have some special abilities, he is most likely related to the "organization" he heard about at the Ghost Electric Company.

"!"

Xiao Caiyan was almost stunned for a moment—he thought Zhou Ke'er hadn't noticed, and was worried that Honghe and the others might tell Zhou Ke'er about the "organization" he had accidentally let slip. He never expected that she would figure it out herself...

Big crisis!

But... if that's the case, why did this guy let him use his phone to tip off others? Shouldn't he have just come up and taken him out?

...That's right! The clown instantly recalled the information described by the organization member who had barely survived and was spared... This guy in front of him, although very strange, didn't seem to have much intention to harm them... But he was ruthless when it came to humans. Could it be that because their current state could be considered somewhat like ghosts rather than humans, he didn't attack them?

Indeed... based on his own statements relayed back, the "Glory" organization he belongs to wants to revive the glory of goblins... so it's understandable that they don't target the goblins...

Zhou Ke'er watched as the clown's expression changed several times after hearing her question, yet he remained silent and hesitant to answer. She wondered what he was thinking and impatiently suppressed her smile: "Well... if you don't answer, then I'll take that as a yes~"

Speaking of which... as a fellow Joker, although your appearance is completely unfit, well... I'll just quietly tell you a secret about your organization~

"A...secret?!"

Xiao Fanyan was startled. He didn't even think about what Zhou Ke'er meant by "fellow Jokers." Instead, he was shocked that Zhou Ke'er actually knew their organization's so-called "secrets"? Had their intelligence network spread to this extent? Or was there a mole or a traitor within the organization?

Indeed, although the members of the organization all joined with the idea of ​​saving humanity, after gaining superhuman abilities and no longer being normal humans, it is inevitable that some members will have some thoughts that they should not have.

If that's the case... wouldn't that be like the entire organization being stripped naked and exposed to them?

"Actually... the leader of your organization..."