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

As Zhou Ke'er casually made up her story, she glanced down—ah, it felt a bit high... It wouldn't be good to jump down like this; she might twist her leg, sprain her ankle, or even break a bone... So she decided to stay in her current position for now... Squatting like this was actually quite tiring. "Your organization's leader is actually a legitimate ghost, you know~"

"A legitimate...ghost? What does that mean?"

The clown didn't react for a moment and asked in confusion.

"Tsk, you guys don't even know the origin of ghosts and monsters?"

Zhou Ke'er put on a disgusted expression, then began to lie without any shame, rambling on and on, "The formation of ghosts and monsters can be roughly divided into two types: one is naturally formed, and the other is man-made... and most man-made ghosts and monsters are transformed from humans."

For example... well, the more famous Sadako and Kayako, right? Through their stories and legends, it's clear that they were transformed from humans after death.

As for naturally formed ghosts and monsters, such as the spirits and monsters in myths and legends, like the kappa, the cat demon, and the fox spirit.

Speaking of which... don't you think that your situation of transforming from humans into something resembling a ghost is quite similar to the first type of ghost's formation, which is artificially created?

"..."

Honghe glanced at Zhou Ke'er's confident demeanor and knew that she wasn't telling the truth. She was probably just making things up to deceive others, which was really despicable.

"Wh...what do you mean? So what does this have to do with our organization's leader?"

The clown was confused. Although Zhou Ke'er's explanation sounded reasonable, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the so-called secret he had just mentioned.

"Tsk, what I mean is..."

Seeing the clown's puzzled look, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but shake her head—couldn't these villains be a little smarter? How come their IQs are about the same as a cold-cooked rabbit? They've already explained things so clearly, yet they keep asking "What's going on?" "What do you mean?"... Oh right, they might not even be villains.

"Heh...don't you understand? That's right. You only know that ghosts and monsters might harm humans, so you just think about eliminating them without ever trying to understand them. Although you could say that your leader deliberately led you this way, your own mentality is also very problematic..."

Honghe glanced at Zhou Ke'er's helpless expression and continued for him, her meaning quite clear—don't act like you're the smartest and everyone else is stupid. This is nothing, she could easily handle it. "Obviously, you don't know that there is a kind of ghost in the East called 'Changgui'."

There is a Chinese idiom, "to act as an accomplice to a tiger," which means that a person killed and enslaved by a tiger-like monster will transform into a "monster-like being" who obeys that monster's commands...

"That's right~"

Zhou Ke'er raised an eyebrow and glanced at the eloquent Honghe. Although this wasn't the excuse he had just come up with, it seemed quite suitable after hearing Honghe's explanation. As expected of Honghe, she was the only one who could calmly follow his train of thought. "The ancient book from the old era, Taiping Guangji, says: 'The Changgui is a person who is eaten by tigers, and he shouts in front of tigers.'"

So... don't you think that your organization's situation is actually very similar to this legend?

Ha... to grant humans abilities similar to ghosts, without even needing to "create urban legends" or spread rumors about the existence of ghosts like you among humans... Is there really such a good thing? You don't think ghosts are so easy to create, do you?

The answer is clear... Your leader is nothing more than a monster with abilities similar to those of a tiger-like demon... You are all his "accomplices"!

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219. Strange and Weird (Twenty-Eight)

"!!!"

On a street corner not far away, a man leaned against the wall, covering his mouth with his hand, his face full of shock—he had just been chased by ghosts and monsters, and in his panic, he had become separated from his teammates who had entered the module together. He never expected to overhear such a shocking secret by chance!

There was no doubt that this was absolutely related to the main storyline of this module! He held his breath, stealthily peeked out from the street corner, and carefully noted down the faces of everyone present. Then he withdrew, took a deep breath, and tiptoed away from this dangerous place—he was still somewhat self-aware; this situation was clearly not one he could get involved in. He should just jot down the information and leave quickly! Otherwise, being too greedy would leave him with nothing!

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

"No...impossible! Absolutely impossible! You can't fool me!"

The clown remained silent for a long time before staggering back several steps, shaking his head repeatedly. He said, "Suddenly, someone told me that what he had always insisted on and was proud of was nothing but a ridiculous lie, a trap... How could he possibly believe it so easily? Even if he did believe it, he couldn't believe it!"

"Don't believe me? It's actually quite simple to prove this... If you're not a ghost but a human, then ghosts can't harm you, and if you're a ghost and not a human, then you can't harm humans... Just verify it this way, and it'll be obvious, won't it?"

Half-asleep and half-awake, feeling drowsy from the spring and tired from the autumn, she roughly understood what Zhou Ke'er and Honghe were saying. Although she didn't understand why they were doing this, "three men can make a tiger," and the more people who persuaded her, the more credible it would be. So she joined in the deception, saying, "If it can be proven that you are no longer human but a ghost... then you should believe it, right? After all... someone who can turn humans into ghosts... even if it's not the tiger demon we just talked about, it's definitely some kind of special ghost."

"Impossible! This doesn't make sense! If our organization's leader is a ghost, then why would he order us to hunt ghosts to protect humanity, and even intercept the order that allows ghosts to harm people?! This is illogical!"

The clown retorted fiercely, glancing subtly at his phone, which was tucked in his pocket with its screen peeking out slightly. He was secretly anxious about why the reinforcements hadn't arrived yet, but his face still showed a look of worry.

"Oh dear...it seems you're stalling for time? Why don't you believe me? I'm clearly an honest and reliable good boy who never lies."

Zhou Ke'er pulled a phone out of her pocket, casually tapped it, and glanced at the clown. "Are you tipping off your organization? Sorry, but you're being way too obvious..."

Also, I really want to complain... Is your organization's contact person out of their mind? The person using this phone and this communication account is already dead, and they haven't kicked her out immediately... Isn't this blatantly letting me spy on them? Could it be that my undercover agent in your organization has become the contact person? I haven't heard of that~"

The phone in Zhou Ke'er's hand was the one that Long Aojiao had taken from her after she died—she hadn't even turned off the communication interface before she died. If she still couldn't find out... then Zhou Ke'er probably needed to grab a spoon and stir her brain. Maybe that would make her a little smarter.

"Wh...what do you mean? You...wait, it can't be...this..."

At first, the clown was confused when Zhou Ke'er took out her phone and said some inexplicable things, but he quickly realized what was going on. His face turned pale and his voice trembled so much that he couldn't finish speaking. How could he not understand? It was obvious that the terrifying monster in front of him had already taken control of the organization's communication channels and was just toying with him!

Wait a minute... if that's the case, then it really does mean their intelligence sources are very accurate... they even have communication channels, so who knows... those so-called secrets they just mentioned might actually be... true!!

No, we absolutely cannot stay here any longer! They saw right away that we were stalling for time, yet they didn't even try to stop us, just waiting nonchalantly as if watching a monkey show... They're clearly fearless! If reinforcements really arrive, the organization will be in danger! It's even possible... the reinforcements who come are... spies they sent!

Just as the clown, whose pupils dilated in shock, was about to turn and run, Finger Sand, who had run a long way around, came panting, one hand on the wall and the other on his hip. He walked around the other corner and stood in front of the group. He took a breath and pointed in the direction they had come from: "Over there... phew... there was a house over there that suddenly made a crackling sound, like something was fighting. Let's go check it out... maybe it's related to the play."

Finger Sand originally wanted to say the word "plot", but after glancing at the clown who had turned around and was about to run away but was frozen in place when he saw Finger Sand, he changed his words.

"That's it!..."

Before Zhou Ke'er and the others could say anything, the clown couldn't help but exclaim in surprise upon hearing Zhijiansha's words—although the location Zhijiansha mentioned wasn't clear, he was certain without hesitation which one she was referring to, because... the ghosts living in that house, "Saeki Toshio" and "Kayako," were also on the organization's assassination list for tonight!

It's quite obvious... It must be that a member of some organization was on a mission when this female ghost happened to discover him!

Oh no! What should we do now? If he just runs away recklessly, even if he manages to escape, the member on the mission in that house is definitely going to die. But if he tries to warn or rescue him... don't be ridiculous, he's already in dire straits himself!

The clown stood frozen in place, utterly stunned—why was this happening? Was this destined...?

"Oh, is that so? Interesting, I can't miss this~ What kind of ghosts are in the house? Let me think... Kayako? Hmm... or something I've never heard of?"

Zhou Ke'er became interested upon hearing this, immediately stood up, and walked forward along the narrow low wall. "Asha, I've decided on you! Lead the way!"

"Uh... what about this guy?"

Sand between Fingers paused for a moment, then pointed at the clown.

"Huh? Why should we care about him? He has nothing to do with us... He's just a fake clown."

Zhou Ke'er shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Anyway, I don't acknowledge that this kind of thing can be called a clown."

Red Crane followed without a word, thinking to herself: Finger Sand's thinking is still a step behind. But I can't blame her, after all, she wasn't here just now and didn't hear everyone's speech. Zhou Ke'er obviously wanted to put the clown back and cause turmoil within that so-called organization... If she said it out loud, it would be useless.

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220. Strange and Weird Things (Twenty-Nine)

Let's go back to a short time ago.

Inside Kayako's cozy (crossed out) haunted house, Cold-Eat Rabbit and Toshio the Imp were arguing and trash-talking each other. Just as Cold-Eat Rabbit was about to lose because of her good manners, a pitch-black thing, which was moving so fast that she couldn't see what it was for a moment, shot straight at her.

Not to mention Kayako, the homebody who was sprawled on the sofa and had lost all her dreams, even Toshio and the noisy rabbit themselves didn't react.

Only Chen Tian could barely keep up with the speed of the sudden attack, but due to her position, she had no way to block the attack for Lengchitu in time.

Just as Lengchitu was belatedly realizing what was happening and instinctively preparing to dodge, the black thing, for some reason, suddenly made a turn in the air and pierced into the floor with a "crackling" sound, directly piercing a small hole in the wooden floor.

"I... Screw Kepler's Third Law of the Banana Boat!"

Cold-cooked Rabbit was so startled that it didn't even know what weird thing came out of its mouth. It quickly hid behind Junxiong, the little devil, and shouted, "Hey, hey, hey, that's too much! Don't resort to personal attacks when you can't win an argument! That violates the international convention on arguing!"

"...Let's not even talk about whether I did it or not...You're the one who clearly lost the argument! Don't you dare stage this and frame me, you brat! Don't you know how to respect your elders?!"

Junxiong was so angry at Lengchitu's words that his pale face regained color.

"Stop arguing! This was clearly a malicious attack. I don't know why it missed, but... you all saw the strength of that attack, right? It even pierced through the floor. If it had hit you..."

Seeing that Junxiong and Lengchitu were about to start arguing again, ignoring the sudden crisis, Chen Tian had no choice but to loudly remind them—she had been staring at that dark thing, and saw it retract at an extremely fast speed, but this time she finally saw clearly what it was...

"It's hair!"

"It's hair..."

Chen Tian and Kayako, who was slumped on the sofa and motionless, said in unison.

Well... after all, Kayako is a master of hair-making. Showing off your hair in front of her is like bragging to Mu Susu that you're crazy and praising your courage to Feng Bujue!

"Tsk... I actually missed? No... there was some external force blocking me... They even have this kind of ability, it's not in the intelligence... Are they other ghosts who came to visit?"

Just then, a man with a cold yet strangely beautiful appearance slowly emerged from the shadows. He gently stroked his long hair while looking helpless. "Honestly, can't you give me some accurate information... It's really difficult to fight four people at once."

Hey, hey, hey, it's obviously not like what you said! If it were really difficult, you should have run away as soon as you failed to land a hit, or even just slipped away when you saw there were too many people, without even making a move! But look at you now, not only did you make a move, but you also walked out of there with an air of nonchalance, casually saying something like "Oh no, this is bad" without any real thought. You obviously think you're very confident!

Seeing this, Lengchitu couldn't help but mentally complain, thinking that this guy might have some common topics with Zhang He, such as hair care.

"Tsk, forget it... I'd better finish this quickly and go home..."

The man glanced at the wary Cold-Cooked Rabbit and Chen Tian, ​​as well as Kayako, who was sprawled on the sofa with no intention of moving, then yawned listlessly. He was manipulating his hair, preparing to give the Cold-Cooked Rabbit, who had inexplicably escaped death, another whack...

Wait a minute? Where did that pale-faced, naked exhibitionist brat go?

"click click"

"Young man, listen to my advice as someone who's been there: boys shouldn't keep their hair this long, it's really a hassle... I'll just solve it for you, no need to thank me."

Just then, the sound of scissors cutting hair rang out. Before the man could react, Junxiong had somehow slipped behind him, even pulling out a pair of scissors from somewhere and tidying up his hair.

"puff"

The professional, who wished to remain anonymous and never smiled, couldn't help but chuckle.

"...You dare...you dare cut my hair?! You dare cut my hair!!"

Hearing the ominous sound, the man incredulously touched his hair... His once waist-length hair was now haphazardly cut, with the shortest sections barely the width of a fingernail. He immediately flew into a rage, "This is... my carefully tended hair! You bastard! You damned brat, I'm going to show you what a beating from an adult is like! I'll nourish my hair with your blood!"

"Um... it's a little embarrassing to say. Actually... I don't have any blood."

After making a few cuts, Junxiong, the little devil who had sneaked back to the Cold-Cooked Rabbit early in the morning, solemnly reminded him, then pointed to the Cold-Cooked Rabbit that was still slurping, "This guy has some fresh blood on him, why don't you try using hers?"

"Hey! You brat!!"

Cold-cooked Rabbit was so angry that it immediately stopped spitting and pretended to teach Junxiong a lesson.

When Junxiong saw the man's short hair suddenly grow back and stab him fiercely, he cleverly hid behind Lengchitu.

"I'm so impressed!"

Cold-cooked Rabbit was quite frightened, because the hair seemed to have a malfunctioning GPS, and it stabbed towards her in the direction that Junxiong was dodging!

Oh no, at this speed... there's no way to dodge it!

Unexpectedly, Junxiong was so shameless. Lengchitu, who used her as a shield, had no time to dodge and could only try to adjust her position in a very short time to avoid being hurt in vital areas.

However....

"Pfft!"

The expected injury and pain did not come. Just as that strand of hair was about to pierce the cold-cooked rabbit, it suddenly stopped abruptly and changed direction without warning, piercing the ground.

"What...what's going on?!"