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

"Swish!" "Snap, snap!"

Accompanying Zhou Ke'er's lecture was a series of sounds of holes being punched through the floor, like background music, but it was really noisy.

"...Hey, hey, hey, have you no manners?! What have you done to other people's floors? And can't you see I'm giving a lecture? Stop making a racket and smash your head in!"

Zhou Ke'er finally couldn't hold back any longer and turned to look at the man angrily. She rolled up her sleeves and strode towards him aggressively. Without exception, all the long hairs that were thrusting at him were buried in the floor one after another.

"Tsk...this hair...they really don't know how to take care of it..."

Zhang He frowned in disgust. "This way of abusing hair and not taking care of it is really ugly!"

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! How could this happen! Why!"

The closer Zhou Ke'er got, the more panicked the man became. He had never encountered this situation before—because he had never tried to harm a human—and now that the door was blocked, he couldn't escape. He didn't know what to do.

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223. Strange and Weird (Thirty-Two)

"Excuse me, there's Accelerator right in front of here!"

Zhou Ke'er laughed arrogantly as she walked slowly toward the man, casually waving her hand forward. Countless strands of hair seemed to be bounced away by an invisible force, changing direction abruptly without warning.

"..."

Cold-Eating Rabbit stared at Zhou Ke'er speechlessly. This guy... although he didn't know how he could tell the ghost in front of him couldn't harm humans the moment he walked in, this way of treating "rules" as his own ability and showing off so smugly... it was just so shameful! Didn't this guy realize how overpowering the smell was at all?!

"That's about enough..."

Just then, Kayako, who had been slumped on the sofa and too lazy to move, sighed and slowly sat up. Countless long, black hairs exuding a cold aura not only spread out from her head, but also, for some reason, slid rapidly towards the man from every dark corner of the house, like venomous snakes poised to pounce.

The man's prized hair was no match for Kayako's. He was quickly defeated by Kayako's hair attack, and soon he was completely wrapped up in Kayako's hair into a cocoon-like thing, with only his head showing.

"Ugh...I'm going to go bald..."

Upon seeing this, Zhang He couldn't help but show a look of disgust, his scalp tingling—this way of using hair...it was truly disgusting to him.

Seeing this, the flamingo, who had been mostly silent, couldn't help but furrow her brow almost imperceptibly. She stroked her chin, thinking to herself, "This ghost doesn't seem surprised at all by this scene, and judging from her skillful handling... she's definitely solved many similar cases..."

Since she dared to make a move, it means she was absolutely certain that the creature in front of her wasn't a harmless human, but rather a monster capable of attacking...

But the female ghost who was killed on that path was clearly killed by that clown because she didn't dare fight back...

Furthermore, although the clown didn't say it explicitly, he implicitly admitted it... and from his behavior, we can infer that whether human or ghost, it's impossible to identify someone's identity until they have obvious characteristics or reveal themselves...

So how did she discover that "the people who attacked her weren't human but monsters"? After all, these people kept insisting they were human...

"Isn't that strange?"

Just then, Zhou Ke'er, who had secretly slipped back at some point, approached Honghe and, as if she could read Honghe's mind, whispered, "Judging from how this guy's hair bounced off just before it touched me, it seems that ghosts' attempts to harm humans are stopped in time by some inexplicable force..."

And think about the incident you just encountered where the clown killed the Slit-Mouthed Woman... According to your description, in that level of pushing and shoving, even if the Slit-Mouthed Woman was mentally challenged, she would have realized that her actions that "could potentially harm" the other person were not being stopped...

Even after all this, can't you see that the other party is actually not human but a ghost?

The only explanation is... they weren't even aware that "actions to harm humans could be stopped in this way." But then, the problem arises...

If they don't even know the two crucial questions of "how to stop harming humans" and "what the consequences of harming humans will be," then why should they voluntarily abide by the rules?

"So, you mean...?"

Honghe turned to look at Zhou Ke'er and caught a glimpse of the crack at the corner of Zhou Ke'er's mouth. Her eyelids twitched almost imperceptibly, but she didn't seem particularly curious about it—it couldn't have been caused by anyone else anyway, and ghosts couldn't harm humans. Only Zhou Ke'er herself would do something so inexplicable.

"Shh...we'll talk about it later. Let's look over there first."

Zhou Ke'er was halfway through her sentence when she winked mysteriously, put a finger to her lips, and said with a grin. Then she looked towards Kayako and the man.

"..."

The flamingo, expressionless, squinted in that direction, muttering under its breath in annoyance, "Leaving things unfinished will bring you endless misfortune..."

"...You're sent by that weird organization again, aren't you? I really don't understand... We ghosts are already restricted to this state by the rules, and you guys are still thinking about exterminating us all... It's one thing to think about exterminating us all, but you keep coming up with terrible ideas..."

Junxiong, looking utterly smug, stood before the man wrapped up like a cocoon, and said with a look of utter exasperation, "If you want to kill ghosts, then don't even mention that directly eradicating urban legends—that's the best approach—even training a group of strong humans to attack the ghosts would be better. At least you'd be bound by the rule that they can't be harmed..."

What you're doing now is... "using ghosts to fight ghosts"? It might work a little against weaker ghosts, but against someone like us... you might as well commit suicide and then call the police to frame us.

This is what you call a brilliant scheme your organization has been planning for so long? That's truly laughable!

Upon hearing this, the man's angry expression froze for a moment, gradually transforming into a strange and indescribable look of shock mixed with confusion.

"We know why that's the case!"

Just then, unexpectedly, Zhang He suddenly spoke up. He glanced at Zhou Ke'er and Hong He, nodded, and then said with great certainty, "My two companions have learned a shocking secret through special intelligence channels! Right, spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue?"

“....zzzz…”

"Hmm? Spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue?"

After Zhang He confidently finished speaking, he was about to let spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue confirm his point to enhance his credibility, but he didn't expect to hear a reply at all.

"Huff...huff...hmm?! Are you calling me? What happened? Did they start fighting?"

Startled by spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue, I jumped up, still half asleep, and looked around blankly, instinctively adopting a wary posture.

Clearly, she had fallen asleep again by accident.

"...No, it's nothing, you can go back to sleep."

Zhang He helplessly covered his face, waved at her, then looked again at the boy Junxiong and...the man who were waiting for an answer, cleared his throat, and said, "Because...this so-called organization isn't actually trying to save humanity as they claim! It's because...their leader is a demon! And the reason they possess these special abilities is that they are 'Changgui' (伥鬼), transformed from that demon!"

"...Hey, he wouldn't...actually believe it, would he?"

Looking at Zhang He's righteous and confident demeanor, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but raise her eyebrows and whisper to Hong He, "I'm asking him a question."

"..."

Honghe glanced at Zhou Ke'er and sighed, "...I think so..."

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224. Strange and Weird (Thirty-Three)

"As expected, this proves that my fabricated lie was quite deceptive..."

Zhou Ke'er, with a smug and self-satisfied look, whispered to Hong He, "Even our own people were fooled, so the others must be no match for you! Hahaha, when it comes to strategy, you're no match for me!"

"...First of all, the second half was made up by me. Secondly..."

Honghe stared at Zhou Ke'er with dead fish eyes, and said in a flat tone, "You really still believe... that the lie we fabricated was just a lie? From any perspective, the structure of this so-called organization, and everything else, fits perfectly with the story we fabricated..."

Even if they aren't exactly the same, I think at least part of the truth overlaps with this lie.

"...No, what I mean is...since you're already treating your own lies as part of the truth, why...not be bolder?"

Upon hearing Honghe's words, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but smile—a smile that reached her ears. She leaned close to Honghe's ear and whispered, "Speaking of which, why didn't you ever suspect that the plot of this module...or to be more precise, the 'setting'...is actually developed and driven by the players' 'sayings and actions,' 'speculations about the plot,' and 'impact on the module's reality'?"

"...You mean, the reason this so-called organization behaves so exactly as we suspected is not because it was originally like this, but because we suspected it and then said it out loud?"

Upon hearing this, Honghe frowned almost imperceptibly, pondered in silence for a while, but ultimately shook her head: "No, that explanation is too far-fetched. If it were really as you say, then the various settings of this module would be full of contradictions and loopholes."

Based on the information we have so far, the design of this module does not contain any major or obvious errors.

Furthermore, I remember the clown saying that their organization was established a long time ago, and that their operation began several days before we entered the module...

Therefore, if it were truly as you say, that our current speculations or wild guesses could directly change or create an event from the past that exists in this module and affects the present... that's clearly impossible.

"So, it's obvious. It's not that the truth behind this organization changed to fit our lies because we told such lies, but rather, as I said, we just guessed part of it correctly."

Honghe paused, looked at Zhou Ke'er expressionlessly, and concluded in a very serious manner.

"Okay, okay, you're right. My thinking was too radical."

Zhou Ke'er could only shrug, but although he said that, he still harbored such doubts in his heart, after all... there were just too many "coincidences"!

When he encountered Ye Liangchen and Chen Beixuan at the Ghostly Power Company, he had just made up a story about belonging to some kind of ghost organization, and then a so-called organization actually appeared in this module...

Furthermore, when she confronted Long Aojiao at the Ghost Power Company, the reinforcements she summoned—that black-mist-like guy named Ivan something—were clearly capable of attacking her, and they weren't hindered by this so-called mysterious force... and that guy kept insisting that he was just a human with special abilities...

In contrast, now that the argument has been put forward that "the members of the organization are actually a kind of ghost called 'Changui'", the hair-using ghost in front of him can no longer harm humans... and from the fact that he was so shocked that he couldn't hurt the Cold Rabbit even after hearing them say that they were human... it's easy to see that he has never encountered this situation before!

What a coincidence! If coincidences accumulate, they become a kind of pattern.

Zhou Ke'er has always firmly believed this.

However, Zhou Ke'er's conjecture does have flaws. First, as Honghe just mentioned, the consequence would be that the module's "setting" would not only be complex and chaotic, but also potentially self-contradictory. Furthermore... if a conjecture belonging to the "present" is used to change events in the "past" and thus affect the "present," it would lead to a spacetime paradox...

Secondly... it seems that Long Aotian got involved with that so-called organization not long after the module started, so... even if Zhou Ke'er's guess could affect the past, it would only affect the past of this module at most, and wouldn't affect Long Aotian, who is also a player...

This is also a huge loophole.

There will certainly be better explanations than this speculation, but... at least it will be based on this speculation.

Just as Zhou Ke'er was lost in thought, the man who had heard Zhang He's confident words was completely shocked. His ferocious expression froze on his face as he stared wide-eyed at the eloquent Zhang He, looking utterly ridiculous.

"Oh? So that's how it is! Which ghost, driven to madness by oppression, is taking out its anger on its fellow ghosts because it can't harm humans?"

Junxiong, the little devil, showed no surprise upon hearing this, but as always, he began to hurl insults: "With this kind of magnanimity, he dares to be the leader of an organization? It's truly laughable! He only managed to create something of this level... what was it again? 'Chang Gui,' right? With this level of skill, he dared to send you guys to try and kill us one-on-one? Is this all there is to it?"

"Could this be some greenhorn brat? Hasn't he even heard of Kayako's reputation? Even if we're limited by the rules and can only make a living by running a haunted house here... that doesn't mean we've become weaker! At least among the ghosts, those stronger than us are few and far between!"

"What...how is that possible..."

The man looked completely unaccustomed to such a thing.

"Hey, um... I'll just chime in~ You guys don't need to stop. I wanted to ask... how amazing is Sadako-chan?"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly raised her head and asked Junxiong, who had started to boast incessantly.

"Sadako, Sadako, Sadako! Why do you people always ask about her?! So what if she's a little prettier than me? Pretending to be cute and selling her body, she's a disgrace to ghosts!"

Before Junxiong could say anything, Kayako, who had been sprawled on the sofa without moving, suddenly sprang up as if a switch had been flipped. She complained bitterly, and a chilling aura suddenly emanated from her. Finally, she stared at Zhou Ke'er and added in a low voice, "There's one more thing... It seems that none of you humans know... Sadako, he was actually a man!"

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225. Strange and Weird Things (Thirty-Four)