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

The flamingo's dead fish eyes turned horrified, and even its perpetually expressionless face showed a hint of shock.

"...to discuss and plan..."

Zhou Ke'er didn't understand what Honghe was up to with her sudden outburst, and continued on her own: "But... I just suddenly had a great idea—I'm going to give up on this main quest! Heh, being dragged along by quests is too boring. This is an open world, why not do something more interesting?"

"Wait, wait, wait! Who are you?! What's going on?"

Before Honghe could say anything, Zhao Ritian, who was standing to the side, finally couldn't hold back and immediately asked, "You're not Long Aotian's people?"

"Who said that? Why can't haters be fans, and why can't opponents be familiar with each other?"

Zhou Ke'er argued righteously and forcefully, "No matter what, he and I are sworn brothers."

"...Wouldn't you rather be a sworn brother, fighting to the death?"

Honghe added quietly.

"Otherwise, how could it be called a bond of life and death?!"

Zhou Ke'er answered as a matter of course.

"...So, in conclusion, you're not with Long Aotian, right? And you even have a grudge against him?"

Zhao Ritian finally roughly understood what was going on.

"You could say that. Oh, by the way, speaking of which, you and Long Aotian don't get along, do you? Here, would you like to take a look at this gun? It's out of bullets, but..."

Zhou Ke'er waved the gun in front of him and said with a grin, "The bullets that came out of here hit Long Aotian and almost killed him! Even if it's unusable, it still has a lot of souvenir value. Do you want it? Not 9998, not 998, just a thousand to take home, how about it?"

"One thousand is more expensive than ninety-nine-eight."

The flamingo whispered a reminder from the side.

"Don't remind him! People will still fall for scams that sell for two yuan a pound or five yuan for two pounds!"

Zhou Ke'er pretended to whisper, but she didn't actually lower her voice at all.

"...Since you're Long Aotian's enemy, then you're my friend! A thousand isn't expensive. Do you want in-game currency or real money? If it's in-game currency, add me as a friend after the module ends, and I'll trade it to you when we get back to the main city. If it's real money, give me your bank account number later, and I'll transfer it to you."

However, Zhao Ritian took this nonsense seriously and said earnestly, "One thousand is a bit low, let's round it up to ten thousand, how about that? Consider it making friends. Thank you for saving me just now. Since we all have a common enemy, we can support each other in the future."

Holy crap! You rounded up a thousand to ten thousand, huh?! Is this the world of the rich?!

Zhou Ke'er, whose family was very wealthy but who herself had very little money, shed tears of poverty.

"Main...city?"

Flamingo looked completely bewildered, squinting and asking timidly, "What is that... the main world?"

"?"

Zhao Ritian was bewildered by Honghe's question: "The main city is... the city you stay in after entering the main world? You didn't enter the main city? That's impossible. Anyone who can enter this module must have completed the Nightmare difficulty module. How could someone who can complete the Nightmare difficulty module not have entered the main city? Isn't it just a matter of leaving the small house and passing through the fog?"

"Oh, this..."

Honghe glanced at Zhou Ke'er with narrowed eyes, then continued to ask, "Did all the players go there...?"

"Yeah. Anyway, I haven't heard of anyone who hasn't entered the main city yet. Could it be that you just finished the Nightmare module and haven't had a chance to enter the main world yet, so you don't know? That's possible."

After analyzing the situation, Zhao Ritian felt that this was the right approach. "Alright then, just add me as a friend and I'll bring you in."

With that, he took the gun from Zhou Ke'er's hand. "Okay, we'll talk later. I still need to take care of my wounds. I'm leaving now."

"what...."

Honghe glanced at Zhou Ke'er, who showed no surprise, and squinted at her, saying unhappily, "Hey, are you hiding something from me?"

## Chapter 251, Section 246: Strange and Unusual (Fifty-Five)

The dim light flickered, and a middle-aged man in pajamas was tightly tied to a chair with rope, his mouth gagged with a sock. He was struggling and looking at the person in front of him with a terrified expression.

A cold glint flashed – it was a fruit knife reflecting the light, and the back of the blade was being gently pressed against the man's face.

"Okay, okay, don't be scared, we don't mean any harm~"

A very gentle (?) voice sounded behind the man, and the speaker was none other than... Zhou Ke'er.

He then reverted to his original appearance—though he was distressed by his shortened stature, he preferred to stay in his original form for convenience—holding a fruit knife, he stood behind the man, bent down slightly, and whispered with a playful laugh in his ear, "We just want you to do something for us. It's not illegal, and it won't cost you much money. It's a very simple thing~ As long as you do as we say, nothing will happen~"

Not long ago, after parting ways with Zhao Ritian, Zhou Ke'er, who suddenly had a great idea, disregarded the possibility of negative consequences or debuffs the next day if she didn't sleep. After confirming that there was indeed a television station in the city... with Sadako's help, she infiltrated the home of a high-ranking official, leading to the scene we see now...

"So you still haven't explained what you're going to do."

Honghe stood expressionlessly to the side, casually turning on the light: "Also, where did you get this bad habit of not turning on the lights? Don't you find it uncomfortable to be in complete darkness? Do you know it's bad for your eyes?"

"...To create an atmosphere!"

Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips and casually replied, then looked at the man: "Your name is Augusta, and you work at the TV station in this city, right? Don't worry, as long as you listen to us, your whole family won't die. What do you think?"

"Ugh! Ugh!"

The middle-aged man called Augusta nodded frantically, but couldn't make a sound because his mouth was stuffed with a sock.

“Very good. I like people who know when to back down. Those Joestars who always like to talk tough are not likable.”

Zhou Ke'er babbled incoherently, saying things that no one could understand, and reached out to pull the sock out of Augusta's mouth.

"I still don't understand why you kidnapped the TV station staff. Do you want to make a TV show? Something like 'China is Good at Ghosts'?"

Honghe squinted at Zhou Ke'er, unable to figure out what she was up to, and could only ask with a mix of disapproval and confusion.

"Of course not... Hey, but your suggestion is actually pretty good. How come I didn't think of that... The Celestial Empire is so cunning, this is a great idea! Red Crane, you really are a genius!"

Zhou Ke'er first shook her head, but soon nodded at Honghe with admiration.

"Who...who are you people? No, no, are you human or ghosts? What do you want me to do for you?"

As soon as the sock was pulled out of Augusta's mouth, before he could even catch his breath, he hurriedly asked. He wasn't thinking of shouting for help. Putting aside the possibility that someone might hear him in the middle of the night, even if they did, he was tied to a chair and couldn't move or escape. By the time someone arrived, he would be dead.

“That’s a good question. Since you’ve asked so sincerely, I’ll mercifully tell you.”

Zhou Ke'er's lips curled up, and she softly replied in Augusta's ear, "I am human, without a doubt, the purest human."

Before Augusta could react, Zhou Ke'er maintained her smile and continued, "However, unfortunately, I have to tell you... you're not human."

"...?"

Augusta didn't react immediately, nervously swallowing hard. He tried to turn his head to look at Zhou Ke'er, but unfortunately, he was tied up and couldn't turn his head that far, so he couldn't see Zhou Ke'er's face. He could only ask, "What... what does this mean? How could I not be human?"

"Of course, how should I put it, you could be considered a human being, but actually you're not... because you're just a person who doesn't actually exist! You're just a random program made up of several data chains, in other words, you're just an NPC in a game."

Zhou Ke'er remained calm, still sporting a playful smile, and even her tone seemed to be joking as she said, "And we are the players here to play this game. Surprised? Unexpected? It's not just you; this whole world is fake."

"...?"

Red Crane crossed his arms and watched Zhou Ke'er, who was talking animatedly, and was momentarily confused about what he was trying to do—would an NPC even understand what he meant by saying "you're an NPC"? Seriously...why wouldn't the system censor this kind of talk? The freedom is too high...or did he simply not expect a player like Zhou Ke'er who's so direct?

But even if I say it, the other person won't believe me. It's just empty talk, and... even if they do believe me, what good will it do? It seems pointless.

It is quite interesting, really...

"Uh... huh?"

Augusta looked completely bewildered. "This...this is the script you wrote? You want to make this movie? There's no need to kidnap me like that. I can't control this...You should just kidnap a director or screenwriter. I'm just a TV station employee, I don't make movies!"

"No, I'm serious. I'm telling the truth."

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes, looking serious, and tentatively asked, "How about this, let me ask you a few questions first... Have you ever been outside this city? Do you know what's outside this city?"

"Huh? How could I not know such a question..."

Augusta, looking utterly bewildered, was about to say, of course he knew, but he quickly stopped mid-sentence, realizing... he genuinely seemed to know nothing about anything outside of this city...

"Really? You don't know? Then let me ask you a question... That movie that was recently released, what's it called again... ⊙?⊙!, the one where the male lead looks a lot like me, where did you get the source material?"

Zhou Ke'er finally walked to the front of Augusta, squatted down, pointed to her face, and asked with a smile.

Augusta felt a strange sense of unease. Forcing down his chaotic thoughts, he glanced at Zhou Ke'er a few times and casually said, "Oh, it does look quite similar. That movie? I remember I was the one who approved its release. How could I not know where it came from? Of course it was... um? um?!!"

His eyes suddenly widened; he had no idea! It had clearly passed through his hands, yet he couldn't recall anything!

Seeing this, Zhou Ke'er stood up and thoughtfully stroked her chin—it seemed that the normal people in this module were unaware of information outside the city, and it was even possible that the data chain was just randomly constructed, with only some basic information set.

However... judging from the previous organization's mission to have Long Aojiao intercept the instructions given to the ghosts, there does indeed exist outside this city that can give orders to the ghosts here, and someone knows about it...

## Chapter 252, Section 247: Strange and Unusual (Fifty-Six)

"No way...they really didn't come home all night?"

Cold Rabbit lay listlessly on the bed, glancing at the dimly lit clock in the moonlight. It was almost five o'clock, and Zhou Ke'er and Red Crane still hadn't returned. Finally, she couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "They're in such a hurry! But... you can't do that kind of thing in a game, right? You can't, right? Then what's going on? A romantic nighttime parade?"

"Isn't it obvious...? Didn't you see? We hadn't even exchanged a few words when Zhou Ke'er hurriedly told us to go to sleep, and then Honghe pretended to lie down for a bit before following her out..."

The person with fingers still wide awake replied matter-of-factly, "I thought you had figured it out and that's why you obediently lay down to sleep."

"...No way! Someone like Zhou Ke'er can actually find a girlfriend? The mentally ill persona and the expressionless face are completely incompatible!"

Cold-Eat Rabbit couldn't help but complain, "I thought he genuinely wanted us to go to bed early; I never even considered that possibility..."

"They've made it so obvious, haven't they..."

Finger Sand pursed her lips, stood up, stretched, yawned, and said, "Forget it, I can't sleep anyway... It's only been a few hours since we entered this module, how can I be sleepy so quickly? Tonight is clearly for us to move around."

"I can't sleep either... It's really weird to sleep in a game..."

Cold-Eat Rabbit sat up, scratched his head, and said helplessly, "But I don't dare go out alone. Wouldn't that be suicide...?"

"Let's go out for a walk and explore... I don't know what happened, but the progress of that urban legend actually regressed. Anyway, it's almost dawn now, and since ghosts can't harm humans, we won't be in any danger. Why don't we go out and complete the urban legend?"

Zhijiansha glanced at Zhang He, who was still sleeping, and Chen Tian, ​​who were drowsy and tired, and shrugged before speaking to Lengchitu.

It was expected that she would fall asleep due to spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue; it would have been strange if she hadn't. But she hadn't expected Zhang He and Chen Tian to sleep so soundly...

"Yes, that makes sense."

After hearing this, Cold-Eat Rabbit thought for a moment, then nodded, stood up, and quietly pushed open the door and went out with Finger Sand.

"...Um?"

However, when Zhijiansha pushed the door, she couldn't open it for a moment. Upon closer inspection, she realized that something seemed to be blocking the way.

"what happened?"

Looking at the still-moving Finger Sand at the door, Cold-Cooked Rabbit behind her asked in confusion.