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

The restrictions on player skills, weapons, equipment, and titles have been lifted.

[Main Quest Two: The demons, long oppressed and burdened by humiliation, are now freed from their confinement and will reclaim their lost glory! The demons will begin a two-day indiscriminate attack; anyone they deem human will be hunted down. Your mission is to survive, or fight back.]

[Note 1: The final ranking for Main Mission 2 will be based on a comprehensive evaluation, including survival time, number of escapes from pursuit, and number of counter-attacks.]

[Note 2: The final assessment will be based on the above comprehensive evaluation and any hidden score not displayed.]

[Note: Players, the battle royale is about to begin! Try your best to perform well and survive! Even if you die, don't die too miserably!]

"...grass!"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but curse. This suddenly refreshed second main quest had completely disrupted his plans. Hadn't he already destroyed the command that allowed ghosts to harm people? How come it was still triggered?! This made it much harder for him to fool the ghosts!

Wait... no, although it was destroyed, I didn't actually see it. It was just buried in Sadako's world... Hey, no way... Could it be that Sadako inexplicably touched the corpse and then inexplicably discovered that command?!

That situation is absolutely terrible! If that's really the case, Sadako will suspect Zhou Ke'er first... Even though Long Aojiao has those instructions that are extremely important to ghosts, Zhou Ke'er is going to bury her. No one would believe that Zhou Ke'er didn't do it on purpose!

"Sizzle sizzle..."

Just then, the LCD TV screen next to the room suddenly lit up, flickered with static, and then a scene of a gloomy wasteland appeared on the screen, with a dry well in the center... This was clearly Sadako's world!

"Damn it, just what I feared most has come to pass! I was just thinking about this trouble, and it's already here! Luckily, my skills and equipment are still usable..."

Zhou Ke'er felt a little relieved as she sensed the subtle spiritual energy beginning to circulate within her body—logically speaking, pure spirits should be very afraid of this kind of energy with polluting properties, right?

"Ahhh! What, what is this thing?! A ghost, a monster? Oh, that's alright, it's just a ghost..."

Augusta was in a state of shock, and was genuinely startled when she noticed the strange behavior on the television. She quickly realized it was probably a ghost playing tricks and breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could finish speaking…

"Shh!"

With a whooshing sound, a pale hand suddenly reached out from the bottom of the screen, grabbing the edge of the television. In the blink of an eye, a white shadow appeared in front of Augusta. Before he could react, a crisp "crack" sound came from his neck, followed by a series of teeth-grinding squeezing sounds.

By the time Zhou Ke'er and Honghe realized what was happening, Augusta's neck had been twisted like a pretzel, and he was clearly dead beyond any doubt.

Damn, they started fighting without warning? Is this what the system notification meant by indiscriminate attack? Now that Augusta is dead, what's next...?

Zhou Ke'er frowned almost imperceptibly, put her right hand behind her back, and frantically gestured to Honghe, signaling her to run away quickly, otherwise Sadako would wipe them all out if she attacked them later.

"....you..."

Honghe watched Zhou Ke'er's gesture but didn't intend to leave. Just as she was about to say something, Sadako, who was wiping the blood splattered on her body, turned to look at Zhou Ke'er, cupped her face in her hands, and said in a dreamy voice, "Ah, Mr. Joker, the shackles on the demons have been broken! The era you spoke of, restoring the glory of the demons, is about to arrive! From today onwards, this city will be ruled by demons!"

"..."

Zhou Ke'er blinked. Hmm, it seems... Sadako doesn't seem to have any hostility towards him. Could it be that he was just too convincing in his act? So Sadako didn't suspect that he wasn't a ghost at all?

That's easy. Luckily, the ghost still can't tell if the other party is human or ghost, otherwise the situation would be troublesome. They can't run away, and Sadako can chase them however she wants. If they were caught by a ghost that can teleport instantly, it would basically be game over.

However... Zhou Ke'er felt that the timing of this main quest was really inopportune, and no matter how you looked at it, main quest one and main quest two were completely contradictory! It was impossible to do them simultaneously, unless... just like Zhou Ke'er's initial plan, she conspired with the ghosts to kill most of the humans first, then kept the remaining ones captive before proceeding with main quest one...

But if we collude with the ghosts, it seems like we won't meet any of the score requirements for the second main quest... Besides, the system says the ghosts will attack humans indiscriminately, so it's uncertain whether we can successfully capture a group of people...

Forget it, there's no point in thinking about all this now. Let's get through this predicament first... It would be terrible if I gave myself away in front of Sadako.

## Chapter 255, Section 250: Strange and Unusual (Fifty-Nine)

In short, as long as you don't reveal your human identity to Sadako, it's fine... However, keeping Sadako around in this situation is even more difficult to manage. Being chased and then escaping is just for fun. If you really want to score points, you still have to kill monsters.

There's no way I could beat a demon of Sadako or Kayako's caliber; being targeted by one would practically be the end of me. However, the strange man I encountered at the beginning, and the Kuchisake-onna (Slit-Mouthed Woman), those demons shouldn't be too difficult to defeat.

So, I need to find an excuse to get rid of Sadako first, otherwise I won't be able to explain to her why when we go hunting ghosts later.

Just as Zhou Ke'er was about to tell Zhenzi to leave, a loud crash came from the doorway. Before anyone could react, the door to the room was smashed open with a bang.

"Joker! Didn't expect to be cornered here, did you! You can't escape now!"

The person standing at the door was none other than Long Aotian!

He led a large group of people who surrounded the area, and all of them were armed.

"Damn it, it's him again! He's like a ghost that won't leave! Is there anyone else in this module besides him?!"

Seeing this, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but mentally complain. He always found him so accurately; it seemed he really did have some kind of tracking method. Her previous guess was correct. However... even though he knew, he hadn't bothered with it. Anyway, it wasn't like he couldn't escape; what could he do if he was cornered?

"Forget it, none of us have any electronic devices. You have no chance! Fire!"

After making his harsh remarks, Long Aotian retreated into the crowd and gave a loud order.

"Sadako, quickly take the flamingo away first!"

Seeing the men raise their guns after hearing the command, Zhou Ke'er immediately shouted and pointed her ring at Long Aotian—luckily, the weapon restriction had been lifted, otherwise it would have been quite difficult for Sadako, the ghost, to save the two of them.

Although the door was only big enough to accommodate five or six people in the front rows firing at once, it was still enough to wreak havoc throughout the entire room.

Without even caring whether Red Crane had been successfully rescued by Sadako, Zhou Ke'er immediately activated the ring's special effect.

"Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang..."

After a burst of intense fire, the gunfire gradually subsided, and the group realized that they had not been aiming at the Joker, but at Long Aotian, who had given them the order!

"Is he dead? He can't be still alive, can he?"

Zhou Ke'er peered at Long Aotian through the thin smoke, thinking to herself, but her hands didn't stop moving. After all, his position-switching special effect was on cooldown, and if she didn't cause some trouble now, she'd have to rely on Sadako for help—and then, she was afraid Sadako would become suspicious: "You're supposed to be a ghost, how come you don't have any special abilities? Are you just pretending?" Oh, what a cute child~

"boom!"

Before the person behind Zhou Ke'er could react, Zhou Ke'er suddenly turned around and punched him hard in the temple, taking the gun from his hand in the process—because the person was standing relatively far back, he hadn't fired the gun yet, and there were still bullets in it.

Zhou Ke'er, having seized the gun, pulled the safety with lightning speed before anyone else could react. Then, without caring about aiming, she simply started firing as long as there were people all around her.

"You even have the ability to multiply? I really can't underestimate you, Joker! But do you think my preparations end there? I, Long Aotian, never fight a battle unprepared!"

Just as Zhou Ke'er was mindlessly firing her gun, taking down a large number of unsuspecting people, Long Aotian's voice came from ahead. He sounded very energetic, as if he hadn't been hurt at all, and was still unharmed even after just being shot.

As the smoke cleared, it became clear that Long Aotian was not human, but rather a mass of black bats. As the bats' wings vibrated at a high frequency, they merged back into his original form—completely unharmed! He must have avoided the damage by instantly separating his bat form.

"..."

This is bad! I can't believe that Long Aotian, who clearly hadn't completed the character template quest not long ago, has already succeeded...

Moreover, just by looking at this character template, you can tell that it's completely different from Zhou Ke'er's. Once Zhou Ke'er activates her template, she can master such high-end skills, but what about Zhou Ke'er? She has to painstakingly refine her spiritual power herself, and even after refining it, she doesn't have any skills to use. That's ridiculous!

You have to understand, Zhou Ke'er really... has absolutely no fighting skills right now! All her skills and equipment are either for control or for escaping...

Thinking of this, Zhou Ke'er dropped the gun that was now out of bullets and secretly reached out to press the watch on her right wrist. If anything went wrong... she would have no choice but to teleport away.

"Hey, you seem to have forgotten about me..."

Just then, Honghe, who hadn't uttered a single word since Long Aotian burst through the door, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and spoke abruptly from behind Long Aotian.

Upon hearing this, Long Aotian didn't even try to turn around. Without hesitation, he used the same trick again, transforming his body into a bat and about to fly away.

"The Other Shore, the Guide to the Underworld!"

With a completely expressionless face, Red Crane shamelessly shouted out the name of the move, which was full of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome). Suddenly, a phantom of a scythe covered with barbs and hooks appeared in front of Long Aotian, hooked the still-shattering human form of Long Aotian, and pulled him backward with a "whoosh".

"I understand?"

Zhou Ke'er was momentarily stunned by what she saw, but fortunately she quickly recovered. Ignoring Long Aotian's situation for the time being, she picked up a gun and decided to take care of the remaining people surrounding her first.

Although I don't know where Red Crane learned this move from, and... I feel like I've seen that scythe somewhere before, maybe in the last few days, but I can't remember where... But since Red Crane went in with such confidence, he shouldn't be weak, and he should be able to fight Long Aotian for a while without any problem.

"Pfft..."

Caught off guard and severely injured, Long Aotian was cut in two, with his upper body in one piece and his lower body in another, cut off at the waist.

"Is this what you mean by coming prepared? That's really quite funny!"

Having landed a successful blow, the flamingo immediately retreated several steps to create distance, glaring with dead fish eyes as it sneered, "Even when beating a dog, you have to consider its owner. How dare you try to surround and kill Zhou...joker while I'm right here?"

"...Something about what you're saying just doesn't sound right to me!"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but complain when she heard this.

"Heh, of course I came prepared, because..."

However, Long Aotian did not show any panic on his face. Instead, he laughed inexplicably, and then... his two pieces of body on the ground turned into two pools of blood and disappeared.

"Because these are all just clones!"

## Chapter 256, Section 251: Strange and Unusual (Sixty)

As soon as she finished speaking, all the guys who had just been shot down by Zhou Ke'er suddenly disintegrated, turning into a pool of blood that eventually coalesced into a human-shaped form.

"Do you need my help, Mr. Joker?"

Sadako appeared behind Zhou Ke'er at some point and asked in a low voice. A chilling aura seeped into Zhou Ke'er's skin from the back of her neck, making her scalp tingle.

Just as Zhou Ke'er was about to answer, she suddenly heard a strange sound coming from outside the window, as if someone was moving around.

Wait a minute, even though this is only the second floor, not very high... it's not a height where people can just walk around freely, is it? Are we levitious? There's no balcony outside the window!

"Squeak, squeak..."

However, the window was quickly pushed open from the outside, and a woman with a striking appearance, but who inexplicably exuded an eerie and cold aura mixed with a certain divinity, appeared outside the window, only her head showing as she looked inside.

This thing doesn't seem to be floating in mid-air. Judging from the size of her head, she's very likely to be able to reach the height of the second floor while standing on the ground. Her whole body is nearly three meters tall!

Is this... an eight-foot-tall woman?

The idea popped into Zhou Ke'er's mind in an instant, as she had some knowledge of the legends of the Old Era. That thing was a being that was both like a ghost and a monster in legends, yet also possessed a certain divinity... Although it was completely insignificant to the eight million gods of the Old Era's Japan, it was indeed a very strange existence.

Why...why are we suddenly here? Could it be that Sadako summoned us? That's bad; the more ghosts around us, the easier it is to be exposed...

Thinking this, Zhou Ke'er glanced at Sadako without making a sound, only to see that she also looked slightly puzzled, as if she had not expected this situation at all... She didn't call her? Then what's going on?

Zhou Ke'er had a bad feeling... Could it be that something was targeting him?

"...Looks like I underestimated you, Joker. You actually have reinforcements?"

Formed from pooling blood, Long Aotian, now back in human form, narrowed his eyes as he looked at the woman who had suddenly appeared outside the window. "No, I should say that reinforcements were indeed coming... However, even so, I was prepared..."

"Hmm... three humans? That should satisfy me a little..."

The woman outside the window licked her lips, exuding an indescribable charm and wickedness. She ran her fingers over Zhou Ke'er, Hong He, and Long Aotian, muttering to herself, completely ignoring what Long Aotian was saying. Her indifferent gaze made it seem as if the people in front of her were nothing more than appetizers on a dinner table.

"??!!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er's pupils instinctively contracted sharply—what was going on? How could she tell that Zhou Ke'er was human? It shouldn't be possible! Even Sadako couldn't tell!

No... we can't expose ourselves here. If Sadako finds out that Zhou Ke'er has been keeping her in the dark, she'll probably go crazy, and Zhou Ke'er will be caught in a pincer movement...

But... is there any way to do it?