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

Zhou Ke'er, completely oblivious to the misunderstanding, leaned close to Shi An's ear and whispered, "You just said you were just an ordinary member of the royal family, but now look, wow, you're actually a prince or grandson of the emperor!"

"I really don't know that gentleman from earlier... and besides, I don't know how to get to the Grand Competition in the capital."

Shi An turned to look at Zhou Ke'er with a puzzled expression, scratching his head as if he had no idea what was going on. "Actually, I'm not very familiar with the roads in the capital."

"Huh? You're still not familiar with it? You're weird, brother. You're clearly a prince or grandson of the emperor, yet you don't even recognize your own elder brother. You're a member of the imperial family living in the capital, yet you don't know the way?"

Zhou Ke'er frowned and gave Shi An a strange look: "Why are you acting like you've lost your memory? You're not some kind of weird technique like the Dissolving Power Technique, are you? You're an old monster who has possessed this body."

"Hmm... If that's really the case, wouldn't it be better for you to keep this suspicion to yourself instead of saying it out loud?"

Shi An glanced helplessly at Zhou Ke'er and gently reminded her.

"Alright, alright, forget it, let's not dwell on this anymore. Let's just catch up with your brother, the emperor, for now."

Zhou Ke'er grabbed Shi An, used her Yu Step technique, and quickly chased after the departing carriage. "Anyway, he's going to the capital for the grand competition, so we can just follow him. You can keep up with the carriage's speed, right?"

Ha, all that nonsense. Zhou Ke'er just said those things to test Shi An's claims. After all, even if it were true, Zhou Ke'er had the ability to slip away, so there was no harm in testing. However, since Shi An directly stated this, things are hard to say. Although saying that... makes Zhou Ke'er even more suspicious of his true intentions.

"All right..."

Shi An let Zhou Ke'er drag him along, while he also used his lightness skill.

…………

"Huh? Did something strange just pass by?"

The woman, who was holding a large pile of snacks on the street, turned her head in confusion—though she didn't know where her money came from—but she only saw a bright red dress drift by from a street corner not far away, followed by a gentle-looking young man.

"I know! It's the storyline! The module's storyline is about to begin!"

The cold-cooked rabbit's eyes lit up, and it quickly grabbed its food and chased after the rabbit.

## Chapter 307, Section 302: The Grand Imperial Examination (Seventeen)

However, before Zhou Ke'er and Shi An could reach the scene of the Grand Competition in the capital, they heard a chilling scream and wail coming from afar. Even the man sitting in the carriage in front couldn't help but lift the curtain and look in that direction with a puzzled look.

"Hey...something seems off. What happened over there?"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but turn her head and whisper to Shi An, whom she had dragged along the way.

"I don't know either, but... I imagine something terrible must have happened."

Shi An frowned slightly, shook his head and replied, "Judging from that sound, they may have encountered some terrifying being, and there will probably be countless deaths and injuries."

"A terrifying existence?! What is that thing? A demon or monster?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but glance at Shi An in surprise—come on, this is a martial arts module, is it going to have another weird thing like this? This is not normal!

"Hmm...no. There are no demons or monsters in this world. What I mean is...uh, maybe the martial arts practitioners participating in the capital's grand competition encountered the imperial army that came to besiege them."

Shi An seemed to realize that what he had just said might have been inappropriate, so he quickly tried to change his words and smooth things over.

But... this change of heart was so abrupt! Anyone could see it! This guy is definitely up to something! His face practically screams "I'm suspicious!"

"...Would you dare come closer and take a look at the situation?"

However, Zhou Ke'er did not press him further, but instead changed the subject—to be honest, Zhou Ke'er began to suspect that Shi An was probably not actually a player.

"I have no problem with that, but... I can't guarantee your safety, young lady."

Shi An nodded at first, but then shook his head and explained.

"Ha, I don't need you to protect me, I'm good enough on my own! Besides, I only asked if you dared to go up and take a look, not if you could protect me!"

Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips. If Shi An really was just a player, then it meant... their randomly assigned strengths were probably about the same, since the system needed to balance player strength. In that case, if they encountered danger, what ability would Shi An, being a fellow player, possibly have to protect Zhou Ke'er? No one else could be relied on!

"Hmm... then I certainly have no problem with that."

Shi An nodded to Zhou Ke'er, and then together with Zhou Ke'er, who was already prepared, they used their lightness skills to rush towards that direction.

"Where are you going?! Didn't you hear that noise over there?! It's definitely dangerous over there! Come back right now!"

The man, who was turning his car around to leave this troublesome place, suddenly caught sight of Zhou Ke'er and Shi An passing by. He was immediately startled and couldn't help but shout loudly at them.

"He's willing to go to dangerous places with me, are you envious?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er turned her head, revealing a smile that was both boastful and mocking, and brazenly teased the man.

"Well..."

Shi An, standing to the side, felt that something was off about the statement, but couldn't quite put her finger on it, so she could only frown and try not to think about it.

"You...you damned vixen, how dare you utter such shameless words! How outrageous!"

Upon hearing this, the man became enraged and leaped out of the carriage, rushing towards Zhou Ke'er: "He dares to come and keep you company, but I dare not come and keep him company?!"

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty... you are forbidden from entering the area ahead."

Just then, a beam of light suddenly flew from not far away; it was a dark-colored short knife, gleaming with a dangerous aura.

The knife forced the man to stop abruptly. He hurriedly drew his rapier from his waist to deflect the blade. In the process, the man was jolted back several steps and almost lost his footing, nearly flying backward. Fortunately, he managed to regain his balance thanks to the rapier embedded in the ground.

"Who?! Wait... Wu Yu, how dare you lay a hand on me?! You've gone too far! Are you plotting a rebellion?!"

After regaining his balance, the man looked closely in that direction and couldn't help but shout angrily in disbelief.

It was only then that Zhou Ke'er realized that the person who had come was actually the prince who had stopped her on the road earlier... She hadn't expected that guy to be so powerful? His demeanor was completely different from when he first arrived!

"Why do you have to accuse me, Your Majesty? Don't you know who was the first to rebel? Besides... I didn't rebel either. I was just following His Majesty's orders to protect you."

Wu Yu smiled sarcastically, but shook his head and explained, "It's dangerous ahead. If you go, you will surely die. So I'm here to stop you from going. This is His Majesty's will."

"What a joke! Why didn't you stop He An from going there?!"

Upon hearing this, the prince was so angry that he laughed instead, pointed at Shi An, and questioned Wu Yu.

"Ha... He's just a lowly slave born out of wedlock. We barely gave him the surname Wu, and he actually thinks he's some kind of royal relative?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yu couldn't help but scoff and mock, "Your Majesty doesn't have the energy to care about such insignificant people. If they're dead, they're dead. Are we going to keep them around and waste resources?"

"You! How dare you utter such treasonous words! Even if Shi An is born out of wedlock, he is still His Majesty's own son. You are merely a prince; how dare you be so disrespectful?!"

The prince pointed at Wu Yu, too angry to speak.

Upon hearing these words, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. Wow, this has turned into a palace drama? Is this some kind of melodramatic prime-time soap opera plot?

"So what if I am Ji Yue? Can you punish me? If His Majesty finds out that I stopped you, but you still insist on going your own way for Shi An, he will be furious. At that time, even if Shi An is alive but not dead, he will die under His Majesty's wrath."

Wu Yu's face was gloomy. Looking at the prince who seemed to want to say something more, he coldly threatened, "Are you trying to kill him? When the emperor is angry, corpses float for miles. There is no kinship in the imperial family. Don't you understand this?! If you were not to succeed to the throne, why would His Majesty care about you!"

"You...I..."

Upon hearing Wu Yu's words, the prince's face turned deathly pale, and he stammered, unable to utter a word.

Wu Yu glanced anxiously in the direction of the martial arts arena in the capital, then disregarded everything else, immediately lunged forward, grabbed the prince by the collar, said "I apologize for my rudeness!", and dragged the prince away like a whirlwind, without even looking back.

It seems that even he is quite wary of what happened at the martial arts arena in the capital.

Seeing this, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but become slightly serious as well.

...............

At this moment, Cold-Cooked Rabbit was still on its way to catch up with Zhou Ke'er and the others.

Suddenly, she saw a man in black, close-fitting clothes, dragging a man in a python robe away at high speed. For a moment, she was completely bewildered—what was going on? Where did the man in red go? Was this part of the plot or part of it? Should she continue following them, or switch targets and follow this one?

## Chapter 308, Section 303: The Grand Imperial Examination (18)

"Ah...it seems...I have a feeling that your so-called imperial brother has a rather unusual relationship with you..."

Zhou Ke'er naturally missed the point and said to Shi An with a serious expression.

"That might be true..."

Shi An gave a casual, perfunctory answer, then asked, "I think, since that... what was his name again, something like Wuyu'er..."

"It should be Wu Yu, right?"

Zhou Ke'er, with her sharp ears and keen eyesight, corrected her.

"Oh, so that's Wu Yu. He seems to be a little better than us in martial arts, but he escaped so swiftly. Who knows, maybe something terrible really happened at the capital's grand competition... Why don't we slip away together?"

Shi An readily accepted the advice, immediately corrected himself and called her by the correct name, and then continued to offer suggestions to Zhou Ke'er.

"Are you scared? You're not really going to run away, are you? Are you even a man anymore?"

Zhou Ke'er crossed her arms and walked backwards several steps, seemingly getting faster and faster as if she had no intention of stopping, while looking at Shi An with a mocking expression and asking.

"Oh...then you..."

Shi An stared at Zhou Ke'er's shameless behavior for a moment, then pointed at Zhou Ke'er and asked hesitantly.

"I'm not a man, so what if I want to run away? You have a problem with that? You're discriminating against women? What do you mean? Explain yourself, or I'll hit you hard!"

Zhou Ke'er spoke with a righteous and indignant expression, saying things that showed no regard for face, and even tried to argue her point and label Shi An.

"Oh, this..."

Shi An scratched his head, feeling like he couldn't communicate with Zhou Ke'er. "So... are you going to run or not?"

"I'll run, you don't run, and then you tell me what happened."

Zhou Ke'er retreated to the street corner, crossed her arms, and looked at Shi An from afar with a righteous air, speaking loudly.

"But..."

Shi An wanted to say something more, but then she heard a ghostly, hoarse voice—though for some reason it sounded vaguely familiar: "Escape? Today, not a single person in the capital can escape!"

Upon hearing this, Shi An's previously gentle expression suddenly changed. Before the other party could finish speaking, he used his light footwork to rush towards Zhou Ke'er.

"boom!"

No sooner had Shi An left than a loud bang came from where he had just been standing—a gavel covered in cracks and sticky bloodstains struck the ground, causing the ground within a one-meter radius to crack.

"!"

Zhou Ke'er knew pretty much who the newcomer was just by looking at the gavel—it was that guy who was telling stories in the teahouse at the beginning! How did he suddenly turn evil? This is so sudden!

But... does that mean that Song Yi, who appeared so arrogantly at the beginning, was also taken down by him?

"Hey?! Want to live? Come with me!"

Just then, a flash of gold suddenly appeared at the edge of Zhou Ke'er's vision. Zhou Ke'er subconsciously looked over and saw that it was Dio who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere! And next to her was Song Yi, who looked quite badly injured, but he didn't seem to be dead yet.