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

Dio scrutinized the guard for a moment, then suddenly said, "In my background information, the Great Qin Kingdom does indeed have its own system of extraordinary powers, which are different from the martial arts here. They are mainly things like magic potions or spells."

"?"

Zhou Ke'er slowly typed out a question mark.

"Spells? Potions? How did it suddenly turn into fantasy? Isn't this a martial arts game mod?"

Cold-cooked rabbit couldn't help but ask aloud.

"This weird thing called 'external avatar' has even appeared. Since martial arts are starting to turn into fantasy, it's not a problem to add some magic elements, right?"

Fortunately, Zhou Ke'er has always been good at accepting things, and she barely accepted this setting. "However... it's really too awkward to always call that damned place Da Qin. Can't we just call it Dong Luo properly? Sigh, Shen Luo sounds better. Let's just call it Shen Luo."

While the term "Great Qin" likely originated during the Tang Dynasty of the Old Era, which was then part of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Holy Roman Empire only came into being after the fall of the Tang Dynasty... well, in this mod's fictional and bizarre setting, why worry about it? Let them call it whatever they want.

"What?! How many floors are you going to carry this bag of rice up? What kind of cheesy joke is this?"

Cold-cooked Rabbit, who only half-understands the old era, clearly got the joke wrong and immediately complained.

"Can you carry it up two floors? Hey, if your knowledge is so bad, don't show off your superiority. Holy Roman Empire is the Holy Roman Empire, okay?"

Zhou Ke'er glanced at the cold-cooked rabbit with disdain.

"...Call me whatever you want, does it matter?"

Dio didn't understand what Zhou Ke'er was struggling with, but she continued, "Regarding the situation with the guards... I think it's very likely that the head of the delegation was behind it. I don't know what he's trying to do either."

"Was he summoned by the emperor, or did he come uninvited?"

Shi An pondered for a moment, then muttered something under his breath.

Song Yi, who was supporting Shi An, looked completely bewildered. He had been inexplicably excluded from the beginning and couldn't understand what these people were talking about. Moreover, he felt that these people were subtly wary of him. It was really strange, since he hadn't done anything.

"...What exactly does this matter have to do with the Holy Roman Empire's royal family? Isn't the Papacy the one holding all the power there? How could it be involved here...and they even dared to storm the palace directly..."

Zhou Ke'er pondered to herself, but quickly called out to the others, "Forget it, let's not worry about this now. Let's hurry inside. It wouldn't be good if we attracted attention by standing here for so long."

"That's true."

Upon hearing this, Shi An nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then turned to look at Song Yi beside him, "Well... Senior Song, it's very dangerous in the palace right now, so please stay here and guard this area for now. If we encounter any danger inside, we won't be able to help you."

"!"

Song Yi was taken aback. He had just felt that these people were ostracizing him, but now they were starting to do it so openly?

"That's true. It's not that we're afraid he'll encounter any danger, but we're mainly worried that he'll cause trouble and drag us into it."

Zhou Ke'er nodded upon hearing this and said very frankly.

"..."

Song Yi's lips twitched, but he couldn't say anything. He could only force a smile and say, "Alright... then I'll... wait for you all here. Please be careful."

"...Stop dawdling. We don't know what's going on inside yet. After all, it sounds like...some kind of magic or potions, which are much more powerful than martial arts. What if that guy just rushes in and kills the emperor?"

"Cold-cooked rabbit," urged.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Do you think a big boss who can create multiple avatars would die so easily? Others make fantasy, but he makes xuanhuan (a genre of Chinese fantasy), doesn't he?"

Zhou Ke'er waved her hand, complaining as she walked forward.

"Uh ah ah!"

Just then, a terrifying scream suddenly rang out from deep within the palace, but it disappeared after only a moment.

"!"

Everyone was immediately startled and rushed toward the direction from which the sound came.

## Chapter 329, Section 324: The Mystery of Kyoto (Part Two)

Whether it was due to psychological factors or the fact that the sky was indeed changing so quickly, within the short time it took Zhou Ke'er and her companions to walk a short distance into the depths of the palace, the sky had already become somewhat dark, and the atmosphere suddenly became rather gloomy.

Since she didn't have any tools with her to keep track of time, and there were no clocks or sundials in this godforsaken place, Zhou Ke'er had no idea what time it was.

For a moment, no one could tell whether it was because it was truly late and the sky had naturally darkened, or because some strange situation had suddenly occurred.

What time is it now?

Finally, Shi An couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

The surrounding scene was undeniably eerie. The vast palace was devoid of any human presence, not even a single patrolling guard, let alone eunuchs or palace maids. It was as if the place had been abandoned. However, the spotless ground and palace walls suggested that it was not a desolate ruin.

"Good heavens, it seems this mod is going to add the supernatural tag to its list of genres besides martial arts, fantasy, and magic. So, what the hell does this have to do with the main quest that was initially announced?!"

Although Zhou Ke'er wasn't scared by the mere atmosphere, the plot really stirred up his urge to complain. Although his face remained expressionless, he couldn't help but mentally rant: "They said they wanted us to change the plot's direction, but who the hell could predict what kind of mess the plot would turn into! Actually, we're not trying to ruin the plot, but to bring this broken plot back on track, right!"

However, even though she was thinking this to herself, Zhou Ke'er immediately became alert.

After all... the higher the complexity of this system in the module background, the more strange and underhanded tricks might emerge when the battle takes place. And the skill strength that Zhou Ke'er was randomly assigned by the system... if we look at it from the perspective of the martial arts system alone, it is already quite good, and many plans have enough strength to be carried out... but now it's different.

Putting aside whether martial arts can compete with fantasy and magic... just imagine if a supernatural event actually happens later, with a few demons and monsters appearing, how do you think Zhou Ke'er will deal with it? Physical exorcism?

"do not know."

There was a moment of silence, and no one answered Shi An's question. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. Finally, Leng Chi Tu couldn't help but shake his head and answer Shi An, "There are no watches or clocks here, so who would know the time?"

"The answer is quite obvious, isn't it? Did you really think it was just getting dark?"

Zhou Ke'er glanced back at Shi An and said in a low voice, "Don't harbor that kind of wishful thinking."

"Wait... don't you guys feel like we've been here before? I remember seeing this stone pier with a missing corner just now..."

Dior suddenly spoke up, pointing to a decorative stone block to the side, and whispered to the others, "And the missing corners are all exactly the same shape... It's unlikely to be a coincidence."

"It must be a coincidence. Because... we're almost at the inner sanctum."

Upon hearing this, Shi An shook his head.

As for Zhou Ke'er... of course he wouldn't be scared by Dio's nonsense. You see, he had also noticed that stone pillar. After all, they were both old schemers, so they naturally paid attention to their surroundings. Although the stone pillars looked exactly the same, their locations were completely different. If you looked closely, it was easy to tell them apart. Perhaps the missing corner was a characteristic of this kind of stone pillar.

"There's a candlelight shadow... Is someone inside?"

After explaining, Shi An turned his head, squinted his eyes, glanced at the inner hall in front of him, and quickly lowered his voice to remind the others.

"Why don't you give it a try and see?"

Upon hearing this, Dior immediately prepared himself to launch a full-scale attack.

"Hey... don't be impulsive, take it easy, let's see what kind of stuff is inside first."

Zhou Ke'er was startled when she saw this. She quickly reached out and grabbed Dio, shook her head and advised, "Remember, our principle is to bully the weak and fear the strong. If you encounter someone you can beat, you can do whatever you want. But if there is danger, stay as far away as possible."

“I just smelled blood. Since there’s bleeding, it means there’s physical damage. Unless it’s some kind of supernatural magic, we don’t need to be so afraid.”

Dior turned to Zhou Ke'er and explained.

"Really? Oh, by the way, I suddenly have a small question I'd like to ask you."

Zhou Ke'er nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this, then released Dio's hand, took two steps back, tilted her head, and asked, "Speaking of which, you've been leading the way from the front since just now... How come you know the palace so well? Although the sound did come from here, it's a bit unreasonable that you found the way here so easily without ever making a mistake."

Furthermore, they're trying to mislead others with that stone pillar; it's almost like they're attempting to create panic...

"Oh, right, there's one more thing..."

Seeing that Dio seemed to be about to answer something, Zhou Ke'er interrupted again at the right moment, turned to look at Shi An behind her with a puzzled expression, and asked innocently, "Also, Mr. Shi An, how did you know that this is the inner hall we are looking for? Although the sound did come from this direction, you were able to tell so easily that it came from this room... and most importantly, there is no sound coming from this room right now."

"Hey, what does this mean...? Your sudden words are really creepy!"

Cold-cooked Rabbit couldn't help but shiver, and whispered to Zhou Ke'er.

Zhou Ke'er glanced at the cold-cooked rabbit, ignored her, and continued to press Shi An, "And... when did your leg, which I just broke, suddenly get better?"

"What are you talking about? My leg is still broken!"

Upon hearing this, Shi An looked puzzled, as if he didn't understand why Zhou Ke'er said that. He even took two steps to show Zhou Ke'er that he was indeed still limping.

"Oh? You broke your leg?"

Zhou Ke'er patted her head, then suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to Cold-Eat Rabbit, asking, "I suddenly can't remember... When did his leg break? Did I break his leg? I don't think so."

"..."

Even the cold-cooked rabbit realized that something seemed to have happened.

Meanwhile, Shi An and Dior, who were standing to the side, understood what Zhou Ke'er meant and their faces immediately darkened.

"It started when the sky changed color, didn't it..."

While muttering to herself, Zhou Ke'er flicked a spiritual energy needle at each of the two people.

## Chapter 330, Section 325: The Mystery of Kyoto (Part 3)

There's definitely something wrong with Dio and Shi An in front of her, but she doesn't know when things went wrong. As for Lengchitu next to her... Zhou Ke'er did suspect that she might also be in trouble—if she was also replaced, then it's likely that the person next to Zhou Ke'er wasn't switched, but rather that she was trapped in some kind of illusion.

But Cold-Cooked Rabbit didn't show any flaws, maintaining its usual laid-back style and slow-to-react approach. It even just uttered the words "clock and watch," something that shouldn't have been said if it were an illusion created by someone within this module. Unless the illusion could be adjusted based on Zhou Ke'er's memories, but even then, Shi An and Dio shouldn't have made such mistakes—especially Shi An, who recovered instantly.

"Wow! You mean they're all imposters?!"

When Lengchitu saw Zhou Ke'er attack the two people without hesitation, it realized that something seemed to have gone wrong, and it quickly asked Zhou Ke'er in shock.

"To be honest, I suspect you are too. It's just that you're behaving the same as usual (as a good-for-nothing), so I haven't taken any action against you yet."

Zhou Ke'er rolled her eyes and said to Leng Chi Tu, half seriously and half jokingly, "So you'd better prove your identity, otherwise I'll still have to take action against you later."

After all... although it's still unclear what exactly happened and how it was done, even Shi An and Dio have been replaced, so there's no reason why Leng Chi Tu shouldn't be replaced, right? The only thing Zhou Ke'er can be sure of right now is that he himself hasn't been replaced yet.

"boom!"

Unexpectedly, the two spiritual energy needles pierced straight through Shi An and Dio's bodies, only exploding upon hitting the ground.

"!"

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes and immediately flicked the head of the cold-cooked rabbit with her hand.

"Boom!"

Cold-cooked rabbit was stunned by Zhou Ke'er's punch, her face filled with disbelief. She instinctively covered her head with her hands, crying out, "Ouch! Why did you hit me?!"

"Does it sound good? If it sounds good, then it's a good start."

Zhou Ke'er gave a perfunctory reply, secretly relieved, and temporarily confirmed that the Cold-Cooked Rabbit was at least likely real—since Shi An and Dio couldn't be hit, but the Cold-Cooked Rabbit could.

At least for now, it's two against two. Although Cold Rabbit was a bit underwhelming, it's still better than one against three. If all else fails, we can just leave her behind as a scapegoat.