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

Zhou Ke'er scratched her head, but didn't dwell on it. She then washed her face, as the ink-covered look was quite unpleasant. She casually said to Hu Tao, "By the way, could you ask for leave for me? Although I don't think anyone would notice if I sneaked back. Speaking of which, how many days off have I taken lately?"

"You still care about this? You're always taking short breaks every three days and long breaks every five days, and you're feeling guilty about it now? You're such a dedicated person."

Hu Tao curled her lip, unable to resist making a sarcastic remark. Zhou Ke'er, a rich second-generation who could slack off at work every day or even skip work altogether and still live a life of luxury, was truly the lifelong enemy of working-class people like them—she was filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred!

"Oh ho, that makes sense, Hu Tao, you're right! A single conversation with you is worth more than ten years of study; it's truly enlightening!"

Zhou Ke'er put on an expression of sudden realization and said in a relaxed tone.

But actually...

He had just glimpsed that the water at the bottom of the sink had unexpectedly condensed into the shape of a human face, with a pained and ferocious expression, as if it were being subjected to inhuman torture, screaming and howling in agony.

While casually replying to Hu Tao, Zhou Ke'er subtly reached out and poked the nostrils of the face, turning on the drain of the sink.

Immediately, the face twisted and distorted, spinning as it was sucked into the drain.

After waiting for a while, nothing else unexpected happened as expected. Even Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, turned off the tap, and looked at herself in the mirror.

Although the ink is not permanent, it is not so easy to wash off. At most, it will only lighten the ink stain a little. Zhou Ke'er still needs to go home and wash it off carefully.

The only advantage is...

Now, Zhou Ke'er's pale face was completely concealed by the faint ink stain.

## Chapter 341, Section 336. ? ? ?

"Splash splash splash..."

Zhou Ke'er lay comfortably in the bathtub in her home bathroom, with a fine stream of water spraying down from the showerhead.

When the water temperature was about right, Zhou Ke'er reached out and turned the knob to stop the spray.

Leaning comfortably against the bathtub wall, Zhou Ke'er closed her eyes to rest.

When he first got back, he wanted to ask Bolius to check what was wrong with him—you see, he was worried that if he drove home, he might accidentally hallucinate on the way, which would be tantamount to suicide, so he had to call a taxi back with ink stains all over his face.

Fortunately, I didn't experience any other hallucinations on the way back.

However, this kind of hidden time bomb is really troublesome.

But... when Zhou Ke'er came back, she found that Bolius was engrossed in playing a game, so she didn't want to wake him up right away.

Since there was no rush in this situation, Zhou Ke'er decided to take a shower first.

After painstakingly washing away the ink stains, Zhou Ke'er finally had the chance to lie down and enjoy a comfortable hot bath.

While closing her eyes to rest, Zhou Ke'er began to ponder what exactly was going on.

I was originally thinking of logging on to ask what happened to Lengchitu, but players who were forcibly disconnected can only log back in after a twelve-hour ban, so there's nothing I can do.

However, Zhou Ke'er clearly remembered that even shortly before he lost his memory, the sanity value displayed on his status panel was still above the safety line. Unless he encountered something that would instantly reduce his sanity value to zero with just a glance, there was no way he would be forced to quit the game because of his sanity value.

If it's not due to sanity... then it's because the player's mental state has suffered severe trauma. But... if sanity hasn't decreased, what could cause such severe mental damage?

Unless Zhou Ke'er logs back in and asks Lengchitu what happened, she really won't know.

Besides, what exactly happened with the hallucinations and eye problems that occurred immediately after the forced disconnection? And what about the feeling of being watched, especially the eye I saw in the hallucinations...?

This is definitely related to what happened at the end of the module, but... can a module really affect reality?

Thinking of this, Zhou Ke'er suddenly remembered something—the strange disease that had been spreading recently, Lin Wen had investigated it before, and most of the patients were players of this game...

Is it possible that they are actually experiencing the same situation as Zhou Ke'er?

First, the mental issues stem from those sudden, unexplained hallucinations, while the physical problems are likely similar to those affecting Zhou Ke'er's eyes...

Thinking about it this way, Zhou Ke'er's current situation is indeed very similar to the description of that strange disease!

"...Um?"

As she was thinking, Zhou Ke'er suddenly sensed that something was wrong...

Why did the water suddenly become so cold?

Zhou Ke'er suddenly opened her eyes, but everything in front of her was as usual. The water in the bathtub was still steaming, and it seemed to be at a suitable temperature.

Could it be that... hallucinations have begun to spread from the visual sense to the tactile sense?

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes slightly—no, it wasn't that the water temperature suddenly turned cold, but rather that the temperature throughout the entire bathroom suddenly dropped. Zhou Ke'er even felt that the air she was breathing carried a heavy frost.

He stretched his right hand out of the water and examined his fingernails carefully for a while—the color behind the nails changed from a healthy, rosy color to a purplish-black color, as if they had been frozen, at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"..."

Zhou Ke'er felt a strange throbbing sensation in her eyes, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

A slight pain suddenly came from her palm. Zhou Ke'er subconsciously turned her hand over and looked at her right palm.

First, a thin red mark gradually appeared, running from between the index and middle fingers to the palm. Soon, the red mark spread out, and the sides of the mark began to curl up to the sides.

At the same time, the color of the mark gradually changed from red to black, and gradually, it became like a scar... cut open by something sharp and then solidified and scabbed over.

Zhou Ke'er was silent for two seconds, then reached out and lifted the shower curtain to look at the mirror behind the sink opposite.

It wasn't that he suddenly changed his mind and didn't want to say anything frivolous; it was because... when the bloodstains appeared on his palms, he also felt a sharp pain in his mouth, as if someone had stitched his upper and lower lips together with fine thread. So he couldn't speak at all now.

But what was reflected in the mirror in the bathtub was not Zhou Ke'er, who was naked, but a woman dressed in a bright red wedding dress similar to that worn by brides in the Celestial Empire of the Old Era. The skin exposed outside the dress was pale and bluish-gray, and she was floating on the water with her face obscured.

"..."

Zhou Ke'er pondered for a moment, then closed her eyes, slid forward, and submerged her entire body in the bathtub.

One minute...

Five minutes...

"..."

A strange sigh rang in Zhou Ke'er's ears, and then he suddenly felt a buoyancy, and the surrounding temperature quickly returned to normal.

Zhou Ke'er's skin, which had been frozen and turned bluish-white, turned an unnatural light red under the sudden increase in temperature, as if she had been slightly burned.

Zhou Ke'er suddenly emerged from the water, but instead of opening her eyes immediately, she first tried to open her mouth and take a few deep breaths—firstly because if she were to breathe through her nose while lying on her back, she would definitely choke on water, and secondly, she wanted to see if her mouth was still "sewn shut".

Obviously not.

Zhou Ke'er opened her eyes.

Now he could clearly see a woman in a red wedding dress floating in front of him, looking down at him. Her eyes were empty, only dark eye sockets remained, and there were traces of black blood flowing from the corners of her purplish-blue mouth.

"..."

Zhou Ke'er paused for a second, then feigned a terrified expression, quickly raising her hands to cover her body and screaming, "Eek! Indecent assault! Ahhh!"

"????"

The female ghost... let's call her a female ghost for now, couldn't help but show a look of horror upon seeing Zhou Ke'er's appearance, her empty eye sockets revealing a completely bewildered expression.

Zhou Ke'er tilted her head back, looking innocent, but said with obvious displeasure, "Do you want to settle this privately or publicly? You've just taken my innocent body like this, you have to take responsibility!"

## Chapter 342, Section 337: The Big Eyeball

"Sit down, make yourself at home."

After coming out of the bathroom and changing her clothes, Zhou Ke'er came to the living room and plopped down on the sofa. Then she pointed to the sofa opposite her and said to the woman in the wedding dress who had suddenly appeared for some reason.

While Zhou Ke'er spoke with a perfectly normal expression, she was secretly wondering, "What the hell is this ghost... Let's assume it's a ghost in the normal sense for now. It's already come into my house, why isn't Bolius reacting at all? Could it be that he's really too engrossed in the game? He's not even paying attention to what's happening in real life?"

However... fortunately, this ghost doesn't seem to intend to kill Zhou Ke'er right away.

"Would you like something to drink? Juice or tea? Oh, right, sorry, I forgot you probably can't drink anything~"

Zhou Ke'er raised her eyebrows, trying to test where the other party's bottom line was.

"..."

As soon as Zhou Ke'er finished speaking, the temperature around her dropped instantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I misspoke at the beginning. You shouldn't act like you're at home; it's better to treat yourself as a guest."

Seeing this, Zhou Ke'er said repeatedly, "Politeness, politeness. As a guest, I think etiquette is necessary. What do you think?"

Hearing Zhou Ke'er's reckless words, the other person's empty eyes revealed a venomous look, and the surrounding temperature dropped again.

"艹" means bone-chilling cold.

"Alright, alright, given our relationship, I think it's fine to skip all the formalities. Let's get straight to the point. What do you want to do?"

Zhou Ke'er rubbed her cold hands, breathed on them, and then continued to ask the other person.

The ghost in the wedding dress remained silent, staring at Zhou Ke'er with her empty eye sockets.

"Oh, I see. Your mouth is sewn shut so you can't speak, right? Ugh, this is so troublesome. Shall I get you some paper and a pen? Oh, no, you can't touch anything anyway..."

Zhou Ke'er scratched her head, looking very troubled.

"My lord, who are you speaking to?"

Just then, a puzzled voice suddenly came from the doorway of the side bedroom.

Zhou Ke'er subconsciously... no, Zhou Ke'er restrained her instinct to turn her head, and even after hearing Porius's voice, she still stared at the ghost in the wedding dress.

This scenario feels so familiar. If Zhou Ke'er turned around and said there was a female ghost here, and then Bolius asked where she was because he didn't see anything, and Zhou Ke'er turned around again in surprise—the female ghost would definitely have disappeared.

Trying to trick him, Zhou Ke'er? No way!

The female ghost also stared blankly at Zhou Ke'er. The two of them—no, the human and the ghost—stared at each other.

"My lord, what are you looking at?"

Bolius walked up to Zhou Ke'er with a puzzled look, bent down, and asked worriedly, "What happened?"

The moment Bolius appeared in Zhou Ke'er's sight, it was as if a scene of deep, dark, and distorted spacetime suddenly appeared in her eyes. However, this only lasted for less than a blink of an eye. Zhou Ke'er felt as if her eyes were being pierced by steel nails the thickness of her fingers. She instinctively closed her eyes instantly, and tears that were automatically generated due to the stimulation flowed down her face uncontrollably.

Even though Zhou Ke'er forced herself to open her eyes less than two breaths after closing them, as expected, the female ghost in the wedding dress opposite her had vanished without a trace.

No... that's probably not accurate...

Did the other person disappear on their own initiative, or did she simply "disappear" from Zhou Ke'er's sight, and Zhou Ke'er suddenly find herself unable to see her again?

"What's going on?! My lord, what happened?"

When Bolius saw Zhou Ke'er, who was sitting perfectly fine, suddenly start to cry for no reason, he was immediately startled and hurriedly squatted down to ask her with concern.