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

Zhou Ke'er glanced discreetly at the dark figure clinging to Assassin, then said, "Please come in. The door isn't locked; just open it."

"Squeak..."

As soon as Zhou Ke'er finished speaking, the door to the consultation room was pushed open from the outside.

Outside the door stood an elderly man with graying temples. Although he appeared kind and approachable, Zhou Ke'er could immediately tell that a strange entity resided in his right eye, and that entity's power was constantly permeating other areas. Now, most of the old man's face was shrouded in a mist of red and black, making him look eerie and terrifying.

Could this guy be someone from that cult that Assassins and Dio were talking about?

"Do you have an appointment? Is the gentleman here for psychological treatment, or is there something else?"

While pondering the question in her mind, Zhou Ke'er asked the old man without changing her expression.

It's strange. If the old man was a member of a cult, why didn't Assassin and Dio react at all? If they were just pretending to be calm, Zhou Ke'er would have seen through them at a glance, but that wasn't the case.

Moreover... their attitude towards the old man was merely a normal level of vigilance, like encountering a stranger in a dangerous situation—but if they could see the unusual expression on the old man's face, their reaction would obviously be more than that.

Could it be that just like they can't see the dark figure, they can't see this either?

“Hello Mr. Frank, you can call me Webern. I must tell you, I’m not here for psychological counseling. I’m just here to remind you of something, something very simple. But before that, I have a question for you.”

The old man shook his head and replied in a very kind tone, "Did you encounter a dying monster that could manipulate fire? And did you agree to let it reside in your body, gaining some of the ability to manipulate fire through it?"

"?"

Zhou Ke'er was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, but quickly reacted and analyzed in her mind: First of all, this guy should be similar to some kind of "exorcist" who fights ghosts and monsters in the dark to maintain order, and the supernatural power they can use comes from the ghosts residing in their bodies... Just like the old man in front of her, Zhou Ke'er just discovered that something was residing in his right eye.

Secondly, the evil spirits residing within them, while granting them power, also corrupt their bodies. Although the consequences of being corrupted too deeply are unknown, they are unlikely to be good.

Furthermore, they—the so-called "witch hunter" group—had not long ago hunted down a monster that could use fire, but they were unable to confirm its death, or rather, they initially thought it was dead, but after seeing Zhou Ke'er's condition, they began to suspect that it might have faked its death to escape.

"Hmm... Let's put aside what you mean by 'mystery' for now. Why don't you take a look at that gentleman's condition? He seems to be haunted by some ominous entity. Haven't you noticed?"

Zhou Ke'er did not answer directly, but casually changed the subject and pointed to Assassin, who had a broken arm, and spoke to the old man named Webern.

Upon hearing this, Webb was taken aback, seemingly realizing he hadn't noticed it before, and quickly turned to look at Assassin.

At the same time, from Zhou Ke'er's perspective, it was clear that Webb's right pupil suddenly turned yellowish-brown, exuding a repulsive and eerie aura.

"It's just the most basic trick."

After glancing at the dark figure entangled with Assassins, Webb shook his head and said casually.

"roll!"

At the same time, a phantom seemed to suddenly shoot out from his right eye and roar at the dark figure.

The dark figure seemed to encounter some kind of suppression or threat, and without any resistance, it instantly broke away from the Assassins, fleeing in panic and disappearing from sight.

Assassin also felt a sense of relief, and the chilling feeling that had been lingering around him vanished instantly.

Then Wayburn stopped paying attention to the situation with the Assassins—after all, it was just a low-level monster, nothing worth his attention—and turned to look at Zhou Ke'er.

It wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't looked, but once I did...

Webb's eyes widened in horror, as if he had witnessed something utterly shocking. He instantly adopted a defensive stance and blurted out instinctively, "No, you...you're not just possessed by a demon, you are a demon yourself!"

From Waverborn's perspective, Zhou Ke'er was enveloped in black mist that could only be generated by "Ghosts." Moreover, after Waverborn activated his full-power spiritual vision, he could clearly see that Zhou Ke'er's body was actually filled with "Ghost" energy, as if some core was continuously generating this energy. And her eyes were no longer human organs at all; they were clearly... the eyes of some high-ranking "Ghost."

However, no strangeness residing in Zhou Ke'er was detected... because he himself was some kind of undiscovered "strangeness"! Strangeness naturally cannot reside in another strangeness!

"Huh? How dare you slander someone's innocence out of thin air?"

Zhou Ke'er frowned, looking annoyed, and said, "You're the weird one! Your whole family are weird! I'm just a normal human being, okay!"

"...As a great demon, do I really need to spell it out for you? There are only two ways for demons to increase their rank and energy... First, by residing within a human body and gaining energy by killing other demons. Second, by constantly torturing and slaughtering humans to gain energy..."

Waveron was fully on guard, cautiously retreating step by step towards the door. "And you, a high-ranking monster without a host body, have killed at least a city's worth of humans!"

Upon hearing Waveron's words, Assassin and Dio instantly felt a chill run down their spines—no wonder this guy had been so confident just now, it turns out he... no, he wasn't some human with supernatural powers at all, but a monster!

"Hey, that's not right. Those are all stereotypes! Don't always judge others based on preconceived notions! I've probably killed fewer people than that vampire lady over there."

Zhou Ke'er pointed to Dior beside her and said.

## Chapter 371, Section 366: Like a God Walking Among Men (Part 7)

"Vampire...clan? What's that?"

Webern was taken aback by Zhou Ke'er's words and blurted out a question, but he quickly came to his senses—after all, he was an old man who had seen all kinds of storms.

Seeing that Zhou Ke'er didn't seem to intend to harm him for some reason, he decided to play along and buy time by communicating with her. He had already secretly sought help after discovering that Zhou Ke'er wasn't a possessed spirit, but rather a spirit herself. After all, the old man valued his life.

Meanwhile, Dior, whose identity was suddenly exposed by Zhou Ke'er without warning, stared at her with a look of shock and vigilance, almost asking, "How did you know?"

Zhou Ke'er's lips curled up slightly. Sure enough, since there was no God in this sub-world, there would naturally be no concept of vampires.

"Tsk, I didn't expect you to not even know about vampires. It seems that it has been so long since you last descended to this world that you have completely forgotten everything about us."

Zhou Ke'er revealed a hint of disdain and said with certainty, "'Deception'? Don't use such a despicable term to refer to me! I am God's messenger, reborn in this world with the glory of the past!"

"God... messenger..."

Webb frowned and muttered to himself, but even after living so long, he had never heard of anything about a so-called "God." But judging from Zhou Ke'er's words, it seemed to refer to some powerful cult from long ago?

It's important to understand that in this world, which is very lenient towards religion, most small sects are not worthy of calling themselves "gods." They mostly believe in things like flying pasta. The fact that a sect can call itself "god" in its doctrines proves that its influence and power are not weak.

But if that's the case, there's no reason why he's never heard of it before.

"What does that have to do with vampires?"

Seeing Zhou Ke'er's confident demeanor, Dior wasn't so easily convinced and continued to press for answers.

Upon hearing this, Waver's eyes flickered slightly—these three weren't actually together? He had just seen Zhou Ke'er point at Dio and say "vampire," and he had assumed...

"It's truly lamentable... Have even the vampires themselves forgotten their own origins?!"

Zhou Ke'er looked at Dio with a pitying expression and said in a loud voice, "Then let me make you remember again!"

As he spoke, he suddenly stood up and said in a deep voice, "The most original origin of the vampires is Cain. He killed his brother out of jealousy and was therefore cursed by God. God said, 'I know you will be despised by everyone in the future, so I give you a mark. Everyone will torment you, but will not kill you, so that you will be cursed for eternity!' This curse prevents Cain from facing the sun, and he can only feed on blood, yet he lives forever in the darkness."

"And the vampires in the human world originated from Count Dracula."

Zhou Ke'er changed the subject and continued to ramble, "However, that story would damage God's reputation and honor, so I won't tell it."

"...So, since you say that vampires originated from God's curse, and you are God's messenger...do you want to destroy...or rather, purify me?"

Dior looked coldly at Zhou Ke'er, who had just been speaking eloquently, and asked in a cold voice.

"God did curse you, but He never intended for you to die. Didn't you hear what I just said?"

Zhou Ke'er shook her head and retorted.

Webbine was stalling for time, but wasn't he doing the same thing?

The original plan was to make contact with that group similar to the Witcher before making any further plans, but unfortunately, this plan fell through as soon as Waveron began to regard Zhou Ke'er as a so-called Great Demon.

He knew that the reason Webb was sitting there quietly listening to him was because he had already called for backup, so he was playing along and happy to let Webb stall for time.

Therefore, the plan could only be adapted to the simplest and most direct approach—to perform a public display of divine power.

He's currently waiting for Wayburn's reinforcements to arrive. It's simple: once they arrive, a fight with Zhou Ke'er is inevitable, right? And then, the fight might spill outside the house – that's plausible, isn't it? Once outside, they could easily rush towards a crowd, right? And exchanging barbs while fighting (adding to the backstory) is perfectly normal, isn't it?

Then, Zhou Ke'er casually utters a few prophetic phrases like "Those who believe in God will have eternal life." As this matter spreads and more and more people learn about it, surely some will choose to believe, right? After all, even flying pasta has its followers, so a sect with such a well-developed character, high screen time, and a hot topic like Zhou Ke'er's will definitely attract even more believers.

When the word spreads, one person tells ten, ten tell a hundred, and a hundred believers will be easily within reach.

"So what do you want to do?"

Dior looked coldly at the enigmatic Zhou Ke'er and couldn't help but ask.

"You were the ones who approached me first; I should be asking you that."

Zhou Ke'er shrugged.

"...Alright, let's assume everything you said is true. So...as a divine messenger, what is your purpose in descending upon our world again? It can't be to destroy the world, can it?"

Webb was a man of the world, and he quickly calmed down. After some thought, he realized that there was no need to be so aggressive. He had been so aggressive before because of Zhou Ke'er's identity as a powerful ghost, but now that she denied it... as long as she didn't go crazy and start killing people everywhere, it wouldn't be a problem to go along with her.

Not to mention, if the "God" he's talking about is a benevolent deity in the original concept, there might still be room for cooperation.

Thinking this, Webern didn't outwardly show any emotional fluctuation, but inwardly he waited nervously for Zhou Ke'er's response. After all, he was merely the head of this region; though old, he was still powerless against a powerful demon. Not to mention, the demon residing within him was more of a supportive entity.

"Oh? Open and frank! Very well, since you've put it that way, I'll speak frankly too."

Zhou Ke'er raised her eyebrows and looked at Webern, saying, "My request is very simple: to restore God's glory and honor, and to let the lost sheep of this world return to God's embrace. In short... I want to preach."

"Proselytizing?"

Upon hearing this, Wayburn's expression relaxed at first; at least he wasn't going to start a massacre. But he quickly frowned again: "Then... what is your doctrine...?"

He was a little afraid that what Zhou Ke'er meant by proselytizing was actually the sacrifice of human believers as nourishment for their growth—after all, these days, it wasn't unheard of for some highly intelligent monsters to use religion as a pretext to plunder and kill humans.

"Salvation comes from faith, and God loves the world. It's nothing special. After all... we're not some cult, right?"

Zhou Ke'er grinned, revealing her gleaming white teeth, which made Webern feel a little uneasy.

## Chapter 372, Section 367: Like a God Walking Among Men (Part 8)

"Wait, something's not right... What about what happened on the streets of Oakville? You seemed to have been seriously injured back then!"

Just then, Assassin, who had been silent until now, suddenly interrupted, "If you are the so-called messenger of the gods, then what kind of being could you deal with at the cost of serious injury? A demon?"

"Oh? You know about demons? That makes sense. Since you've chosen to associate with a vampire, you should know these things. It seems the world hasn't completely forgotten us."

Zhou Ke'er turned to look at Assassin, and instead curled the corners of her mouth: "As for being injured... do you think I look injured? It's just a show to attract attention. Believers need miracles too."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er silently unleashed her title skill at Waveron, who was standing to the side.

(Has everyone almost forgotten that Zhou Ke'er also has a title skill by now?)

[Target NPC: Calvino Werburn]

[Activate title effect ②, command: Make the specified target believe that the player "Zhou Ke'er" is "God's messenger"!]

[Title effect is being calculated...]

[Rationality depletion check in progress...]

[The sanity depletion is assessed at 60%, which is within the sanity range for player "Zhou Ke'er".]

[Title effect activated successfully!]

Damn, this is not easy! This is the first time Zhou Ke'er has successfully activated this title skill. Before, either the selected target could not be distorted by will, or the sanity value required was far beyond the limit, making this title skill useless. Now it has finally come in handy.