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

"I brought some! I already used them all... Those wounds on its body (pointing to the areas emitting black mist) were caused by my exorcism tools... but I was in such a hurry that I only brought a small number of tools..."

Shi Mi collapsed onto the back seat, unable to move, his whole body began to convulse uncontrollably; this was probably a side effect of the body amplification.

"Tsk... So when will the reinforcements arrive?"

Zhou Ke'er frowned. Although he didn't know if there was a wall in front of him, even if he remembered the route around here, it was really hard to estimate the distance to this thing by feeling.

Moreover, the rearview mirror was completely white, so it was unclear whether the monster had been shaken off or was still following closely behind.

"I...I don't know either."

Shi Mi shook his head helplessly.

"Damn? How did you call for backup just now? Keep pressing and urging us!"

"The communicator was just destroyed by that monster..."

"Good heavens, so these are Green-Rank Exorcists? They're really professional. So this is how humanity is protected. No wonder the world is so peaceful now, and everyone is living a safe life."

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Just then, a loud bang came from the roof of the car, and the entire car shook violently.

Damn, that monster jumped onto the roof of the car!

441. I'm really not a ghost.

"boom!"

Immediately afterwards, instead of sticking its claws down from the car roof and having a tense and exciting car scene with him as Zhou Ke'er had imagined, the monster... directly pushed off with its feet, leaped forward, and jumped directly to the front of the car.

Zhou Ke'er naturally wouldn't brake just because of this. Seeing this, she quickly turned the steering wheel and drove to the side—it wasn't that Zhou Ke'er didn't want to hit it with the car, but mainly because the car was still in the initial stage of starting. It wouldn't kill a person if it hit it, let alone this invulnerable monster.

However, the strange creature just happened to come to its doorstep, leaping aside and getting close to the front of the car.

"Squeak, squeak..."

It crashed directly into the front of the car, making a loud bang and a tooth-grinding sound.

If Shi Mi hadn't been slumped in his seat, the front seat would have blocked his fall as he flew sideways, preventing him from landing directly under the back seat. Otherwise, if he had been sitting, he might have been thrown out of the car.

Immediately afterward, before Zhou Ke'er could even unbuckle her seatbelt and jump out of the car, a tremendous force came from the vehicle.

The monster was completely unharmed; its sharp claws even gripped the car's base before it suddenly flipped upwards.

The car flew out like a flipped table, crashing heavily into a wall on the street. Fortunately, it didn't explode, otherwise Zhou Ke'er would have had to type "gg" immediately.

"boom!"

The driver's side door was kicked open forcefully—luckily, Zhou Ke'er had already opened the door when she subconsciously prepared to jump out of the car, otherwise she probably wouldn't be able to get out now.

Scratching awkwardly, Zhou Ke'er crawled out of the driver's seat, bracing herself on the ground. As for Shi Mi... he's not moving now. He's probably gone.

"Damn it... my car..."

Looking at her completely wrecked car, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but curse under her breath. Last time she went out to find Xu Qingming, she encountered a bus incident and the bus was destroyed. This time, he drove out and his own car was destroyed. This is what a vehicle killer looks like!

The monster was slowly approaching. It had been running faster than a dog when it was chasing the car, but now it was slowing down as if it were toying with its prey.

Seeing that it was walking so slowly, Zhou Ke'er squatted down and took out the half of the Tang sword that Shi Mi had just left behind from the driver's seat.

Having a weapon is always better than being empty-handed. Who says a broken sword can't kill a monster? Tanjiro thought to himself, "That's infuriating." But unfortunately, Zhou Ke'er doesn't have a Mokudo who can make corpses ignite.

Soon, the evil energy within Zhou Ke'er's body began to flow slowly and unconsciously, being transported to the half of the Tang sword in her hand. A stream of black light climbed up the blade, spreading towards the break, and eventually forming a blade half formed from the aggregation of evil energy.

Just like in a turn-based game, Zhou Ke'er finished buffing herself (or repairing her weapon?), and the enemy ghost finally started to exert its strength, suddenly lunging over the overturned car and rushing towards Zhou Ke'er.

With a car in front of her, a wall behind her, and only narrow gaps on the left and right, Zhou Ke'er found it difficult to dodge to either side.

"How did Shi Mi use that move just now...?"

Zhou Ke'er didn't need to take a deep breath; the malevolent aura surged forth like a rushing river, quickly filling his entire body. He only needed to grip the hilt of the knife tightly, and then...

"What's this move called again?... Dragon Ascent!"

A jet-black blade of light flashed upwards, slashing fiercely at the monster's body.

Unfortunately, it didn't cut the monster in two completely. It was only half a finger deeper than Shi Mi's previous strike, but it still managed to send the monster flying – just like it was hit by a blunt object like a baseball bat.

Without bothering to see where the ghost had been sent flying, Zhou Ke'er figured the fog was too thick to see anyway. She gritted her teeth, climbed under the car, flipped over, and jumped to the other side of the car.

Here, you have a much larger area to move around in, and you don't have to feel restricted.

Damn it, why can even this kind of ghost have its own illusion, making it seem like a silent killing technique? The ghost in the last bus incident should have been a very low-level ghost, yet it could create an illusion. Why can't Zhou Ke'er?

Oh right, I remember now, Zhou Ke'er wasn't a ghost after all. Oh well, never mind.

After being told this repeatedly by others, Zhou Ke'er almost began to believe it herself.

Helplessly shaking the Tang sword in his hand, Zhou Ke'er really didn't know how to use this kind of weapon. As mentioned before, he had practiced hand-to-hand combat, and even had practiced emergency self-defense techniques such as grabbing a chair, a broom, or a cane. But he had never actually handled a proper cold weapon or firearm.

Please, this is peacetime. Where are you going to find so many of these things for you to practice with? And even if you did practice, it wouldn't be of any use. You can't just walk around with a knife and start stabbing people.

So, giving Zhou Ke'er a knife now is not as good as giving her a baseball bat... or even a cane that was often used as a murder weapon in the game.

"call out!"

The ghost suddenly lunged at Zhou Ke'er from a certain direction again.

"I'm fucking ascending to the dragon!"

"boom!"

Gui was sent flying again.

Zhou Ke'er's arms began to feel sore and numb. Although he had a lot of evil energy in his body, he didn't know how to use it, let alone how to use it to enhance his physical abilities. So even if he temporarily improved his physical fitness, the limit of what an ordinary person could bear was still there, and having more evil energy wouldn't help.

Then... this ghost started playing with Zhou Ke'er...

"call out!"

"I'm logging in again!"

"boom!"

"call out!"

"Ding ding ding!"

"boom!"

"call out!"

"I can't move anymore!"

"boom!"

Finally, as he swung his Tang sword again, Zhou Ke'er was so out of breath that he almost collapsed. He only knew this one move from beginning to end, the one Shi Mi had just used, and this move was extremely taxing on the body. He had done it five times in a row, which was almost like being exhausted from pounding his way up, to the point where he could practically generate sparks.

"Damn, I really can't climb anymore... Where are the reinforcements we were promised?"

As Zhou Ke'er watched the creature that suddenly pounced on her, looking pitiful but actually still full of life, the character "壹" in her pupils suddenly blurred, and then... it was replaced by the character "肆".

Then... a faint, almost imperceptible call came, and a sudden rumble came from underground.

A massive figure suddenly burst forth from the ground, its sharp, pointed maw tearing at the monster.

The creature that suddenly appeared resembled a giant squid living in the mud. Its slender, worm-like body was encased in a disgusting slime, and a faint, chanting sound accompanied it. A cluster of undulating tentacles grew from its soft, grayish-black, sac-like body... Apart from those outstretched, groping tentacles, it had no other distinguishable features.

If I had to put it into words, there was a lump at the front of this thing... It looked like a container prepared for its brain, or nerve center, or whatever else that controlled this horrible, disgusting creature.

"What...what kind of weird thing is this?!"

The rescuers, who were finally arriving late, were shocked to see such a shocking scene and their eyes widened in disbelief.

442. I am an innocent civilian.

"Creak...creak..."

The poor creature was chewed a few times like a crunchy bone in the mouth of the giant monster that suddenly emerged from the ground, and then swallowed whole.

It's probably dead beyond dead.

Zhou Ke'er subconsciously took two steps back, staring warily at the suddenly appearing monster—although for some reason, the monster gave him a feeling that it "would not harm him," but wouldn't that make him more suspicious? It felt like mind control or hypnosis.

But soon, Zhou Ke'er discovered that the evil energy within her body was being rapidly depleted, and the source of this depletion was flowing into the monster. It wasn't being forcibly absorbed or plundered; rather, it was as if Zhou Ke'er was providing the evil energy to the monster to act.

"Boom!"

However, the monster only showed itself briefly, and after eating the ghost, it leaped back into the ground.

The consumption of evil energy within Zhou Ke'er's body also stopped. What he couldn't see was that the character "肆" in his right pupil blurred again and eventually turned back into "壹".

And clearly, when the monster was bitten by the suddenly appearing creature, the surrounding fog had already dissipated at an astonishing speed.

Although she didn't know why, Zhou Ke'er felt that they would naturally exit the illusion when all the fog dissipated.

"Green-rank exorcist, Jie Jiangzuo. What just happened here? What's the deal with that monster?"

The exorcist who came to the rescue quickly jogged over and asked Zhou Ke'er.

“I don’t know the specifics either… because I’m not an exorcist, just an innocent bystander. So… I think we should go and save the real exorcist, Shi Mi, first… I think there might still be hope for him.”

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er pointed to the back seat of the overturned car, then plopped down on the ground. Having just "climbed" several times and exhausted so much of the evil energy, Zhou Ke'er was now like someone with kidney deficiency, her whole body aching and unable to muster any energy.

"?"

Xie Jiangzuo glanced at Zhou Ke'er in surprise, then rushed to the car, forcefully opened the door, and indeed saw Shi Mi unconscious inside.

He had just seen Zhou Ke'er holding a Tang sword with the mark of the Exorcist organization in her hand and thought she was an Exorcist, but he didn't expect her to be just a passerby.

Seeing Xie Jiangzuo's rough actions, even tearing the car door off, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, thinking to herself, "Whatever, the car's unusable anyway, let him ruin it however he wants. We'll see if they'll reimburse me later..."

"Um... if this car just overturns here..."

Zhou Ke'er finally couldn't help but ask.

"Don't worry, this part of the area has already been sealed off by us. Someone will come and deal with the traces here."

As Xie Jiangzuo pulled Shi Mi out of the car, he replied, "However, it should only be this car that needs to be dealt with. Only objects that enter the illusion from reality will be taken out of the illusion. The marks on the ground will not exist once the illusion ends."

Thinking of this, he added, "Of course... this might not be that simple. I might have to call for backup again... this time it should be faster, since they're already on their way. That monster I've never seen before... I'm definitely no match for it. If it crawls out of the ground again, I might be the next one to be chewed up and eaten."

Zhou Ke'er's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. Although he had no proof, he felt that the monster was probably summoned by him...

However, they didn't have to wait long. About thirty seconds later, the scene around the three of them distorted, and then the real scene appeared.