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

So from the moment Zhou Ke'er arrived outside the mental hospital and met her, and the recording began... Ming Mengjing basically didn't mention anything about Zhou Ke'er being a ghost.

After saying that, to prevent Zhou Ke'er from continuing to ask questions, Ming Mengjing immediately began to demonstrate. Her hands instantly transformed into giant claws, which she slammed onto the wall of the building in front of her. Then, with a powerful grab, she used the momentum to leap upwards.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and catch up!"

Ming Mengjing looked down at Zhou Ke'er, who was still on the ground and hadn't followed, and immediately urged her.

"???"

Zhou Ke'er put her hands on her hips and said matter-of-factly, "I can't turn my hands into claws, how am I supposed to keep up with you?"

"???"

Ming Mengjing wore a speechless expression that said, "Others can't transform because they don't have any evil energy on their hands, but you're covered in evil energy and you still can't transform?" She was so angry that the veins on her forehead bulged, but she could only swallow her anger and ask, "Is that so... then where does all the evil energy on your body gather?"

"On the eyes. Didn't you see that huge '壹' ​​character? If you didn't see that character, do you mean you can't even see the double pupils?"

Zhou Ke'er, looking quite self-righteous, pointed to her right eye and answered.

"How should I know! Isn't this just your twisted sense of humor? Anyway, you're full of evil, so who knows where you're trying to pinpoint as your evil spot!"

Ming Mengjing mentally ranted, feeling her blood pressure skyrocket and almost choking on her own blood. But after thinking about her salary and the upcoming expansion of the game's monetization channels, she finally managed a bitter smile, a mixture of sorrow, bitterness, and world-weariness: "I see. Oh well, there's no other way. Looks like I'll have to take you with me. Here, give me your hand. It might be a bit bumpy, so be careful."

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but feel a chill. Why was Ming Mengjing's tone so scary?!

451. The hunt is about to begin.

"By the way, you haven't told me yet, how should the strength of ghosts be classified? Are they just divided into ordinary ghosts and great ghosts?"

Holding Ming Mengjing in her hand, Zhou Ke'er, who was suspended in the air like a flag (though not quite that soft), asked curiously.

"..."

Ming Mengjing paused for a moment, then calmly (?) replied, "We exorcists are indeed rather vague about the classification of ghosts, because we don't really know how or how ghosts advance in rank. Apart from knowing that the lowest-ranking ghosts need to devour humans to become stronger, and that higher-ranking ghosts can absorb other ghosts, we don't actually have much information."

Therefore, our classification of ghosts is quite simple and straightforward. Lower-level ghosts that cannot connect to illusions and still need to devour humans are classified as one category, generally handled by red, orange, and yellow-tier exorcists. Ghosts that can unconsciously connect to illusions but cannot control themselves, and which have largely escaped the need to devour humans, are also classified as one category, handled by green and cyan-tier exorcists.

At this point, Ming Mengjing paused, then turned to look at Zhou Ke'er before continuing, "Then there are the Great Ghosts who can autonomously connect to the Illusionary Realm and rarely eat people. Based on our speculation, the Great Ghosts may have become fundamentally different from ordinary Ghosts."

In contrast, Great Demons generally possess rationality similar to that of humans. Sometimes, exorcists with poorer perception might even mistake Great Demons for their own allies. These extremely dangerous demons are typically dealt with by the final blue and purple tiers.

As for the so-called existence surpassing even the Great Demon... well, I've never seen one, so I don't know.

"I see... But since the Great Demon doesn't eat people, and might even become your ally by absorbing other Demons, why do you insist on listing them as enemies?"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly asked.

“Some people in the organization think the same way. But the problem is that the risk is too great. No matter how rational the trick may seem, it is still tricky at its core. Who knows if it will suddenly get out of control one day, and the damage caused would be unpredictable.”

Ming Mengjing glanced at Zhou Ke'er, her meaning clear: "By the way, just a friendly reminder. Although we rarely use Blue-Rank Exorcists to deal with Great Ghosts, they are actually capable of killing Great Ghosts. It's just that we don't do it to avoid unnecessary casualties."

"I understand, so I'm a Red-Rank Exorcist now, right? What level of monster are we going to deal with now?"

Sensing that Mingmengjing's speed was gradually decreasing, and that it seemed they were almost at their destination, Zhou Ke'er asked.

"We haven't ranked you yet. We'll rank you based on your performance in the first three exorcisms. The monster we're looking for now is just an ordinary low-level monster. If you can handle this one, we'll find you a stronger one based on your performance."

Ming Mengjing explained everything in great detail, indicating that the organization's rating was indeed very important to her.

"We're here. It's in that abandoned haunted house up ahead. It's just a low-level ghost that can't access the illusion realm. Go and try it out first."

Ming Mengjing threw Zhou Ke'er to the ground, pointed to the abandoned haunted house in front of her, and said, "Don't forget to come back to reality after you go in. It wouldn't be good if ordinary people saw you transform into a living person."

"Wait, wait... no, I don't know anything! You're just letting an ordinary person like me go in and face the ghosts? Aren't you going to teach me how to use the evil within me to fight the ghosts?"

Seeing Ming Mengjing's expression that said, "Hurry up and stop dawdling," Zhou Ke'er asked, looking completely bewildered. Although he did indeed always carry the half-broken Tang sword he had tricked out of Shi Mi, it was a technique he had devised (or plagiarized) himself. He couldn't just rely on that one move, could he?

"?"

Ming Mengjing sighed helplessly, "You just said that the evil spirits in your body are gathered in your eyes, which likely means that you can't use these evil spirits to harm the ghost. Basically, exorcists whose evil spirits are gathered in these parts rarely confront the ghosts head-on, but mostly team up with other exorcists as support. If you feel that you can't fight the ghost in here, then I'll take you back and find you a new support team of exorcists to be your senior."

After a pause, Ming Mengjing continued with a displeased expression, "By the way, if there are more than one place in your body where evil gathers, or if the concentration of evil in other parts of your body is slightly higher than normal, then you can enhance your physical fitness through evil, just like Shi Mi, whom you met before, and then hunt ghosts with exorcising weapons."

"I understand. Now, if I defeat this monster, you can explain to me the other methods that exorcists use to fight monsters."

Zhou Ke'er nodded and then walked into the abandoned haunted house.

"Tsk..."

Ming Mengjing clicked her tongue in annoyance, feeling that Zhou Ke'er was being far too blatant in inquiring about the exorcists' information, making no attempt to conceal her true intentions...

Meanwhile, Zhou Ke'er, who had been dawdling for a long time before finally entering the abandoned haunted house, found her surroundings instantly changing after exiting the illusion.

The overall appearance hasn't changed much, except for many scratches and even dried blood, which are completely invisible in the dim light.

Zhou Ke'er's vision shifted instantly, all colors vanishing once more, leaving only gray and black. From this perspective, it was easy to see that the black in a certain area was particularly dense compared to the rest, suggesting that the ghost was likely there. However, the density of the black was even less than that on Xu Qingming's body, indicating that it was indeed a very low-level ghost.

Zhou Ke'er immediately took out half of a Tang sword, used the evil magic to repair the blade, and cautiously walked in that direction.

At the same time, all the evil energy in his body began to slowly circulate. When he saw Shi Mi strengthening his body, the flow of evil energy within him was... However, it seemed that he had to use the massive amount of evil energy in his lungs to drive the small amount of evil energy in the rest of his body. Zhou Ke'er didn't need this at all; she could directly control the flow of evil energy throughout her body in that way.

However, what happened next was unexpected for Zhou Ke'er... As he got closer to that direction, the monster began to become restless and started to retreat into the distance, as if it was avoiding him.

They actually dared to run away?

If you manage to scare away the ghost, what rating would that be?

As Zhou Ke'er thought this, he kicked over the obstacle in front of him. After all, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and with his current physical abilities, these dilapidated walls that had been in disrepair for many years could not stop him.

The closer Zhou Ke'er got, the more fear and trembling the other party showed. The evil aura around the other party began to fluctuate violently, and the other party frantically shouted that he wanted to run away.

"Hey, hey, this won't do... What if that guy Mingmengjing adds a line to his report to the younger generation that low-level ghosts will instinctively fear him upon contact? Then I won't be able to hide it anymore. So you'd better die quickly."

Zhou Ke'er grumbled unhappily. The ghost she encountered last time had relied on its strength to try and play with her. Even though that ghost hadn't reached the level of a Great Ghost, she couldn't see any suppression in terms of rank. How come it was so obvious here?

452. People are so scared of ghosts they'll scare them to death!

"My dear little ghost~ Where have you been hiding? Why are you hiding from me? It makes me so sad~"

As Zhou Ke'er violently broke through the wall, she shouted in a sinister tone, "Don't be afraid, I just want to play a game with you, just a little game~ Why are you afraid of me?"

But there was no response, and the monster continued to hide in the distance.

That's right. These low-level monsters don't even have reason yet, so naturally they wouldn't understand what Zhou Ke'er is saying. Even if they did understand, they'd be even less likely to actually come over to Zhou Ke'er.

Fortunately, for some reason, although the ghost was indeed moving away from Zhou Ke'er, it seemed unable to leave this abandoned haunted house—so why not just blow up the haunted house?

Zhou Ke'er, who was secretly complaining that the exorcists were too rigid, silently sped up her pace—since she had already cornered the ghost, could she really turn the tables and take it down?

How does flying dragon riding face lose?

Because of Zhou Ke'er's unique perspective, the fact that the haunted house was pitch black did not affect his vision at all. After a while, with a loud bang as Zhou Ke'er kicked open the last wall, the ghost finally appeared in front of him.

This strange creature hadn't even condensed into a concrete form yet; it looked like a clump of black mist that had been forcibly gathered together. It barely seemed to have a shape, but no one could quite describe what shape it was.

As soon as Zhou Ke'er appeared, the ghost let out a sharp scream—no, how should I describe it? This sound was not a "sound" in the normal sense; it did not travel through the air to Zhou Ke'er's ears, but rather rang directly in Zhou Ke'er's mind.

But that's about it. This level of noise might cause some minor annoyance, but it's unlikely to cause any real psychological harm. Unless it continues like this for several months, but even then, people usually get used to it.

"Yakamashi!"

Zhou Ke'er roared in annoyance, and the ghost immediately fell silent, as if it had received some command that it could not disobey.

"Come on, give me a good chop!"

Zhou Ke'er beckoned to Gui in a very soft voice, "I'm quick, you usually won't feel any pain."

To be honest, Zhou Ke'er actually prefers blunt weapons to swords and other cold weapons. For example, the crowbar, the holy sword of physics, is quite good. He finds it very easy to use, but unfortunately, he doesn't have one on hand right now. He hopes the Exorcist Organization can order a custom-made weapon for him.

Upon hearing this, the ghost, though it didn't immediately become rational, instantly understood Zhou Ke'er's meaning. It let out a shrill howl and, as if it had seen a ghost, desperately tried to escape, attempting to run past Zhou Ke'er.

"You beast, where do you think you're going?"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't stand it anymore. She had already politely asked it for its opinion and told it to come over and cut her with a knife, but she didn't expect this monster to be so ungrateful and even try to run away.

You know, it's an honor for it to get slashed by Zhou Ke'er!

Hey, if this girl gets away, Zhou Ke'er will write Ming Mengjing's surname backwards!

"You won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences! Come and try this secret technique I stole from the exorcist!"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly roared, spouting nonsense as she instantly swung her knife.

A flash of gray light disappeared in an instant, and a thin line flew swiftly across the monster's body.

However, this time the scene was completely different from the last one. A fierce evil surged out of Zhou Ke'er's body, and the evil that surged out of her eye sockets like a tide instantly twisted into boiling flames, which surged in the air and spread to the blade.

Although the eerie temperature wasn't actually as high as the flames, the air seemed to be distorted as if it were truly being scorched by fire.

Even the Tang sword in Zhou Ke'er's hand began to show signs of melting due to the high temperature, but fortunately, at least before the Tang sword melted, it had already struck the ghost.

The dark gray, flame-like evil began to burn fiercely on Gui's body. Although Gui was made of evil, it was now being burned by the evil that came from the same source, and was howling in pain.

"Good heavens... what's going on now? Where did this special effect come from?"

Zhou Ke'er was shocked. How could he have known this would happen? It was exactly the same as the last time. The only difference was the amount of evil in his body. Could it be that he was too full, so this time a lot of it just overflowed?

The fiend barely lasted two breaths before being reduced to ashes by the boiling, burning evil, which drifted finely to the ground. The burning evil, having lost its flammable material, did not extinguish itself, though its flames weakened considerably, still licking the ground.

"What happened?! Why did such a strange and eerie reaction suddenly occur?"

Just then, a large hole was suddenly torn open in the ceiling where Zhou Ke'er was, and Ming Mengjing jumped in directly through it. Before she could even stand properly, she immediately asked a question.

"Ah... this... how should I put it... what kind of strange reaction is this? I have no idea! How do I sense this?"

Zhou Ke'er immediately began to feign innocence.

Ming Mengjing did not answer, but simply looked around at the scene. Looking at the flame-shaped evil spirit still burning weakly on the ground, her eyelids twitched violently.

Even though the malevolent energy had weakened considerably, she could still sense how terrifying those flames had originally been. Even if she were touched by this malevolent energy, she would be severely injured, if not killed—it could even cause significant damage to a Great Demon.

Why use such a low-level attack against a low-level monster?!

"So... what about that ghost?"

Ming Mengjing swallowed hard and turned to look at Zhou Ke'er.

"Uh...it's on the ground...that clump of gray is...I don't know how it happened, it turned gray after I slashed it, how strange hahaha."

Zhou Ke'er scratched his head and laughed awkwardly, looking completely innocent, as if it had nothing to do with him. "Oh right, this knife seems to be broken too. This monster is quite powerful, it actually managed to break the weapon of your Exorcist Organization—even though it was already broken to begin with."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er handed the slightly melted half of the Tang sword to Ming Mengjing.

Are you kidding me?! How could a Tang sword from the Exorcists' Organization be melted by such a low-level demon?! To exceed the sword's maximum withstand capacity, it would need to be at least a blue-rank Exorcist, or a powerful demon...