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

Just then, Honghe, who was also taking out her phone to check it like Zhou Ke'er, paused for a moment, then revealed a terrified expression and said in a trembling voice, "What... what happened? My elders just sent me a message not long ago, saying they were going to visit me on their way, but they found I wasn't home... and asked me where I was, but... they were the ones who told me to come back here!"

"Wait, you can receive messages, which means...your phone has a signal?"

Zhou Ke'er put aside the formulaic plot for the moment and instead focused on this point and asked.

"...No...no signal."

The flamingo shook its head and stammered in reply.

Wow, I've seen plenty of expressionless flamingos, but this one is quite interesting.

"...This is too weird. We...I mean, should we go down the mountain first? Once we're in a place with a signal, we can call back and ask what happened...The thought of a paper doll driving just now still gives me the creeps..."

The man in the front seat trembled and spoke with lingering fear, but his actions were anything but slow. He immediately straddled the driver's seat and slammed the door shut.

"That does sound like a good option, but the problem is, it's raining right now, and the mountain road is so narrow that there's absolutely no way to turn the car around. Unless we walk down, but who knows what kind of more dangerous accident we might encounter."

Zhou Ke'er shook her head and analyzed, "Moreover... the fact that a living person suddenly turned into a paper doll and could still drive a vehicle... coupled with what Honghe just discovered, clearly indicates that this is not a coincidence. It must be aimed at us and premeditated. In that case, the mastermind behind it will definitely not let us escape from the mountain so easily."

455. Ghost Stories of a Deserted Village (Part Two)

"..."

The man in the driver's seat didn't say anything at first, but stepped on the gas pedal to try to start the car. However, for some reason, the car suddenly stalled without warning.

After trying to turn the car key and start the car several times without success, the man finally gave up and said helplessly, "Damn, this car won't start. It looks like we'll have to walk... By the way, from what you just said, you two know each other?"

"We know each other, I guess. My name is Zhou Ke'er, and hers is Honghe."

Zhou Ke'er nodded and replied, "We came here because our elders suddenly informed us that there was an urgent matter that required us to come quickly, so we came here."

"Yes, my name is Duan Shuiliu, and I came here for the same reason as you."

The man answered, then continued to press, "But... just now I overheard you talking about something, and your elders asked why you weren't home. What's going on?"

"I...I don't know either. They were the ones who asked me to come, but...just now they messaged me again asking why I wasn't at my usual place..."

The flamingo looked confused but clearly terrified, and stammered as it answered.

These things have already been said once, and I don't know why I have to repeat them again. Zhou Ke'er felt quite speechless; wasn't this just deliberately wasting time?

Without engaging in their verbose conversation, Zhou Ke'er subconsciously strained her eyes to check the situation behind the car through the front and rearview mirrors, while also trying to make out the shape of the road ahead.

Honestly, the paper figures were right next to the car. Who knows if they would suddenly stand up again? And yet they were chatting happily in the car, showing no intention of getting off at all... Goodness, doesn't this sense of incongruity increase dramatically?

I glanced at the disharmony value in the upper right corner of my vision, but thankfully Zhou Ke'er's disharmony is still zero so far, so there's no need to worry about that for now.

"?!"

As her gaze casually swept across the car's rearview mirror, Zhou Ke'er's eyes suddenly widened. Upon closer inspection, she exclaimed—wow! It wasn't that the paper figures that had just fallen down had stood up again; instead, many more paper figures had appeared behind the car, all stiffly walking towards her. They were occasionally soaked by the rain and limply collapsed onto the muddy ground, but new paper figures would always come to fill their places.

It looks like it's endless.

"Quick, stop talking nonsense, let's get off the bus and escape!"

Zhou Ke'er quickly interrupted Honghe and Duan Shuiliu's conversation, pushing the car door open forcefully while reminding them.

"What...what happened?"

The flamingo asked with a frightened and uneasy expression.

"There's no time to explain. Just look behind the car and you'll understand what's going on."

Zhou Ke'er immediately got out of the car, and with a calm yet anxious expression, she urged Honghe.

Upon hearing this, Honghe naturally didn't hesitate. She maintained a fearful expression on her face, but her hands moved swiftly, opening the door, getting out of the car, and looking back in one smooth motion.

After a moment of stunned silence, Duan Shuiliu first rolled down the car window, peered behind the car, and was immediately so frightened that he pulled his head back in, then abruptly pushed open the car door and jumped out.

"The ground is slippery and the mountain path is narrow, so everyone be careful where you step. Those paper figures aren't moving very fast, so if we walk quickly we should be able to get rid of them. Don't rush, or you might fall."

Seeing that everyone had gotten off the bus, Zhou Ke'er urged Duan Shuiliu in front to hurry up and said.

The drizzling rain mixed with the muddy water from the mountainside, dripping onto the three of them. Soon, it turned into large stains, soaking their clothes and making them cling tightly to their bodies. The stains seemed to contain dirt or fine particles, which felt very irritating and uncomfortable.

"Damn it, what's going on? Where did these damn paper figures come from?!"

Duan Shuiliu couldn't help but swear, slammed the car door shut, and then quickly walked forward along the mountain road.

There was nothing she could do; the area behind her was full of paper figures. Although Zhou Ke'er wanted to rush in to see if she could break through, or even if she was caught, it was obviously not in line with the behavior of a normal person, so she had no choice but to give up.

With pursuers behind and no other way to go, they could only take one step at a time and see what happens.

The three of them hurried forward in the rain, but even though they were walking quickly, they were still on a muddy mountain path, so they couldn't really go that fast.

After finally rounding the bend in the mountain road, a small village with three or four old wooden houses scattered about came into view.

Or rather, it can't even be called a village; it's just a few scattered households.

"There are still people living here, and it's right around the next bend after where our car broke down. It just doesn't seem right..."

Duan Shuiliu couldn't help but whisper something to himself.

"Even if there is a problem, there's nothing we can do. For now, we can only go inside and see what's going on."

Zhou Ke'er replied with a thoughtful expression, "We're caught between a rock and a hard place, so we have to choose the lesser of two evils. If we find that the danger in the village ahead is greater after we enter it, then we'll have no choice but to turn back and try to break through. But if the opposite is true, then we'll wait and see what's going on before making any plans."

The flamingo's eyes clearly conveyed the message, "Isn't this just stating the obvious?", but its expression remained one of fear.

Zhou Ke'er couldn't possibly have missed Hong He's look, but what could he do? He wasn't good at this kind of gradual, deductive reasoning. If it were his usual style, he would have already caused a huge ruckus, then precisely identified the flaws in the chaos, analyzed all the clues through those flaws, and quickly guessed the final answer...

The current situation and setup are indeed severely impacting Zhou Ke'er's performance, but in order to maintain the character's persona, she has no choice but to use meaningless words to serve as the reasoning process, which is unavoidable.

"That's true, that's all we can do for now. Let's hurry up and leave, lest the paper figures catch up with us again. I just don't know if there's anyone in the village, or if those paper figures will come into the village."

Duan Shuiliu added a few more words following Zhou Ke'er's lead, and then led the way toward the small village ahead.

As they approached, they could barely make out several figures standing at the village entrance, as if they were waiting for someone.

Their hunched backs made them look somewhat eerie and unsettling from a distance. Rainwater mixed with mud dripped onto them, but they remained motionless, like statues.

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456. Ghost Stories of a Deserted Village (Part 3)

After everyone reluctantly approached—or pretended to reluctantly—they saw the hunched figures turn around and face them.

These were several elderly people who looked quite old. Their wrinkled skin resembled the bark of a withered tree, covered with ugly marks and patches. Their skin was dark brown, but their faces were strangely pale.

Honghe sighed helplessly, then, as if forced into a corner, revealed a look of fear and terror, trembling slightly, and hid behind Zhou Ke'er and Duan Shuiliu.

“Zhou Ke’er, Honghe, Duan Shuiliu, right? We’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Your family told us that with such heavy rain, you might not be able to get up there for a while. Why don’t you take shelter in our village for a while? If the rain doesn’t stop, you can stay overnight.”

The old man at the head of the group, with only a few teeth left, smiled with his eyes narrowed. All the wrinkles on his face were wrinkled, and rainwater mixed with mud flowed down from his head, running down his face.

But he seemed completely unaffected by it, which was rather unsettling.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er subconsciously glanced at Hong He, only to see Hong He suddenly give him a look, then take out his phone as if he wanted to say something.

Zhou Ke'er immediately understood Honghe's meaning, so she stopped Honghe without making a sound and shook her head, indicating that she should not reveal what she had just received.

Seeing this, Honghe obediently put her phone away. The truth was, Honghe herself didn't want to say anything about it, but she had to do it because of her persona, so she could only hope that someone would stop her before she could say it.

This module's settings are indeed quite troublesome.

"Grandpa, is there something evil up on this mountain?! A kind old man offered to drive us up, but halfway up, he suddenly turned into a paper figure... We were terrified! What happened?"

Duan Shuiliu's eyes flickered, and then he quickly put on an anxious and outspoken expression and asked.

He was actually being a little clever here. Given his "straightforward" persona, and considering he had just heard what Honghe had said, it would be out of character not to ask. But he used another urgent matter, something that needed to be asked, instead. After all, asking about the paper figures first in such a hurry was a perfectly reasonable choice.

“Take a car? Young men, have you gotten confused from being in the rain? Cars aren’t allowed to drive up this mountain road. Everyone who wants to go up the mountain walks up. Otherwise, your elders wouldn’t have told you to stay here overnight because they were worried you would get wet and have trouble getting up.”

The old man shook his head, his eyes still squinting, his deep wrinkles either spreading or closing, making it impossible to discern his true expression.

Duan Shuiliu opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something more, but Zhou Ke'er immediately took over the role, subtly tugging at Duan Shuiliu's sleeve and shaking her head to indicate that he should stop talking.

Although Duan Shuiliu appeared to be very puzzled, he obediently refrained from asking any further questions.

“I see. We must have been a little out of it. We were soaked in the rain and felt really groggy. We’re all drenched and it’s really uncomfortable. Sir, could you please take us to take a shower and change our clothes? We would be so grateful.”

Zhou Ke'er nodded to them, then glanced at Hong He and Duan Shuiliu—come to think of it, apart from him taking his backpack from the seat when he got out of the car, the other two seemed to have completely forgotten about it—and judging from the opening CG, everyone's suitcases were actually placed in the back seat...

In other words, apart from Zhou Ke'er having a backpack that might contain a change of clothes (though that's unlikely), the other two definitely don't.

"It's alright, it's alright. We're all family living on this mountain. Come, I'll take you to my home."

The old man waved his hand, then turned and walked towards a certain house.

The remaining two old men hadn't uttered a single word from beginning to end. They had been staring intently at Zhou Ke'er and the other two for a long time before finally turning their gaze away and leaving without a word, heading towards other houses.

It looks very strange.

Soon, after only a few steps, Zhou Ke'er and the other two followed the old man into his house.

This is an old wooden house that becomes very damp on rainy days, and for some reason, it also emits a faint, rotten smell.

Although the house doesn't look very big from the outside, it seems empty and deserted, probably because the interior facilities are so scarce.

"Um... sir, when did our elders come here to ask you to let us stay here temporarily? I remember it just started raining not long ago."

As Zhou Ke'er looked around the room, she casually asked, "The rain is getting heavier and heavier. I'm worried that they might encounter some accident on their way, and that would be our fault. If it hadn't been so long, we might have been able to catch up with them if we kept going uphill."

Although she followed the old man into the house without much resistance, Zhou Ke'er really didn't intend to stay there any longer.

After all, it was unclear whether the village could stop the paper figures. Although they had walked quite fast and had indeed left the paper figures behind, they estimated that they would arrive here in about four or five minutes at most.

Isn't Zhou Ke'er still here because she's mentally challenged? The three of them just haven't mentioned the paper figures to the old man yet; they haven't really forgotten about it...

"Oh, you mean them? They didn't come."

The old man paused for a moment before replying, but instead of turning around, he fiddled with the stove for a while and started a small fire.

"They didn't come down? Then how did they tell you we were coming?"

Duan Shui, displaying a straightforward and outspoken demeanor, blurted out the question without hesitation.

"We have telephones too."

The old man pulled out a very old-fashioned mobile phone from his pocket, which looked a bit like a PHS phone.

"But there's no signal up in the mountains!"

The flamingo couldn't help but ask with a hint of "doubt"—though its tone remained strangely rigid.

"The signal is usually bad up in the mountains, and it's probably because of the rain that there's no signal right now."