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

Failed.

Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly, but it didn't matter much. Anyway, she was going to find that ancient book, so whether or not she had this Taoist priest wouldn't make much difference.

They had originally planned to use the guise of the supernatural to get the other party to lead them there. But now it seems they'll have to figure it out themselves, though it probably won't make much of a difference.

"What? He just ran away out of nowhere? Should we go after him?"

Long Aotian was puzzled. Zhou Ke'er had only said a few words casually, yet she had been scared away? Was there some hidden story he hadn't discovered?

"No, there's no need for that. I deliberately chased him away. After all, we're going to find that ancient book later, what's the point of bringing a burden along?"

Zhou Ke'er shook her head, looking as if everything was going according to plan.

## Chapter 528, Section 523: An Illusion Within an Illusion

"But... how are we supposed to find the ancient book that guy mentioned? Now there's no one to guide us."

Long Aotian shrugged and continued to ask, but he didn't seem anxious. He probably already knew that Zhou Ke'er must have some way of finding that ancient book, and asking now was just a routine matter.

"Hey, you don't need to worry about that. I can sense that thing. Come on, follow me."

Zhou Ke'er waved her hand and then walked in a certain direction.

To be honest, he originally planned to say something like, "Maybe that ancient book is destined for me, so it has been calling me." If he said that, there might be a tiny chance that Long Aotian would mistakenly believe that the book was waiting for Zhou Ke'er to come and get it.

But then I thought again, there was no need for that. Putting aside how low the success rate of misleading Long Aotian was, even if Zhou Ke'er did get that ancient book, who knew if it would conflict with the "Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Monarch's Secret Scripture"? Even if it didn't conflict... then Zhou Ke'er would have to wait for those beings to come and have tea with her.

It was clearly not worth the risk, so Zhou Ke'er gave up on the idea.

As Zhou Ke'er walked towards the darkest color in her field of vision, the surrounding environment seemed to slowly change along with her.

It's not that the original environment has changed, but rather that the closer you get to that direction, the more different the characteristics of the surrounding environment become from the outside.

Just like the buildings in this city, when Zhou Ke'er walked along, these buildings were not much different from the ones she saw when she first arrived. They were all severely eroded ruins. But starting from a certain place, the closer she got to that direction, the more intact the surrounding buildings became, until at a certain point, all the buildings became perfectly intact.

If you only look at it from the beginning, the changes may not be very clear because they are gradual. But if you compare the surrounding scenery with this place, you will find that they are two completely different worlds.

What's even more puzzling is that although Zhou Ke'er and Long Aotian were on guard against monsters or other creatures that might suddenly appear and block their way, they didn't encounter any.

In Zhou Ke'er's view, when they were still on the outskirts of this area, there were still a few dark shapes approaching them. But once they stepped into this area, those strange creatures that were originally following behind them and watching them menacingly seemed to be frightened and fled at a fast speed, even faster than when they were approaching them.

Once inside this area, Zhou Ke'er no longer saw the strange, moving dark shapes. Here, the colors were relatively even and stable, and hardly moved at all, making it difficult for Zhou Ke'er to discern whether any strange things were lurking in the shadows.

Turning the corner of this road, there was... a person?

And it wasn't just one person. It was as if no disaster had ever happened. The streets were peaceful and bustling, with a few pedestrians on the road and even shops on both sides of the street doing business.

At first glance, Zhou Ke'er thought she had traveled back to reality.

Moreover, it was precisely at the moment Zhou Ke'er and Long Aotian turned the street corner that a sudden cacophony of sounds arose in their ears—people talking, cars passing by—as if the sounds had been suddenly turned on after being muted.

"There's something wrong here, be careful."

Long Aotian's voice rang out from the side, and his expression became slightly serious. He leaned down and whispered a reminder in Zhou Ke'er's ear.

Zhou Ke'er rolled her eyes. "Isn't that obvious? Do you think I can't see it?"

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er secretly used her supernatural abilities to probe the surroundings, but found that, under the supernatural perception, the so-called comings and goings of people were actually nothingness. She could see such a scene, but it did not actually exist.

Moreover, similarly, in Zhou Ke'er's view, those people did not leave any lighter or darker color; they were basically the same color as the surrounding environment.

"It's okay, keep walking, don't worry about these things. As long as they don't come up to us and talk to us, just pretend they don't exist."

Zhou Ke'er raised an eyebrow and continued walking forward. "That's good news—at least it shows we didn't go the wrong way, right?"

But before they could finish speaking, a dark shadow was thrown towards them.

Zhou Ke'er instinctively wanted to back away and tried to control the thing that was thrown at her with her evil spirit, but she found that the evil spirit passed right through the shadow, as if it hadn't touched anything at all and had just hit the air.

The dark figure landed lightly on the ground without making a loud noise.

Incidentally, it rolled twice on the ground.

Zhou Ke'er took a closer look.

It's a head.

Yes, it's not a real head, it's a doll's head.

"Watch out, get out of the way..."

Long Aotian's reminder came late.

Zhou Ke'er squatted down with great interest and reached out to try poking the head.

I didn't go through it, but I could feel it.

It has no physical form, but it can be touched... Is there some mechanism that affects its five senses?

"Sister, could you please pass that to me?"

A soft, sweet voice came from ahead. Zhou Ke'er raised her eyes slightly and saw a tiny little girl blinking her eyes and asking him timidly.

Zhou Ke'er's lips curled up into a gentle smile as she reached out and picked up the fallen head—then she realized that the head didn't seem to be the detachable kind, but rather... it seemed to have been simply and roughly broken off.

Seeing this, Zhou Ke'er's eyes lit up slightly, and her smile became even brighter. She handed the severed head to the other person, saying, "Of course you can. Be more careful next time, okay? How could you be so careless and break all the toys?"

The little girl grinned as she took the head from Zhou Ke'er's hand, then tilted her head, looking puzzled: "Accidentally? I didn't accidentally do anything!"

Then, with an innocent and harmless expression, the little girl reached out and forcefully broke off one of the legs of the headless doll in her hand, and then smiled at Zhou Ke'er and said, "I was just playing with a toy."

Upon seeing this, Long Aotian's eyes widened immediately, and he instinctively prepared to attack.

Zhou Ke'er didn't turn her head, but seemed to anticipate Long Aotian's actions. She waved at him, signaling him not to make any rash moves, and then responded with an even brighter smile, "No, that's not right. You can't play with toys like that. Come on, let me teach you."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er took the doll from the little girl's hand, and the little girl didn't seem to stop her.

"Tearing off a leg like that would be such a waste."

Zhou Ke'er used an evil power to enhance her little fingernail, making it extremely sharp. Then, bit by bit, she cut off the remaining foot of the doll, starting from the toes, one by one. An excited and satisfied expression appeared on her face. "You see, the most perfect game is not about the thrill of a moment, but about the most lasting pleasure."

## Chapter 529, Section 524: As Long As I Get Crazier

The little girl looked at Zhou Ke'er's eerie yet satisfied smile, then glanced at the doll with its toes cut off. Her face suddenly contorted, and she burst into tears, wailing, "Waaah! Help! There's poop!"

Long Aotian's eyes widened upon seeing this—good heavens, how could the villain accuse him first? That's not allowed! He quickly looked around, becoming wary.

Zhou Ke'er wasn't alarmed, just slightly surprised, but then she couldn't help but chuckle and handed the doll back to the little girl.

The little girl quickly reached out and took the headless, legless doll from Zhou Ke'er's hands, hugging it tightly in her arms. She looked at Zhou Ke'er warily, her face showing both grievance and anger.

Just then, a middle-aged man stormed over, shielding the little girl under Long Aotian's wary gaze, and angrily shouted at Zhou Ke'er and Long Aotian, "What are you doing? What have you done to my daughter? How could you do such a thing?"

Zhou Ke'er stood up gently, patted her clothes, and replied softly with a gentle smile, "Hello, perhaps you don't believe me, but I haven't done anything bad to your daughter. Of course, words alone are not enough; why don't you just ask your child directly?"

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er squatted down again, and with a smile, asked the little girl who was hiding behind the middle-aged man and looking at him timidly, "Aren't you right, little girl?"

When Zhou Ke'er saw the middle-aged man suddenly become furious with her, she thought her newly acquired title skill had broken. She subconsciously tried to use the title skill's second effect on the man, but found that... the system's response was: "No NPC to be specified found."

That means the man in front of you... or rather, all the "people" present, are not even NPCs, but simply virtual illusions.

The little girl felt immense pressure under Zhou Ke'er's "gentle" gaze, tears welling up in her eyes as she timidly replied, "Yes, yes... this older sister didn't do anything bad to me."

Zhou Ke'er nodded in satisfaction, stood up easily, shrugged at the middle-aged man, and still smiled: "You see, the young lady has already said that I didn't do anything to her. You've misunderstood."

This only fueled the middle-aged man's anger, his face contorting as he clenched his fists. Long Aotian worried he might strike Zhou Ke'er at any moment: "How dare you... how could you threaten such a young child?! And in front of her father no less! How could you do such a thing! You... damn... bitch!"

Zhou Ke'er's expression remained unchanged, still smiling, and she said very politely, "No, no, you shouldn't swear. It's so uncivilized. How can you say such foul language in front of a young girl? It's not good. If you continue like this without distinguishing right from wrong, then I can only ask you to apologize to us. Nobody wants to cause trouble, right?"

After a pause, Zhou Ke'er added with a smile that hadn't changed, "At least, when threatening others, you still have to be careful about your daughter who's still by your side, don't you think?"

Long Aotian, standing behind him, narrowed his eyes slightly, a look of surprise flashing in them, confirming once again the fact that Zhou Ke'er was indeed, to some extent, a complete lunatic, a madwoman.

This is also why he hasn't made a move yet – he has to admit, he's somewhat looking forward to seeing just how crazy Zhou Ke'er can get.

After all, there's always an inexplicable attraction to good-looking madmen.

"What do you mean?! You're threatening me? What do you intend to do to my daughter?!"

The middle-aged man was clearly on the verge of exploding, his eyes bloodshot as he stared intently at Zhou Ke'er.

"No, you've misunderstood. I didn't mean to do anything to your daughter, I just wanted you to apologize to me. After all, you not only misunderstood, but you're also unrepentant, right?"

Zhou Ke'er's expression remained unchanged, but she secretly summoned her pet dog behind her and had it pounce on the man and bite him.

He was unable to detect the other party's existence using his evil powers, yet he was able to touch the doll. If it were a physical entity made of evil powers, would he be able to touch it?

If these entities can be reached, it means they cannot be perceived by energy without a physical form, but can be reached by physical entities.

If you can't touch it, then it means... that all of this may actually not exist, and the feeling that Zhou Ke'er just touched something was just a feeling of "touching something" created by her five senses being clouded by some unknown energy.

The puppy leaped up and, following Zhou Ke'er's command, bit the middle-aged man's calf hard.

The middle-aged man never expected such a thing. His expression froze instantly, then contorted in pain. He jumped up and down, yelling, "Damn it! What is that?! A dog? Where did this dog come from that dares to bite me?!"

Zhou Ke'er casually admired her fingernails, not even glancing at the hopping man, and said softly, "Sir, look, all things have a spirit. Your unreasonable and aggressive behavior is something even a dog on the street can't stand. How can you do this? Are you, as a human being, less than a dog?"

Long Aotian looked around and whispered to Zhou Ke'er, "Let's not keep arguing with this guy here. If we keep going like this, the guys around us will come over too. It wouldn't be good if we were surrounded."

Zhou Ke'er didn't refute, she just shrugged, "As you wish."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er squatted down again and asked the little girl with a smile, "Look, your dad's legs have been bitten like this... Doesn't it look like a doll whose legs you broke off? Isn't it interesting? Don't you want to try it yourself?"

After saying that, without waiting for the other party's reaction, he stood up, dusted off non-existent dust from his body, waved his hand to signal Long Aotian to hurry up and follow him, and continued walking forward.

The pedestrians on the roadside were looking at them with strange and peculiar eyes, either openly or secretly, but no one came forward to do anything.

Behind them, the little girl's suppressed laughter, seemingly revealing a sense of satisfaction, could be faintly heard, mixed with the middle-aged man's cry of pain, making it extremely eerie.

Hearing the voice she wanted to hear, Zhou Ke'er didn't turn around, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly. She casually snapped her fingers and recalled her pet dog.

## Chapter 530, Section 525: Strange Phenomenon

"Speaking of which, it's strange that people still live here... and they don't seem to have been affected by those monsters much. It's just too odd."

Long Aotian walked beside Zhou Ke'er, pondering for a moment before lowering his voice to ask, "Especially just now, there was absolutely no warning, but the sound came as soon as we turned the corner..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips and said, "Haven't you figured it out yet? Everything here doesn't actually exist in this secret realm; it's just an illusion that's blinding our five senses."

Long Aotian asked with slight confusion, "But didn't you just touch them? Your hand didn't pass through them."

He initially just felt something was off about this place, maybe these so-called people were all evil spirits in disguise... but he didn't expect Zhou Ke'er's conjecture to be more radical, directly concluding that this whole place was fake. But she clearly touched that doll just now, didn't she?