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

"Why is everyone coming to see me? What's going on...?"

Zhou Ke'er winked at the two of them, and was halfway through her question when she suddenly felt a strong palpitation. Her expression changed instantly, and she instinctively rushed in front of Lannister and Isaac. She then quickly released the evil energy within her body, forming a protective barrier around the three of them.

Sure enough, less than a second after the protective barrier was formed, a strange wave spread rapidly from somewhere. Although it was invisible and intangible and had no physical form, Zhou Ke'er instinctively felt that if she were hit by this wave, nothing good would happen.

As for the Lannisters and Isaac, who couldn't see the evil spirits or sense any fluctuations, they couldn't help but feel uneasy when they saw Zhou Ke'er, who had been smiling, suddenly change her expression, fly over to block their way, and put on a furrowed and wary look. However, in order not to disturb Zhou Ke'er, they didn't ask what had happened.

Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly. The fluctuation just now... he could clearly feel that it was filled with evil, but he couldn't see any trace of evil in his vision. It was as if... his double pupils had completely failed as soon as he arrived at this place.

The Azure Sword instantly appeared in her hand. Zhou Ke'er cautiously looked around and waited for a while, but she did not hear any commotion or screams.

Everything seemed as if nothing had happened, remaining unchanged from before.

This situation made Zhou Ke'er a little puzzled.

“Something’s not right now. Stay close to me—it may seem like everything will be the same as usual to you in a moment, but don’t actually believe it.”

Zhou Ke'er glanced back at the two of them, gave them some instructions, and then slowly walked forward.

Damn it, that bastard Timius hasn't paid him yet. The benefits he finally managed to negotiate and get are probably all going to be for nothing now.

It's a losing business, and we still have to deal with these two burdens.

I should have left them behind and made my escape, but since these two are still somewhat useful, I'll keep them for now.

The once bright and clear sky outside gradually darkened at an extremely fast speed, as if the entire capital was shrouded in something.

Even though he could clearly feel the sudden, thick, and viscous eeriness filling the air, there was no trace of the eeriness in his double pupils' vision.

Zhou Ke'er even tried to absorb these evil entities, but she failed again. This was something she had never encountered before, which rendered both of Zhou Ke'er's trump cards ineffective.

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657. The Spread of Evil (Part 4)

With her two children in tow, Zhou Ke'er slowly arrived at the front hall of the Timius mansion, only to find that the servants were busy as usual, and there seemed to be nothing unusual about it.

But... this perfectly normal scene is precisely where something is amiss—the sky outside suddenly darkened from clear blue in the blink of an eye, and a normal person would instinctively notice, right? Yet they seemed completely oblivious to this.

Zhou Ke'er raised her eyebrows, walked over to a maid who was cleaning by the window, pointed to the sky outside the window, and casually asked, "Is the weather always like this here? Don't you feel a little uncomfortable?"

The maid looked up in confusion, glancing out the window in the direction Zhou Ke'er was pointing. Her expression was rather puzzled, but when she saw Lannister and Isaac standing behind Zhou Ke'er, she replied with a slightly apprehensive look, "Miss, Wright is usually dry. Sunny days like today are almost every day, but... perhaps you don't like this kind of clear sky?"

Zhou Ke'er looked at the dark sky.

Yes, it's a beautiful sunny day.

“Well, I don’t really like this kind of weather—you know, it’s likely to give me a tan.”

Zhou Ke'er shrugged, casually said thank you, and turned to leave.

Lannister and Isaac hurried after Zhou Ke'er, leaving the bewildered maid wondering what was going on.

Lannister was the first to lose his composure. He took two steps to Zhou Ke'er's side, frowned, and asked in a low voice, "What just happened? The sky outside is clearly pitch black, so why did she say it was a sunny day? Are they hallucinating?"

Isaac, on the other hand, was relatively rational. He stroked his chin and analyzed, "Judging from the fact that none of the servants objected to what that maid just said, the current situation should be no different from what that maid said in their eyes. That means either they are all hallucinating, or the three of us are hallucinating."

"I couldn't possibly be hallucinating. The reason you were able to see the real scene is because I blocked the evil energy fluctuations for you just now."

Zhou Ke'er answered casually and confidently, but she frowned slightly in her heart—judging from the conversation just now, it seemed that no one else had shown any abnormality yet... was it because it had only just begun, so they hadn't had time to show it yet?

If it's a gradual change like this, having a buffer period would indeed make things easier.

Thinking of this, Zhou Ke'er turned to Isaac: "We need to tell Duke Timius about this... Oh, he went to the palace, right? Then let's go find Lord Norza first. He should be at the Timius residence, right?"

Isaac didn't answer, but simply pointed ahead.

"I think I heard a beautiful lady calling my name? Am I mistaken?"

Nosa's voice rang out from the front. Zhou Ke'er turned around and saw Nosa rubbing her temples, looking slightly tired, as she walked over and said, "Okay—I just finished giving all the instructions and was about to go to the kitchen to get myself some extra food when I heard you calling me. What happened? Please don't tell me any bad news."

"I'm sorry, yes."

Zhou Ke'er shrugged and carefully scanned Nosa with her double pupils, but she couldn't see any difference between his condition and that of the Lannisters. "In your eyes, the sky outside may still be bright and clear, but in reality, it's already pitch black. I guess the entire capital is now completely covered by a barrier or something similar, and almost everyone is trapped in an illusion they can't perceive."

"This joke isn't funny..."

Nosa sighed helplessly, her face looking rather pale. She walked to the window and glanced outside. "Are you sure everyone else is hallucinating, and not you?"

"Unfortunately, that's impossible."

Zhou Ke'er lied without batting an eye, shrugging her shoulders and saying, "If I were hallucinating, what's in front of you right now wouldn't be a human who can still maintain his rationality and talk to you, but a mutated monster that's wreaking havoc in Timius's mansion—given the extent to which I've been infected by the evil, if I lose my mind for even a moment, it would lead to irreversible mutation. So you can completely trust my judgment; as long as I haven't mutated yet, what I see must be real."

While it's not as absolute as Zhou Ke'er claims, if even Zhou Ke'er can't see through strange occurrences, then the others here are even less likely to. It's better to just let them unconditionally trust Zhou Ke'er.

Seeing Zhou Ke'er's confident demeanor, Norsha was indeed largely convinced. Moreover, what Zhou Ke'er said matched his previous guesses, so he didn't doubt it much. In fact, he didn't think Zhou Ke'er had any reason to lie about such a matter, and it seemed that... neither Isaac nor Lannister, who were following behind, uttered any objections.

Nosa quickly grasped the situation, sighed helplessly while rubbing her forehead, but immediately adjusted her mindset, "So what should we do now?"

Zhou Ke'er raised an eyebrow and pointed to herself. "You're asking me? You guys should be the ones planning this. Otherwise, why would I come to you? I can only rely on my experience to protect myself temporarily, maybe with a few more people. I'm not some special operations organizer or commander. How would I know what you should do?"

At this point, Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips and added, "If you don't have any feasible plans... then it seems that the fall of this place is only a matter of time. I'm not going to keep you company any longer and will just make my escape. I don't want to die here with you."

"Phew... I understand. Give me some time to think about it carefully."

Nosa seemed to be in some discomfort, rubbing her forehead and waving her hand, saying, "I can definitely feel the evil influence you mentioned now. I shouldn't have a headache. Have I been infected too?"

"I think so. The people of this city must have all perished."

Zhou Ke'er nodded without any politeness, "Let me remind you, the physical pain and discomfort are the least of your worries. The headache is just a prelude to shaking your willpower and introducing hallucinations."

Nosa nodded.

Just then, faint sounds seemed to come from outside Timius's residence...