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

Edwards, while vigorously swinging his sword, loudly interrupted, "Listen up! In my current physical condition, I absolutely cannot escort them to the palace, and Miss Memoride obviously cannot remain in this state for long. Of the people present, the only one capable of escorting them to the palace and informing His Majesty of what has happened here as soon as possible is you!"

"Compared to wasting lives on these civilians who are beyond saving, aren't the other residents of the capital who are still alive and hope to continue living far more worthy of our rescue?"

Should we sacrifice a few to save more? Zhou Ke'er maintains a neutral stance on this view. Admittedly, from a humanitarian perspective, human lives cannot be measured by quantity. However, Edwards is the Knight Commander of the Royal Capital. As a knight who protects all people, he cannot, out of duty, disregard the lives of the majority for the sake of a few—unless those few are members of the royal family.

Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly. Everything he had just done... was to make this place his base in the future, including winning over nobles like Nosa, risking his life to rescue Knight Commander Edwards, and incidentally gaining favor with commoner representative Izmi and church priest Elon... So no matter what, the capital city, as his base, absolutely could not be completely lost.

The best-case scenario is to seal off all areas where the evil has spread and monsters have appeared, ensuring the safety of the remaining areas of the capital. If that's not possible, then as a second-best option, he must defend the palace, at least preserving some accumulated strength. In the worst-case scenario... if the entire capital falls, he can at least take away those with higher combat capabilities as tools.

But what if not only is the capital lost, but all these people are dead... then all his previous efforts will have been in vain! That absolutely cannot be allowed. He must get them to the capital as soon as possible so that the king can issue orders and carry them out immediately!

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668. An Unexpected Encounter

Thinking of this, Zhou Ke'er immediately and slowly dissipated the black mist spreading from her body. As if enduring great pain, she couldn't help but groan. Her brows were furrowed on her pretty face, making people feel sorry for her.

Lannister, who was standing nearby, immediately noticed Zhou Ke'er's unusual behavior and asked, "Miss Memorie! What's wrong?"

Upon hearing this, the others stopped arguing and turned to look at Zhou Ke'er.

"We've reached our limit..."

Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly, revealing a look of fragility and pain mixed with stubbornness. She placed one hand on her forehead, seemingly unsteady on her feet. "If this continues, she'll become deformed..."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er seemed to be unable to hold on any longer. Her legs went weak, and she fell forward softly like a willow branch swaying in the wind.

Elon swiftly reached out and caught Zhou Ke'er. Feeling the delicate and boneless Zhou Ke'er in his arms, even the priest who had vowed to dedicate his life to the Holy Light couldn't help but blush. All the worries and anxieties in his mind vanished in an instant, leaving only a faint fragrance in his mind.

Lannister also reached out his hand, but he was a step too late. Looking at Zhou Ke'er, who was already in Elon's arms, he couldn't help but subconsciously withdraw his hand, clench his fist, and bite his lower lip tightly, but he lowered his head and said nothing.

Nosa reacted instantly and immediately shouted, "As you can see, we are in a very dangerous situation. Forget about rescuing others, we can't even save ourselves. Let's stop delaying and being reluctant to move. This will only bring us death."

Seeing this, Izumi realized that it was no longer possible for them to rescue the civilians below. He gritted his teeth, nodded, and rushed to the front, forcefully swinging his sword to sweep aside the monsters blocking his way.

Those beings around them who had gone mad and turned into monsters were originally just ordinary civilians. Even with the limited enhancements from the evil, aside from some strange abilities such as tentacles and spikes, their physical attributes were similar to those of Isaac and his ilk. As long as they weren't completely blocked and surrounded like they were on the stairs, it wouldn't be particularly difficult for Zhou Ke'er and the others to break through.

So, the group set up Izmi and Edwards as the vanguard to clear the way, with Nosha occasionally using low-level magic to assist and hinder the monsters chasing from behind, while Elon carried Zhou Ke'er in a princess carry, positioned in the middle of the group.

After a while, Edwards was gradually exhausted, and even continuing to move forward was a struggle. Fortunately, the further they went, the fewer monsters they encountered. Apart from a small group of monsters that relentlessly followed behind them, the group was basically out of danger.

Just then, everyone heard a series of low, light footsteps approaching from afar.

However, this place is still quite a distance from the royal palace. If the group tries to break through the monster horde after Edwards loses his fighting ability, then sacrifices will inevitably occur.

For a moment, they found themselves in a dilemma. Edwards slammed his sword on the ground, turned around, and said in a hoarse voice, "It looks like there are a lot of monsters coming this way. In our current state, we have no way to break through."

Now, there's only one way—whoever is willing to stay here with me and hold off the monsters chasing us, the rest of you can take cover and hide. We'll draw attention away from both sides, and once it's safe, the rest of you can continue forward.

Izumi stared wide-eyed at Edwards, who was determined to die. She wanted to say something to dissuade him, but she felt that saying such things would be an insult to Edwards. In the end, she just gritted her teeth and stepped forward, "I...I'll go with Commander Edwards!"

Elon's eyes flickered slightly. As a priest, he couldn't bring himself to live a life of ignominy. Even after experiencing so many setbacks, he sighed silently and prepared to put Zhou Ke'er down.

However, Zhou Ke'er immediately noticed Elon's actions and spoke up before he could release her: "I'll stay too. Anyway, my body is already on the verge of mutation, and even if I survive, I won't last long. I might as well end it here; at least it will still have some purpose."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er gave a forced smile, her eyes seemingly flashing with a stubborn light.

Nosa's eyes flickered slightly. He was genuinely surprised to hear Zhou Ke'er's words. At first, he thought that everything Zhou Ke'er had done from the shelter to now was an act, but now it seemed that it was actually true? This was completely beyond his expectations.

Upon hearing Zhou Ke'er's words, Elon immediately stopped what he was doing, determined not to let Zhou Ke'er actually do it. Isaac and Lannister also couldn't help but start trying to dissuade him, and the situation suddenly became deadlocked.

As for why Zhou Ke'er did this...

Long before the others, Zhou Ke'er, whose five senses were more acute, had already faintly heard the sounds coming from ahead. Therefore, she had already quietly released her pet dog to go ahead and scout the situation.

In other words... what's coming from the front isn't a horde of monsters, but a well-trained squad of armored guards.

This time, Zhou Ke'er knew that someone would come to her rescue, so she wasn't afraid at all. Let them delay here, let them dawdle, let them push each other around and get stuck, it doesn't matter, anyway, there won't be any major problems in the end.

Moreover, this situation made Zhou Ke'er breathe a sigh of relief after a long time. She originally thought that those people would not be able to start taking action until they had suffered heavy losses all the way to the palace. She did not expect them to be so capable. The countermeasures were implemented quite quickly. It turned out that Zhou Ke'er had underestimated the ability of a country's royal family to act.

"Wait! Everyone, stop arguing. The one coming this way doesn't seem to be a monster."

Just then, Nosa suddenly spoke up, and a blurry water mirror appeared in his hand, showing the scene not far away—sure enough, it wasn't a monster that had arrived, but a group of royal guards.

Even Edwards, who had long been prepared to sacrifice himself, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Who would want to die if they could live?

However, after glancing at the water mirror, Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly—it felt strangely familiar.

Just then, the guards marching in perfect unison finally came into view. The man at the front seemed to have seen the situation beforehand, and suddenly launched a charge, leaping over Zhou Ke'er and the others and plunging into the monster horde behind them, where he began to slaughter them.

Zhou Ke'er's eyes widened slightly—wasn't this Long Aotian?!

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669. You stay.

Zhou Ke'er was quite surprised to encounter other players in such an unexpected situation.

However, it wasn't exactly difficult. He had planned to find other players as soon as possible anyway, and meeting Long Aotian now was exactly what he wanted.

After all, Long Aotian's strength is among the top in the players, so he would indeed be a good combat force as a helper.

For example, the scene right now is just a small group of monsters that followed them, which Long Aotian wiped out in no time, without even taking their weapons.

Of course, this doesn't mean Zhou Ke'er can't do it. If Zhou Ke'er wanted to deal with these monsters, she could do it even faster and more easily. It's just that she has to maintain her persona in front of others and continue playing her role.

After quickly finishing all this, Long Aotian turned around with a very nonchalant air and said to the guards, "Men, clean up the filth here. Let's make this our boundary. If we go any further, you might be affected."

After giving his instructions, he looked at Edwards and the others, nodded slightly, and said, "You are all safe now. This disaster broke out too suddenly, and even I couldn't react in time. But now that I have started to deal with this matter, there is no problem at all!"

Just then, Long Aotian was about to say something more narcissistic when he suddenly heard a familiar voice from among the group. Zhou Ke'er suddenly called out, "Long Aotian? What are you doing here?"

Long Aotian's eyes narrowed instantly. In a flash, he left several afterimages on the spot and slipped into the gap where Edwards and the others had surrounded him. He immediately saw Zhou Ke'er staring straight at him—Zhou Ke'er was being held by Princess Elon and looked to be in very poor condition, seriously injured.

"?!"

Long Aotian couldn't help but frown, slapping away Elon's arms that were holding Zhou Ke'er. He then naturally reached out and hugged Zhou Ke'er in a princess carry, asking in a serious and earnest tone, "What happened? How did you get into this state? Monsters of that level wouldn't pose any threat to you, would they?"

Zhou Ke'er winked at Long Aotian without making a sound, then shook her head and said, "This is a long story... Let's leave here first. Someone on my side is seriously injured and needs to receive treatment first... Also, I have some questions I want to ask you later."

"Eh?! Is this someone you know, Miss Memorie?"