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

Everything had happened so suddenly that Lannister was only now reacting, and he couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise: "But, Miss Memoride, weren't you a refugee from the Duchy of Dragon? But this gentleman is clearly a member of the Royal Guard!"

Upon hearing this, Isaac immediately tugged at Lannister's sleeve, sighed helplessly, and rubbed his forehead, utterly exasperated by his brother's low emotional intelligence.

Upon hearing Lannister's words, Long Aotian subconsciously revealed a hint of doubt in his eyes, still wondering who "Memori" was. However, seeing Lannister staring intently at Zhou Ke'er, he quickly realized that this was clearly Zhou Ke'er's alias.

Oh! Right! In this kind of fantasy world, who knows, knowing someone's real name might allow them to cast a curse remotely! Using a pseudonym is safer; even Long Aotian hadn't thought of that before!

Long Aotian nodded in realization and subconsciously replied, "I've known Miss Memoride for a long time, and I owe her a huge favor."

Zhou Ke'er pouted, "You were supposed to owe me a lot of favors, but who knew you'd be so stingy and try to bargain with me."

"Don't say that! Hey, how about this—I saved you this time, so consider it as paying back several favors I owe you. Now there's only one favor left to repay, how about that? You won't lose out."

Long Aotian answered in a very serious manner.

"Wow, they're trying to get something for nothing!"

Zhou Ke'er's eyes widened. She never expected that someone as seemingly innocent as Long Aotian would resort to such petty tricks. People really do change.

The Lannisters and the others watched as Long Aotian and Zhou Ke'er chatted as if no one else was around. They noticed that Zhou Ke'er seemed like a completely different person while talking to Long Aotian; even her personality became more cheerful. It was clear that the two had a close relationship. After all, people only show their hidden sides to those they're very close to.

While Zhou Ke'er was joking with Long Aotian, she was also subtly observing the people around her. Sure enough, apart from the old fox Nosa and Knight Commander Edwards who didn't react, the others all showed complicated expressions as they watched Zhou Ke'er and Long Aotian's interaction, especially Lannister and Elon.

To be honest... Elon is a bit easier to understand, since he was severely manipulated by Zhou Ke'er, but Lannister... Zhou Ke'er barely spoke to him the whole way, right? How did he become so sycophantic? It's quite strange.

"Well..."

Long Aotian tilted his head and thought for a moment, then asked Zhou Ke'er, "I need to stay here a little longer and watch them build up the defenses. How about this, I'll send someone to take the people who came with you to a safe place for treatment. You just wait here for me, and I'll take you there after this is all over, okay?"

Zhou Ke'er nodded without much hesitation, "It's a great suggestion, let's do it your way."

After all, Edwards' injuries couldn't be delayed any longer. He might die on the spot if he said a few more words, and there was always the possibility of something going wrong on the way. In that case, Elon would need to use his Holy Light to heal him and keep him alive. As for Nosha and the others, they weren't very strong and were just a burden here. Thinking about it this way, sending them all over first was indeed a good choice.

"But Miss Memoride's injuries are so severe, if she doesn't receive treatment soon..."

Upon hearing this, Lannister instinctively wanted to retort, but Isaac couldn't stop him and could only helplessly cover his face and sigh.

Zhou Ke'er shook her head and replied, "The treatments you can offer are useless for my condition, and there's no need to waste their energy. Besides, as long as I don't use this energy again, I'll be fine. I just need to rest here for a bit. Don't delay Sir Edwards' treatment, hurry up and go with them."

Nosa glanced at Zhou Ke'er, seemingly lost in thought, and then spoke up, "Miss Memoride is right. Sir Edwards' injuries cannot be delayed any longer. Miss Memoride is very familiar with her own situation, so we don't need to interfere any further. Mr. Long Aotian, please send guards to take us there as soon as possible."

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670. Exchange of intelligence

Edwards and the others had all left, so Zhou Ke'er, no longer bothering to act, raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "So? Was the hug comfortable? Did it feel pretty good?"

Long Aotian then realized what was happening and subconsciously put Zhou Ke'er down from his arms. But as soon as he let go, he felt as if he had been cowardly and had lost too much in terms of momentum, so he subconsciously reached out and grabbed Zhou Ke'er's wrist again.

Zhou Ke'er glanced at Long Aotian, a smile curving her lips. Without any hesitation, she leaned closer to him, stood on tiptoe, and whispered teasingly in his ear, "What's wrong? Don't want to put me down? Hey~ it's nothing really. If you want to, just keep holding me. I didn't force you to put me down, did I?"

A faint, delicate fragrance lingered around Zhou Ke'er's hair, gently teasing Long Aotian's nose like soft, downy reeds. Her warm breath slowly sprayed onto Long Aotian's earlobe, as if it were some kind of provocation. Even Long Aotian couldn't help but lose his composure for a moment.

Before Long Aotian could even react, Zhou Ke'er took advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, shook off his hand, and gracefully took a few steps back. With her hands behind her back, she tilted her head slightly and said with a charming smile, "Three...two...one...ta-da! Countdown over! It's such a pity, Long Aotian, you've lost a chance to continue holding me. That's such a shame!"

Long Aotian's face flushed slightly, but he wasn't exactly a naive young man, so he wasn't dizzy from Zhou Ke'er's little actions. He still had some self-control and quickly regained his composure, crossing his arms and changing the subject, "Looking at how lively you are now, you don't look like you've suffered any serious injuries at all. You acted quite convincingly just now; I think those people probably believed you completely."

"Of course, my acting skills are top-notch."

Zhou Ke'er shrugged, glancing at the guards who were rapidly constructing a defensive line not far away. They were divided into many groups, each responsible for the construction of one street, while the rest patrolled back and forth to prevent any monsters from rushing up and posing a threat. The line covered eight or nine blocks in total; anything further out was no longer in sight. However, she figured there would be other people leading guards to construct the defensive line—at least to enclose the area where the palace was located, right?

Thinking of this, Zhou Ke'er nodded secretly, then, as if nothing had happened, naturally continued what she had just said, took two more steps forward, and lightly punched Long Aotian with her right fist, "But who are we to each other? With our relationship, do I need to put on an act for you?"

This is a lie, after all, Zhou Ke'er is still acting!

Looking at Zhou Ke'er, Long Aotian's lips unconsciously curled up, but he deliberately coughed twice to cover up the slight upturn of his lips, and then said in a disdainful tone: "Of course, besides—even if you are acting in front of me, do you think I, Long Aotian, would not be able to see through it?"

Zhou Ke'er smiled and said, "I can't tell! You're just plain clueless!"

Sensing that the atmosphere had reached a comfortable level, Zhou Ke'er... didn't continue along with the flow. Instead, she took two steps back, adopted a serious demeanor, and broke the ice, saying earnestly, "Alright, let's stop with the small talk. This isn't the time for a tea party. Tell me what you did when you first came to this module, and how you managed to get this position."

Long Aotian glanced at the guards, his face showing a hint of helplessness: "You might not believe it, but I appeared in a glowing magic circle. As soon as I came out, a little girl who looked quite young stared at me. Then the noise from the magic circle attracted everyone else. Later, I learned that the magic circle was used to summon heroes, and the place where I appeared was in the royal palace of this capital city."

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. Goodness, people really can't be compared. Long Aotian's appearance was definitely that of a protagonist from the start, he's practically a summoned hero. And look at Zhou Ke'er... she appeared in the middle of nowhere, and before she could even react, she was attacked by a demon. She finally managed to infiltrate the hero's team, but not long after, the hero's team was wiped out, like a cursed lone star.

Long Aotian didn't notice Zhou Ke'er's subtle change in expression. He shrugged and continued, "If it's a summoning, then so be it. But the problem is... the current hero isn't dead yet, and this magic circle doesn't seem to be from this country. It came from another country... I think it's called something like the Duchy of Dragon."

The problem is that the two countries have different methods for selecting heroes. Here, heroes are chosen from among their own citizens, while the other country summons them from another world. They only obtained this magic circle as a backup.

According to them, the little girl experimentally activated the magic circle. Given her magical power, it should have been impossible for her to succeed, but unexpectedly, it did—but the current hero still exists, so my position as the summoned hero is quite awkward.”

At this point, Long Aotian hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure whether he should say something, but after thinking about it, he decided not to hide it from Zhou Ke'er: "However, there is another thing that bothers me quite a bit... When that magic circle was activated, it gave me a very disgusting feeling, as if some strange energy was emanating from it, but it seems that no one else felt or noticed it."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er's pupils contracted slightly. Now she understood. She had been wondering how the evil in the Duchy of Dragon could spread to the capital so quickly. So that's what happened—in short, the source of the evil in the Duchy of Dragon was that magic circle that summoned the hero!

Good heavens, this isn't just the spread of evil spirits; the source is right inside the capital! To be precise... right inside the palace!

So this so-called defensive line is just a trap, like locking the door to beat the dog!

Thinking about it this way, the bishop who went mad must have been to the palace before, but because of his spiritual vision or other spiritual abilities, he was directly corrupted by the evil spirit and went mad after returning.

The royal palace now...

Oh no! We have to stop Edwards and his gang right away! Otherwise, if they go to the palace, they'll be walking into a trap! All of Zhou Ke'er's previous efforts will be wasted!

Fortunately, it hasn't been long since they left this place. If they're going to keep Edwards alive while moving forward, they shouldn't have gone very far. In theory, they should be able to catch up.

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671. Magic Array Lockdown

"What? You know what happened? Or have you made some other discovery?"

Seeing that Zhou Ke'er looked thoughtful and slightly anxious after hearing his words, Long Aotian immediately asked her more questions.

"Hmm, I'm starting to understand what's going on."

Zhou Ke'er nodded upon hearing this, speaking rapidly: "Establishing a defensive line here is useless. The problem isn't outside; the root of the anomaly lies within the palace, in the magic circle you saw when you first arrived in this module—wait, is that magic circle closed?"

Long Aotian looked slightly enlightened, then shook his head: "I see... Well, that magic array wasn't closed. The royal family didn't know how to close it either. It seems the method to close the array just didn't work, so they had the guards stationed there for now."