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

"zh... Ahem, Miss Memoride is absolutely right. I think there's no problem with it. What do you all think?"

Long Aotian leaned on his sword and looked at the ministers, his eyes full of threat.

------------

582. Isn't this a bad idea?

Under the silent threat of Long Aotian and others, and with the Finance Minister leading the way in defecting, the emergency meeting quickly came to a successful conclusion. The two sides reached a series of agreements, some equal and some unequal, and expressed their willingness to continue cooperating.

Night had fallen, and Zhou Ke'er sat on the roof of the room with the magic array engraved on it, gazing up at the night sky, slightly lost in thought.

This is only the second night since this mod started, and it feels like so little time has passed, yet so much has already happened. I wonder when the other players will join the game.

However, to be honest... Zhou Ke'er still doesn't know what the main storyline of this module is—or rather, what those beings want to see the players do.

Based on the limited information available, we can only speculate that many kings and ministers in other kingdoms, like those here, were possessed by evil spirits hundreds of years ago and have been controlled by them generation after generation. The main quest... or at least a side quest, will most likely be related to this situation.

So, should we assassinate them?

no...

This idea was immediately rejected by Zhou Ke'er.

Those evil beings were far stronger than Zhou Ke'er and Long Aotian. It wasn't just Zhou Ke'er boasting; at least among the players, she and Long Aotian were considered to be in the top tier. If it weren't for the two evil beings she encountered today—one was too arrogant, wanting to use his superior strength to his advantage instead of his own, which Zhou Ke'er cleverly defeated, and the other inexplicably ran away after a short fight—even if those two had been more normal, Zhou Ke'er might have already fled the capital overnight.

The people in this world have no ability to resist the corruption of evil. Even if there are strong people who are much stronger than the players, if they are sent to assassinate, and they end up being corrupted by evil or having their bodies possessed, wouldn't that be just giving away their lives to the other side?

Speaking of this... Zhou Ke'er was a little worried about the situation of the hero Xi'ang. If he really died, that would be the end of it all, but if he also turned into an evil being... that would be difficult to handle.

"call out"

With a soft thud, Long Aotian landed steadily beside Zhou Ke'er, looking down at her: "So you are here after all... What are you thinking about? It's easy to get lost in a dead end when you're just daydreaming."

Zhou Ke'er rolled her eyes at Long Aotian: "Those two are just blindly thinking things through and ending up in a dead end... Anyway, let me ask you first. Do you have any plans for the future?"

"plan?"

Long Aotian gave Zhou Ke'er a strange look. "Why are you in such a hurry? This mod has only just started. The other players haven't even entered the mod yet, and my guild hasn't arrived. Of course, we should wait until everyone arrives before brainstorming on the plans for this mod. As for us now, we should definitely familiarize ourselves with the world background of this mod first."

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin and had to admit that what Long Aotian said made a lot of sense, especially the point that they needed to familiarize themselves with the world background of this module first.

Well, let's do it! If you want to familiarize yourself with the world's background, it's definitely clearer to have someone else explain it to you than to simply read introductory books.

However, they couldn't approach Nosa and the others. After all, Zhou Ke'er had lied to them, saying he came from the Duchy of Dragon. Since they were from this world, how could they not know these things? And they hadn't been told about Long Aotian's appearance yet—it seemed the only person they could turn to was Crown Prince Elson.

As the crown prince, he certainly has a basic understanding of the world situation. Furthermore, as a member of the royal family, he should also know that Long Aotian was "summoned," so he wouldn't be too puzzled if Long Aotian asked him this. Besides... he was originally a key protected individual, one of the four people Duke Timius was most likely to attempt to attack and possess, namely Crown Prince Elson, Lannister, Isaac, and the still-injured Edwards.

"Okay, let's do it this way. Let's go."

Zhou Ke'er made up her mind, so she slapped her thigh, stood up, grabbed Long Aotian, and ran.

Long Aotian was completely bewildered, not knowing what Zhou Ke'er was imagining, but there was nothing he could do but let her do as she pleased.

Before long, Zhou Ke'er dragged Long Aotian into the Crown Prince's bedroom.

Seeing the menacing Zhou Ke'er and Long Aotian, the crown prince, who had been planning to relax and unwind with a night out, was so frightened that he almost wet himself. His legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground. These two weren't satisfied with just supporting a puppet king; after plotting their moves, they wanted to get rid of him and be king themselves.

Thinking of this, Crown Prince Elson almost burst into tears, and hurriedly begged for mercy, "Oh! My lords, let's talk this out! Let's talk this out! Everything can be discussed. If you want to be king, I will announce my abdication to you tomorrow. Please don't be impulsive!"

Moreover, he didn't dare to speak too loudly, as there were guards outside the door. He couldn't just say these things carelessly. If there was still room for negotiation, but if these words got out and were heard by others, he would be dead even if he didn't die.

Zhou Ke'er looked at the Crown Prince, who was slumped on the ground begging for mercy, and said innocently, "Crown Prince Elson, what are you saying? How could we possibly have any intention of overstepping our bounds? The Crown Prince really doesn't trust us at all. We just came to ask the Crown Prince to explain the general situation of the world to Long Aotian. After all, as you know, Mr. Long Aotian was summoned and doesn't know anything about it. Oh, by the way... speaking of which, the Crown Prince doesn't seem to have any... ah, I mean, nightlife..."

Upon hearing this, Crown Prince Elson breathed a huge sigh of relief. At least they weren't here to kill him. He'd do anything as long as they didn't kill him—besides, why didn't he have a nightlife? It was all because of those two!

But he only dared to grumble inwardly, and on the surface he didn't dare to show anything at all. He could only obediently start explaining to them.

After the explanation, Zhou Ke'er and Long Aotian had a general understanding of the world background of this module. It was actually a fairly standard Western fantasy world. Take the map, for example: the Duchy of Santanrus, where Zhou Ke'er and her companions were currently located, was situated in the southwest of the central continent, and its overall territory didn't appear very large. The Duchy of Dragon, on the other hand, occupied the entire northwest corner of the central continent, facing across the sea the Dragon Kingdom, a land most humans had never set foot in. The bloodline of the Dragon royal family seemed to be related to that kingdom.

The Middle Continent is mostly comprised of human kingdoms, including Santalus and the Duchy of Dragon, as well as the Marquisate of Murstein, the Grand Duchy of Fuya, and others. At the very center is the Kingdom of Blambow, which governs all the smaller kingdoms.

It is worth mentioning that the humans of this world do not seem to have set foot on the ocean. Apart from legends of powerful species crossing the sea or gods spreading light across the ocean, the humans of the Middle Continent know very little about what lies beyond the ocean.

------------

583. Target: The Demon Realm!

The next morning, Zhou Ke'er woke up and crawled out from under the bed.

On the bed was his avatar, constructed using evil magic, while he himself hid under the bed to avoid being ambushed at night.

With a wave of her hand, Zhou Ke'er recalled her clone and dusted off her clothes. She had slept fully clothed last night—after all, it seemed impossible to take off one's clothes in this game.

However, this is also a convenient feature. In the game, although the clothes you wear may get dirty with dust, bloodstains, or other filth, the player's body remains clean. Even if you are stabbed through the skin and blood flows out of the wound, it won't get on your body. Most importantly, you can change clothes with one click, which avoids the problem of taking off and putting on clothes.

Of course, none of these things matter.

Today, there is an important matter: Zhou Ke'er plans to negotiate with the Demon Clan.

After all, the demon race is the group most likely to remain untainted by evil. This is because their kingdom is located in the Abyss, not anywhere in the Central Continent, but is only connected to the Central Continent through spatial rifts. This means that the influence of evil on the Abyss is negligible—unless there are sources of evil infection within the Abyss that Zhou Ke'er is unaware of.

Moreover, the king-octopus monster had previously mentioned that many kings of the countries on this continent had been possessed by evil spirits. Although some might have survived, Zhou Ke'er hadn't seen any of them yet, so she couldn't guarantee who was who. But at least it said "on the continent," and the Abyss just happens to be a place not on the continent.

However, this means Zhou Ke'er will have to travel alone again.

After all, no matter what happens in the negotiations with the Demon Clan, the Principality of Santanus is still an important base. Long Aotian has to stay here to oversee the overall situation and deal with any emergencies. Zhou Ke'er doesn't trust anyone else with this task, so she can only entrust it to Long Aotian, who is also a player.

As for the Lannisters and Isaac, putting aside whether bringing them would be useful, Zhou Ke'er still needs to put in a lot of effort to protect them. Furthermore, the capital also needs them as representatives of the great nobles to mediate the conflicts on the dark side.

Norshad serves as an advisor here. Long Aotian is certainly not as adept at handling political matters as he is, and besides, he doesn't have much power, so bringing him along would be useless.

Edwards is still healing, and as for Elon... he's a priest who believes in the Holy Light, you know. Taking a priest to the Abyss to negotiate with the demons, he must have something seriously wrong with his head, right?

As for Izmi... Zhou Ke'er would have almost forgotten he existed if she hadn't mentioned him. They'd only met briefly and weren't familiar with each other at all. Besides, he had to act as a representative of the commoners to mediate the conflict between nobles and commoners, ensuring that the government's decrees could be implemented. He couldn't be taken away either.

After considering all this, it seems that Zhou Ke'er is left to fight alone.

Alas, there isn't a single capable person! The talent pool is severely depleted!

Zhou Ke'er shook her head and sighed. After tidying herself up, she decided to go out and say hello to Long Aotian and the others before setting off. Anyway, she didn't have much to bring; everything she needed was in her game inventory.

As soon as the door opened, she saw Long Aotian already leaning against the wall opposite the door with his arms crossed, looking at Zhou Ke'er and saying, "So you're leaving so early? Don't you want to leave any advice or anything?"

"And then you'll owe me another favor? My advice is very valuable."

Zhou Ke'er smiled slightly and tilted her head as she spoke to Long Aotian.

"The more debts you have, the less you have to worry. Since you already owe one person a favor, it doesn't matter if you owe another seventeen or eighteen."

Long Aotian chuckled and shrugged. "Or are you worried I won't come up?"

Indeed, Zhou Ke'er nodded secretly, fearing that this guy might die before he could repay the favor.

So Zhou Ke'er smiled awkwardly but politely, nodded, and said very frankly, "Indeed."

Upon hearing this, Long Aotian didn't show any displeasure. Instead, he couldn't help but laugh out loud: "That's definitely your style of answer. But, well, who told me to be so magnanimous? Well, I got up really early today because I found something good for you—you were planning to fly there at high speed, right? That would have taken too much time, and you might have been interrupted by unexpected situations along the way."

Zhou Ke'er's eyes lit up: "You found a teleportation array? There are such things in the palace?"

Long Aotian, interrupted, stiffened and said helplessly, "Seriously, couldn't you just let me finish showing off? Oh right, you guessed it, it's a small teleportation array that leads directly to the front lines of the anti-demon battlefield. Originally, only heroes could use it, but now nobody can control us, so we can just use it. Besides... well, I'm practically a hero, right?"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly realized, "That makes sense. If it were a large teleportation array, wouldn't it be able to teleport armies? That's a weapon of war! Let alone external enemies, the first country to master this technology, unless it's powerful enough, would definitely be attacked by a coalition of other countries. Only this kind of dedicated small teleportation array makes sense."

Soon, Long Aotian led Zhou Ke'er to a small room. The room was sparsely furnished, except for a disc-like protrusion in the center, which was inscribed with an array and emitted a soft glow.

Norsa was already waiting there.

Zhou Ke'er raised her eyebrows, but quickly realized that among their group, only Nosa knew how to activate a magic circle.