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

Taiga Aisaka was embarrassed for a few seconds, but finally couldn't help but ask Zhou Ke'er directly, "Excuse me, Miss Memoride, for disturbing you—but, after you confirmed that I am a hero from the Principality of Dragon, why did you show that expression? I don't understand at all. Is there some hidden reason?"

Zhou Ke'er blinked, a hesitant look on her face. After a moment's hesitation, she whispered, "Don't tell anyone what I'm saying... Of course, you can take it as a lie if you want—the Duchy of Dragon is practically destroyed now. The capital is completely controlled by monsters. That's why I looked at you like that when I saw you, the hero of the Duchy of Dragon, still acting like you knew nothing about it on the front lines."

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Side Story: The Bizarre Adventures of Politics (Part 1)

(The inspiration came from the tomb-opening ceremony of the Japanese Olympics, but it's not really related to the main text.)

[Solo dungeon selection successful for "Dense Fog"]

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Porius stroked his chin and nodded earnestly, thinking to himself: This must be the final test my lord spoke of. Only by passing this test can one truly enter this world to find Him.

As the system notification sound fades, the opening CG begins to flash back.

A gigantic human head floated in the gray, fog-filled sky, its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth occasionally emitting eerie light from its shadows.

The air was filled with a nauseatingly sticky feeling, as if it had been injected with some kind of toxin.

The camera flashes across a place that looks like a kitchen, where water tanks contain bizarre-looking monsters that don't seem to be species that could grow on Earth. But the kitchen staff seem to be used to cutting chunks of meat off these monsters and making them into dishes.

Unaware of the danger, people ate dishes made from this monster, unaware that the seemingly cooked chunks of meat were still twisting, churning, and struggling between their lips and teeth, in their throats and stomachs, constantly sprouting new flesh.

The scenes keep switching—through this series of flashbacks, it can be seen that a large-scale competition is being held, but the participants are constantly absent, or rather...disappearing.

The air was thick with a sense of oppression and unease. The missing athlete had left no trace to find him, except for a note that said he was going to stay and work there.

Furthermore, some of the entourage members inexplicably went mad and, like mindless beasts, went to assault local women.

The staff who organized the event seemed like robots programmed with instructions. No matter what questions you asked them or what conversations you had with them, they would just mechanically bow quickly with numb expressions and mutter some kind of incantation-like slang, leaving you completely baffled.

As night fell, the empty arena echoed with shouts that sounded like a massive crowd, as if a cult ritual were taking place.

A narrator's voice begins: "You are an external staff member participating in this Olympic Games, but a series of bizarre events make you realize that disaster is about to strike... You want to escape this place, but you discover..."

The opening animation and narration abruptly end here.

Then came the system notification.

Main Quest: Survive and escape this place!

Side Quest: Investigate the cause of this anomaly.

[Special Mission: Pending Trigger]

There were only three brief sounds, and then nothing more. As a cloud of black mist surged in, the next second, Polius appeared in a very cramped little room.

Just looking at the opening scene, Polius couldn't help but frown deeply, revealing a look of disgust—he knew about the Olympics! Its full name was "Olympia," a sacrificial ceremony held in Olympia during the ancient Greek era to honor Zeus, the god of the sky.

But Polius was a servant of Cronus, so how could he possibly have a good impression of the rebel Zeus?

And this place actually openly hosts a large-scale event to worship such a rebel—it's truly a place of utter rebellion! No wonder such a bizarre scene appears; no disaster would surprise Polius if any calamity occurred during the worship of Zeus.

He snorted coldly, barely managing to hide his disgust—the Polius in the game now lacked the power of the real world, and his physical abilities were no different from those of an ordinary person. If he showed his disgust too obviously and it was discovered by Zeus's followers, it would be disastrous.

Bolius surveyed the cramped room—aside from a cabinet on one side and a quilt on the floor, there was nothing else; it looked quite simple—he walked to the small window and looked out.

The bizarre and enormous head was floating in the sky, its eye sockets emitting a faint glow in the morning light, making it look extremely eerie.

Polius frowned slightly, stroked his chin, and analyzed seriously in his heart: Such a large head, could it be a Titan god like my lord? Although he had never seen a Titan god that looked so... disgusting and bizarre, judging from that damned Zeus, cutting off the head of his elder—one of the Titan gods—and hanging it in the sky as a warning to others was not something he couldn't do.

Rather, it's something he's absolutely capable of doing!

Thinking of this, Polius couldn't help but grit his teeth. Damn Zeus, how dare he go to such lengths! How dare he humiliate the Titans like this? Has he forgotten that he is also a Titan?

Oh...maybe it's because Zeus, that rebel, was so small that he didn't resemble a Titan at all, so he always felt inferior about it. That inferiority eventually turned into jealousy and cruelty, so he vented it in this way.

What a pitiful and pathetic fellow.

Polius thought this with malice in his heart.

However, Polius quickly came to his senses: now was not the time to criticize Zeus. He could have plenty of time to do so after the game was over, but he had to complete this task first in order to pass the test and see his lord.

With that thought in mind, Porius put on the staff uniform jacket hanging on the coat rack, took his work ID, and then turned and left the small room.

Not long after leaving the room, just around the corner, I saw several dark-skinned men talking agitatedly to some staff members.

Polius leaned closer and overheard them talking like this:

“Holy shit! We can guarantee that our team member could not have run away from home. This note is definitely a forgery! Look at this note, there isn’t a single grammatical error in the sentences written on it—I’ve consulted with people here about this—our team member grew up in such a remote and impoverished place, how could he have such an education level to write such flawless sentences?”

The leader, a man in black, spoke vehemently: "He was definitely kidnapped! His kidnappers used him to write this note! Do you understand? You can't just close the case like this, treating it as a runaway!"

The staff members didn't say anything meaningful. They just wore gentle yet eerily empty smiles, repeatedly bowing while muttering short phrases that sounded like incantations, something like "Smith Marseille."

They endured being hit and verbally abused without arguing back or fighting back. Even when physically assaulted by emotionally charged individuals, they would still insist on bowing deeply in apology, a sight that was chilling to behold.

After venting their anger, the men in black finally felt a sense of fear—their verbal sparring escalated into physical violence as if they were driven by something invisible. It wasn't until they were exhausted from beating the staff member and saw him covered in injuries yet still bowing and apologizing that they finally felt afraid and fled without looking back.

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Bonus Chapter: The Bizarre Adventures of Porius (Part Two)

However... even though they had to communicate through the accompanying translator, Porius was able to understand what both of them were saying directly. Was it because the game system had a built-in translator?

"Polius, good day. Did anything unusual happen today? If you don't hurry, you'll be late for work."

The staff members, still covered in bruises, showed no sign of distress after their attackers left. Instead, they wore the same smile that seemed etched onto their faces as they spoke to Porius, who happened to be passing by.

It was a perfectly normal greeting, but when paired with their miserable appearance and indifferent expression, it looked extremely eerie.

Porius could tell that they didn't really care whether he would be late for work; they just saw him and felt obligated to ask him as a matter of routine.

Polius felt he should just smile and nod at them, but he didn't want to.

So he glanced at the staff, ignored them, and walked straight past them.