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

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, followed by a series of mechanical noises. Then, the ceiling cracked open from the middle and slowly shrank outwards, revealing the sky outside.

That group of strangely shaped and oddly dressed people were bathed in sunlight, their hands raised as if to embrace something, looking up with fanatical expressions, constantly chanting syllables that humans could not understand.

The enormous head in the air looked at the group of people, its eyes gleaming with an eerie light, and its mouth opening and closing as if it were shouting something along with them.

Then, as expected, the heads of these people also detached from their bodies, floated into the air, and were sucked into the mouth of the giant head.

Bolius could sense that the head seemed to be staring at him, so he immediately turned around and crawled into the passage, leaving this hellish place.

What exactly are they doing? Is it some kind of strange sacrificial ritual, and these people are offering themselves up to some... being?

But regardless, that enormous head had already set its sights on him.

He hadn't figured out what that thing was yet, only that if it were exposed to his sight for even a short time, he would lose his head.

But is this head related to the monsters we encountered in that building before? Or are they separate entities?

Bolius kicked open the door in front of him and ran until he reached a safe place completely surrounded by reinforced concrete, where he finally breathed a sigh of relief while holding his knees.

This body, after such a high-speed sprint, seemed to be struggling to keep up. Damn it, Polius had subconsciously started running at his normal pace and almost tripped on his first step. Luckily, he recovered, otherwise...

However, after catching his breath, Porius looked up and saw several people holding papers and wearing white robes, who looked like office workers, staring at him with surprise. One of them even picked up a walkie-talkie and said, "Report! A sacrificial test subject from Building A3 has come here. Please send someone to arrest him as soon as possible."

Bolius strode forward, snatched the walkie-talkie from the man's hand, and threw it aside. He then pulled a piece of meat from his pocket, forcefully stuffed it into the man's mouth, and used his hand to lift his chin, chewing it a few times and forcing him to swallow.

The other staff members were stunned. They never expected Bolius to do something like this. In their minds, Bolius, as a "staff member," should have been brainwashed and controlled, without his own consciousness, existing like a tool. It was strange enough that he had inexplicably come here, but to actually harm them on his own initiative... Something was definitely wrong!

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586. The Demon Realm Stowaway

(SOS, I realized something wasn't quite right when I started writing the side story, so I'll wait... I'll revise the later parts of the plot and see if it feels right... *bangs head on the ground.jpg*)

After a lot of nonsense, Zhou Ke'er finally managed to fool Taiga Aisaka away.

It's not that Zhou Ke'er couldn't coax him more thoroughly, but there's no need to now—he's planning to go to the Demon Realm right now. If she raises Aisaka Taiga's favorability too high, and he insists on following Zhou Ke'er, wouldn't that be difficult to handle? Taking a hero to the Demon Realm to seek an alliance is just plain stupid.

If it were the only hero, or the strongest hero, that would be fine; they could serve as a deterrent, making the other side take the alliance's proposal seriously. But Aisaka Taiga is a different story... A hero of this mediocre strength is exactly the kind of person the demons love to eliminate in advance.

Even someone like Sion is better than him.

Alas! Sion! Alas! Sion!

Shortly after seeing Taiga Aisaka off, Swold returned to his tent and stood before the curtain, saying calmly, "Are you ready? By the way, there's something I must inform you—we will launch a surprise attack on the Demon King's army in half a month. This is a resolution passed by a vote and cannot be changed unless a major change occurs—for example, someone brings a message and evidence from the Demon King's army negotiating peace."

Be careful to seize the opportunity. In the extremely rare event that you've just reached an agreement, and the Demon Realm receives news of a surprise attack, then no one can protect you.

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes. This was hardly good news—it meant that he had to reach the Demon Realm within half a month, reach an agreement, and return here. The round trip itself wasn't too bad; according to Sward, even if he infiltrated the Demon King's city, as long as he wasn't caught or hunted down, the round trip would only take seven or eight days. That left only five or six days for negotiations—because time needed to be reserved for unforeseen circumstances.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Zhou Ke'er blinked, stood up to leave, and said, "There's no time to lose, I'll get going now."

"and many more."

Sward shook his head, then clapped his hands.

The next second, a soldier pushed open the tent and respectfully handed him a small, exquisitely decorated box.

He waved for the soldiers to leave, then casually opened the box, inside which were a ring, a necklace, and an amulet.

Zhou Ke'er didn't immediately start asking questions; she just looked at Sward and waited for his explanation.

Seeing that Zhou Ke'er didn't interrupt, Sward showed a slight look of satisfaction and explained, "The ring has a concealment array engraved on it, which can be activated by inputting magic energy. The necklace has the function of illusion and disguise, and it will take effect automatically after you put it on. You only need to input magic power at the beginning to adjust it to the appearance you want. As for the amulet, it goes without saying that it has a defensive array engraved on it."

After a pause, Sward added, "Of course, these all have limits. For powerful monsters, these items are of no use."

Zhou Ke'er nodded and naturally took the props, putting them on herself.

Well, I didn't expect this hero to be so cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He kept saying things like "the timing is wrong," "we're just going to our deaths," and "we can't offer any help," but he still gave me such a big gift before leaving.

After saying goodbye to Swold, Zhou Ke'er activated the ring's concealment effect and flew swiftly and stealthily toward the Demon King's camp.

He could conjure up black wings behind him using his own evil powers, and with the disguise effect of the necklace, he could also create the illusion of curly goat horns on his head, making him look like a demon no matter how you looked at it.

As for the Demon King's army's camp... it's incredibly easy to find. In fact, they have absolutely no intention of hiding their camp, since it's located right next to the spatial tunnel connecting the continent to the Demon Realm.

The first hurdle for Zhou Ke'er in her journey to the Demon Realm was how to secretly infiltrate the spatial tunnel within the Demon King's army's headquarters.

Then slip in without attracting anyone's attention.

Clearly, the brave warrior Swold didn't think Zhou Ke'er could even get past this first hurdle—after all, if it were that easy, the human alliance would have already sent a whole bunch of spies and agents through the spatial rift to wreak havoc on the demon realm.

Just as the human alliance has a bunch of heroes stationed there, the Demon King's army camp is naturally guarded by high-ranking demons, even abyssal demons and demon lords.

The props that Swold gave to Zhou Ke'er could at most fool high-ranking demons, but as for higher-ranking abyssal demons... they could see through these special effects at a glance.

However, Zhou Ke'er had her own methods.

With a snap of his fingers, Zhou Ke'er's body was enveloped in a tangible, pitch-black, malevolent aura. The aura gradually solidified around him, forming the two horns on his head and, according to his concept of a demon, transforming the lower half of his legs into something resembling goat legs.

The only drawback is that the appearance created by the evil construct is only jet black and cannot be changed, so the only way to disguise it is with the necklace.

After making all the necessary preparations, Zhou Ke'er leisurely emerged from the shadows of the Demon King's camp and headed towards the spatial rift.

Zhou Ke'er didn't think that the ring's concealment magic could fool the eyes of the demon guarding the spatial rift. Sneaking past like that would only arouse suspicion, so it was better to walk past openly.

An anonymous mental patient once said that as long as you act with a completely righteous and upright demeanor, no matter what strange things you do, it is unlikely to arouse suspicion from others.

Furthermore, Zhou Ke'er had just stolen an armband from a certain unfortunate demon—according to Zhou Ke'er's observation, this thing should be used to confirm identity, similar to the badge or certificate of the human alliance.

That demon also looks humanoid, and its overall features aren't too different from Zhou Ke'er's, so we should be able to fool it... right?

They arrived at the spatial rift without any major incidents, but it was not quite what Zhou Ke'er had imagined—there was a checkpoint here, similar to a security checkpoint, making it look like some kind of office.

Fortunately, there are only two demons guarding it, so fighting or escaping shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Zhou Ke'er walked over confidently.

A demon reached out in a formulaic manner: "Check the armband."

Zhou Ke'er blinked, thinking to herself that it was good she had prepared in advance, and then reached out and handed him the armband.

He took the armband, scanned it with something that looked strange, like a machine, and then a strange expression appeared on his face. He hesitated for a moment and looked at Zhou Ke'er: "Are you sure you want to go back to the Demon Realm?"

Zhou Ke'er nodded, but she was already secretly preparing to force her way in.

However, the expected obstruction did not occur. The demon merely glanced at Zhou Ke'er with a pity before opening the road for her to pass.

After Zhou Ke'er entered the space tunnel, the other of the two demons asked, "Is she a deserter who returned to the Demon Realm without orders?"

"He's a deserter."

"Just because she's not pretty doesn't mean we should give her a break, right?"

"They've been sent to exile."

"What a pity, she's quite pretty."

"It's a pity, but I don't want to be arrested for violating military discipline."

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587. Is the Demon Realm really this desolate?

After a brief period of dizziness, Zhou Ke'er passed through the spatial rift and arrived in the Demon Realm.

Subconsciously, I looked around to observe the surroundings.

But the scene was quite different from what he had imagined. He had expected to find himself in the main city of the demon realm, or at the very least, in a military camp or a heavily fortified position...

But now that I look at it, it looks like a desert! There's not a single person... no, not even a single demon!

Apart from the blood-red sun and the dark red moon hanging high in the sky, all Zhou Ke'er could see was rolling yellow sand and endless, uneven sand dunes, with some kind of tiny sand worm occasionally crawling in and out of the sand pits.

It cannot be described as dilapidated and desolate; it is more accurately described as utterly lifeless.

Zhou Ke'er had a feeling she'd been tricked—was this really the Demon Realm? Or had she been dumped in some deserted, ghostly place?

He quickly turned around and glanced behind him.

Huh?

Good heavens, even the spatial rift is gone! Is this one-way teleportation? Impossible! It doesn't make sense!

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin thoughtfully, then realized that she had been tricked.

No wonder we passed through so quickly without any obstacles; it turns out this was what was waiting for us.

Very well, they actually dared to offend Zhou Ke'er... I'll kill them all when I get back.

But the most urgent thing is to find a way to get out of this awful place. I don't even know if this place still belongs to the Demon Realm, but judging from the appearance of those little sand worms... it probably is?

Zhou Ke'er tried to sense her surroundings using the Godhood of Time and Space. She could indeed sense traces of a spatial rift that had just been torn open, but it had automatically closed after Zhou Ke'er came out. This was because it was not a naturally generated, continuously open spatial rift, but a one-time spatial rift that had been artificially torn open.

Judging from the remaining traces, it is obviously impossible to deduce the location of the other end of the original spatial rift using these remnants.

"Tsk..."

Zhou Ke'er clicked her tongue lightly. It was a bad start, but it was indeed because he hadn't prepared enough and hadn't observed carefully enough, so there wasn't much to say.