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

Long Aotian then turned to look at the players, and to confirm the facts, he asked one more pointless question: "You are all players—right?"

"That's right, that's right!"

The group nodded upon hearing this, and after scrutinizing Long Aotian for a while, they all widened their eyes in surprise and exclaimed, "Wait... he looks so familiar, I feel like I've seen him before... Ah! Could you be Long Aotian, the leader of the largest gaming guild in the main city—Aotian Guild!"

"Pfft."

Seeing the surprised yet serious expressions on their faces, and the fact that they were saying such embarrassing things, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Long Aotian glanced at Zhou Ke'er with displeasure: "You've been laughing at me the whole time! You haven't stopped! What's so funny?"

Zhou Ke'er spread her hands innocently and blinked, saying, "I didn't! I clearly only smiled!"

"Fine! You admit you were the one who laughed at me, right?"

Long Aotian was as excited as a programmer who had just discovered a bug.

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but chuckle again, then coughed twice in a mock serious manner, before mimicking the words perfectly: "Ah! Could it be that you are Long Aotian, the guild leader of the largest gaming guild in the main city—Aotian Guild!"

Long Aotian looked at Zhou Ke'er with a puzzled expression, stroked his chin, and then suddenly realized, "So you said all this just to praise me, right? Sigh, my damn irresistible charm. That's right, I am Long Aotian, the guild leader of Aotian Guild. It's just a mere empty title, not worth such praise."

"Pfft."

The flamingo's lips seemed to twitch slightly, but then again, they didn't.

Zhou Ke'er stared at Long Aotian in shock—did this guy really not understand what she meant and think Zhou Ke'er was praising him, or was he pretending not to understand and just playing along with her?

Seeing Zhou Ke'er's admiring gaze (in his own mind), Long Aotian waved his hand humbly, then turned to the players: "Although you should all know me, let me introduce myself first. I am Long Aotian, and these are Zhou Ke'er and Honghe. By the way, I haven't asked you yet, what happened just now? Why did you get into a fight with those NPCs?"

The group nodded blankly, and then one of the men spoke up: "Oh... my nickname is [Ah La Ka Bama Hahahaha], you can just call me Ah Ba. These are [Nian Zi], [Tu Tu], and, uh... [I can go to the toilet by myself]... you can just call him WC."

"puff..."

Zhou Ke'er turned her head away. She thought that guy named "Ah La Ka Bama Hahahaha" was already outrageous enough, but she didn't expect there to be someone even more outrageous.

After scanning around, I saw that the two players named [Nianzi] and [Tutu] were female players with no particularly outstanding features, while the other two were male players whose attire also seemed somewhat eccentric.

After the introduction, [Ah Ba] continued, "As for what happened just now... well, we were all at home doing fine, but then suddenly everything went black and we lost consciousness. When we came back to our senses, we found ourselves here, and we realized that the game had forcibly pulled us in. Everyone was pretty panicked, and to make matters worse, the city was completely deserted at first, with no one around. We couldn't find anyone to ask about the situation."

Finally, after randomly choosing a direction and searching along the way, they finally spotted people. It turned out to be in front of a church, where several men dressed like nobles were leading a group of seemingly delirious people, their intentions unclear... [Church] [Nobles] [Delirious People]—these elements combined suggest they're up to no good!

After thinking about it carefully, Zhou Ke'er realized that it made sense. Indeed, no matter how you look at it, the stereotype of the church and nobles is that they are old villains. Coupled with the scene just now, it seems like they were about to engage in some kind of cult ritual or something.

Long Aotian considered for a moment, "It's like this—although in principle the church and nobles are all scoundrels, there's nothing wrong with that, but these people are with us, so it doesn't matter. Because we are stronger, they will follow our orders."

The players immediately looked at Long Aotian with the same admiration they would give a bad guy leader. "As expected of Guild Leader Long Aotian, he accomplished something so easily. He is truly admirable and worthy of respect."

Just then, Zhou Ke'er leaned over and whispered to Long Aotian, "If you want to chat, you take them and meet up with the others on the city wall first. I need to rush to the front line again—maybe I can still bring back a few useful warriors. If I'm too late, I might get nothing."

Long Aotian originally wanted to say that he would go along as well, but then he thought that if he went along, there would be no one to lead the way, and it would be difficult to handle if something went wrong. Moreover, the situation in the capital city did need to be reorganized, so he could only nod and say, "Okay. Then go and call those two mages over and have them help you activate the teleportation array. I'll take these people over to meet up first."

Zhou Ke'er nodded and started walking forward.

As for Honghe, without even a word, before Zhou Ke'er could even speak, he naturally followed in her footsteps and went with her.

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624. Chaos

Soon, Zhou Ke'er rushed to the front lines again, and as expected, the scene was already chaotic.

As soon as Zhou Ke'er arrived, she found the tent that had been set up was now lying in ruins to the side, and she was facing the sky as soon as she stepped out of the teleportation array. Fortunately, the chaos hadn't damaged the teleportation array, otherwise it would have been terrible.

It's a minor issue if the teleportation fails; the real problem is if, unbeknownst to them, they exit the teleportation array only to find themselves facing the sky. Thankfully, the chaos didn't damage the teleportation array, otherwise, things would have been much worse.

It's a minor issue if the teleportation fails, but if we don't know where he's been teleported to, things will get much worse.

With a casual slash, Zhou Ke'er felled an infected charging at her. She immediately spread her wings and flew into the air, quickly scanning the situation in the camp: most of the area had been reduced to scorched earth. Countless infected in armor huddled together, wandering aimlessly in places where there were no living people, and surging like waves in places where there were still living people resisting.

As Zhou Ke'er expected, most of the remaining fighters were the heroes sent by various countries. However, under the adverse effects of the strange environment, they could hardly exert their full strength. Even though they used to be able to easily deal with these infected soldiers, they were now struggling to resist.

These warriors are just too stubborn. That guy Swold, Zhou Ke'er clearly told him it would turn out like this, that even if he stayed, he couldn't stop the soldiers from getting infected, but he just wouldn't listen and insisted on staying here. Sure enough, now he's trapped here.

"I'm rushing over there now to bring those heroes over. Red Crane, you guard this place and inscribe the reverse teleportation spell on the magic circle. Don't let this teleportation circle be destroyed."

Zhou Ke'er immediately spoke to Honghe. Before they teleported here, they had instructed the two mages to devise a way to use this one-way teleportation array to return to the capital—that is, to designate it as a reverse teleportation array. Then, the two mages could activate the teleportation array with magic at the capital end, establish a connection with this place, and return directly.

Honghe nodded in agreement, after all, this was a plan that had been made before the teleportation.

Zhou Ke'er folded her wings, landed on the ground, and charged towards the location of the heroes with one hand holding her sword. Going across the ground would clear the way first, making it a little easier to fight her way back later.

Soon Zhou Ke'er rushed halfway and could almost see the brave warriors and others struggling to resist through the infected horde.

Just then, a pitch-black crack suddenly appeared not far ahead, and a figure emerged from the crack.

The newcomer had long, flowing silver hair that reached just to his waist, and his pointed ears clearly indicated his identity. In his hand, he held a staff that looked like a branch broken off directly from a towering ancient tree. His pupils were an eerie silver-white, and his expression was extremely indifferent.

He silently glanced around and saw that most of the soldiers on the field had become infected. He couldn't help but frown slightly, but he still turned around and said calmly into the crack, "Slightly flawed, but usable."

"Very good. Now begin preparing to receive the super-tier magic."

The sound coming from the crack was not clear, as if it had been distorted by the spatial rift, and sounded somewhat fragmented.

"Understood. What about the rest of the trash?"

The elven man looked down indifferently at the infected soldiers below and continued to ask.

"No need to process it, just send it over. You can never have too much nutrition."

After hearing the words coming from the crack, the elven man didn't say much. He simply nodded in agreement, then raised his staff high, pointing it straight at the sky, and chanted some long and obscure words.

Zhou Ke'er instantly understood that this situation was related to what happened with the hero Fiore! It was clear that the elves hidden in the Grand Duchy of Fuya wanted to pull everyone here over as nourishment for the ancient elven tree and reconnect them to the Elven Forest!

Upon seeing the elven man, Zhou Ke'er immediately understood one thing: she was no match for him. Although she couldn't detect any evil aura from him, the fact that he remained completely unaffected by the evil environment meant that he was either incredibly well-hidden, even Zhou Ke'er couldn't detect him, or he had special methods to dispel the influence.

If it's the former, it means his evil rank is higher than Zhou Ke'er's, and Zhou Ke'er is completely overwhelmed. If it's the latter, then Zhou Ke'er's evil power has no effect on him, and her true strength is naturally no match for him.

Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips, then immediately released the evil energy within her body, forming a thin mist that enveloped her, making her seem to blend into her surroundings. She then silently and swiftly flew towards the heroes.

It's impossible to take all the heroes away in a grand manner; we can only try to quietly take away a few familiar ones.

If Zhou Ke'er could see the elven man in the sky, how could those heroes not see him? Fiore immediately connected the dots with what had happened before and shouted at them, "Elves? What are you doing here...?!"

The elven man didn't even glance at Fiore, as if he didn't exist, and continued chanting his incantation.

Yes, Fiore was indeed foolish—the other person was still chanting the spell, how could he possibly stop and answer your question at this time?

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhou Ke'er sped up and rushed in front of the warriors in an instant.

Several of the warriors reacted very quickly, instantly looking in Zhou Ke'er's direction and pointing their weapons at each other, shouting, "What is that?!"

Zhou Ke'er immediately removed the eerie shroud, revealing her true form, and said, "I am one of the Swold Warriors, and I have a way to get you out of here—let's go before that guy discovers what's going on here!"

The heroes all turned their gazes toward Swold.

Sward frowned: "Why are you back again? Didn't you go back to the capital?"

Zhou Ke'er immediately replied, "Indeed, we went back. Things in the capital have been mostly settled, so we came to meet you."

Sward nodded: "But I don't have any more teleportation scrolls here."

"It's alright. I brought someone who can inscribe a reverse teleportation array. We can use that teleportation array to go back directly. Don't worry."

Zhou Ke'er looked up at the elven man, wondering when he would finish chanting his spell.

"Alright, since that's the case..."

Swold looked at the other heroes: "Let's all leave here together."

Before the other heroes could speak, Fiore shook his head and said, "I have to stay here—that elf is after the people of our Grand Duchy of Fuya. If I follow you, I will only be a burden to you."

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625. Exile

Hearing what Fiore the Hero said, Zhou Ke'er nodded and didn't insist on anything, since what he said was indeed true.

The other heroes didn't say anything stupid like "If you don't leave, I won't leave either" or "If we're going to leave, we'll all leave together," since doing so would only lead to their deaths.

But the biggest problem is—if all the heroes leave with Zhou Ke'er, then Fiore will be the only one left here. Such a change would be too obvious. Even if Fiore stays here to attract attention, the elves would still be able to detect that the heroes are trying to escape, right?

If the other party doesn't care about using these heroes as nourishment, that's fine, but what if he doesn't even want to let go of a single bit of fertilizer?

Fortunately, the heroes had figured out the situation on their own. Without Zhou Ke'er needing to say anything, they made a decision almost instantly. Some of the heroes volunteered to stay there to buy time and attract attention.

Working with these people was so worry-free, Zhou Ke'er felt a long-lost sense of comfort—right, these necessary little things should be resolved internally in a matter of seconds.

However, there was no extra time for them to say goodbye. Almost the instant after making their decision, Zhou Ke'er used a mist formed by evil energy to shroud some of the heroes, leading them swiftly and silently away in the direction they had come from.

Since Zhou Ke'er had cleared the way for them, they encountered little resistance on the return trip and the journey was very smooth.

The elven man in the sky seemed to have noticed Zhou Ke'er and the others' actions—logically speaking, he shouldn't have, since Zhou Ke'er hadn't sensed any evil from him, and without any evil presence, it would be difficult to see through this thin mist, especially in such an environment filled with evil—but he suddenly quickened his speech, and a massive magic circle pattern gradually appeared in the sky.

However, based on the estimated distance, Zhou Ke'er and the others should be able to escape the range of the magic array before it is completed.

Even if things go wrong, Zhou Ke'er can still teleport, right? At worst, she'll have come for nothing and won't have brought back a single hero.

As he chanted the incantation, the heroes attacked him one after another, trying to stop him. But the elven man didn't even look at them. A hand reached out from the crack behind him, waved it casually, and knocked all the heroes back and knocked them to the ground, pinning them down and unable to move.

Logically speaking, although these heroes are different from the traditional heroes who are unique to a world, they can still be considered to be in the first or second tier of strength. Now they are being suppressed so easily... Is the opponent a god?

Soon, the elven man finished chanting the incantation, and the magic circle that was gradually solidifying in the sky began to fall downwards.

Only then did he turn around and continue asking into the crack, "Several portions of nutrients escaped the teleportation distance. Should we pay attention to them?"

"The more the better."

The voice from within the crack answered in this way.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er and the others were startled; they had actually been discovered. Fortunately, they could already see the flamingos in their line of sight.

Zhou Ke'er immediately pointed at Honghe and said, "You guys continue towards her, I'll cover the rear—at least we can intercept one wave of attacks. Also... we need to speed things up!"

Although she didn't know if it would work on that guy, Zhou Ke'er had already made up her mind to use the Eye of Aihot, a hard control technique, to interrupt his spellcasting if he started to make a move.

Before he could finish speaking, the elven man skipped the chanting altogether and casually waved his hand in the direction of Zhou Ke'er and the others, sending a small teleportation array hurtling towards them.

Well, that interrupted the loneliness.

Without hesitation, Zhou Ke'er immediately turned around, forgetting about what she had just said about covering the rear, and quickly changed her words to: "Run quickly!"

Honghe naturally saw what was happening to Zhou Ke'er and the others. Immediately, a phantom image of the Grim Reaper's scythe appeared in his hand, and he swung it sharply in Zhou Ke'er's direction. The phantom image disappeared instantly, and then the scythe appeared behind Zhou Ke'er, hooking her directly and pulling her back with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, Zhou Ke'er was pulled to Honghe's side.

Zhou Ke'er blinked in confusion: "Why are you pulling me? I can teleport! You should be pulling them!"

"Ah...right."

Honghe stared blankly at Zhou Ke'er for a moment, "I completely forgot about it."