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

The architectural style of the capital of the Grand Duchy of Fuya is very different from that of the capital of the Kingdom of Light. The greenery in the entire capital is excellent, with countless trees and flowers growing lushly. It is hard to tell whether a city was built in a forest or the city was transformed into a forest.

The ancient elven tree is located on the westernmost side of the capital. It is indeed astonishingly large. Only a small part of it extends into the capital as if embedded in the city wall, while the rest is exposed outside the city wall, surrounded by countless towering ancient trees outside the capital, stretching as far as the eye can see.

To be honest, this tree is really defying common sense. How can there be a tree as big as a city? How wide and deep must its roots be?

Zhou Ke'er and Hong He concealed themselves on the road, constantly observing the situation around them. Occasionally, they would see people dressed in incongruous clothes being escorted away by a large group of guards.

She was clearly a player who had just been pulled into the game and hadn't even figured out what was going on before being arrested. After all, not all players are like Zhou Ke'er, spending sanity points to buy useless cosmetic items, and even if they did, they might not look normal in this world setting.

Zhou Ke'er even saw one or two guys wearing hospital gowns.

It feels strangely familiar.

However, Zhou Ke'er didn't try to save them. She was already in a precarious situation herself, and trying to save a few people who might not even be of any use...

Perhaps some saintly people would do that, as long as they don't urge others to do it. Zhou Ke'er respects such people in principle, but she herself would never do such a thing.

However, one thing worth noting is that the capital of the Grand Duchy of Fuya'er was not filled with too much evil, so the people in the city were not greatly affected, and all the functions of the capital were still operating normally.

Zhou Ke'er hadn't quite figured out what was going on yet, and could only attribute it to the protection of the ancient elven tree. After all, she had previously discovered that the ancient elven tree had the ability to absorb energy, so perhaps the evil influences that were affecting this area had been absorbed by the ancient tree.

So, using this place as a base camp, with the ancient tree as a backdrop to ward off evil spirits, would be a good choice.

Zhou Ke'er pondered for a moment and decided to go to the palace with Honghe to investigate. The king here had recently descended upon the human alliance's camp and was imprisoned by Zhou Ke'er using her evil magic. There might be internal strife in the palace right now, and Zhou Ke'er could take advantage of the chaos.

Furthermore, we clearly sensed that the king who descended from the gods also possessed malevolent energy, and there must be other beings standing behind him. It would be best to go and investigate.

After quietly informing Red Crane of her thoughts, Red Crane did not object, but said with a slight sense of helplessness that the [Face of the Faceless] had just exhausted all its energy and could not be used for the time being, which might greatly reduce her combat ability.

Zhou Ke'er nodded, and after thinking for a while, she reached out and filled the energy storage crystal she had given to Honghe with energy. "That is indeed a problem. There is a possibility that there will be someone in the palace who is much stronger than the two of us combined. In that case, we will most likely have to run for our lives. I have a way to protect myself, so I will cover your retreat. You can just dig a hole underground or in another suitable place to escape."

Honghe touched the energy storage crystal hanging around her neck, and the corner of her mouth curled up almost imperceptibly: "You said it yourself. If things don't look good, I'll just run away. Don't blame me for not lending you a hand."

Zhou Ke'er didn't say anything, just gave her a thumbs up, then pulled her along and ran all the way. Finally, she jumped up, spread her wings, and concealed her figure as she sneaked into the royal palace of the Grand Duchy of Fuya.

Contrary to expectations, the palace was surprisingly calm, as if nothing had happened to the king.

Surely they haven't realized the king is in trouble yet? So much time has passed.

Could it be that the king who descended from the heavens broke free from Zhou Ke'er's restraints? That's highly unlikely. His evil rank is a level lower than Zhou Ke'er's; without any unforeseen circumstances, it's impossible for him to have broken free. Even if the explosion of the light sphere in the sky just now released a wave of evil energy, strengthening that guy, the accompanying evil restraints would also be strengthened.

With these doubts in mind, Zhou Ke'er continued to sneakily make her way to the main hall of the palace.

Just then, before Zhou Ke'er had even flown halfway there, she suddenly saw the main gate of the temple open, and an elven man dressed in a linen robe, wearing a tree wreath and feathers on his head walked out. He held a wooden scepter in his hand, and his silver-white eyes looked straight at Zhou Ke'er in mid-air. "Where did this little bug come from, daring to invade this place?"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly felt a pang of fear—this guy is strong! Stronger than the elven man who teleported them here before. Judging from his voice... he must be the one who directed that elven man through the spatial rift! So this guy is the true mastermind behind the Grand Duchy of Fuya... an elf?!

Having confirmed the truth she wanted to uncover, Zhou Ke'er immediately turned around without hesitation, grabbed Honghe, and started running away without looking back.

But...

Although it was a hasty retreat, it wasn't simply a matter of running away.

Even if Zhou Ke'er was careless and reckless, she couldn't possibly not consider that there might be someone much stronger than her hiding in the palace.

In fact, he envisioned more than one.

Actually...you might not believe it, but Zhou Ke'er is just waiting for that guy to launch an attack on her.

As expected, the elven man launched an attack on them directly. With a light wave of his staff, a beam of emerald green light shot towards Zhou Ke'er and her companion, filled with a dangerous aura.

Without hesitation, Zhou Ke'er conjured the [Tongyou Sword] in her hand and instantly used [The Magician's Madness] to fully unleash it. Without even having time to check what attributes this epic-quality weapon had after being unleashed, she threw it directly at the beam of green light and activated the spirit sword's self-destruction.

Well, the Jade Trace Sword still has some sentimental value, so Zhou Ke'er chose to use another weapon.

Epic-quality weapons are powerful enough once unleashed, let alone when they self-destruct at this moment. Not only did they block the green light, but they also produced a deafening explosion that could be heard throughout the entire capital.

Zhou Ke'er wrapped herself and Honghe in evil magic, and with some control over the spirit sword to reduce the impact in their direction, they were not harmed.

At the same time, he did not rush to escape. Instead, he used the disguise items given to him by the hero Swold to instantly disguise himself and Red Crane as elves. After the smoke dissipated, their figures gradually appeared in the sight of the whole city.

Zhou Ke'er feigned severe injuries and said with difficulty, "You actually want to destroy the Ancient Elf Tree?! How dare you?!"

As he spoke, he amplified his voice with an eerie amplification, making it travel clearly.

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629. I'm happy if I upset you.

Hey, Zhou Ke'er doesn't believe that everyone in the entire capital is in cahoots. Most of them are probably just there to be sacrificed, which means that most of the common people are probably unaware of the sinister plans of the people in the palace.

That makes things easier; we can just sow discord. Zhou Ke'er is best at sowing discord. (No, actually, she's best at causing trouble.)

The people of the capital immediately spotted Zhou Ke'er and the red crane disguised as elves in mid-air. Coupled with the loud noise they had just heard and Zhou Ke'er's grief-stricken shouts, they couldn't help but instantly conjure up a series of scenarios in their minds.

The crowd erupted in uproar—they rarely saw elves and were proud to be descendants of them, yet now they witnessed elven beings being attacked within the palace, clearly orchestrated by those within the palace itself. Even worse, the attack stemmed from the palace's attempt to destroy the ancient elven tree, and the elves' attempt to stop them had resulted in the attack.

But why?! Why would the people in the royal palace destroy the ancient elven tree?

Zhou Ke'er stared intently at the elven man in front of her. She saw him frown slightly and coldly utter, "A boring, despicable trick."

However, he did not fly up to the sky to appear and compete with Zhou Ke'er and the others.

As expected, this was exactly what Zhou Ke'er had predicted—this guy clearly had a high opinion of himself and looked down on ordinary humans, treating them like insects or fertilizer. How could he possibly be willing to show his face and solve such a "small problem"?

After all, to him, wiping out the entire population of the capital was a trivial matter. Therefore, he didn't even think that Zhou Ke'er's actions made any sense.

But the question is—although he "has the ability" to kill everyone in the capital, is he "capable" of doing so? If the sacrifices could be reduced by so much, then he wouldn't have needed to teleport all the members of the human alliance over, would he?

Zhou Ke'er ignored the elven man's taunts and instead became even more engrossed in her monologue: "Damn it... you actually secretly mastered this power! The last elven envoy we sent to negotiate with you was also killed by you silently, wasn't he?! What's wrong with opening the ancient elven tree and reconnecting the elven forest with this place? Is it really necessary to do such a thing just to consolidate your rule?!"

Honghe coughed twice, patching up Zhou Ke'er's words: "Don't think that just because your bloodline is a little purer and you look a bit like us, you can really consider yourself the ruler of this country for all eternity! You damned ambitious maniac!"

This really angered the elven man—he wouldn't care much if you said things to him that misled the people, but if you insulted his bloodline, well, he'd start to get serious.

Zhou Ke'er instantly saw through his intentions, immediately grabbed Red Crane and turned to flee, continuing to shout, "Citizens of the kingdom! The time to uphold orthodoxy has come! The royal family has now decided to rebel, and the glory of the elves rests solely on your shoulders! The Elven Forest is actually hidden within the ancient elven trees; what was once our protection has become a prison. Everything else depends on you all... Ahhh!"

Just then, the elven man raised his hand again and unleashed an even more intense green light. Zhou Ke'er immediately turned her back to protect the red crane, then tightly wrapped herself in evil energy. The moment she was struck by the green light, she let out a painful scream filled with emotion.

But in reality, they used the green light to hit the evil armor, and the smoke from the explosion instantly concealed their whereabouts and that of the flamingo, allowing them to escape without hesitation.

As for the damage... the elven man's furious attack was indeed not easy to withstand; Zhou Ke'er's evil shield was destroyed in an instant.

Fortunately, Zhou Ke'er was quick-witted and swift in her movements. In the instant the shield blocked the green light, she used teleportation to slightly shift her position, pulled Honghe along, and filled the gap in her original spot with evil energy.

In other words, the green light only struck the evil entity, not Zhou Ke'er and the red crane themselves.

However, the resulting explosion still caused them significant damage. But it was still much better than taking the full force of the attack.

When this scene was witnessed by the people of the capital, it became a public spectacle: the envoy sent by the Elf Forest was murdered in full view of everyone by a mysterious figure from the palace, who hadn't even shown his face. The people were all in an uproar.

Even the patrolling soldiers responsible for maintaining order couldn't help but have some outrageous thoughts in their minds.

It's not that they didn't suspect Zhou Ke'er and the other person's identities—but they did look like the legendary elves, and now they've been killed and vanished into thin air, so what reason would they have to lie to them?

......

"Wow, I really feel great after screwing over that guy. Even if it only causes a small commotion, it's a good start."

Zhou Ke'er smiled innocently.

Honghe remained expressionless: "But this doesn't actually help our current situation at all, does it? You're doing this purely for fun and revenge, aren't you?"

"..."

Zhou Ke'er tilted her head: "Hehe~"

"So, what do we do next?"

Honghe sighed and asked.

Zhou Ke'er pondered for a moment, then stared at the flamingo with a meaningful tone: "Zhou Ke'er! Quickly use your invincible flamingo to think of a solution!"

"boom!"

Honghe punched Zhou Ke'er in the face, "When did I become invincible?!"

"Hey! Isn't the problem [mine]?"

Zhou Ke'er raised her voice to correct the mistake.

"whispering sound."

The flamingo curled its lip and made a disgusted sound.

What do you mean by that?!

While protesting, Zhou Ke'er deactivated her elven form and recreated the clothing and appearance of ordinary people in the capital before quietly walking out onto the street with Red Crane from a small corner.

Although it's unclear how those guys in the palace found out, judging from the recent events, it seems there's a large-scale crackdown on players here—it appears anyone dressed strangely or looking different from the locals is being arrested. Perhaps the players just happened to fall into that category and were arrested, or perhaps they're arresting everyone in the process to capture players.

"Let's go, let's take a look around their prison. If we have the chance, we'll release those players and cause some more trouble in the capital."

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630. Imprisonment

Although Zhou Ke'er and Hong He didn't know exactly where the capital's prison was, they could follow it. After wandering around the streets for a while, they soon encountered the strangely dressed people being detained again. Zhou Ke'er and Hong He followed them discreetly, pretending to be taking a normal stroll and chatting.

Following them, they arrived at a place resembling a mass cell. Zhou Ke'er and her companion, concealed, followed them inside. The patrolling guards approached the cell gate, warning the people inside to behave, then opened the door, casually tossing the captured and detained individuals into the cell before closing the door and leaving.

Just as Zhou Ke'er was about to make her move, the man being held captive by the guards suddenly laughed: "You think you can capture me with your meager strength? Why do you think I was so obediently dragged all the way here?"

As he spoke, a huge, heavy iron hammer appeared in the man's hand. Before the two guards could react, he swung the hammer sideways at them, hitting them twice with one blow, sending them flying and crashing into the wall.

Seeing Zhao Ritian's ferocity, the prisoners who were already extremely unhappy with their imprisonment followed him out of the cell without hesitation and started punching and kicking the two guards who were slammed against the wall.

Yeah, typical player stuff. A normal person would be making a run for it, but their first thought was to beat up those two guards. Seriously.

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin and whispered to Honghe, "Hey, this person looks kind of familiar... Isn't he the one we encountered in that large-scale module of the ghost city last time, the one who was also being chased by Long Aotian... Zhao Ritian?"

The flamingo blinked indifferently: "I don't remember. I never paid attention to it."

Zhou Ke'er shrugged: "Okay then, it's not important anyway."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er stealthily crept over, took the key to the cell, used her evil powers to simulate the key's shape, created a copy of the evil key, and then put it back.

Zhou Ke'er always felt that they wouldn't be able to escape so easily, and that they might have to wait for him to come and rescue them in the end, so she made preparations in advance.

Immediately, the guards and jailers who heard the noise rushed in from outside. They immediately saw Zhao Ritian and his group of prisoners trying to escape, and without hesitation, they sounded the alarm and began to stop them.

Zhou Ke'er and Honghe hid well in the corner, watching the fight unfold and having a great time.

After all... saving lives shouldn't be for nothing. If you rush in to help now, they'll just see you as an ordinary accomplice. But if you wait until they're recaptured before rescuing them, your status will be completely different.

Of course, it was also because Honghe was still in a weakened state, and Zhou Ke'er didn't want to force her to do anything in this condition.

Inside the cramped cell, Zhao Ritian wielded a massive iron hammer, moving with unstoppable speed, cutting down large swathes of enemies with each strike, and charging toward the cell door with almost no resistance.