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

But... the more this was the case, the more Zhou Ke'er felt that something was wrong with this forest.

After the malevolent sphere of light exploded in the sky, ordinary places—such as the capital of Wright—were almost completely wiped out, and the entire capital was shrouded in a high concentration of malevolent energy. But what about the Grand Duchy of Fuya? It seemed to possess the means to control the outbreak of malevolent energy, making the situation there far more complex than in the capital of Wright, forcing Zhou Ke'er and the others to flee.

In other words, at this time, a place with such a low concentration of malevolent energy is definitely suspicious.

In this forest, there might be a terrifyingly powerful monster that constantly absorbs the evil around it to strengthen itself.

So Zhou Ke'er proceeded very cautiously and warily, not wanting to be forced into another encounter with that monster.

If he were alone, he wouldn't dare to go and risk it all himself; after all, if he couldn't win, he could simply activate his divine power and escape. But the problem is, he can't teleport with anyone else right now, so he has to proceed with caution.

result...

Zhou Ke'er and her group walked out of the forest unharmed.

The expected jumpscare didn't happen, and although Zhou Ke'er breathed a sigh of relief, she still felt something was off.

Emerging from the forest, one is greeted by a vast plain, from which the city can be seen at the edge of the plain.

This city should still be within the territory of the Grand Duchy of Fuyaer. I wonder what the situation is like inside the city now.

There were no corpses strewn across the fields, and no one seemed to be fleeing. It was unclear whether no one was fleeing in this direction or whether there had been no disturbance in the city.

Zhou Ke'er and the others exchanged glances, then quickened their pace and hurried toward the city.

Halfway there, before Zhou Ke'er had even reached the city and was still walking across the fields, she suddenly felt a sense of disorientation.

It was as if she had been momentarily distracted, but Zhou Ke'er quickly came to her senses and subconsciously turned to look at the people behind her—only to find that they were all gone.

Zhou Ke'er's lips twitched. He knew it wouldn't be that easy. Ever since this module came out, he'd caused trouble wherever he went; he was practically the ultimate jinx.

Just then, a system notification sound rang out:

[It has been detected that some players have already reached the second phase of the quest objective. These players will now enter the second phase of the main quest ahead of schedule. Other players are encouraged to continue their efforts and complete the first phase of the quest as soon as possible.]

[Player "Zhou Ke'er", you have met the requirements to unlock the second stage of the main quest. Please check it yourself and do not disclose the quest to players who have not yet unlocked the second stage.]

Zhou Ke'er scratched her head in bewilderment—how did he suddenly activate the second stage? And what was the objective of the second stage...?

Wait a minute... You don't mean there's some kind of being in this city right now, do you? That momentary lapse in concentration, and the instant disappearance of Red Crane and the others, was all that being's doing, so this counts as "contact," right?

Zhou Ke'er suddenly understood what was going on and quickly opened the only task panel she could access to check it.

[Main Quest - Second Stage Background (Player "Zhou Ke'er" Only): You and your companions unexpectedly came into contact with an unknown entity. The moment you stepped into its domain, you were affected by it, but for some reason, you were the only one who quickly broke free from its influence.]

[Mission Objective 1: Rescue your companion, or learn the true name or identity of this unknown entity. Completing either condition will unlock the next mission objective.]

Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly as she continued towards the city, pondering: Why was he the only one who broke free from the influence of that being...? It shouldn't be the effect of the "Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Monarch's Secret Scripture." Judging from the other ancient book that Long Aotian obtained before, this thing should be something that all the chosen players possess, and Red Crane should be no exception.

Since she did not escape death, that means it was not because of that.

But besides that, what other ways does Zhou Ke'er have to get rid of the influence?

P.S.: Ahem, although we haven't given any clues, let's guess what this thing is (there's no prize for guessing correctly though).

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647. Folding Space

The closer Zhou Ke'er got to the city, the darker the sky seemed to grow. It should still be early morning, but by the time she reached the city gates, the sky was already as dark as night.

Zhou Ke'er snapped her fingers, lit a flame on her left index finger to slightly illuminate the scene ahead, and then walked through the wide-open city gate.

The moment Zhou Ke'er stepped through the city gate, she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, and a chilling sensation slowly crept up her spine like a bone-deep infection.

For a moment, Zhou Ke'er seemed to lose the concept of time and space. At the same time, her entire field of vision turned into a colorful green, and she seemed to hear some kind of sound, but she couldn't hear it clearly at all.

The sound seemed to come from a very, very far place, like the sound you hear when you wake up from a long afternoon nap with tinnitus, as if the whole world had frozen at that moment.

Under the cover of the dark sky, the whole world in Zhou Ke'er's eyes was like a gemstone with a pale green mixed with an eerie dark blue hue.

But it was only for a moment. Zhou Ke'er regained consciousness in the next breath and couldn't help but gasp for air.

It must be said that although it was a very unpleasant experience, Zhou Ke'er did feel that for a moment, the world in his eyes had a tiny bit of... magnificence.

Zhou Ke'er rubbed her forehead to calm herself before continuing to walk forward.

The city wasn't filled with the filthy chunks of flesh and writhing tentacles one might expect, nor did it reek of blood. In fact, it was remarkably clean; even the most remote corners of the roads were spotless.

But this is even more horrifying than piling up vulgar flesh and blood.

Every so often, vortex-like objects floated in mid-air, the air currents emanating from them seeming to carry emotions, filled with malice.

Zhou Ke'er could even intuitively feel the malice slowly flowing in the air.

As Zhou Ke'er turned the corner, she was surprised to find that there were many pedestrians coming and going on the street. The sound of carriage wheels, conversations, and footsteps... all sorts of sounds suddenly appeared in the world the moment Zhou Ke'er turned the corner.

It seemed that no one noticed the arrival of Zhou Ke'er, this uninvited guest.

Zhou Ke'er did not approach these people to talk to them. Instead, she kept an eye on her surroundings and continued walking forward.

Having walked safely through the entire street, and turning the last corner onto another street, what greeted my eyes was a scene that felt very familiar.

The scene was exactly the same as on the street just now, even the clothing of the pedestrians closest to the corner and the style of the carriage were exactly the same.

This is beyond similarity; these are exactly the same streets.

Zhou Ke'er subconsciously turned her head and looked back at the street she had just come from from the corner.

The streets are still exactly the same, and...

He saw a figure at the end of the street corner, doing exactly the same thing as him—half his body leaning against the corner wall, the other half of his body and head sticking out of the corner to look ahead—that was clearly him.

Zhou Ke'er tried the action and found that the figure made the same movement at the same time as him, without any difference.

Wow, I never expected that Zhou Ke'er, who possesses the divine spark of a spacetime god, would fall into such a petty trick involving space. It's utterly shameful.

Zhou Ke'er took a step back in thought and turned to look at the street. Almost simultaneously, he noticed that everyone was turning to look at him, their eyes seemingly revealing a strange mixture of sorrow and joy.

That look seemed to say, "You're going to be like us too?...You're going to be like us too!"

Zhou Ke'er ignored their gazes, stroking her chin as she pondered: "If we look at it from the simplest theoretical perspective, the first method that comes to mind for constructing a spatial loop on a street like this is indeed spatial folding. Overlapping the two ends of this street in space to form a closed loop."

But only these two "points" are folded, and it is impossible for them to go beyond the range of this corner - otherwise, it would not be possible for the space to repeat at this corner.

That means...

Zhou Ke'er tentatively activated Instant Teleportation.

The target location for instant teleportation is...

Somewhere on the street before the corner.

The next second, Zhou Ke'er appeared on the empty street.

As expected, it works. Luckily, Zhou Ke'er was able to jump out of a certain space directly, otherwise it would be terrible if someone else were trapped in this loop.

Immediately, countless pedestrians surged forward from the street, crowding around the corner as if blocked by an invisible barrier. They seemed to be silently calling out something while staring at Zhou Ke'er with desperate eyes.

Zhou Ke'er shook her head; these people were beyond saving. They weren't even considered evil; they were simply integrated with the separated space, becoming a part of it, inseparable forever. If that space were destroyed, they would perish along with it.

Then, Zhou Ke'er took another step and, amidst the shocked gazes of the passersby, walked back into the street.

Sigh, there's nothing I can do. We've only just left the city gate, two streets away, and there haven't been any forks in the road yet. I can only continue walking this way.

Although she didn't know if she could fly directly there, Zhou Ke'er was worried that the entity in the city might have some means to directly prohibit air travel or launch air attacks, so she decided to just walk there honestly.

Then, amidst the (not really) welcoming and stares of the pedestrians, Zhou Ke'er leisurely passed through them, gracefully arriving at the end of the street. She waved goodbye to them, and then activated her teleportation again.

The next second, Zhou Ke'er arrived at the next street.

If Zhou Ke'er's divine rank were a little higher... well, by a lot more, she might be able to control the overlapping spatial points here and restore them, but with her current strength... it's best to just think about it.

Zhou Ke'er stopped paying attention to that street and continued walking forward.

Generally speaking, those beings should reside in the very center of the city, ensuring that anyone entering the city from any direction must traverse the longest distance and overcome numerous "game challenges" set up by Him before they can meet Him.

Zhou Ke'er thought this guy was no exception, but he was now having some trouble looking at the fork in the road in front of him—which one led to the center of the city?

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648. Loop

Zhou Ke'er had no choice but to randomly choose a path and continue forward.

The further Zhou Ke'er went, the more she noticed that the energy permeating the city was somewhat unusual—at first glance, it seemed very similar to something sinister, but upon closer inspection, she discovered that it was an energy different from anything sinister.

If we had to be specific, they are essentially closer to beings like Nyarlathotep or Tavel. Although there are differences in some aspects, at that level of existence, there will inevitably be individual differences in the energy possessed by each individual.

In other words... this guy entrenched in the city is actually one of those beings as well?

Damn, what's the point of playing this game? No wonder Zhou Ke'er's strange senses couldn't detect anything in this city, not even pinpointing the other party's location. Even the sensitivity to space and time brought by the God of Space and Time was suppressed. This makes perfect sense.

Fortunately, the mission didn't require him to fight a being of that level; it only asked him to rescue Red Crane and the others or find out the being's true name. If the real goal was to defeat this being, Zhou Ke'er would definitely turn and run right now, even if it meant Red Crane and the others dying there. He couldn't possibly do it alone; he could only escape and try to get reinforcements.

Even if all the players combined couldn't necessarily pose a threat to this being, the chances of success would still be higher than if he succeeded alone, right?

As she pondered this, Zhou Ke'er slowly continued walking forward, and ahead of her, she saw human figures again.

However, some of them seemed to have had limbs amputated, while others had tentacled tumors resembling cancer, walking unsteadily. Their movements were slow, their eyes lifeless, as if urged on by the vortexes floating in the air, constantly doing things that Zhou Ke'er could not understand.

Zhou Ke'er frowned and subconsciously looked at the vortexes.

Just then, a familiar dizziness surged uncontrollably into her brain. Zhou Ke'er covered her head and staggered back two steps, almost falling to the ground.

She quickly shook her head, and when Zhou Ke'er opened her eyes again, she found that the scene in front of her was completely different.

Zhou Ke'er was startled and quickly looked around, only to find... he had actually returned to the cave he was in before?!

Meanwhile, Cold Rabbit and Bolius were sleeping soundly to the side. As expected, Red Crane had gone out early in the morning, and Zhao Ritian was still nowhere to be seen, just like before.

Zhou Ke'er frowned. Was this an illusion or...?

He couldn't tell; the energy's suppression of the evil's rank was too absolute. Even if it created some kind of illusion, Zhou Ke'er couldn't detect it.

Zhou Ke'er walked out of the cave as before, and sure enough, soon Honghe came from a distance carrying a dead rabbit.

Before she could even speak, Zhou Ke'er suddenly walked up to her and started touching her all over, pinching her cheeks and tugging at her arms, muttering to herself, "This...it feels so real..."

Zhou Ke'er did this to determine whether, if it was an illusion, the feeling simulated in the illusion was simulated using feelings that Zhou Ke'er herself had experienced, that is, Zhou Ke'er's own "database," or whether the appropriate feeling could be simulated externally and then input into Zhou Ke'er.

If it's the former, then we can confirm that it's a hallucination.

Unfortunately, after trying it, Zhou Ke'er quickly realized that the sensation of pinching the flamingo's face was not in his original sensory database.

Honghe squinted at Zhou Ke'er, "So you finally couldn't control your lust and are going to attack your own companion? If you continue like this, I'll call the police."

Zhou Ke'er pondered for a moment, then her eyes hardened—there was one last way! This game had a harassment penalty mechanism; if Zhou Ke'er tried to touch certain, uh, parts of the flamingo, the game system would prevent the action and impose a penalty.