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

Zhou Ke'er clenched her fists—as expected, magic had to defeat magic! These beings could control the flow of time, allowing people to travel through time, right? Then she would find these beings who hunted time travelers!

Just as the independent space was destroyed and Zhou Ke'er returned to the normal module space, a system notification sounded:

[Main Quest - Phase Two: Quest Objective One, "Rescue Your Partner," is now complete.]

[Updating main quest and related information...]

[Main Quest Phase Two: Objective Two: Eliminate a sufficient number of "Roigers," or drive most of the "Roigers" out of the city.]

[Note: Upon completion of this task, you will immediately receive a stage reward: some of Roegel's abilities.]

Currently available information:

Lloyd's intelligence: He worships Gatanothoia, an invisible entity from the stars, possessing abilities such as telekinesis, absorbing spiritual energy, altering the flow of time, and controlling the course of emotions.

So these weird things are called Roegers...

As Zhou Ke'er pondered, she looked around. Forced back to the module space due to the shattering of the independent space, the surrounding Roegels appeared to have suffered great damage and were listless. The later Tindaros Hounds seemed to have failed to traverse the space due to the damage, with only the hound that had been chasing Zhou Ke'er from the beginning arriving here.

Compared to the dejected Roigers, the Tindaros Hound, though also seriously injured, seemed quite energetic and began to retaliate without hesitation. Taking advantage of the Roigers' poor condition, the hound immediately started hunting.

While secretly concealing herself, Zhou Ke'er took advantage of the fact that the Tindaros Hound was in a bloodthirsty frenzy and temporarily forgot about him, and secretly fled into the city. At the same time, she was thinking wildly in her mind, wondering if the mission objective required her to kill Roiger herself, or if it was acceptable as long as Roiger died.

If it's the latter, maybe if the Tindaros Hounds work a little harder, Zhou Ke'er won't have to do anything, and the mission will be almost complete.

However, to prevent these Roigers from recovering and performing another independent spacetime reversal, Zhou Ke'er planned to first go to the city to find out what exactly was the thing that amplified their strength. If she could destroy it, she should destroy it as soon as possible, and she absolutely could not give them another chance to turn the tables.

With that thought in mind, Zhou Ke'er silently spread the evil aura, moving forward at high speed while continuously sensing the things around her.

As for the flamingos and their companions, they should be safely in the forest now.

To make it easier to read next time, you can click the "Add to Favorites" button below to save this reading progress (Chapter 668, 656. Riot). You can then find it in your bookshelf next time you open it!

If you enjoy *The Dream of the Mist*, please recommend it to your friends (via QQ, blog, WeChat, etc.). Thank you for your support!

------------

657. Situation

Meanwhile, as Zhou Ke'er was fleeing rapidly through the city amidst the chaos, in the nearby forest...

Red Crane and the others had also returned to the module world due to the shattering of the independent space. Moreover, because they were at the edge of the independent space, they could see the spatial shattering spreading from a distance.

This really gave them a fright; they thought it was some kind of attack targeting them. Now, back in the mod world, they realized that Zhou Ke'er's plan must have succeeded.

On the way, Flamingo had briefly explained the situation to them, but even Polius was truly unable to recall the memories from the time rewind process.

Upon returning to the module space, Red Crane quickly sensed an eerie aura emanating from all directions, with one particular direction emitting an especially strong eerie aura.

But that wasn't the direction of the city where those Roigers were located; rather, it should be... the direction from which Red Crane and the others came, which is the capital of the Grand Duchy of Fuya.

Judging from the amount of evil that Flamingo senses now, even in this forest, it has reached a level sufficient to infect ordinary people, turning them into mindless beings. Clearly, during the long period that their group has been trapped in the time loop, the entire Grand Duchy of Fuya seems to have fallen, with the capital bearing the brunt.

But Red Crane couldn't be sure whether the capital city had truly fallen into this state because of their meddling, or because the spread of evil was simply unstoppable, or... whether the capital city's higher-ups had deliberately led it to this outcome.

"What should we do now? According to you, Zhou Ke'er's plan should have succeeded. Should we just wait for him here, or go and meet him?"

Seeing that Red Crane looked deep in thought, Cold-Eat Rabbit quickly waved his hand in front of her eyes and asked.

Honghe glanced at Lengchitu, her voice flat: "The roars, howls, and fighting sounds coming from that direction are so loud and intense, I think you should be able to easily imagine what the situation is like over there, right? If you think we are capable enough to rescue Zhou Ke'er under those circumstances, then of course there is no problem—but are we?"

If it were just Honghe alone, she would definitely set off immediately to Zhou Ke'er's side. But Zhou Ke'er had just entrusted the safety of the other two to her, so there was no other way. Now she had to prioritize survival above all else, and she would never do something so dangerous.

After saying this, a phantom of the Grim Reaper appeared in Red Crane's hand, and a chilling black mist rose above it. Cold Rabbit thought some monster was preparing to launch a surprise attack, which Red Crane had discovered, but Red Crane simply used the Grim Reaper as a carving knife or paintbrush, using the black mist to carve one strange rune after another in mid-air.

A phantom image of an ancient book was floating before her eyes, visible only to her; neither Cold-Eat Rabbit nor Porius could perceive its existence.

Red Crane has only been able to open the first few pages of this ancient book with its thick cover so far, but the chaotic and complicated knowledge recorded in it has already made her feel... well... refreshed.

When she obtained this ancient book, she learned that it was called the "Nekotik Codex," and that it seemed to record various timelines or knowledge systems from different worlds. The original authors of this book were clearly not the same person; this was easily discernible from the writing style—not only were they not the same person, but it could even be said that countless people collaborated on this book.

What Flamingo is currently inscribing is precisely the protective incantation recorded on it—if it can indeed work.

Incidentally, the main quest content updated by Red Crane and her group is different from Zhou Ke'er's. Their quest no longer mentions Roiger, but instead says that the opening of the main quest for all players is ready. Once the first phase is completed, players scattered in different areas will receive different regional main quests. Players who have started the second phase ahead of time and have already completed it will receive certain prompts.

Red Crane and the others clearly belong to the latter category. Their mission was completed incidentally after the independent space shattered, so they don't have any further missions now. Instead, they are waiting for other players to complete the first stage of the main quest—only three or four special individuals are left. It is estimated that if things go smoothly, it may only take an hour to complete.

The clues they received were completely incoherent, offering no clue as to what they were being told—"betrayal" and "revenge."

----------------

In the dark, narrow alley, sewage flowed across the ground, making it filthy. A figure darted about swiftly within it.

It turned out to be Zhang He, everyone's unlucky fellow, fleeing for his life with spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue slung over his shoulder.

They didn't know where they were, but they just had to run away as quickly as possible.

Zhang He remembered that when he first arrived in this mod world, he was in the capital of the Kingdom of Brambo—he had heard people on the street mention it—although he had never heard of this place before. But before he could even react to why he was suddenly in the game even though he hadn't logged in, a terrible anomaly occurred.

The pedestrians who were walking on the street, dressed properly and politely, suddenly seemed to have gone mad. They first fell to the ground in a very uncouth manner, convulsing and struggling, getting covered in dust, and their once neat clothes became a mess.

But that was bad enough. Soon, some of them got up from the ground, their eyes a mixture of black and red, and began to attack the others who had not yet shown any signs of distress—biting or pouncing, without any regard for etiquette.

Zhang He was just stopping a passerby on the street to ask for directions when he suddenly encountered this unexpected incident. Before the passerby could even react, he was squatting down to try to help the others who had fallen to the side when he was instantly pounced on by the guys who got up, torn to pieces, and killed.

Zhang He thought there was a zombie outbreak. Seeing that the passerby was dead in a short moment, he didn't have time to think and immediately ran away. He ran to another street and saw Chun Kun Qiu Fei running towards him.

There was no time to marvel at the coincidence, nor to ask what was going on. The two of them immediately and tacitly turned into a side alley—because they were both being chased by "people" from both sides, thus creating a pincer movement.

To make it easier to read next time, you can click the "Add to Favorites" button below to save this reading progress (Chapter 669, Section 657: The Situation). You can then find it in your bookshelf next time you open it!

If you enjoy *The Dream of the Mist*, please recommend it to your friends (via QQ, blog, WeChat, etc.). Thank you for your support!

------------

658. Situation of all parties

(A note at the beginning: This chapter mainly focuses on the situation on the other side of the story after the events have come to a close, serving as a small foreshadowing that will soon be revealed. If you're not interested... well, the next chapter won't be updated until tomorrow.)

Leaving aside Zhang He, who had been drowsy and exhausted for almost a whole day running through the alleys of the capital of the Kingdom of Bulangbo—after all, they seemed to be only a little disheveled, and there was no sign that they might be caught yet.

Returning to the current situation of Long Aotian and Dio—or rather, their situation is indeed the best among the group. After all, they had taken control of the city's situation from the beginning, not only eliminating the special individuals but also ensuring that some residents, who had only lost their minds due to mild infection, would return to normal once the symptoms were alleviated—this seems to be thanks to the bishop who absorbed the vast majority of the evil entities—not to mention the powerful Sion in charge. As long as he doesn't suddenly turn against them, nothing out of control is likely to happen in the city.

Moreover, after the royals regained their senses, they all expressed their deepest gratitude to them. Long Aotian is now the uncrowned king of the entire capital. Although he has not explicitly stated anything and has never said what he wants to do, it seems that he doesn't need to say such things.

Although Loyer had disappeared, judging from what she said, she was probably trying to find Zhou Ke'er. However, she wasn't particularly strong, and the others weren't familiar with her, so naturally no one cared whether a demon would be in danger if she left the capital now. In fact, if she didn't leave, the others would feel uneasy.

While Long Aotian stayed in the capital to handle affairs and issue orders, Dio led a group of people assigned to her by Long Aotian to clear out the infected around the capital. If they encountered troublesome special individuals, they didn't need to fight as hard as before. As long as they activated a certain sensing magic, Sion would remotely throw a Green Dragoon over and smash those special individuals to pieces with one slap. If it weren't for the fact that Green Dragoon would get out of control if it was away from Sion for too long, Dio would even like to keep this thing with them forever.

In short, the current Wright Kingdom is in the midst of a dramatic upheaval in the central continent, which can be considered an excellent base of operations. It can even slowly expand outwards and clear out a safe area.

Unfortunately, it seems that Zhou Ke'er, one of the key figures in this favorable situation, will not be able to enjoy this benefit for the time being.

What no one expected was that the situation was now the worst for Chen Tian and Chen Tian's side.

The reason is simple: because... he was being watched by the GM.

Now the swollen woman stood before him, looking at him with one hand holding a fan to cover the lower half of her face. Her eyebrows and eyes seemed to be smiling, but her eyes were extremely cold.

Chen Tian was now extremely uneasy—staring intently at the college wristwatch that the swollen woman was playing with in her other hand—he had truly been tricked by Zhou Ke'er this time.

Who would have thought that this "Swelling Girl" wouldn't do her job as a module supervisor all day long, but instead just stared at Zhou Ke'er like she was watching a TV series? As a result, Zhou Ke'er asked Chen Tian about Roiger through the academy wristwatch, and the "Swelling Girl" saw it all. Now, sure enough, she came over through the internet to kill her.

Who could have imagined this! Chen Tian was unaware of the inside story and still couldn't understand how he could openly shout in the main world as if he were self-destructing without any consequences, but now he was being targeted immediately just for sending some unimportant information through the academy wristwatch. This was too outrageous!

The swollen woman scrutinized Chen Tian for a while before finally speaking, "How interesting... I sensed a familiar aura on you. I was just curious to see if there were any humans who understood... these 'things,' so I came to take a look. I didn't expect to have such an unexpected gain."

Chen Tian felt a cold sweat break out inside him—because he dared not show it outwardly, he even held back the cold sweat—he forced himself to calm down and put on an innocent expression as he replied, "Uh... what are you talking about? I just happened to come across an ancient book in the game that described a monster like this, so I wrote it down—can't I tell this information to my companions?"

Chen Tian planned to get away with it, pretending he knew nothing and attributing everything to ancient books—after all, he had read most of the ancient books related to great beings in the old era, and they did mention some of Roiger's ancient books. At worst, he could just make one out on the spot to give himself false testimony.

Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that... all the ancient books placed in the game by those beings were either the original texts or copies constructed by those beings themselves, all imbued with extremely powerful forces. Moreover, they had records of who had each book ended up in their hands and who had touched it—Chen Tian's excuse directly led him into a trap.

It's basically like admitting you didn't expect that! I know your situation perfectly well. I could easily handwrite a complete ancient book for you right here on the spot!

The swollen woman narrowed her eyes slightly, like a snake sizing up its prey: "I see... I see. I think I know who you are now—if Nyaruko knew that you didn't go to see her after you 'came back,' she would definitely be very sad. After all, I think she actually misses you quite a bit."

Upon hearing this, Chen Tian's mind was basically filled with "Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!"—This is unscientific! There's no basis for it! It's impossible!

Although Chen Tian had long been prepared for those beings to recognize his identity, and even prepared for the despairing scenario that "those beings already knew about this the moment he awoke," he was still caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events...

"Huh? You...you must have mistaken me for someone else? I only met Grandma...Nyaruko once when we first arrived at the safe house in the main world...I don't know her at all, so why would she miss me?"

Chen Tian had no choice but to continue pretending he didn't understand—when faced with difficulties, he simply acted like a complete idiot!

The swollen woman suddenly couldn't help but laugh: "Why are you so nervous? Did you think I came here to get rid of someone like you who shouldn't be here? No, no, no, we just want to play a fun game, and that means the rules are necessary—after our last failure, we won't just attack you players casually. Besides, even if there are unexpected beings... isn't that part of the fun of the game?"

As she spoke, the swollen woman approached Chen Tian, ​​whispering as she walked, "To be honest, I'm quite looking forward to seeing what you'll do... Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this discovery; it'll be more interesting when they find out themselves. However, I imagine that day won't be too far off, so you'd better be prepared. I can't guarantee that all those guys will obediently follow the rules."

To make it easier to read next time, you can click "Add to Favorites" below to save this reading progress (Chapter 670, 658. Situation of All Parties). You can then find it next time you open your bookshelf!

If you enjoy *The Dream of the Mist*, please recommend it to your friends (via QQ, blog, WeChat, etc.). Thank you for your support!

------------

659. The looming shadow

"!"

Chen Tian's pupils twitched slightly, his heart filled with complex emotions. First of all, the Swelling Woman had definitely seen through his true identity; there was no doubt about that. However... she didn't seem to intend to tell anyone. Generally speaking, her words were likely credible, but it wasn't impossible that she would give Chen Tian such a stern guarantee while simultaneously spreading the news far and wide once she returned. In fact, both possibilities were quite high—after all, she was, after all, a Nyarlathotep.

He didn't answer the swollen woman's question. Only now did Chen Tian realize what had happened—it wasn't that the other party was entirely certain; something in his clever but misguided answer had definitely given him away. The more he said, the more mistakes he made; any further and she might have changed her mind and decided to kill him right there.

Chen Tian simply shut up and remained silent, focusing his attention on his own thoughts.

Seeing this, the swollen woman chuckled softly, stopped in front of Chen Tian, ​​and gently slipped the watch back onto his wrist. At the same time, she said softly, "I'll help you cover up the flaws you've shown from the beginning until now—there's no need to trouble Rayle or Renault. After all, they've endured so much humiliation and barely survived until now for that scheme, haven't they? We can't let them sacrifice all that preparation they've put on before it even begins, just to save you?"

"!!"

Chen Tian wasn't shocked that the swollen woman could commit such an act of treachery; what surprised him was that she had known about Reeve's, and even Renault's, scheme all along... Even Chen Tian himself, whose memories hadn't fully returned, was completely unaware of it, yet this so-called plan had already been leaked...

"Alright. I should probably go now—I can't linger here too long, or I'll be breaking the rules—although coming to see you privately is already against the rules. But as long as I don't get caught, it'll be fine...probably."

The swollen woman took two steps back, her figure gradually blurring and fading away: "Anyway, keep it up! Add more variables to this new game and bring us more joy!"

Chen Tian gritted his teeth in anger, but could only sigh in despair. Indeed, he had been far too lacking in vigilance since his resurrection. When he first woke up, he had almost no memories left, so it was normal for him to be unguarded at that time. However, as his memories slowly returned, his vigilance did not increase. Moreover, because he had repeatedly mentioned self-destruction in the main world without attracting those beings, he couldn't help but have the illusion that the enemy was in the open while he was in the dark...

But in the end... he's nothing more than a remnant of the old era. Even if he manages to survive, he can only repeat the same mistakes. Given how utterly defeated he was in the past, what way can he possibly salvage this even more hopeless situation? Is he supposed to pin his hopes on the other side's restraint? Like slaves in a gladiatorial arena, struggling desperately to win, only to beg the masters to abide by the rules and release them in the end?

Although these "gentlemen" will most likely keep their word this time, once is never enough; there will be a next time. In fact, their fate is still in the hands of those who exist.

Chen Tian retreated into the depths of her consciousness and began to withdraw into herself. Chen Tian had no choice but to take over—how could she, an ordinary little girl, have run into such a mess?