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

Zhou Ke'er increased her speed, retorting, "What kind of chance do you want me to have? Do you want me to stay here and try to complete the mission to survive, or do you want me to be considered to have completed the mission and then be sent out?"

"..."

The swollen woman's eyes were cold, and she looked somewhat annoyed. After a moment of silence, she said, "It seems you are determined to do this. I hope you will consider the consequences carefully."

"Wrong! Utterly wrong! I didn't insist on doing that!"

Zhou Ke'er immediately retorted, "I've already said it outright: if you could just consider our mission complete and let us out alive, I would definitely switch sides immediately. But the problem is you're unwilling. How can it be that I insisted on doing this? It's clearly you who insisted that we do this! So you're the one who caused this result, not us!"

"Of course I can let you out, but only if you kill her!"

The swollen woman roared angrily.

"Your Excellency, the Swelling Lady, you're spouting nonsense again!"

Zhou Ke'er pouted and plunged into Dragon's Rest Valley, but her voice carried through the entire thing: "Isn't this still about us completing a mission? Think about it yourself, one side lets us get out directly, while the other side makes us do dangerous things to get out—can't you make a comparison?"

All I can say is that this swollen woman was really tricked by the rules, and she was really bad at making threats. Her threats didn't hit the mark at all. If she had said something like, "If you leave, all the other players will die," then at least the nice guy Zhang He would have been kept, and Long Aotian might have hesitated because of the guild.

Although such words probably wouldn't have much effect on the other scumbags in Zhou Ke'er's team.

"Tsk, that guy Finger Sand really needs to lose weight!"

Carrying the unconscious Zhijiansha, Zhou Ke'er didn't feel any oppressive weight, but she still couldn't help but complain a few times.

As for the overwhelming number of monsters summoned, they looked terrifying and deterred people, but with Qiao Yixia leading the way, these monsters posed no threat to her at all—in fact, the strength ceiling in this mod world is not high.

Furthermore, Zhou Ke'er and her companions didn't necessarily need to kill the attacking monsters; they only needed to bypass them and continue their escape. The swollen woman could only watch them rage helplessly, unable to do anything, so their escape was quite smooth.

However… Zhou Ke'er remembered that Mingmengjing seemed to be in this central continent region as well, but she hadn't been able to get here yet, so it seemed hopeless.

It's a pity. Let's see if we can use external means to save them after we go out. If we really can't save them, there's nothing we can do.

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688. Experiencing Grace

Everyone leaped into the crack that Renault had opened, and their figures vanished instantly within it.

Zhou Ke'er stopped in her tracks.

He turned around, and the attacks of several monsters were already rapidly closing in on him.

But then it came to a sudden halt.

Zhou Ke'er revealed an expression of certainty and slowly walked towards the outside of Dragon Sleep Valley.

Perhaps realizing there was no need to continue maintaining it, the black mist within the canyon dissipated in an extremely brief moment.

The swollen woman floated in mid-air, still covering her mouth with her fan, squinting as she watched Zhou Ke'er with great interest.

Sure enough, the moment the swollen woman appeared, Zhou Ke'er felt a strong sense of unease—this guy was definitely letting them leave on purpose, and he clearly had ulterior motives for doing so.

While the rules they themselves establish may somewhat restrain their behavior, they can't possibly make them appear so pathetic and defeated. Overacting only makes things more unsettling.

The swollen woman looked at Zhou Ke'er, her tone both cold and seductive: "Only now do you think of begging for mercy? That's too late—why don't you leave here with them?"

Unable to grasp the other party's unpredictable personality, Zhou Ke'er could only stubbornly say, "I'm quite interesting, so can we talk frankly? I know you deliberately let us leave here. And it seems you don't really want all the remaining players in this area to die—so I want to know what your purpose is in doing this."

“You are indeed very interesting, but…”

The swollen woman's tone grew increasingly chilling: "Are you asking me a question? Or are you begging me?"

Zhou Ke'er looked at the other person with her head held high and spoke sternly and solemnly: "No, I'm begging you!"

Clearly, Zhou Ke'er has completely lost all sense of shame—what is face anyway?

"Pfft..."

The swollen woman finally couldn't help but smile, chuckling softly, "No wonder Nyaruko was interested in you and even gave you a special blessing. I understand now—you are indeed quite interesting."

Zhou Ke'er stared straight at the other person without saying a word, simply waiting for her to continue speaking.

"Actually, it wouldn't hurt to tell you, since everything has already been settled—it would be rather pointless if no one knew about some things."

The swollen woman floated down from mid-air, landing gently on the ground, and slowly walked towards Zhou Ke'er. "This so-called event wasn't originally intended to immediately test you players. That's quite obvious, isn't it? How long have you been playing the game? You haven't even mastered much power yet—we've seen far too many ants struggling in the long, endless years. It was quite interesting at first, but it's become increasingly boring. So, the purpose of this 'event' is actually to lure the snakes out of their holes, thereby unfolding the next plan."

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Zhou Ke'er's mind, and her eyes widened: "The next plan... could it be that the game world is going to erode reality and eventually achieve isomorphism? So we must rely on... their hands to forcibly break open an entrance linking the game and the outside world?! So even though that guy said this rift will close soon, you're not actually going to let it close for the time being, right!"

The swollen woman walked up to Zhou Ke'er and looked her up and down: "Your thinking is quite agile. You can deduce things directly even with so many missing clues—no wonder you've received Tavel's knowledge. That's right, your analysis is completely correct—I will send all the players out through this exit from now on, so that they will retain their abilities from the game mode. The erosion of reality will then begin to spread from them."

"But why do we need their help? They can open spatial passages, so there's no way you can't do it too?"

Zhou Ke'er frowned and asked, clearly puzzled.

The swollen woman replied confidently, "Because this was just my own plan—this task was originally assigned to me, but opening a spatial passage is just too troublesome and laborious. Since someone else can be used, why not save some effort?"

Feeling the gaze of the swollen woman fixed on him, Zhou Ke'er didn't press the matter further. Instead, she abruptly changed the subject: "Playing games voluntarily and being forced to play games are very different experiences for players. Players who have reservations are destined not to be interesting players."

"But the very act of forcing players to play games is somewhat interesting—at least for now."

The swollen woman was still scrutinizing Zhou Ke'er from head to toe: "As for what happens next... how do you know they won't go to play willingly? They definitely will."

Of course, this is obvious—if you can gain supernatural powers by playing games, why wouldn't anyone play? Even if some people are wary at first, once everyone around them joins in and they become the odd ones out… then they have no choice but to join voluntarily.

Damn, even playing games has to be so competitive!

"By the way, you call this... 'evil'?"

The swollen woman toyed with the black mist swirling in her hand: "I must say, your understanding of it is still far too superficial. Perhaps those lurking in the shadows have a deeper understanding, but they haven't told you—probably because they're afraid you won't be able to resist its allure."

"Varied……"

Zhou Ke'er's eyes flashed wildly, and she instantly sensed something was wrong.

"However, you humans are always unwilling to admit it unless you've experienced it yourself—in that case, why don't you come and experience it firsthand?"

The swollen woman gently touched Zhou Ke'er's forehead with her left fingertip, her eyes slightly narrowed: "Feel the grace."

In that instant, Zhou Ke'er's brain, which was already nonexistent in her body, seemed to have been evaporated again, and she reached an extreme of comfort, as if she had ascended to heaven.

He felt as if he were in an endless universe, with the strings of reason that bound him snapping one by one—much like the state of ethereal bliss described in Buddhist scriptures. The numbers in his right eye jumped wildly, eventually turning into a jumble of gibberish.

That's great! Zhou Ke'er is gradually understanding everything!

This is amazing! ...

The swollen woman looked at the stunned Zhou Ke'er with satisfaction, as if she were carefully examining one of her outstanding works.

But in the next moment, Zhou Ke'er suddenly reached out and grabbed the swollen woman's shoulder.

"?!"

The swollen woman's eyes widened—in that instant, amidst the chaotic impact, her essence seemed to resonate with Zhou Ke'er's, and... they exchanged something?!

Are you kidding me? Doesn't this just mean that Zhou Ke'er has already exceeded the safety threshold of her current clone by enduring the chaotic impact?

Absolutely impossible! Even if she's just an avatar of the Bloated Daughter, an avatar of Nyarlathotep's avatar—it's impossible for a human to so easily surpass the threshold! No, I have to call the main body immediately! The main body is still finishing up other module areas; I don't know if it will be able to get here in time…

Zhou Ke'er stared blankly at the swollen woman, tilted her head, and a smile that was hard to describe appeared on her lips: "It's amazing, I'm gradually understanding everything! More, I want more! It's amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing!"

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689. The bizarre is the best!

"Stop right there! I order you to stop!"

The swollen woman's clone was no longer as composed as before. It shrieked as if its fur had been bristled, and even its beautiful face looked ferocious.

She commanded the surrounding monsters to move forward, attempting to stop Zhou Ke'er—not that she didn't want to take matters into her own hands, but Zhou Ke'er was currently in an indescribable state; the evil within him was transforming to a higher level and was constantly connecting with the source that had constructed this clone of hers. If she were to abruptly sever the connection from within, it would cause immense damage to her clone.

But the monsters were clearly intimidated by Zhou Ke'er in this state, and even under the command of the Swelling Woman, they dared not—or rather, could not—approach.

"Why, why are you making that face? Isn't this the ultimate experience? You're the one who brought this to me, so why aren't you enjoying it?"

A terrifying light flashed in Zhou Ke'er's chaotic pupils. She grabbed the swollen woman's arm with her other hand and looked at the swollen woman with a complex expression of pleasure mixed with anger: "Best, the evil one is the best! Best, best, best, best!"

This clone of the Swollen Woman was almost dragged into an equally indescribable situation by Zhou Ke'er, but she was not essentially the Swollen Woman, merely a clone. Unlike Nyarlathotep's clone, which could become a separate individual "Swollen Woman," the Swollen Woman could not do this—that is to say, this clone had drawn upon malevolent energy of a far higher rank than herself, resulting in a backlash.

She was almost in the same situation as Zhou Ke'er, her beautiful face could no longer be maintained, and she even seemed to vaguely reveal the appearance of some kind of huge and bloated monster.

Just then, time seemed to stand still, and a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air beside them.

It is clearly the swollen woman in her true form.

"It's ugly and not very smart either."

She frowned as she examined her clone, carefully appreciating its foolish state. Then, with a look of disgust, she snapped her fingers, and the clone exploded, the flying chunks of flesh quickly vanishing into nothingness.

With everything around her frozen in time, Zhou Ke'er slowly turned her head, her empty gaze fixed on the swollen woman, and a chilling, eerie smile spread across her face.

To be honest, in this scene, who seems more like an indescribable evil? I don't need to say more, right?

"To be able to achieve this level of skill..."

This was something even the Swelling Woman hadn't imagined. She looked at Zhou Ke'er with great interest, her eyes shifting between light and shadow, and secretly speculated: The final research results of the human 'Resurrection Project', the divine status of the native gods of Earth, the 'Seven Secrets of the Earth', the baptism of Azathoth, plus the knowledge gift of Tavel... Oh, unknowingly, so many amazing results have been superimposed on him, no wonder it can produce such an effect.

If we only consider the level of energy essence, without regard to the strength of power, Zhou Ke'er has already reached the level of some minor Great Old Ones.

Unfortunately, his power was still so weak. It could only be said that the stacking of these buffs was only constantly raising the upper limit of Zhou Ke'er's abilities, but at the same time, it did not really improve Zhou Ke'er's strength. Or rather, the strength that was improved was a drop in the ocean compared to the increased upper limit, and was not worth mentioning.

The swollen woman chuckled with satisfaction: "So humans are really interesting. No wonder the original body and Nyarlathotep didn't want to destroy humanity—if they had, we wouldn't be seeing this scene now. Now I agree with their point of view."

"However, it's too early for you to want to return to the Father's embrace—the show has only just begun, and the main actors shouldn't be absent. From now on, you are the one I have chosen, and I bestow upon you the honor of taking the stage. Celebrate!"

The swollen woman snapped her fingers, and Zhou Ke'er, who was trapped in endless blindness and folly, was as if she had been hooked by some hook and instantly pulled out of the chaotic ocean. As if she had surfaced, her reason was able to catch its breath for a while.

Although it is stipulated that an entity can only choose one person, and Nyarlathotep has already chosen Zhou Ke'er—but the swollen woman is essentially "the same entity" as Nyarlathotep, so this is not a violation at all—it's just exploiting a loophole at most.

Zhou Ke'er gradually regained consciousness—very reluctantly—he felt himself being gradually stripped away from that supreme, joyful, ethereal realm, and being dragged back into the entangled, chaotic, and filthy world by something. The contrast was so intense that it almost drove him mad.

Fortunately, as a psychiatrist—although not a particularly specialized one—Zhou Ke'er, having regained her senses, immediately realized that her current mental state was really not right, and quickly and forcefully cut off her lingering attachment to her previous state of mind.

A feeling of weakness, with no strength in her limbs, rushed into her mind. Unable to control herself, Zhou Ke'er's legs buckled and she collapsed to the ground, bending over and retching uncontrollably.

The swollen woman lightly touched the ground with her toes and slowly descended from mid-air, arriving in front of Zhou Ke'er. She bent down, reached out and pinched Zhou Ke'er's chin, lifting his face: "You, you'd better be careful to restrain the evil within you from now on—otherwise it might affect the other humans around you. As for what the consequences will be, I don't need to say more, do I?"

Zhou Ke'er barely opened her eyes, stared at the swollen woman, and struggled to grin, saying, "Okay, then why don't you teach me?"

“Tavel has already taught you, so I don’t need to teach you again. However, since you’ve asked me for help, I might be able to lend you a hand.”

The swollen woman narrowed her eyes, as if chuckling, and lightly touched Zhou Ke'er's brow with her fingertip. Immediately, all the evil energy around Zhou Ke'er seemed to be drawn by some force and sealed into her body. "This restriction can only last for ten days - if you can't learn to perfectly control the evil energy within ten days, then things will be bad."

An irresistible wave of drowsiness washed over her. Zhou Ke'er tried to stay awake, but to no avail, and finally closed her eyes in despair.