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

Zhou Ke'er naturally didn't hide anything, and spoke directly as she walked towards Qiao Lunuo.

Qiao Lunuo gave Zhou Ke'er a deep look and nodded: "I understand."

As the two slowly descended the steps, another soft rumbling sound followed, and the entrance on the ground automatically closed. The automatic sensor lights on both sides of the steps were also turned on one by one, illuminating the path below.

But an accident happened soon afterward.

Just like in a horror movie, when Zhou Ke'er and her companion had only gone halfway, the automatic sensor lights below seemed to break down and stopped turning on. Only the faint light behind them illuminated the area ahead, but it was very blurry.

Unable to resist shrugging, Zhou Ke'er said softly, "I'm not exaggerating, but it seems like you've encountered a... uh, a small problem? Maybe it's a big one."

Qiao Lunuo pursed her lips and didn't say anything. Her expression became serious. She simply took out a small flashlight from her coat pocket and shone it downwards.

Unfortunately, the light was too dim, and one could only barely see what was happening within a few steps.

Zhou Ke'er wanted to remind her that they could use their abilities, and emitting light was just a simple matter—but after thinking about it, he decided not to say anything. Oh well, as long as Qiao Lunuo is happy.

Anyway, Zhou Ke'er can see things clearly in the dark without light, so it's not a difficult thing for him.

As can be seen, at the very bottom of this staircase, at the entrance to the corridor leading deeper inside, there is a sign that emits a faint green light, which looks rather eerie in such a dark environment.

Zhou Ke'er and her companion walked silently and quickly down the stairs, heading into the corridor.

The air underground was thin, almost solidified, and the temperature control system seemed to be malfunctioning, making the surroundings excessively hot. Beads of sweat involuntarily appeared on Giorno's forehead and neck.

Soon, the two saw two staff members, dressed in the same style of clothing as Qiao Lunuo, lying on the ground at the corner ahead, their fate unknown.

I don't know if they were trying to escape from inside and unfortunately collapsed here, or if they were reinforcements coming from outside and were stopped here.

Zhou Ke'er and her companion cautiously approached to investigate. They found that the two people had their eyes open, their faces beaming with jubilation, almost maniacal joy, but their eyes revealed confusion and fear.

And he had already stopped breathing.

Zhou Ke'er glanced at the nameplates hanging on the chests of the two men: Qiao Sitong and Qiao Bada. They seemed to be brothers.

Zhou Ke'er didn't look at them anymore, but turned to look at Qiao Lunuo, whose face was ashen, and said softly, "It seems you're in big trouble... If you can do this much, then this is no ordinary crisis."

Qiao Lunuo stared at Zhou Ke'er, her lips pressed tightly together.

"It's a good thing I came with you, otherwise you probably would have died here too. Alright, let's continue digging deeper and see what's going on."

Zhou Ke'er stood up, patted her clothes, and said softly—it wasn't that she wanted to be a good person and insist on helping Qiao Lunuo solve her problem, but it was obvious that Zhijiansha had been brought here as well. Although it seemed that his chances of survival were slim, Zhou Ke'er still had to go and see if there was any hope of saving him.

Qiao Lunuo reached out and closed the eyes of the two men, her face grim, gritting her teeth, she stood up and continued to venture deeper.

What she didn't see was that after the two passed by, the eyes of the two corpses, which she had closed, opened again as if they had died with their eyes open in disbelief.

Zhou Ke'er tried to release her evil energy to survey the surrounding area, but unfortunately, the building materials of this underground structure seemed to have the property of isolating evil energy, so even Zhou Ke'er's evil energy could not spread too far.

Having such good materials is a good thing; it can prevent evil from invading from the outside, and in case of a major outbreak of evil outside, this place can serve as a safe house. But the problem is, if the evil erupts from inside... then it's as if the evil is locked inside. I don't need to elaborate on how concentrated it would have to be, right?

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693. Games Invading Reality

Zhou Ke'er and Qiao Lunuo walked forward in silence. The lights at the top of the corridor flickered and shone, as if a musty and evil aura was emanating from the darkness.

No other victims have been seen yet, but this is clearly not something to be thankful for—it may mean that, rather than the entire base dying, they are more likely to encounter a large group of monsters who have been corrupted by evil and are now lurking in the shadows, eyeing them with hostility.

Those who lost their minds were likely people they knew before. Especially for Joluno, everyone in this base was her colleague.

Most importantly, the situation here is undoubtedly related to the game "Dream of the Mist." If something like this has happened even in this secret department, one can only imagine what kind of situations might occur around the world.

The final mission of the event? That so-called final stage of the main storyline doesn't even qualify as a final mission—we're only just entering the main story now. Considering the process of reality being assimilated by the game...

"Is there any kind of safe house or shelter in this base? If there are any survivors left, they can most likely only be found in those places."

Zhou Ke'er slowly opened her mouth and asked Qiao Lunuo, "You should be familiar with the terrain here, right? Don't tell me we've been wandering around aimlessly so far."

Qiao Lunuo seemed to snap out of her daze, pausing for a moment upon hearing Zhou Ke'er's words before replying, "Of course, of course... I can't possibly be unfamiliar with the terrain here. However, if there's any place that might still be safe—it would only be the interrogation room or the containment facility. If there are any survivors who could lock themselves inside."

Zhou Ke'er nodded slightly, but a hint of doubt was in her eyes—Qiao Lunuo seemed too dazed. Logically speaking, she was a manager-level person, so how could she be so mentally fragile?

From the moment she started, Qiao Lunuo seemed lost in thought, easily startled. One moment she would suddenly turn around as if someone was running past her—but this was a straight corridor, how could that possibly happen! The next moment she would suddenly stop, even taking a small step back, as if something was rushing towards her.

—Could she be hallucinating?

Zhou Ke'er, who could only see the lights flashing, couldn't comprehend what Qiao Lunuo was going through. After all, most of the evil influences applied to him were weakened, and if the evil influences were of a low rank, they would even be completely blocked, creating immunity.

Anyway, there's no scary atmosphere at all.

That being the case...

Zhou Ke'er reached out and grabbed Qiao Lunuo's shoulder. Seeing her turn around in surprise, she shook her head at her, reached out and gently touched her eyelids, channeling her malevolence onto them, constructing a connected malevolent circuit, "Giving you and me our eyes."

A slightly unorthodox trick, essentially sharing vision.

By using Zhou Ke'er's vision to cover Qiao Lunuo's own vision, she wouldn't be able to see any illusions.

Qiao Lunuo was stunned for a moment, her eyes widening in surprise—everything around her that had been bothering her had vanished in an instant.

Zhou Ke'er shook her head: "It's just an illusion. It's only good for bullying ordinary people. It seems that the newly spawned monsters here aren't too strong. Let's finish this quickly so that it doesn't drag on too long and cause them to advance."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er tilted her head, dodging an invisible attack—something like a transparent whip or arrow. Although invisible to the naked eye, anyone with the ability to sense evil would find this so-called "invisibility" impossible to hide from.

The attack was dodged, landing on the wall of the corridor behind, making a sickening scraping sound.

However, when faced with the sneak attacks, Giorno began to display some of the qualities of a so-called manager-level person. She was no longer startled or confused as before, but immediately responded—for example, by instantly deploying some kind of energy shield, her eyes flashing white light as if possessed by some kind of spirit, and instantly locking onto the location of the monster that launched the attack.

Judging from the looks of it, even without Zhou Ke'er here, Qiao Lunuo, who was caught off guard by the invisible attack, should be able to resolve the situation easily now. After all, she's a supervisor; it's normal for her to have this level of strength.

The monster seemed to sense the danger and didn't linger for even a second before turning tail and running away without hesitation.

Zhou Ke'er didn't rush to stop it. After exchanging a glance with Qiao Lunuo, she quickened her pace and followed behind it. The direction the monster was running in was obviously purposeful. If they followed it and then searched around, they might be able to find other monsters or even survivors.

Qiao Lunuo lowered her voice and said in an extremely low voice, "This is the way to the interrogation room. This guy is probably one of the players who was brought here, and he has fallen into the trap of becoming a monster in such a short time."

Zhou Ke'er nodded silently, then waved her hand, covering herself and Qiao Lunuo with a layer of malevolent energy, blending them into the malevolent energy of the surrounding environment. In this way, Zhou Ke'er and Qiao Lunuo became completely invisible in the sight of the malevolent creations.

The two quickened their pace and soon arrived near the interrogation room. Before they could search it thoroughly, they heard a loud bang, as if someone had lifted a table or chair and slammed it to the ground.

Upon hearing the noise, Zhou Ke'er rushed over immediately. The door to the interrogation room where the noise came from was not closed, but slightly ajar. Zhou Ke'er stood at the door, holding her breath and peering inside through the crack.

Several employees dressed similarly to Qiao Lunuo lay on the ground, their bodies bound with ropes, their fates unknown, and were left lying to one side.

The remaining seven or eight ordinary people huddled together, cautiously watching the monster in front of them who was unleashing a furious rage—Finger Sand was among them, struggling to use the spiritual energy shield that Zhou Ke'er had taught her, the most basic skill of using spiritual energy.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

The enraged monster slammed the chair down hard on the spiritual energy shield, creating a loud bang. The shield trembled slightly, as if it were about to collapse.

The monster could barely maintain its human form, but its face was completely blurred by black mist, and only its scarlet eyes could be seen. Its entire body was also unnaturally swelling or twisting.

It roared at the sand between its fingers in frustration: "Why! What's wrong with me? You said you don't like social occasions, fine, I came to see you alone, but you wouldn't see me; you said you like playing games, fine, I'll play that game too and come to see you, but you wouldn't come with me, what do you want from me?! You went to the Zhou family for a blind date before, right? You seemed to have a great time talking? What's so good about that guy! What do I lack compared to him?"

Zhou Ke'er blinked in bewilderment—goodness, it wasn't some evil spirit causing trouble after all, just a simp throwing a tantrum. Oh well, let's all go home now.

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694. Excellent acting, terrible script.

"No way, are you crazy? What does this have to do with me? I didn't ask you to do this or that, and I already told you not to do it! I've said before that we're not a good match!"

Fingers Sand said angrily, "Anyone would be in a bad mood if they encountered such a strange situation. If Zhou Ke'er hadn't taught her a little trick before, she might have been picked up and turned into a firearm by now."

Zhou Ke'er, who was spying outside, narrowed her eyes and then glanced at Qiao Lunuo without making a sound, only to meet her gaze.

Qiao Lunuo's pupils contracted sharply involuntarily, but her expression remained unchanged, and she naturally showed a look of confusion.

"Tsk."

Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips; in that instant, she finally understood exactly where the unease lay.

He was too lazy to play any more games with Qiao Lunuo, so he simply pushed the door open and entered. Under the astonished gazes of everyone in the room, he slapped the guy hard on the ground from a distance, sighed, and looked helplessly at Qiao Lunuo: "Why bother? You brought me all this way just to put on a show for me?"

Honestly, Zhou Ke'er found her observation skills had become dulled. She should have noticed things much earlier, but it took her so long to see the truth. However, she had to admit, Qiao Lunuo's acting was truly excellent—Zhou Ke'er hadn't suspected her much along the way, until just now.

This whole thing is riddled with small flaws from beginning to end, and the biggest problem is what Zhou Ke'er just witnessed: a mere monster whose attack could be blocked by someone who has only been training for a few days was actually used as an actor to destroy the organization's base? That's far too hasty...

She had a slight suspicion that the guy was just a sycophant and hadn't used his full strength, so Zhou Ke'er slapped him herself to test it out. Sure enough, he turned out to be a complete weakling.

Now I completely understand—if something like this could destroy a secret department's base, then that secret department is just too outrageous.

It was obvious that the two staff members lying on the floor as soon as they came in were also faking their deaths. After all, Qiao Lunuo had immediately judged them upon seeing them, and Zhou Ke'er hadn't thought Qiao Lunuo would lie to him, so he hadn't checked more carefully. He scanned them and found that they indeed had no breathing or heartbeat, so he believed it. But now, thinking about it…

Thinking about it this way, the sudden attack she encountered in the corridor just now was definitely not released by this guy. The difference in power was too great. Zhou Ke'er needed to tilt her head to dodge an attack of that level. If it were this guy, Zhou Ke'er could just stand here and let it hit her.

That means it's very likely that the invisible attack was carried out by Giorno, who was standing nearby, and that leading him here was also her purpose.

When Zhijiansha saw Zhou Ke'er suddenly appear to save the day, she stared in surprise. She was about to call out to him, but when she saw him turn around and say something inexplicable, she wisely shut her mouth and didn't say anything.

Qiao Lunuo's previously expressive face vanished instantly, leaving only a distant, professional smile as she slowly strolled in: "What do you mean by that? Acting or something..."

"I don't want to argue with you about this, and I won't ask you beforehand why you did it—you'll always tell me anyway. I just want to know..."

Zhou Ke'er raised an index finger and squinted her eyes: "Was this planned from the beginning, or was it a spur-of-the-moment decision?"

Qiao Lunuo tilted her head, still smiling, and remained silent for a moment: "I planned to do this from the beginning."

"Tsk!"

Zhou Ke'er pouted unhappily. This just meant that... when they were at Zhou Ke'er's house, Qiao Lunuo was completely unmoved, watching Zhou Ke'er talk to herself like she was watching an idiot, and she even put on an act, which was quite lifelike, as if she had really been persuaded by Zhou Ke'er.

Damn, just think about it. If the person who heard Zhou Ke'er's words back then really believed them and actually acted like Qiao Lunuo did, then those words were philosophical. But if they didn't believe them at all and just listened to them like they were coaxing a child, and even role-played to cooperate with Zhou Ke'er—damn, stop thinking about it. Zhou Ke'er was already so embarrassed that she started digging her toes into the ground.

Seeing that the act was going nowhere, Qiao Lunuo snapped her fingers, and a device on the ceiling of the room was activated, emitting a slight, exhaust-like sound. The dense, eerie atmosphere that filled the room was quickly drawn in, suggesting that other parts of the base had likely activated the same device.

This is also a point of incongruity—as soon as Zhou Ke'er entered, she noticed that although the evil in the base was very strong, it was superficial and did not have any sense of settling down. Obviously, this state had not lasted for long, but had only recently occurred—but she subconsciously assumed that the cause of this situation was caused by the game, so she did not give it much thought.

Looking back now, Zhou Ke'er wasn't vigilant enough.

"It's just a small gift. Look, I had all my supervisor's staff put on a show for you to welcome you. Doesn't that show how much we value you? Besides—it's quite interesting, isn't it?"

Qiao Lunuo shrugged and casually tapped the light switch on the wall, instantly stopping the flickering light. She gestured towards the table and chairs nearby: "Please sit down."

"You said you took it so seriously, but in the end you treated me to an interrogation room?"

Zhou Ke'er gave a forced smile, first glancing at the sand between her fingers to confirm that she was indeed alright, then nodded to her before leisurely walking to a chair and sitting down.

"Sigh, in the original script, there was a scene where we escaped to the meeting room after this. It's a pity you finished the scene early, so there's nothing we can do. The set over there will take some time to set up and clean up, so we'll just have to make do and entertain you here for now."

Qiao Lunuo gave a very superficial apologetic look, her face still bearing a formulaic smile.

Zhou Ke'er frowned, waved her hand, and lifted the monster that had been knocked to the side and was yelling wildly, shoving its head into the vent: "So, this guy isn't one of your actors, is he? The special guest should be?"