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

"Don't be so rough, you'll break the machine."

Qiao Lunuo snapped her fingers, and the monster exploded from the inside. But the flying flesh and blood seemed to be blocked by some barrier, freezing in mid-air. Then it gathered into a ball, turning into a small blood-red bead, which gurgled to the ground. "Of course, I just found out that it had fallen into monster form, so I just picked it up and used it. So that's where the problem lies? I should have known better than to be so greedy for such a small convenience."

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695. Purpose

"Squeak, squeak"

With the sound of a door being pushed open, Qiao Sitong and Qiao Bada, who had been lying on the ground pretending to be dead not long ago, walked in. After nodding to Qiao Lunuo, they walked up to the people who had been passively playing extras and were still confused about the situation, and gestured for them to follow them out first.

Zhijiansha turned her gaze to Zhou Ke'er, only to see Zhou Ke'er nod at her. So she didn't say anything more and obediently followed Qiao Sitong and the other person out.

Soon, only Zhou Ke'er and Qiao Lunuo remained in the interrogation room.

Zhou Ke'er leaned forward slightly, placed her hands on the table, crossed them to support her head, and struck a pose reminiscent of Commander Ikari's classic pose. "Alright, now just say what you want to say."

Qiao Lunuo tilted her head, looking thoughtful. "Oh dear, don't be in such a hurry. I've already said that bringing all of you involved in that game here was an order from above. I don't know what they're up to. As for that scene just now, it was just a sudden idea I had after seeing you. It didn't have any particular purpose—instead, why don't you ask me something?"

Zhou Ke'er pondered for a moment, then nodded and asked earnestly, "Then... have you ever been kicked by the hind legs of a furry creature?"

"?"

Qiao Lunuo was taken aback, not understanding what Zhou Ke'er was asking. After hesitating for a moment, she tentatively replied, "Uh...no? --Wait, you're not saying you're about to get pregnant, are you?"

"How could that be!"

Zhou Ke'er denied it righteously and firmly, then continued to ask, "Have you ever eaten a watermelon salad burger?"

"..."

Qiao Lunuo finally understood that Zhou Ke'er didn't want to ask any questions at all. She was just rambling on here to force her to say what she wanted to say.

One is that you have to ask someone else to tell you, while the other is that someone tells you automatically without you asking—there are subtle differences between the two.

"Ok."

Qiao Lunuo shrugged: "Let's talk openly—I guess the higher-ups ordered you all back because they want you to join our organization. But I don't think you'll join us, so I prepared some reasons in advance—like saying your strength is too great for us to control, so I just staged this whole thing. Although it didn't go all the way, I have a pretty good idea of ​​how strong you are at least."

Zhou Ke'er nodded. Qiao Lunuo hadn't made any mistakes in this regard, after all, he really didn't want to join another random organization. Renault's side, the Exorcists' side, the Great Being's side, and the others around him—these were already troublesome enough; Zhou Ke'er didn't want to create any more trouble for herself.

"Then why are you keeping me here? It doesn't seem necessary to make such a big fuss and set aside an interrogation room for this kind of thing."

Zhou Ke'er raised her eyebrows. "If there's anything else troublesome, just say it all. Stop beating around the bush."

"Alright, since you've already figured it out, I'll just say it directly—actually, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

Qiao Lunuo's expression turned serious: "Although I know it's quite awkward to say this suddenly, especially after what just happened. I understand it's offensive, but confirming your abilities beforehand is a necessary prerequisite—if you can help, I will personally pay the corresponding reward: just ask, even if I can't do it, even if I have to apply to my superiors, I will try my best to meet your needs."

My assessment is...

Zhou Ke'er crossed her legs: "You should tell me what kind of help you need first. If I can do it, it's not hard to help you out and do you a favor. But if I can't, no matter how many benefits you promise me, I still can't do it."

Qiao Lunuo raised an eyebrow and smiled at Zhou Ke'er with an unchanged expression: "If I don't mention the benefits and just ask you to help us first... wouldn't that make me seem too opportunistic, lacking in emotional intelligence, and completely disrespectful to you?"

"Then what you're saying now is quite pragmatic."

Zhou Ke'er smiled and replied to Qiao Lunuo in return.

"Ah, I'm sorry to have shown you the utilitarianism of a typical office worker, but I can't leave gracefully right now." Qiao Lunuo shrugged, feigning helplessness. "Okay, enough chit-chat. Actually, we discovered some time ago that people playing that game were experiencing problems, and some of them had particularly serious issues—perhaps you saw the news recently? Many people inexplicably fell into comas. That's actually related to playing that game."

I then received orders from above to temporarily house the members of our family who had fallen into a coma due to that game here, in an attempt to find a solution—but clearly, there has been no progress so far.”

Zhou Ke'er shook her head: "I don't think there's anything I can do about this. Awakening those who are asleep is really difficult."

But to everyone's surprise, Qiao Lunuo waved her hand and denied it, saying, "No, that's not how it is. That's outdated information. In fact, just two days ago... around the time when your group was passively entered the game, those guys who were originally asleep all woke up. But the problem is—they seemed to have lost their minds after waking up, and became... like they had fallen into a monster, but they hadn't completely mutated. It's hard to say that they were still human. Maybe you'll understand if you take a look."

"Is that so? Take me to see it."

Zhou Ke'er stood up and frowned slightly—this wasn't a mod world in a game, and those people weren't NPCs. You know, quite a few people had fallen into a coma during that time. If they all mutated... that would be a big problem.

Back then, it wasn't just gamers who experienced this; since it was called a "contagious disease," it meant it was infectious. The obvious reason why "Misty Dream" wasn't shut down or banned was because the disease spread too rapidly, and the source couldn't be identified. Even if a few individuals were identified, it was impossible to illogically link them to the game.

At least on the surface.

Seeing that Zhou Ke'er did not refuse, Qiao Lunuo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Without hesitation, she stood up immediately and said, "Come on, I'll take you to where they are being held now. The people above will be here in a few hours. If they can't come up with an effective solution after a discussion, the last resort may be to eliminate them all to prevent the spread of the virus."

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696. ​​Trap

Led by Qiao Lunuo, Zhou Ke'er quickly arrived at the door of another interrogation room.

Qiao Lunuo reached out and grasped the doorknob of the interrogation room, turning to look at Zhou Ke'er: "Do we need to prepare a little more? Or should we just start?"

Zhou Ke'er glanced at Qiao Lunuo subtly, her eyes revealing a cautious look, but she still nodded without hesitation: "Let's start right away, didn't you say time was tight?"

Qiao Lunuo looked at Zhou Ke'er with a strange look in her eyes, but still had a professional smile on her face. She nodded and said, "You're right."

She then reached out and pushed open the interrogation room door.

Zhou Ke'er stared straight into the scene inside the door without flinching—but he didn't see anyone else, he only saw himself, many, many of himself—the room was filled with countless mirrors, and Zhou Ke'er's image was reflected in the dense array of mirrors in the room.

Almost simultaneously, Giorno shouted, "Target selected, proceed with the arrest immediately!"

Soon, four men and women dressed in suits and ties, similar to office workers, emerged from the shadows. As they walked forward, they made strange hand gestures and muttered incantations.

As the incantation was chanted, countless intangible black threads shot out from the mirror, binding Zhou Ke'er's entire body tightly. Although these black threads were illusory, they had the effect of binding.

Then, a huge, black, withered hand slowly emerged from the mirror, gradually approaching Zhou Ke'er at a slow pace.

Qiao Lunuo looked at Zhou Ke'er, her smile unchanged, but her tone was slightly lower: "I'm sorry, my friend—to be fair, we get along quite well, but this is an order from above, and I have no choice."

“I also feel very sorry, my friend—no, I thought I would have one more friend.”

Zhou Ke'er looked at Qiao Lunuo with pity: "Besides, I just don't understand why you're so sure I've been caught? Do you really think you can catch me with such underhanded tricks? I thought that even if your superiors are all brain-dead, you'd still have a brain—why be hostile to me? It's pointless."

Qiao Lunuo shrugged: "Well, there's nothing I can do about it. Even if they're fat and bloated, just a bunch of incompetent idiots, I still have to obey their orders—that's reality, my friend."

After exchanging a glance with Zhou Ke'er, Qiao Lunuo continued, "Moreover, this is the most radical and powerful measure I can take. Even if I fail to catch you, this attitude is barely enough for me to get by. More importantly, I am just an ordinary and pitiful working-class clerk. You won't cause me any trouble, right? After all, I'm not the mastermind behind it all."

Even though Qiao Lunuo said such outrageous things, the four employees next to her did not object or even offer any reminders. This shows that either they agreed with Qiao Lunuo's statement, or they only worked for Qiao Lunuo and had no other feelings for their boss's boss.

“You’re right—but I thought you were going to threaten me with my friend’s life.”

Zhou Ke'er blinked and said.

"Wouldn't that really be a fight to the death? If it gets to that point, even if I'm just a poor working-class person, I'll obviously be implicated. Besides..."

Qiao Lunuo winked at Zhou Ke'er: "Didn't you already go to rescue her?"

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes: "It seems you're not as drastic as you just said, having taken the most drastic measures—you deliberately let me go?"

Giorno put her right index finger to her lips: "Shh~ Don't say that, I've never done anything like that. It's because you're too strong that I didn't notice you doing these things, which led to the complete failure of the capture plan—right?"

"Heh~"

Zhou Ke'er snapped her fingers, and her body instantly transformed into a cloud of black mist, vanishing from the spot. The black lines that had been binding her fell to the ground as if they had been freed from their restraints.

The slowly extending black hand lost its target and froze in place, not moving any further.

"Supervisor, are we just going to let him go like this? I can't take the blame if we get in trouble with the higher-ups."

One of the four employees looked at Giorno and complained as he retracted the black hand into the mirror, "Summoning this thing is a hassle. If the mission fails, can the higher-ups reimburse the materials?"

Qiao Lunuo lightly tapped the guy's head with her fist: "What are you talking about? What do you mean by letting him go like this? He ran away on his own. Besides—you don't actually think we caught him, do you? The evil spirit attached to me isn't fake. In the situation just now, it wasn't directly triggered, which was already a reciprocal exchange. I don't want to risk my life for those brain-dead guys up there."

The words are divided into two parts.

Meanwhile, Zhou Ke'er had already left the base quickly, carrying the sand between her fingers in one hand.

Earlier, when Qiao Sitong and Qiao Bada led the others out of the interrogation room, Zhou Ke'er had already taken precautions. In the instant she exchanged glances with Zhijiansha, she attached her evil true form to her body, while what remained in place was just a clone.

That's why he was so confident afterwards. And just now, when Qiao Lunuo said, "Didn't you already go to save her?", Zhou Ke'er's true form was leaving this place with the Sand Between Her Fingers.

The most outrageous thing is that outside the base, the car that Qiao Lunuo drove to bring him here is still parked there, with the keys still in the ignition—there is no doubt that Qiao Lunuo had planned to let Zhou Ke'er leave from the very beginning.

As soon as Zhou Ke'er sat down in the driver's seat, she noticed a piece of paper clipped behind the steering wheel. It clearly read: "There's a disposable fake license plate in the trunk, remember to replace it. There are three GPS trackers in the car, their locations are marked for you, remember to throw them away. There's a bug hidden in the steering wheel, but you can break it by pressing the horn a few times."

Good heavens, this couldn't be more obvious!

However, Zhou Ke'er didn't need to go through all that trouble. He only needed to snap his fingers, and a massive amount of evil energy washed over the entire car body, instantly changing the paint job and the license plate number. It also destroyed all the hidden listening devices and tracking devices inside the car.

Zhou Ke'er stepped on the gas and looked back at the sand between her fingers: "Alright, just ask whatever you want to say. I can tell you've been holding back for a while."

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697. Current status

As Zhou Ke'er drove, she answered Zhijiansha's questions. When they reached a point close to the city center, Zhou Ke'er casually parked the car on the side of the road, got out, and gestured for Zhijiansha to get out with her.

Come to think of it, he still doesn't know what Zhijiansha's real name is. But even if he did, he'd probably still call her Zhijiansha, which he's more used to. So he didn't bother asking.

"Where are we going?" Finger Sand asked casually as he got out of the car.

Zhou Ke'er glanced at her: "Restaurant. You haven't eaten for almost two days, aren't you hungry?"

Don't forget, Zhou Ke'er in the real world still has a real body, unlike the monstrous body in the previous module that doesn't need to eat at all.

Finger Sand looked surprised: "That's true, I am indeed very hungry... But is that the main thing to focus on at a time like this?! I thought you would have a safe place to hide... Aren't you afraid they will catch up with you if you eat openly here?"

"Not smart enough, Sand between Fingers, how can you be so not smart enough?"

Zhou Ke'er didn't turn around, but led the way: "First of all, I don't have any place to hide, because with my strength, I don't need to hide from them at all. Secondly, this whole area belongs to the Zhou family, so we can eat here openly and honestly—unless they dare to break the ice and directly attack and destroy this place. Finally... even if they really dare to do that, it's a very simple matter to deal with them."

At this point, Zhou Ke'er paused, turned her head to look at the sand between her fingers, and said meaningfully, "Why do you think I left there? Was I scared? Or was I not strong enough so I had to run away? Obviously neither. Because if I don't leave, their next step is to capture you and use you as a hostage to threaten me. Although it's not a difficult thing to do, it's still a bit troublesome... Okay, we've arrived."

Arriving at the entrance of a lavishly decorated, upscale restaurant, Zhou Ke'er pushed open the door and went straight inside.

Before Zhijiansha could even process Zhou Ke'er's answer, and had just followed him inside, he heard Zhou Ke'er's slightly surprised voice: "Huh? No way? They really dare to do that?"

Startled by what she heard, Zhijiansha instinctively looked inside.

But the huge hotel front desk was completely empty. Even if it wasn't mealtime yet, it was unlikely that all the waiters had deserted.

A faint rustling sound came from the front desk, like something being torn apart, or like something being slowly chewed.

Zhou Ke'er raised her eyebrows slightly and shook her head: "No, it wasn't them. There's a very strong eerie smell—was this place deliberately chosen beforehand, or just a coincidence?"

Hard to say.

Logically speaking—probably no one could have imagined that Zhou Ke'er's first thing to do after leaving that base would be to come here for a meal, right? If this could be arranged in advance, it means that someone could have predicted her thoughts even earlier than Zhou Ke'er herself.