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

"Oh? You're here? Have you eaten yet? If not, have some. There's still a lot of food left untouched, don't waste it."

Zhou Ke'er waved to Ming Mengjing and pointed to the food on the table.

Ming Mengjing didn't stand on ceremony with Zhou Ke'er at all. She immediately pulled out a chair and sat down without hesitation. While wiping the chopsticks with a tissue, she said, "Your tricks really worked. The Exorcist Organization actually lifted the warrant for my arrest and even promoted me. I really didn't expect that."

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700. laugh

"Isn't that obvious?"

Zhou Ke'er didn't boast as Ming Mengjing had expected; she simply smiled and replied calmly.

Whether it was Ming Mengjing's imagination or not, for some reason, she always felt that Zhou Ke'er's smile looked a bit eerie—how should she put it, it didn't look like a human smile.

However, Zhou Ke'er's identity in Ming Mengjing's mind was not originally that of a human, but a genuine monster, so she didn't think much about it. After a moment of hesitation, she skipped the matter and began to enjoy her meal.

Zhou Ke'er beckoned with her finger, and a napkin flew off the table and landed in his hand. He gently wiped his mouth, as if deep in thought, his eyes flashing with an uncertain light.

Finally, Zhijiansha couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking about? Why are you laughing so horribly... like a villain plotting some kind of conspiracy."

Hearing this, Zhou Ke'er snapped out of her reverie, smiled lightly, glanced at the sand between her fingers, and said with a flirtatious look, "I thought you should have already decided that I was the villain by now—you can't still think I'm a good person. If you want to be friends with me, you have to be prepared to become the villain yourself."

Unsure what was wrong with Zhou Ke'er, Zhijiansha looked at her suspiciously for a few moments, but couldn't figure out what was wrong—after all, Zhou Ke'er was usually like this, acting strangely from time to time.

But she always felt that Zhou Ke'er's current strange behavior was very different from her usual strange behavior. As for what exactly the difference was, she couldn't put her finger on it.

Indeed, that was the case. Earlier in the game, at the end, Zhou Ke'er, due to the avatar of the Swelling Woman, fell into a mysterious state of "feeling grace," and her influence from the evil spirit deepened.

Although the swollen woman later forcibly pulled him out of that state, the effects were not so easily eliminated.

So compared to the past when Zhou Ke'er would be more restrained and not show everything on her face, now she follows her inner desires and thoughts more, and doesn't care at all what kind of expression she will show.

"Well……"

Zhijiansha shrank back, feeling a chill run down her spine, so she continued eating without saying a word.

After wiping her mouth with a napkin, Ming Mengjing asked, "Speaking of which, what did that ghost come to see you for? Was it trying to recruit you? I thought you ghosts were all in cahoots... So, did you agree?"

Zhou Ke'er raised an index finger and waved it gently. "Of course that's impossible. Although that guy acted like he was in a weak position from beginning to end, and seemed easy to talk to—in the end, these monsters are inhuman. They slaughtered everyone in the shop who hadn't been driven away beforehand, and then put on a very apologetic act. It's really disgusting."

Ming Mengjing raised an eyebrow, inwardly thinking: "You talk as if you have any humanity. Aren't you a monster too?"

At the same time, Zhou Ke'er turned her head and casually reminded Zhijiansha, who was serving soup, "Don't drink that soup. Didn't you see I didn't touch it? It smells too bloody."

At first, Zhijiansha was completely bewildered, but then she immediately connected the dots with what Zhou Ke'er had just said and quickly realized what was going on. She couldn't help but look at the bowl of soup with a horrified gaze and covered her mouth with her hand, almost gagging—thankfully, she hadn't started drinking the soup yet!

Ming Mengjing glanced at the soup Zhou Ke'er mentioned and disgustedly curled her lip: "They really have their style. Sure enough, ghosts can't coexist peacefully with humans. It's better to kill them all."

"You didn't come all this way just to complain about this, did you? Just tell me what's on your mind. I'm already full."

Zhou Ke'er was too lazy to exchange any more pleasantries and immediately asked Ming Mengjing to say something useful.

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point. I've come to you for a few reasons: First, I need to inform you of some news. This is something I heard from the Exorcists organization when I was summoned after returning to reality from the game not long ago. It seems that a large portion of the ruins around the world that originally belonged to the old era have suddenly undergone some kind of mutation, gradually appearing in people's sight without warning. The higher-ups of the Exorcists are unsure what this is all about, so they've decided to temporarily isolate and protect those ruins. And it seems that there are similar ruins in our area as well."

Ming Mengjing nodded and immediately launched into a long speech, but ended with a few simple sentences: "As for the second point, it's very simple—I've come to seek refuge with you! Although the Exorcist Organization's attitude towards me has improved on the surface, it's essentially because of you. I dare not bet that they might decide to become your enemy again one day, and then I would be the first one to be targeted. I don't want that! I've come here to hide; it's safer."

Good heavens, Zhou Ke'er's house has become a hideout for dangerous elements?

To be honest, given the size of Zhou Ke'er's own residence, it's more than enough to use as a small base.

Well, now besides the Exorcists, the Mystery Order established by the ghosts, and the secret department of pure-blooded humans, is there going to be another new organization led by Zhou Ke'er? Is she going to become a fourth force on her own?

It's a hodgepodge.

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but roll her eyes at her own idea. Just as she was about to answer, her communication bracelet suddenly rang.

Zhou Ke'er glanced at it subconsciously; it was an unfamiliar number. Then she looked at the text message sent by the caller: "This is Honghe, answer the phone quickly!"

Ah, Zhou Ke'er did give Honghe her contact information at the end of the module, but he didn't expect her to contact him so quickly. It was a bit unexpected.

Upon answering the call, Zhou Ke'er asked, "Red Crane? Why are you contacting me all of a sudden? What happened?"

Honghe's voice came through the communication bracelet, but her monotone tone clearly carried a hint of impatience: "Yes, that's right—why is that guy you rescued at the end of the module here? It's one thing for him to be here, but he keeps saying I'm Huang Quan, as if he thinks I've lost my memory or something, and he keeps pestering me with nonsensical things. I'm getting so annoyed. You're the one who rescued him, can't you come and deal with him?"

Even the flamingos have been forced to this point, becoming like this, so they are clearly very annoyed.

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701. News

Hearing Honghe's frantic state, Zhou Ke'er found it somewhat amusing, but she didn't choose to provoke Honghe any further. She simply gave her her home address and told her to come directly to him—although Zhou Ke'er couldn't guarantee that she could resolve the situation.

After giving a brief explanation, Zhou Ke'er took Zhijiansha and Mingmengjing back to her home in a swagger. Since her house was big enough and had plenty of empty rooms, she let them choose whichever they wanted.

As for himself, he used his communication bracelet to call Lin Wen, Ming Qingfeng, Hu Tao, and other acquaintances one by one to let them know he was safe and to check if they were alright.

Let's go back a little bit in time.

Just a short while ago, Hu Tao received a call from Zhou Ke'er and breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to check on Zhou Ke'er's situation after get off work.

But when she hung up the phone and looked up, she suddenly realized that the hospital, which had been somewhat deserted before, was now completely empty.

Hu Tao walked through the corridor in confusion, returning to her post to take a look—but there was no one there either. She clearly remembered that before she went out to make the call, the nurses on duty with her were chatting enthusiastically. It didn't make sense that they would have slipped away so quickly in such a short time, after she had only been on the phone for four or five minutes. It couldn't be that bad.

Hu Tao couldn't help but shrink her neck, and for some reason felt a chill.

"What's going on? It's impossible for everyone to skip work like Zhou Ke'er, right?"

Hu Tao muttered to herself, then called out, "Hey? Is anyone home? Where did you all go?"

But no one responded; only her voice echoed in the empty room.

The ceiling light flickered suddenly—although it was still daytime and the surroundings were still clearly visible even if the light went out, Hu Tao couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine for that instant.

"What's going on? This is really weird!"

Hu Tao didn't dare linger and ran downstairs without hesitation, intending to leave the hospital first and deal with things outside.

But then something strange happened—she couldn't find the stairs leading downstairs!

This is simply impossible. After all, she has worked in this building for several years. How could she not even remember where the stairwell is?

Hu Tao staggered back two steps, then quickly continued walking forward, circling the entire floor and checking every door, but still couldn't find any trace of the stairwell.

Hu Tao immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Although it was still daytime and the sun was shining brightly, Hu Tao could not feel any warmth. She felt a chill that penetrated to the bone spreading through her body.

She turned around and quickly went to the glass window on the outside of the corridor. Looking out through the window, she saw that the streets outside were still bustling with traffic, and everything was still peaceful and normal.

Hu Tao's eyes lit up at the sight, and she immediately prepared to open the window and call for help—but when she looked around, she found that... for some reason, the window seemed to be unable to be opened, as the glass was completely embedded in the wall on all sides—this was even more impossible, as Hong He had opened these corridor windows hundreds or even thousands of times over the years and had never seen anything like this before!

Suddenly, Hu Tao noticed that her faint reflection in the glass window seemed to be winking at her and grinning.

This startled her so much that she immediately took a few steps back, but upon closer inspection, she found nothing unusual.

Hu Tao's legs went weak, and she almost fell to the ground unexpectedly. Fortunately, having been a psychiatrist for so many years, she still had the ability to react quickly and wasn't so frightened as to freeze in place by something so small.

She thought for a moment, then turned around, kicked open the fire door on the inner wall of the corridor, took out the fire extinguisher, and smashed it hard against the window.

But the expected sound of shattering glass did not occur; instead, there was a dull thud, as if a fire extinguisher had hit a very tough and solid object.

The fire extinguisher bounced violently to the ground with a loud thud, rolling and rumbling. The sounds echoed in the empty corridor, creating a chaotic cacophony.

Hu Tao now realized something was wrong with the sound—how could the echo in this corridor be so obvious? If that were the case, wouldn't this place become a symphony venue when there were many patients? Logically, a "bang" should be a single "bang," not a continuous "bang bang bang"!

Is this really the same hospital where Walnut used to work?!

Just then, amidst the gradually subsiding echoes, another teeth-grinding scraping sound suddenly broke in, as if someone were scraping the ground heavily with something sharp.

The sound came from the other end of the corridor.

Hu Tao instinctively held her breath, her body remaining motionless, staring intently in the direction from which the sound came.

The ceiling light flickered again.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

It sounded like some liquid was dripping.

But that's nothing compared to the scraping sound.

it is not important.

Hu Tao suddenly felt something drip onto her face.

I subconsciously reached out to wipe it.

Hands covered in scarlet.

So, Hu Tao subconsciously raised her head.

Where lamps used to be, a blood-soaked head is now embedded in the ceiling.

The head was smiling at Hu Tao, and blood was slowly dripping from its seven orifices.

Tick, tick.

"?!?!?!"

Walnut's pupils contracted sharply out of instinct, and her legs convulsed involuntarily, almost causing her to collapse to the ground.

But she still had some courage. She quickly recovered, steadied herself, picked up the fire extinguisher that had rolled to the side, and smashed it hard against the head above her. Without caring whether she hit it or not, she immediately ran in the opposite direction of the scraping sound.

Now she could clearly see that she had encountered a supernatural event!

"屮!"

Unable to suppress a curse, Hu Tao truly couldn't understand how she had encountered such a situation simply by making a phone call. But she didn't have time to dwell on the reason; she quickly activated her communication bracelet, brought up the contact interface, and without hesitation, called the police—wasn't that obvious and the obvious thing to do? If you're in trouble, call the police!

But the problem now is—as expected, according to normal procedures, it's absolutely impossible to make the call!

As expected, communication failed.

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702. Danger!

"Tsk!"

Hu Tao gritted her teeth, first muting the communication bracelet, then stubbornly dialing each contact in the contact list one by one—who knows, maybe one of them would answer?

There was nothing she could do about it. If she could still find a way to the hospital entrance, or if she could still open the window, Hu Tao wouldn't waste her time on something that seemed pointless. But the problem was that she couldn't leave this godforsaken place on her own.