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

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes slightly and reached out her right hand to take the sharp thorn.

What the guy in front of her didn't see was that Zhou Ke'er's right palm was covered with a drug that could harm the "eggs".

This was precisely what Zhou Ke'er had planned ahead of time, having taken a few bullets from that gun. Now she applied the medicine from the bullets to her hands, thus making contact with the spike.

Although I don't know if this will work, I can only give it a try.

Trying to spread the medicine evenly on the spike, Zhou Ke'er then stabbed her left hand with the spike.

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757. Sen (twelve)

Zhou Ke'er plunged the spike into her left hand—this was actually quite difficult, since Zhou Ke'er was already rather thin, and now that her body had shrunk, there was practically no flesh on her hand, and you could feel the bone through the skin—meaning that Zhou Ke'er pierced her own hand bone without even blinking.

The extent to which he was ruthless to himself was so astonishing that even the monster in front of Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but gasp slightly.

Most importantly, this behavior wasn't judged as a rule violation. What does this mean? While it ultimately means that doing this wasn't intentionally suicidal, there are several possible reasons for this outcome: First, the action itself might not have resulted in death, so it's not considered suicidal. Second, the player might have been in a situation where they were forced into a situation they couldn't resist; even if other choices existed, being forced to engage in self-harm doesn't necessarily constitute suicide.

If the second possibility applies, it means that the judgment rule is actually quite lenient and intelligent, and then many operations can be carried out.

These thoughts flashed through her mind quickly, but none of them were too important at the moment. So after quickly reaching an uncertain conclusion, Zhou Ke'er stopped thinking about them and focused her attention on her left hand where the spikes had been inserted.

After the sharp spike that pierced the palm was stained with blood, it quickly softened and turned into a viscous liquid that was close to solid. It seemed to move slowly, but in fact it burrowed into the wound very quickly.

Fortunately, Zhou Ke'er's plan may have been successful—because his palm did not instantly turn into a large pool of cystic blisters, nor was it covered by disgusting and twisted cysts.

It could be because the left hand was already severely burned, making it impossible to generate enough tissue fluid to supply the formation of vesicles out of thin air, or it could be because the medication that was secretly applied earlier was working.

In short—nothing too drastic has occurred yet. But this is clearly only temporary; even though various factors have slowed the spread of the infection, it is ultimately irreversible.

At this point, Zhou Ke'er no longer forced herself to endure the pain. She cried out in genuine agony, even lying down on the ground, her body stiffening, her right hand tightly gripping her left wrist, her body trembling slightly—the pain from the severe burns, the pain of the previously unhealed penetrating wound reopening, the pain of the piercing bone in her hand, mixed with the pain seemingly caused by the intense reaction between the medicine and the "egg" inside her palm—once Zhou Ke'er relaxed her resistance and stopped gritting her teeth, her current behavior was simply natural and logical, requiring no acting at all.

Seeing Zhou Ke'er's extremely painful appearance, even the monster that provided the spikes was stunned. It glanced at Zhou Ke'er, then at its own arm, then back at Zhou Ke'er, its eyes widening: "How could this be? This shouldn't be happening! Could I have made a mistake? No, no, no, this can't be..."

Doubting its existence like this—no, strangely enough—it immediately flung out another sharp spike, pinning a nearby survivor who was fleeing for his life to the ground.

Survivor: Cnm, wsm!

The unfortunate survivor, pinned to the ground by spikes, immediately groaned as a large number of cysts rapidly gushed from the wound, spreading along it until they completely covered his body. In the end, his entire body turned into a puddle of mud, unable to maintain its human form, becoming a wriggling mass of "eggs" on the ground.

"???"

The monster was utterly shocked by this sight—it felt numb and disoriented; how could it have suddenly turned into this? Could such a ridiculous thing even exist in this world?

In fact, it genuinely believed that ordinary humans infected by it would become like it—but what it didn't know was that it was initially just a pool of "eggs," only gradually developing a human form and the ability to think through continuous devouring and assimilation. However, its memories only came into being after it gained the ability to think; it was completely unaware of the evolutionary process before that, only naturally remembering the instincts of devouring and infecting.

It looked at Zhou Ke'er, who was lying on the ground crying in pain, and the unfortunate survivor who had turned into a puddle of mud with a puzzled expression, but it did not suspect that Zhou Ke'er had done anything wrong - after all, it saw Zhou Ke'er take the spike and immediately pierce her hand, so there was no chance for her to do anything wrong. Such a thing was impossible, absolutely impossible - could it be because there are differences in the physical constitution between people?

"Um—are you alright? I mean, do you feel like you're melting? You shouldn't, right? I believe you won't be assimilated into a puddle of eggs, hang in there!"

It didn't know what to do. If it pricked Zhou Ke'er with another needle, it was afraid that Zhou Ke'er would turn into a puddle of mud just like that unlucky survivor. So it could only squat down and encourage Zhou Ke'er.

"?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er even paused, her cry of pain momentarily halting. Ah, this... she was completely stumped—she knew this monster was dull, but she hadn't expected it to be this dull.

So this is definitely a doomsday survival mod, and not a joke mod?

But since it's already like this, how could Zhou Ke'er not take advantage of it?

Zhou Ke'er looked heartbroken: "So you yourself weren't sure what would happen if you got stabbed! Where has the trust between people gone, no, between people and you? I trusted you so much, how could you do this to me? How are you going to repay what you owe me here!"

The monster looked at Zhou Ke'er's epileptic-like behavior of frantically pounding her chest with her right hand, and looked away guiltily and awkwardly, but still couldn't help but mutter with some grievance, "How was I supposed to know! I really thought it could become one of my kind."

Zhou Ke'er transforms into Gotham's nightmare: "I finally trusted you once, but you made me lose so completely, hahahahahaha, Chao!"

An awkward silence fell over the scene.

After a long while, before Zhou Ke'er and the monster could break their silence, a violent crashing sound came from the main gate not far away, as if the entire building at the gate had been pushed down and destroyed. The tremors on the ground grew stronger, as if giants were slowly moving forward, leaving craters with every step.

Zhou Ke'er's eyes lit up—the monster he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

The training camp is currently facing one crisis after another. The internal chaos hasn't subsided, and now the main gate has been breached from the outside. The only saving grace is that the monsters inside are probably not allied with those outside. If they can make these two groups fight each other, it might be the best way to keep them all here.

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758. Forest (thirteen)

However, at the same time, the intense sense of crisis that Zhou Ke'er had felt on her way here returned to her heart without warning.

It was as if he were prey to some terrifying monster, and that monster was constantly closing in.

This feeling, which is readily available and easily perceived, is less a result of Zhou Ke'er's own keen sixth sense, but now that I think about it, it is more likely a reaction from the "egg" with low activity hidden in his body.

The cause of that feeling, in retrospect, should be the monster that breached the camp gate—perhaps the monster's initial destination wasn't actually the camp, but merely "Zhou Ke'er."

"Is that thing from outside one of your kind? I think I can 'sense' it—it seems to want to harm us."

Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly, slowly got up from the ground, and asked the monster next to her.

The monster was too preoccupied to investigate what was happening to Zhou Ke'er. It stared in that direction in surprise, saying, "I sensed it too—it's a huge creature. How could it have coalesced into such a massive being? Perhaps it has transcended the category of companions and become something else entirely."

As the monster finished speaking, the enormous entity gradually came into Zhou Ke'er's view.

There were many hideous heads gathered together, forming large and small circles, like blooming flowers on the neck of a huge body, allowing it to see in all directions—the venomous eyes on those heads seemed to be cursing and hating.

Next is the body below. Upon closer inspection, its two thick arms are also made up of countless human hands, like twisted ropes. These hands are twisted and intertwined, tightly pressed together, forming two enormous hands that look not only creepy but also disgusting.

Zhou Ke'er pointed at that thing, then turned to look at the monster beside her: "Are you sure... that thing won't swallow you along with it?"

The monster beside him widened its eyes in surprise upon hearing this, as if it had just realized that such a possibility existed: "Oh right! It's not impossible!"

Just then, the gazes of those countless heads swept across Zhou Ke'er's direction—Zhou Ke'er could feel it, even sense the "touch" of their gazes sweeping over him—and then, the enormous monster suddenly became agitated. The venomous eyes of all the heads on its neck gleamed with malice, and they shouted in unison in hoarse voices, "Traitor! Traitor! You will die too, you will die too!"

The countless sounds intertwined and overlapped, making one's head buzz just by hearing them.

Zhou Ke'er found it strange at first—how did he become a so-called traitor? He had been quite well-behaved in this module and hadn't had a chance to betray anyone.

However, upon closer inspection, Zhou Ke'er noticed something amiss—among the heads resembling wreaths on the necks, many were faces she had met briefly before. Despite only having met them once, Zhou Ke'er's excellent memory allowed her to quickly recall them. Indeed, after a moment's thought, Zhou Ke'er realized that many of the heads belonged to classmates who had ridden the same bus with her at the start of the game.

So that's how it is. They just watched Zhou Ke'er and the others drive away on their own, ignoring their lives and leaving them there to die. Did this cause such intense resentment that they coalesced into this monster to take revenge on Zhou Ke'er and the others?

All the heads turned around, even those on the back of the "wreath," twisting their necks 180 degrees. In short, all the heads stared directly in Zhou Ke'er's direction. Even if they wanted to deceive themselves into thinking that what they had just said wasn't directed at Zhou Ke'er, they couldn't help it. The targeting was just too obvious.

At this moment, the monster beside Zhou Ke'er was terrified and exclaimed in horror, "Wh...what? Why are you staring at me? Traitor? Are you talking about me?! No, that can't be right! We're clearly the same kind of beings, but just because I have more thinking ability and my mimicry is more like a human, you think I'm a traitor and want to kill me?! This is just too much!"

Oh, well, this guy probably thought the monster was talking about a traitor, and that was it.

A glint flashed in Zhou Ke'er's eyes, and she feigned fear, saying, "It came for you? How could this be? Is the attack between its own kind so fierce? And why is it calling you a traitor?"

"I... I don't know either! There's no reason for it! Could it be because my evolutionary level is too high, so that guy who went down the wrong evolutionary path is jealous of me?"

The monster beside Zhou Ke'er was both boasting and completely baffled.

Zhou Ke'er reached out and nudged it: "You, you go ask it! Since it can talk, maybe it can communicate—ask it why it called you a traitor. Is it possible that it's just a misunderstanding?"

"Why shouldn't you go and ask!"

The monster was startled and immediately retorted to Zhou Ke'er—indeed, this guy's mimicry of a human was ridiculously high. If Zhou Ke'er hadn't seen the spikes and cysts appearing on its body just now, she really wouldn't be able to tell that it was a monster just by looking at its current appearance and words.

“I’m not a traitor, I’ve never even seen it—and it’s clearly coming for you, so who else would ask if not you?!”

Zhou Ke'er immediately shifted the blame, saying, "It doesn't matter whose fault it is, as long as it's not Zhou Ke'er's fault, it's fine."

The monster thought Zhou Ke'er's words made a lot of sense and didn't know how to refute them for a moment, so it had no choice but to bite the bullet and shout loudly at the enormous creature: "Hey! The traitor you're talking about... is it me? Why?! Aren't we essentially the same kind of beings?!"

The countless heads still stared in Zhou Ke'er's direction, frantically moving their bodies closer while roaring deafeningly, "Traitor! Traitor! You will become like them too, you will be devoured too!"

"It's over! It really targeted me because I'm different from it, and it really wanted to eat me! How could there be such an anomaly among us? This is so strange!"

The strange physicist beside Zhou Ke'er naturally misunderstood—thinking that the giant monster was referring to it—and immediately turned around and ran away: "No, no—I can't die yet, I have to run!"

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759. Mori (XIV)

Zhou Ke'er hadn't expected this guy to be such a coward, a bully who preys on the weak. But she couldn't just let it get away—firstly, the giant monster's target was Zhou Ke'er, and if it escaped, Zhou Ke'er would be in danger; moreover, even if Zhou Ke'er ran away with it, wouldn't the plan to intercept these monsters here completely fail?

Zhou Ke'er immediately took three steps at a time, running forward and grabbing the guy's wrist tightly with her right hand: "Hey! Why are you running?!"

"What—it wants to eat me! Why don't I run away?"

The monster was shocked that Zhou Ke'er would actually reach out and grab it. It turned its head in horror and looked at Zhou Ke'er with a puzzled expression: "Am I supposed to stay here and wait to be eaten by it?!"

This guy is really a coward. When facing humans, he acts like a mentally ill person who believes in some weird cult, but when facing that giant monster, he's like a small animal that's just been slapped.

Zhou Ke'er shook her head and explained, "Running away won't work! Haven't you noticed that the reason that thing has become this enormous creature is because it keeps devouring others? Once it finishes chasing you and devouring all the other creatures in this place, then you'll truly be trapped with nowhere to run! We might as well take a gamble now and see if we can kill it."

"Ah? Ah!"

The man's eyes widened in surprise, then he glanced at the enormous creature, which was almost as tall as a building. "Are you sure—we can kill that kind of monster?"

"Don't forget, even if it looks vastly different from you now, it's still essentially the same kind. The weaknesses you have, it has too. As the saying goes, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' You know that guy as well as you know yourself, so what are you afraid of?"

Zhou Ke'er held onto the trembling coward who was about to run away, and continued to persuade him: "Besides, we don't need to fight this guy alone! The other people like you in this place can be our partners to fight that monster together."

After hearing Zhou Ke'er's words, whether he was genuinely convinced or, seeing that the enormous creature was already so close and realizing that escape was impossible, the creature stopped struggling: "Well... alright then. But, but what should we do? What are my weaknesses... let me think. Does being afraid of fire count? I think almost all living creatures are afraid of fire, right?"

"That is indeed a solution..."

Zhou Ke'er was speaking when she suddenly took a step back and dodged backward, extending her left hand to her side, her pupils instantly contracting.

Almost simultaneously, a sharp tentacle made of cysts shot out, piercing right through where Zhou Ke'er had been standing, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound on her left hand.

If Zhou Ke'er hadn't dodged in time, she would have been taken out in one fell swoop by this attack.

Moreover... this attack was not caused by that giant monster.

Zhou Ke'er and the guy next to her both instinctively turned their heads to look—and saw a monster with a human-like appearance, but half of its body was extremely shriveled—it was the very monster that Zhou Ke'er had shot and shaken off not long ago!

Unexpectedly, they have relentlessly pursued us, almost causing Zhou Ke'er to suffer a humiliating defeat.

There were "eggs" that instantly adhered to Zhou Ke'er's wound, intending to spread rapidly, but they shriveled up as the blood flowing from Zhou Ke'er's wound passed by, leaving only the "nucleus" inside the cyst covered by a shriveled outer skin.

After all, Zhou Ke'er's hand had just been pierced by a spike covered in medicine, and the effects of the medicine should not have dissipated yet, so she would not be infected immediately.

However, the trigger for further infection has already been left here. Once the drug becomes ineffective, the "eggs" brought from the spikes and the "eggs" that have been scraped off will have a dual effect, and Zhou Ke'er will probably mutate faster than anyone else.

We must act quickly.

"Hey! Why did you attack without any reason? Can't you see who our real enemy is? Why are you fighting amongst yourselves?"