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

In response to Ruomu's question, Zhou Ke'er grabbed Lengchitu's shoulders with both hands, turned her around, and pushed her forward a step: "She is our team's appointed diplomatic spokesperson and mascot. You can ask her any questions you have, and she will answer them to the best of her ability."

Cold-Eat Rabbit was utterly shocked, her face paling from morning till night. She quickly turned around and exclaimed, "When did I become a diplomatic spokesperson again?! How come I didn't know? Wait... you didn't secretly hold a meeting behind my back, did you?! I didn't attend! You assigned me a position without even attending?! I protest!"

"Protest denied. Go and fulfill your duties, Spokesperson Xiao Leng!"

Zhou Ke'er pushed the cold-cooked rabbit forward again, then immediately turned and ran away: "Watch me successfully escape!"

"Impossible! I expected this all along. You can't escape!"

Unexpectedly, the mascot, Cold-Cooked Rabbit, suddenly became smart. Just as Zhou Ke'er reached out to push her, it quickly turned to the side, wrapped its two hands tightly around Zhou Ke'er's outstretched hand, and assumed a posture of overwhelming strength, and began to pull.

"Damn it! You're not Cold-Cooked Rabbit! Cold-Cooked Rabbit isn't that smart. Who are you? How dare you impersonate our mascot! You deserve to die, you deserve to die! I'll cut you in half, slice you open, chop you into pieces! I could kill you a thousand times and it still wouldn't be enough!"

Zhou Ke'er immediately began to struggle and scream. However, Leng Chi Tu was a ruthless person who used the anchor as a weapon. With Zhou Ke'er temporarily deprived of her evil power, if he held on tightly and wouldn't let go, even Zhou Ke'er wouldn't be able to shake off this clingy person.

Cold-cooked Rabbit was no pushover either. It immediately leaped up, wrapped its arms around Zhou Ke'er's arms, and kicked her kidneys with both legs in mid-air: "What nonsense are you spouting! A mascot, huh? Watch me strike your kidneys!"

Zhou Ke'er's eyes widened—what a vicious woman! She actually resorted to such a treacherous and cunning trick!

To avoid damaging her kidneys, Zhou Ke'er had no choice but to quickly bend down and dodge. In a moment of carelessness, she was dragged down to the ground by Leng Chi Tu, and then they engaged in a fierce struggle on the ground that was enough to sweep away the dust.

"Ah, this..."

Controlling the powerful and the ruthless. In just a few short seconds, such an unbelievable thing happened. Ruomu couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead, his smile freezing on his face. He could only turn to Honghe and Zhijiansha, awkwardly laughing, "Ha...haha, you two friends really have a good relationship, hahaha..."

Sand between Fingers stared wide-eyed in terror—"Damn it, you still dare to talk! Stop it! If you can't speak properly, then don't speak! Be careful, or the flamingo might just pull out its scythe and chop you up!"

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811. The Strange Castle (Part 3)

"You two seem to be having a good chat, but I have to interrupt you."

Just then, the player nicknamed "Don't Touch Me"—let's call him "Little Mo" for now—finished searching the lobby and came over. Looking at Red Crane and the others who were still standing there without making any moves, he frowned slightly and said, "First of all, this may not be a good time to chat. If you like chatting, you can add each other as friends and chat to your heart's content after the module ends, instead of wasting time here."

Secondly, the hall was cooling down at an unusually rapid pace, making it feel less like a confined space and more like a cold storage room. And after looking around, the only heating source in the entire hall seemed to be the extinguished fireplace.

"Oh! Okay, okay, look at my bad habit, I forget about the important things as soon as I start chatting. I deserve to be scolded, but it's good that you guys are here."

Upon hearing this, Ruomu quickly put on a humble and fearful expression, as if he were sincerely criticizing himself and praising the other party. In this way, even Xiao Mo could not scold him any further. "Look at him, he's already like this, what else can you scold him for?"

At the same time, Zhong Ming returned, shook his head, and said, "However, although there is a fireplace, we did not find any firewood to burn around it. In fact, there were no remnants of burning inside the fireplace. It was as if it had been cleaned up. Perhaps we should look for other items to burn or other heating devices in other parts of the castle."

"Um... I have a small question."

Mu Mu couldn't help but cautiously raise her hand and ask, "Our main mission is to survive, right? That means some events will definitely happen next, or some monsters will appear. In this situation, wouldn't it be a bit counterproductive to waste time on keeping warm?"

"Hilarious, this guy's so sarcastic."

Cold-cooked Rabbit, who was wrestling with Zhou Ke'er on the ground, subconsciously complained upon hearing the noise, "I can't take it anymore! Hahahaha..." At this moment, LI*nGshUfan*Zhang Si

Looking at these two guys who seemed to have congenital intellectual disabilities, Xiao Mo couldn't help but make the same face as an old man on the subway looking at his phone, but he still patiently answered Mu Mu: "First of all, if we don't find a way to keep warm, let alone wait for that event or the monster to appear, we'll have frozen to death before then. If we had a thermometer, it would show you clearly—I can only say that the temperature is probably close to zero now, and at this rate of cooling... I have no idea what the temperature will be next."

Secondly... is it possible—and I'm only saying one possibility—that keeping warm is the first step in the task of survival?

Realizing she might have made a fool of herself, Mu Mu could only nod awkwardly in agreement, saying nothing more, and then lowered her head...

But the next second, her surprised voice was heard again: "You...you look! Why is the countdown above their heads different from ours? The time above our heads is clearly decreasing at the same rate, but theirs seems to be decreasing more slowly?!"

Everyone looked in the direction Mu Mu pointed, and saw Zhou Ke'er and Leng Chi Tu, two strange creatures, cleaning the ground. Just as Mu Mu had said, the countdown above their heads was decreasing at a slow speed.

"Huh?! It's really true! How did you guys do that?"

Xiao Mo looked slightly surprised and immediately asked, "I clearly only saw you wiping the floor like a rag—is it to generate heat through friction? Is that a way to keep warm?"

Upon hearing this, Ruomu immediately lay down and began rubbing himself on the ground, mimicking Zhou Ke'er and Lengchitu—but the flow of time above his head remained completely unchanged.

Zhong Ming stroked his chin thoughtfully: "Could it be because the friction time wasn't long enough to generate heat?"

Ruomu had no choice but to continue rubbing on the ground, but after rubbing for a minute, there was no effect.

Sand between her fingers glanced cautiously at the flamingos before finally speaking up, "I mean, is it possible—and I mean just one possibility—that they don't keep warm by friction, but rather by... uh... sticking together to keep warm?"

After rubbing against the ground for more than a minute, Ruomu, who was exhausted, immediately got up and exclaimed, "Oh my, this beautiful lady's guess is so likely! Why didn't you say so sooner? My old bones can't withstand this kind of activity."

But Zhou Ke'er, who had already firmly restrained Leng Chi Tu with a rear naked choke, interjected, "You're old enough to be called an old bone? Are you some kind of monster who looks only in his twenties but is actually hundreds of years old?"

Ruomu showed no embarrassment whatsoever, and explained with a smile, "Haha, I'm just old in spirit, not in body. Subjective initiative can act on objective matter, so my old spirit makes me an old man. It makes perfect sense."

Cold-cooked Rabbit's eyes widened, and she quickly patted the ground in surrender, at which point Zhou Ke'er released her. Then, catching her breath, she said, "So this is dialectical materialism fortune-telling, right?"

However, no one paid attention to what Lengchitu said. They only noticed that after Zhou Ke'er and Lengchitu separated, the countdown timer above their heads returned to normal very quickly.

Xiao Mo nodded: "I see, I didn't expect that to be the reason."

Zhou Ke'er dusted off her clothes, stood up, and said, "However, this method can only slow down the decrease in time, not completely stop the countdown. Besides... I think we should have a way to increase the countdown—if this countdown is indeed a death countdown."

"Correct. To the point. Incisive." (Qiang Xi reads Xi)

Honghe continued, "Therefore, based on this, I suggest that our next action be carried out in groups, so as to explore this place to the greatest extent possible while ensuring that the countdown is slowed down."

Mu Mu couldn't help but question, "Split up?! Are you serious? Haven't you ever seen a horror movie? What era are we living in that someone would still suggest splitting up?"

Honghe glanced at her expressionlessly: "Or do you think we can all huddle together like a ball, making it difficult to move around and turning ourselves into extremely conspicuous targets?"

Mu Mu choked on the flamingo, her face flushed red, and she couldn't say a word.

But then Cold-Eating Rabbit spoke up: "Hey? Why do we have to do this? Can't we group up in twos and threes and then act together? Acting together doesn't mean we all have to stick together, that would be too stupid, hahaha."

"Snapped"

Sand slapped itself in the face—oh no, I can't look anymore—what is Cold-Eat Rabbit doing? Why is it suddenly sabotaging me? Why has it suddenly become so smart?! (The last part is a nonsensical string of characters and doesn't translate directly.)

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812. The Strange Castle (Part 4)

In the end, just as Cold-Eating Rabbit had suggested, they huddled together in twos and threes, warming themselves while exploring the area outside the hall.

Originally, Zhijiansha intended to grab Lengchitu and let Honghe and Zhou Ke'er make a fuss over themselves. However, before she could even make a move, Lengchitu, who was completely oblivious to the air, had already jumped onto Zhou Ke'er's back, firmly holding Zhou Ke'er's neck with both hands, and shouted, "Giddy up!"

With no other option, Zhijiansha had to cautiously stay with Honghe, while Mumu, the last female player left alone, could only join Zhijiansha and Honghe. As for the remaining three male players, it was clearly impossible to split them up again.

Zhou Ke'er and Leng Chi Tu fought relentlessly while leading the way.

After creating a slight distance between them, Zhou Ke'er lowered her voice and said in a volume that only he and Leng Chi Tu could hear, "There's a little detail I don't know if you've noticed: in such a cold place, when we talk or breathe, we don't create any white mist. Logically speaking, this is obviously impossible."

Cold Rabbit was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. After all, even she wouldn't act recklessly when she needed to be serious. After thinking for a moment, she quickly replied, "Is it possible that the temperature of this castle is actually not low at all, but our own senses are deceiving us? We fell into an illusion when we entered the castle?"

But Zhou Ke'er quickly denied it: "No, didn't we see it before? There was definitely frost on the castle walls, which means that the low internal temperature isn't a big problem. In other words... could the problem be with us?"

"Haha, it's impossible that we're all dead and can't breathe at all, and that the so-called breath we're manipulating this cold corpse is just air coming out of our mouths without being heated by our bodies, right?"

"Cold-cooked rabbit" replied jokingly.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ke'er did not refute it at all. Instead, she agreed with this extremely absurd and nonsensical conjecture, nodding and saying, "This conjecture makes some sense. I had thought of that just now. For now, there doesn't seem to be any major flaw."

Watching Zhou Ke'er and Lengchitu whispering to each other, Zhijiansha felt the surrounding environment growing colder. She wasn't sure if it was the temperature dropping or if the flamingos were emitting a terrifyingly low pressure. Zhijiansha quickly said, "Speaking of which, isn't this corridor a bit too long? We've been walking for a while now, and we can't see the end at all."

Zhou Ke'er turned her head and said seriously, "You're right, but..."

Zhijiansha thought he had discovered some important information and was about to say something serious, so she quickly nodded and prepared to listen carefully.

But then Zhou Ke'er recited with deep emotion and intonation: "Have you heard the children's cries of anguish?"

The sand between her fingers was shocked and quickly looked around. "??? Nobody's there! Could it be that only you can hear me?!"

Zhou Ke'er didn't answer her, but continued to read with great emotion: "Have you felt the city falling apart? Have you not noticed the conspirators grinning maliciously? Have you ever thought that friends are no longer friends, and homes are no longer homes!"

For a moment, Zhijiansha thought Zhou Ke'er was going to take this module seriously, but it seems she shouldn't have had even the slightest expectation of Zhou Ke'er's seriousness.

"Squeak... squeak..."

Just then, a stiff, teeth-grinding scraping sound and the clanging of metal came from not far ahead, interrupting everyone's conversation.

Everyone was on high alert, and soon, a moving suit of armor appeared before them. Frost filled the openwork seams, and even the patterns on the outer surface of the armor were covered with fluorescent ice crystals.

At this moment, Zhang Si, holding a giant sword that shimmered with blue light in both hands, walked towards the crowd step by step, leaving behind a dull thud. Each step left a very conspicuous shimmering blue mark on the ground, as if the ground turned into ice crystals the moment it touched him.

Seeing this, Xiao Mo grabbed a flowerpot used for decoration from the side of the corridor without hesitation and threw it at the suit of armor from a distance.

However, the armor didn't even try to dodge, and the flowerpot hit it directly—but the moment it touched its body, the flowerpot was immediately covered by a layer of frost, and then, like a shattered ice sculpture, it shattered into pieces.

Fine ice shards flew towards everyone—clearly, the soil and roots in the flowerpot had now been completely transformed into these ice shards.

"Oops..."

Zhou Ke'er looked ahead, but the long corridor behind the armor still seemed endless. If she were to return the way she came, not only would all the distance she had traveled be wasted, but she would also have to walk it all over again—worse still, if she had wasted so much time and still hadn't found a way to warm herself, even if she managed to escape the armor and return to the safe hall, she would still face a slow death.

Therefore, returning here will most likely result in certain death.

Therefore, the flamingo's suggestion at the beginning was indeed reasonable. Although it would be safer to act together, if everyone wasted a lot of time when they encountered a "no way out" situation, it would accelerate the death more quickly and effectively.

"Hold on tight, Uncle's about to speed things up!"

Zhou Ke'er reminded Leng Chi Tu, and without waiting for her to react, she immediately rushed towards the armor.

"Qiangxi" is pronounced "xi". "Oh oh oh oh!"

Cold-cooked Rabbit was startled and almost didn't react. She quickly lowered her head and grabbed Zhou Ke'er's neck, saying, "Don't drag me into this if you're looking for trouble!"

Finger Sand was startled and almost tried to dissuade her, but Red Crane quickly stopped her, shaking her head at her: "Don't disturb him. We can't afford to be distracted at this critical moment, or we'll be finished. By the way, we'd better get ready too—going back the way we came is no longer a realistic option. Only by getting around this guy can we have a chance of survival."

Soon, everyone reached a consensus. Then, Xiao Mo took down the unopened rapier that was hanging on the corridor wall as decoration and threw it at the suit of armor.

"clang!"

Finally, the armored figure swung its greatsword. The slender sword struck the greatsword and instantly turned into a pile of ice shards.

The force of the attack was overwhelming. Fortunately, this resistance created a gap large enough for Zhou Ke'er to pass through.

Without pausing, Zhou Ke'er grabbed the cold rabbit with both hands, pulled it off her back, and threw it forward. She then sprinted forward herself, narrowly escaping to safely reach the back of the armor.

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813. The Strange Castle (Part 5)

but!

If you think Zhou Ke'er just wants to run away simply, you're completely wrong!

"Ah Rabbit, pass the fire!"