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

At the same time, Honghe turned to look at Ruomu, Xiaomo, and Zhongming, and asked in a completely calm tone, "Are you going to continue working with us?"

Ruomu looked surprised: "Of course! Why do you ask that? Aren't we teammates? Why would you ask such a thing!"

Zhou Ke'er continued, "She asked for your opinions because you might find our next steps unacceptable. So she asked you in advance."

Xiao Mo asked in a deep voice, "Could you tell me what the decision was?"

"Let's leave the castle."

Zhou Ke'er succinctly stated: "When the module is loaded, isn't there an intro CG? Doesn't it show the original location of the camp? We plan to go there."

Xiao Mo initially looked puzzled, but after thinking for a while, she seemed to have a slight understanding. Although there were still some things she didn't understand, she didn't object: "I see... I understand. I have no objection, I'll go with you."

Zhong Ming quickly nodded to indicate that he had no objection.

Ruomu's eyes widened as he glanced at the others in surprise. Although he didn't quite understand why they had to leave the castle, and hadn't even considered the possibility that they could leave, he couldn't just stay here alone since everyone else had made their decisions.

It's better for a group of people to die together than for him to live alone in fear.

"After I say these words, the castle will become intangible, and we can pass through it at will."

Zhou Ke'er seemed to be reciting some proverb, with a solemn and dignified appearance. Then he took the lead and walked straight forward, crashing into the wall in front of him without slowing down. And just as he said, his figure passed right through the wall.

Having already accepted the "words become law" buff that existed in this place, the crowd didn't feel anything was wrong and followed Zhou Ke'er out.

The group then made their way smoothly to the castle hall where they had first appeared. This time, there were no monsters blocking their path, and compared to their initial slow exploration, they were now familiar with the route and quickly returned to their original location.

Zhou Ke'er continued rushing toward the gate without slowing down at all.

The scene that Ruomu had imagined—headbutting the door and falling to the ground—did not happen. Perhaps that would have happened if he had spoken it aloud?

Everyone quickly followed Zhou Ke'er out of the castle—except for Ruomu. Because he didn't believe he could really leave the castle, he did exactly what he thought he would do, slamming his head against the gate until he was dizzy and disoriented.

Fortunately, although he couldn't pass through the wall directly, Xiao Mo reached out and opened the door for Ruomu. Only then did Ruomu sheepishly and cautiously walk out of the castle.

"Once we leave this castle, it will vanish without a trace. Because this castle is completely fake, it's all our illusion. There's actually no flame on my hands, just some snow dust."

Seeing that everyone had come out, Zhou Ke'er continued reciting. As soon as she finished speaking, the castle indeed became illusory and gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.

Seeing this, Xiao Mo finally sorted out the questions that had been lingering in his mind, and a look of sudden realization dawned on him—if this so-called "words becoming law" could even make the castle disappear directly, then it wasn't a phenomenon caused by the castle at all, but rather rooted in this snow mountain… or even in themselves. At this point, his conjecture was beginning to closely approximate the "truth" that Zhou Ke'er had guessed.

Only Cold-Cooked Rabbit was still yelling: "Wow! This castle can just disappear like that? That's outrageous! Are you really sure this is part of the mod's design, and not some kind of skill you already have?!"

"Yes, yes, we all have the same skill except you."

Zhou Ke'er nodded in agreement and echoed her words.

"?! A dog! Take this!"

Cold-cooked rabbit immediately kicked Zhou Ke'er.

Zhou Ke'er dodged to the side, and Leng Chi Tu plunged headfirst into the snow. "You call this a punch, huh?"

"Can't I master both martial arts and footwork?"

Cold-cooked Rabbit took the opportunity to roll a snowball on the ground, talking to distract Zhou Ke'er while seizing the right moment to throw it at him.

Zhou Ke'er nimbly dodged, and the snowball landed squarely on the flamingo's face.

"..."

Everyone fell silent instantly.

Although this had absolutely nothing to do with the sand between her fingers, she was terrified.

The cold-cooked rabbit immediately prostrated itself and begged for mercy.

Flamingo calmly wiped the snow off her face, stared with dead fish eyes, and said in a completely indifferent tone: "Alright, have you had enough fun? If you've had enough, hurry up and leave."

Cold-cooked Rabbit timidly glared at Zhou Ke'er, who was still making faces at her, and shrank behind Red Crane, not daring to speak.

Soon, in complete silence, the group braved the wind and snow to reach the location of the tent featured in the opening CG.

Before anyone else could step forward, Zhou Ke'er immediately said, "Everything we just experienced was an illusion, something we imagined. In fact, our real bodies are still perfectly fine inside. If you don't believe me, dig up the snowdrift that crushed the tent and take a look."

As Zhou Ke'er spoke, she squatted down, picked up the shovel that suddenly appeared in her hand, and began to dig.

Of course, the truth is not as he claims. He said this only to establish an "anchor point" for the fact that "what just happened was an illusion," so that everyone could realize this. And finding one's buried "true self," although still an "illusion," is also a channel to "reality."

In this way, people can achieve the transition between "illusion" and "reality" through this "anchor point".

Soon, as everyone dug out their "selves," the perspective shifted, and they found themselves actually in the spot where their "selves" had been dug out. Looking around, however, there was no sign of them being dug out.

[Hidden quest completed]

Main quest completed.

[Module complete, settling accounts...]

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820. So-called acting skills

Leaving aside Zhou Ke'er and the others who had cleared the module for now, just a little while earlier...

A secluded street next to a residential area in a ghost city.

Inspector Hashimoto, who suffered a gunshot wound to his leg—oh, no, because he was implicated in Sato Nagi's case, he is now suspended from duty and under investigation, so he can no longer be called an inspector.

Hashimoto Toru, leaning on the cane "kindly provided" by the police station, slowly walked towards his residence.

A look of frustration inevitably crossed his face. Although he was all alone and could manage to get by for a while with his savings, he was worried that the suspension and investigation might go on indefinitely, which would be disastrous.

Just as he was deep in thought with a worried expression, his nostrils twitched involuntarily—the smell of blood?

His instincts, honed from years of serving as a patrolman, allowed him to recognize the smell even before he had a chance to process it.

He glanced at his current miserable state and decided to ignore the whole mess, intending to protect himself first and call the police when he reached a safe place. Although this might sound a bit callous, no one could find fault with it, since he had not only stopped what he did but was no longer a member of the police force.

However, although that was exactly what he thought—which was no surprise—his feet did not move backward as he had originally planned. Instead, as if summoned by something, they involuntarily moved slowly toward the direction from which the smell of blood was coming.

Even he himself couldn't understand what was going on; it was as if he were possessed!

When he finally got closer to the location, he found that it was not the dangerous scene he had imagined, but rather a "crime scene"—a woman in a black trench coat was lying in a pool of blood on the ground, and blood was still slowly seeping from the wounds, soaking her clothes. At a glance, her lower abdomen, arms, shoulders and legs seemed to have suffered injuries of varying degrees, and they all looked quite serious.

And this woman...

Of course, it's the clone that Zhou Ke'er created while she was at Sadako's house! After receiving the instructions from Zhou Ke'er, she made a series of preparations and then took action.

(Zhou Ke'er: Has anyone already forgotten about this?)

"?!?!"

Hashimoto Toru was taken aback and instinctively pulled out his phone from his pocket to call the police.

Perhaps because of the panic—guess what—before the phone was even unlocked, her trembling hand accidentally dropped it, and it fell to the ground with a "thud," even rolling twice before landing squarely in a pool of blood.

This couldn't be worse. Even if he's actually innocent, if he reports it to the police, he'll at least be arrested and detained for a few days as a suspect. Who knows what other considerations the police might have? Maybe, to eliminate any future trouble, they'll just conveniently frame him and lock him up?

Hashimoto Toru quickly took a deep breath, adjusted his state, and carefully squatted down. He first reached out to pick up the phone that had fallen into the pool of blood, and at the same time reached out his other hand to feel under Zhou Ke'er's nose.

Thank goodness, he was still breathing! There's still hope!

In short… first, call an ambulance… no! That won't do! If we call an ambulance, with such severe injuries, the police station will find out immediately, and he'll definitely be implicated. But if we don't call an ambulance, judging from the woman's injuries, she's probably going to die…

Hashimoto Tetsu struggled with this decision for a few seconds, but finally gritted his teeth and prepared to call the hospital.

There's no way around it; ignoring someone in distress is just too much...

Unexpectedly, his phone, seemingly due to being soaked in blood, started flashing gibberish on the screen and became completely unusable. In his panic, he pressed a few buttons, and the screen went completely black, becoming unresponsive.

I don't know whether to be anxious or relieved.

Hashimoto Toru did indeed sense a hint of "fortunateness" deep within his heart, but guilt and self-reproach immediately welled up in his mind. He couldn't care less about anything else and immediately squatted down, preparing to carry the woman on his back and slowly move out of the street using his injured leg to ask other passersby for help.

But at that moment, the woman suddenly opened her eyes and even reached out to grab his wrist tightly. In her other hand, a short sword in the shape of a cross appeared out of nowhere and was pointed directly at him.

"Who are you?! What do you want?"

The woman stared warily at Hashimoto Toru and questioned him in a cold voice.

Hashimoto was shocked. He hadn't expected that the woman could remain conscious despite being so badly injured, and that she was even carrying a weapon!

"I...I'm a patrol officer here. I found you lying in a pool of blood while I was on patrol. I was going to call other officers for help, but my phone accidentally fell into the pool of blood and broke, so I could only try to get you out of here first! I absolutely had no bad intentions!"

Hashimoto Toru chose to tell a small lie—after all, an "inspector" is more trustworthy than an "inspector who has been suspended and is under investigation"—and hurriedly explained.

"..."

The woman paused for two seconds, then looked Hashimoto Tetsu up and down, seemingly trying to determine whether he was lying.

Hashimoto Toru couldn't help but swallow hard, feeling a profound sense of oppression.

Fortunately, the woman seemed to believe him, releasing her grip on his wrist and coldly saying, "Thank you. But it's not necessary... You humans can't be of much help."

Upon hearing the woman's words, Hashimoto Toru was startled, his pupils contracted, and he blurted out instinctively, "We humans... are you a demon?!"

The woman struggled to her feet, a look of disgust on her face: "Ghosts? How could you lump me in with that kind of thing?! So you humans are completely useless, you can't even tell the difference..."

Seeing the other person stagger forward, leaving a trail of blood, Hashimoto Tetsuya, with a courage he didn't know where he got the courage, limped after him. "Then... you're neither a ghost nor a human... so what species are you?"

"..."

The woman did not turn around. "I am a messenger sent by the gods to hunt down demons and monsters."

Hashimoto Toru subconsciously thought this was some kind of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) – but looking at the battered woman in front of him, he somehow genuinely felt that what she said seemed to have a certain credibility.

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821. Suspended from duty, then picked up a critically injured goddess.

Watching the woman's retreating figure, Hashimoto Toru simply stood there, saying nothing more.

Whether what she said was true or false, it seemed to prove that the two of them were from different worlds. Perhaps if it weren't for this chance encounter, they would never have crossed paths in their lives. Furthermore, she had already made it clear that she refused his help. He was currently just a suspended inspector, and there was no reason or need for him to pester her for assistance.

With a sigh, Hashimoto Toru turned around, leaning on his cane. Since the other party didn't want him to follow, he would take another route home.

However, the moment he turned around, he saw a strangely shaped figure appear at the street corner ahead, walking very quickly towards him.

Upon closer inspection, the figure, in terms of its physical form, resembled a human, but its head was enveloped in an unknown substance—or perhaps some kind of creature?—forming a spherical shape. A small hole was visible in the center of its face, through which countless sharp spikes could be faintly seen. Its skin was dry and withered, covered with bluish-black lines, as if something disgusting was flowing within it, occasionally producing repulsive protrusions.

Although he had never heard of such a monster, Hashimoto was absolutely certain that it was a ghost! After all, with so many people in Ghost City, it was quite normal for a few to have some strange ghost stories circulating among them.

Hashimoto Toru didn't quite understand why this thing had suddenly appeared here, and it seemed to be full of hostility—it couldn't possibly be targeting him, since the ban had been lifted and this monster couldn't possibly harm him...