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

"You bastard! I challenge you to a duel!"

The demon finally couldn't hold back any longer. Enraged, it leaped out of the hole and charged towards Zhou Ke'er's location.

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin and thought for a moment, then took a few steps back, grabbed the poor witch by the back of her collar and threw her in front of her—since he had been in the witch's hut the whole time, without saying a word or showing his face, it was only natural to find a substitute to take the blame, wasn't it?

The witch was horrified and looked at Zhou Ke'er in disbelief: "What are you doing?!?"

Zhou Ke'er waved her hand, "Hey, I'm just asking you to take the blame. It's okay, I'm here. You won't die, and you'll even become famous. You'll be a big shot wherever you go in the world from now on. It's a sure win."

"You can't stay here forever! What if I get assassinated? What if they didn't expect me to be so weak and killed me easily?"

The witch struggled to get up.

"Oh, we can talk about the future later. If you don't take the blame now, you might as well die now."

Zhou Ke'er innocently uttered those terrifying words.

The witch immediately became obedient.

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859. The real plan!

"Chong-"

However, just as Zhou Ke'er was waiting with great interest for the show to begin after the demon broke in—to be honest, it seems that Zhou Ke'er's amuse-seeking personality is becoming more and more like Nyaruko's—a soft sound came from somewhere.

Immediately, the whole world fell into stillness, and all movement ceased.

"Time stop again?"

Zhou Ke'er frowned and muttered unhappily, "That Nyaruko guy is coming again? Is he going to stop me too? Is nobody going to do anything about it?"

"Tap, tap..."

Footsteps came from outside the door.

The door was slowly pushed open.

"It's not that guy who's here to see you this time, it's me."

Soon, Renault appeared before Zhou Ke'er.

"Damn it, it's you again? What do you want from me?"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but complain, "And also... how did you even find me? And didn't I already tell you? With my abilities, I can't help you with anything."

Renault waved his hand: "Don't rush, listen to me first. I haven't explained it clearly to you before, so you don't understand our purpose. However, the time is ripe now, and I'm here to tell you what our real plan is."

"But what does that have to do with me?"

Zhou Ke'er was baffled: "Besides, I'm not one of you guys, why are you telling me the plan? Aren't you afraid I'll leak it to those beings?"

"Because it's a crucial part of this plan that only you can accomplish."

Renault looked at Zhou Ke'er seriously, "Moreover, I believe that once you understand our plan, there is a high probability that you will agree."

Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips. "I don't have that much hope for it. And—why this timing? Why not when Nyaruko was put in solitary confinement, or after all the events here were over, but now?"

"Because, only now, are you not being watched!"

Renault immediately replied, "Did you think that guy lost his sense of the outside world after being put in solitary confinement? She can still watch your every move—and right now, in order to continue 'playing' you, she happens to be preparing for the next 'performance,' and doesn't have time to pay attention to you, which is why I had the opportunity to take advantage of the situation."

Zhou Ke'er twitched the corners of her mouth. It sounded like something Nyaruko would do, but that didn't mean Zhou Ke'er would believe it, and even if she did believe it, it didn't mean she had to help Renault: "I understand. So tell me your plan—I'll be frank with you, if your plan is to fight against those beings, whether with real swords or through intrigue, then you'd better not say anything."

Renault smiled and said, "It seems you've been completely fooled by us too. That means our initial secrecy work was quite good."

"Oh?"

Only after hearing this did Zhou Ke'er become slightly interested. "Did I guess wrong? You have another plan?... Interesting, tell me about it."

Renault nodded: "Speaking of this plan, there are some things you need to know beforehand. First of all—you should already know that the so-called game is divided into a main world and sub-worlds, right? Have you ever wondered where those sub-worlds came from? Were they really all created one by one by those beings just for you to play with?"

Zhou Ke'er frowned slightly. "Can you just say it directly?"

"It's very simple. Those sub-worlds within the game are actually worlds outside the game. Just like our world now, they were merged and swallowed up by the game."

Renault explained succinctly, "This time it just so happens to be our world's turn."

Wow, this was the first time Zhou Ke'er had heard this news. He had genuinely thought those sub-worlds were created by those beings...

However, it seems that Zhou Ke'er's world is not special compared to others—at most, those beings destroyed a world once in order to play it for a longer time, and then merged it into the game.

"So what? What does this have to do with your plans? Or do you mean... to unite with the people from those sub-worlds to rebel?"

Zhou Ke'er stroked her chin. Although she felt that the success rate of the plan had indeed increased, no matter what, the strong people in those sub-worlds were just defeated opponents of those beings. No matter how they united, Zhou Ke'er did not think they could gather enough power to threaten those beings.

However, Renault shook his head and denied it, saying, "No, after that utter failure in the Old Era, and after countless years of analyzing our experience of why other sub-worlds failed, we have thoroughly confirmed one thing. It is obvious that we absolutely cannot contend with those damned beings. The difference in rank is too great—enough ants can kill an elephant, but can they destroy a planet? Even if we give them countless aids, even if they have the strength to rival a planet, they are nothing more than a tiny speck of dust in the universe."

"I already knew about this! So what exactly is your plan?!"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but get excited—if she hadn't been thinking about fighting those guys, and if she had other plans, she might actually have succeeded!

"Running away is shameful, but it's useful. If we can't win, we hide."

Renault forced a helpless smile: "This is the best we can think of—sacrifice most of our people, and while keeping it a secret from those beings, take a group of people and leave this world that has no future, to other worlds that haven't yet been put on their 'play list' by these beings."

"Holy crap, what Elite Noah's Ark Project?!"

Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but exclaim, "This is your final plan?!"

Renault nodded seriously: "That's right, that's the only way. Or do you have any other ideas?"

"..."

After the initial shock, Zhou Ke'er was speechless for a moment when faced with this question—indeed, there was no way to answer it.

Fighting is outmatched; you might as well fight with your head. People don't really accept traitors; look at all the traitors out there—only Rael is still alive. So the only option left is to run away. It's not a permanent solution, but at least it's a possibility.

Moreover, even this least desirable option has a very low success rate—to deceive those beings, given Reno and his team's abilities, breaking down the barriers between worlds and sending people away unnoticed...

All I can say is that they have truly done their best.

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850. The flaw in the plan lies with you!

"I see, I think I understand now."

Zhou Ke'er tentatively agreed to the plan, "So, what do you want me to do in this plan?"

He didn't even consider directly asking Renault and his team how they managed to keep their plan a secret from those beings. Leaving aside whether they would tell Zhou Ke'er this secret, he also had to consider whether they could tell her. After all, Zhou Ke'er frequently had to deal with those beings; what if she accidentally revealed her plan one day?

"It's very simple, but it seems that only you can do it right now."

Renault nodded to Zhou Ke'er: "Delay... I can't say His name directly, delay Him—you should know which being I'm talking about, right?"

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes. "You mean the guy who was recently arrested and put in solitary confinement?"

"That's right, it's Him. There's only one guy who can do nothing but wear humans all day without any scruples or anything else. As long as we get around this one of His clones, we've already succeeded halfway."

Renault completely agreed, "He seems to be focusing most of his energy on you now. You just need to keep going, or even go further—in short, as long as you keep Him firmly tied to you, everything will be fine."

"..."

Zhou Ke'er touched her chin, feeling that it would be a bit too much to ask what the benefits were at this moment.

"To be honest, in this plan... well... I'll just say it straight, and you should have figured it out by now, so I won't hide it from you."

Renault hesitated for a moment before continuing, "In this plan, you're essentially a crucial pawn used to attract attention. In fact, the probability of you reaping the benefits of this plan is almost zero."

Zhou Ke'er nodded: "I could tell that when I first heard about your plan."

However, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but feel a little confused: "So, why did you tell me so frankly? Don't you think that doing this is completely meaningless?"

First of all, even if you didn't tell me, it seems I'm still taking on this task, right? At least for now, I don't know any way to get rid of that damn guy. And her interest in me doesn't seem to have waned just because of my resistance.

Secondly, wouldn't telling me now actually leak this information? Leaving aside the option of betrayal, even if I were to actually do things for you, some of those beings are almost omniscient. For them, reading someone's thoughts or memories would be incredibly easy, wouldn't it? Wouldn't that make me, who will inevitably be in frequent contact with them, too easily exposed?

Furthermore… you really trust me that much? On what grounds? My good reputation? My excellent character? My unwavering will? To be honest, I don't even think I possess those qualities myself. How can you be so sure I won't betray you? We already have one Reuss, why wouldn't there be a second?

After listening to Zhou Ke'er's series of questions, Renault...

An eerie silence fell.

His face even betrayed a hint of sudden realization and shock.

It's as if I've only just realized these points.

It feels numb when I squeeze it, really?!

Zhou Ke'er felt a sense of foreboding and quickly grabbed Renault's collar, "Don't tell me you really didn't think of these points?!"

Renault's expression darkened and became serious, but he still nodded through gritted teeth: "I'm sorry... it seems that's indeed the case. It was our mistake. I don't know why, but we don't seem to have put in the necessary amount of thought into this matter."

Zhou Ke'er slapped her forehead—damn it, it's probably his passive intelligence-reducing aura that's taking effect.

Although he didn't really know if this so-called "brain-degrading halo" existed, judging from the recent series of events, it seemed as if he really did have such a natural effect, and the scope of its influence seemed to be getting bigger and bigger!

Originally, only people around Zhou Ke'er were affected when they got close to her. Now, even those who aren't actually near Zhou Ke'er but are simply thinking about her are affected?!

Why does it feel like Zhou Ke'er is some kind of meme or... evil god that has an impact as long as it is thought about?

Oh, Zhou Ke'er does seem to be an evil god in some ways...

So this so-called "brain-degrading aura" is just a special effect that Zhou Ke'er gains after becoming an evil god?!

Outrageous!

It turns out the problem actually lay with him.

Wouldn't this be the end of us?

Zhou Ke'er calmed herself down and continued speaking to Renault, who was slightly doubting himself: "Forget it, this can't be considered your problem. In short, I don't have a deep fear of death, nor do I have a reason to live in this world, and I don't have anyone I'm attached to who would prevent me from dying because of their existence, so I can agree to your plan."

However, the only flaw in this plan lies in the part concerning me, and I can only say that this flaw is related to myself. However, if that is indeed the case, then this effect might spread to those beings, and if it could have such an effect, then this flaw would be as good as non-existent.

Most importantly, any of your future plans—and I mean any—that are still under consideration, must not include me, and absolutely must not involve me—or we will end up in the same situation again.”

Although Renault was affected by the "brain-degrading aura," he wasn't stupid to begin with, and he was still able to maintain normal thinking even under such influence. He quickly understood Zhou Ke'er's meaning, "Right! Damn it, I forgot... I had seen information about you developing divinity before, but for some reason I didn't pay any attention. Now it seems that this should be a characteristic that arose from your very origin after you became an existence of the same rank as those beings. Just like we can't easily call out the names of those beings now, it seems we can't just call your name casually either, or we'll be affected as well."

Zhou Ke'er twitched the corner of her mouth. "Okay, this can be considered good news, isn't it? At least there is one 'being' of the same rank as those beings who is on your side."

Renault nodded: "Indeed, the success rate should increase significantly as a result—however, it would be even better if your strength matched your rank..."