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

Cold-cooked Rabbit immediately showed a disgusted expression: "You're talking nonsense again! Didn't Red Crane and the others say they couldn't contact you a while ago, and then I couldn't even contact them! I thought you guys had all been wiped out, it really worried me to death."

Honghe squinted: "Judging from how energetic you were just now, you didn't seem particularly worried..."

Cold-cooked Rabbit guiltily looked away: "Hey, it's just that I have confidence in you guys! Hey, okay, okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Spring Sleepiness, Autumn Fatigue, and Zhang He are still waiting for us. I just left them behind and ran over here first. So, our team is only missing Chen Tian."

After saying that, she made a move to start making the broth immediately.

Just then, the system notification sounded.

The last player to complete the tutorial has entered the main world; this phase of the mission is now complete.

[Rankings and rewards are being tallied...]

[Statistics complete]

Detailed rankings have been posted in the announcement section, and ranking rewards have been sent to your personal email address. Please claim them as soon as possible.

[The next phase of the mission will begin in five minutes. Please find an open and safe location as soon as possible to avoid being accidentally injured by changes in terrain.]

[Five-minute countdown begins...]

Anyway, Zhou Ke'er, Honghe and the others were the last ones to arrive in the main world, so they definitely wouldn't be in the rankings. Therefore, he just glanced at them casually.

As expected, Long Aotian and his group were unsurprisingly among the top, and even Lengchitu was ranked in the top ten of the main world speed race leaderboard.

This is quite normal, after all, Cold-Cooked Rabbit is a class that has become an array master, and she has experience teleporting to the main world before. As long as she has the materials, replicating it again wouldn't be difficult. Moreover, her strength is indeed not weak at all compared to others.

Soon, the five-minute countdown came to an end.

Following the system's prompts, the entire main city began to rumble, as if the sky had collapsed and an earthquake had struck. Countless houses collapsed and fell into the ground, and smoke and fire gradually spread, making everything appear chaotic and disorderly.

[The recreation of past scenes is in progress, please wait...]

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860. When a person is killed, they die.

"boom!"

As soon as the system notification sounded, earth-shattering changes began to occur rapidly. The ground trembled violently, and soon, with a deafening roar, the ground in the center of the main city suddenly bulged upwards without warning, creating countless cracks.

Zhou Ke'er and the others reacted quickly, and upon seeing this, they each used their own methods to fly into the air.

Those unfortunate players on the ground who didn't have time to react, or who didn't have the means to stay airborne, or who didn't have time to escape the danger zone, unsurprisingly fell into the cracks in the ground.

But before they could fall to the bottom, halfway down, they were knocked away by a giant worm that suddenly surged up from the ground.

Oh, that's not quite accurate. Only some lucky players with good physical abilities have a chance to be knocked away, while those with weaker skills are simply flattened into pancakes by the impact and stuck to the surface of the giant worm.

Anyone with a normal mind would lose their mind seeing this scene.

"Scene recreation..."

Upon hearing this word in the system notification, Zhou Ke'er knew what it meant without even having to think about it—wasn't it just a youth version of the final battle of the old era?

While those beings are unlikely to personally intervene at this stage, and at most will only appear as clones or replicas, the current strength of humanity is far inferior to that of the old era, making them a mere handful of weaklings.

The worms emerging from the ground were merely the prelude. Soon, a vast, boundless expanse of black dots flew in from the distant horizon—without even needing to discern what they were, Zhou Ke'er knew that, let alone any powerful monsters to come, even just this group in the sky would wipe out most players in this wave of attacks.

But this is strange and illogical. In Zhou Ke'er's estimation, those beings shouldn't have done this—if the world mission alone was enough to eliminate the vast majority of players, then there would have been no need to bring all of humanity in from the very beginning of the game—because ultimately, after this great purge, the remaining players should mostly be those who joined at the start.

If those beings are determined to drag all of humanity into this, then they shouldn't have made the decision they're making now.

Although they are a group of people who do whatever comes to mind and prefer to make decisions on a whim when their minds are a mess, there must be something fishy about making such decisions.

Since that's the case, we can only infer the possible causes from the results—in this situation, what measures would be needed to prevent the vast majority of players from dying as Zhou Ke'er predicted?

The most feasible solution is for some players with sufficient strength to step forward, unite, organize, lead, and protect the weaker players. Essentially, an expanded version—though Zhou Ke'er didn't really want to use Long Aotian as an example—the Aotian Guild?

But why would those entities need such roles or organizations within humanity?

Although the reasons behind those beings' actions are still unclear, it is obvious that under the current circumstances, without strong players stepping forward, humanity, having lost most of its core base and left with only a handful of players, will not only be unable to contend with those beings, but may not even be able to survive this current world quest.

Even for individuals with extremely strong individual strength, the sheer number of players is meaningless. However, it is clear that no one with such strength exists among humans at present. Therefore, gathering and leading a large number of ordinary players to fight against the mobs is an absolutely necessary measure.

While they may not know about the existence of those evil gods, many players can still grasp this simple principle.

Soon, before the overwhelming horde of monsters descended upon the city, many players had already begun to spontaneously organize the chaotic crowd around them.

What stands out is Long Aotian's Aotian Guild. Although Long Aotian himself is indeed a bit dim-witted, it was the strongest and largest guild when the game first launched. Its reaction and control in the current situation are naturally unmatched by anyone else.

Of course, it's obvious that Zhou Ke'er is not going to be the one to stick her neck out—although that troublemaker Nyaruko might actually be hoping that Zhou Ke'er will get a leading role.

[Scene reproduction complete]

Players, please be prepared.

The battle is about to begin.

Please defend your last stronghold.

Of course, a strategic retreat is also an option.

Finally, please remember—

When a person is killed, they die.

Zhou Ke'er curled her lip. Now you're telling the players to get ready? The players who were just killed by the worms that crawled out of the ground are furious!

Honghe, who was standing to the side, looked at Zhou Ke'er, who was deep in thought, and asked in a calm tone, "What do you plan to do?"

The implication was clear: Honghe knew that if Zhou Ke'er were willing to help, the current crisis could be easily overcome—but that would obviously be an overpowered move, with both advantages and disadvantages.

While they may be able to get through the immediate difficulties, untrained players will suffer more casualties when facing even stronger and more difficult monsters in the future. Not to mention, the authorities might "appropriately" increase the difficulty or temporarily adjust the monsters.

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes. "Those guys probably don't want me to get involved—except for one guy who's particularly fond of stirring up trouble—but even if I can't offer direct help, it shouldn't be a problem for me to leave them a way out, right?"

"Leave yourself an escape route? What does that mean?"

Upon hearing this, Zhijiansha couldn't help but ask, secretly thinking to herself, "How come Zhou Ke'er has become a riddle person too?"

"The system notification already stated that this main city is 'our last city,' which means that there should still be other cities elsewhere in the main world. Besides, the quest doesn't strictly require players to defend this city to the death; if they really can't win, they can abandon the city and retreat—although the situation will become extremely difficult then. But..."

Zhou Ke'er's lips curled up. "What if, by then, the players who abandoned the city aren't fleeing aimlessly, but instead retreat to another city they can hold? Wouldn't that leave a way out?"

Qiao Yixia looked at Zhou Ke'er in surprise. She originally thought that this guy would just slack off and not care about other players dying. She didn't expect that he would actually help out at this critical moment.

"However, before that, we need to inform Long Aotian first, otherwise they won't know that there is another way out."

Zhou Ke'er snapped her fingers and then disappeared from the spot.

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861. Immediately open the lubricant.

At this moment, Long Aotian was already extremely busy. Although he didn't have to direct everything, big or small, in the face of such a situation, just observing the situation and making overall judgments was already an extremely mentally and physically exhausting task.

After all, Long Aotian is neither a trained professional nor a military officer who makes a living from this. In the end, he is just an ordinary rich second-generation player. Although he happened to take on such an important position by chance, it does not mean that being forced into this position will necessarily bring him the corresponding abilities.

Fortunately, not all the counterattack organizations in the city needed his command. After all, his Aotian Guild was only the largest guild in the game, not the only one. Besides him, there were various smaller guilds or player teams, as well as teams formed by the Exorcists and the remaining troops from the Far East region after the world quests. Although their in-game skills weren't as refined as Aotian Guild's, they were enough to share most of the pressure.

"Long Aotian, you're such a busy man. How are you doing, managing things smoothly?"

Zhou Ke'er appeared next to Long Aotian without warning, which almost startled him, but fortunately he reacted quickly and did not subconsciously make a move.

Long Aotian smiled helplessly upon hearing this, "Don't pour cold water on me. You think you're good at it? I'm just an ordinary gamer. How would I know anything about troop deployment? I do have experience commanding team battles in games, and I've also defended cities before, but to think I can take charge of the overall situation based on that... I'm not that arrogant."

Zhou Ke'er blinked in surprise. Good heavens, Long Aotian, that arrogant guy who thinks he's the boss, actually has a day when he has to back down.

Long Aotian knew what Zhou Ke'er was thinking just by looking at her expression. He shook his head and didn't say anything, but casually said, "So what brings you here? The situation doesn't look good right now, so I only have a little time to call you. If it's just for small talk, then forget it—that guy Long Aojiao would probably be happy to, though. She's been nagging me about wanting to talk to you for ages."

"Then let's skip it. Besides, even if I were the worst person, I wouldn't cause you any trouble at a time like this, would I?"

Zhou Ke'er shrugged and said seriously, "Actually, you should have expected this, right? To be honest, being able to withstand this first wave of attacks is already an extraordinary performance. At the necessary moment, we must leave a way out to avoid total annihilation."

"Although I don't really want to admit it, it's true."

Long Aotian frowned, looking down at the distant city's border. Players and monsters were locked in a fierce battle, but in fact, they were already showing signs of defeat.

After all, most of these people were just ordinary people living in peacetime. Naturally, they could not accept sacrifice and obey orders without hesitation like soldiers who obey orders without question. Under the fear of death, fleeing in panic was a very high probability behavior. This behavior was even contagious. Once the first one took the lead, countless others would run away together.

With a slight sigh, Long Aotian withdrew his gaze: "Just tell me straight, what's your idea? I know you always have a lot of clever ideas—just don't say anything like abandoning this city or anyone else to save your own life."

"Hey, what a coincidence!"

Zhou Ke'er snapped her fingers: "Obviously, that's exactly what I wanted to say. If we really can't hold this city—you know, under normal circumstances, it's basically impossible to hold it—in that situation, my suggestion is to abandon the city and retreat."

Long Aotian was speechless for a moment after Zhou Ke'er's words: "Seriously? You came to me just to say this kind of nonsense? Where can we go if we abandon the city and retreat? Do you think we can fight a guerrilla war in our current situation? If we are pursued, we will all perish on the run."

Zhou Ke'er nodded, without refuting, "You're right, that's why I came to find you. Didn't you just ask where you could retreat to if you abandoned the city? I've come to leave you a way out, haven't I?"

"Leave yourself an escape route?"

Long Aotian frowned and thought for a moment: "You mean, you know a safe place where we can retreat?"

Zhou Ke'er nodded, then shook her head: "I don't know yet—but what I mean is, I'm going to take some people to look for it."

"You're going to take some people to look for it?"

Long Aotian's eyes widened, and he stared blankly for a moment before closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "Please, let's not even talk about whether you can find a safe place that can accommodate so many of us—to be honest, it's hard to say whether there's even a safe place in this godforsaken place—even if, by the best-case scenario, you find another city big enough to accommodate us, what do you plan to do with the monsters inside? Do you think you can clear them all out by yourself—or at most, with your few friends?"

"Ah, yes, I can."

Zhou Ke'er nodded matter-of-factly, "That's definitely achievable."

"?"

A huge question mark appeared above Long Aotian's head. He couldn't help but grab Zhou Ke'er's shoulder: "Wake up! If you could really do something like that, why would you need a backup plan? Why not just wipe out all these monsters right here?"

"Oh, that won't do. They're watching. Do you think they'll give us a chance to pass the mission easily?"

Zhou Ke'er shrugged, unconcerned about Long Aotian's physical advances. "If they actually allow it, then you should really think about whether there's some kind of conspiracy waiting for us. So, the only help I can offer right now is to leave a way out so that you won't be completely wiped out if you have to retreat. This should be the best option within their acceptable range."

"Tsk... To be honest, I'm still not very clear about those strange things and what this game is all about. No one has explained it to me properly."

Long Aotian rubbed his temples in annoyance. "It's really unpleasant to be kept in the dark. But... well, since you've said so, I guess I'll just have to believe you for now."

"That's for the best."

Zhou Ke'er stretched out her finger and touched Long Aotian's right wrist. Immediately, a black mark appeared on his wrist: "This is the medium for us to communicate with each other from now on. I will find a place to settle down as soon as possible, but you'd better not give up before then, otherwise I won't be able to help you. Oh, but if it comes to that, I should theoretically be able to take action."

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