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

862. Easily

"Heh, it really is..."

Long Aotian glanced at the black emblem that appeared on his palm and shook his head.

While Zhou Ke'er's plan was indeed quite good, putting aside whether his ability to single-handedly wipe out a city of monsters was genuine, even if it were true, wouldn't it take him time to find a city to use as his next stronghold? Wouldn't it take time to clear out the monsters? And wouldn't the journey from this city to the other side also take time?

Any uncertainty could lead to total collapse, even if only one link in the chain goes wrong. The plan sounds good, but it's incredibly difficult to implement.

But Long Aotian didn't say these things earlier. After all, he knew that even if he said them, it wouldn't stop Zhou Ke'er, so he might as well trust him for now. Zhou Ke'er should be fairly reliable in these kinds of matters, probably.

Long Aotian couldn't help but sigh, rubbing his forehead. The front lines had already begun to crumble. At this rate, let alone holding out for several days and nights, it would be an extraordinary feat if they weren't quickly taken down right now.

Just then, Long Aojiao came running over, panting, "Where's Zhou Ke'er? Didn't you say he was with you? Where is he?"

Long Aotian snapped out of his daze and shrugged awkwardly: "He's already gone. He just came over for a quick look and left."

"What?! I rushed over here, couldn't you have kept him here a little longer? Dude, if you don't take the initiative, you'll never have a chance!"

Long Aojiao, hands on her hips, scolded, "Don't back down just because he looks like a man now. That would make you a complete loser!"

Is there any possibility, I mean, just one possibility...?

Long Aotian sighed and rubbed his forehead. Although he had previously made the same guess as Long Aojiao, after careful consideration, he still felt that such a guess was too ridiculous. It would be better to say that Zhou Ke'er's female appearance was just a disguise. "Maybe that Zhou Ke'er is actually a man?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! My guess is definitely correct."

Long Aojiao clenched her fist.

Long Aotian didn't want to waste any more time arguing with her about this, so he changed the subject, saying, "Okay, whatever you think is fine—but, isn't this the time to discuss this? Keeping him here is just a waste of his time. Can't you see that our own front lines are almost at their breaking point?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Long Aojiao immediately wilted and nodded dejectedly: "You're right. Actually, I rushed back not just to find him, but to report to you—given the current hasty response at the front, the signs of a complete rout are already evident—the collapse of the front is expected to occur in no more than two hours. We don't have time; we must immediately begin preparing for the front's collapse."

"Damn it, I've never been a military officer!"

Long Aotian clicked his tongue in slight annoyance. "Where are the leaders of the other organizations? This situation of fighting alone and barely cooperating can't continue any longer, or the collapse will happen faster and faster. Go and inform those guys that we need to hold a strategic meeting immediately. Commanding the battlefield should be left to the professionals! I don't believe there aren't any officers among the survivors."

“You’re right. But there’s a problem—if there are indeed professional officers, are we just going to hand over command to them like that?”

Long Aojiao nodded, but then a worried look appeared on her face: "What if... I mean, what if they command our people, or rather, not just our people, but in short, all the other players besides their own, to act as cannon fodder and sacrifices..."

"Then let's make an example of them to warn others."

Long Aotian lowered his eyes and said coldly, "Although I'm not the strongest among all the players, I can still do this kind of thing. If I didn't have to stay here to oversee things... once someone takes over the command position for me, I can go to the front line to help relieve the pressure."

As he spoke, he looked up at the front, his brow furrowing again. While the attacking monsters were generally quite disciplined, mostly launching frontal assaults—even though most possessed the ability to fly—they all obediently fought on the front lines, rarely attempting to sneak around and attack the rear. And those few burrowing worms that had initially killed a bunch of unsuspecting players had all burrowed underground and returned to the front lines.

Otherwise, with the overwhelming air and ground attacks, the players in this city would have been in chaos and scattered long ago, and there would have been no opportunity to organize a battle line like this.

To be honest, although Long Aotian hoped that a professional would take on the command task, he didn't have much hope that they could actually play a significant role.

Firstly, players aren't well-trained soldiers. It's one thing if they're organized, but what about those unorganized new players who haven't been exposed to these situations before being brought into the game? Why should they obey orders? And even if they reluctantly obey orders, who can guarantee they won't desert when faced with a life-or-death situation?

To try and defend the city under such extreme circumstances...

Long Aotian sighed helplessly. To be honest, for players with some skill like him, abandoning their base and engaging in guerrilla warfare or urban combat while retreating might be more suitable. But in that case, the survival rate of new players would be extremely low, perhaps only one in ten.

"It seems this is the only way we can do for now."

Long Aojiao nodded, "Then I'll contact them now—to be honest, I even think it's too late to start considering holding a meeting now."

After saying that, she didn't linger any longer and quickly disappeared from the spot.

Long Aotian raised his hand sullenly, continuing to issue commands in the guild channel while spending lavishly on various low-level items to provide remote support.

Meanwhile, Zhou Ke'er had already joined up with Hong He and the others. While she was negotiating with Long Aotian, Leng Chi Tu had also brought Chun Kun Qiu Fei and Zhang He over. Now, except for Chen Tian, ​​who was nowhere to be found, almost everyone in Zhou Ke'er's team had gathered here.

The only problem is that Zhang He prefers to stay here and help defend the city rather than go with Zhou Ke'er to find another place to settle down. According to him, while finding another place to settle down would be safer, he wouldn't be able to help Zhou Ke'er much. On the contrary, he might be able to play a greater role in defending the city.

Zhou Ke'er had no choice but to respect his wishes, since Zhang He had always been this kind of person, something she had known from the beginning.

However, to everyone's slight surprise, Chun Kun and Qiu Fei also expressed their intention to stay and assist Zhang He, lest this guy accidentally lose his life.

In other words, the four people who left with Zhou Ke'er in the end were still Hong He and the others.

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Please take one day off.

I'm sorry, I've been quite busy lately.

Final papers are due in droves, which is...

I really don't have much time to write. I only managed to squeeze out a little over a thousand words today.

I can only ask for one day off for now.

There are still many papers to submit.

Help!

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863. I forgot, hehe.

Just as Zhou Ke'er and the others were leaving the city to find another place to stay, in the open space within the Divine Academy—

Chen Tian's eyes were closed as he leaned against the wall, seemingly unconscious. In contrast, Chen Tian's body solidified, and he regained his original appearance.

He held a wooden sword in his hand, which was placed directly against the neck of a middle-aged man with a stern face and a very dignified appearance.

Around them, a bunch of immortals and gods lay sprawled on the ground, including the old skeleton that Zhou Ke'er knew well. They seemed to be the heads of various departments within the academy. Now, only Chen Tian and the man in front of him remained standing.

"It's time to make a decision, isn't it?"

Chen Tian's eyes were filled with anger. "I thought this wouldn't be necessary, but you have really disappointed me. I'm giving you a final chance out of consideration for our clan. If you remain stubborn and refuse to listen, don't blame me for being merciless."

Before the other party could answer, a spatial rift tore open not far away. Without Zhou Ke'er by his side, Renault, whose intelligence had long since regained its dominance, appeared there. "Chen Tian, ​​there's no need to waste any more time arguing with them. It seems that their long period of comfort has made them forget what their original purpose in submitting was, turning them into lackeys who have lost their honor and only know how to submit. Let's just take action; it'll be a way to clean house."

You can't do that!

The immortal being held at sword-point by Chen Tian stared wide-eyed, a hint of embarrassment appearing on his majestic face. "Your reckless actions will only cost the lives of all the immortals and gods! We've spent countless years recuperating and rebuilding to our current state, and you know you're making all that effort go to waste?!"

Chen Tian's eyes showed disgust. "You'd be better off not speaking, because your words are disgusting. From the moment you've fallen to the point of becoming the lackeys of those beings, completely losing the will to resist, you can no longer be considered gods or immortals. Since when have dogs been worthy of being called gods?"

"Why waste words with these guys? If we can't win them over, let's just get rid of them to avoid causing us trouble later. There's never too many traitors."

Renault's figure flashed, and the next moment he appeared behind the immortal. He gently pinched the tip of the sword in Chen Tian's hand with his fingers and flicked it at the other's neck. The wooden sword cleanly and neatly severed the immortal's neck.

Chen Tian's expression was one of deep disappointment. He glanced at the defeated gods of various pantheons scattered on the ground. "Is this all the academy can offer? No wonder they can only serve as lackeys of those beings. Truly..."

Renault curled his lip. "Isn't this entirely expected? Gods with spirit and strength would have perished in the final battle long ago. How could they possibly survive until now in this way? You shouldn't have had much hope for them in the first place."

You're right.

Chen Tian sighed, flicked his wooden sword with his right hand, and instantly countless sword energies shot out, annihilating the defeated immortals and gods on the surrounding ground. "The original purpose of letting them live was simply to prevent the lineage of these divine beings from dying out. It's just a pity that they never disappoint in their disappointment."

After a brief silence, Renault continued, "Besides these guys, what do you plan to do with the god candidates in the academy?"

Chen Tian lowered his eyes slightly: "These guys have caused us trouble by splitting a single divine spark into several parts to expand the number of god candidates. How afraid are they of their strength being surpassed by the students? It's disgusting. Under these circumstances, it's almost impossible to reclaim all the complete divine sparks at once, so let's implement the second plan for now. Win over a group of people who are willing to join us, control a group that is still observing or cannot be easily trusted, and deal with the rest who are unwilling to cooperate."

"That's pretty much what I was thinking, so let's do it that way."

Renault nodded, paused for a moment, and then slowly said, "Chen Tian, ​​you... you should know what our ultimate plan is, right?"

“I know. Although it’s a memory that was only recently restored, Pompelo had already mentioned this plan to me from the beginning.”

Chen Tian flicked his wooden sword and admitted without hesitation, "As for what role I should play in this plan, that was something I had already anticipated. However, there's one thing I'm still unclear about—who exactly will be chosen as the 'seeds' to ultimately escape to other worlds?"

Renault narrowed his eyes. "I will tell you, but not here, and not now. This isn't the place for casual conversation, and now is not the time to reveal this." (This is a fragment of a sentence and doesn't translate directly.)

"So many years have passed, and the way you talk is becoming more and more like Pompelo, it's really unbearable for me—speaking of which, is that guy really dead? I always felt that someone who arranged everything like him couldn't possibly not have a backup plan."

Zhou Ke'er wasn't angry at the answer; she just pursed her lips, waved her hand, and the unconscious Chen Tian floated up into the air, being brought to Renault's side: "In short, take good care of her for me. She became a step in our plan without any choice, and we owe her something."

Renault took the unconscious Chen Tian, ​​nodded to Chen Tian to indicate that he would take good care of her, and then replied, "Who knows. I've never been able to see through that guy, but if he hasn't shown his face yet, then let's just assume he's really dead."

"Alright, let's just pretend he's dead."

Chen Tian let out a long breath, turned around, and walked towards the gathering place of the students of the Divine Academy. Without looking back, he said, "Leave this place to me. I will complete the task of attracting the attention of those beings from the front according to plan. Just make sure that you who are implementing the real plan don't mess things up."

"Then you'd better hurry. Although the attention of those beings is currently drawn to the main world, there will always be some who notice this side."

Renault watched Zhou Ke'er's retreating figure and reminded her, "Especially that troublesome guy."

What Renault didn't say was that their plan was supposed to be carried out in secret, without the knowledge of those beings, but... it's only fair to say that they had to thank a certain omniscient Tavel for having no interest in Nyarlathotep's and the other beings' plans, so even if He knew all this, He wouldn't tell the other beings, otherwise the plan would have failed from the very beginning.

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864. Please come from the dead end

Emergency meeting.

Long Aotian sat at the round table below, while leaders of other organizations were giving speeches in front of him.

It wasn't that Long Aotian was too lazy to listen to what the other person was saying; to be honest, he simply didn't quite understand the series of technical terms and industry jargon the other person used. For someone like Long Aotian, who had no connections, it was like reading a foreign language.

Just as he was pretending to be listening attentively to the speech, he keenly caught a very subtle sound.

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865. Nearly fallen

"Don't leave me! Help me, help me!"

"Don't go, don't go!"

"Stay here and die with us!"

In the venue of the impromptu meeting, screams of agony rose and fell. Most of those who had been serious and dignified just moments before had become prey for the evil, uncontrollably losing their minds under its corrupting influence until they finally turned into crazed monsters.

Long Aotian and the other players who escaped with quick reflexes

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866. Situation

Damn it!

Long Aotian couldn't help but curse angrily. This really happened. It's true that good things don't come true, but bad things always do. You can't predict good things, but you can guess bad things right away.

Now that things have come to this point, relying on Zhou Ke'er's "way out" that she may never find is obviously not going to be very effective; she can only rely on herself to hold on for now.