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

Cold-cooked Rabbit, with his back to the stone pillar, stared at Damon lying on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. He murmured, whether to himself or to Red Crane and Zhou Ke'er, "I originally thought this was just a normal bandit-hunting module, but inexplicably the main storyline changed halfway through, and this monster appeared..."

I was thinking that even so, there would at least be clues to help us find the truth, even if it was very difficult. But... it's not a matter of difficulty at all, it's that there are no clues at all!

Initially, encountering this guy who claimed to be a witcher, I thought I had finally triggered this clue, and through this so-called witcher, I could find a way to solve the sacrificial ritual mentioned in the quest... but then they both died without warning, went mad...

That's certainly true...

Upon hearing this, Honghe nodded in empathy, and sighed, a rare occurrence for her. "I played the Fog difficulty mode all day, and every single one was like this—no clues, no signs, no hope..."

Rather than those pre-defined modules where you know the mission and can deduce where to find clues, this feels more like "reality"...

For example, in a game, if a key character dies, they might reveal clues to you before they die... that's what's called "plot." But in reality, things don't work that way. In reality, once someone dies, they're dead. If you don't know the clues, you don't know them, and you'll never get them again.

Simply put, it means...the plot needs to be logical, but reality doesn't.

"Hey! Stop talking about reality! If we don't run away now, our dying days are just around the corner!"

Zhou Ke'er didn't dare to turn around and look at the red crane and the cold-cooked rabbit who were giving long speeches, and said loudly.

"That's right, that's right!"

Huai Jin Wo Yu also nodded quickly, indicating that he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

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63. Collapse (VII)

"...You're at least half to blame for how this module turned out this way."

Honghe quickly caught up with Zhou Ke'er and whispered, "Dipvance decided to start the sacrificial ritual earlier because you interrupted their meeting, right? Also, he must have seen you summon the Deep One in that stairwell through the surveillance cameras... Come to think of it, that's when the main quest changed!"

"Hey! Don't just exclude yourself without saying a word!"

Zhou Ke'er refused to take the blame and quickly retorted, "You were clearly there at the time! Besides... the reason this module turned out this way is because of its inherent design! How can you blame me?"

Even if we follow the original process, to figure out the identity of the man in the black cloak, we still have to trigger the sacrificial ritual storyline...

Furthermore, since it's "ahead of schedule," it means the other party's preparations couldn't be completely thorough. Compared to following the normal procedure and having this situation trigger at the end, this is definitely more advantageous for us.

"The fact that the other side was poorly prepared also shows that we were even less prepared..."

Cold-cooked rabbit rubbed its still-aching nose and muttered under its breath.

"and many more!"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly stopped, looking as if she had suddenly thought of something.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Honghe, standing behind Zhou Ke'er, couldn't see his expression and asked in confusion.

"No, I'm thinking... what exactly is the meaning of the '24-hour time limit' added after the main quest change? At first, I thought it meant that if we couldn't stop the ritual after 24 hours, we would surely die."

To avoid seeing the stone pillar, Zhou Ke'er didn't turn around and spoke eloquently: "But... I thought about it again, the main quest I is 'survive,' so if we survive until the time limit module ends... wouldn't that be surviving to the end? According to the judgment, that should also be considered completing the quest."

If that's the case... well, only this city was destroyed, right? We can survive as long as we leave this city!

Besides that... there's another possibility: that this so-called sacrificial ritual might have lasted this long.

"...You're right, although something still feels off. So, are you planning to leave this city?"

Cold-cooked Rabbit thought about it for a moment and felt that although there were some logical errors, it was not impossible to think this way.

"no."

Zhou Ke'er shook her head matter-of-factly upon hearing this, "When that stone pillar just shot out, didn't you see that the ground in that area caved in? Do you think that stone pillar was summoned here from somewhere, or was it originally underground?"

"You want to go down there?"

The flamingo was slightly surprised.

So what is the logical relationship between this conclusion and all that nonsense Zhou Ke'er just said?

"Ah, right, that's right. So what I mean is, if you want to get through this module safely, you can try escaping the city. After all, if Cold-Cooked Rabbit goes out and acts cute, it'll be easy for some greasy old men to fight over giving you a ride. If you want to have some fun... then come with me!"

Zhou Ke'er closed her eyes, turned around, grinned, gave a thumbs-up, and said, "This is what youth is all about!"

"..."

Flamingo hesitated for two seconds, then finally sighed, "Alright... we've already failed all day, so failing again won't matter. The more important thing is that it'll be fun. I'll go with you then."

"Um... I think we should run away..."

"I finally broke the habit of repeating a grade," Huai Jin Wo Yu suggested in a low voice.

"What do you mean I have to act cute for greasy old men? Humph, if a lunatic dares to do that, do you think I wouldn't? Who said I can only suck up to powerful men?"

Let me tell you, even if my cuteness doesn't work and I can't get carried, I can still dominate the mod! This is a matter of pride!

Cold-cooked rabbit snorted twice indignantly, indicating that it wanted to join in.

"Waaah!"

Huai Jin Wo Yu cried. She couldn't say "Yes, yes, that's right" anymore. She wanted to voice her objections, but the score was three to one, and she didn't dare to act alone.

"Yes...yes, that's right, that's right."

In the end, Huai Jin Wo Yu resigned herself to her fate. She sniffled and tearfully agreed.

"Alright! Let's go then! Hey! Aibo, ramen jerk!"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly opened her eyes, instantly confirmed the direction of the stone pillar, then closed her eyes again, leaning on her cane, and ran quickly toward it.

"pat"

"oops!"

Running with your eyes closed makes it impossible to maintain your balance, and Zhou Ke'er naturally fell down.

"...You think you can go down there? Your sanity will be zero before you even reach the stone pillar, okay?"

Cold-cooked Rabbit sneered mercilessly, "Forget it, see? You even said you wanted me to act cute for that greasy old man? Now you still need me, don't you?"

"Rely on you?"

Before Zhou Ke'er could say anything, Honghe asked in confusion.

"In this situation, my title skill comes in handy. Although I can't clear the Fog difficulty module, I at least cleared Nightmare difficulty. I thought having the title would give me a chance to try it out..."

Cold-Eat Rabbit sighed and showed the title skill to everyone.

[Title: Pitiful and Delicate]

[Effect: When you cheer on other players in a "cute" manner, those players will receive the "Increased Sanity" and "Resistance to Chaos" buffs. If more than half of the players present are cheered on, all players will receive the buffs.]

(Note ①: Increased sanity: Recovers 1% sanity every ten seconds for half an hour)

(Note ②: Resisting Chaos: Reduces the rate at which sanity decreases by 80% for half an hour)

[Note: If you're cute enough, then... even an evil god can't drive your companions crazy! Cuteness is justice! (laughs XD)]

"Hahahaha, what kind of weird title is this?! What were you doing in that mod?!"

Zhou Ke'er, who came over to check the title, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"You want more buffs?"

Cold-cooked Rabbit glanced at Zhou Ke'er.

"I'm sorry, support dad."

Zhou Ke'er quickly admitted her mistake and fabricated a father out of thin air.

"Tsk... I was planning to change this title after completing this module... This title is too embarrassing..."

The cold-cooked rabbit covered its face and sighed deeply.

"This title...it's practically a god-tier title, right? Especially in a module like this that lowers sanity and whose ultimate goal is to drive players insane..."

Red Crane stroked her chin, regretting that she should have gone through Nightmare difficulty first and gotten a title before making a decision.

"Um...actually...I also have a title."

Huai Jin Wo Yu said in a low voice, and then showed his title.

[Title: Me too!]

【Effect:

① Select a buff generated by another player, copy this buff, and its duration is ten minutes (if the buff's duration is less than ten minutes, the original buff's duration will be used).

② Select a player and copy any item or title ability they are carrying for ten minutes (the copied ability or item will automatically disappear when the title ability is used again)

[Note: Me too! Get one for me too! What is the true nature of humanity?!]

"..."

Zhou Ke'er mentally complained again, "What kind of people are these?" and then said, "Haha, with this in mind... we're safe now, aren't we?"

"...Were you just thinking to yourself, 'What kind of people are these...?'"

Cold-cooked Rabbit glared angrily at Zhou Ke'er, "You're the least qualified to say such things! Don't even think about it! Why should I be told I have a problem with my brain by a lunatic?!"

"I didn't say you have something wrong with your head..."

Zhou Ke'er said, feeling wronged, "You were the one who said that..."

Come to think of it... they've been here for so long and haven't really moved much... how come that humanoid monster that looks like a Deep One hasn't caught up with them yet?

The flamingo, which had been lingering outside the arena, suddenly realized the problem and subconsciously looked in the direction from which the monster had been chasing after it.

Then she discovered that the monster wasn't chasing her anymore; in fact, it had actually moved even further away...

It ran to the stone pillar and knelt down, seemingly performing a sacrifice or prayer.

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64. Collapse (VIII)

After being warmly encouraged by Lengchitu, Zhou Ke'er's stamina inexplicably dropped a bit, and he didn't know when he was punched and had a black eye. He said he didn't know what had just happened and definitely didn't see Lengchitu encouraging him.

So it was deleted by that scumbag boss?

In short, Zhou Ke'er and the others arrived safely at the stone pillar, but the ground around the pillar had sunk, and they could not go any further.

The Deep Ones remained kneeling and praying intently, completely ignoring Zhou Ke'er and the others who approached.

Zhou Ke'er peered down into the depression in the ground.