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

Even in the dead of night, the sky is dimly lit like dusk under the omnipresent neon lights.

In a bustling food street, there were many people having late-night snacks together, especially the barbecue stalls and open-air food stalls, which were almost packed with customers.

In a dark alley not far away, four people, dressed in filthy clothes and looking as if they had crawled out of a garbage dump, lurked in the darkness, watching the bustling world outside, waiting for their chance to strike.

"Hey, at a point like this, there's no need to pretend to be a narrator anymore! Hurry up!"

Jin Yi finally broke down, and a torrent of complaints burst from his mouth.

"Heh...Are you all ready?"

Zhou Ke'er patted her hospital gown, and her deep eyes suddenly sharpened.

"Ready."

"no problem!"

Ms. Shi nodded, and Zhijiansha, who had changed into a caregiver's uniform, also indicated that there was no problem.

As for Jin Yi... stripped naked except for his underwear, he was huddled in a corner, whimpering and too afraid to come out.

"Alright, let's go!"

Zhou Ke'er took a deep breath and walked towards the food street.

No one noticed the three people mixed in with the crowd, or rather, even if they did, they didn't pay any attention to them.

Just then, a panicked voice suddenly rang out.

"Help! Let me go!"

A man of short stature, looking panicked and dressed in a hospital gown, was being grabbed by a person who appeared to be a doctor and another person dressed as a caregiver. He was shouting to the passersby for help: "Help me! They're trying to kidnap me! They're human traffickers!"

Upon hearing this, the people around immediately perked up. After all, watching a spectacle is a fine tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years.

Before long, a large crowd gathered around the three of them.

What's going on here?

Someone in the crowd asked.

"This man is mentally ill; he escaped from the hospital. We're here to bring him back!"

With a serious expression, Zhijiansha held Zhou Ke'er's hand and explained.

"I'm not mentally ill!"

Zhou Ke'er pretended to struggle, saying, "This outfit is for cosplay!"

"Oh? Then how can you prove you're a normal person?"

Shi then recited his lines, displaying a smug and arrogant villainous expression.

"Then how can you prove I'm mentally ill?! I could say you're the ones who're mentally ill, that you're having an episode and coming to arrest me for no reason!"

Zhou Ke'er immediately retorted.

"He makes a good point!"

"Exactly, how can you prove he's mentally ill?"

"Who knows, maybe those two are the ones who are mentally ill!"

"You can't say that. What if this person really is mentally ill? That would be so dangerous!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't prove he's not mentally ill!"

"And she's wearing a hospital gown, which makes her even more suspicious, doesn't it?"

A cacophony of voices and chatter arose from the surrounding area.

"Um...we can ask them some questions to test which one is the mentally ill!"

While everyone was watching, Jin Yi, who was naked, quickly and stealthily slipped out of the dark alley, grabbed a set of clothes from a clothesline that someone had hung outside, put them on, and then blended into the crowd, shouting loudly.

"It makes sense!"

"That's true, but it's definitely better to call the police, right?"

"Anyway, it takes about ten minutes to drive from the nearest police station, so it doesn't hurt to ask first."

People have demonstrated the admirable quality of watching excitement whenever it's happening, and even creating excitement to watch when there isn't any.

They fell for the trap! Hmph, you foolish mortals! You've been completely manipulated!

Zhou Ke'er secretly exchanged a glance with Jin Yi.

Then Jin Yi spoke again, "I happen to have a question..."

"Oh! I found the questions for testing mental illness!"

Just then, a young man next to him, holding a phone in one hand and a skewer of barbecue in the other, excitedly said, "Come on, I'll start asking questions now."

"I..."

The man in brocade robes, interrupted, opened his mouth in bewilderment. What was going on? This wasn't how the script was supposed to go, director! Are these NPCs going to have a lot of screen time?

Jin Yi couldn't help but glance at Zhou Ke'er with worry. If something went wrong here, it would be terrible. If they really got arrested and taken to the police station...

Zhou Ke'er gave Jin Yi a reassuring look. (Just kidding, he was, after all, a legitimate psychiatrist!)

Jin Yi, who couldn't understand Zhou Ke'er's expressions at all, was somewhat relieved to see that she still had the mind to act silly.

That makes sense, after all, this guy is a psychiatrist, so these kinds of questions that you can just find online shouldn't be a problem for him... right?

"Okay, here's the question. Late at night, you're on your balcony and see a man stab a woman to death below. As you pick up your phone to call the police, you make eye contact with the man downstairs. He stares at you and points at you a few times. What does he mean?"

The young man asked slowly and deliberately.

"It probably means something like 'I'll kill you.'"

"Yeah, what's the point of asking?"

"This question is way too easy!"

The surrounding crowd was abuzz with discussion.

"Uh...it should be a threat that he'd be killed if he dared to call the police, right?"

Sand between Fingers frowned and thought for a moment before giving a standard, conventional answer.

"That's what I think too."

Schein's expression is +1.

"Hmph...naive!"

Zhou Ke'er glanced disdainfully at the others present, a sense of superiority welling up within her, as if she were the only one sober in a world of drunks.

A glint of wisdom flashed in his eyes, and he scoffed, "The correct answer is! He's counting which floor you live on!"

Ha, that's too easy! He's done this kind of question countless times! The correct answer will come to him in the blink of an eye!

The young man gave Zhou Ke'er a strange look, pointed at him, and said, "This... uh, sir, is correct. Now, for the second question: You had a goldfish, but one day it died. You were extremely sad and cried incessantly. To comfort you, your mother bought you a chocolate bar the same size as the goldfish. But the next day, you killed your brother with a knife. Why?"

"Could it be that the man's brother killed his goldfish? That doesn't make sense either."

"It couldn't have been that his brother stole his chocolate, and on top of that, he had been bullying him all along, and all the old and new grudges came rushing back, causing him to impulsively kill someone in a fit of rage?"

The people gathered around analyzed the situation in their own words.

"Uh... because he's mentally ill? Mentally ill people don't need reasons to do things, right?"

After thinking for a while, Zhijiansha gave what he thought was the correct answer.

"+1"

Mr. Shi didn't even bother to think about it and simply said +1.

"Hmph! What a laughable answer!"

Zhou Ke'er suddenly pulled her right hand out of Shi's hand, covered her face, and laughed wildly, "Of course it's because he thinks that if he does that, his mother will give him a piece of chocolate the same size as his brother!"

Upon hearing this, everyone gasped in shock, and the surrounding area suddenly felt much warmer.

"Uh...this gentleman answered correctly again."

The young man sighed and said apologetically to Zhijiansha and Shi, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you before. This gentleman is indeed mentally ill."

Based on the test results, even if he doesn't have a mental illness, he certainly does, while you all fall within the normal range. I'm very sorry that I previously suspected you were the ones with mental illness; I was wrong, you are normal people.

"Hahahaha...uh?"

Zhou Ke'er's laughter stopped abruptly. She looked at the young man in disbelief before realizing: Oh no! In his excitement, he forgot that this set of questions was used to test mental patients! The closer the answer was to the correct answer, the more likely the person was mentally ill!

Zhijiansha and Shi exchanged a strange look, then waved their hands, "It's alright. Now that we've figured out what happened, we'll take him away."

"Okay, you guys be careful!"

"Stop letting mentally ill people out!"

"This is very dangerous! It seriously threatens public safety!"

"Thank goodness I didn't call the police..."

The onlookers chattered for a while, but when they realized there was no more excitement to be had, they scattered like birds and beasts.

Zhijiansha and Shishi quickly pulled Zhou Ke'er, who looked utterly hopeless, away, and Jinyi hurriedly followed.

------------

10. Oh no, I got caught slacking off at work!

"Damn it! We failed! Where did that troublemaker come from?!"

Zhou Ke'er looked indignant, then, as if it were perfectly natural, she conveniently shifted the blame to Jin Yi, "It's all Jin Yi's fault! How could someone steal your lines like that? You can't even deliver your lines properly, what good are you?"

"I...."

Jin Yi wanted to retort, but didn't know what to say, since what Zhou Ke'er said was indeed true.

"It can't be called a failure; to be precise, it was a success that exceeded expectations."

Just then, Finger Sand shook his head and said.

"you mean..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er glanced at the sand between her fingers in surprise.