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

"...When did you find out?"

Honghe turned to Zhou Ke'er, who had a smug look on her face, and asked.

I never expected that Zhou Ke'er, who seemed to be there to make people laugh, would have such an unusually sharp eye for observation.

Even though she hadn't noticed, Zhou Ke'er had already figured out that it wasn't a real corpse, and even determined that it was a puppet.

"Huh? What are you talking about? What do you mean, when did I find out?"

Zhou Ke'er picked at her ear in annoyance, making a super smug face, and said with a pout, "Didn't I already say? It wasn't me who discovered it, it was me who did all of this! I'm the mastermind! Do you really believe me? Ugh, honestly..."

"Okay, okay, I believe you. You're amazing! I didn't even notice. You truly are the mastermind!"

Honghe remained completely unconvinced. She stood up, tossed Fran's fallen head aside, and said in a deadpan tone, "Oh dear, it seems that Finger Sand is probably in grave danger as well. So, I'll be your next target?"

"Hmph, you're quite self-aware!"

Zhou Ke'er proudly raised her head.

Oh, I twisted my neck.

it hurts!

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101. Do you think I don't know anything?

A vast expanse of white space.

There was nothing but the flashing white light.

There was no end in sight. No, perhaps... just two steps forward and it would be the end? It was all just a vast expanse of white, everything was a monotonous color, and it didn't even look like a three-dimensional world.

Only one man, whose entire body appeared quite blurry, stood atop a patch of white light, making one wonder why he didn't fall.

"Sizzle"

Above—or perhaps above? In this space, discussing location seems to be meaningless.

A pitch-black crack was torn open, and a bouncy silver ahoge (antenna-like hair) quickly emerged from it, followed by a girl who "whoosh" leaping out of the crack.

"Oh ho ho! Little Rae, have you missed me?"

The silver-haired girl with a tuft of hair sticking up stood on tiptoe and patted the man's shoulder, asking with a grin, "How's the thing I asked you to do? It seemed like there was a problem with the data here just now?"

"Ah...yes, it's not just a little problem, it's a big problem. However...this matter is not easy to explain."

The man scratched a patch of hair that looked like a mosaic (although his entire body was a mosaic), "Didn't you tell me to 'pay more attention' to that Zhou Ke'er? Turns out she practically saw right through the entire plot of this module from the start. At this rate, it'll end in a flash! So I had to urgently add some settings and change the quest..."

But I haven't figured out the rest of the plot yet, so I'll just let him develop it on his own and figure out how to end this module later. Then this guy asked me for some permissions, which I thought was no big deal, so I just gave them to him...

"Oh! I see, I see. So... what did he do after he got the access?"

The silver-haired girl, with an expression that said, "Oh, I see, I completely understand," sat cross-legged on a ball of white light, nodding repeatedly and asking further questions.

"He wanted to destroy this mod world directly. Luckily, I discovered it in advance and used emergency measures to cut off his access in time, otherwise this mod would have just ended."

The man called Rae replied with a rather helpless expression.

"Hahaha, this is hilarious! As expected of him!"

The silver-haired girl couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Alright, it's decided. I'm going to do this guy's next module myself! Ugh, why did he ignore me last time? Seriously, ignoring a super beautiful girl like me, he went and tried to get close to that tall, dark guy instead. He has no taste at all."

Upon hearing this, Rael couldn't help but twitch his lips, but fortunately his face was a mosaic, so his expression was completely unreadable. He silently complained to himself.

We're all just manifestations of the same being, is it really okay for us to insult each other? Isn't that like insulting ourselves?

"Oh, it's not easy for us to come all this way. Since we're already here, why don't we take this opportunity to have a drink?"

The silver-haired girl changed the subject, patted the ball of light next to her, and said as if she were the hostess, "What would you like to drink? The usual, LIFE? Or would you like to try my new product, WHITE LADY? Speaking of which, the oolong tea from before the destruction of the era was also quite good. I think I have a little bit left."

"Uh... that way, I won't be able to focus on the modules..."

Rae hesitated for a moment.

"Oh dear, just set some random conditions for passing the level and let them do whatever they want. Why worry about it so much? I can do it myself next time."

The silver-haired girl waved her hand dismissively, seemingly unconcerned, and offered her advice.

"...Oh well."

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"Boss? Boss? Where is he?"

Zhou Ke'er called out quietly several times, but no one paid any attention to her.

What happened? Did that guy accidentally go too far while playing with the Damocles' Carrot and end up in the hospital?

Thinking of this, Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but feel a chill, as if an ice pick just taken out of the freezer had been stuffed into her anus, making her hair stand on end.

That's terrifying. I never imagined that the mastermind behind this had such a fetish.

(You're just making this up yourself, aren't you!)

"..."

Honghe glanced at Zhou Ke'er, who was engrossed in her own performance and seemingly doing nothing, and gave up on asking her what she was doing.

Anyway, Zhou Ke'er will definitely take this opportunity to say something about him being the mastermind.

Why does he never get tired of this joke?! And it's such a lie that nobody believes, why does he keep persisting and finding every opportunity to stick to it?!

Hmm... But speaking of which, it's been a bit strange since the beginning. It's not far from the door she visited before, but why have we been walking for so long and still haven't arrived?

And the journey was far too uneventful, wasn't it? There wasn't even a single monster blocking the way, and... the eerie atmosphere around us seemed to have run out of budget; the chilling wind was gone, and the strange rustling sounds were gone too.

How boring! This has turned into a purely travel-based game!

The flamingo couldn't help but complain to itself.

"Oh, by the way, I have a question for you."

Unable to contact the mastermind behind the scenes, Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips and suddenly asked Hong He, "Your injuries and low stamina are quite troublesome, aren't they? And... it seems you're about to get impatient. How about I help you heal your injuries and take you somewhere else to have some fun?"

Yes, that's where it went before being sent to Frankenstein.

Well, although it's not very ethical to do it this way, we should still ask for Honghe's opinion on the surface.

"Hmm? If it's possible... it's not impossible."

After a moment's hesitation, the flamingo finally nodded.

"Okay, then get ready..."

Zhou Ke'er smiled upon hearing this, nodded happily, and then stretched out her right hand, which had been behind her back, holding a sharp wooden strip that had somehow been broken off from the window frame. "...Prepare!"

Before Honghe could react, Zhou Ke'er suddenly rushed to Honghe's side and forcefully stabbed the sharp end of the wooden stick into Honghe's already wounded abdomen.

"Cough cough...uh..."

Honghe stared wide-eyed at Zhou Ke'er with a hint of confusion.

Zhou Ke'er let go of the crane's hand and walked behind it. With her back to the crane, she whispered, "Live on with a smile behind me!"

Oh, that's what they say, but where did this meme come from? I can't remember...

"Fly high, fly high!"

Hmm... that's weird, I keep getting this feeling like I've seen a flamingo with a hole ripped open in its abdomen...

It has a strange sense of déjà vu, and it's a little odd.

Well, never mind that for now.

That way... we should be able to force the mastermind behind this to come out, right?

"Target: Rainbow Sea!"

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"Cough cough!"

While drinking LIFE, Leier suddenly choked and couldn't help but cough twice.

"what's wrong?"

The silver-haired girl rested her cheek on one hand and tilted her head to ask.

"A player has died... Wait, that shouldn't be the case? I've already deleted the monster... Let me see what's going on."

Leier waved his hand, a look of surprise on his face: "Huh? Zhou Ke'er did it? What is this guy doing? Wouldn't it be better to just end this module quietly?"

...Let's send this player over there first. That way, only Zhou Ke'er will be left here. Hmm, there's still one player named "Finger Sand" left. Oh well, let's just send Zhou Ke'er over there. That guy really likes to cause trouble.

"No, I need to warn him."

Rayle began to operate, teleporting Zhou Ke'er to another location once more, while also issuing a helpless warning to her:

[Time's almost up, so don't cause me any more trouble. Just go to the Sands Between Fingers and wrap up the story. Don't do anything else. I have things to do right now, so don't call me.]

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102. What? What are you talking about, Zhou Zhou!

Zhou Ke'er closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she found herself in another place.

Hmm, no message popped up about the flamingo's death.

That means the mastermind intervened and saved it.

He actually warned Zhou Ke'er not to bother him?

Ha, who does he think Zhou Ke'er is? Does he think Zhou Ke'er is the kind of person who would back down just because she was warned by the mastermind?!

It really is.

But in this situation, Zhou Ke'er is not intimidated at all.

Just kidding. No matter what the mastermind is plotting behind the scenes, at least on the surface he says he needs Zhou Ke'er's help. Now that things are out in the open, why would he be unhappy about being bothered by Zhou Ke'er a few times?

It's all because they're used to it.

At worst, Zhou Ke'er can just slack off, lie down on the ground and not move an inch. Didn't he say the deadline was approaching? He's the one who's anxious, not Zhou Ke'er.

As Zhou Ke'er thought this, she subconsciously looked around.

Although I'm not afraid of the big boss, it would be quite troublesome if I fell into a monster horde as soon as I arrived. It's not that I'm afraid of dying, but Zhou Ke'er can only die after I deliver the Sand Between Fingers here to Red Crane (abbreviated as: Group 1 Special).