<<Believe that we will meet again soon.>>

Thunder rumbled—

A torrential downpour and fierce winds swept across Arkham City. Lightning darted through the clouds like silver snakes, and the deafening roar of thunder occasionally shook the heavens, startling the birds in the surrounding forest into frantic cries, which were quickly drowned out by the thunder.

In an old villa somewhere in Arkham, an area once exclusive to the wealthy, the family living there had mysteriously died one night a few days ago, and the house had since acquired an ominous reputation.

The Inspection Bureau clearly wasn’t intimidated by the so-called haunted house. In fact, their first step upon arriving in Arkham was to investigate such potentially mysterious matters in order to uncover the cause of the city’s anomalies.

Strangely, despite having searched many places, they had yet to find any clues.

It was as if someone had gotten ahead of them.

“Tsk, still nothing here?” Someone in the team began to show impatience, kicking a nearby stair. The old, dilapidated building creaked painfully in response. “Hey, are you really sure there’s something here?”

The last comment was directed at Edmund, who was walking at the rear. Edmund could sense the frustration and bowed his head, unable to respond.

“Alright, everyone calm down,” the team leader stepped in to mediate. “Clues are inherently difficult to find. Edmund, you did sense something here, didn’t you?”

Edmund quickly nodded, pressing his lips together, his face pale. “I can feel it…”

“Ha, yes, you said the same thing when we passed Arkham Hospital, and also when we went to the amusement park on Tenth Avenue, and even when we passed the church.”

The person sneered repeatedly. “Oh, right, I remember now. Someone even went crazy on the street, claiming that there was something strange everywhere when we first arrived in Arkham. And what happened? We found nothing, and the team leader lost face. How can you keep spouting nonsense?”

But it was all true. Edmund remained silent, gripping the necklace around his neck tightly.

The necklace was emitting a faint warmth, reminding him that something indeed existed here.

It was the only valuable item he had, capable of giving off warmth as a warning when something strange was near. But due to its origins, he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, disclose its nature.

“Bart,” the team leader’s tone grew serious.

“This is the truth, Leader!” Bart couldn’t hold back his frustration. “I know you want to say this kid’s intuition is better and more sensitive than ours, but ever since he entered this city, things have been off. I ask you, who in this team doesn’t have sharp intuition? If we didn’t have the right ‘qualifications,’ how could we have joined the Inspection Bureau? But has anyone else in the team sensed anything?”

There was silence around them. The rest of the team watched coldly as Edmund was grilled, and no one except the leader spoke up in his defense.

“…Let’s search this place first,” the leader, unable to withstand the pressure from others, said in the end.

The team moved silently through the villa, searching every corner, but in the end, nothing strange occurred, and they found no traces.

As they were leaving, Edmund walked at the rear of the group, his face growing increasingly pale, but he dared not speak further. He could only grab the leader’s sleeve, clutching at what seemed like the last lifeline.

“L-Leader… there’s something… something behind…”

The leader looked at Edmund with confusion, then glanced behind him but saw nothing and felt nothing.

He sighed, finally having to admit that what others were saying might be correct. He reached out and patted Edmund’s shoulder. “Edmund, you should see a psychologist sometime.”

Edmund froze for a moment, then understood the leader’s implication. His face turned ashen. “I… I…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t report this to headquarters for now. Just… think about it.”

The leader patted Edmund’s back once more and quickened his pace to catch up with the rest of the team.

Edmund remained at the rear, unable to help but murmur, “But… it’s really there.”

Behind him, the shadow grew longer and longer until it took the form of a gaunt figure resembling a skeleton draped in human skin. Whispers reached Edmund’s ears.

[Butterfly… butterfly…]

[The butterfly is about to fly away…]

—-

Recently, Ranen was troubled by something.

That was, although his Psychology Room was making good income thanks to the influx of players, he felt increasingly distant from the image of a professional therapist.

A typical psychological treatment room would handle clients dealing with difficult problems or mental distress, but what had his clinic been dealing with lately?

“Ranen, Ranen, do you have someone you like?”

“How about me? (Winks) (Charm skill activated)”

“Man, I’m interested in you. Come be mine (rose in mouth)”

“Wife, hehe, wife”

Forget about mental distress or difficulties; these were social terrorists creating problems for others!

Ranen wearily rubbed his forehead, and Ogre timely poured him a cup of hot tea.

“Thank you, Ogre.”

Ogre silently shook his head, stared at Ranen for half a second, put down the teacup, and lifted his large hand to remove a thin thread that had somehow gotten stuck in Ranen’s hair.

“Hmm… thanks,” Ranen said reflexively upon seeing Ogre remove the thread.

The female player receiving psychological treatment was beaming with excitement. “Thank you, I’m shipping it!”

Ranen: ???

Maintaining his usual impassive smile, Ranen said calmly, “This session has ended. It’s time for you to leave.”

“Huh? That’s it? I’ll buy another hour!”

“Sorry, the business hours for today are over.”

The female player reluctantly left the psychological treatment room, only to excitedly upload the screenshot she had just taken.

“Wuwuwuwu, Beast and Rose, I’m shipping it! I’m shipping it!”

Ever since Ranen had temporarily brought Ogre in as a bodyguard that day, Ogre had inexplicably stayed on, usually just serving tea and doing some drawing in the clinic, where players could always see him.

At some point, a mysterious fan group started appearing on the forum, shipping the pairing of Ogre and Ranen. Ogre’s rough and imposing appearance combined with Ranen’s ethereal beauty created a fascinating contrast that attracted many fans.

For example, in the photo uploaded by the female player, the angle was just right, making Ogre’s action of removing the thread from Ranen’s hair look like he was tenderly stroking a young boy’s hair.

A swarm of excited CP fans immediately appeared below.

Along with some confused passersby.

Is An Even Function: What, this NPC’s popularity hasn’t faded yet? This game is really something, just creating an idol NPC to boost hype, huh?

24th Commenter: What’s with the irrelevant comment above?

Is An Even Function: Seriously, I logged into the game and took a look. He’s good-looking, but it’s not like he’s breathtakingly so, right?

No one in the thread responded to him, but he continued to bounce around.

Is An Even Function: There have been popular paper characters ^[1]“paper characters” refers to characters that are perceived as superficial or lacking depth. They might be visually appealing but don’t have a well-developed backstory, personality, … Continue reading before, but it’s strange for a flimsy character without plot support or a solid background to stay popular for so long. Could it be that the game officials hired bots?

25th Commenter: Now everyone can be an opinion leader? What does it matter to you if people like an NPC? Besides, Ranen’s charm is genuinely impressive. If you pull a card, you’ll understand.

Is An Even Function: I’ve been in.

26th Commenter: So what was your intuition point at that time?

Is An Even Function: What does that have to do with this?

27th Commenter: It does. Some players discovered it a long time ago. The higher the intuition points, the more attracted players seem to be to Ranen, even if they don’t usually fall for this type of face. It’s okay if they just log off.

28th Commenter: The official really put some thought into this. From these little details and Easter eggs, it’s clear that Ranen’s identity is unusual. Increasing intuition points to see your wife is the happiest thing ever, and chasing paper characters in the game is cheap and doesn’t risk a scandal.

Subsequent comments were similar, with heated debates ultimately ending in defeat for Is An Even Function, which retreated. It was unknown whether he would log into the game to find out more or disappear completely.

—-

Ranen was completely unaware of this. He watched yet another player, who had attempted to use a charm skill on him, leave, then closed the door and sighed deeply.

The money he earned was truly hard-earned.

Since the last time, although players no longer crowded outside the treatment room, they had discovered another way to avoid being driven away by Ranen: entering the Psychotherapy Room as his “guest.”

Of course, they were not actually there for treatment. Among the players who became Ranen’s guests, some wanted to increase their favorability with him, some were simply obsessed with his appearance, and some were scheming to charm him.

If not for the small amount of money they paid, Ranen would have long since expelled the players.

However, on the other hand, after not hosting normal guests for so long, Ranen began to miss his previous career, feeling that if this continued, his career path might head in a bizarre direction.

*Dingling~

The wind chime at the door rang out with a clear sound. Ranen looked up and saw a new guest entering the treatment room.

And this guest had no white text above their head.

Not a player?

Ranen’s eyes lit up, and he curved his lips into a smile that was as refreshing as a spring breeze. “Hello, please come in and have a seat.”

When the newcomer saw Ranen, he was stunned and remained in place, his face clearly showing a moment of daze and infatuation. He stood there motionless for a long time, and only after a while did he react, subconsciously sitting down opposite Ranen as requested. However, he soon realized what he had done, his face paling, and he wanted to stand up and flee.

But Ranen did not give him that opportunity and asked, “What is your name?”

“Edmund, Edmund Walker.”

“Edmund, have you encountered any problems recently?”

A look of daze passed over Edmund’s face as he opened his mouth: “I…”

“I had an argument with my colleagues recently,” he said in a low voice. “It feels terrible. I can sense their doubts about me. I really saw something, but they don’t believe what I said and have even asked me to see a psychologist.”

“Trust has always been an important theme in the workplace,” Ranen noted as he jotted down notes, feeling that he was finally regaining a bit of his role as a psychotherapist. “So, did you come to see me because you think they are right?”

Edmund shook his head and clutched his chest: “No, I—I know I am not wrong… but I don’t know, I don’t know how to make them believe me. I don’t know what to do. I absolutely cannot give up this job, absolutely not!”

Ranen saw the deep confusion on his face.

He thought to himself that he understood now; this guest didn’t have a mental health issue.

His biggest problem actually stemmed from deep-seated feelings of inferiority and insecurity. Even though he subconsciously believed in his own correctness, he still obediently accepted others’ opinions and came here, because he couldn’t bring himself to trust his own judgment and blindly hoped to gain trust from others.

But if he couldn’t even trust himself, how could he expect to earn others’ trust?

Ranen pulled out a blank sheet of paper and handed it to Edmund.

“What is this for?”

“Please draw a clock on this paper and make sure to mark the time.”

Edmund, feeling a bit dazed, complied. Although he didn’t quite understand the purpose, he drew the clock on the blank paper and handed it back to Ranen. “Is this okay?”

“Yes, this is a simple mental state test. As long as you can accurately fill in the time on the clock, it indicates that you do not have any significant mental issues and still maintain a basic level of normal thinking.”

Edmund paused, his voice trembling slightly. “So… does that mean…”

“Yes,” Ranen said, looking at the intact clock on the paper and smiling, “I am sure, and I am certain, that they are wrong. There is nothing wrong with your mental state. You can trust yourself now, and also trust my judgment. You have no problems.”

Trust.

Edmund’s heart, which had been as unstable as a floating weed, suddenly settled firmly on the ground at that moment. His eyes reflected Ranen’s smile, and he felt an immense sense of relief.

It was incredible.

It was as if a lost traveler had found their destination, or a weary bird had returned to its nest. All the confusion, fear, and anxiety that had arisen since he entered the city seemed to be purified by that smile.

It made one want to draw closer, to see that smile more…

Under Ranen’s puzzled gaze, Edmund could not help but raise his hand.

But in the next second.

Edmund, as if burned severely, snapped back to reality, his face contorted with distress as he clutched the necklace around his neck.

Ranen asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I… I…” Edmund’s face turned pale, and he suddenly stood up. “Sorry, I need to leave now!”

At that moment, the necklace around his neck was emitting an astonishing amount of heat, which jolted Edmund back to his senses, filling him with deep fear.

He’d never felt the necklace get so hot before. It was almost like it had turned into burning iron. He’d never experienced anything like it, even when he was on the verge of death. But at the same time, he was grateful that the heat had snapped him back to reality. 

The person in front of him… is clearly not human! 

Edmund hurriedly stood up and tried to leave.

Unexpectedly, Ranen didn’t try to stop him. Instead, he asked curiously, “Are you leaving?” 

“…Yes, yes, I suddenly remembered something urgent.” 

But it hasn’t even been an hour yet! 

Ranen’s psychology sessions were free for the first hour and charged after that. 

It’s rare for him to have a normal client these days, and he feels like he’s done a pretty good job and been pretty professional just now, qwq.

But if the client has an emergency, there’s nothing he can do. Well, he hopes the client really does have an emergency and isn’t just trying to get a free session. 

Ranen looked deeply at Edmund, “Then please go handle your emergency, guest. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”

Edmund didn’t hear a word Ranen was saying. The overwhelming fear gripped his heart, and all he could hear was the pounding of his own heartbeat. He reached the door of the Psychotherapy Room smoothly, turned the doorknob, and it seemed like escape was within reach.

This terrifying presence didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping him. The escape was too easy, and Edmund’s heartbeat gradually calmed down. He couldn’t resist glancing back.

It was then that Ranen’s voice finally reached his ears.

“…I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.”

Ranen was still sitting calmly in his original spot, a faint, ambiguous smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

It was as if he had already foreseen Edmund walking right back to him in the future.