Heidi was a little surprised when she saw that her new patient was an elf.

She rarely saw elves—not only psychiatrists like her, but most other "doctors" of all kinds generally did not deal with elves.

Because the elves have a physical talent that is enough to make other races envy them. In addition to their long lifespan, this race rarely gets sick. They are incredibly healthy most of the time and can survive well in all kinds of harsh conditions. Along with their healthy bodies, their minds are often quite tenacious. Perhaps it is precisely to adapt to their own too long lifespan that the elves' mental state is very stable. Although they are not as good as the Sen'jin people who are known as the "Stone Hearts", they are much stronger than humans.

It is precisely because of these unique conditions that many outstanding pioneers and adventurers in history are of elven blood. They are good at and dare to operate in the "border" waters, and can survive and return from the dangerous fog and illusions. Among the many city-states on the vast sea today, almost two-thirds of the "border" city-states close to the "Eternal Curtain" were established by elven pioneers. The most famous of them is the "Breeze Harbor" known as the City of Adventure.

In all her years as a psychiatrist, Heidi had hardly ever heard of an elf having any mental problems.

Of course, mortals always have weaknesses, and even elves with such excellent "talents" are no exception. Compared with humans, they grow slowly and have lower learning abilities. Their overly strong mental state also makes it difficult for them to be blessed by divine power. Apart from the power of the God of Wisdom, the protection of the other three orthodox gods has very limited effect on the elves. Strangely, the Sen'jin, who also possess stable spiritual talents, are much better off than them in this regard.

Many people have speculated about what factors have caused the elves' physique to be "difficult to receive divine protection". After all, the Sen'jin people have high mental resilience, but do not have this negative characteristic of "weakened protection". Among the many speculations, there was a theory that was widely circulated: the ancient and stubborn heresy in the traditional culture of the elves caused them to be rejected by the gods, and only the God of Wisdom, because he is the "protector of all rational creatures", is willing to have mercy on them.

Historically, in the "Dark Ages" and "Old City-States" before the start of the New City-State Era, the elves' "forsaken by God" physique coupled with the natural prejudices between different races had even caused many bloody conflicts - but in the end, the elves used the steam rifles and high explosives they invented to reach mutual understanding with the various races of the world.

Since then, these long-lived and broad-minded races have graciously accepted the reconciliation signals between humans and the Sen'jin, and have coexisted peacefully with the descendants of those shorter-lived races to this day.

Heidi came to the bedside, felt the elf girl's breath, checked her heartbeat, then opened the medicine box and methodically took various medicines and devices to the small table next to her.

Those days of conflict and darkness have become history. The short-lived humans and Sen'jin can only learn the stories of their ancestors from books, and even the long-lived elves have regarded those long-ago days as some "insignificant things" that they had experienced when they were young or their parents.

Today, the "God-forsaken" physique of the elves still exists. Many of their ancient families, while accepting the teachings of the god of wisdom, Lachem, still maintain many mysterious and traditional "heretical beliefs", but this does not prevent them from becoming an extremely important part of today's civilized world.

In fact, due to their extremely high attainments in mathematics and mechanics, as well as their increasingly deep religious ties with the god of wisdom, Lachem, the elves have already played an important role in today's era of "steam and electricity". If it were not for their obvious disadvantage in population numbers, their influence on the vast ocean might even have surpassed that of humans.

In any case, in this era, no one is talking endlessly about the "heresy" that the elves still maintain today, nor is anyone discussing their physiques that are not blessed by the three gods.

The delicate incense burner was lit, and the calming aroma gradually spread around the bed. In the spreading aroma, the sick elf girl seemed to relax her brows a little.

Heidi bent down, pried open the girl's eyelids, held a glowing amethyst in front of her eyes, and slowly shook it left and right.

"You are still trapped in the dream, and your nervous and uneasy emotions have woven into a cage of self-protection. But you need help now, so you will leave a 'key' to someone you are willing to trust. This person you trust will appear in your dream and help you fight against the things that scare you, or help you find an exit from the dream..."

Heidi slowly shook the crystal, and as the incense smoke gradually rose beside her, she whispered in the girl's ear in a low and slow tone that seemed to contain magic.

As a psychiatrist, she has many means to help her patients. In the normal diagnosis and treatment process, she is of course good at using questionnaires and psychological hints to confirm the patient's mental state and provide targeted counseling, but when the situation is not so normal...she also has many extraordinary effective techniques.

These powerful techniques include sap clubs, golden needles and gunpowder, as well as focusing incense, magic potions and ritual crystals.

After all, being a psychiatrist is a dangerous profession. On a daily basis, she has to deal with not only insomniac and nervous students and office workers - but also the filth that jumps out of the "dreams" and "imaginations" of those patients.

"Now, you can start to feel a little relieved, because the person who helped you will soon appear in your dream..."

Heidi continued to speak softly. At the same time, she noticed that a faint silver light had begun to emerge in the depths of the elf girl's pupils. This was a sign that the blessing of the God of Wisdom, Lahem, had begun to take effect. Fortunately, although the elves had a "forsaken by God" physique, they were still able to accept Lahem's blessing normally, which made Heidi, a believer in the God of Wisdom, feel a lot more relaxed.

"You left a door for him. The door is very close to you. You have already given the key to the person who helped you. Now, you are hiding in a safe place, quietly waiting for the door to open...

"You feel at ease because you know that the person who walks in through that door is the one you trust the most..."

Heidi spoke softly, and with her last words, the elf girl's breathing became noticeably longer and calmer.

This is temporary.

But Heidi is ready for the next step of "treatment".

She quickly left the elf girl's side, took the amethyst pendant that she had just used to hypnotize her, and lay down on an empty bed next to her.

She tightly grasped the amethyst she had received from her father, softly chanted the prayer to Lahm, the god of wisdom, and slowly closed her eyes.

After a while, she opened her eyes and sat up with some confusion.

I didn’t succeed in sinking into any dream—the hypnosis didn’t work?

Heidi stood up from the sickbed, carefully checked the surroundings, and walked to the bed where the elf girl was lying.

Her "patient" still lay there quietly, showing no signs of waking up.

After repeated examinations for a long time and two futile hypnosis attempts, Heidi found that she could not connect to the dream of the elf girl at all.

A feeling of frustration welled up in her heart.

She sat beside the bed in frustration for a while, quietly thinking about other alternative treatment options. After an unknown amount of time, she sighed, moved her slightly sore shoulder and neck joints, and stood up and walked towards the door of the ward.

However, before she touched the door, footsteps were heard outside, followed by the sound of a key turning. As the handle turned, the staff member of the Government Affairs Office in a dark blue uniform opened the door of the ward.

"Ms. Heidi, how is it going?"

The staff seemed to have been waiting in the "safe area" outside for a long time, and were now nervously asking about the progress of the treatment.

"It hasn't worked yet - conventional hypnosis methods have failed. I may need to prepare some more powerful rituals or potions." Heidi shook her head regretfully. As she spoke, she raised her hand to hang the amethyst pendant back on her chest, and then picked up her heavy suitcase. "I have to go back and think about the next treatment plan."

"...Well, I guess you tried your best this time," the staff member sighed and said with understanding, "Other psychiatrists have tried before, but they were unable to break through this patient's dream - because the situation was too strange, the priest sent by the church was very worried that this was some kind of strange spiritual pollution caused by the extinction of the sun, and he took the matter very seriously...but there is nothing we can do. If an expert like you finds it difficult, it seems that we really can't rush for success."

Heidi nodded slightly.

Faintly, she felt that the amethyst pendant on her chest seemed to emit a slight heat.

"Do you need us to arrange a vehicle to take you back?"

The staff asked politely.

"No, my car is parked outside." Heidi shook her head.

"Okay, then I won't send you off. Just go back the same way you came. I'll go check on the patient's condition."

Heidi hummed, gave the staff member a friendly smile, then turned around and walked towards the long and deep corridor outside.

Behind her, the staff in blue uniforms also turned around and walked towards the elf girl who was still sleeping.

Footsteps sounded behind me, currently about five meters away.

Heidi silently picked up the suitcase, reached into the secret compartment at the bottom of the suitcase with her other hand, then turned around expressionlessly and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

The bullet penetrated the back of the figure in blue uniform, creating a hazy blood mist.