DSMC Chapter 160.2

Yan Weilan really wasn’t good at defending himself, nor did he have any way to defend himself. First, he was an elementary school student. No teacher was willing to listen to him. Second, the packet of poisonous powder had indeed been found in his desk. There was no way to explain that away. Third, someone really had framed him, but even he himself couldn’t explain how or why.

Looking at the howling winds and the dark, overcast sky, Yan Jiyun knew just how chaotic Yan Weilan’s heart was at that moment. He still had no idea who was trying so desperately to corner him.

If the accusation that Yan Weilan had poisoned his classmates became fact, then from this day forward his life would carry an indelible stain. He would spend the rest of his days living in darkness, cursed by others, despised by everyone, unable to make friends. One lovable, well-behaved child would disappear from the world, and in his place would stand a gloomy, silent child, driven into becoming hostile toward humanity.

Perhaps that was exactly how the boss of the [Innocence] instance had come to exist.

At this moment, all the players had gathered upstairs, waiting for the school’s verdict. 

Yan Jiyun knew that the outcome would definitely be unfavorable to Yan Weilan. The school was handling everything so openly because they had already decided that Yan Weilan was the “culprit.” He had already been sentenced in everyone’s mind. Calling his parents was merely to deal with compensation afterward. No one was going to defend a child anymore. 

Why couldn’t his parents clear his name?

Because once the school produced the surveillance footage showing the poisonous powder being found, along with the conditions of the poisoned children, most parents would rather settle the matter quietly than fight it.

If things progressed to the point where Yan Weilan’s father chose to quietly smooth things over, then Yan Weilan’s transformation wouldn’t be far away.

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Why isn’t Mimi doing anything yet?! Aaaah! The Little Class Monitor’s favorability is dropping!”

“Holy fuck! This is my first time seeing favorability decrease! This is so interesting! Hardly any players ever raise NPC favorability, so we’ve never gotten to watch something this exciting!”

“It really is! It’s dropping way too fast! It was at 50 just a second ago, and now it’s only 30! It’s still going down!”

“Good thing Kitty Baby can’t see it dropping, otherwise he’d be heartbroken.”

“I remember during the second instance, Mimi’s favorability actually dropped into the negatives. Personally, I think he got the emotional fortitude to handle it. I’m the fragile one.”

“But the one with the heartache right now is me! I watched Kitty Baby build that favorability up, and now it’s only 30! It hurts so much. Hopefully he’ll raise it again in a minute. Wait, it just dropped to 20—”

“This favorability chart looks just like my stocks today, completely crashing! Aaaah! It’s already at 15! The Little Class Monitor’s emotions are way too intense! The favorability is plummeting so fast!”

Yan Jiyun watched the violent wind whipping everything around. At his current weight, he couldn’t withstand Yan Weilan’s emotions spiraling like this.

The class bell rang, students flooded back into their classrooms. Seeing that no one was around, Yan Jiyun quietly slipped into a restroom. When he came back out, he had once again transformed into a handsome young boy. 

Outside, the gale continued to rage, dead branches and fallen leaves were being blown straight into the classroom building. Teachers hurriedly organized students to shut every window.

Yan Jiyun sprinted up to the third floor, where he ran into Qi Feng, who was hurrying over from the opposite direction. “You’re going to find Yan Weilan too?”

“Yeah. The teachers have probably locked him up somewhere.”

“Let’s go. We’re rescuing him now.”

Out of habit, Yan Jiyun grabbed Qi Feng by the wrist and pulled him toward the teachers’ office.

Qi Feng: “…” Why did Yan Jiyun always treat him like an elementary school kid? 

Although that was what he thought, he didn’t pull his hand away.

Lan Mo, Gu Wenzhu, and the others also came running out of the classroom building at that moment.

Looking back, Yan Jiyun shouted, “You guys wait here!” 

He shoved open the office door. Inside, Yan Weilan wasn’t crying.

He simply sat silently in his chair, lips tightly pressed together, his entire body radiating gloom. 

He clearly hadn’t done any of it, yet so many classmates were accusing him. Even teachers from other classes were quietly saying that he was a gloomy child, that he’d surely grow up to become a menace to society; that he’d definitely become a criminal; that everyone would abandon him; that he’d never have a single friend.

Why was everyone saying those things about him?

After he’d been framed, wasn’t anyone going to defend him? Wasn’t anyone going to uncover the truth?

No one believed him, not even his eldest brother or second brother had come to see him.

It hurt so much.

He felt really, really hurt.

Why had things turned out this way?

He had always obediently tried to be a good child. He had always listened. He had never done anything bad—

Bang!

The door to the third-grade teachers’ office was suddenly pushed open by two students in school uniforms.

Like a little sun bursting into darkness, Yan Jiyun suddenly entered Yan Weilan’s world. He declared, “Class Monitor, I believe you!”

Yan Weilan stared blankly at him.

Qi Feng calmly added, “Yeah. We all believe you didn’t poison anyone.”

Tears instantly welled up in Yan Weilan’s eyes. He sniffled and wiped them away. “You… you really believe me?”

Yan Jiyun nodded firmly. “Of course we do. You study hard, and you care about your class. How could someone like you ever do something so awful?”

Yan Weilan nodded vigorously. “I really didn’t do it!”

Yan Jiyun planted his hands on his hips. “If we didn’t do it, then why are we staying here?”

Yan Weilan became troubled again. “But…”

Yan Jiyun immediately dispelled his doubts. “Did you forget? We’re the Detective Squad, so of course we’ll uncover the truth together. We’ll find the person who framed you, then you’ll expose them with your own hands and prove your innocence.”

They had to uncover the truth before Yan Weilan’s parents arrived, before the entire case became a foregone conclusion.

This time, Yan Weilan didn’t hesitate in the slightest. “Okay! I’ll find the truth myself!”

Calling Yan Weilan along, Yan Jiyun immediately turned to leave. 

The gloomy expression that had covered Yan Weilan’s face vanished completely. Walking forward, he reached out and took Yan Jiyun’s hand. 

Yan Jiyun blinked in confusion. Why was he suddenly holding his hand? “…?”

Qi Feng casually lifted the right hand Yan Jiyun was already holding. 

Yan Jiyun instantly found himself in an awkward position. Embarrassed, he said, “Hand in hand… Good friends.”

This terrible habit of instinctively grabbing his pooper scooper’s hand absolutely had to be fixed!

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Hahaha! I was nervous to death, and Kitty Baby over here singing ‘Good Friends.’ And why is the favorability graph acting like a roller coaster? It almost dropped below 1 just now, but he turned everything around and pulled it back up. It’s already over 70 now!”

“Ever since I started watching Mimi’s stream, I feel like my soul has been purified. Watching this mini-boss get redeemed… I’m actually crying. I should’ve been looking forward to the Little Class Monitor turning evil, but something’s wrong with me.”

“Oh man, same here! For the first time ever, I feel like the mini-boss is so pitiful. If Mimi hadn’t shown up in time, the Little Class Monitor would’ve slowly descended into darkness until he became this instance’s boss! I get it now! This is exactly where the storyline starts falling apart!”

“Mimi has rewritten someone else’s plot again. I seriously can’t wait to see what happens next.”

“I think Kitty Baby has already found Qu-laoshi. The Little Class Monitor is probably one of Qu-laoshi’s personalities, isn’t he?”

“But wasn’t Qu-laoshi trying to eliminate his own split personalities? If they protect the Little Class Monitor, doesn’t that mean they’re opposing the original personality? Can Kitty Baby still complete his new main quest?”

“Why wouldn’t he? He’s already reached Main Mission 3. His judgment hasn’t been wrong so far.”

“I’ve watched this instance before, but now I can’t understand it anymore. Yan Weilan originally didn’t have to become the boss? Isn’t the game supposed to be fixed?”

Yan Jiyun hurriedly led Yan Weilan away. The three of them rushed downstairs. 

At that moment, Yan Weilan felt happier than he had ever been. His mood soared. So this was what it felt like to have someone believe in you. He would remember this feeling forever.

The homeroom teacher went to call Yan Weilan’s parents. When she returned to the office, she discovered that Yan Weilan had disappeared. She immediately rushed after them.

Meanwhile, Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi deliberately blocked her path.

Gu Wenzhu intentionally sat down on the floor because of his “bad leg.” Clutching his calf, he cried, “Laoshi! You bumped into me! It hurts so much!”

Class 3’s homeroom teacher replied, “I didn’t bump into you. You obviously fell on purpose.”

Gu Wenzhu put on an aggrieved expression. “Laoshi, you clearly weren’t watching where you were going and deliberately ran into me. Ow… My leg hurts so much. A teacher hit a student and won’t even take responsibility!”

The Class 3 teacher insisted, “I told you, I didn’t.”

Qiu Xi activated his Language Card. “Laoshi, that’s exactly what Yan Weilan told you just now. You didn’t listen to him either.”

They had witnessed everything earlier. They simply hadn’t found the right opportunity to intervene, so they hadn’t rushed in to rescue him.

Gu Wenzhu’s little performance soon attracted the attention of Class 2’s homeroom teacher. She was a hot-tempered middle-aged woman. “Wang Ru! How dare you hit one of my students and still refuse to admit it!”

Teacher Wang weakly defended herself. “…I already said I didn’t hit him. He fell by himself.”

Still hugging his leg, Gu Wenzhu somehow even squeezed out two tears. In a pitiful voice he said, “Zhao-laoshi… It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have walked without watching where I was going. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bumped into Teacher Wang.”

Seeing him like that only made Teacher Zhao angrier. Pointing directly at Teacher Wang’s face, she scolded, “My student was born with weak legs! As a teacher, how can you fail to set an example? If you make a mistake, you apologize!”

Teacher Wang: “…” What a manipulative little green-tea elementary school student!

While Gu Wenzhu kept Teacher Wang occupied, Yan Jiyun, Qi Feng, and Lan Mo brought Yan Weilan back to the dormitory.

Chasing after them were the principal, the director of academic affairs, and the grade director. Yan Jiyun could already hear the sound of them pounding up the stairs. 

Qi Feng pulled out the painting they’d taken down the previous night. “Hide inside.”

Yan Weilan grabbed Yan Jiyun’s hand. In the blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared into the painting. 

Lan Mo immediately copied them. He reached for Qi Feng’s hand, “Feng-ge, let’s go!”

Qi Feng expressionlessly shook his hand off. “Let go.”

Lan Mo blinked. “But Yan Jiyun and Yan Weilan both went in like that, didn’t they?”

Qi Feng shot him a look that said: ‘He’s him, you’re you.’