DSMC Chapter 161

I finally have time to tl and post _(´ཀ`」 ∠) _

Unlike the usual, I will immediately continue to the next art after this one finishes.

After Yan Weilan and Yan Jiyun entered the painting, they waited for Lan Mo, but Qi Feng never came.

He asked, “Why hasn’t Qi Feng come in?”

Lan Mo scratched his head. “I don’t know. Feng-ge didn’t say. Maybe he wants to hide the painting first?”

Yan Jiyun shook his head. “Looks like he has other plans. If all of us go in, there’s no guarantee that someone won’t take the painting.”

Qi Feng was probably just staying outside as a precaution. He had stood out too much earlier, so the other teachers could recognize him at a glance. As long as Qi Feng hid well, he shouldn’t have any major problems.

But Yan Jiyun still wasn’t at ease. He closed his eyes and left the painting again.

Qi Feng was extremely surprised to see him come out. “Why did you come out? Go back in.”

Yan Jiyun: “You go in. I’ll take you all somewhere safe.”

Qi Feng patted him on the shoulder. “You stayed behind last night. Let me do it today.”

Yan Jiyun tilted his head at him. “Are you sure? I’m actually pretty good at hiding, and my hearing is pretty decent too.”

“Don’t worry. These NPCs won’t do anything to me. You, on the other hand, have already been noticed by the principal. If you show up, he’ll definitely hold you accountable, and you might trigger some unpleasant mission.”

Qi Feng had experience in this regard. More importantly, as a veteran player, constantly needing a newbie to protect him didn’t really fit with his principles. Although relying on his cat to clear that hidden mission had felt pretty good, that was his cat, and he understood it. Yan Jiyun, however, was more mysterious than any of his teammates. He still didn’t know him well, so he didn’t want to be protected by him over and over again.

The reason Yan Jiyun had been noticed by the principal was the challenge letter he had issued to Shao Xin. Going by the usual instance logic, now that Yan Weilan had been framed, Shao Xin would definitely take advantage of the opportunity to kick him while he was down, crying to his uncle about how Yan Weilan had “bullied” him. If Yan Jiyun didn’t show up in time, Yan Weilan would continue taking the blame for it.

Yan Jiyun: “All right, then. Let’s agree on a time and a place to come out.”

Qi Feng nodded. “In half an hour, I’ll bring the painting back to the classroom in the multifunctional building. Come out when the time’s up.”

After hearing Qi Feng’s explanation, Yan Jiyun was ultimately convinced. He slipped back into the painting and told Lan Mo about the time he had agreed on with Qi Feng.

Seeing him looking so worried, Lan Mo said without the slightest concern, “Relax. Qi Feng is really strong.”

Yan Jiyun gestured at their heights. “But right now, he’s just a kid about the same height as us.”

Lan Mo paused. “When you put it that way, you do have a point. But Feng-ge always does what he says, and he has item cards on him too. There’s no need to worry too much.”

Yan Jiyun curled himself up in the spacious sofa and closed his eyes to rest.

Yan Weilan was also much quieter now. He lowered his head, apparently lost in thought. Eventually, Lan Mo noticed how unusually quiet the child was and started chatting with him. However, Yan Weilan seemed to have been hit pretty hard, and he wasn’t in much of a mood to talk.

The three of them quietly waited for the time to pass. Half an hour wasn’t particularly long or short, but the waiting itself was extremely nerve-racking.

Yan Jiyun wanted to go out and turn back into a cat. Spending half an hour here would not only waste the time on his Human Form Time Card, but also waste his life.

He didn’t like this feeling of being unable to do anything while facing the unknown. He preferred having every development under his control. No matter how difficult things were, they were fine as long as he knew what was happening. They could wait half an hour.

Four people naturally made a bigger and less secure target than one person.

However, he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Qi Feng probably wouldn’t have enough time to think about anything else while getting them out of there, so he could use this opportunity to go over his items and the plot again.

After finishing his rest, he moved over beside Yan Weilan, who was quietly sitting there like a well-behaved child.

Yan Jiyun asked seriously, “Class Monitor, do you trust me?”

Yan Weilan nodded firmly. “Of course I trust you.”

“The questions I’m going to ask you may determine whether we can help you get out of this situation. Can you tell me the truth about everything?”

Seeing Yan Jiyun take action, Lan Mo didn’t dare slack off either, afraid he might miss some important information. After all, he represented Qi Feng’s little team.

Yan Weilan clearly trusted Yan Jiyun and cooperated readily. “I’ll tell you the truth about anything I know.”

Yan Jiyun had already determined that Yan Weilan was the trace of pure innocence in Teacher Qu’s heart. He used the simplest way to communicate with him. “Then let’s make a pinky promise.”

Yan Weilan: “Okay.”

It was Lan Mo’s first time seeing a player interact with an NPC like this, and he was rather shocked. In the past, they had always fought NPCs head-on. Not a single one of them had the patience to play house with NPCs.

Yan Jiyun and Yan Weilan hooked their pinkies together. Once he was certain that the boy wouldn’t fall back into his emotional state, he got straight to the point. “First question: How did your older brother’s rabbit die?”

Yan Weilan opened his mouth. “How do you know my brother had a rabbit?”

Yan Jiyun answered honestly, “I heard you talking to Yan Weicheng. I was curious about the whole story.”

Yan Weilan looked at him uneasily. “I didn’t kill his rabbit. I really couldn’t save it. But I think Dage misunderstood me.”

Yan Jiyun looked at him seriously, without the slightest trace of suspicion in his eyes. “I believe you. Can you tell me what happened to the rabbit before and after it died? You know, we like playing detective games. Maybe we can figure out what killed the rabbit.”

After receiving Yan Jiyun’s affirmation, Yan Weilan visibly relaxed and began carefully recalling what had happened to the rabbit. “It happened during summer vacation. My older brother bought a little rabbit. At first, he took pretty good care of it, but after a few days, it started looking listless. It still ate normally, but it had diarrhea and kept getting thinner. I really liked Dage’s rabbit, so I secretly gave it a name. I called it Snow White. One day, Dage went out to play with his classmates, and Erge went to his flute lesson. I was the only one left at home. That day, Snow White suddenly lay in its cage without eating or drinking and looked even weaker than before.”

“There was a pet hospital near our neighborhood, so I took it there to see a doctor. But I didn’t have enough pocket money, so the doctor only gave me a little medicine. I gave Snow White the medicine according to his instructions. By evening, it started eating and drinking again. Then Dage and Erge came home, so I went back to my room to do my summer homework. But when it was time for dinner, Dage said Snow White had died. But I had clearly gotten Snow White better. It was eating and sleeping normally. I don’t know why it suddenly died. I was the only one home that afternoon, and I was the one who bought the medicine.”

Yan Weilan was very articulate and had reconstructed the entire sequence of events. Yan Jiyun picked out several suspicious points.

He didn’t immediately make a judgment and instead continued asking, “Did similar incidents happen often? They don’t have to be recent. Maybe when you were in second grade, or even first grade. Were there other things you didn’t do that everyone ended up believing you had done? There must have been, right?”

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Yan Weilan’s personality wouldn’t have changed because of a single incident. It must have accumulated little by little until he finally reached his breaking point.

Yan Weilan continued thinking carefully before nodding. “Yes, there were similar things. Last Chinese New Year, our whole family went to my maternal grandparents’ house for dinner. I have a little cousin who was about two years old. The adults were all in the living room chatting and eating sunflower seeds, so they left us siblings in a room to play. Somehow, my cousin started crying. He wouldn’t stop, and his crying attracted everyone. He couldn’t really speak yet, so he just kept crying and saying that it hurt. Later, my aunt found needle marks on his body. That afternoon, I had been the closest to my cousin, so they said I had done it. My parents yelled at me and wouldn’t let me eat dinner. I said I hadn’t done it, but nobody believed me.”

Yan Jiyun asked, “Besides you, who else had contact with your cousin?”

Yan Weilan shook his head. “Everyone did. My cousin liked being held, so he had been held by every older brother and sister.”

Yan Jiyun: “Did your older brother hold him for a little longer?”

Yan Weilan thought for a moment. “I think so.”

By this point, the answer was practically staring them in the face. Yan Weilan was smart enough to understand it. He simply wasn’t willing to suspect the person involved.

Yan Jiyun gave him space to think. He didn’t want to come across as aggressive and force him to face the truth.

In fact, after just these two incidents, the truth was already quite clear.

During the student food-poisoning incident, only Yan Weicheng had approached Yan Weilan with suspicion and accusations. Although his attitude hadn’t been particularly explicit, and the two of them only made subtle accusations when they were alone, being subjected to that kind of treatment over a long period of time would inevitably affect Yan Weilan’s state of mind.

Lan Mo and Yan Jiyun exchanged a glance. He asked quietly, “Do you think he’ll figure it out?”

Yan Jiyun nodded. “He will. Qu-laoshi is very smart. Someone exceptionally intelligent is exactly the kind of person who can have this many troubles.”

Lan Mo stroked his head of blue hair. “Luckily, I’m only averagely smart.”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

He couldn’t tell whether that was self-praise or self-deprecation.

Lan Mo always brought up Qi Feng whenever the topic of intelligence came up. He could never go three sentences without mentioning him. 

“If we’re talking about being smart, my Feng-ge’s brain is pretty useful too. A lot of the problems we can’t figure out, he only needs to think about for a moment before he comes up with a solution.”

Yan Jiyun agreed with him. “Yeah, Qi Feng really is smart.” Otherwise, how could he have ended up with such a smart and handsome cat as him?

Lan Mo hadn’t expected Yan Jiyun to agree. He used to praise Qi Feng like this to other people too, but instead of positive feedback, he would get mocking looks and be called a bootlicker.

Tsk. Those people were just jealous that he had a big shot carrying him through the game.

Hearing someone praise Qi Feng along with him immediately raised Lan Mo’s opinion of Yan Jiyun by several points. “I didn’t expect you to think so too. What do you think Feng-ge is smart at?”

Yan Jiyun began listing Qi Feng’s strengths. “Loving cats?”

Only then did Lan Mo realize that Yan Jiyun had noticed a different shining quality in Qi Feng than he had. “But we had no idea where his cat went.” 

Yan Jiyun praised Qi Feng’s cat. “If the owner is smart, the cat must be smart too. It’ll definitely come back when it gets hungry.”

Lan Mo suddenly noticed something. “Have you seen Feng-ge’s cat?”

Yan Jiyun’s heart skipped a beat. 

The point Lan Mo had noticed was far too dangerous. There was no way he and “Caramel” could appear at the same time.

Yan Weilan suddenly began crying softly, conveniently getting Yan Jiyun out of the situation. Lan Mo didn’t pay much attention to the matter either. It had only been a casual question; it never crossed his mind that Yan Jiyun and Caramel could actually be the same person.

Wiping his tears, Yan Weilan asked, “Yan Jiyun, why would Dage do this?”

Yan Jiyun patted the child’s head and analyzed the situation for him. “Is it possible that people praise you for being smart more often than they praise your older brother?”

Yan Weilan still didn’t understand. “But we look exactly alike. Other people can’t even tell us apart. Why would my older brother care?”

Yan Jiyun said softly, “As long as your grades are better than his and you receive more praise than he does, people will naturally compare the two of you. And that can lead to jealousy.”

Lan Mo chimed in like the straight man in a comedy duo: “Exactly.”

Yan Weilan: “But we’re biological brothers. Why would he blame his mistakes on me?”

Yan Jiyun: “He isn’t blaming his mistakes on you. He’s deliberately leading other people to hate you. That’s much worse than simply shirking responsibility.”

Yan Weilan: “Then was he behind the food poisoning incident too?”

Yan Jiyun: “Maybe he just wanted to prove that he was smarter than you.”

Although Yan Weicheng was also one of the personalities split off from Teacher Qu, he and Yan Weilan were on opposing sides. Yan Jiyun couldn’t tell Yan Weilan this outright. The world he was in operated according to its own logic, and that logic meant Yan Weicheng had to get rid of Yan Weilan by reasonable means. As long as he made Yan Weilan take the blame, his job would be done, and Yan Weicheng would be the winner standing until the very end.

In the battle between Teacher Qu’s main personality and his split personalities, the latter had gained the upper hand.

In the [Mermaid] instance, Xiao Yue had been killed by one of Teacher Qu’s split personalities, giving Teacher Qu’s No. 1 personality one point.

In the [Innocence] instance, if Yan Weilan became the BOSS and was defeated, Teacher Qu’s No. 1 personality would gain another point. If Yan Weilan failed to be framed, then Teacher Qu’s main personality would gain one point. That would put them at 1:1.

What Yan Jiyun had to accomplish was recover Teacher Qu’s main personality. The [Mermaid] instance might have seemed completed, but the outcome had actually already been decided. He had to win this round.

After Yan Jiyun explained everything, Yan Weilan had wiped away his tears.

He said, “There’s only a tiny difference in the time we were born. We’re both equally smart. There’s really no need to prove anything.”

Yan Jiyun sighed. “Sometimes the relationship between brothers is complicated. Just think of it as getting an early taste of the adult world.” 

‘Not to mention, you two actually aren’t brothers,’ he inwardly added.

Lan Mo continued playing the straight man: “Yeah, the adult world is super complicated too.”

Yan Jiyun checked the time. There were five minutes left until the half-hour mark.

Yan Weilan had now accepted that he had been framed by Yan Weicheng, but his mood was still rather low. Even so, this was already a huge step forward for them. At least now he knew that the person he needed to guard against most was his own older brother. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be manipulated again.

Sigh. Who would have thought a child’s world could be even more complicated than an adult’s?

There were only three minutes left until the time they had agreed upon with Qi Feng. Lan Mo and Yan Jiyun prepared to leave the painting.

One minute left.

Yan Jiyun pulled Yan Weilan up from the sofa. Surprisingly, he felt extremely nervous, silently praying in his heart that nothing had happened to Qi Feng.

Lan Mo began counting down. “Five, four, three, two, one. Let’s go!”

The three of them closed their eyes and left the world inside the painting.

When they came out, they didn’t see Qi Feng. Everything around them was pitch-black.

Both Yan Jiyun and Lan Mo immediately became alert. This wasn’t the place where they had agreed to meet.

It was a dark, gloomy room that smelled strongly of mildew. There was only one old window, which stood open. Outside was a pond filled with lotus flowers. Qi Feng had probably thrown the painting in here in a hurry. Yan Jiyun had no idea what had happened to him during the past half hour.

Yan Jiyun reacted quickly. “Lan Mo, the people outside are definitely searching for Yan Weilan right now. Stay here and protect him. I’ll go scout out the situation.”

Lan Mo also guessed that something might have happened to Qi Feng. “I’m physically stronger and can run faster. You stay.”

Yan Jiyun stopped him. “I’m not as good at fighting as you, and I have less combat experience. But when it comes to tracking and hiding, I’m not being modest when I say I’m better than you. Lan Mo, you’re the only one who can stay here and protect Yan Weilan.”

Yan Weilan didn’t understand why he needed protection. “I don’t need anyone to protect me. I can take care of myself.”

Yan Jiyun also patted him on the shoulder. “Listen to me. You’re very important to us. Yan Weilan, can you do this? Stay with Lan Mo the whole time and trust that we’ll help clear your name.”

Yan Weilan’s eyes immediately lit up at Yan Jiyun’s words. “Okay. I believe you!”

“Also, if you’re worried about being discovered, you can hide back inside the painting.” After saying that, Yan Jiyun nimbly squeezed through the narrow window.

Seeing him leave so decisively, Lan Mo began wondering whether he was actually better at fighting than Yan Jiyun. Could Yan Jiyun have deliberately said that just so he would stay behind to protect Yan Weilan? After all, Yan Jiyun had never actually seen him fight.

By then, Yan Jiyun had already slipped into the little woods behind the pond. He crouched down in a spot with plenty of trees, then transformed back into a cat.

He stretched out his body and ran out of the woods, following the sounds coming from the school.

He was curious about how Qi Feng had managed to escape.

Actually, if he had been alone with the painting, he could have slipped away too. He could simply hide in the dormitory next door, then sneak downstairs when the NPCs came looking for him. That would have been the best option. He guessed Qi Feng probably had a similar idea.

Yan Jiyun heard the voices of several adults coming from the administration building.

A group of people seemed to be making a scene, while some women were sitting on the ground, crying and making a huge fuss.

“My child isn’t getting justice from this school today, and I’m absolutely not leaving! The school is covering up for the child who committed the crime. We’re going to teach him a lesson!”

“Why should my son have to suffer this kind of treatment at this school? Principal, I’m going to report you to the Education Bureau! Hurry up and hand that bad kid over!”

“Why bother reporting him to the Education Bureau? We should post it online and expose how the school is protecting a bad kid who tried to kill someone! Then we can report the principal for accepting bribes and taking money from parents without doing anything about it!”

Yan Jiyun hadn’t expected that after spending only half an hour inside the painting, he would come out to a scene like this.

But what did this have to do with Qi Feng? Where had they gone?

He also hadn’t heard any footsteps from Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi around the school. Could they all have been caught?

Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi weren’t idiots. They wouldn’t just sit around waiting for the NPCs to catch them. Besides, the two of them always cleared instances together and worked extremely well as a team.

But why had these parents suddenly appeared? Who had tipped them off?

There was no need to guess.

Yan Jiyun had already spotted Yan Weicheng standing on the teaching building, watching everything unfold below.

This kid was seriously devious. If only he put all that cleverness into studying, he would probably have outperformed Yan Weilan too.

The food poisoning incident was still escalating.

The tall, thin principal, who had previously looked so imposing when he took Yan Weilan away, said, “Please, parents, don’t get anxious. The child’s parents are already on their way. The school will assist everyone in finding the best way to resolve this matter with the child’s parents!”

“But my child is still in the ICU! What are we supposed to do if something happens to him?”

A child’s voice suddenly rang out from somewhere. “I know who the bad kid who poisoned them is! His name is Yan Weilan. He’s in Class 3, Grade 3. He’s really bad!”

The moment Yan Jiyun heard the voice, he knew it was Shao Xin, the principal’s nephew.

Shao Xin was probably the second most detestable child in this instance. He was also a genuinely bad kid.

The parents were about to rush straight toward Class 3, Grade 3, but Shao Xin wasn’t finished.

“The bad kids working with him are Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng! Not only did they poison everyone, they also bully their classmates!”

Holy shit!

Yan Jiyun couldn’t help cursing the little bastard in his head. This kid was even more despicable than the children who had chased him when he was a cat. This was pure framing.

One of the parents asked Shao Xin, “Kid, do you know where they are?”

Shao Xin: “I don’t know where Yan Weilan is, but I know where Qi Feng is. He’s in the teachers’ office right now.”

The parents couldn’t find the actual culprit, so they might vent their anger elsewhere. And now that Qi Feng had been caught by the principal, he was the perfect target for the parents to take their anger out on.

Parents in real life sometimes even go directly to someone’s home to beat up a child, let alone NPCs in an instance. They definitely wouldn’t show Qi Feng any mercy.

So that was why the principal had captured Qi Feng. He wanted to divert the blame. Since they couldn’t find Yan Weilan, he would first find a scapegoat to take the punishment.

This school was full of villains, from the students to the teachers, and from the teachers to the school administrators.

Under his uncle the principal’s instructions, Shao Xin led the group of parents toward Qi Feng to vent their anger. If Yan Jiyun had been there, the principal might have captured him too. Fortunately, Qi Feng had been cautious enough to have them hide inside the painting first and wait for an opportunity to act.

Yan Jiyun quietly followed behind them. Qi Feng couldn’t speak, so he had probably been gagged. He wondered whether his razor blade had come in handy. Besides, they had originally entered a Level 4 instance, so the number of props they could bring in was definitely greater than what they had in their Level 2 instance.

Shao Xin led all the parents to the office on the first floor of the teaching building.

This was quite the strategic location. No matter where he stood, he had a clear view of Qi Feng sitting in the chair.

His hands were tied behind his back, a strip of cloth had been stuffed into his mouth, and his feet were tied to the chair as well.

No wonder he couldn’t break free. He was tied up like this.

If Yan Jiyun had arrived any later, would his pooper scooper have already been beaten up?

Qi Feng sat there perfectly upright, neither anxious nor impatient. The NPCs, on the other hand, were extremely agitated. The moment they saw him, they wanted to pounce on him.

The head teacher of Class 3, Wang Ru, stepped forward at just the right moment to explain why the child had been tied up like this:

Because he was dangerous — he bit people.

At that moment, Yan Jiyun, hidden among the bushes, stared coldly at Wang Ru. 

‘You’re dead. You can bully me if you want, but these trash NPCs had no right to bully my pooper scooper!’