DSMC Chapter 164.2

The players who were playing the actors were also paying attention to their surroundings while filming, including Qi Feng.

But this time, the game seemed determined not to follow the usual script. The first scene ended without any casualties, not even a single supernatural incident  occurred. 

And then Yan Jiyun heard rustling noises coming from upstairs.

Could someone be setting up a trap up there?

He couldn’t spare any time to watch Qi Feng and the others act. If he wanted to leave this complicated and lengthy instance sooner, he had to uncover the truth as soon as possible.

Although the storyline of [Mingya High School 2.0] had changed, the map itself hadn’t changed at all. At this point, he could probably run around it with his eyes closed.

One of the corridors in the main school building had been occupied by the film crew. If he crossed through the crowd, he would inevitably be discovered, so without giving it much thought, he turned and ran in the opposite direction.

After Yan Jiyun ran off, one of the players suddenly said, “Was that a black cat that just ran past?”

Another player said, “I didn’t see anything. Maybe you imagined it.”

Lan Mo, who was standing nearby pretending to be an assistant and keeping watch, immediately asked them when he heard that, “You saw a black cat run past? How big was it?”

The player who had seen Yan Jiyun said, “It just darted out from a corner. I didn’t really notice how big it was, maybe around 4 or 5 kg?” 

Lan Mo thought about it. The Caramel he had seen in the [Mingya High School] instance had indeed been around that weight, but everyone had now returned to their original forms, so Feng-ge’s cat should have returned to its original form too.

Since Qi Feng had once specifically emphasized his cat’s weight to him, Lan Mo had remembered it. Apparently, the adult cat was already close to 7 kg.

Could the black cat the player saw have been Caramel? How could it possibly weigh only 4 or 5 kg? 

Lan Mo quietly waited for Qi Feng to finish following the plot, planning to tell him about the black cat afterward.

By this time, Yan Jiyun had already run up to the second floor. The rustling sound he had heard just moments ago had now stopped.

His hearing was already exceptionally sharp, but he still couldn’t hear any footsteps.

Who had been making that noise upstairs?

With the sound gone, the surroundings became eerily quiet.

Yan Jiyun vaguely saw a white figure drift past one of the windows!

The fur all over Yan Jiyun’s body stood on end in fright, and he instinctively cried out, “Meow!”

He shrank into a corner, afraid to come out. He remembered Gu Wenzhu explaining the design of haunted houses to the other players before. With a sliding rail, they could make a “female ghost” float from left to right. It was all based on scientific methods.

It had to be a scientific method. There was no way there could be a ghost. He didn’t believe it!

However, his mind was filled with the script he had just read. Although there was someone seeking revenge, the female ghost had been summoned back by the avenger. He had lured the people who had harmed him back to the school under the pretense of going on an adventure, planning to wipe them all out together with the female ghost.

There was a female ghost in the script, so was there a ghost in the [Mingya High School 2.0] instance as well?

Yan Jiyun didn’t want to scare himself either, but that fleeting white figure really had frightened him badly.

His cry also attracted Qi Feng, who had been filming in the corridor. Fortunately, he had just finished his scene.

Qi Feng rushed to the second floor in a single stride, only to see Caramel trembling in a corner from fright. The poor little thing looked utterly pitiful, and those emerald-green eyes were enough to tug at anyone’s heartstrings.

Qi Feng took a deep breath. His emotions were both relieved and worried. His guess had indeed been correct; Caramel would automatically follow him into the next instance.

They really had met again.

Yan Jiyun himself hadn’t expected to become such a coward this time. His legs… his legs were so weak he couldn’t even stand!

How fucking embarrassing. He even had to let Qi Feng pick him up…

Wait, it was fine. He was a cat, not a person. What was there to be embarrassed about? What did a frightened cat have to do with Yan Jiyun?

Qi Feng gently stroked his back while quietly coaxing him, “Don’t be afraid. We’ll clear this instance and go home soon.”

Yan Jiyun pretended to be too frightened to move, limp in Qi Feng’s arms. ‘Hurry, hurry, hurry. Let’s clear this thing and go home. A supernatural instance this unscientific shouldn’t exist!’

Yan Jiyun hadn’t expected to reunite with Qi Feng so quickly or in this manner, but he really wasn’t good with supernatural things. He was genuinely easy to scare.

The monsters’ claws in the original [Mingya High School] instance were better than this. No wonder this was [Mingya High School 2.0]. This was an instance specifically designed to scare people — it wasn’t a mystery story at all!

Teacher Qu was truly too evil. If he really was hiding among the ghosts, Yan Jiyun would never be able to find him. He was afraid of ghosts. He was afraid of being frightened.

Actually, Yan Jiyun wasn’t normally this delicate, but he had been crouching outside for quite a while. Combined with being exposed to the wind and rain earlier, his entire body felt somewhat uncomfortable, and he was a little exhausted.

Just as Qi Feng had picked up the cat, the director downstairs started calling for everyone.

The director was a man under thirty. Perhaps because he used his voice so much, it had a slightly hoarse quality. When Yan Jiyun got closer, he could clearly see his appearance. Even wearing a vest, the man had an air of refinement about him, with a somewhat unconventional mature charm.

Yan Jiyun let out a huge sneeze and thought that this director seemed rather charming. He had heard that relationships within film crews were particularly messy. Actors without much status would do everything they could to latch onto actors with status, or even sell their bodies in exchange for one or two extra shots.

The director’s surname was Jiang, and everyone called him Director Jiang. Qi Feng had already met him beforehand as well.

When Director Jiang saw that Qi Feng was carrying something in his arms, his expression turned displeased.

“What did you stuff in there? We’re about to shoot the next scene. Don’t mess up your styling.”

He called out to the stylist in the crowd, “Stylist, come fix Qi Feng’s clothes.”

“Give me a second, Director Jiang. I’ll be ready in a moment.”

Qi Feng didn’t let the NPC stylist touch him. Instead, he walked over to Lan Mo, turned his back to everyone, handed Yan Jiyun over to him, and tucked him into his arms. “Be careful.”

Lan Mo said, “I was just about to tell you that Caramel came along too, and you already found him yourself.”

Qi Feng said, “There seems to be something unclean upstairs. He saw it and got pretty badly frightened.”

Lan Mo asked, “Cats can be afraid of ghosts too?”

Yan Jiyun really wanted to argue on his own behalf. Why can’t cats be afraid of ghosts?

Qi Feng asked, “Where’s Shi Yan?”

Lan Mo replied, “He just went upstairs to check things out. He went up from the other side. He knows more about the [Mingya High School] instance, so he went to take a look first.”

Director Jiang walked over, and Qi Feng stopped talking.

Director Jiang smiled and asked the two of them, “What are you talking about? Let me hear it too.”

Lan Mo said, “Director Jiang, it’s work-related.”

Director Jiang’s gaze fell on Lan Mo’s bulging arms. He looked once, then looked again, and then simply turned around and walked away.

Lan Mo quietly said to Qi Feng, “I just asked the NPCs from the production about him. Director Jiang is a famous genius director in this world. He directed his first movie at twenty and won the Golden Goose Award for Best New Director. He makes one work every three years, and each one has a higher box office than the last.”

Yan Jiyun’s eyes lit up.

A genius director? Then he could be one of Teacher Qu’s personalities!

Qi Feng asked, “Who else is smart and talented?”

His guess was similar to Yan Jiyun’s.

Lan Mo: “The male second lead, Qu Wanqiao. He became a top star at a young age. You should know him. He was in the same car as you before.”

Qi Feng: “Qu Wanqiao is the name Qu-laoshi had in the [Mermaid] instance.”

Lan Mo suddenly understood. “No wonder it sounded so familiar. Could he be the person we’re looking for?”

Qi Feng asked him in return, “Do you think that’s possible?”

Lan Mo: “I’ll go ask around some more.”

Yan Jiyun sneezed again and began to feel sleepy.

Qi Feng couldn’t help frowning. He knew his cat’s health very well. Caramel had always been somewhat delicate since he was little. There was a difference between eating too much and getting gastroenteritis, and catching a cold or getting sick was another matter entirely.

If Qi Feng weren’t currently required to follow the role-playing plot, he would have simply stuffed Caramel into his arms. “Caramel has a cold. Keep an eye on him for me.”

Lan Mo obediently replied, “Roger that.”

Director Jiang began calling all the actors to continue preparing for the next scene.

The next scene was in the first classroom on the second floor, the exact place where Yan Jiyun had just heard the strange noise and seen the white figure flash past.

After they left, Lan Mo searched through the NPCs’ luggage and found an expensive yet inconspicuous backpack to put Yan Jiyun inside.

Only an expensive designer bag was worthy of Feng-ge’s cat!

Yan Jiyun had suddenly started sneezing, and he was genuinely exhausted. His nerves had been constantly stretched taut during the [Innocence] instance, because he was afraid Yan Weilan would accidentally be led astray. Now that they had switched instances, he still hadn’t had a chance to relax, and that sick, cold-like feeling had returned.

Sure enough, he still wasn’t strong enough. Even using a Lucky Card to enlarge himself was useless. It couldn’t change his constitution.

Director Jiang had an assistant director beneath him. The assistant director handled the filming of this scene while Director Jiang took care of other arrangements.

The non-lead actors were all fairly professional. They didn’t complain even though they had to film in a dusty, filthy classroom. The sharp-chinned fourth male lead, however, was particularly talkative and kept complaining to his assistant about how terrible the environment at Mingya High School was.

Yan Jiyun’s ears were buzzing from listening to him. He just wanted to find something to stuff into the man’s mouth.

His brain felt a little sluggish now. He was just about to give up and lie down inside the bag when he suddenly heard someone outside the classroom shouting for help.

Someone was already shouting for help this early in the game?

[Mingya High School 2.0] was exciting indeed.

However, nothing could pique Yan Jiyun’s curiosity right now. He was genuinely exhausted and needed to rest.

Neither Lan Mo nor Qi Feng made a move. There were more proactive players outside, as well as their teammates. Everyone could divide up the work; there was no need for all of them to crowd together.

Before long, someone returned and told the assistant director that a staff member had accidentally slipped while working with the wire rig and had nearly fallen from it. It wasn’t a supernatural incident.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn’t something strange, it was fine.

Filming continued, and Qi Feng still couldn’t get away.

This time, he was filming a scene with the first female lead. She secretly tugged at his sleeve, seemingly wanting to tell him something, but the character Qi Feng was playing didn’t want to pay her any attention. The male second lead saw this and stepped forward to comfort the female lead.

The classroom had been specially prepared as a set. There was a particularly important scene here in the script, where one of the characters brought up the events that had happened at this high school back then. The filming proceeded smoothly.

The male second lead, Qu Wanqiao, asked them, “I heard that every year on October 1, a female third-year student wearing a white dress jumps from the building. Students often see a white figure floating around outside the classroom windows at night.”

The fourth male lead was frightened inside, but his character was a carefree playboy who feared nothing. “Tsk, really? Let’s see if your white figure shows up tonight. Hahaha!”

His acting was quite natural at first, and he casually looked out the window.

Then his laughter suddenly froze.

The fourth male lead suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. “AAAAAAAH! A GHOST!”

Yan Jiyun’s head hurt from the fourth male lead’s scream. Then he heard Qu Wanqiao quietly deliver his line: “Today is October 1.”

This instance was seriously way too exciting.