DSMC Chapter 101.2

[Want to be Human] livestream channel:

“So that’s how it is. I finally understand!”

“What? What did you figure out now?”

“So in this instance all you need is to bring a teaser wand. In other words, as long as the player brings the right prop, they can awaken the consciousness inside feline bodies!”

“But the brown bear isn’t a feline. And didn’t Dr. Zhou also cure the other non-special animals?”

“Still don’t get it? The black panther and Orange are the key NPCs in this instance. The kitty used the prop that awakens their consciousness as soon as he entered. The more times the item is used, the clearer their consciousness becomes. The sister earlier specifically mentioned felines, so she probably misunderstood. It should be key NPCs. As long as the teaser wand is used on the key NPCs, they can be awakened. And the most crucial one is the black panther. As long as his consciousness awakens, the plot will change.”

“These past few days watching Kitty Baby seriously acting as the zoo director and playing with the black panther and the others, I almost forgot this is an instance livestream. By the way, I suddenly want to ask: if the kitty followed the ‘animal’ storyline, on the first day the animals riot, on the second day animals get stolen, then what happens in the next three days? The first time I watched this instance I already noticed Kitty Baby didn’t take the usual path. I’m just curious what the normal route looks like.”

“On the third day Dr. Zhou appears, letting players notice he’s different. If the player follows Dr. Peng’s route, the fourth and fifth days will revolve around that line. Players will discover that most animals in the zoo are extremely intelligent. Through the clues given by Dr. Peng they can find evidence of Dr. Zhou’s experiments and finally destroy the laboratory. If you take that route, as long as Dr. Zhou is arrested you can successfully leave the instance. Honestly, I’ve watched this instance more than ten times, and this is the first time I learned that Uncle Man is actually the biggest boss of this instance. The director suffering from a stroke was just a lie.”

“Ahhh, we won’t get to see Kitty Baby interact with the big cats anymore. See you in the next instance!”

Meanwhile, the players who exited the instance earlier than Yan Jiyun had been waiting in the temporary rest area long enough to practically scrape off the system’s background.

The instance had been cleared by someone without explanation. They were very happy and directly exited the game, thankful that they had managed to survive by lying low.

But they hadn’t expected that something even more unbearable than doing missions in the instance was waiting in the temporary rest area with only themselves and the system, waiting and waiting and waiting… until finally the instance ended!

In the rest area they cursed multiple times about why everyone had already come out while there was still a player who chose to stay inside the instance. If that player didn’t exit, the instance wouldn’t settle its results. And if the instance didn’t settle, they could only stay stuck in the temporary rest area!

How was this a temporary rest area? It was basically a small prison. After a while longer they would probably grow grass.

The system notified all players who had exited early.

[The last player has exited the instance. Next, the instance reward settlement will begin.]

The instance score rankings appeared.

1st place: Yan Jiyun

2nd place: Meng Changsheng

……

All the players who survived and came out of the instance: ???

Wasn’t Yan Jiyun the player ranked last on the popularity leaderboard?

Why was he first place? What did he do?

Who even was he?

All the players were confused and baffled, and they started complaining to the system.

Hot-tempered player: “Who is this player? Why did he get reward points more than ten times higher than ours?”

Rational player: “He was ranked last in popularity but completed the missions and got first place? Isn’t the instance based on popularity value?”

Self-reflective player: “I just didn’t work hard enough. I wasn’t smart enough. My skills were inferior…”

Player who survived by luck: “Thanks to the 1st place player for finishing the main mission early, allowing me to survive~”

Only Meng Changsheng was different. He was in a state of self-doubt.

Even three days after leaving the instance he was still confused. He had no idea how he obtained so many points. What had he done?

He racked his brain but still couldn’t figure out how things developed that way.

How did he end up in second place? He was clearly first in popularity.

However, once an instance was cleared it couldn’t be attempted again, which instead made him feel relieved.

Whatever~ He had accidentally obtained a lot of points. Yeay~!

Meanwhile, the moment Yan Jiyun popped out of the instance, he lay flat on the ground in the temporary rest area, completely unwilling to move.

The black panther, Orange, Caesar, and the others had awakened and returned to their human bodies. At the final moment the instance had turned them all back, perhaps because he used the correct prop.

Finally, it was over.

All he wanted now was a good rest.

The rewards for this instance were extremely generous!

There was also a long list of achievements.

[Congratulations to the player for unlocking a new ending for “Crazy Zoo.”]

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining 100% favorability from 8 NPCs.]

[The player completed the first instance in the Easy level. Not only did you obtain first place, you also broke the record for the shortest completion time of this instance. You will receive a clearance gift package from the system.]

[Congratulations to the player for entering the top 200 of the newcomer livestream tipping rankings.]

Yan Jiyun still had several unused trial cards from the previous round. Human Form Time Cards brought into the instance couldn’t be taken out again. He had already turned back into a cat now, but he used a card to transform into human form again. He had gotten used to speaking this way these past few days, and he had many questions he wanted to ask the system.

The young male voice of the system, which he hadn’t heard for several days, appeared again.

Young man: “Congratulations to the player for clearing the Crazy Zoo instance.”

Young man: “You obtained first place again this time. Would you like to check the points and livestream rewards you received this time?”

Yan Jiyun: “Check.”

This time his points reward totaled 200,000. Compared with the previous instance, the livestream rewards had tripled. Easy level instances had far more viewers, so the tipping and viewership were on an entirely different level compared to the Newcomer level. 

What Yan Jiyun cared about more now was what was inside the gift package. “What’s in the gift package?”

Young man: “Would you like to open the gift package?”

Yan Jiyun: “Open.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a gift box appeared in front of him. He reached out and tapped it.

With a burst of fireworks effects, the gift box opened with a bang.

The notification bar in the lower left corner of the system popped up:

[Congratulations, you obtained prop: Tuna ×1]

[Congratulations, you obtained prop: Sardine ×1]

[Congratulations, you obtained prop: Beef Patty ×1]

[Congratulations, you obtained prop: Lucky Card ×1]

He could understand the Lucky Card, but what were the first three food-related items supposed to mean?

Young man: “Except for the Lucky Card, the others are props that can increase Intimacy level with the main account.”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

Was the system forcing him to fight the main-pet system to the end?

In order not to anger himself into a heart attack, Yan Jiyun decided to toss that stuff aside for now.

The Human Form Time Cards he had brought in this time were almost used up. During the last three days when he stayed with the black panther, Orange, and Caesar, he spent most of the time turning back into a cat to learn fighting techniques from them. Though he was often pinned to the ground and rubbed by their big paws. That could be considered the biggest gain from staying in the instance those three extra days.

Moreover, he had gained quite a lot from this instance.

This mission mode had many traps. One careless step and you would fall into them. Every detail was extremely important. Another thing was that the instance modes might become more diversified. This time it was humans turning into animals, so next time, would there be an instance where people turn into aliens?

This instance once again reminded him that the further he went, the more dangerous the future instances would become. He absolutely couldn’t let his guard down even a little.

Yan Jiyun had just come out, and everything in his mind was still related to that instance. He asked the system, “Now that a new ending has been unlocked, is there any follow-up I can watch?”

Young man: “Yes. Would you like to watch the instance’s follow-up now?”

Yan Jiyun: “Watch it now.”

Perfect timing to rest for a bit before going out. Although the physical exhaustion wasn’t strong, he had stayed inside for three days and had been chased around by the black panther, Orange, and Caesar while they trained him in combat techniques. He was really tired!

Not only did he have to train fighting, the little wolf cub also wanted to play fetch with him.

During the three days in the zoo, he had been playing the whole time, which was also quite tiring. However, the three-day zoo director experience had healed the mental and physical exhaustion caused by the first two days of the instance.

Right now he was eager to see what happened afterward with the black panther, Orange, and the others.

Young man: “Since this instance involves many NPCs, only a small segment from the ending will be shown to you.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. “Alright.”

From the good news Dr. Zhou told him at the end, the black panther and the others should all have had fairly good endings.

A title appeared on the big screen: [Who Will End Up Owning Xianghe Zoo?]

No matter who it ended up with, it certainly wouldn’t be Yan Jiyun. The zoo really was a pretty good place.

The surrounding lights slowly dimmed, and a table placed on the lawn gradually faded in.

Seated around the table were several men with distinct looks. Each good-looking and charismatic in his own way.

After a while, a couple with reconstructed faces arrived. Although their appearances still had flaws, no one treated them lightly.

Yan Jiyun could recognize who was who, though when he had seen them before they had all been unconscious. Now everyone had recovered to normal human standards.

The rich second-generation Caesar tossed a black card onto the table. “I’ll buy the zoo. None of you are allowed to compete with me.”

President Gu placed a contract from his hand on the table. “I’ve already bought the land around the zoo. Its area can be expanded soon.”

The former black panther, Yu Shinan, looked at them calmly and said, “Since everyone wants it and wants what’s best for it, I suggest we invest together. The most important point is, who will be the director?”

Han Xi, who rarely let go of his phone, slowly put down the device he treated like his life. “I have someone in mind, but I can’t remember who he is.”

Yu Shinan lifted his eyelids slightly. “Then we’ll just choose a deputy director.”

President Gu said, “I have no objection.”

Caesar also said, “Neither do I.”

At that moment the camera turned to Dr. Zhou walking over. He was carrying a cage in his hand. He approached Yu Shinan. “Ge, look! Does this black cat look like the one you’re searching for?”

Yu Shinan took the cage and said, “It looks a bit similar, but also a little different.”

Han Xi suddenly said, “Why don’t we let the little black cat be our director!”

The scene changed again. Xianghe Zoo was still Xianghe Zoo, but a black cat statue now stood at the entrance. Because its director was a pure black cat.

Yan Jiyun: “……”

Hahaha, that black cat image wouldn’t be modeled after him, would it?

Wait a second. Do NPCs have special impressions of players?

No, that’s not quite right. At the time he had been acting as an NPC. The instance recognized him as an NPC, so it was normal that the black panther and the others remembered him. He was also part of the instance’s storyline. That meant that in this instance he was basically an NPC too?

Just as Yan Jiyun was about to confuse himself completely, the five-minute segment ended.

He tidied up his appearance and stepped out of the instance’s temporary rest area.

Inside and outside the instance were two completely different worlds.

The moment he came out, he wanted to find his pooper scooper and eat some dried fish.

As soon as he walked out, he was met with several pairs of confused, angry, and bewildered eyes.

From their expressions, Yan Jiyun could guess that they were players from the same instance. He lightly waved at everyone.

Meng Changsheng was still at the instance exit. When he saw Yan Jiyun, his eyes widened!

Wasn’t that the zookeeper?

Wasn’t he an NPC?

Why did he walk out of the instance?

Only then did Meng Changsheng belatedly realize that the man wasn’t an NPC at all — he was a player just like him!

No wonder that guy got first place and he himself got second!

Ahhhhh! How many embarrassing things had he done in front of him!!!

Yan Jiyun didn’t recognize any of the players from the same instance. But just because he didn’t recognize them didn’t mean they didn’t recognize him. Right now he only wanted to slip away quickly and avoid drawing hostility.

He glanced around but didn’t see any sign of his pooper scooper, which made him a bit disappointed.

Then he suddenly remembered. Qi Feng didn’t know he had entered an Easy-level instance.

Just as he was feeling a little down, a system announcement that all players could hear rang in his ears.

[Attention all players: the monthly Peak Competition is about to begin. Players who have obtained entry tickets will enter the arena in three days.]

[Players can check their entry tickets in the prop inventory.]

Yan Jiyun saw a new notification in his message bar: [Congratulations, you have obtained a “Peak Competition” entry ticket.]

Damn!