DSMC Chapter 103.2

Once he entered the Peak Competition, he didn’t know whether it would still wander around the stall area and the small tavern.

Qi Feng stared seriously at Lan Mo. “Lan Mo, the Peak Competition has never had a time limit. I might come out late, or I might come out early. There’s something very important I need you to help me with.”

In the game, Lan Mo was one of the partners he trusted most. Their trust had been built on life-and-death choices.

Lan Mo had been sitting crookedly, but when Qi Feng spoke to him in the tone he only used at critical moments in instances, he couldn’t help but sit up straight, a bit excited.

“Feng-ge, are you going to let me blow up the bases of those little guilds that provoked us?” He wanted a fight!

Not long after Lan Mo came out of an instance he had been surrounded and blocked, feeling suffocated all day. After returning here and settling down, he was preparing to retaliate when they heard another piece of news: the Intermediate-level branch of the New Forces Guild was gone. No one knew which deity did it, but it was extremely satisfying.

He had even teased Qi Feng, asking if it was done by one of his secret admirers. His Feng-ge was handsome and capable with countless men and women wanting to throw themselves at him.

Qi Feng shook his head. “No.”

He took out a sheet of paper and a backpack from his personal space and handed them to Lan Mo.

Lan Mo took the paper. On it was a drawing of a completely black cat. Feng-ge’s drawing skills were pretty good. Although the cat was black, the posture was vividly depicted. Overall, it’s a very cool and handsome little black cat.

But… what did this mean?

Before Lan Mo could ask, Qi Feng began explaining the task.

“Lan Mo, over the next few days, spend more time around the small tavern and the place where we set up our stall. If you see a cat that looks very similar to the one in the picture, please bring it back.”

Don’t all black cats in the world look the same?

What’s the difference between them?

Lan Mo wasn’t stupid. He thought of Brother Feng’s recent unusual behavior.

“Feng-ge, the one that was in your backpack earlier… could it be—”

“Mm. It’s enough that you know.”

Lan Mo had never considered this possibility before and was quite shocked. “You brought a pet out from the instance?”

But that didn’t make sense. They had entered so many instances; no player had ever brought a living creature out of the game, not even an item.

Qi Feng decided not to hide it from him anymore. “It’s a long story. It’s my cat. By accident it entered the game.”

Lan Mo sat even straighter, his eyes full of curiosity. “So when you asked Qiu Xi for help earlier, it was to bring it into the instance?”

Qi Feng looked a little melancholy. “Mm. I’m about to enter the Peak Competition, and I don’t know when I’ll come out. If I can’t get out… if you happen to run into it, help me take care of it. If you don’t run into it, just pretend I never said anything.”

Lan Mo: “Got it.”

Qi Feng handed him another notebook. “It’s a male cat called Caramel. These are its living habits.”

Lan Mo took the thick handbook and felt it was a bit heavy. “Okay.” Are you sure you’re raising a cat and not a son? Isn’t this handbook a bit too thick?

Why did Feng-ge only tell him now and keep it hidden before?

But then he thought again — none of the other teammates knew yet. Feng-ge must trust him to give him such a difficult task.

“Feng-ge, just focus on finishing the Peak Competition well. I’ll definitely help you find your cat.”

“Mm. Its eye color is a little lighter than blue and a little darker than green. Don’t mistake it.”

Lan Mo: “…”

What color is lighter than blue but darker than green? He really hadn’t read many books. Could he explain that a bit more?

Qi Feng said, “I’m going into my personal space to prepare for the Peak Competition. We’ll talk more later.”

In the end Lan Mo swallowed all his doubts and said, “Feng-ge, come back safely!”

This was what they said every time they parted. No one could guarantee that they would successfully come out of every instance or system event. Even the strongest people had weaknesses.

Qi Feng nodded and the next second returned to his personal space.

Actually, if a guild wanted to find them, it wasn’t easy. Personal space could fulfill all the player’s daily life needs. As long as they didn’t communicate with the outside world, once they entered their personal space and didn’t come out again, they could simply wait for the next instance to open, avoiding guild blockades.

So in reality, guilds mainly blocked high-level players who needed to look for information about the next instance. This method was basically ineffective against players below high-level instances. Besides, players still had the friend system in the backend. Blocking people was really not a wise choice.

Qi Feng had never been afraid of guild members. If he fought them head-on he could win, but avoiding them saved a lot of unnecessary trouble. Out of sight, out of mind. He could just treat them like flies.

Qi Feng moved around in his personal space, warming up.

[Attention players who have received Peak Competition entry tickets. The Peak Competition will begin in 3 minutes. In 3 minutes, all players will enter the preparation area.]

Three minutes later, the system pulled Qi Feng into the Peak Competition arena.

At the same time, Yan Jiyun — who had been doing mental preparation in his personal space — felt darkness before his eyes. His body lost weight, and when he opened his eyes again, he had entered a space similar to an instance rest area.

But this time the process was different from entering instances before. There were other players appearing around him as well. Looking out, the entire beach was densely packed with people, so many heads that they couldn’t be counted.

A standard cutesy voice suddenly rang above everyone’s heads: [Congratulations to all players who received black entry tickets for coming to the monthly Peak Competition. You are all lucky ones selected by the system.]

Yan Jiyun’s scalp almost went numb from the cutesy voice. It was so affected it was frightening.

No one actually wanted to be the lucky one chosen by the system.

All the players, like Yan Jiyun, waited for the voice to continue.

Yan Jiyun’s system interface hadn’t been closed because he entered the Peak Competition. Could it be that the Peak Competition was the same as entering an instance?

Buy props, then enter the game?

He opened the game shop in advance. Considering that the Peak Competition might be different, he didn’t randomly spend points to buy items.

After closing the item bar, he casually glanced at the main pet column. If he hadn’t looked, he wouldn’t have noticed that the pooper scooper wasn’t “Online,” but had changed to a new status.

[Owner: Qi Feng]

[Status: In Instance]

He remembered there used to be only three statuses: “Online,” “Offline,” and “In Game.” There had never been a fourth one.

Three days ago when he left the instance he saw that the pooper scooper’s status had remained “Online.” It hadn’t changed at all until he was pulled into the Peak Competition. At that time he glanced at it just to confirm whether the poop-er cooper was still alive. But after he entered here, the status changed to “In Game.”

Players in the Central Zone all knew that besides instances, there was currently only one thing: Peak Competition. Could it be that the pooper scooper had also entered the Peak Competition?

Strange. What was going on?

He checked the friend list again. It had turned gray and unusable.

Yan Jiyun’s heavy mood over the past few days suddenly lightened. Was there a possibility that his pooper scooper had also entered the Peak Competition and might even be in the same space as him?

According to the game’s rules, if they were in different spaces, there wouldn’t be such a prompt.

Looking at the dark mass of people, it would be difficult to transform back into a cat body, and he didn’t even know what type of game it was yet. There was no way to directly meet up with his pooper scooper in the crowd.

The cutesy voice deliberately paused for a few seconds, making everyone tense up. After many players’ expressions and moods changed, it continued explaining the rules of the Peak Competition.

Cutesy voice: [All players will enter the instance in 10 minutes. Each player may bring no more than 10,000 points into the arena. All props can be purchased after entering the instance.]

Cutesy voice: [There are no special rules for this instance and no time limit. As long as you come out alive from the instance, that is victory. The player who survives until the end will not only have their points reward doubled but will also receive precious rare prop rewards. The earlier you come out, the rarer the reward will be~]

Cutesy voice: [The entire Peak Competition will be broadcast live. Players can also interact and communicate with the audience. As long as players successfully come out of the Peak Competition arena, the live broadcast tips this time will also be doubled.]

Cutesy voice: [Wish all players a pleasant game~]

After that, the voice disappeared.

Yan Jiyun wanted to call out his young man-voice system, but no matter how he tried to stimulate the system, there was no response.

Without the young man-voice’s prompts, he felt uncertain about everything, so he bought Human Form Time Cards in advance and used them immediately.

Although players could bring 10,000 points into the game, those points could only buy a ten-minute experience card, and he wasn’t even sure if it could be used after entering the instance.

Moreover, this instance had no time limit. Everything was unknown to him, and there were many players. To him, it was very frightening.

Yan Jiyun first added three hours of time cards for himself, spending a total of 180,000 points, and converted most of the remaining points into time cards for emergencies.

This time he didn’t convert all his points into time cards. He kept a small portion untouched. Who knew how many points could be obtained in the Peak Competition instance.

The five minutes of preparation time passed quickly!

A large portion of the five minutes had been spent listening to the cutesy voice speak, and another part preparing points. Players had no time to recognize acquaintances in the crowd or meet friends.

[All players will enter the Peak Competition arena in 5 seconds.]

[Countdown 5 seconds— 4 seconds— 3 seconds— 2 seconds— 1 second—]

Yan Jiyun’s body lost weight again. When he opened his eyes again, he found that the deafening roar of an airplane filled his ears.

There were nearly fifty players on the same plane as him. Everyone wore the same uniform, carried parachutes on their backs, and all had confused expressions.

Amid the roar of the plane, before the players even had time to curse the system, a clear system prompt sounded in their ears.

[The plane will explode in 30 seconds. All players must exit the cabin within 30 seconds!]

The wind at several thousand meters in the sky blew so strongly that Yan Jiyun could barely open his eyes.

Just as he reacted, all the players’ safety buckles popped open. Those who didn’t react in time had already been blown out into the sky.

Yan Jiyun’s position was relatively near the back row. Reacting quickly, he reached out to grab something beside him. He thought there was a handrail, but what he grabbed was a player’s solid arm.

Before Yan Jiyun could clearly see the other person’s face, his hand was shaken off.

The person walked past him. By the time Yan Jiyun saw his face clearly, the man had already checked his equipment and leapt from the tail of the plane into the sky in the most standard posture.

Yan Jiyun came back to his senses from surprise and muttered behind him, “Holy shit!”

Qi Feng, you actually dared to throw your cat away!!!