DSMC Chapter 106.1

There were no “demons” in Demon Forest. If anything could be called demons, it would only be players who killed others to steal points or the system itself.

Since there were no real demons, there were naturally no real angels in Angel City either.

After exiting Demon Forest, Yan Jiyun discovered the bicycle had turned onto a relatively smooth road.

This definitely wasn’t a logically rigorous instance, so all kinds of items existed.

“Pegasus” could fly, “horses” could be ridden, and “bicycles” were modern technology, transportation powered by pedaling.

The effect of Yan Jiyun’s invisibility cloak was very short. It disappeared shortly after he exited Demon Forest.

Behind him there was the sound of another bicycle. Presumably it was the player who had cooperated with him earlier, which had conveniently helped him out of that situation.

He turned around and saw that the other person’s invisibility had also worn off.

Yan Jiyun focused his eyes and looked carefully and— 

Oh ho, it was someone he knew.

Wasn’t this the player who had been chased by the wild bear earlier?

“What a coincidence, we meet again.” Chu Mo pedaled his bicycle over with a smiling face.

“So it’s you.” Yan Jiyun wasn’t surprised at all. “You got here pretty quickly. What happened to that bear?”

It would’ve been better not to mention it. As soon as it came up, Chu Mo became furious. Gritting his teeth, he said, “You seem disappointed to see me alive. But thanks to your advice about jumping onto trees, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten out so fast.” He absolutely did not want to recall the experience of being chased by that wild bear!

Yan Jiyun treated it as thanks from a temporary teammate. “You’re welcome. And thanks for helping out just now.”

Chu Mo: “Helping out? You mean when I threw the stone to start the fight? No problem.”

Yan Jiyun blinked: “……”

So the other party didn’t know he had also thrown a stone at that player?

Then it was best to pretend nothing had happened.

Screech!

Yan Jiyun suddenly slammed the brakes. Chu Mo also twisted his handlebars to stop. “Damn, they actually set up three forks in the road. Which way do we go?”

Who would’ve thought they would have to choose directions too.

Yan Jiyun raised his hand and checked the outdoor sports watch on his wrist. The pointer indicated the road on the left. “I choose the left.”

Although the two had tacitly headed toward Angel City together, if their choices differed, it would be fine to part ways here.

Chu Mo also compared things using his own method for a moment. “Same as you. Left.”

Neither of them actually intended to travel together.

Yan Jiyun still remembered that Chu Mo had tried to steal his points, and Chu Mo also remembered how Yan Jiyun had tricked him. Teaming up was out of the question.

Yan Jiyun stepped on the bicycle pedals again, hoping the bike would last all the way to Angel City and not lose its chain halfway.

The two of them rushed down the left road at the same time. However, they hadn’t even pedaled a kilometer before something felt wrong.

The surroundings felt gloomy, the atmosphere completely off.

Yan Jiyun smelled the scent of blood mixed in with the soil. He didn’t know whether it belonged to humans or beasts.

Chu Mo said, “Don’t you think this place feels strange? Maybe we should change directions.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. “That works.”

The two of them tacitly avoided mentioning their thoughts. From this moment on, they both felt the atmosphere around them was far too eerie. Having a temporary companion wasn’t such a bad thing.

Following the animal instinct to seek benefits and avoid danger, Yan Jiyun decisively turned his bicycle around. They returned to the three-way fork.

Chu Mo said, “Two choices left. Which one?”

Earlier they had relied on their sports watches, but that method didn’t seem reliable. The left road was full of thorns and uncertain danger.

“What does your experience say?” Yan Jiyun asked him.

“My experience?” Chu Mo looked between the middle road and the right road. “I think either one works.”

He might as well have said nothing.

Yan Jiyun was also at a loss now. How were they supposed to choose?

However, he came up with an idea. “I have a method. Not sure if you want to try it.”

Chu Mo became interested. “Let’s hear it.”

Both of them temporarily set aside their prejudices toward each other.

Yan Jiyun looked at Chu Mo’s colorful, messy face and said, “There are still eight bicycles behind us. I estimate their owners have already been decided. Why not wait for them to go first?”

Chu Mo slapped his thigh. “Exactly what I was thinking.” Who knew if there were monsters ahead? Let others test the danger first.

The two looked at each other and smiled. In each other’s eyes they saw a reflection of themselves, so they quickly suppressed their smiles and silently evaluated the other in their minds: ‘This person has lots of sneaky ideas and is quite cunning. Better avoid dealing with him in the future.’

Yan Jiyun and Chu Mo moved their bicycles into the grass and hid on both sides of the road. Yan Jiyun chose to lie flat on the ground so it would be harder for others to notice him.

Chu Mo copied the same posture. This time they didn’t need to fight anyone. They just wait quietly for other players to make their choice, then see which route they picked.

Actually, ninety players had already passed ahead of them earlier. Perhaps those players might encounter unexpected accidents on the road. If they could avoid even one such accident, that would be good.

While waiting, the two of them were idle anyway, so they exchanged names.

Although system announcements often revealed players’ names in the public channel, the two of them still tacitly hid their real identities.

Yan Jiyun reused the name he had used last time: “My name is Jiang You.”

Chu Mo also gave a name he had used in a previous instance: “Du Ye.”

Both of them were certain the other was using a fake name. Better not chat further then, the more they talked, the more they might reveal.

So they kept waiting.

Meanwhile, both of their livestream chats were about to explode with comments.

[Playing Safe to Survive] livestream channel: 

“Hahaha, Puppy Brat¹his nickname is 狗崽子; with 狗 means “dog” and 崽子 can mean “animal cub”, it also can mean “brat/bastard”, and it’s clear which meaning his viewer use lol. Contrast that to YJY’s viewer calling him 猫崽 (Kitty Baby), which is 100% a nickname born out of love, you’ve met your match!”

“How is this a match? This is called clashing character settings. I’m dying of laughter.”

“I haven’t heard Puppy Brat use the fake name Du Ye in a long time. The last time seemed to be when he was still a newbie? He used it to gain another player’s trust, and that person was indeed fooled completely. Later, whenever they entered the same instance, that player kept chasing him to kill him.”

“What happened later? Did Puppy Brat kill that player?”

“No, they ended up becoming teammates. But it was still hilarious.”

“But haven’t you noticed the other side is only a level 1 streamer? Is it worth Puppy Brat taking him seriously?”

“Even newcomers can be extremely strong. I just went to that newbie’s livestream and took a look. He’s a promising seedling worth nurturing. After clearing three Challenging difficulty Newcomer instances, he directly entered the Easy instance. He’s only completed four instances so far. Anyway, I followed him. When Puppy Brat isn’t streaming, I’ll go watch his stream.”

[Want to be Human] livestream channel:  

“Mimi, be careful! The one next to you is a level 4 streamer, definitely an old player. Very bad, very bad!”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get set up by him.”

“The Cat Cult and the Dog Cult are irreconcilable!”

“The level 4 streamer on the other side is a dog?”

“Of course not. Our kitten is the only cat player in the game. That one just likes lying low in the game, and his livestream is called ‘Playing Safe to Survive’ so people call him Puppy Brat. But, he’s pretty dog-like.”

“They’re so funny. I really hope they become teammates in the future.”

“That won’t happen. That level 4 streamer is pretty famous. I know a bit, he has a guild and fixed teammates.”

“I just looked around this arena in Kitty Baby’s match. There are so many high-level players. Can Kitty Baby still make it out alive? I’m worried!”

Of course Yan Jiyun was also worried about whether he could make it out alive.

Just now, the eight players who had been following behind them had already reached the three-way fork. The eight people went in three directions.

Among them, five players were the small team Yan Jiyun had followed earlier. As expected, they had formed a team beforehand.

The five-person team chose the left fork. Of the remaining three players, two went down the middle path, while one chose the right path.

Less than ten minutes later, the five players from the left fork pedaled back toward the fork desperately.

“There might be a man-eating monster there. The soil on the ground is rust-colored.”

“Could those all be the players who rode bicycles earlier? I even saw a wheel on the ground…”

“We can only change direction.”

So the five of them discussed for a while and chose the middle fork.

The two players who had taken the middle road suddenly returned and ran into them face to face.

“Don’t go that way, there’s a monster!”

“The monster has a huge bloody mouth, looks like it eats people. That’s probably not the right path.”

After a while, the player who had taken the right fork also returned to the junction with the same terrified expression.

Yan Jiyun and Chu Mo looked at each other across the middle road.

What was going on?

All three forks reportedly had monsters. Aside from the first ten players who had flown away on Pegasi, what about the players who rode horses and bicycles ahead of them? Why hadn’t they seen a single one? Where had they all gone?

They had just returned from the left path and encountered the same situation as the five-person team. But they hadn’t gone to the other two forks and didn’t know what was happening there. If they chose another direction, they had no idea what dangers they might encounter.

The five-person team didn’t rush to leave. Instead, they exchanged information with the three players who had returned from the other paths.

Hidden in the bushes, Yan Jiyun and Chu Mo overheard the conversation.

From the two players who had gone down the middle road, they learned that the monster they encountered was something they had never seen before. It was at least twenty meters tall, pitch black all over. Its enormous body blocked the road as it chewed on a human leg. Human flesh and blood clung to its sharp teeth, extremely disgusting.

The two players had nearly vomited when they saw it and were so frightened they turned back immediately. Perhaps because the monster was busy eating, it didn’t chase them.

The player who had taken the right path reported something different. He didn’t say he saw a monster. That path was simply filled with heavy fog, but strange sounds could be heard, something like wind but not quite. He thought he had gone the wrong way and planned to try the middle or left path. But it turned out everyone had encountered different situations, each worse than the last.

From this perspective, the three transportation tools provided by the system — “Pegasus,” “horse,” and “bicycle” — were indeed very useful for players traveling to Angel City.

“Pegasus” could possibly fly over everything and head straight to Angel City, avoiding all the dangerous obstacles on the way.

“Horses” could travel a thousand miles a day. If monsters reacted slowly, players might rush past the obstacles.

“Bicycles” were just ordinary bikes, not very fast at all. They were basically delivering themselves as food to the obstacles.

After eliminating some players in Demon Forest, another group of players would likely be eliminated on the road to Angel City.

For a moment, Yan Jiyun couldn’t decide.

• 1
  his nickname is 狗崽子; with 狗 means “dog” and 崽子 can mean “animal cub”, it also can mean “brat/bastard”, and it’s clear which meaning his viewer use lol. Contrast that to YJY’s viewer calling him 猫崽 (Kitty Baby), which is 100% a nickname born out of love