DSMC Chapter 121.2

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Yan Jiyun couldn’t help but laugh. Truly a case of fate not aligning. Adonis being repeatedly rejected by dragons was almost pitiful.

With Lucifer leading the way, the three of them and their dragons stopped on the grass in front of an abandoned church in the north of the city.

Yan Jiyun nimbly jumped down from Lucifer’s back. Lucifer lifted its proud head, and when Yan Jiyun didn’t react, it flapped its wings at him, wanting him to turn back into a cat.

But Yan Jiyun ignored it. There were two actual humans present; he couldn’t transform.

He patted Lucifer’s head and whispered, “No turning into a cat. Go play by yourself.”

Qi Feng and Chu Mo also dismounted.

The three dragons recognized each other but had slight tensions. The silver dragon and black dragon growled at each other, while the red dragon acted as a mediator.

However, none of them left.

Yan Jiyun guessed it might be because they hadn’t completed this world’s objective yet.

Finally, things quieted down. He first shared the information he had obtained with Qi Feng and Chu Mo.

Qi Feng didn’t comment, but Chu Mo had a different insight:

“I see. So not every gate actually requires a guide. The guide is just a shortcut to the next game. If you use it, you might miss discovering the password sequence.”

Qi Feng speculated, “Then the only gates that truly require guides to enter are probably the first and the last.”

“I went from the Horse Door  directly to the Door, so those two aren’t the first or last. The Rat Door and Tiger Door had guides… those might be the beginning and end,” Yan Jiyun explained his experiences.

Chu Mo added, “I entered the Ox and Monkey Doors. Ox gave an info card, Monkey and Snake gave numbers.”

Qi Feng shared his clues: “I entered three: Dog and Goat gave info cards; Rooster, Ox, and Pig gave numbers. Also, there’s another number that appeared in a different event.”

Yan Jiyun said, “The Rat and Horse in my hand are both info cards, no numbers. Are all your info cards just a single card with a zodiac image?”

Qi Feng nodded. “The ones I personally obtained are like that. But the ones I bought didn’t come with cards; the seller still has them.”

Yan Jiyun pulled out his King Rat card. “What do these cards represent? I don’t see any information on them.”

It felt more like a collectible card reward than anything meaningful.

Then he took out his Zhuifeng card. Zhuifeng looked majestic, without the flashy decorations of the Rat King, but its flowing mane and the direction of its hooves clearly showed it was running at full speed.

Chu Mo also brought out his cards. “I don’t see anything special about mine either.”

Qi Feng laid out the cards he obtained from dungeons and sketched the ones he had bought earlier, using a pencil, drawn with perfect accuracy.

Turns out the pooper-scooper can draw too. He’s such a multi-talented man.

Rat, Horse, Dog, Goat, and Ox. five info cards were laid side by side, faintly revealing something.

Yan Jiyun examined them carefully, and finally noticed a clue.

Qi Feng saw his subtle nod. “You figured it out?”

Yan Jiyun said seriously, “I’ve got a direction. What about you?”

Chu Mo shook his head. “No idea. They’re all zodiac animals. Only that rat has a crown and scepter, nothing else.”

Qi Feng said, “No. They have something in common.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. “Yes, they do.”

Qi Feng said, “It’s direction.”

Yan Jiyun pointed at the rat. “See this? The rat’s scepter, the direction of the horse’s hooves, the direction of the goat’s horns, the direction the dog is roaring — they’re all pointing in the same direction.” He lifted his head, eyes bright. “I think that direction is exactly where our exit is.”

Qi Feng happened to meet his gaze. “Now we just need to determine the order of the numbers, find the twelve corresponding numbers, and get a map of Angel City, then we can get out.”

Chu Mo interrupted their train of thought. “Wait, but there’s a problem. The numbers don’t correspond to the twelve zodiac signs, so the order of the zodiac doesn’t seem useful.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Not necessarily. Numbers can drop inside the zodiac gates, and they can also drop from other activities outside the casino. There should be twelve info cards and twelve corresponding numbers.”

Qi Feng agreed. “Makes sense. The numbers I got are 0, 2, 4, and 9. Chu Mo, what about you?”

Chu Mo said, “1 and 8. So we’re still missing six numbers.”

Yan Jiyun felt that if they kept reasoning like this, they might fall into a loop. “We need twelve numbers, and there are definitely duplicates among them. The numbers also have to match the zodiac signs, otherwise we still can’t clear the level.”

They needed to think from another angle. Maybe there was another solution.

Seeing him frown, Qi Feng said, “Don’t rush. We still don’t know where the real exit is. What if the zodiac and the numbers aren’t meant to correspond?”

Yan Jiyun suddenly felt enlightened. “You mean the zodiac is one set of codes, and the numbers are another?”

Chu Mo clapped his hands. “Right! Why didn’t I think of that? Three cobblers really do make a Zhuge Liang.”

Yan Jiyun said regretfully, “But only if the zodiac and the numbers’ ordering methods match can we find the correct sequence, right?”

Qi Feng reassured him, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We still have time.”

Yan Jiyun glanced at him, then lowered his head to fiddle with the cards on the grass. The time left on his experience card wasn’t much.

In summary, they needed to accomplish three things to leave Angel City:

First, obtain a complete map of Angel City.

Second, find the exit.

Third, figure out the correct way to use the zodiac signs and the codes.

The Angel City outside the gates and the one inside were the same, but the one inside was far too large. They couldn’t get a complete map without transportation.

Qi Feng told them, “I walked through the main streets of the outer Angel City and didn’t find any map. So we’ll have to find one here.”

Chu Mo scratched his head. “Since there’s no map outside, given how rigorous this game is, there probably won’t be one inside either. We’ll have to draw it ourselves. but how?”

Yan Jiyun pointed at the black, red, and silver dragons that were about to start fighting and made a suggestion: “We can ride Lucifer and map the city from the air. It doesn’t have to be detailed, just mark the key landmarks.”

Chu Mo frowned at the thought of the silver dragon zigzagging all over the place. “It’s a good idea, but they don’t fly steadily at all. How are we supposed to draw anything?”

Yan Jiyun gave him a faint look, then turned to Qi Feng expectantly. “What do you think?”

Chu Mo felt like he was being disliked. He thought his opinion mattered too.

Qi Feng agreed. “There’s no better or faster method. We’ll map out the street directions and mark major buildings. The key is identifying landmark structures. I think the exit will be located at one of those.”

By “exit,” he meant the way out of the Dragon Door, while the map would be used to leave the outer Angel City.

After discussing it, they divided the areas and got to work.

Qi Feng took out a notebook and three pencils from his pocket. He tore out a few pages and handed them over, giving Yan Jiyun and Chu Mo each a pencil.

Yan Jiyun was surprised. “You’re carrying this too?”

Qi Feng explained briefly, “I grabbed it from the casino hotel room. Without weapons, a pencil can also be used as one.”

Yan Jiyun learned something new. As expected of a veteran player, even a pencil had great utility in his hands.

In truth, Qi Feng was deliberately giving Yan Jiyun some guidance. Seeing the newcomer reminded him of his own cat, Caramel. Showing more kindness to others might one day help Caramel. If Caramel ever met someone like Yan Jiyun or another kind player, its chances of surviving an instance would increase. In the past, he wouldn’t have bothered, but now he had a cat. Things were different.

After resting, the three dragons didn’t leave, but they had no intention of working for humans.

Lucifer, however, didn’t see Yan Jiyun as a human and was willing to cooperate.

Yan Jiyun loved touching the cool scales on its head. “Lucifer, let’s go map the city. We’ll help you find your way home.”

After communicating for a bit, Lucifer carried Yan Jiyun into the sky. Meanwhile, Qi Feng and Chu Mo had to use force to subdue their dragons before barely managing to take off.

Yan Jiyun and Lucifer worked smoothly together. He quickly completed mapping his assigned area. His memory was good, and he noted all the major buildings and streets along the way. In the end, he handed his portion to Qi Feng like submitting homework.

With dragons as mounts, their efficiency in mapping was extremely high.

In the end, they chose the largest cathedral in Angel City — called the St. Sophia Cathedral — as their destination. The exit from the Dragon Door  should be there.

After spending some time together, the three dragons grew more familiar with them.

Using the dragons as transportation, they quickly arrived at the rooftop of St. Sophia Cathedral.

There were NPCs everywhere in the city, and the dragons were too conspicuous. If they landed on the ground floor, they’d probably be driven away by priests immediately.

Yan Jiyun patted Lucifer’s head. “You guys stay here. We’ll go down and find the exit to send you away.”

Lucifer flapped its wings at him again, though this time more gently.

The three of them descended from the rooftop.

Chu Mo asked, “Do you know how to send them away?”

Yan Jiyun glanced at him. “Just a guess. Think about it, this is a normal city. Why would there be dragons?”

Chu Mo searched his memory of Western dragon lore. “Someone summoned them from the abyss with a teleportation array?”

Yan Jiyun said, “Possible. If there really is a teleportation array, it should be able to send them away, and also send us back outside the gate.”

Chu Mo couldn’t say much. He was impressed by how bold Yan Jiyun’s thinking was.

But in a game, bold thinking was necessary. Anything could happen, especially in the Peak Competition,  where courage and caution were both essential to survival.

There were 14 hours left of the 24-hour limit in Angel City. Since this wasn’t an instance, they didn’t split up. Otherwise, they might not find each other again in such a massive cathedral, and without items, they needed to support each other.

St. Sophia Cathedral had five floors. They searched from the fifth floor down, but the upper  four floors had no exit, let alone any magic array.

Maybe they had overthought things.

Until they reached the chapel.

A massive magic array was drawn on the ground, but the chapel was completely empty.

Chu Mo asked curiously, “There really is one. How did you think of a magic array?”

Yan Jiyun said, “Have you ever seen a normal animal breathe fire?”

Chu Mo slapped his forehead. “Didn’t think of that. You’re right. Now that we found the teleportation array, we just need to activate it.”

Yan Jiyun and Chu Mo searched the chapel thoroughly. They turned over curtains and candlesticks, but found nothing useful.

Qi Feng stood by the array, studying it carefully. He sketched it out with a pencil. Just as he was finishing the last few strokes, Yan Jiyun suddenly heard the sound of approaching hooves outside. Not just one or two, but many. There were also numerous footsteps, all heading toward the cathedral.

Yan Jiyun pushed open the window. “We need to go, guards are coming this way!”

However, Qi Feng and Chu Mo hadn’t heard anything. They both looked at him.

Yan Jiyun’s heart skipped a beat, but he calmly explained, “I’ve had good hearing since I was a kid.”