DSMC Chapter 123

Yan Jiyun held his breath and focused as he carefully made his way down between the narrow gap of the two walls.

His limbs were still strong and steady, not trembling at all, and in the end, he landed safely on the ground.

Once out from between the walls, he found himself outside on the street.

Angel City was now fully lit by daylight.

Without the cover of night, it didn’t look much different from the Angel City they had seen inside the Dragon Door.

The various activities along the main street were still open, but now all the entry fees had multiplied several times over.

There were noticeably fewer players on the street compared to when they first entered the city yesterday afternoon.

[230/500]

At that time, around 400 players had entered Angel City. Now only 230 remained. Quite a number had died.

There were less than 13 hours left before players were required to leave Angel City, and Yan Jiyun only had 1 hour of transformation time remaining.

For now, he had no choice but to stay in his cat form.

But in this form, he couldn’t participate in activities to search for clues. He’d have to rely on other methods to gather information.

With so little transformation time left, he couldn’t afford to enter other activities either. First, he might run into other players; second, the cat form was simply inconvenient.

He had considered going to find Qi Feng, but now wasn’t the best time.

Given how much Qi Feng cared about “Caramel,” if they met up, he might end up sticking with him the entire time, not needing to go anywhere else. But what if later stages involved PvP competition?

Both he and Chu Mo had used fake names, and Qi Feng had already seen through them. If he appeared in cat form during a match but was linked to the name “Yan Jiyun,” all his previous disguises would be pointless.

Thinking about it, Chu Mo’s real name being exposed in front of Qi Feng was normal. He was a veteran player, and Qi Feng likely kept track of various guilds and their notable members. Identifying Chu Mo wouldn’t be difficult.

But for Yan Jiyun, the only thing that had exposed him was the sudden gain of 100,000 points. At first, he had no points, then suddenly his score shot up, something that attentive players would easily notice. Qi Feng was exactly the type who constantly monitored leaderboard data. For him to match Yan Jiyun’s identity among hundreds of players so quickly showed just how sharp he was.

No wonder other guilds were so wary of Qi Feng.

There was a reason Qi Feng had split off from them when entering the city. After all, both Yan Jiyun and Chu Mo had lied, even about their names. Why would someone team up with people like that? And yet Qi Feng hadn’t exposed them both.

Well… that was on them for lying first.

Yan Jiyun sighed inwardly and decided to return to the hotel to rest and get something to eat.

He had enough points now to extend his room.

After taking a few detours and avoiding others, he returned to the inconspicuous hotel. The window of his ground-floor room was still open, and he slipped back inside through it.

After squeezing out from the wall gap earlier, the smell of bread from next door had nearly driven him crazy. Now that he had expended a lot of energy, he needed food.

He couldn’t help but think of the roasted chicken Lucifer had shared with him. It was really delicious.

Thanks to Lucifer, he got to be a dragon rider, and more importantly, got a full stomach.

To avoid going hungry again later, Yan Jiyun reluctantly used a five-minute transformation card to call room service.

While waiting for the meal, he wiped himself down and tried applying medicine to his back.

Hiss—

It still hurt a bit.

The medicine could stop bleeding and dull the pain, but it couldn’t heal the wound.

The waiter delivered a steamed fish meal just 30 seconds before he reverted back into a cat. It came with vegetables and everything.

Setting everything else aside, the hotel food was genuinely good. After eating his fill, Yan Jiyun lay on the soft bed to rest, thinking about what to do next.

Without transformation cards, he could barely move freely. He needed to come up with a plan. Just as he was thinking, he suddenly heard players talking in the next room.

“I just heard outside that someone found the exit.”

‘The exit?’ Yan Jiyun froze.

“Should we go check it out? If it’s real, it’ll save us a lot of time.”

“Where is it?”

“Not far from here, it’s that church, I think it’s called Sophia-something Church? A lot of people are heading there now, but no one knows the exact situation yet.”

“Let’s go. If someone found the exit, they’re about to leave. If we don’t go now, when will we?”

Yan Jiyun heard them packing up, and soon they left the hotel.

Was it possible that Qi Feng and Chu Mo had been waiting for him at the church after getting out?

He had been so focused on his transformation cards that he almost forgot that they had nearly figured out the full password together.

Well, not exactly forgotten, he just wanted to proceed more cautiously. If he could escape on his own, that would be best.

But with such a big commotion, he had no choice but to check it out.

Still, he was skeptical about the church being the exit. It shouldn’t be that simple. Who had spread that rumor?

Yan Jiyun didn’t rest any longer. After drinking some water at the hotel, he headed out in cat form. To conserve his transformation time, he didn’t turn back into a human. He had just used another five minutes, so only 55 minutes remained.

In human form, he could at least carry a weapon for self-defense, but as a cat, that wasn’t possible. Still, he would check the situation first.

If the church were truly the exit, players wouldn’t all be gathering there, they would have already left.

Back in the Dragon Door, he had ridden Lucifer to St. Sophia Cathedral, so he didn’t need to walk. This version of Angel City was unfamiliar, so he followed the two players he had overheard.

As more players heard that St. Sophia Cathedral might be the exit, crowds began to gather. Blending in among them, Yan Jiyun went unnoticed.

Most players entered through the front of the church, but he knew there was a back entrance near the kitchen with a fence. He had used it before to sneak in and steal bread to feed stray cats. This time, he slipped in the same way, avoiding attention.

From the direction of the noise, the players seemed to be gathered in the center of the church.

Yan Jiyun entered through the back kitchen, hid around a corner where there was a small cabinet for candlesticks, with a couple of clay jars on top. He squeezed himself into one of the jars and listened to what was happening outside.

The loudest voice he heard belonged to Fu Guangming from the New Forces Guild.

The man’s personality was nothing like his name, there wasn’t a shred of “brightness” about him¹in CN his name is 付光明, with 光明 (guāngmíng) means light/bright/openhearted; 光 itself could mean light/bright..

He was leading a group of players in confronting those who had arrived earlier.

Fu Guangming pressured them, “Hurry up and tell us how to leave. It’ll benefit everyone. No one will make things difficult for you.”

The player being pressured stood his ground, clearly annoyed by Fu Guangming’s condescending tone “Why should we tell you? If you want to know how to leave, go figure it out yourself.”

“If you don’t tell us, then don’t expect to leave either. If we die, we all die together,” one of Fu Guangming’s companions threatened.

Listening to their argument, Yan Jiyun noticed they hadn’t actually mentioned how to leave at all.

Were they just bluffing?

The voice of the person being confronted sounded familiar. He had heard it in the gladiator arena. It was the same person who had threatened the crying “brain-type” player back then.

Someone who couldn’t stand it anymore stepped forward to speak:

“Everyone, calm down first. Before we left the Dragon Door, we saw three people riding dragons flying toward St. Sophia Cathedral. Then, we don’t know what they did, but a beam of light appeared in the sky. By the time we tried to go check it out, both the three people and the dragons had disappeared. But we do know that one of them was Qi Feng.”

Yan Jiyun couldn’t help but curse. Was this guy brain-dead or what? Just like that, he’d thrown Qi Feng out there to draw all the attention.

The man continued, “After Qi Feng and the others disappeared, the Dragon Door instance collapsed. All of us were released without needing to clear it. If you’re looking for someone, you should be looking for Qi Feng. We also came here to find clues.”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

So in the end, they’d all just benefited from their actions and figured out St. Sophia Cathedral because of it.

But he hadn’t seen Qi Feng or Chu Mo in the church. Where had they gone after leaving the Dragon Door?

With such a huge commotion, there was no way they wouldn’t come to check it out… unless the rumor that “the church is the exit” was actually spread by them?

Right. Everyone had gathered here but still hadn’t found a way out. That meant it was probably a deliberate misdirection to lure other players over.

Classic diversion tactic.

Fu Guangming suddenly asked, “Has anyone seen Qi Feng?”

He remembered Qi Feng, but didn’t know the other two names, so he couldn’t mention them.

Someone spoke up timidly, “Half an hour ago, I saw him exchanging information with someone at the murder mystery script-kill entrance. Not sure if he’s still there now.”

When Yan Jiyun came down from the beam earlier, he hadn’t seen Qi Feng, so they must have just missed each other.

Even if they went to find him now, Qi Feng might no longer be there. That was already half an hour ago.

Back in the Dragon Door, the three of them had already worked things out: there were six information cards in total. One was still with Yan Jiyun. According to their deduction, only when all six cards were combined could they determine the correct direction to exit Angel City.

Without the black dragon card in his possession, Qi Feng and Chu Mo would have a hard time finding the correct direction. Maybe they could still figure it out, but it would take longer.

Yan Jiyun quickly slipped out through the church’s backyard fence.

The map they had drawn was with Qi Feng, and he didn’t know whether it had been brought back.

With the map and the information cards, Qi Feng negotiating at the script-kill entrance was probably about buying the remaining number clues.

Yan Jiyun decided to find Qi Feng first and see how things were going.

Since the three of them had already agreed to cooperate in the Dragon Door, their temporary team still stood.

After leaving the church, he quickly darted onto the main street, but didn’t spot Qi Feng. So he returned to the place where the black plush toys were sold and waited there.

As soon as he heard Qi Feng, he would transform into a human, rush over to hand him the information card, then turn back into a cat and follow him.

He felt this plan should work.

But instead of Qi Feng, he ran into Chu Mo.

Even though Chu Mo had changed into a hoodie and put on a hat, Yan Jiyun still recognized him from his footsteps and scent.

Yan Jiyun quietly followed Chu Mo from within the pile of plush toys, watching where he went.

Chu Mo entered a café. When he came out, Qi Feng was with him.

So Qi Feng had been hiding in the café all along. He had also changed his outfit, dressing more plainly. But with his height, he was still easy to spot.

Yan Jiyun wondered whether he should reveal himself now.

His transformation time was limited. If he appeared and then disappeared again, it would only deepen Qi Feng and Chu Mo’s suspicions. Better to follow them for now and see what they were planning.

Besides, even if he was discovered, it wouldn’t matter. What was wrong with him following his shit-shovel officer? Qi Feng had already deduced his identity from point changes, and the pet system clearly showed they were in the same Peak Competition. It would be hard not to notice.

So Yan Jiyun followed them openly in broad daylight.

Qi Feng kept feeling like someone was tailing them. He turned back several times but saw no one.

Chu Mo said confidently, “Aren’t you being too paranoid? With my experience tailing people, if someone were following me, there’s no way I wouldn’t notice. All items are disabled right now. No one can even use an invisibility cloak.”

Qi Feng knew he had a point but still stayed on guard.

[Playing Safe to Survive] livestream channel: 

“Doggy, you’re slapping your own face here, you know that?”

“Hahaha, now I finally get what ‘dogs are inferior to cats’ means.”

“Hey, us Doggy fans don’t think that! He’s just a little slow, that’s all.”

“Before meeting that Kitty, we all thought he was smart and adorable. Now those two words aren’t enough anymore.”

“As expected of a level 5 streamer. He did notice someone following, just didn’t realize it’s the cat.”

“They’ve already found the entrance. Aren’t they waiting for the kitty?”

Chu Mo was also puzzled. “Aren’t we waiting for Yan Jiyun?”

Qi Feng nodded. “We are. But since we can’t find him, we might as well confirm which of the three locations is the exit first.”

Chu Mo agreed. “Makes sense. You deliberately stood at the script-kill entrance to buy information, didn’t you?”

Qi Feng nodded. “Yeah.”

Chu Mo clicked his tongue. “You really tricked that whole crowd.”

Among the locations they had identified, one was St. Sophia Cathedral. But since they had already used a magic circle there in the Dragon Door, they didn’t think the game would set the same exit in the same place again. So they deliberately spread the rumor and drew players there.

Yan Jiyun: “……”

Seriously… while he was unconscious, those two had done all this?

Why was he the only one who passed out while they were completely fine?

Was the game treating cats differently from humans, or did the magic circle have some special effect on a cat’s body?

That stupid magic circle had cost him half an hour of transformation time! What a garbage game.

Yan Jiyun continued following them. This time, Qi Feng stopped frequently turning back, assuming the follower was just a highly skilled player, maybe someone with military training.

Of course, he also had one far less reliable thought: could it be his Caramel?

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to find Caramel. He had even tried using food as bait before, but it hadn’t worked. He was starting to worry that Caramel had been taken by someone.

Thinking about this made Qi Feng grow noticeably quieter, his brows furrowed with concern.

Chu Mo assumed he was just worried about not finding Yan Jiyun.

As they talked, they arrived at their first destination, the clock tower.

When the three of them had flown over Angel City on dragons, they had identified three landmark locations:

First, the clock tower.

Second, the gladiator arena — the colosseum.

Third, St. Sophia Cathedral.

They had already been to St. Sophia Cathedral and compared it with the information cards, but the direction didn’t match.

That left the colosseum and the clock tower. Both aligned with the direction indicated by the cards, but they didn’t know which one was correct.

They ranked the colosseum as the second option since they had already been there before. The clock tower was the only unexplored one.

Yan Jiyun’s intuition told him that they had probably found the exit.

Qi Feng and Chu Mo stopped at the entrance of the clock tower, hesitating instead of going in right away.

Inside, it was pitch black, nothing could be seen.

Yan Jiyun was just across the street from them.

If he ran over now, they would definitely notice him. But if he didn’t follow, he might lose track of them.

Qi Feng and Chu Mo spoke in low voices at the entrance.

Yan Jiyun was close enough to hear everything clearly, but since they were facing away and the tower was fenced off, he couldn’t see what they were doing from behind the trash can he was hiding near.

“Let’s go in first. We’ll check whether it’s the exit. If not, we come back out. If it is, perfect.”

“Sounds good. Our password should be enough to open it.”

“We’re definitely the fastest to clear this.”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

‘You guys aren’t seriously just ditching me like this, right?’

Was their temporary team about to fall apart again?

Should he follow them? He didn’t even know the rest of the password yet.

Sure enough, Qi Feng and Chu Mo didn’t hesitate. They went straight into the clock tower, completely leaving behind the teammate who had worked so hard alongside them. Use him and toss him aside… veteran players really were crafty.

Yan Jiyun immediately dashed across the street and followed, but he wasn’t reckless. He stayed outside the entrance, peeking in.

Inside was pitch black, but his eyesight was decent. He could make out a doorway around the corner, though there were no stairs in sight.

Anxious to catch up with Qi Feng, Yan Jiyun saw no one within his line of sight. They must have already gone deeper inside.

Perhaps because the clock tower space was so confined, he could clearly smell his shit-shovel officer’s scent.

He decided to hurry after them, otherwise he might lose them completely. But just as he rushed in, a large hand suddenly grabbed him by the back of the neck. That familiar move—

He struggled and turned his head, only to see a mix of shock and joy in Qi Feng’s eyes.

Qi Feng released his grip, then quickly scooped up his cat. His voice trembled with indescribable excitement, “Caramel, I knew it was you!”

Only his cat would follow him without being detected. On one hand, he marveled at Caramel’s cleverness; on the other, he lamented the twists of fate.

Yan Jiyun: “…”

Damn it, cunning human!

He had thought about pretending he wasn’t Qi Feng’s cat, but with Qi Feng’s memory — he could even perfectly recall complex magic arrays — there was no way he wouldn’t recognize his appearance.

Having such a sharp-minded master was honestly a headache.

So how was he supposed to turn back into a human now?

Yan Jiyun, however, wasn’t nearly as optimistic as Qi Feng. He hadn’t even handed over his information card before getting caught.

The upside was obvious though, with his “owner” around, his feet didn’t even have to touch the ground.

Fine, he’d just go with it for now. Next time, when he had enough points, he’d make it all the way to the final stage together with him!

Chu Mo poked his head out from inside. “Did you catch anyone?”

Qi Feng shook his head. “No.”

As he spoke, he zipped up his oversized camouflage jacket, pushing Yan Jiyun — who was trying to peek out — back inside.

Holding Caramel in one arm, he whispered, “Stay quiet, Caramel. Don’t come out unless absolutely necessary.”

As for making noise, he wasn’t worried, his cat hardly ever meowed anyway.

Yan Jiyun rested his chin against Qi Feng’s chest, looking completely calm. Inside, he sighed contentedly, ‘This is so comfortable.’

Just as he was enjoying the moment, the bell inside the clock tower rang.

Clang— clang— clang—

Seven times.

That meant it was now 7 AM. 

At the same time, Yan Jiyun heard the sound of many players rushing toward the tower from outside.

Leading the pack was that “brain-type” player. He had lagged behind earlier due to poor stamina, trailing far behind Qi Feng and Chu Mo. Yan Jiyun hadn’t paid him much attention at the time, being focused on Qi Feng, but not only was the guy slow, he had also led Fu Guangming and the others from the church straight here.

Chu Mo stood by the window, watching a large crowd approaching. “What’s going on?”

Qi Feng felt pleased inside, but his expression remained calm.

“Seems like they’ve also figured out that the clock tower might be the exit.”

At that moment, Yan Jiyun heard the then-silent system notification finally return: 

[(Public Announcement) Congratulations to the players for finding the correct Angel City’s exit location!]

T/N: the title of this chapter is actually “Master and Pet Reunion” but that would be a huge spoiler~ So I shortened it.

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  in CN his name is 付光明, with 光明 (guāngmíng) means light/bright/openhearted; 光 itself could mean light/bright.