DSMC Chapter 127.2

He came out of his personal space and saw Lan Mo, who was gnawing on an apple.

Lan Mo’s eyes lit up when he saw him: “Feng-ge, you finally came out.”

Qi Feng: “Did you see a black cat?”

Lan Mo recalled the task Qi Feng had given him before entering the Peak Competition. From start to finish, it lasted about two days, and he had been searching for two days. After Qi Feng came out, he told him to stop searching, then went back to the real world, only to return two days later.

Why bring up the cat again all of a sudden?

Lan Mo shook his head. “I didn’t see it. Your cat was in your space?”

Qi Feng nodded. “Yeah, but it came out on its own. Did you see it?”

Lan Mo stood up from the sofa, looking around but finding no trace of a cat. “Nope.”

Qi Feng frowned. Where could Caramel have gone?

He pushed the door open, about to go outside to look for the cat, when he heard Lan Mo shout, “Feng-ge, there’s a letter on the ground for you.”

Qi Feng stepped back, snatched the letter Lan Mo picked up. It was indeed addressed to him.

Caramel had been taken away by its “new owner,” and the letter was left by that “new owner.”

Caramel was smart. It knew how to leave someone’s personal space. Qi Feng had now confirmed that.

But what kind of “new owner” could be good enough for it to leave his side? If it had left him for Qiu Xi, he could understand, but he was its owner, the one who had raised this cat himself. Why would it suddenly leave with a “new owner”? What special quality did the other person have that made it follow them? Or was it because the “new owner’s” dried fish was more fragrant and crisp?

Qi Feng clenched the letter with only a few lines written on it, his expression darkening.

Lan Mo rarely saw his emotions exposed and thought something serious had happened. “Feng-ge, what’s going on?”

Since Lan Mo already knew about the cat, there was no need to hide it.

Qi Feng felt both upset and relieved, almost starting to doubt himself. With a troubled expression, he said, “My cat ran off with another player.”

Lan Mo was extremely shocked and even jumped on the spot, “Wait, how did your cat leave from here? Didn’t we just change locations? How did the other party know where your cat was? Who has the ability to do this?”

Qi Feng was jolted by his words, straightening his back. He had been too focused on Caramel choosing a new owner and almost forgot the more important issue.

The other party had taken Caramel multiple times. How did they know where it was?

Could they have placed a tracker on Caramel?

Qi Feng looked again at the letter. It wasn’t written on his own paper, but something exchanged within the game.

The only clue was cut off.

There was only one simple line written on the paper: The cat is about to enter a new instance, so I took it. Don’t worry.

The other party clearly knew everything about Caramel.

After the last instance, Caramel should have been following him until it entered the Peak Competition. The other party knew its whereabouts.

In the instance, only Chu Mo had seen Caramel, but Chu Mo clearly didn’t recognize it, and as an experienced player, he wouldn’t take Caramel into instances.

Why did this person know so much?

Could it be someone from a major guild?

Only someone who had been tracking him from the beginning could have found his location.

However, the main reason Caramel left was likely that the other person truly treated it well. Otherwise, Caramel wouldn’t have voluntarily left his personal space and followed a stranger.

Did he treat Caramel poorly?

Where had he gone wrong? Or maybe Caramel just wanted a change of environment? Or had he really spent too little time with it?

Wait. He was no longer Caramel’s only owner. Before entering the game, did it also have multiple owners?

What made the new owner better than him?

Even taking a step back, what if the new owner was just an inexperienced newcomer? He was at least a veteran player!

Forget it. Cats probably didn’t think that much. Whoever could feed it good food, it would follow. And in instances, he had never once fed Caramel a full meal.

Realizing the gap, Qi Feng couldn’t help but fall into self-reflection.

Meanwhile, after leaving the letter at Qi Feng’s residence, Yan Jiyun returned to the personal space he had previously rented.

He chose to leave today mainly because Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi had come out of their instance. Both of them had once again survived.

Yan Jiyun felt somewhat relieved. If nothing unexpected happened, these two would be his future teammates.

He figured that after cooperating in three instances, Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi had built a higher level of tacit understanding, while his own coordination with them was still lower.

The three of them had only gone through one instance together.

After leaving Qi Feng, Yan Jiyun went straight to the meeting place agreed upon by the three of them.

For the next instance, he no longer planned to go in alone. From the Peak Competition, it was clear that teamwork would become increasingly necessary.

This time, encountering Qi Feng and Chu Mo had been relatively lucky. But all three of them still had their own secrets, and at the most critical moments, everyone would prioritize choices beneficial to themselves.

So, he needed two teammates who could coordinate better with him.

Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi didn’t know what his secret was, but it didn’t matter. They also knew that he tended to act independently after entering the game.

At present, the two people he was most familiar with were them, and they were teammates he had chosen after going through several instances.

The three of them no longer met outside. Yan Jiyun rented another apartment to serve as their meeting place.

Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi arrived at the same time.

Yan Jiyun had rented a place near an area with many independent players. Since they were also independent players, this was safer for them compared to places crowded with guild members.

When the three met, they all felt a bit emotional.

They got straight to the point.

Their rest times were slightly out of sync. Yan Jiyun only had four days left, while Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi still had seven days.

If they insisted on entering the next instance together, the two of them would have to give up three days of rest.

“So, what do you think? Are we entering the next instance together?”

“What’s there to consider?” Gu Wenzhu hadn’t even thought about not teaming up. “Didn’t we already agree?”

Qiu Xi also nodded.

Then the issue was settled.

The three began selecting their next instance.

Gu Wenzhu suggested, “Easy instances are indeed harder than Newcomer ones. We need to choose more carefully.”

With four days left, they should have enough time to gather information.

After spending over a month in the Central Zone, they had gained some understanding of the place.

Independent players and guild players were clearly divided.

Yan Jiyun said, “This time, let’s try a different approach to gathering clues. We’ll sell information too.”

Previously, he had always entered instances alone. But after learning that Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi’s points lagged far behind his, he realized they would struggle in later stages, especially considering Gu Wenzhu’s leg. From his experience using experience cards, no amount of points would be enough if they couldn’t survive.

Gu Wenzhu was concerned. “But we haven’t gone through many instances.”

Yan Jiyun replied, “Even if we don’t have much information, ours is precise.”

With so many players entering the game daily, he wasn’t worried about not being able to sell.

He had completed four instances, each with a full clear and new endings, and his points weren’t low. That meant his information was fresh and valuable.

Moreover, after [Crazy Zoo] had been updated, previous information became obsolete, and he could provide the new details.

This was also why he had always been willing to spend points to buy information. He wanted to know whether information was useful, whether it sold well, and whether it was effective.

Other guilds could profit from selling information and earning points, so why couldn’t he? Including Qi Feng, they likely had multiple shops or partnerships dealing in information sales.

Gu Wenzhu and Yan Jiyun discussed the selling strategy, while Qiu Xi handled logistics. Being an orphan, he was diligent and had excellent cooking skills.

They selected several reputable guild shops and independent player shops, planning to test their offers.

Yan Jiyun had information from four instances, and Gu Wenzhu had some as well. After combining and removing duplicates, they extracted the new information.

They didn’t have the manpower to run a shop, so they would sell it at a fixed price.

It wasn’t that Yan Jiyun was unwilling to share his points; he was short on them himself. In less than two days during the Peak Competition, he had used up all the experience cards he had accumulated from the previous instance, and even that wasn’t enough. Who knew if future instances would be even harder?

After finalizing their plan, the two of them went out with the information.

They first visited several reputable guild shops, but unfortunately, the offered prices were very low. After visiting three shops, none met Yan Jiyun’s expectations.

At the third shop, the person who escorted them out even showed a hint of disdain.

As they left, Yan Jiyun overheard whispers behind them.

“Newbies trying to sell information at such a high price. What is it, made of gold? Don’t they know their own worth?”

“Exactly. Easy-level info sells well, but bringing random scraps and expecting us to be suckers? How stupid. Don’t they know which guild we are?”

“They think clearing a few instances makes them invincible? With that crippled leg, what kind of valuable info could they even get?”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

‘Well then. if you don’t want to buy, fine, but what nonsense is that?’

Yan Jiyun asked Gu Wenzhu, “Which guild was that shop just now?”

Gu Wenzhu: “The Quit Smoking Guild. Why?”

Yan Jiyun: “If they ever come to buy information, quote them the highest price.”

Gu Wenzhu: “Alright.” Seems like that guild had done something unpleasant.

There was only one guild shop left worth negotiating with.

Gu Wenzhu took the lead in negotiation, while Yan Jiyun observed throughout.

The Quit Smoking Guild claimed to rank fourth among all guilds. Now, they arrived at the fourth shop — belonging to the top-ranked Cruiser Fleet Guild.

Similarly, once the shopkeeper heard they were selling information, he refused outright without even asking for a price.

Yan Jiyun and Gu Wenzhu didn’t argue and prepared to leave.

Just as they stepped out, two people emerged from the back of the shop.

A man with a scar on his face asked the shopkeeper, “Why did they leave as soon as they came?”

Shopkeeper: “Vice leader, they were selling Easy-level instance information, so I refused.”

Scarred man: “Which instance?”

Shopkeeper: “‘Crazy Zoo.’”

The scarred man said coldly, “‘Crazy Zoo’ was updated by the system a few days ago. If they have new information, why didn’t you buy it?”

Shopkeeper: “I thought they were newbies…”

The man with glasses beside him said, “Go bring them back.”

The shopkeeper ran out to stop Yan Jiyun and Gu Wenzhu, who were about to leave.

Having already heard their conversation, Yan Jiyun decided to double his original asking price. After all, rare things are valuable.

T/N: and that’s a wrap for this (relatively shorter) arc! As usual, I’m taking a break. See you on 23 April~