DSMC Chapter 128.1

Arc 6: Mermaid

The Cruiser Fleet Guild is known as the number one guild.

The shops Yan Jiyun and Gu Wenzhu chose both belonged to top-ranked guilds. If they wanted to make a one-time deal, then shops from large guilds were the best choice since they could offer a substantial amount of points in a single transaction.

The shops they visited earlier all had rather arrogant attitudes due to their high guild rankings, leaving no room for negotiation. They hadn’t held much hope for the last one either and were already planning to check out shops run by independent players. But unexpectedly, things took a turn. Someone with better judgment than the shop manager appeared.

When the shop manager invited them back with a smile, Yan Jiyun and Gu Wenzhu exchanged a glance, and Gu Wenzhu understood immediately.

Now it was the other party asking them, not the other way around.

Naturally, their stance shifted as well. Still, Yan Jiyun had always been confident, so he didn’t care much about appearances.

When the two returned, they saw a scar-faced man and a bespectacled man.

The manager introduced them as the two people in charge of their guild’s higher-level instances. 

The man with the scar between his brows was Zhao Nian, and the one wearing glasses was Qi Yunchu. Both had steady, mature demeanors.

Yan Jiyun didn’t know exactly what they were responsible for, but from their firm gazes and presence, it was clear they were high-level players. There was even a hint of the same aura as Qi Feng. Perhaps this was something unique to veteran players.

Gu Wenzhu had already looked into the guilds and knew who they were. Zhao Nian and Qi Yunchu were both vice presidents of the Cruiser Fleet Guild.

The two invited them into a reception room.

Qi Yunchu asked, “What kind of information are you planning to sell us?”

As the main negotiator, Gu Wenzhu answered sincerely, “To be honest, we’re still in the Easy-level instance. We mainly want to sell information about the Easy-level instance [Crazy Zoo] — specifically, an item that allows a full clear from start to finish.”

Qi Yunchu’s gaze was sharp as he looked at the silent Yan Jiyun. “Which of you entered that instance?”

Yan Jiyun smiled lightly. “I did.”

Qi Yunchu asked, “How can you prove your information is useful?”

Yan Jiyun replied, “Because I’m the one who ranked first in that instance.”

Unfortunately, their backend data couldn’t be shown to others, so their identity couldn’t be directly verified.

Qi Yunchu said, “That’s not sufficient proof.”

As high-level players, they could usually tell whether someone was lying.

Yan Jiyun naturally had another method. “What about being in the top 200 of the newcomer reward leaderboard?”

He recalled seeing a bounty board posted by the Cruiser Fleet Guild when Qi Feng had taken him out earlier, but he didn’t want to draw too much attention yet.

The favorability leaderboard would attract too much hostility, so using another ranking was enough.

If they still required more proof, he wouldn’t continue the deal.

Qi Yunchu asked, “What’s your name?”

They hadn’t asked for names before.

Yan Jiyun gave his name, hoping they wouldn’t recognize it.

Sure enough, they didn’t dwell on it after hearing it.

Zhao Nian frowned slightly, as if the name sounded familiar, but couldn’t place it.

They returned to discussing the [Crazy Zoo] information.

Yan Jiyun added, “Besides the Easy-level instances, I also have information from Newcomer instances. That is, all new endings. If you’re interested, I can package them together.”

Qi Yunchu’s voice nearly wavered. “You got new endings in every Newcomer instance you entered?”

For a newcomer to achieve new endings in Newcomer instances was far from ordinary. It showed immense potential.

Yan Jiyun said, “All the information I have is about new endings. If you buy, I’ll tell you everything truthfully.”

Zhao Nian made the decision. “Alright, we’ll take all of it.”

New endings meant additional information, making it easier for their guild’s newcomers to clear instances.

Yan Jiyun tripled his initial asking price. The two were too straightforward, and as a newcomer, he could quote freely without much scrutiny.

Unexpectedly, they agreed. Qi Yunchu even extended an invitation. “Mr. Yan, would you consider joining our guild? We need talents like you.”

Yan Jiyun politely refused. “We might not be suited for the guild model. We prefer more freedom. Thank you for the invitation.”

Qi Yunchu added, “You don’t have to join a branch. You can go straight to headquarters.”

Yan Jiyun still shook his head. “We have friends to take care of. Bringing a whole group isn’t very suitable, there are quite a few disabled members.”

Qi Yunchu glanced at Gu Wenzhu’s leg, thought for a moment, and didn’t press further.

They truly only wanted Yan Jiyun, but the other person was harder to accept, though they didn’t say it outright.

Putting aside recruitment, this deal was very worthwhile.

The information had already been organized. They exchanged information for points.

After receiving the points, Yan Jiyun and Gu Wenzhu left.

Zhao Nian remained silent until they were gone, then suddenly spoke. “What was that person’s name again?”

Qi Yunchu crossed his arms. “Yan Jiyun. Why?”

Zhao Nian said, “Our guild once issued a bounty looking for a player who could farm NPC favorability. That person’s name was also Yan Jiyun.”

Qi Yunchu was surprised. “It’s him?”

Zhao Nian nodded. “Most likely.”

Qi Yunchu said, “Clearly, he doesn’t want to join a guild.”

Zhao Nian replied, “You can’t force something like that.”

Qi Yunchu sighed. “But talents like him are one in a million.”

Zhao Nian said, “Then bring all his people into our guild.”

Qi Yunchu shook his head. “Let’s observe him first. Keep an eye on what instance he targets next and send people to interact with him there. If he’s worth it, we’ll meet any conditions within our means.”

Zhao Nian nodded. “Fair enough. Though getting into the same instance won’t be easy, unless we team up.”

Qi Yunchu said, “Then we’ll leave it to chance.”

He was no longer a clueless newbie; using the guild’s reputation to sway him wouldn’t work.

The fact that he thought of selling information meant he had real ability. It means that he was a rare talent that was difficult to control.

Watching such talent slip away, Qi Yunchu could only feel regret.

Still, as this newcomer progressed, he would eventually need them. High-level instances weren’t easy to clear, and guilds often cooperated. Their paths would cross again.

After leaving the Cruiser Fleet shop, Yan Jiyun and Gu Wenzhu didn’t celebrate the 500,000 points right away. Instead, they thought about the immense value behind the information.

The guild casually offering 500,000 points showed just how powerful it was. At the same time, they were essentially using the points to “make friends,” meaning future encounters wouldn’t necessarily be hostile.

They were buying goodwill, and he benefited from it. As expected of the top-ranked guild. Their perspective differed greatly from ordinary players. They understood that more friends meant more opportunities.

Yan Jiyun remembered that most of the top ten guilds had grudges with Qi Feng, but Cruiser Fleet didn’t seem to. That was reassuring for now.

After returning to their temporary residence, Yan Jiyun spent 50,000 points to purchase more information and split the remaining 450,000 among the three of them.

Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi initially didn’t want to take so much, but after Yan Jiyun explained the hardships of the Peak Competition, they stopped refusing.

The two had worked hard grinding points in the game, but it couldn’t compare to the value of the information Yan Jiyun obtained from solo instance runs.

In truth, their refusal was simple: the points were essentially a gift from Yan Jiyun, since all the information sold had been obtained by him alone. Their teammates were too strong and this made them both excited and moved, but also afraid of dragging him down.

Yan Jiyun gained 500,000 points, which temporarily eased his anxiety.

After coming out of the Peak Competition, he went back and calculated the speed at which he had used the Human Form Time Cards. It was fine when he didn’t calculate it, but once he did, he was shocked.

Those cards worth hundreds of thousands of points were gone in less than two days.

Now he absolutely needed those cards to stay alive; otherwise, he would feel extremely unsafe.

He was different from Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi. Their cards could be used at the most critical moments, and the number of uses might not be that many. But he was different — he switched between human form and cat form, which depended not only on time but also on the situation, and had to be combined with system tasks. The usage process was completely irregular. The Peak Competition had reminded him that he must have more Human Form Time Cards, otherwise they would simply not be enough. 

The three of them spent half a day selecting an instance, and set the departure time on Yan Jiyun’s last day of rest.

Over the past few days, they had indeed been purchasing instance information from various information shops. The higher they went, the more expensive the information became, and points were spent like flowing water. After three days, the initial 50,000 points used to purchase information were completely spent. But no one felt any regret. Whether it was used or not didn’t matter, but buying the right props before entering was the most crucial.

At the same time, after Qi Feng learned that his cat had run off with its “new owner,” he searched but found no clues. His cat and the “new owner” had vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, completely untraceable. However, according to the system, the cat was doing fine and hadn’t entered an instance yet. Still, he had also begun preparing to enter the next instance.

Lan Mo said in surprise, “You’re entering an instance so soon this time? You just came out of the Peak Competition. Aren’t you going to rest anymore?”

Qi Feng said, “No rest. I was only in there for a little over a day, it didn’t affect me. Better to enter early and gather more information.”

Lan Mo: “Not looking for your cat?”

Qi Feng: “If the other party could take the cat away, naturally they won’t let me find them.” Mainly because after searching for two days, he had found nothing at all.

Lan Mo: “True. The only bad thing about the Central Zone is that there’s no surveillance.”

The system itself was a massive surveillance device; of course it wouldn’t allow other surveillance devices to exist. Such things had never appeared in the item shop.

Entering the instance now was because he wanted to discover more secrets about the system, and then leave together with Caramel and his teammates.

When the time was about right, he would enter the Top-level instance. 

Actually, if Caramel hadn’t entered an instance, he would have already been preparing to enter a Top-level instance. But since Caramel had come, he temporarily gave up that plan.

Most players who entered the Top-level instance no longer appeared again. He didn’t dare take that risk for now and wanted to wait a little longer for Caramel.

Lan Mo and the other team members were all willing to enter the instance early together with Qi Feng.

For them, staying in the game day after day for three years had become quite tiresome. But they couldn’t escape the game’s control, and everything they were doing now was for the same goal.

They scheduled their instance entry for three days later. However, before entering, Lan Mo received some news from elsewhere.

Lan Mo asked, “Feng-ge, did anything special happen during your Peak Competition?”

Qi Feng thought for a moment. Aside from Caramel being a special player, everything was the same as usual. For him, the difficulty was manageable. It wasn’t too hard.

This Peak Competition had been a bit more interesting than other instances; he had even ridden a dragon with a newcomer.

He shook his head and said, “Nothing particularly special. Why?”

Lan Mo said, “I just heard that the system had an update before players entered recently, but it updated Easy-level instances. Not sure if our Hard-level instances will also have updates.”

Qi Feng: “You mean the instances before the Peak Competition?”

Lan Mo: “There were also updates after the Peak Competition. Someone entered a three-day instance, but only came out on the fourth day, which was truly strange. Should we delay ours by two more days?”

Qi Feng’s dark eyes sank slightly. “If there really is a bug, isn’t that exactly what we’re looking for?”

Lan Mo was immediately convinced. “Right.”

Entering ordinary, routine instances was of no use to them.