DSMC Chapter 128.2

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Qi Feng, Lan Mo, and the others prepared to enter the instance together at their temporary base.

Lan Mo asked Qi Feng, “Why are we choosing to enter the instance in the afternoon?”

Qi Feng said without changing expression, “A fortune-teller said this time is favorable for me.” Of course, he didn’t say that this was when his Caramel’s seven-day instance rest period would end. Once its instance ended, as its owner, he could look for Caramel again.

One of their teammates patted Lan Mo. “What kind of question is that? I’ve calculated it too. Setting off this afternoon is extremely auspicious.”

Qi Feng was the team leader. He gathered his teammates and formed a team to enter the Hard-level instance they had agreed upon.

After matching, the five of them entered their respective instance preparation areas.

Strangely, the system did not immediately give feedback.

Five seconds later, the system finally responded.

Mechanical system voice: “The game is undergoing maintenance and updates. Please wait patiently.”

Qi Feng asked, “Why is the maintenance update happening suddenly instead of before we entered?”

Mechanical system voice: “The specific reason cannot be disclosed to players. System update timing is random, but it will not affect your instance entry. You only need to wait patiently for sixty seconds.”

Qi Feng asked again, “Is the update for the instance or the system?”

Mechanical system voice: “The system cannot disclose specific update details.”

Qi Feng stopped asking, but just as the news Lan Mo brought back suggested, the system had indeed been updating frequently recently.

He had asked whether it was updating the instance or the system. Since it didn’t mention instance updates, then it must be a system update.

Was there a problem during the Peak Competition that caused the system to update?

He remembered that after they came out of the Dragon Door sub-instance, all the players who had been inside also came out. Could it be because of that?

But if the system really had a problem, their game shouldn’t have been able to continue.

That’s right. The Dragon Door sub-instance hadn’t continued.

According to past gameplay patterns, the third part’s final PvP battle shouldn’t have had only one round. This time, there were so few that it was suspicious, as if they were being rushed out of the game. In other words, it was possible that the system had already developed a bug from that moment, and it had affected the subsequent game progress, so all players were released early from the Peak Competition.

He remembered that events like the Peak Competition usually lasted at least three to five days before players could exit.

His decision to enter the game early this time was indeed correct. He had obtained another important piece of information.

The disappearance of an instance’s main character would affect the system, but how could one make the main character disappear?

Some instances were directly about finding the main character.

Still, after all these years, finding even one loophole was a small step forward.

Mechanical system voice: “Game maintenance update complete. Players may now begin selecting and purchasing props to enter the instance. This instance allows you to carry—”

What followed were all routine operations. Qi Feng focused on selecting props.

After three minutes of preparation time ended, Qi Feng and his teammates entered the instance together.

At the same time, Yan Jiyun, Gu Wenzhu, and Qiu Xi were also preparing to enter their next instance.

Similarly, after entering the instance preparation area, the three of them waited for the game to begin.

When he entered the previous instance, he encountered an update to [Crazy Zoo]. This time, encountering a game maintenance update, he remained relatively calm.

Yan Jiyun asked the youthful system voice, “Will this update affect the instance content?”

Young man system voice: “Please rest assured, system updates will not affect instance content.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. Then he was relieved. Otherwise, the points spent on buying information would have been wasted again.

But he wanted to know the reason.

Yan Jiyun asked, “Why is the game only undergoing maintenance updates now?”

Young man system voice: “This is a normal maintenance update. The game also needs periodic bug fixes, similar in principle to the games you play in the real world.”

Yan Jiyun was still curious and asked, “Then what kinds of bugs does the game usually have? I remember that in real-world games, they’re usually caused by code issues.”

Young man system voice: “The system cannot disclose specific update details to you.”

Yan Jiyun didn’t manage to probe anything out. So, what kind of bug was it exactly?

He changed his angle and asked the system, “If the main character in an instance disappears, would that count as a game bug?”

Young man system voice: “Yes, but such situations basically do not exist in the game.”

The corner of Yan Jiyun’s mouth lifted slightly. “If such a situation did occur, would it be considered a minor bug or a major bug?”

The system voice did not reply immediately.

After three seconds, it responded: “This question exceeds the system’s authorization to answer and cannot be disclosed at this time.”

Aha, he knew it. The system always hid the most critical information from players.

The system maintenance update took about a minute, followed by the usual item selection phase.

[“Mermaid” instance will open when the number of players reaches 50.]

[Player count full. Instance locked.]

[“Mermaid” allowed up to 20 props.]

[All players will be deployed into the instance in three minutes.]

Yan Jiyun had already exchanged all 1.5 million points he obtained from the Peak Competition into Human Form Time Cards.

He himself hadn’t expected to gain such a high number of points from the Peak Competition. However, he could guess the reasons: first, the Peak Competition had a large audience; second, his livestream had drawn traffic from veteran players Qi Feng and Chu Mo. As a result, the points he gained from streaming were high.

They had gathered fairly detailed information about this instance and prepared relatively comprehensively, hoping nothing would go wrong this time.

[Instance preparation time ended. Players will enter the instance in five seconds—]

[Five, four, three, two, one. Loading instance—]

[The instance is about to begin. Life and death are at your own risk. Enjoy the game!]

After the system update ended, everything seemed perfect. It was smooth and seamless, with no apparent issues for now.

After a dizzying spin, he successfully landed in the instance.

[Instance Name: Mermaid]  

[Instance Duration: 7 Days]  

[Difficulty: Hard (Level 4)] 

[Instance Mode: Role-playing]

[Friendly Reminder: Please play your role well and do not deviate from reality.]

[Main Mission: Find the mermaid with the best singing voice, protect the mermaid’s voice, and ensure they successfully participate in the national singing competition.]  

[Surviving Players Number: 100/100]

What?

He remembered that the previous [Crazy Zoo] instance had a difficulty level of 2. Why had this one jumped directly to level 4?

According to his understanding and the experience summarized by most players, Easy-level instances were usually around level 2. If divided further, they ranged from 2.1 to 2.9. Level 3 already reached the level of Intermediate instances, and by extension, Hard instances were level 4 and above.

So why did he get a Level 4 Hard instance?

Was there something seriously wrong with the system?

Sure enough, the service system’s feedback to him couldn’t be trusted. It had clearly said it wouldn’t affect the instance. True, it didn’t affect the content, but it directly changed the difficulty, and even jumped two levels!

They had all just gone through an Easy-level instance. Why throw them into a level 4 instance to die?

And this instance lasted a full seven days, making it the longest one he had ever entered.

Yan Jiyun was frowning in thought when a noisy sound reached his ears.

But it wasn’t the chatter of pedestrians on the street, it was the voice of a schoolteacher, loud and booming like thunder during a lecture!

When he entered, he had been lying on the desk. He suddenly lifted his head.

How many years had it been since he last heard a teacher’s voice? And the lesson this teacher was giving seemed different from what he usually heard.

Weren’t the usual subjects Chinese, math, English, politics, history, geography, chemistry, and physics?

What were the symbols written on the blackboard?

Could this be a music-related instance?

No way!! If that were the case, then for him, this truly was a level 4 instance. He had never taken professional music classes at all.

The people sitting around him were all high school students. It had been so long since he recalled his high school life that he no longer remembered how youthful his former classmates looked. Now, seeing the youthful faces of these high school NPCs, he was filled with memories of those days.

However, this instance was really hard to predict.

He checked the textbooks on his desk. There were basic cultural subjects, and also basic music theory books.

He guessed this was an arts exam class. Ordinary college entrance exam students wouldn’t have music-related books in their curriculum.

Moreover, every student in the class was a handsome man or beautiful woman, yet all of them looked as fragile as Lin Daiyu, as if a gust of wind could knock them over. Arts exam students really had it tough. Just to maintain their figure, they probably didn’t even dare to eat much, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to present a good physique to the examiners.

High school students, arts exam students, music students… mermaids.

What did the first three have to do with the last one?

He only knew that in Western legends, they were called mermaids¹meirenyu 美人鱼, while in the East they were called jiaoren²鲛人. These creatures often appeared in fairy tales, myths, and various strange stories³While both are half-human half-fish, the details of the myths are different. IIRC, jiaoren is known for shedding pearls as tears, and in some myths they have healing properties. Also, they can weave a type of silk called jiaoxiao (鲛绡) that is known to be luminous, untouched by water, able to float gracefully as it moves. Oh yeah, in some places it is said that eating their flesh grants you immortality..

Mermaids were usually beautiful, capable of seducing the human mind, and their voices also carried a certain charm and deception. Stories related to mermaids were both beautiful and cruel, often accompanied by despairing love.

But this instance’s main quest required quite a lot.

It didn’t talk about beauty or love, only about the mermaid’s exquisite singing voice?

Then again, maybe not. The system’s tasks were always layered, one ring within another. Without digging deeper, it was impossible to know what lay beneath. He couldn’t jump to conclusions too early.

Yan Jiyun didn’t see Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi in the arts exam class, so he didn’t know which classes they had been assigned to.

There were a total of 50 players in “Mermaid” instance, and currently all were alive. Since he was now in a student identity, this was clearly still a role-playing task.

Wait— he remembered that when they entered, the system said there were 50 players. Why was the current surviving players count 100?

Why had the number of players in the instance suddenly doubled?

Yan Jiyun took a closer look at the instance details provided by the system. Not only had the number increased, there was also a “friendly reminder” that was worth paying attention to.

[Please play your role well and do not deviate from reality. Do not perform actions that do not match your character.]

The more restrictions the system imposed, the higher the difficulty of the game.

The game was restricting players’ behavior… did that mean even if he couldn’t sing, he would be forced to sing?

But he was tone-deaf!

Just as Yan Jiyun felt the game was making things difficult for him, he heard the class dismissal bell.

Just when he thought he was about to be freed, the teacher on the podium said something that instantly sent his mood plummeting from the clouds to the abyss.

“Next class is an exam. Everyone take a ten-minute break first. We’ll start distributing the test papers when class resumes.”

[Side Mission: Please achieve a passing score in the upcoming music theory exam.]

Yan Jiyun: “……”

Damn it, to hell with this Level 4 Hard instance!

Making a tone-deaf player take a music theory test, isn’t that just trying to eliminate him outright??

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  meirenyu 美人鱼
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  鲛人
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  While both are half-human half-fish, the details of the myths are different. IIRC, jiaoren is known for shedding pearls as tears, and in some myths they have healing properties. Also, they can weave a type of silk called jiaoxiao (鲛绡) that is known to be luminous, untouched by water, able to float gracefully as it moves. Oh yeah, in some places it is said that eating their flesh grants you immortality.