DSMC Chapter 139.2

After regrouping in the stairwell and summarizing their information, the three split up once more. Time was precious, and everyone needed to continue their missions.

He Yuanle continued investigating character relationships. Shi Yan, being more agile, decided to head for the faculty office to look into Jiang Shiwen’s information. As for Lan Mo, since he had already found an excuse to leave class, he no longer needed to return to the classroom. He decided to explore buildings outside the teaching block and see whether he could discover anything else.

Not long after separating, Lan Mo jogged downstairs with the backpack on his back. When he reached the first floor, he saw a truck parked at the main entrance. Teachers from some grade level were directing students to unload boxes from the vehicle.

Seeing there were not enough people, one teacher directly called Lan Mo over. When the teacher turned around, both Yan Jiyun and Lan Mo immediately noticed the badge hanging from his chest.

Dean of Discipline.

“At this hour, classes are in session. Where do you think you’re going? Don’t think I can’t tell you’re trying to skip class.”

And just like that, Lan Mo got conscripted into free labor by the dean.

Yan Jiyun poked his head out to see what they were carrying.

The cardboard boxes were filled with performance props, messy and assorted. They were probably purchased for some event, but why would the school need all these things?

Lan Mo struck up a conversation with another student helping move the boxes. “What are these props for?”

The person he asked was a tall, sturdy male student still wearing a basketball uniform, clearly a sports student. He replied, “You seriously don’t know? The school anniversary performance. Rehearsals start today. Bald Yang dragged all of us out of training just to work like pack mules for him.”

“Bald Yang” was the nickname students secretly used for the dean.

A school anniversary performance. Rehearsals.

That was extremely useful information.

A group of students were about to begin rehearsals for the anniversary event, and the rehearsals would take place in the school’s largest auditorium.

Lan Mo and the sports student carried the boxes to the designated location in the auditorium. The decorations they carried consisted mostly of streamers, balloons, and similar items. They were only responsible for transportation. Since they were third-year students, Bald Yang let them leave after they finished unloading.

At that moment, students were already rehearsing inside the auditorium. Two hosts were testing microphones onstage, while a row of dancers behind them practiced their positions.

Yan Jiyun slowly tugged the zipper of Lan Mo’s backpack wider and wider, allowing him to see more and more of the surroundings.

Just now, beneath the stage, he had spotted a figure wearing a baseball cap. The person bent low and slipped behind the stage. He was not sure whether it was Teacher Qu.

If he wanted to return to Instance A, Teacher Qu was probably the key figure.

Yan Jiyun jumped out of Lan Mo’s backpack and sprinted straight toward the stage.

Lan Mo immediately felt the backpack lighten. He hurriedly grabbed it down, but the black cat ran far too quickly. In an instant, it darted to the front of the stage, much faster than he had imagined, disappearing from sight almost immediately. He gave up asking the sports student about the school anniversary and chased after it instead.

The black cat NPC must be leading him into a plot event. He absolutely had to keep up.

Yan Jiyun, meanwhile, had no idea what Lan Mo was thinking. Right now, he only wanted to find Teacher Qu.

After sprinting down the aisle, he reached the stage and leapt lightly onto it, then followed the figure backstage.

Just moments ago, he had still heard footsteps. Why had they suddenly disappeared?

Boom boom boom!

The giant speakers on both sides of the stage suddenly blasted cheerful dance music, nearly deafening Yan Jiyun and causing him to miss the faint sounds of footsteps entirely.

Teacher Qu from Instance B was way too strange and mysterious. His personality was completely different from Teacher Qu in Instance A.

Of course, that also indirectly proved how perfectly the game interpreted NPC personalities. Even if the two were placed side by side, their differences would still be obvious.

The Teacher Qu from the other instance was better. At least he was easy to find. The one in Instance B was far too difficult!

Where exactly had he hidden himself? There was actually someone Yan Jiyun could not find?

Wait.

This was a supernatural instance.

Was it possible… Teacher Qu was not human?

Yan Jiyun tried hard to recall the characteristics ghosts usually possessed.

First: having no shadow counted as one sign.

Second: not walking under sunlight, not appearing during the day.

Third: having no physical body.

When Teacher Qu No. 2 had held him, he had felt perfectly normal. How could someone without a physical body hold a cat? Yan Jiyun had clearly felt human body warmth from him. But he could not remember whether Teacher Qu No. 2 had cast a shadow.

As for not appearing in sunlight… he truly had never seen Teacher Qu active under the sun.

Goosebumps instantly rose all over Yan Jiyun’s body. No, no, no. Teacher Qu had to be human!

The heavy speakers drowned out footsteps. Teacher Qu No. 2 also carried the scent of sandalwood mixed with mint, but Yan Jiyun could not smell it in the air now. Perhaps after changing clothes, the scent had faded away.

Yan Jiyun was not anxious. Even if the sandalwood scent was gone, it did not matter. Anyone who had held him would retain traces of his smell.

Being a cat really did have many advantages. When tracking people, a nose was extremely useful.

The sandalwood scent was incredibly faint, so faint it was almost impossible to detect. Still, he could confirm that Teacher Qu from Instance B had definitely come to the auditorium before.

When Jiang Shiwen jumped from the building in Instance A, had the Teacher Qu he saw belonged to Instance A or Instance B? Teacher Qu from Instance B should have been following Instance B’s storyline. There was no reason for him to unnecessarily appear in Instance A’s plot.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Yan Jiyun.

Could it be that the Teacher Qu he saw on the school road last night had actually been the real Teacher Qu from Instance A?

But that belonged to Instance A’s storyline now.

Although it was not useful at the moment, sorting out the relationships between characters was still important.

Behind the stage, many students from various groups were preparing for rehearsal. There were numerous anniversary performances, so rehearsals would likely continue from morning until afternoon, with different programs scheduled for each time slot.

Yan Jiyun’s fur was very dark. After slipping inside, he intentionally avoided the students, attracting little attention. On the other hand, when Lan Mo rushed in, a girl suddenly screamed. He had accidentally bumped into someone.

Lan Mo apologized repeatedly while saying, “Sorry, sorry, I’m looking for someone. Sorry, I’m looking for someone.”

He did not say he was looking for a cat. Deep down, he still wanted to protect the little cat’s identity. If other players discovered it and captured him, things would become troublesome.

Yan Jiyun was not worried about losing Lan Mo. Lan Mo was an obvious target; even if they separated, finding him again would be easy. Teacher Qu, however, was different. His identity was too mysterious. Without knowing his role or status, there was no way to predict where he might go.

Where had he gone?

The backstage area was spacious, but it was filled with dust and mold, greatly interfering with Yan Jiyun’s judgment.

The curtain separating the stage from backstage swayed slightly. Yan Jiyun immediately chased after it. A black figure flickered there. He did not know whether it was Teacher Qu.

After running to the person’s feet, however, he discovered it was not him. The man merely carried the scent of sandalwood. He was actually the school electrician checking the stage wiring.

Yan Jiyun listened carefully to the footsteps moving around backstage, but none belonged to Teacher Qu.

Where exactly had he hidden himself?

And he definitely had not heard the backstage door open. From the moment Yan Jiyun arrived until now, nobody had left.

Some students complained that the speakers were too loud, and the backstage technicians lowered the volume a little.

Yan Jiyun felt somewhat discouraged. Even with the reduced volume, it still did not help.

Suddenly, the sound of something heavy crashing down rang out. Screams erupted from the audience area. A host’s microphone hit the stage floor, producing a harsh screeching noise. Someone quickly turned off the music, plunging the auditorium back into silence.

Then, in the next instant, another student screamed.

“Ahhhhhh—!”

“Someone come quickly! Someone come quickly! Somebody fell from the second floor!”

“Call an ambulance!”

Yan Jiyun sighed. He had already witnessed nearly identical scenes three times now.

He wondered who it would be this time.

Lan Mo, who had been chasing after Yan Jiyun, immediately stopped searching for a black cat in the vast darkness. Since he was close to the stage, he naturally heard the commotion outside and hurried over to investigate.

At that moment, he became even more convinced that the black cat was an NPC within the game. Otherwise, why would incidents occur wherever the cat appeared? It was basically Conan reincarnated.

Yan Jiyun had similar thoughts, except he believed the true “Conan” was Teacher Qu No. 2. Wherever his figure appeared, death followed.

Unable to find Teacher Qu, Yan Jiyun could only squeeze into the crowd to examine the situation.

Before he even saw clearly, he heard someone say that the person who fell from the second floor was Cheng Su, who had been scheduled for a solo dance rehearsal today.

Cheng Su?

Before arriving here, Cheng Su in neighboring Instance A had seemed perfectly fine. So why had the Cheng Su in this instance met with an accident?

Then Yan Jiyun remembered: same NPCs, different character settings.

He immediately stepped forward. Although Cheng Su had fallen from the second floor, something appeared to have caught her on the way down. She had only fainted and had not died.

From a corner, Yan Jiyun could still see her chest rising and falling with her breathing.

She was alive.

Someone had pushed her from the second floor, but the culprit had vanished without a trace.

The circumstances were very similar to Jiang Shiwen’s death in Instance A.

First he saw Teacher Qu.

Then a death incident occurred.

Cheng Su was quickly loaded into an ambulance and taken away.

Because no one had died, rehearsal in the auditorium continued, and the noisy music started up again.

Unable to find the cat, Lan Mo could only sigh. Since it was an NPC, he felt there was no way for him to control where it went. He needed to go update Shi Yan first.

They needed to investigate the relationship between Cheng Su and Yang Pingping.

What Yan Jiyun wanted to investigate instead was what exactly Cheng Su and the others were hiding.

After leaving the music building, the first person attacked had been Yang Pingping, and the second was Cheng Su. So who would be next?

There were still three people left. He wanted to see their expressions after learning that Cheng Su had also been attacked.

Yan Jiyun slipped into the temporary dressing room behind the auditorium. After transforming back into human form inside, he walked straight out.

He needed to find Han Ruibai and the other two as quickly as possible.

Like a gust of wind, Yan Jiyun sprinted out of the auditorium. Before long, he overtook Lan Mo, who was heading back toward the classroom building.

Seeing someone pass him, Lan Mo’s inexplicable competitive instinct as a man was suddenly triggered, and he unconsciously started chasing after Yan Jiyun.

Yan Jiyun only stopped once he reached the first floor. Turning around, he deliberately asked Lan Mo, “Why are you following me?”

Lan Mo replied, “Who’s following you? We’re just going the same way.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Player?”

Lan Mo answered bluntly, “Yeah.”

Yan Jiyun said, “I’m alone. Want to exchange information?”

Lan Mo hadn’t expected the other party to be even more straightforward. “Exchange what information?”

Yan Jiyun said, “I’ll give you a name. Once you finish this task, I’ll tell you more afterward.”

Lan Mo had never met Yan Jiyun before and was considering whether he could trust him. “Why should I believe you?”

Yan Jiyun replied, “Out of everyone running from the auditorium, only you and I came this way. Any later and we’ll miss the most critical information. Are we cooperating or not?”

Lan Mo knew he was right. “Talk.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Find Liu Yixuan as fast as you can and figure out a way to tell him Cheng Su is dead.”

Lan Mo frowned. “But Cheng Su isn’t dead.”

Yan Jiyun said, “What matters is seeing his immediate reaction when he hears it. Then we’ll meet up in the hallway later. Remember, make sure you say Cheng Su is dead.”

After giving Lan Mo his instructions, Yan Jiyun immediately ran upstairs. Time was running out; he had to observe Han Ruibai and the others’ first reactions upon hearing of Cheng Su’s death.

Lan Mo hurried after him. But after climbing a few steps, he suddenly froze.

Wait a second. Why was he being so obedient? Normally, the only person who could order him around like this was Feng-ge!

The next second, however, he obediently continued following Yan Jiyun.

Because he had finally seen Main Mission 1, which had never appeared before!