DSMC Chapter 140.1

Yan Jiyun found Han Ruibai in the same classroom as in Instance A.

It was break time. Han Ruibai had his head lowered as he walked toward the water dispenser at the back of the classroom.

Yan Jiyun deliberately stood beside him, clutching his chest as though still shaken. Speaking urgently to a random student nearby, he said, “I just came back from the auditorium. Cheng Su fell from the second floor and died!”

The moment Han Ruibai heard that, his face turned deathly pale.

The cup in his hand slowly tilted outward, spilling half the water he had just poured. He set the cup aside and tightly grabbed Yan Jiyun’s arm. “What did you just say?”

Seeing that his reaction didn’t seem fake, Yan Jiyun still continued acting, pretending to panic as he said, “Cheng Su fell from the second floor of the auditorium and died! I saw it with my own eyes!”

Han Ruibai’s breathing stalled. Then, without another word, he turned and ran out.

Yan Jiyun had gotten the answer he wanted from Han Ruibai, and he also ran out after him. But instead of chasing Han Ruibai, he went to find Wang Ziming.

Following Yan Jiyun’s instructions, Lan Mo had gone to find Liu Yixuan. After hearing the news, Liu Yixuan immediately went to Wang Ziming. The moment Yan Jiyun came out, he saw Liu Yixuan whispering in Wang Ziming’s ear.

Wang Ziming’s eyes widened instantly, and even his voice trembled. “What? Cheng Su really died?”

Liu Yixuan nodded. “Yeah. I just heard someone say she fell from the second floor of the auditorium. She’s really dead.”

Wang Ziming muttered blankly, “Why did it turn out like this?”

Liu Yixuan was terrified too. “Yang Pingping fell into the lake this morning, and Cheng Su fell from the second floor of the auditorium… Could it really be because we played the spirit invocation game?”

Wang Ziming rubbed his arms uneasily. “But it’s just a small game… Could there be something wrong with the wishing Mirror Lake?”

Liu Yixuan said, “But so many people made wishes there and nothing happened. Why are we the ones in trouble?”

Wang Ziming shook his head. “I don’t know. Xuan-ge, I’m scared. What if I’m next? I don’t want to die.”

Hearing him say that made Liu Yixuan even more frightened. “You think you’re the only one scared? Where’s Han Ruibai?”

Wang Ziming: “I think I saw him run out just now. He probably already knows about Cheng Su too.”

The two of them still hadn’t processed Yang Pingping’s death, and now they’d heard about Cheng Su’s supposed death as well. Panic had completely overtaken them.

Only then did Liu Yixuan rub his arms again. “At first I thought Yang Pingping was being targeted in revenge for Jiang Shiwen’s incident. But now what about Cheng Su?”

Wang Ziming felt like his mind was in chaos. Muttering to himself, he said, “I don’t know. She’s already dead… Right now I just want to know whether someone’s trying to kill me. It can’t be them, right? No, it can’t— they already…”

Yan Jiyun also wanted to know who exactly was trying to kill them.

Lan Mo, who was also standing nearby eavesdropping, was equally confused.

Main Mission 1 had mentioned five NPCs. Two were already gone, with only one morning had passed.

Once Wang Ziming and Liu Yixuan returned to class because of the bell, Lan Mo headed toward the stairwell. Yan Jiyun followed him, and the two exchanged information.

Yan Jiyun got straight to the point. “What did you observe?”

Lan Mo said, “The moment I said Cheng Su was dead, he looked completely terrified. He froze for a long time before finally starting to panic.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. “Han Ruibai and Wang Ziming reacted pretty much the same way. Looks like there’s another person behind all this.”

Of course, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that one of them was simply an exceptionally good actor and had fooled them all.

Lan Mo didn’t seem suspicious of this player whose name he still didn’t know. “What else have you found?”

Yan Jiyun shrugged, then asked first, “Have you been to the music building?”

Lan Mo shook his head. “No. It’s just an abandoned building. I haven’t heard any related rumors.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Last night I saw those five come out of there. They seemed to have been playing a some type of spirit invocation game. Then they got scared and ran to the lake to make wishes. The next morning, I heard Yang Pingping had drowned. That’s all I know.”

Lan Mo exchanged some information in return, though most of it was already known to Yan Jiyun. Lan Mo didn’t hide much.

Then Lan Mo invited him to team up. “Want to investigate the truth together?”

This supernatural instance was too bizarre. The more allies, the better.

“Yan Jiyun.” Yan Jiyun directly gave his name.

Lan Mo froze briefly. “I feel like I’ve heard your name somewhere before…”

Yan Jiyun replied, “Probably just a lot of people with the same name.”

Lan Mo shook his head. “No, no…”

He suddenly remembered.

“You’re that Yan Jiyun from the rookie rankings? The one from the favorability rankings?”

Yan Jiyun casually nodded. “If you say so.”

It seemed everyone who knew him associated him with favorability scores.

Lan Mo sized him up from head to toe. Even as an experienced player in high-level instances, he still found it strange to see a newcomer so absurdly skilled at farming favorability.

Then realization hit him. “You’re a newcomer. You shouldn’t even be in a Level 4 instance.”

Yan Jiyun crossed his arms. “That’s what I thought too. I was originally supposed to enter a Level 2 instance.”

He needed to share the strange situation he had encountered. If he wanted to clear the instance and leave sooner, cooperation was necessary.

Lan Mo took the bait immediately. “What do you mean?”

Yan Jiyun explained, “I was originally supposed to enter a Level 2 instance. But the system updated before I entered, and my Level 2 instance turned into a Level 4 Hard instance. Then somehow, from the hard instance I was originally entering, I ended up here.”

Lan Mo carefully pieced it together and immediately thought of Qi Feng, whom he had searched for all afternoon without finding.

“You mean after the system update, the Level 2 and Level 4 instances got mixed together?”

Yan Jiyun hadn’t expected Lan Mo to know about him. Since things had reached this point, he simply told the truth. “Yeah. I’m absolutely sure I entered a Level 2 hard instance. Otherwise, do you have a better explanation?”

Lan Mo had entered many instances before, but he had never encountered anything like this. He genuinely couldn’t explain it either.

Still, the other party’s sudden trust in him felt a little strange.

Yet he couldn’t detect any slyness in Yan Jiyun’s eyes. Even if someone’s appearance became younger, their eyes still revealed many things. Yan Jiyun’s eyes were exceptionally pure.

No wonder he could gain NPC favorability so easily.

Even so, Lan Mo retained the caution of an old player. He didn’t speak too absolutely. “I need time to think this through.”

Yan Jiyun knew his personality well enough and asked about what he really wanted to know.

“By the way, let me ask you something. Yesterday when you entered, did you ever see or hear about a teacher surnamed Qu?”

Lan Mo frowned. “Qu-laoshi?”

Yan Jiyun said, “If his name hasn’t changed, it should be Qu Wanqiao.”

Lan Mo could tell Yan Jiyun wouldn’t ask meaningless questions. Time was precious, every sentence had to matter.

“An extremely important NPC? How important?”

Yan Jiyun thought for a moment. “Not sure exactly how important. But he can freely travel between the two instances. Also, the NPCs in both instances are the same people, just playing different roles. I’ve told you everything I know. I hope you’ll share any important information with me too.”

His goal was simply to help the other side find a breakthrough sooner.

Lan Mo replied, “I already told you everything I know. Oh, and if you see a black cat, don’t hurt it. It’s also a very important NPC.”

Yan Jiyun: “…”

That was not good information at all.

“Fine. One last question. What’s this instance’s main mission?”

Lan Mo guessed that since Yan Jiyun had come from the Level 2 Hard instance, he probably didn’t have this instance’s mission information. So he answered directly.

“The main quest is to uncover Mingya High School’s greatest secret.”

Yan Jiyun asked, “And the instance title?”

“Mingya High School.”

Yan Jiyun said, “That title’s way too broad. It doesn’t provide any useful clues.”

Lan Mo replied, “The Main Mission 1 clue you uncovered is probably one of Mingya High School’s secrets.”

Yan Jiyun roughly understood now.

The Level 4 Hard instance required players to uncover Mingya High School’s secrets, and there was definitely more than one secret. There would likely be several misleading trails as well. Mirror Lake was probably just one of them.

Compared to that, the Level 2 instance’s main mission had been much clearer, directly pointing toward the “Mermaid.” But in the Level 4 Hard instance, players had to slowly explore and piece things together themselves. So it was perfectly normal that Lan Mo and the others hadn’t made progress yesterday. They had entered with absolutely no leads and had to scrape clues together bit by bit. Every NPC might also be highly misleading.

A school that had existed for so many years definitely had plenty of secrets. Finding the right one in a short amount of time wouldn’t be easy.

If Yan Jiyun hadn’t emerged from the music building, Lan Mo and the others might have needed much longer just to uncover the connection between Yang Pingping and the others. They might not even have triggered Main Mission 1 yet.

And now, through sheer coincidence, Yan Jiyun had found the starting point to the school’s greatest secret. As long as he continued down this path, the truth would eventually reveal itself.

Yan Jiyun asked, “Have you searched Yang Pingping’s and Cheng Su’s dorms and desks?”

Lan Mo replied, “We’re trying. But Cheng Su’s a girl. We might not be able to get into the girls’ dorm. The NPCs downstairs are guarding it tightly.”

Yan Jiyun shifted his gaze toward He Yuanle, who was happily bouncing toward them. Tilting his chin slightly, he said, “Have him do it.”

Lan Mo blinked. “How?”

Yan Jiyun: “Find a women’s outfit and a wig.”

Lan Mo: “You sound experienced.”

Yan Jiyun only gave him a flat look in return.