DSMC Chapter 144.1

So this was where the game’s punishment came in…. it deducted his total time directly. 

If he left this instance again, wouldn’t more time be deducted?

In other words, if he simply didn’t return to this instance, there would be no deduction.

At this point, Yan Jiyun truly had no fucking words.

Once his game time was deducted, it meant his remaining time was no longer the same as other players’. He would have to clear the instance 4 hours earlier than everyone else. Of course, if other players also violated school regulations, they would probably lose instance time as well.

That meant every player’s remaining time in this instance could be different. In that case, he wasn’t exactly a special case — he had simply lost a little more time than most. No wonder the players caught cheating during yesterday’s exam had looked so miserable. They had probably suffered the same too. 

Qi Feng had already completed three main missions.

Yan Jiyun wondered whether he had lost any game time as well. 

Actually, returning to Instance A wasn’t a bad thing.

He could finish the missions here first, then find Teacher Qu from Instance B and bring everyone over there.

Qi Feng reminded Lan Mo, “The rules here are probably different from Instance A. Skipping class may result in a time deduction. I spent most of the morning investigating clues and got 2 hours deducted. My remaining time is shorter than yours.”

Well, there it was. His pooper-scooper had lost instance time too.

For some reason, Yan Jiyun suddenly felt a sense of kinship.

Lan Mo exclaimed, “They actually have rules like that? The game designers really know how to mess with people.”

After being headbutted by the furry little head rubbing against his chin, Qi Feng pinched the back of Yan Jiyun’s neck. “Since you’re here, let’s finish the missions on this side first. Then we’ll figure out how to get to Mingya High School’s instance.”

“For now, let’s call that Instance B, and this one Instance A.”

Lan Mo lowered his voice. “Works for me. I think Caramel can take us to Mingya High School. After all, he’s a cat.”

He pointed at Yan Jiyun’s eyes. “Black cats can communicate with spirits.”

Qi Feng shot him a flat look. “What nonsense are you talking about? Caramel is just a cat.”

Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng immediately united against a common enemy.

Exactly. 

What nonsense!

However, after seeing the system punishment, Yan Jiyun noticed that Main Missions 1 through 3 had appeared in his quest log. Missions 1 and 3 were grayed out as “Completed”, indicating that he hadn’t personally completed them. Main Mission 2, however, showed as completed by him. After reading the details, he understood why. 

Just as he was wondering how to trigger the next quest, a new notification appeared.

[Main Mission 4]

Qi Feng directly shared the mission information with both him and Lan Mo. As a result, they both received the new main mission simultaneously. For the first time in his life, Yan Jiyun experienced the joy of reaping rewards without doing any work.

His feelings were complicated. But mostly, it felt fantastic.

The frustration of losing instance time instantly vanished without a trace.

Now he finally understood why everyone loved being carried by a top-tier player.

He liked it too~

Working with others was so much faster than completing mission alone.

Yan Jiyun also hadn’t forgotten Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi, who had entered with him. He believed Gu Wenzhu would be able to lead Qiu Xi to useful clues. His gaze fell on the Main Mission 4 information Qi Feng had shared.

[Main Mission 4: “The Next One”]

[Mission Details: Find the next person who will be murdered.]

The next one? Main Mission 1 in Instance A had been to identify Jiang Shiwen’s killer.

Since Qi Feng had already completed that quest, the murderer must have been caught. So, who was it?

Lan Mo happened to ask the same question. 

Qi Feng answered, “Cheng Su.”

Yan Jiyun was startled. 

How could it be her?

He remembered Cheng Su comforting Jiang Shiwen’s friend. Still, the answer wasn’t entirely unexpected. Before entering Instance B, he’d already suspected Cheng Su. He simply hadn’t expected her to actually be the culprit.

Qi Feng briefly explained. “Because Jiang Shiwen liked Han Ruibai, and Cheng Su liked Han Ruibai too. Before that day, Cheng Su didn’t know about Jiang Shiwen’s feelings. After finding out, she asked Jiang Shiwen to meet her on the rooftop and warned her to stay away from Han Ruibai. During the argument, Jiang Shiwen said some very unpleasant things. In a fit of anger, Cheng Su accidentally pushed her off the rooftop.”

Yan Jiyun thought, ‘So Teacher Qu No. 2 had merely been passing by at the time. What exactly had Jiang Shiwen said that caused Cheng Su to lose control and push her?’

Lan Mo asked again, “What about Main Mission 2?”

[Main Mission 2: “Find the competition roster.”]

That one had been easy. Yan Jiyun had already completed it before.

As expected, the roster they needed wasn’t this year’s competition list but the one from years ago — the list containing more than twenty students.

Qi Feng had already pieced together the storyline. The plot unfolded naturally through the sequence of main missions. After obtaining the roster, the next step became a process of elimination to identify the “Mermaid.”

After they found the list, Yang Pingping suddenly drowned in the lake. Yes, his death was exactly the same as in Instance B.

And just like there, his name was also on the “Training Camp Roster.”

[Main Mission 3: “Yang Pingping’s Hidden Secret”.]

Since Qi Feng had already completed Quest 3, he had obviously uncovered Yang Pingping’s secret. Following the quest mission, he explained, “It wasn’t difficult. I went to his dormitory and found the secret he had hidden there.” 

Lan Mo asked, “Is it a voice recorder? I went to his dorm room in Instance B and found a recorder, but someone stole it from me.”

Qi Feng immediately deduced the situation. “If someone could take something from you by force, their combat ability was probably higher than yours. So… it should be an NPC?” 

Lan Mo nodded. 

Qi Feng continued, “What I found wasn’t a voice recorder. So, the mission content may differ. Instead, I found a sheet of music score.”

Lan Mo scratched his head. “Feng-ge, you’re amazing. You figured that out immediately. Before I came here, someone had already completed Mission 1 on that side. They must have listened to the recorder and obtained the key information.”

In Instance B, the critical clue was the voice recorder. In Instance A, it was a sheet of music score. Both clues were directly tied to the storyline.

But why would two versions of the same type of clue appear in a single merged instance?

Was it really just a system bug?

If the system knew there was a bug, it shouldn’t have thrown them into the instance in the first place.

Lan Mo still wanted clarification. “Feng-ge, you said there was another main storyline?”

Yan Jiyun perked up and continued listening to Qi Feng’s analysis.

“The two instances merged, but not completely. It’s more like the connection points between them were opened, so… they’re no longer independent instances.”

“They’ve become linked.”

“And the point connecting them is the key we’re ultimately looking for, and it’s also the key to clearing the instance. This instance shouldn’t only be Difficulty Level 4, it’s more of a Level 5.” 

Lan Mo nodded. “But if you can already guess that much, it means it’s still within a solvable range.”

Qi Feng replied, “No matter what, we should finish the main storyline first. Once that’s done, everything else will naturally fall into place.”

Yan Jiyun rested his ears against Qi Feng’s chest. The steady, powerful sound of his voice gradually eased the anxiety that had come from juggling the storylines of two separate instances. It seemed that, with Qi Feng around, no difficulty was truly impossible. 

He could untangle everything one thread at a time.

Perhaps that was the difference between a battle-hardened veteran player and a newcomer.

Then again, maybe not.

Lan Mo was also a veteran player, yet he was considerably more carefree. Maybe Qi Feng simply gave people a sense of reliability.

Right now, Yan Jiyun needed to find a way to tell Qi Feng about the paintings in Teacher Qu’s room in Instance B. That information would probably broaden their line of thinking considerably. 

But first, they should finish the main storyline in Instance A.

Once the confusion and anxiety disappeared, the brightness returned visibly to Yan Jiyun’s eyes.

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Oh deary, Kitty Baby looks much more energetic now~ Back in the [Mingya High School] instance, he looked depressed and tense, like he was about to cry at any moment.”

“How can you tell all that just from a cat’s eyes?”

“Because I’ve been camping in Kitty Baby’s stream since the very first instance! So I know all his moods. When he’s thinking hard and can’t figure something out, he furrows his brow and his pupils narrow into vertical slits. When he’s in a bad mood, he becomes especially cold and looks at everyone with icy eyes. When he’s surprised and when he’s happy, the size of his eyes changes differently. If you ask me how I know, it’s because whenever he’s online, I spend twenty-four hours a day watching him without missing a single minute~ He’s just too adorable. I can’t help myself.”

“Same here! Same here! I’ve practically memorized Mimi’s nose print by now!”

“Even so, what’s the point of memorizing it? Could you possibly know him better than his real owner? That Level 5 streamer really seems to be the cat’s actual owner.”

“I want to steal Kitty Baby from him so badly… When he is in an NPC’s arms, he’s always on guard. But when he’s with that guy, he’s rubbing against him and hugging his neck. It’s seriously, seriously making me jealous.”

[Mermaid] instance was currently in its daytime phase as well. NPCs were everywhere. Qi Feng first brought Lan Mo to meet his partners in this instance, Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu.

He wasn’t completing the missions alone, which was why his progress was so much faster.

Lan Mo and Qiu Xi already knew each other. When Lan Mo saw him, he was visibly moved. This was exactly why he always liked running instances with Qi Feng. Qi Feng only looked cold on the surface — he was genuinely a very good person.

Yan Jiyun hadn’t expected to meet Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu again under these circumstances. The two of them were sneaking around while avoiding the Dean of Discipline, who was keeping a close watch on students. If they got caught, it wouldn’t just be a deduction of game time — they would be dragged directly into the dean’s office. Once inside, they wouldn’t be getting out for at least two hours, and they’d have to engage in a battle of wits with him the entire time.

When Qiu Xi saw Lan Mo, he was delighted. He even used his Voice Time Card to greet him. “Mo-ge!”

Lan Mo jumped in shock when he heard an unfamiliar voice coming from Qiu Xi. “Y-you can talk?”

Qiu Xi smiled smugly. “I exchanged points with the system for a Voice Time Card.”

“You can do that?” Lan Mo said thoughtfully, patting him on the shoulder. “Never thought we’d end up in the same instance again.”

After the four of them met up, Lan Mo and Qiu Xi spent a little time catching up before everyone began sharing information.

By this point, Yan Jiyun had already hidden himself inside the backpack Lan Mo had brought. Qi Feng wore the backpack on his chest, and Yan Jiyun thoughtfully kept his head tucked inside. For now, he simply listened to their progress in exploring the instance.

As expected, this was a campus revenge story.

Here, Jiang Shiwen’s death was merely the starting point, and also a red herring.

Qi Feng and the others hadn’t been misled and had already found the correct direction for the missions. Their progress was incredibly fast.

Yan Jiyun let out a sigh of relief. His pooper-scooper was as reliable as ever.

The next step would require everyone to work together.

Qi Feng assigned Lan Mo to work with Gu Wenzhu and Qiu Xi while he took the cat and acted alone. Lan Mo immediately understood what he meant.

In the blink of an eye, the three headed toward the academic building. 

As they walked, Lan Mo said to Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu, “I ran into Yan Jiyun in the other instance. You guys entered together, right?”

He remembered that Yan Jiyun and Qiu Xi had entered an instance together before.

Gu Wenzhu asked, “How’s he doing over there?”

Lan Mo replied, “Pretty well. We ran into each other and worked together gathering clues.”

Both Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu visibly relaxed. “As long as he’s okay.”

Next, they needed to investigate the people listed on the roster one by one. The key figures were the names that appeared in both instances.