DSMC Chapter 146.1

T/N: oh just a note, because the essence of this arc is a murder mystery, I’m not putting much details on the characters note. I’ll just list the name and basic character settings.

[Want to Be a Human] livestream channel: 

“Tsk, so cute. Does Kitty Baby have a special fondness for this Level 5 streamer? Every time he actively throws himself at him, the Level 5 streamer doesn’t seem bothered at all.”

“Can’t you tell? The Level 5 streamer is the kitty’s owner. Why is Kitty Baby’s storyline different from the one I watched before? Was there ever a plotline where Han Ruibai got captured?”

“It doesn’t say Han Ruibai got captured here either. Has it occurred to you that Han Ruibai might not be the mysterious person?”

“Kitty Baby skipped into another instance. Doesn’t seem like he found much information though? What’s going on with Han Ruibai?”

“This is the fastest anyone ever reached Main Mission 4, but this instance can’t be that simple, right? Qu-laoshi’s secret still hasn’t been resolved.”

“But Qu-laoshi’s secret isn’t written into the mission objectives. What role is he actually playing in this game?”

“If we’re going by what they said about the two instances merging into the main storyline, but the system hasn’t released any missions at all, then that theory doesn’t seem right either.”

The restored tranquility of the music building was the feeling Yan Jiyun was most familiar with. He truly didn’t want to endure that kind of fear again.

This time, with his pooper scooper around, he could relax a little and wouldn’t have to drag his fragile little heart into all sorts of terrifying classrooms.

At this moment, Xue Ping was still searching classroom after classroom on the second floor for Han Ruibai. Judging from how quickly he was opening doors, he seemed genuinely worried about him.

Qi Feng pushed open the door to Classroom 302 in front of them.

The room wasn’t well lit. The curtains had been drawn shut beforehand, with only a sliver of light filtering through the gaps.

Yan Jiyun climbed onto Qi Feng’s shoulder. Seeing that he didn’t want to stay inside the backpack, Qi Feng let him do as he pleased. If he got scared, he’d probably crawl back in anyway. After all, he’d just burrowed into his arms when frightened earlier. Qi Feng felt a little more reassured.

He gently pushed the door open and first checked both sides behind it for any possibility of an ambush before entering.

To avoid alerting the mysterious person, Qi Feng didn’t call Xue Ping upstairs. If he came, he’d probably just get in the way.

Yan Jiyun already knew there was no one behind the door. He immediately spotted someone in a school uniform lying beside the piano. The villain of this instance seemed strangely obsessed with pianos. But this person definitely wasn’t Han Ruibai, because his shoes were different from the ones Han Ruibai wore.

Qi Feng walked to the window and pulled open the curtains, allowing sunlight to flood the entire music classroom.

A classroom with light and one without light were worlds apart. The frightening atmosphere vanished instantly under the sunlight.

Qi Feng saw the student who had been knocked unconscious beside the piano.

He stepped forward and checked the person’s breathing. Yan Jiyun, perched on his shoulder, had already recognized who it was.

Sure enough, it was Liu Yixuan!

As soon as they found him, the system notification followed.

[Congratulations, player, for completing Main Mission 4: “The Next One.” Point rewards will be distributed after the instance ends.]

Qi Feng received the same system notification.

He patted the unconscious Liu Yixuan, who woke up as soon as they completed Main Mission 4.

Holding his head, Liu Yixuan said, “Where am I?”

Yan Jiyun thought his reaction was a little exaggerated. He didn’t seem surprised at all.

Qi Feng said, “The music classroom. Do you remember what happened before you lost consciousness?”

Seven or eight minutes had already passed since the “fire” was discovered in the music building. How had Liu Yixuan been brought here?

Liu Yixuan said, “I remember hearing there was a fire in the music building. I ran out of the classroom with everyone else, but I was walking slowly and stayed behind my classmates. It was crowded, and someone in front of me tripped. It was my classmate. I helped him up, but he’d twisted his ankle, so I supported him while he leaned against the wall. Then I smelled a strange odor, and after that I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was here.”

Qi Feng bluntly told him, “You’ve gotten yourself involved in something.”

Thinking about how he’d been drugged unconscious, Liu Yixuan immediately panicked. “I-I got involved in what? I’m not going to get pushed into the lake like Yang Pingping, am I?”

Qi Feng said expressionlessly, “If I’d arrived any later, you might have been thrown into the lake tonight. But right now, you need to tell me what happened during that training camp in your first year of high school between you, Yang Pingping, and the others.”

Liu Yixuan’s face turned deathly pale. “I don’t know! I don’t know anything! Did Jiang Shiwen and Yang Pingping both die because of that incident?”

Qi Feng said, “At the moment, it looks that way. I suspect Yang Pingping’s death is connected to Xiao Yue.”

Yan Jiyun also nodded inwardly. At first, they had thought Jiang Shiwen and Cheng Su merely argued over who they liked, which made everyone believe the incident had nothing to do with the training camp. But now that Han Ruibai had entered the picture, everything suddenly made sense. Someone had guided Cheng Su into killing Jiang Shiwen.

And who was that person?

The only person linking them all together was Han Ruibai. At the moment, he seemed highly suspicious.

Yet deep down, Yan Jiyun felt it wasn’t him.

Liu Yixuan glanced around warily. “Then who are you?”

Qi Feng replied, “A detective commissioned by the police. It’s inconvenient for them to investigate inside the school, so they’ve entrusted the entire case to me. I hope you’ll cooperate. Oh, and let me introduce you— this cat is my assistant.”

He deliberately pointed at Caramel, who was crouched on his shoulder.

Yan Jiyun: “…”

If he didn’t already know Qi Feng was a player, he might have been fooled too. Qi Feng’s expression was far too serious. Somehow, even such a chuunibyou role sounded completely natural coming from him, and strangely convincing.

‘Learned something new, learned something new.’

The mention of being sent by the police immediately put Liu Yixuan more at ease. He said, “I don’t really know where to start. But I had nothing to do with this. I think whoever’s doing this might have targeted the wrong person.”

Qi Feng said, “Then start from the beginning. Just tell me what you know. Was Xiao Yue really a suicide?”

Recalling the past made Liu Yixuan look troubled. “The police already issued an autopsy report. It was ruled a suicide.”

To help him relax, Qi Feng sat cross-legged across from him and placed Caramel, who had been sitting on his shoulder, onto his lap. “How about you start by telling me what happened during the training camp?”

Liu Yixuan pondered for a moment. Even after more than a year, speaking Xiao Yue’s name aloud still wasn’t easy. 

“We joined the training camp during the second semester of our first year. Twenty-five students were selected in total. Don’t be surprised that there were so many talented singers among the freshmen. Our school sends a lot of music students to prestigious universities every year. Music is one of the school’s specialties, and many students came to Mingya High School specifically because of that. I was one of them. After summer vacation started, all of us entered the training camp full of enthusiasm. The teacher who led us back then already resigned because of what happened to Xiao Yue.”

Following up, Qi Feng asked, “How were things arranged after you entered the training camp?”

He wanted to know about Xiao Yue immediately as well, but rushing wouldn’t help. He needed to hear the details first.

Yan Jiyun found a comfortable position on Qi Feng’s lap and listened attentively to Liu Yixuan’s account of the past, trying to gather as much information as possible. Fortunately, all of Qi Feng’s questions were right on point, so he wasn’t anxious.

Liu Yixuan said, “After entering the training camp, the boys and girls were assigned separate dormitories. There were twelve girls and thirteen boys. Since there was one extra boy, one dorm had four occupants while the others had three. It seemed fair that way.”

Qi Feng asked, “Who shared a dorm with Xiao Yue?”

Liu Yixuan said, “Xiao Yue was assigned to the same dorm as me and Yang Pingping. Actually, we all came from different classes and weren’t familiar with each other.”

Qi Feng asked, “What about Han Ruibai?”

Liu Yixuan replied, “He was next door. Our two dorms got along pretty well. But because there were only three spots available, everyone in the training camp worked incredibly hard, trying to show the teachers their best side. We weren’t particularly close because of that. Besides, music often comes down to talent.”

Qi Feng asked, “What do you mean?”

Liu Yixuan let out a breath. “When we’re standing together, people might say we’re a group of youthful, attractive boys and girls. But when you put all twenty-five of us together, you realize some people are simply born to stand out.”

Qi Feng said, “You’re talking about Xiao Yue?”

Liu Yixuan replied, “Yes. He was the kind of prodigy who left everyone else in the dust. No matter how close you tried to get to him, there was always a distance between you. A distance in every sense of the word.”

Qi Feng asked, “What kind of person was Xiao Yue?”

Liu Yixuan said, “There’s no denying it. He was sunny, handsome, and well-mannered. Even though he was approachable, there was always a certain distance when interacting with him. Of course, beyond his upbringing, the most important thing was his musical talent. At around fourteen years old, I felt accomplished just knowing how to sing with technique. But with him, at that age, he was already called a genius. He had an amazing voice, could play many instruments, wrote his own songs, and could have attended the best music universities in the world whenever he wanted. The girls in the training camp practically lit up whenever they saw him, and the girls throughout the school were the same. He became famous almost as soon as he enrolled. No matter how you looked at it, he seemed perfect. Even as a competitor, I couldn’t dislike him. Like many others, I don’t believe he committed suicide.”

Qi Feng took out a notebook from his backpack, spread it across Yan Jiyun’s back, and crossed out the line that read “School Bullying.”

Yan Jiyun knew Qi Feng was writing on the notebook resting on his back. He looked up at him and was rewarded with a gentle scratch on the head.

Based on Liu Yixuan’s description, school bullying clearly wasn’t the cause of the incident. Then why? What reason could Xiao Yue possibly have had to kill himself?

Qi Feng decided to start with his roommates.

“Did anything unusual happen between you, Yang Pingping, and him while sharing the same dorm?”

Liu Yixuan shook his head. “He had a very regular schedule. Yang Pingping and I actually grew to love music more because of him. He even taught us how to compose.”

Now only Liu Yixuan remained among Xiao Yue’s former roommates. What about the dorm next door?

Qi Feng asked, “Who was in the dorm next to yours?”

Liu Yixuan said, “Our dorm was near the stairwell. Only Han Ruibai’s dorm was close to ours, so we interacted with them the most during the training camp.”

Qi Feng continued step by step. “Besides being fairly close with you, who else was Xiao Yue particularly close to?”

Liu Yixuan moved his lips before answering, “Han Ruibai. Xiao Yue spent more time with Han Ruibai than with us. After class, the two of them often stayed behind in the classroom practicing piano. Xiao Yue always kept some distance from us, but not from Han Ruibai. They were the kind of friends who told each other everything. Around Han Ruibai, Xiao Yue seemed more like an ordinary high school student… a normal person. Do you understand?”

He glanced at Qi Feng, who had the looks of the school’s most handsome student and stood 185 centimeters tall.

‘Actually, never mind. You probably wouldn’t understand. Some things can’t be obtained through hard work alone.’

After all, some people were born lucky.

Yan Jiyun looked at Qi Feng’s slight frown, then at Liu Yixuan, and understood why he had said that. Qi Feng was probably the same type of person as Xiao Yue.

Truthfully, Yan Jiyun didn’t know much about Qi Feng’s past either. His pooper scooper was also an especially mysterious person. Ever since entering the game, he hadn’t really taken a good look at him.

Qi Feng said, “But if you don’t work hard, you’ll definitely never get it.”

Liu Yixuan said, “Hearing you say that somehow makes me feel comforted.”

Qi Feng nodded. “Han Ruibai had the best relationship with Xiao Yue during the training camp. Did the two of them ever have conflicts with anyone? Or did you or Yang Pingping ever have any conflicts with Han Ruibai?”

Liu Yixuan shook his head. “Not likely. Every day we were focused on making a good impression on the teachers and improving our singing skills. Besides, Xiao Yue was quite protective of him. How could we possibly have gotten into a conflict with him? As for Xiao Yue, that’s even more impossible.”

Qi Feng changed his line of thinking. “Then do you know if Xiao Yue composed any music during the training camp?”

Liu Yixuan nodded. “He did, but not much at first. Then, during the week before he committed suicide, he wrote a song every day. It was like he suddenly got inspired.”

Qi Feng asked tentatively, “Did you see all of his sheet music?”

Liu Yixuan said, “How could I not? We shared a dorm room. Sometimes he’d leave his scores on the desk. Of course, I wouldn’t read them without permission. As for Yang Pingping, I don’t know. He was very curious by nature.”

Qi Feng asked, “Which of his songs was your favorite?”

Liu Yixuan shook his head. “His songs were all private works and were never made public. That’s a rather strange question.”

Qi Feng said, “Just making conversation. The more information I gather, the better chance I have of finding the person who knocked you unconscious.”

Liu Yixuan said, “Thank you. Can I apply for police protection?”

Qi Feng replied, “You can. Go back to your classroom and wait for now.”

Liu Yixuan immediately got to his feet and ran downstairs right in front of Qi Feng.