DSMC Chapter 147.1

Yan Jiyun didn’t have much musical talent, and he was even tone-deaf, but he had to admit that Han Ruibai played the piano beautifully.

He didn’t understand music, but Qi Feng did.

Han Ruibai was playing a classical piece with a light and lively melody. If the atmosphere had been different, Yan Jiyun would have wanted to jump onto the piano and watch him play.

Halfway through the piece, Han Ruibai stopped and looked toward Qi Feng, the black cat crouching by Qi Feng’s feet, and Xue Ping. “You want to know about Xiao Yue? You think what happened to Yang Pingping was my doing?” Han Ruibai said sorrowfully. “Suicide was Xiao Yue’s choice. I didn’t do anything. Or maybe I did something that led him to choose suicide, and I just didn’t realize it.”

Seeing how calm he was and how completely devoid of nervousness he seemed, Yan Jiyun felt he really didn’t look like a murderer. While playing the piano, he had looked more like someone mourning a lost friend.

He knew that Qi Feng had only been trying to bait him with those words earlier, throwing out the least reliable theory possible in order to get Han Ruibai to talk about Xiao Yue.

Besides, anyone with common sense could see that the system had triggered Main Mission 5 at this point because Han Ruibai knew the truth behind Xiao Yue’s suicide. That didn’t mean Han Ruibai was the culprit.

Qi Feng once again revealed his identity as an undercover detective working for the police and asked, “Can you tell me about the Xiao Yue you knew? What kind of person was he?”

Main Mission 5 was to uncover the truth behind Xiao Yue’s suicide. They had already ruled out murder and school bullying, so what remained?

That left either mental health issues or emotional problems.

If it was a mental health issue, some people appeared cheerful on the surface but secretly suffered from psychological disorders. If those emotions accumulated long enough, they could eventually erupt all at once, leading to drastic decisions.

Both Qi Feng and Yan Jiyun wanted to hear how others viewed Xiao Yue.

For now, they weren’t concerned with whether Han Ruibai had knocked himself unconscious or had been attacked. The priority was understanding Xiao Yue’s suicide. After that, they could reconstruct Xiao Yue’s social relationships. Once they understood that, identifying the culprit would become much easier. And after identifying the culprit, finding the so-called “Mermaid” would not be difficult either.

Han Ruibai remained silent, as though lost in memory. No one interrupted him.

Yan Jiyun jumped onto a clean chair and lay down. Qi Feng chose the seat beside him. Xue Ping was still completely confused, but he found a seat as well.

The longer Han Ruibai stayed silent, the more Xue Ping squirmed with curiosity about Xiao Yue’s story. By contrast, Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng patiently waited for him to speak.

Looking at Xue Ping’s conflicted expression, Yan Jiyun’s imagination began to wander.

A melodramatic family soap opera?

Stepbrothers from different families becoming enemies, fighting over inheritance, schemes and betrayals everywhere. Just as their rivalry reached its peak, a heroine suddenly appeared, causing the two stepbrothers to become affectionate toward each other. The plot immediately shifted from fighting over money to fighting over a woman.

It was too funny.

After nearly two minutes of silence, Han Ruibai finally spoke.

“Xiao Yue was a genius.”

That was exactly how Liu Yixuan had described him earlier. At this point, there was no doubt that Xiao Yue was a genius.

No one interrupted.

Han Ruibai spoke slowly. “I wasn’t very familiar with him at first. But one day I was practicing a new song in the classroom and sang the wrong note. He corrected me. After that, we gradually became closer.”

Qi Feng said, “I’ve heard that he was cheerful, but also somewhat distant.”

Han Ruibai smiled faintly. “He was indeed distant, as everyone says. But describing him as cheerful isn’t entirely accurate.”

Qi Feng asked, “How so?”

Yan Jiyun felt that Qi Feng was exceptionally good at listening. He always knew how to follow another person’s train of thought and draw out important information.

In some ways, the two of them were rather alike.

Han Ruibai continued, “How can a cheerful person also be distant? The description itself is contradictory. Of course, such people may exist, but Xiao Yue definitely wasn’t one of them. In public, he didn’t actually talk much. Sometimes he was even silent. He was polite to everyone, but there was always a trace of melancholy in his eyes. The books he read, the music he listened to, the lyrics and compositions he wrote… they weren’t cheerful at all. They were cold and dark.”

“If you’ve seen his paintings, you’d realize that his mental state probably wasn’t very healthy.”

After a brief pause, Qi Feng immediately asked, “How did you discover that the real Xiao Yue was different from how others saw him?”

Han Ruibai replied, “After he corrected me that day, I started approaching him more often with questions. After all, I wanted to become one of the three students selected for the national competition. It would help with my university entrance exams. Xue Ping should know that my mother wasn’t particularly supportive of me pursuing music.”

Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng turned to look at Xue Ping, who nodded blankly.

“That’s true,” Xue Ping said.

Han Ruibai continued, “Not only was Xiao Yue distant, but he was also a loner. Perhaps it was because his way of thinking was different from everyone else’s. Several times, I saw a look in his eyes that said he simply didn’t care about anything. The things everyone else fought desperately to obtain, he was born with them. They were within easy reach. Perhaps it was also because no one understood him. That kind of thing can be alienating.”

Qi Feng drew a conclusion. “Xiao Yue was lonely.”

Han Ruibai nodded. “Yes. He was very lonely. It was probably because nobody in this world could truly understand him. His perspective was far beyond that of ordinary high school students who only cared about games, small exams, and everyday entertainment. And I wasn’t able to become the friend who could truly enter his heart and help him. That’s something I deeply regret.”

He let out a sigh.

As he thought things through, Yan Jiyun flicked his tail. 

People like that certainly existed.

Some people’s minds were simply too far ahead of their peers. They didn’t fit in with those around them. Over time, they became isolated, not because others rejected them, but because they couldn’t truly connect with anyone. They gradually distanced themselves from people who couldn’t understand them.

Still, Yan Jiyun felt that Xiao Yue had genuinely considered Han Ruibai a friend. They had simply known each other for too short a time. The reason behind Xiao Yue’s suicide was becoming increasingly clear — he had become despairing toward the world.

What nobody knew was why he had made that decision on that particular day.

Qi Feng, however, shook his head. “I think Xiao Yue already considered you his friend. He shared his music with you. He was willing to guide you. Wasn’t he?”

Han Ruibai thought back on all their interactions. It did seem that way. “He really treated me as a friend?”

Qi Feng replied, “Did you ever see Xiao Yue share his music with his roommates, Liu Yixuan or Yang Pingping?”

Yan Jiyun nodded inwardly. Exactly.

At this point, it seemed that most of what Liu Yixuan had said was true. However, nobody currently appeared to have a motive to do all this for a classmate who had died a year ago.

Whoever was responsible must have been planning something for a long time.

Han Ruibai thought for a moment. “No.”

Through Han Ruibai, they gained a much deeper understanding of Xiao Yue. Not only was he a genius, but his mental condition had clearly been troubling. Deep inside, he may have harbored dark thoughts that no one knew about.

Qi Feng quietly asked Xue Ping, “Was Han Ruibai a cheerful person before?”

Xue Ping nodded. “Yeah. After the Xiao Yue incident, he became much more withdrawn. He talked less and devoted himself even more to studying.”

The truly cheerful person hadn’t been Xiao Yue, but it had been Han Ruibai.

Both Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng now roughly understood the situation. Xiao Yue had actually been depressed. His intelligence and exceptional talent had nearly led him down the wrong path. Han Ruibai’s appearance had restrained those darker thoughts. Yet Xiao Yue may have chosen suicide as his method of fighting against them.

Had he not taken that extreme path, prolonged exposure to Han Ruibai’s influence might have helped him continue living.

But events had taken a sudden turn. In the end, Xiao Yue still walked toward destruction.

Why? Who had been orchestrating all of this?

Qi Feng asked, “Han Ruibai, do you know who Xiao Yue interacted with before his suicide?” He added a timeframe, “during the week before he made that decision, who did he meet? What did he do? Do you remember?”

Watching Qi Feng investigate was fascinating to Yan Jiyun. He really was like a detective. Each question connected seamlessly to the next, gradually bringing the truth to the surface.

Not bad, another useful technique learned.

Han Ruibai tried to recall. “During that final week, aside from classes, he spent his time writing songs. One evening, we went out together to buy milk tea. While I was purchasing our drinks, he met someone near the school. They exchanged a few words, but I couldn’t clearly see the person’s face.”

Qi Feng: “A man or a woman?”

Han Ruibai: “A woman. She looked somewhat like one of our school’s teachers. I guessed she might have been at the school on business and happened to run into Xiao Yue. Other than that, I don’t know.”

Qi Feng suddenly thought of something extremely important. “What class was Xiao Yue in?”

Han Ruibai: “Class 6. The same class as Jiang Shiwen.”

Yan Jiyun remembered that Jiang Shiwen’s homeroom teacher was a female teacher surnamed Lin.

Qi Feng: “What was Teacher Lin’s relationship with Xiao Yue like?”

Han Ruibai: “She cared about him quite a bit. After all, he was her student. But something always puzzled me. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I always felt she cared about Xiao Yue a little too much. Yet I’d never heard that they were related.”

He expressed his thoughts honestly, unlike Liu Yixuan, who constantly seemed to be hiding things and avoiding trouble, Han Ruibai wasn’t holding back.

Qi Feng circled Teacher Lin’s name as an important lead. “Anything else stand out in your memory? By the way, how many teachers were involved in the training camp?”

Han Ruibai: “Nothing particularly unusual. Everything seemed normal. There were five teachers in total, each responsible for different areas of instruction.”

Qi Feng: “Was Xiao Yue especially close to any of them? Do you remember which teachers?”

Han Ruibai listed all five teachers. The primary instructor who had overseen the training camp had already left the school. The other four were still there.

Han Ruibai: “Xiao Yue wasn’t particularly close to any teacher. But they all adored him. He was nearly perfect in every aspect. There wasn’t much left for them to teach him. Actually, I never understood why he joined the training camp in the first place. He could have secured one of the competition spots without it.”

Qi Feng understood Xiao Yue’s perspective. “Maybe he wanted to be an ordinary top student instead of a legendary genius.”

Yan Jiyun looked up at Qi Feng. Now he was curious. Back during his student days, had Qi Feng been merely a top student, or a genius among geniuses?

By now, Han Ruibai had provided an enormous amount of information; he really was an NPC whose purpose was delivering clues.

Yan Jiyun had judged him correctly – Han Ruibai wasn’t the villain.

Qi Feng had also gathered many important clues. There was nothing else he wanted to ask. Picking up Caramel, he said to Han Ruibai, “Xue Ping has something he wants to talk to you about. You two chat. We’ll be going now.”

Han Ruibai stopped him. After answering so many questions, he still had one of his own. “Wait. How did you know Xiao Yue already considered me a friend?”

Qi Feng replied, “Xiao Yue’s final composition was a piece called ‘Mermaid.’ You know it, don’t you?” 

Han Ruibai’s eyes widened in surprise. “I do.”

Qi Feng: “Try playing it, and you’ll understand.” 

Yan Jiyun’s gaze toward Qi Feng immediately grew heated. He didn’t know much about music. He could tell whether music sounded happy or sad, of course. But understanding the emotional nature of a piece merely by reading sheet music was difficult for him to imagine. Yet Qi Feng could determine it directly from the score. That proved just how talented he really was.

Only then did Yan Jiyun finally understand: “Mermaid” had been meant for this moment all along. It represented Xiao Yue’s final struggle and the transformation of his state of mind.

Since Han Ruibai wasn’t the mysterious person and didn’t have the opportunity to commit the crimes, there was no longer any issue there.