DSMC Chapter 147.2

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Yan Jiyun’s mind. He remembered that Liu Yu, who liked Cheng Su, was also from Class 6. Why had Liu Yu believed that Cheng Su was dating Han Ruibai?

The answer was already obvious – he was being instigated by someone.

Yan Jiyun didn’t know whether Qi Feng knew that Liu Yu had locked Han Ruibai up.

Xue Ping had gone looking for Han Ruibai that very night. Such unusual behavior couldn’t possibly have escaped Qi Feng’s notice.

Class 6 Year 3 had contributed a great deal of plot to the [Mermaid] instance. If they still didn’t suspect anything at this point, that would be far too useless.

Qi Feng quickly packed up his things. This time, instead of letting Yan Jiyun stay on his shoulder, he stuffed him into the backpack.

Yan Jiyun knew what he intended to do and obediently crouched inside. For now, it seemed Qi Feng didn’t need outside assistance yet, so he could continue being a well-behaved little kitten.

Qi Feng rushed out of the music building and ran toward the teaching building. The moment he got upstairs, he went looking for Liu Yixuan.

However, Liu Yixuan wasn’t in the classroom.

He casually stopped a student and asked, “Where’s Liu Yixuan? Did he come back to class just now?”

The NPC student shook his head. “He came back briefly, but it seemed a teacher called him away.”

Qi Feng asked, “Which teacher?”

The NPC student replied, “I heard someone tell him a teacher was looking for him, but I don’t know which one.”

Both Qi Feng and Yan Jiyun knew someone had deliberately created confusion. The target was either Liu Yixuan or Han Ruibai.

After they encountered Liu Yixuan, Mission 4 ended. After they encountered Han Ruibai, they learned about Xiao Yue, but Main Mission 5 still hadn’t been marked complete, which clearly meant the incident wasn’t over.

Although they had found Liu Yixuan, the story wasn’t finished. Yang Pingping and Liu Yixuan had been Xiao Yue’s roommates. Now that Yang Pingping was gone, the next victim would be Liu Yixuan. The killer had still managed to find an opening. Main Mission 4 ending wasn’t the conclusion, it was the beginning.

They had found Liu Yixuan. They really should have protected him.

Lan Mo and Qiu Xi had gone to the dormitories and other facilities to investigate the students on the list, also searching for clues. Before this, none of them knew who the next target would be.

Gu Wenzhu had been observing the teaching building for anything unusual, but they couldn’t find him at the moment.

Now that Main Mission 4 had ended, the three of them would also be changing locations. However, Qi Feng had returned to the teaching building faster than they had, so he didn’t run into them.

Liu Yixuan had been called away by a teacher. That had to be Teacher Lin.

At this point in the story, aside from Teacher Qu, who still carried an air of mystery, all the other NPCs had essentially laid their cards on the table.

Teacher Lin had a strange fixation on Xiao Yue. Although they still didn’t know why, they had to find them first!

ust as Qi Feng was about to run to the offices and probe the teachers for information, he saw Gu Wenzhu coming out of the office.

Qi Feng asked him, “Is Lin-laoshi, the homeroom teacher of Class 6, here?”

Gu Wenzhu hadn’t come into contact with Liu Yixuan or Han Ruibai and didn’t know they currently suspected Teacher Lin. But the moment Qi Feng brought her up, he understood her importance. Gu Wenzhu was someone who paid close attention to details.

He immediately replied, “No. She seemed very busy. She came back about ten minutes ago, then left the office again.”

Qi Feng asked, “Do you know where she went?”

He had spent about ten minutes talking with Han Ruibai in the music building, and at that time Liu Yixuan had just left the building.

There was no longer any need to discuss how suspicious Teacher Lin was. The incident in the music building had happened ten minutes ago. The only question was how she had managed to make two students lose consciousness in separate classrooms at the same time.

Yan Jiyun clicked his tongue inwardly. One person had genuinely been knocked unconscious, while the other had only pretended. No wonder Liu Yixuan’s eyes had darted around while answering Qi Feng’s questions. At first they thought he simply didn’t want them suspecting him of doing anything to Xiao Yue. In reality, Teacher Lin had used some excuse to trick him into cooperating.

Gu Wenzhu said, “She went downstairs. I thought her behavior was a little strange, so I kept watching her. It looked like she headed toward the dormitory area, and she was accompanied by one of her students.”

Qi Feng said, “No wonder Liu Yixuan was so easily called away. They’re from the same class. Which boys’ dormitory room was Xiao Yue assigned to during the training camp?”

Gu Wenzhu replied, “What I found was Room 508.”

Qi Feng said, “Liu Yixuan might be done for.”

The conversation between the two people of similar age was astonishingly calm, as if they were discussing how nice the weather was today. Only Yan Jiyun silently thought to himself that things were bad.

Liu Yixuan really might be dead now. Hopefully Qi Feng could make it in time.

Gu Wenzhu wouldn’t use his Perfect Legs Time Card unless he absolutely had to sprint.

After learning the direction Teacher Lin and Liu Yixuan had gone, Qi Feng immediately turned and ran downstairs. Gu Wenzhu couldn’t keep up with him and simply followed behind at a slower pace. Mainly because his combat ability clearly wasn’t on the same level as Qi Feng’s.

By the time Qi Feng had practically flown down two floors, Yan Jiyun, bouncing around inside the backpack, still heard Gu Wenzhu say, “Running that fast, worthy of a high-level player.”

He really was being carried by a big-shot player now. Qi Feng ran as if he were flying. It was actually pretty enjoyable.

Teacher Lin had returned ten minutes ago. Judging from normal walking speed, they couldn’t have gotten very far, and Liu Yixuan clearly still didn’t know there was anything wrong with her.

Qi Feng quickened his pace and soon reached the dormitory area.

Teacher Lin was a homeroom teacher. She could easily make up an excuse to enter the boys’ dormitory.

Classes were currently in session, and the dormitory building was extremely quiet. Even the old security guard was sleeping soundly at his post.

Qi Feng didn’t have time to notify Lan Mo. He ran up to the fifth floor, quickly found Room 508, and kicked the dormitory door open.

There wasn’t a single person inside.

Yan Jiyun heard sounds coming from upstairs. They were probably on the rooftop. Teacher Lin was speaking softly, not in an especially agitated state, and Liu Yixuan still seemed unaware of her intentions.

Liu Yixuan was still confused as he asked, “Teacher Lin, what exactly are you looking for up here?”

Teacher Lin said, “The principal asked me to check whether any of the boys had come up to the roof to smoke.”

Liu Yixuan laughed. “Why would we smoke? It’s bad for our voices.”

Teacher Lin said, “But aside from smoking, there’s something else I’d like to discuss with you privately.”

Liu Yixuan replied, “What do you want to talk about, Teacher? This period is music theory anyway. If you talk to me longer, I can spend less time in class.”

Teacher Lin said, “I couldn’t tell you liked studying this much.”

Her voice suddenly dropped several degrees. Without its gentleness, it sounded somewhat sharp.

Liu Yixuan asked, “It’s alright. Teacher, what exactly do you want to ask?”

Teacher Lin said, “Liu Yixuan, look over there. Whose phone do you think that is?”

Liu Yixuan immediately turned his head.

The next sound was a body hitting the concrete rooftop floor.

Crouching idly inside the backpack, Yan Jiyun complained inwardly, ‘Good grief. Just now he was so wary of us, yet now he trusts Teacher Lin completely. And look what happened.’

He heard the sound of something being dragged.

Liu Yixuan was probably really about to die. Hopefully Teacher Lin wasn’t very strong and would drag him a little slower.

Qi Feng finally reached the sixth floor.

The rooftop door had been latched shut. He couldn’t push it open immediately, so he used the same method as before and delivered a powerful kick to the wooden door.

Thankfully it was wooden. Otherwise Yan Jiyun would have been worried about whether Qi Feng’s foot hurt.

The door was fairly sturdy. The first kick didn’t open it. The second only knocked it slightly crooked. It took a third kick to break it open.

By then, Teacher Lin had already propped Liu Yixuan up on the edge of the rooftop railing.

She was incredibly strong, completely disproportionate to her relatively small frame.

Qi Feng grabbed a nearby piece of wood and hurled it at Teacher Lin!

Teacher Lin turned her head to dodge. Losing her balance, she fell to the ground. She failed to push Liu Yixuan off the building, but by then Liu Yixuan was already hanging halfway over the railing. If Teacher Lin lifted his legs just a little more, he would immediately fall from the sixth floor.

This was everything Yan Jiyun saw as he climbed out of the backpack.

Teacher Lin picked up the stun baton she had set aside earlier. “Student, I advise you not to meddle in other people’s business!”

Qi Feng said, “Lin-laoshi, before Xiao Yue committed suicide, what did you say to him?”

Teacher Lin’s expression changed drastically. “What are you people? What right do you have to mention Xiao Yue!”

Qi Feng placed the backpack containing Yan Jiyun by the doorway to avoid Caramel getting caught up if a fight broke out.

Then he slowly approached Teacher Lin, deliberately provoking her. “The person least qualified to speak his name is you, Lin-laoshi. You’re the one who killed Xiao Yue.”

Teacher Lin glared. “I did not! He was heaven’s favored child. He was the child of God. Those ordinary students weren’t worthy of being his friends. They killed him, not me. I was helping him remain seated upon the throne of a god!”

[Congratulations, player. You have completed Main Mission 5: “Uncover the Truth Behind Xiao Yue’s Suicide.”]

[Congratulations, player. You have triggered Main Mission 6: “The Real Culprit.”]

Qi Feng quickly grabbed a weapon and attacked the frenzied Teacher Lin.

The battle wasn’t particularly intense. Yan Jiyun felt that Qi Feng taking Teacher Lin down would only be a matter of moments.

He sighed in relief. ‘Great. It’s finally about to be over!’

Just as he relaxed, a pale, beautiful hand suddenly appeared before his eyes. Someone quietly lifted the backpack.

Yan Jiyun, crouching inside the backpack: ???

Translator’s Opinion Corner (lol):

I think the reason behind the name “Mermaid” is because the core storyline is kinda based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”. The one with the tragic ending with the mermaid hurling herself into the ocean, becoming seafoam because she neither can get the prince’s love or able to kill him. In my mind, the mermaid is Xiao Yue, the sea witch is Teacher Lin, the prince is Han Ruibai, and the prince’s bride is Xue Ping… kinda?

The role does not fit quite neatly, but you can understand the similarities, right? Xiao Yue wanting to understand Han Ruibai (and honestly, probably have a crush on him), but because of Teacher Lin, he wasn’t able to. While Xue Ping isn’t in the thick of this, he is the person who understands (and love) Han Ruibai in the end.

In a way, the true “Mermaid” of this instance is both Xiao Yue and his music composition. He might also titled the composition “Mermaid” because he understood the little mermaid’s feelings…

And in the fairytale, after her suicide, the little mermaid met other mermaid spirits (daughter of the air) who tell her that one day she can gain a soul (merfolk do not have souls, while humans have one) if she did good deeds to children and get out of this limbo state. I’d like to think that Xiao Yue can get his happy ending too, in his next life.

What do you think?