DSMC Chapter 159.2

Yan Jiyun didn’t think the Little Class Monitor looked like someone who would poison other people.

Putting aside whether he even had the intention to poison anyone, just this morning alone, the Class 5 monitor hadn’t crossed paths with the Little Class Monitor at all. There was simply no opportunity for the Class 5 monitor to have been poisoned by him, unless the Little Class Monitor had switched identities with one of his brothers. After all, as long as they didn’t speak, no one could tell them apart.

However, Yan Jiyun had been paying close attention to the Little Class Monitor’s movements the entire time. He could recognize his footsteps. Throughout the whole morning, the Little Class Monitor had followed the school’s routine: getting up, attending morning exercises, eating breakfast, and going to morning self-study. He hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary, nor had he made any contact with the Class 5 monitor.

Unless he had someone else doing the dirty work for him.

After warning his younger brother, Yan Weicheng returned to his classroom. Yan Weilan lowered his head and walked back toward Class 3, clearly in low spirits.

Qi Feng merely glanced at him without making any other move. Once the Little Class Monitor returned to class, Qi Feng followed Yan Weicheng back to Class 5 to observe how he normally interacted with his classmates.

Yan Jiyun, meanwhile, remained concerned about Yan Weilan’s state of mind.

Sometimes, someone who could have walked a bright and promising path would gradually become exactly the kind of person everyone believed them to be, simply because those around them misunderstood or misjudged them. In truth, all it took was one person believing in them to prevent many tragedies.

Yan Jiyun unzipped the backpack, checked that no one was nearby, climbed out, and ran downstairs.

Qi Feng was only a little kid with short legs now. There was no way he could catch up.

Watching his cat slip away so smoothly, Qi Feng didn’t know whether he should chase after him or not. In the end, he chose to let his cat have his freedom. Because if Caramel really wanted to run away, there was no way he’d be able to find him.

They were still on campus. If he got hungry, he’d come back looking for him. Qi Feng had already figured out Caramel’s habits. There was no way his cat would stick to him all the time. Even cats couldn’t hold it forever when they needed to use the bathroom.

Yan Jiyun thought Qi Feng had finally become an experienced cat owner who knew how to let his cat roam free.

Humans worrying too much about cats was never a good thing. A little distance between humans and cats was healthier.

He found an empty classroom and lay down on a desk, waiting for Gu Wenzhu and the others to appear. Before long, Lan Mo, who was attending class in another room, spotted Yan Jiyun lying on the desk.

Yan Jiyun put on a performance, claiming that someone had knocked him unconscious the previous night and dumped him in the empty classroom, and that he had only just woken up.

Lan Mo believed him without question. After all, they really hadn’t been able to find him anywhere in the multi-purpose building last night.

Lan Mo even asked with concern, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere after being knocked out?”

“No.” Feeling rather guilty, Yan Jiyun quickly changed the subject. “How’s your investigation going?”

Lan Mo immediately poured out all of their progress, including their current situation.

Yan Jiyun nodded. “Alright. I’ll head back to my classroom first. I still think the Little Class Monitor from Class 3 is suspicious.”

Lan Mo looked puzzled. “Really? What makes the Class 3 monitor suspicious?” Then he asked, “Need my help?”

“No. I can handle it myself. Is Qi Feng upstairs?”

“He is. If anything comes up, just look for Feng-ge.” Lan Mo was completely at ease.

“Okay. Be careful yourself,” Yan Jiyun said.

Returning to the classroom at this time was actually rather suspicious.

If Qi Feng had ever questioned Caramel’s identity, he’d inevitably realize that Yan Jiyun and Caramel had never appeared together.

From here on, Yan Jiyun planned to keep a little more distance from Qi Feng. As long as it wasn’t too dangerous, it would be better for him to act alone.

Yan Jiyun quietly returned to Class 3. His time in human form was limited, but all he needed to do was find Teacher Qu’s core personality within this instance.

Although Yan Weilan wasn’t the boss, he was the target of Teacher Qu’s personality. Everything about him matched the standards of Teacher Qu’s original personality. He couldn’t let the players capture Yan Weilan, nor could Yan Weilan die. Otherwise, they would be falling into the trap laid by one of Teacher Qu’s personalities.

Back in the [Mermaid] instance, Teacher Qu No. 2 had mentioned that Teacher Qu No. 1 had used Teacher Lin to eliminate Xiao Yue, successfully replacing the Mermaid World. The more consciousness Teacher Qu occupied, the stronger his will became. The more personalities he erased, the more powerful his own consciousness grew.

After coming out of Teacher Qu’s nightmare, Yan Jiyun became even more certain that Teacher Qu’s original personality possessed certain distinguishing characteristics. 

Only, it looked like there wasn’t just one original personality. Yan Jiyun guessed that, for the sake of self-preservation, Teacher Qu’s core personality had split off portions of its own consciousness to resist the other alters. 

The new main mission was to find Teacher Qu’s core personality, but the instance had never stated that there was only one.

While Yan Weicheng believed his younger brother should be watched carefully, Yan Jiyun genuinely wanted to protect Yan Weilan.

By the time he returned to class, half the lesson had already passed. The teacher scolded him for a few moments before allowing him to sit down. 

The Little Class Monitor looked at him several times. Yan Jiyun winked playfully at him, and only then did a smile finally return to the Little Class Monitor’s face.

After the second class ended, Yan Jiyun took the initiative. “Wanna go to the convenience store? I’m starving.”

The Little Class Monitor looked at him worriedly. “You didn’t eat breakfast?”

Yan Jiyun glanced around before leaning close and whispering into his ear, “I want to tell you about what happened to me last night. It was super cool!”

The Little Class Monitor’s eyes immediately widened. The sadness caused by his brother’s suspicion disappeared from his face. “A detective story?”

“Mhm! Wanna go?”

The Little Class Monitor had originally been planning to help a classmate clean the blackboard. He immediately abandoned the idea, grabbed Yan Jiyun’s hand, and ran off.

As they left the classroom, Yan Jiyun spotted Qi Feng standing in the hallway. Yan Jiyun nodded to him, and Qi Feng nodded back. Several classmates were standing beside him, apparently arranging to do something together. Yan Jiyun guessed Qi Feng had probably made another discovery.

Yan Jiyun actually was a little hungry. He had eaten breakfast earlier that morning, but after reaching the convenience store, he picked up a bottle of water. His real purpose was simply to lure the Little Class Monitor out.

He reached into his pocket and discovered he had no money. Silently, he put the bottle back.

Seeing this, the Little Class Monitor asked, “Didn’t you bring any money?”

Yan Jiyun possessed no such thing as money. “Yeah. I forgot.”

The Little Class Monitor generously paid for the bottle. “You can pay me back later. There, it’s paid for.”

“Thanks.” 

Just as the two were about to leave, someone suddenly slammed into Yan Jiyun from behind. He deftly dodged aside. Instead, the other person crashed toward Yan Weilan. Yan Jiyun immediately pulled the Little Class Monitor away!

If he hadn’t reacted in time and caught him, both of them would have fallen flat onto the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?” Yan Jiyun snapped. “The hallway’s this wide, and you just had to ram into us?”

The one who had bumped into them was a solidly built boy, he was taller and sturdier than either of them.

Behind him stood several elementary school students, one of whom was holding onto Class Monitor No. 3.

The tall boy sneered. “I meant to hit you. Yan Weiqing, didn’t you say your little brother had no money? But just now he generously bought water for your classmate, yet wouldn’t even buy you snacks.” 

The Little Class Monitor opened his mouth anxiously, wanting to explain. What came out instead was, “I only have a little pocket money.”

Yan Jiyun thought he was being too meek. He, on the other hand, was an expert at dealing with little brats. “Tsk. Their pocket money belongs to them. They can spend it on whoever they want, however they want. Who are you to stir up trouble between brothers? Who the hell do you think you are, little brat? You’re barely this tall, and you’re already trying to extort people.” 

“Who are you calling a little brat?!” The tall boy immediately became furious.

“Whoever answers, duh.” Yan Jiyun had never lost an argument in his life. “Only little brats extort other people’s pocket money.”

Behind them, Yan Weiqing nodded vigorously. 

The Little Class Monitor quietly edged closer to Yan Jiyun. “They’re classmates from my second brother’s class. My Erge hangs out with them all the time. He doesn’t even like studying anymore.”

A boy with glasses standing beside the tall one was much calmer and wasn’t provoked by Yan Jiyun. “Who are you? Which eye of yours saw us extorting classmates?”

Yan Jiyun thought, ‘At least one of them has a brain.’

“The school’s security cameras saw everything. I don’t need my own eyes.”

“Tsk. Shao Xin’s uncle is the principal. You’ll never get to see the surveillance footage.”

“So you’ve got powerful connections, huh? Covering up the sky with one hand?” Yan Jiyun deliberately raised his voice. “Oh my gosh! The principal’s nephew is extorting classmates! He’s even going to delete the surveillance footage! How terrifying! Waaah!”

Those little punks had clearly never imagined this outcome. Clearly, they didn’t know about the proverb “the barefoot fear no shoes”.

The moment Yan Jiyun started yelling at the top of his lungs, they panicked. Even the bespectacled boy’s expression changed.

Yan Jiyun shouted loudly for everyone nearby to hear, “So scary! Someone’s bullying their classmates! Someone’s extorting my pocket money! The principal’s nephew says he’s going to delete the surveillance footage! Help!”

There were plenty of students and teachers passing by. One after another, they turned to look. Even the principal himself was drawn over.

The bespectacled boy completely panicked. “Stop yelling! We weren’t extorting anyone!”

Pretending to wipe away tears, Yan Jiyun sniffled. “Then give Yan Weiqing back the money you borrowed from him. Otherwise I’ll report the principal to the Education Bureau for covering up his nephew’s extortion of classmates. I’ll also post about it across every major online platform asking for help!”

It was practically blackmail in return.

The children, who had never experienced the harshness of the real world, were completely frightened by Yan Jiyun.

The bespectacled boy hurriedly pulled a thick wad of pocket money from his pocket. “I’ll pay it back! Just don’t spread nonsense!”

Yan Jiyun didn’t take the money. Seeing that he refused it, the Little Class Monitor also remained still.

The bespectacled boy had no choice but to hand the money back to Yan Weiqing. “Here! Take it back!”

Then he and the tall boy fled. Before leaving, however, the tall boy turned around and viciously shook his fist at Yan Jiyun.

After they were gone, Yan Weiqing finally came back to his senses. “Whoa… Man, you’re freaking amazing!”

Only then did the Little Class Monitor look at him. “Erge, why didn’t you tell us they were bullying you?”

Yan Weiqing scratched his head. “It wasn’t that bad. They just borrowed some money from me. They said they’d pay it back.”

The Little Class Monitor was furious. “That’s obviously extortion! They were bullying you!”

Yan Weiqing: “But didn’t you guys help me get the money back?”

Yan Jiyun: “But that’s only satisfying for the moment. As long as you’re still in the same class as them, they’ll keep bullying you.”

Yan Weiqing immediately became anxious. “Then… what should I do? I even share a dorm room with Shao Xin.”

Yan Weilan looked at Yan Jiyun with complete trust. “Yan Jiyun… Can you help my Erge?”

Just as Yan Jiyun was still hesitating, the system notification popped up.

[Congratulations, player. You have triggered New Mission 3: Yan Weilan’s Request for Help.]

Without the slightest hesitation, he answered, “I’ll definitely help!”

Yan Weilan suddenly threw his arms around Yan Jiyun. “Yan Jiyun, you’re the best!”

At the same time, Qi Feng — who had somehow arrived without anyone noticing — was standing not far away.

Yan Jiyun suddenly felt like a scumbag juggling N different relationships. No, no, no. He was simply a cat with enough love for everyone, ah~