DSMC Chapter 164.1

CW: Sketchy depictions of DID, rape, school bullying, and horror/supernatural-theme

Arc 8: Mingya High School 2.0

[Want to be Human] livestream channel:

“Everyone else has switched roles, but the Kitty Baby is still a high school student!”

“Hahahahaha, I’m fucking dying. Did Qu-laoshi do this on purpose?”

“Could Qu-laoshi actually be part of the system? Otherwise, how would he have enough authority to single-handedly keep the Kitty Baby in his high school form? This time, he’s the only one who wasn’t assigned a new role in the new instance.”

“Looks like all the other players were transported by the painting into this new [Mingya High School] instance.”

“They basically changed the time period of the original [Mingya High School] instance and added a new storyline. Different things happen in different time periods.”

“Ahhhhh, I’m so excited for the new storyline! It has such a supernatural horror vibe. I love it!”

“So, what level is this instance?”

“I guess it hasn’t changed. It should still be a Level 4 Hard instance.”

Yan Jiyun’s mind was still a little scrambled by the fact that everyone else had returned to their adult forms while he was still stuck looking like a teenager. He only followed after Qi Feng and the others had all entered the school.

Once he quietly caught up with the others, Yan Jiyun saw his system interface refresh.

[Public Announcement: As the new main mission is currently in progress, the content of the “Mingya High School” instance has been modified. Welcome all players to the “Mingya High School 2.0” instance.]

[Public Announcement: The mission for players from the original “Mingya High School” instance have been suspended. The original mission rewards will be distributed after the new mission ends.]

[Public Announcement: We wish all players an enjoyable game~]

Mingya High School 2.0?

So it could just change at the drop of a hat?

Yan Jiyun watched as his [Mingya High School] instance mission slowly disappeared, leaving only New Main Mission 3 (Completed).

New Main Mission 4 had not yet been activated. For now, the players had to uncover it themselves.

Yan Jiyun couldn’t show himself in front of everyone just yet. Without a new role, it would be too easy for the other players to recognize him.

Most of the players in the [Mermaid] instance had been Easy-level or Intermediate-level players like him, whereas most of the players in the [Mingya High School] instance were from Hard-level. None of them were pushovers. Otherwise, the system wouldn’t have simply transformed [Mingya High School] into [Mingya High School 2.0] and made them start over.

Did this count as his fourth non-Newcomer instance?

Yan Jiyun was too tired to even complain about the system anymore.

As dusk settled in, the film crew, a mixture of players and NPCs, began carrying out their work in an orderly fashion.

The actors were preparing their lines and blocking while the staff prepared the costumes, makeup, and props.

Yan Jiyun had no corresponding role in the new instance, and he had no idea what they were filming. All he could do was secretly hide nearby and eavesdrop.

Qi Feng had apparently gotten the role of the male lead, while the female lead was a pure-looking young woman who was an NPC.

Lan Mo had become Qi Feng’s assistant and was standing beside him, fanning him with a fan.

Gu Wenzhu was Qi Feng’s manager, while Qiu Xi had become a stagehand.

The other players had roles of varying importance, some major and some minor. Half of the cast were players and half were NPCs, and there were at least a hundred people in the entire production crew.

The director and producer were both NPCs.

If there weren’t so many people around, he would have gone to find Qi Feng immediately.

Yan Jiyun secretly looked at the script that one of the actors had left nearby and saw the title of the production they were filming. It was simple and straightforward:

Mingya High School.

He scanned the group of actors. The real Teacher Qu should be among them. Both Teacher Qu No. 1 and Teacher Qu No. 2 had changed, and he had no idea which one was which now.

Wanting a clearer look at the script, Yan Jiyun hid himself among a pile of bags and boxes and used his paw to pull the script off a folding chair and onto the floor.

It was already getting dark, and the chair cast a shadow, so as long as he didn’t randomly stick his head out, there shouldn’t be any problems.

He remembered that the person who had left the script there was supposed to be the supporting male lead. He had two or three assistants — one to bring him food and drinks, one to arrange his clothes, and another to style his hair. Everything about him was meticulously taken care of.

Yan Jiyun saw the name written in the script: Qu Wanqiao.

His spirits immediately lifted.

This actor was Teacher Qu!

However, Qu Wanqiao had just gone to discuss the script with the director and wasn’t here. Yan Jiyun hadn’t seen what he looked like, so he couldn’t say for certain whether he was the same Teacher Qu.

He heard people around him gossiping about how Qu Wanqiao liked to act like a big shot and was even trying to modify the script that the screenwriter and producer had already finalized to add more scenes for himself.

The source of the gossip was a marginally important fourth male lead. The young man had apparently undergone plastic surgery, leaving him with a chin sharp enough to look like a snake spirit. Yan Jiyun guessed he might be playing a “ghost” in this movie.

“Ge, you’d better stop. The producer went to great lengths to get Qu Wanqiao. This little production can only become a hit because of his popularity.”

“It’s just a supernatural mystery movie. There’s a ceiling for this kind of thing. At most, it’ll make a billion at the box office. After paying his fee, we won’t make any money.”

“But what does that have to do with you? As long as you get paid, isn’t that enough?”

“But I just don’t like him. The roles were already his to choose, and he’s still forcing them to add more scenes. It’s disgusting.”

“Qu Wanqiao is talented himself. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make the script a little more logical, right? Even Qi Feng is an award-winning actor, and his fee isn’t even as high as Qu Wanqiao’s.”

“You’re my assistant. Why are you always defending the competition? Qi Feng is already a washed up actor. If he hadn’t taken this job, he’d probably be starving.”

Yan Jiyun also felt that this assistant would probably be fired soon.

His own pooper scooper had to be a top-tier celebrity even if he became an actor, an award-winning actor capable of carrying a movie’s box office, with enough assets to scare everyone into silence. There was no way he’d ever be reduced to begging for food. And if all else failed, Yan Jiyun could always start streaming and earn money to support his pooper scooper!

After finishing his rant about the fourth male lead, Yan Jiyun began listening to the outcome of Qu Wanqiao’s discussion with the director.

The truth was quite different from the rumors. Qu Wanqiao had been pointing out logical inconsistencies in the script.

“Director, look at this part. After Qi Feng and I fall down, we look up and see a bloody, mangled face. Given our characters’ personalities, even if we were frightened, there’s no way we’d immediately scream. What do you think about changing it? I feel like screaming here would be out of character.”

“Good point. Let’s change it. Screenwriter, come over here for a moment—”

Teacher Qu was Teacher Qu, after all. He was top-tier in every industry. This time, he’d even turned himself into a top-tier celebrity.

It was just that Teacher Qu No. 1 and Teacher Qu No. 2 had both changed personalities. Finding them among everyone was genuinely difficult. He could only carefully identify them himself.

The producer was also a young man in his twenties. He was composed and carried an air of authority, and everyone on set treated him with respect.

Yan Jiyun scanned the crowd again.

There was only one Qu Wanqiao.

So just how many other personalities had Teacher Qu split into?

Mingya High School 2.0 had to be the final instance, right?

At this rate, all his fur was going to fall out.

After several rounds of discussion, filming finally began half an hour later.

This was actually a movie adapted from the original story of the Mingya High School instance.

The story was about a group of young people who didn’t believe in ghosts or gods. Looking for some excitement, they arranged to explore Mingya High School over the weekend, a place rumored to be haunted by terrifying ghost stories. They even recklessly started a livestream during their exploration.

During their adventure, they encountered the ghost of a girl who had died at the school for some reason years ago. One of them was connected to the girl’s death.

It was actually a classic revenge plot.

The real culprit was hidden among these young people, and the avenger would kill the culprit and the others one by one.

Yan Jiyun figured this was probably an instance within an instance.

The script was actually an allegory for a tragedy that had occurred at Mingya High School. So would something similar to the events in the script happen within the film crew as well?

Who had written the script for the Mingya High School 2.0 production?

Yan Jiyun couldn’t help turning his attention toward the producer, who gave orders and handled everything with crisp efficiency.

The producer’s surname was Ci, and everyone on set called him President Ci. He was a man who rarely smiled.

The first scene took place after they entered the school, in the corridor of the school building. The stairs had fallen into disrepair, and the light bulbs flickered on and off.

The dozen or so young people were still excited, with only the first and second male lead remaining relatively calm. The third male lead was an energetic character who constantly held a livestreaming device, while the fourth male lead was a rich second-generation character who cared deeply about his image and had brought his girlfriend along for the exploration.

In short, almost every actor in the script was an important character. Not a single one could be missing.

Qi Feng truly was an experienced player. Even acting came naturally to him. Yan Jiyun was practically won over by his acting skills.

As expected of the scooper he’d taken a liking to.

When he had first opened his eyes after being reborn, he had hidden motionless in the bushes, afraid to casually choose some passerby as his scooper. He had crouched there for two hours before finally hearing the steady footsteps of a passing scooper.

Different people had different ways of walking. Impatient people walked especially quickly. Lazy people dragged their feet. Indecisive people alternated between fast and slow steps.

After listening to a whole circle of footsteps, Yan Jiyun felt that Qi Feng’s steps were different from everyone else’s. Every step seemed measured, neither too light nor too heavy, neither hurried nor sluggish.

That meant he was someone who knew how to conceal his emotions.

Yan Jiyun thought Qi Feng was special, so that day, he instinctively learned how to fake an accident and successfully acquired himself a pooper scooper.

And this was one he’d chosen himself!

But back to the matter at hand.  

Yan Jiyun still hadn’t figured out the storyline of the original [Mingya High School]. He remembered that the characters were the same as in the [Mermaid] instance, but the storyline was different.

He should have been close to uncovering the truth back then, but who could have known that after returning to the [Mermaid] instance, he wouldn’t be able to come back and continue his investigation? When he returned again, the instance had been upgraded, and both the storyline and characters had changed.

The system was becoming more and more cunning. It knew that they could infer the final BOSS from the recurring characters, so now it was doing an even better job of hiding Teacher Qu.

Perhaps even this “Qu Wanqiao” was just a red herring the system had thrown out to mislead the players.

Otherwise, this would be far too easy.

Would the system really just hand them the answer?

As if!