DSMC Chapter 170.1

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“Is this really a supernatural instance? Why is Su Xiran’s assistant, Xiao Tang, the one who came out pretending to be a ghost?”

“Why do I feel like this isn’t a supernatural instance at all? The game can create special effects, so the film crew should have people who handle special effects too, right? When did Kitty Baby discover it? Is Xiao Tang the person who killed Su Xiran?”

“Although this sounds like hindsight, I actually started suspecting Xiao Tang when she said Su Xiran had disappeared while going to the bathroom. Her behavior was pretty suspicious, and her crying was a little too exaggerated.”

“But I’m more interested in what Kitty Baby just said, that he knows who Qu-laoshi is. Who is it? Director Jiang or President Ci? They both have very distinct personalities. I think either of them could be Qu-laoshi’s main personality.”

“Huh? Am I the only one who thinks Qu Wanqiao is the main personality? Isn’t it already written clearly in his name? Isn’t Qu Wanqiao Qu-laoshi?”

“Forget about who Qu-laoshi is for now. I want to see Kitty Baby uncover the truth behind [Mingya High School 2.0] as soon as possible. Xiao Tang should be a key breakthrough. The moment Kitty Baby found this place, she showed up. She must have come to destroy the evidence, but she didn’t have time to destroy it before Kitty found her.”

Xiao Tang really had been pretending. She had originally come here to take Su Xiran’s student records. When she saw someone heading this way, she had taken the female ghost costume from the production crew and disguised herself as a ghost to scare people. After all, there was already a ghost legend surrounding the school.

Shi Yan had thought she was a real ghost. The room suddenly becoming cold had certainly seemed convincing. He hadn’t expected that the culprit had simply turned on the air conditioner.

Shi Yan put away the completely useless peachwood sword in his hand. “Why did you do this?”

Who would have thought it wasn’t a real ghost at all, but someone from the film crew?

No, that wasn’t right. Su Xiran was already dead, so why hadn’t Xiao Tang left?

The flashlight in Yan Jiyun’s hand was still shining directly into Xiao Tang’s eyes. The makeup really was rather hideous.

Xiao Tang’s eyes hurt from the light. “Could you move the flashlight away? I can’t open my eyes.”

Yan Jiyun: “Sure. But first, answer a few questions. Don’t think about running. My buddy is very skilled. He can pin you down again anytime.”

Xiao Tang covered her eyes with both hands and said in despair, “Now that you’ve found me, I don’t have anything to say. Ask whatever you want.”

Yan Jiyun: “Did you kill Su Xiran? What grudge did you have against her?”

Xiao Tang honestly confessed, though she hurriedly denied it. “I didn’t kill Su Xiran. But it’s true that I had a grudge against her. I only came here to destroy her records because someone else told me to. But you got here before I did.”

Yan Jiyun: “Why did the person behind you want to kill Su Xiran? You were the one who lured Su Xiran to the rooftop, weren’t you?”

Xiao Tang nodded. “I was. But I was only following that person’s orders.”

Yan Jiyun: “What was your grudge against her?”

Xiao Tang said sadly, “My family isn’t well-off. She was always finding excuses to dock my pay. My mother depended on my salary every month for her medical treatment. Last month, Su Xiran withheld my wages because she claimed that the food delivery I ordered for her had given her diarrhea. My mother couldn’t get medical treatment or medicine in time, and she died half a month ago.”

Yan Jiyun could tell she wasn’t lying. “And then someone approached you?”

Xiao Tang nodded. “Yes. That person also told me to come here and take Su Xiran’s records away and destroy them. But you got here before me.”

Yan Jiyun: “Did that person teach you how to play ghost as well?”

Xiao Tang nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes, yes! They sent me a message telling me to bring this outfit along. If anyone discovered me, I was supposed to put it on and use it to scare them.”

Yan Jiyun had heard a buzzing sound earlier and initially thought it was tinnitus caused by his cold. But then he noticed the airflow around him and realized something was wrong. It was completely different from the chill he’d felt in the classroom. After listening carefully, he realized there was the sound of a machine running.

It wasn’t tinnitus, instead, it was the sound of machinery.

And the only thing here capable of producing cold air was the air conditioner.

So there were two groups causing trouble in this instance? One group consisted of actual ghosts, while the other consisted of people pretending to be ghosts?

This was getting more and more interesting.

At least they could deal with the fake ghost first.

Shi Yan: “How were you communicating with that person?”

Xiao Tang took out her phone. There were text messages from an unknown number. “They sent me messages, and I just followed their instructions. But I really didn’t expect them to want Su Xiran dead. I never wanted her to die. I only wanted to scare her a little. I don’t have the guts to kill someone!”

She looked frustrated as she desperately tried to prove her innocence, but Yan Jiyun wasn’t particularly sympathetic. He had always been ruthless toward NPCs who had done bad things.

Yan Jiyun asked her, “But wrong is wrong. Did you ever see the person behind all this?”

Xiao Tang shook her head. “I never saw them, but I think they should be somewhere in the film crew. I’ve heard their voice before. Their voice— ah!!”

Before Xiao Tang could finish, a sharp arrow pierced straight through her throat.

She died right in front of Yan Jiyun.

The flashlight in Yan Jiyun’s hand wasn’t particularly bright, but it was still strong enough to clearly illuminate Xiao Tang’s corpse.

That was fucking sudden, and fucking terrifying!

Shi Yan immediately chased after the direction the arrow had come from. The attacker had fired a poisoned blowdart through the window at Xiao Tang. The arrow was coated with poison, and Xiao Tang had died from poisoning. She had died incredibly quickly.

Clearly, the attacker was determined to protect their secret.

What truth were they trying to conceal? Would they continue killing people?

Shi Yan was highly skilled. He jumped straight from the window onto a tree opposite the building and chased after the killer.

The archive room fell silent again.

Yan Jiyun leaned against the wall and took a moment to recover.

The medicine Qu Wanqiao had found for him was quite effective. His shoulder and back no longer hurt, but there was a severe side effect.

He was now dizzy and lightheaded, and sleepiness was starting to overwhelm him.

What was he supposed to do? No. He couldn’t collapse in the library.

Yan Jiyun pinched his own arm to force himself to stay awake, then quickly ran downstairs. Before he could even leave the library, his time card expired.

He turned back into a cat.

His vision began to sway, his head felt unbearably heavy, and his eyelids were practically impossible to keep open.

He could still smell the medicinal ointment on his body, and there were still scratch marks from the female ghost on his left arm. If he went back like this, Qi Feng would definitely become suspicious.

Yan Jiyun returned to the first floor of the library, crawled into one of the cabinets toward the back, and curled himself into a comfortable spot.

It was almost dawn anyway, and the film crew couldn’t continue shooting. Whether he returned or not didn’t matter much anymore.

The Mingya High School production crew hadn’t come here to make a movie at all.

They had come here with a purpose: to take revenge.

Yan Jiyun felt like his brain could barely function anymore. He needed to rest first. Whatever happened could wait until tomorrow.

A few seconds later, Yan Jiyun curled himself into a ball inside the cabinet and fell deeply asleep.

Meanwhile, Shi Yan chased the man in black all the way to the Music Building, but ultimately lost him. The man was extremely familiar with Mingya High School, darting left and right through the campus before disappearing without a trace.

Director Jiang announced that tonight’s filming was officially over. Everyone would rest during the day and resume filming tomorrow afternoon.

Qi Feng and Gu Wenzhu came out of the Music Building.

When Qi Feng saw that Shi Yan had returned alone, he couldn’t help asking, “Where’s Yan Jiyun?”

The two of them had gone out together, so why had only one returned? What had happened?

Shi Yan told them everything about finding Xiao Tang, her murder, and the man in black.

Gu Wenzhu had been keeping an eye on the movements of the NPCs in the film crew. He frowned. “Several people left just now, but I didn’t see anyone following you after you left.”

Shi Yan: “Could it have been someone from Group B?”

Qi Feng: “No. Someone did leave. The producer, Ci Shen. And Director Jiang just went out too.”

Gu Wenzhu returned to the filming location and discovered that Producer Ci really wasn’t there.

Shi Yan: “Yan Jiyun and I both suspect that Director Jiang might have a problem.”

Qi Feng hadn’t been on the same bus as Shi Yan earlier, so he didn’t know about that little incident at the beginning. Shi Yan briefly told them about Yan Jiyun’s deduction.

Gu Wenzhu immediately understood. “Could Director Jiang have been—”

Possessed by a ghost?

Qi Feng’s gaze shifted toward the area behind Shi Yan. “It’s possible. His words and actions don’t match up.”

Shi Yan asked him, “What are you looking at?”

Qi Feng stated a simple fact. “Yan Jiyun hasn’t come back yet.”

Shi Yan was actually quite confident in Yan Jiyun. “Nothing should happen to him. Xiao Tang is already dead, so she can’t threaten him. There aren’t any other players searching around the library right now either.”

Gu Wenzhu was also a little worried. “I’ll go check the library.”

Qi Feng stopped him. “No. I’ll go. You two stay here and keep an eye on them.”

However, Qi Feng hadn’t even made it out of the Music Building when he ran straight into Director Jiang.

Director Jiang was carrying a bag in his hand, and the bag looked somewhat familiar.

Qi Feng gave Shi Yan and Gu Wenzhu a meaningful glance, signaling them to keep an eye on Director Jiang while he went to look for Yan Jiyun. Yan Jiyun was injured, and Qi Feng wasn’t particularly reassured about him.

If Qi Feng’s sense of smell were as good as Yan Jiyun’s, he would probably have been able to smell the medicinal ointment on him right now.

Shi Yan and Gu Wenzhu stayed in the Music Building. The two pretended to search for clues together, but in reality, they followed Director Jiang and kept an eye on his movements.

With Yan Jiyun gone, their previous method of advancing the plot by acting out scenes according to the script could no longer continue.

After they left, however, Director Jiang called over one of the production crew’s personal assistants. “Where’s my tent? I want to get some rest.”

The assistant took him to a music classroom next door where a tent and sleeping bag had been set up. They would be staying here for the next three days, and the assistant had arranged everything quite comfortably.

Director Jiang stuffed the bag into the tent and asked which tent was next to his.

The assistant replied, “Director Jiang, that’s President Ci’s. He said the two of you could discuss work at night, so he asked me to arrange it here.”

Director Jiang nodded and dismissed the assistant. Then, he crawled into the tent and opened the bag he’d brought inside. He looked at the black furry lump inside.

“Tsk. This little black cat sure sleeps soundly.”

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“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! Mimi, wake up! There’s a fucking creepy NPC here!”

“Did he pass out? What does Director Jiang want to do to Kitty Baby? Does he know Kitty Baby’s secret, that he can turn from a human into a cat and then from a cat back into a human?”

“Holy shit, how did he know Kitty Baby was hiding in the corner of the library just now?”

“Director Jiang is kind of terrifying!”

“I was just in the Level 5 big shot’s livestream and heard them talking about a terrifying truth. Director Jiang might have been possessed by a ghost! Aaaaaah! I’ve got goosebumps all over! If Director Jiang is a ghost, what kind of ghost is he? Qu-laoshi’s main personality or his secondary personality?”

“I’m someone who loves watching horror livestreams, and even I feel scared right now. I’ve never seen an NPC from a supernatural instance take a player back to his nest before. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it for Mimi. That’s a fucking ghost! Help! Mimi, wake up!”

“So… is this ghost Qu-laoshi?”