DSMC Chapter 173.2

Qu Wanqiao knew the truth, he simply didn’t want to face it. His sister’s death had dealt him too great a blow. Under the overwhelming emotions of guilt and regret, he developed alter personalities. 

He had been searching for excuses, searching for reasons to convince himself that his sister hadn’t left this world because of their family… because of him.

At this point, all Yan Jiyun wanted to do was sigh.

From Teacher Qu’s consciousness world, it was actually possible to infer that his family had been unhappy. Either the father’s role was missing, or the mother’s role was missing.

Either way, it was an unhealthy family structure. Perhaps the most important factor was still his mother, and the siblings had no fault in it. They simply stood in different positions and saw things from different perspectives.

The girl herself had done nothing wrong. It was just unfortunate that she had been born into the wrong family, and attended a school that did not help her. Thus, she had no mental support.

After finishing his deduction, Yan Jiyun realized that Teacher Qu’s perspective had not stopped.

He could continue watching what happened afterward.

After Qu Wanqiao’s younger sister jumped from the building, their mother appeared. She was a middle-aged woman wearing heavy makeup. The passage of time had left marks on her that even thick makeup couldn’t conceal. She, too, had clearly lived a difficult life.

Teacher Qu was consumed by self-blame, his entire body radiated helplessness.

He had been so close. Just a little more. If only he had been a little faster, he could have taken his sister to live with him in another city.

Yan Jiyun wanted to keep watching, but his vision was suddenly cut off, he could no longer see or hear anything.

When he returned, the female ghost who had been standing in front of him was gone. In her place was Qi Feng, crouching in front of him.

Their eyes met, and Yan Jiyun saw the slight furrow between Qi Feng’s brows. He looked a little worried about him, but he still maintained his outward composure.

Gu Wenzhu was the first to speak. “You were in there for quite a while.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. He looked toward Ci Shen and saw the other man give him a faint smile.

[Congratulations, player, on completing the Side Mission “The Female Ghost’s Memories” Your reward will be issued after the instance ends.]

The female ghost had been both the mission and the truth delivered directly to them.

She wasn’t one of Teacher Qu’s personalities. Rather, she was the condensed “memory” that Teacher Qu had hidden deep within his subconscious. Once Yan Jiyun had watched Teacher Qu’s memories, he had already opened the box containing his memories.

At this moment, everyone was still at the filming location.

After completing the Side Mission, they now only had Main Mission 7 left.

As long as they found the rest of Teacher Qu’s personalities, it would be complete.

However, before Yan Jiyun could explain to his teammates how they had completed the female ghost’s Side mission, they noticed that the world before them had begun to distort.

As the world warped, Ci Shen walked up to Director Jiang. “Stop making the movie. This story has already lost its meaning. We’re leaving, Director Jiang.”

The excitement on Director Jiang’s face twisted horribly in the next second. “You think you can just leave because you say so? Ci Shen, you can’t leave.”

Ci Shen immediately grabbed a chair and smashed it hard into the back of Director Jiang’s head.

Looking at Director Jiang, whose head was now bleeding profusely, he said, “Come out.”

The other players had absolutely no idea what was happening and were utterly bewildered. Why were the NPCs fighting each other?

Director Jiang slowly stood up, clutching the blood pouring from his head. “You finally woke up. I didn’t expect you to have another trick hidden up your sleeve. Qu Wanqiao is only one part of you.”

Teacher Qu’s main personality had completely awakened. This deeper world was gradually collapsing.

As long as he defeated his secondary personalities, Yan Jiyun and the others would be able to leave.

Qu Wanqiao and Female Ghost No. 2 suddenly appeared behind Teacher Qu.

Standing behind Director Jiang were the other two hidden personalities, one of whom was Female No. 3.

The players couldn’t see how they fought or battled each other. By the end of the battle, the world was collapsing faster and faster, because Teacher Qu no longer continued maintaining the superficial consciousness of this world. 

It felt as though the ground beneath everyone’s feet had suddenly disappeared. Then, the teaching building of Mingya High School slowly receded.

Yan Jiyun saw the NPCs who had appeared before, followed by Little Class Monitor and the others. They transformed into tiny specks of light that merged toward a single direction.

Yan Jiyun looked up toward that direction, where Teacher Qu was standing. He had a guess: were Teacher Qu’s personalities merging?

But wait, did that mean he had completed Main Mission 7?

Besides all of that, Yan Jiyun also saw Han Ruibai, specifically, the Han Ruibai of [Mermaid] instance. Unlike Teacher Qu’s other personalities, Han Ruibai didn’t dissolve into specks of starlight. Instead, he sat behind a piano and waved at Yan Jiyun.

Was he waving at him?

Then he began playing the piece of music that Yan Jiyun had only heard Qi Feng play once before, “Mermaid.” Accompanied by the music, the world collapsed faster and faster.

Yan Jiyun had excellent dynamic vision, and he saw fragments of the world’s consciousness, each carrying an image, slide past his eyes. Those images should all have been Teacher Qu’s most genuine memories.

Teacher Qu had truly awakened completely!

But why hadn’t the system told them where they were being sent?

Just moments ago, Yan Jiyun could still hear the voices of his teammates and the other players. Now, everything had gone completely silent.

He couldn’t hear a thing! What was going on?

Suddenly, a blinding light appeared before his eyes, as Yan Jiyun’s body floated gently down onto a cloud.

Huh? Wait. He clearly remembered that his Human Form Time Card hadn’t expired yet. So why had he already turned back into a cat?

A tall, handsome figure landed in front of Yan Jiyun. He crouched down before him and curiously examined him. With a gentle voice, he called, “Yan Jiyun?”

Yan Jiyun jumped in fright, then he looked around.

“……”

‘Are you sure you’re calling me?’ he asked with his mind. 

The man crouched down even lower and looked at Yan Jiyun with a quiet smile. “I promised you that as long as you found me, I would personally send you out. You’re very impressive. You knew to disguise yourself as a black cat in my consciousness world. Actually, you can speak right now. None of your physical bodies entered my consciousness world. Only your consciousnesses came in.”

That scared the life out of him. So he hadn’t discovered that Yan Jiyun was originally a black cat after all!

Yan Jiyun tried speaking. “You can do that? Are you really called Qu Wanqiao?”

Qu Wanqiao nodded. “Yes. That’s my real name.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Then send me out now. My friends have already left.”

Qu Wanqiao rubbed his chin. “I think you’re quite interesting. Why don’t you stay here and keep me company, forever?”

Yan Jiyun disagreed with him. “Are you kidding me? You finally recovered, and you still want to stay in the consciousness world?”

Qu Wanqiao said, “Actually, I wanted to leave in the first place. You understand me pretty well.”

Yan Jiyun stretched lazily in front of him. Then he suddenly remembered the “Mermaid” that Han Ruibai had played. “The person who truly understands you isn’t me. It should be your friend Han Ruibai. And the person who truly awakened you wasn’t me either. It was the piece he wrote for you.”

Qu Wanqiao’s expression froze slightly. “Why are you so certain that he wrote it rather than me?”

Yan Jiyun blinked. “So it really wasn’t written by you?”

Qu Wanqiao could only assume Yan Jiyun was teasing him, and his expression became slightly awkward. “I came here specifically to see you off. Just keep walking across this rainbow bridge and you’ll reach the exit.”

Yan Jiyun said, “You like the number seven because you like rainbows.”

Qu Wanqiao seemed to recall something. “Haha, it is rather arbitrary, but don’t you think that rainbows after the rain are beautiful?”

Yan Jiyun thought for a second. “Mhm. I do.” 

He had quite a few questions he wanted to ask, but in the end, they all turned into a simple blessing. “Qu-laoshi, no, Qu Wanqiao, live a good life from now on. There’s nothing you can’t get through. The world is huge. You should go out and see more of it.”

Qu Wanqiao said, “Thank you. I’ll remember your advice.”

Yan Jiyun raised his dark little head and nodded very seriously. “Good boy. You can still be taught.”

After finishing his words of concern, he walked onto the rainbow bridge without the slightest bit of reluctance. 

When he was almost at the end of the rainbow bridge, Qu Wanqiao muttered softly behind him, “You really don’t feel the slightest attachment to me as your owner?”

Yan Jiyun nearly slipped. “……”

‘I have excellent hearing, you know. Don’t say things like that. I only have one pooper scoo— bah, I don’t have an owner!’

When he was almost at the end of the rainbow bridge, Yan Jiyun suddenly turned around. “Qu Wanqiao, thank you for the steak. It was delicious.”

He didn’t know whether Qu Wanqiao could hear him.

The next second, the rainbow bridge beneath his feet disappeared. There was no sensation of falling, weightlessness, nor dizziness. Then he found himself standing in a place filled with light.

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Waaah, Mimi is about to finish another instance! I wonder when the next livestream will start?”

“Qu-laoshi is so gentle! I love this multi-personality NPC!”

“Can someone tell me whether Han Ruibai likes Qu-laoshi?”

“I just want to know if the rainbow bridge means what I think it means!”

“AAAAAA, he cleared it! Qu-laoshi kept his promise and personally sent Mimi out of the instance. But the atmosphere is already like this, so not asking a question would almost be rude. Can someone explain the whole story and how all the pieces of this instance fit together?”

“Does the plot even matter? What matters is that I won’t get to see my baby for ten days! Speaking of which, the instance is actually pretty easy to understand. Qu-laoshi couldn’t escape the shadow of his younger sister’s suicide. Most likely, he knew the reason why and couldn’t accept it. Tormented by that, he developed dissociative identity disorder. This is actually a deeply touching story about Qu-laoshi fighting against his mental illness!”

“Are you guys really saying ten days? Although I want to see Kitty Baby again soon too, I hope he gets better before entering another instance. See you in the next instance darling, muah muahh~”

Yan Jiyun left the instance without being subjected to any time pressure.

What followed immediately was a barrage of system notifications erupting like a volcanic eruption.

[Congratulations player, on successfully completing the Main Mission “Find Teacher Qu” from the “Mermaid” instance.]

[Congratulations player, on successfully obtaining maximum favorability with three or more of NPC Teacher Qu’s personalities. You have unlocked Level 5 NPC Teacher Qu’s Favorability.]

[Congratulations player, on successfully completing the new achievement “Clear Three Instances in a Row.” You have broken the consecutive-clear record and will receive a Super Clear Reward Gift Pack from the system.]

[Congratulations player, on entering the top 100 of the livestream tipping leaderboard.]

[Congratulations! Your Intimacy with your Master has increased by 1 point.]

[Congratulations! Your Intimacy with your Master has increased by 2 points.]

[Congratulations! Your Intimacy with your Master has increased by 10 points.]

[Congratulations! Your Intimacy with your Master has reached 20/100. Master Instance Visibility has been unlocked.]

[As the instance you entered this time exceeded the original level limit of the instance, the system will provide special compensation. Your entry time for the next instance may be postponed by ten days.]

[Would you like to open the Gift Pack now?]

Yan Jiyun had also received a gift pack in the previous instance.

The most useful item had been the Luck Card, but he still hadn’t used the Luck Card for a second time. Its effects were extremely random. Since he had another gift pack this time, he decided to open it after leaving the temporary rest area. 

What he was more interested in right now was the newly unlocked Master Instance Visibility. What exactly did that thing mean?

As if it hadn’t appeared in a very long time, the young male voice of the system suddenly chimed in. “It means that once your owner enters an instance, you can view his status bar at any time, regardless of the time or location.”

Wouldn’t that mean he was going to have Qi Feng’s status updates constantly flooding his vision from now on?

The system removed the injuries on Yan Jiyun’s body, but his cold symptoms remained. He left the temporary rest area in human form. By the time he came out, it was already dark.

The last instance he had entered, [Mingya High School 2.0], had been a Level 5 Hard instance, so the passageway through which he was transported back had become a Hard-level area.

There weren’t many people around.

Yan Jiyun secretly rejoiced and found an alley to hide in while waiting for Qi Feng and the others to come out. Before long, Qi Feng emerged. Yan Jiyun seized the opportunity and burrowed straight into him. He could clearly feel Qi Feng relax with relief.

But what Qi Feng said next made Yan Jiyun regret his decision to turn back into a cat — Qi Feng sniffed him.

“Caramel, why do you smell like Yan Jiyun’s ointment?” He frowned and pushed aside all the black fur on Caramel’s body, checking him from head to tail.

Yan Jiyun had no idea what Qi Feng was thinking.

Shit. He was careless.

T/N: (Translator’s Note— OpinionCorner)

The four-in-one instances is done! I just want to say, I actually was a bit disappointed in the ending because its pacing was too hasty. I feel like, at least, either we should know Qu Wanqiao’s sister name, or use the fact that she is nameless to tell something about Qu Wanqiao. (He’s too afraid to confront her? Because he felt immense guilt? So she was relegated as “sister” because Qu Wanqiao felt is was too painful to perceive her properly)

Especially because Qu Wanqiao is a very interesting character! His “true” self in the end is gentle and melancholic; and we are given hints that in “real world”, he actually has some special relationship with Han Ruibai, different from what the reality of [Mermaid] told us (Han Ruibai moved on from “Qu-laoshi” aka Xiao Yue). Maybe because he think he shouldn’t be close to Han Ruibai anymore after his sister suicide, so in the [Mermaid] instance, he made Xiao Yue died so Han Ruibai can “escape” from Qu Wanqiao.

The Han Ruibai in the end scene should be the “real world” Han Ruibai though. It seems that he misses Qu Wanqiao.

And about the using DID as a central theming… I admit, I’m not an expert in mental health, and I just know some basic things. CMIIW, but alter/secondary personalities are often more “”dangerous”” because they usually stem from the main personality trauma. As in, they’re more protective, even becoming more assertive. And thus, more “”dangerous”” (they’re not dangerous). That’s why the explanation for Qu Wanqiao’s DID origin feel spot-on for me. Originally, he “split” an alter to protect his main personality, because he was starting to spiral from the sheer guilt of causing his twin sister death. Sure, in truth, he wasn’t the sole cause of her suicide, but he can’t think straight.

In this novel, the depiction is very fantastical, and even wrong in some aspect. Please don’t base your understanding of DID from a novel, or even from me! Please read relevant scientific articles/journals about it.