DSMC Chapter 175.2

However, Qi Feng actually had a lot he wanted to complain about. The Cruiser Fleet had summoned all the guild leaders here today, but Central Zone should still be within the game’s sphere of control, right? Wouldn’t holding such a high-profile meeting to discuss how to overthrow the game’s system get them monitored or discovered?

With the Cruiser Fleet controlling the proceedings, the top ten guilds conference was still relatively orderly.

Qi Yunchu successfully captured everyone’s attention with the system bugs they had discovered. The guilds whose goal in establishing themselves was to leave the game all wore delighted expressions, while the guilds that wanted to simply lie low or had already established a certain position here looked considerably less pleased.

Those who were comfortable staying here, where they could ignore the law and even successfully make the rules themselves, could do whatever they wanted outside of entering instances. They lived extravagant, indulgent lives in the game. Some had even gone two whole years without returning to the real world after entering the game, perhaps having long since forgotten who they used to be.

They were living so comfortably here that they simply had no desire to return to the real world.

After Qi Yunchu revealed some of the information they had obtained, a few guilds also brought up the system updates they had encountered when entering instances. However, what they experienced was merely an instance update, unlike what Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng had encountered. Their instance had been completely reorganized, with the Main Mission updated as well, directly jumping from a Level 2 Hard instance to a Level 5 Hard instance. For players on the Easy level, the gap was enormous.

Yan Jiyun had thought Qi Feng would tell everyone about what happened in their instance, but he remained silent throughout the meeting.

Still, the Cruiser Fleet had already achieved its objective. They could observe the attitudes of each guild and then choose whom to cooperate with.

After listening to the entire meeting, Yan Jiyun hadn’t gained much useful information. What he did pick up on was that Qi Yunchu seemed to be using this opportunity to get the major guilds to help him keep an eye out for players who were good at farming NPC Favorability.

The moment he thought about his own name occupying the Favorability leaderboard and his value rising along with it, Yan Jiyun suddenly felt a little uneasy.

The Cruiser Fleet had already discovered the secret of NPC Favorability some time ago. They had merely held back until now before revealing it publicly. In other words, they were getting anxious.

Why did they need players who were good at farming NPC Favorability? Did the later stages require players to farm NPC Favorability? And was this somehow related to the system bugs?

Surely it couldn’t be because he had maxed out Lucifer’s Favorability and caused the NPC to develop thoughts of its own? That should have nothing to do with him, right?

It had to be a problem with the system itself.

Yan Jiyun didn’t think he had that much power that he could shake an NPC’s consciousness. Besides, he had simply completed the instance quests normally and cleared them successfully. During that process, there had never been a situation where an NPC suddenly left and caused the game to become impossible to continue.

Why was the Cruiser Fleet repeatedly emphasizing the need to find players who were good at farming Favorability? Was there some information they still hadn’t revealed?

The top ten guilds joint conference lasted all morning. Most of the guilds were willing to share information, while two or three weren’t particularly eager to speak. Whether they themselves were unwilling or their ideas simply didn’t align with the others was unknown.

Among the five independent player teams, Qi Feng spent the entire time listening, while the other four teams also participated in the discussion.

During the break, Ji Xiang and Chu Mo both came over to find Qi Feng. The former simply changed seats and sat beside him, while the latter genuinely only came over to say a couple of words before leaving.

Yan Jiyun was curious about what exactly Qi Yunchu had written in that letter to Qi Feng. He knew Qi Feng well enough to know that sitting here listening to a bunch of people ramble on about this and that was actually pretty boring for him. Qi Feng had already dozed off once in the middle of the meeting, and only woke up when Sister Ji Xiang sat down beside him.

Ji Xiang struck up a conversation with Qi Feng. “The instance you came out of three days ago has been sealed off. I guess Qi Yunchu wants to get detailed information about the instance from you.”

Qi Feng nodded. “I know. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come.”

Ji Xiang asked, “Would you mind telling me what happened? This should be the second time an instance has been sealed off in the game.”

The last time an instance had been sealed off was when Qi Feng and Su Qiuming had been working together.

Qi Feng said, “It’s not the second time. It’s the first time an instance has actually been sealed off. The previous one only had a minor problem. After the system fixed the bug, it was put back online under a different name. This time, it was shut down completely.”

Yan Jiyun knew that the information Qi Feng gave Ji Xiang was still incomplete. There had been more than one instance shut down in the [Mermaid] instance. [Mermaid], [Innocence], [Mingya High School], and [Mingya High School 2.0]— there were four instances in total.

He admired Qi Feng’s caution. After going through several instances, one would eventually discover just how easily the bridge of trust between people could collapse.

Still, Yan Jiyun couldn’t help feeling that everyone here seemed to enjoy bringing up Qi Feng’s past.

Just what kind of legendary figure was this Su Qiuming? People kept thinking about him day after day.

Su Qiuming wasn’t among the people from the guilds who had attended.

Was he also the president of one of these guilds? Why hadn’t he shown up?

At this point, Yan Jiyun desperately wanted to find someone to gossip with about Qi Feng and Su Qiuming. Every time, he only managed to hear a little bit, never enough to get the full story. It was maddening.

Speaking of which, he’d known Qi Feng for far less time than Su Qiuming had.

Ji Xiang asked, “Is it possible that the longer the system runs, the more frequently bugs will start appearing?”

Qi Feng replied, “That’s what I think, too.”

Before the two could discuss the matter in greater detail, Qi Yunchu and the scar-faced man beside him walked over.

Qi Yunchu said, “Qi Feng, could I borrow you for a moment?”

Qi Feng nodded and picked up his backpack. “Sure.”

Qi Yunchu glanced at the bag. “What treasure are you carrying around that makes you unwilling to put it down? I remember you used to care a lot about your image.”

“Different time, different circumstances.” Qi Feng answered with those four words. Naturally, he had his reasons for doing this.

He had placed Caramel in his personal space, and whenever it wanted to come out, it would come out on its own. If Caramel suddenly appeared in front of everyone, he had no way to explain it. But if he left it at their base, who knew whether Caramel’s “new owner” might lure it away with canned food while they were gone?

This was a solution Qi Feng had come up with out of necessity. Keeping Caramel by his side had two advantages. First, he could keep a close eye on it and prevent it from running off. Second, he could try to lure out the “new owner” hiding behind the scenes.

Qi Yunchu led Qi Feng into a private room with excellent soundproofing. The scar-faced man was there as well.

Qi Yunchu’s expression became much more solemn. “You should have read my letter.”

Qi Feng placed his bag beside himself again. “I did.”

Qi Yunchu asked, “What do you think?”

Qi Feng shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to the Top-level area, and I won’t be going there for the time being.”

Qi Yunchu said, “I thought you’d soften after reading my letter.”

Qi Feng replied, “You’re giving me too much credit.”

Qi Yunchu continued, “Actually, it’s not just Su Qiuming who’s gone missing. Quite a few players from the Top-level area haven’t appeared for a long time either. Our guild has several hundred people in the Top-level area, and none of them came back after entering an instance the last time.”

Qi Feng said, “So you think this is related to the system bugs? The other guilds should have situations similar to yours. You can cooperate with them. There aren’t currently any players in my team who’ve entered the advanced-level area.”

Qi Yunchu asked, “You’re not worried about Su Qiuming?”

Qi Feng leaned back against the sofa, his legs naturally spread apart, his posture relaxed as he said, “Qi Yunchu, you can’t possibly not know that once players enter an instance, they can only come out alive after clearing it. There are plenty of people entering top-level instances, and your guild has plenty of capable people. I don’t understand why you still insist on dragging me and Su Qiuming into this. He and I parted ways two years ago because our ideals didn’t align. And I’ve never even entered the top-level area. There’s no way I know more than you do. If anything, I know less.”

From Qi Yunchu’s meaning, Yan Jiyun gathered that he hoped Qi Feng would help Su Qiuming for the sake of their past relationship.

But Qi Feng still didn’t take the card.

Qi Yunchu said, “Since we’ve gotten this far, I’ll be completely honest with you.”

The scar-faced man, Zhuo Yue, handed Qi Feng a palm-sized golden card. There was a little raccoon on the back, while the front had a small white button.

Qi Feng wasn’t about to casually touch something like this. He didn’t take it. “What does it do?”

Zhuo Yue pressed the small white button, and a voice immediately came from inside.

“Help me!”

At the same time, a line of text appeared on the front of the card:

[Player Su Qiuming urgently requires the assistance of 10 friends to clear the instance. If you wish to enter the game, simply press the black button to enter the instance. There is no level restriction for assisting friends.]

[Friend Entry Countdown: 30 hour 3 min.]

Qi Feng’s first reaction was, “A prank?”

Qi Yunchu explained, “We thought it was a prank at first too. But at the same time, someone else in the same guild and the same Top-level instance also received this card.”

Qi Feng immediately voiced Qi Yunchu’s implication. “Did this card fall directly into your hands, or did someone secretly slip it to you? You’re also Su Qiuming’s friend. Why don’t you go in?”

His words weren’t merely mocking. They were downright cutting.

Even Yan Jiyun felt angry listening to it. Knowing full well that Qi Feng and Su Qiuming had already fallen out, how could they still have the nerve to come looking for Qi Feng?

Zhuo Yue said grimly, “He can’t go in. Yunchu is sick. If he enters an Top-level instance, he’s as good as dead.”

Qi Yunchu waved a hand. “Forget it. Don’t bring it up. Qi Feng, I know Su Qiuming betrayed you in the instance back then, but he said he had no choice at the time. This time, I’m asking you to help me save him. You’re the only one who can save him. As long as I can meet your conditions, I’ll agree to anything.”

Qi Feng stood up. “Sorry. It’s not that I’m unwilling to save someone in danger. I just can’t help you.”

He placed a hand on his backpack. “I have someone I need to worry about, too.”

If something happened to him, wouldn’t that just benefit Caramel’s new owner?

Yan Jiyun had been extremely nervous the entire time, terrified that Qi Feng might get emotional for a moment and agree to their request.

Reject emotional blackmail, starting with being a cat owner!