DSMC Chapter 185

Yan Jiyun had no idea whether Liu Jingxi had deliberately shown up at this particular moment. After all, the two of them hadn’t coordinated anything, and Liu Jingxi had no idea why he had come in. Perhaps Liu Jingxi had intended to catch Liu Jingyi off guard all along.

Either way, it worked out nicely for Yan Jiyun.

The moment Liu Jingyi heard someone knock, he immediately shut the casket he had been about to open. He hadn’t had time to find somewhere to hide it, so he simply placed it beside the desk and covered it with a book, hoping to disguise it.

As Liu Jingyi opened the door, Yan Jiyun jumped onto the windowsill and then slipped beneath the desk. Once he was sure Liu Jingyi wouldn’t turn around anytime soon, he jumped onto a chair and clambered up the desk, pulling away the book covering the casket.

Liu Jingyi opened the door and saw Liu Jingxi standing outside. “What brings you here?”

Liu Jingxi lowered his voice. “Ge, I want to talk to you about Jinghao. I don’t think there’s anything simple about this matter.”

Liu Jingyi was still putting on an act in front of his younger brother. He coughed and said, “All right. Let’s talk in the room next door. There’s quite a draft in the study, and I’m feeling a little uncomfortable sitting here.”

“Sounds good. Ge, autumn is here, so you need to take care of yourself. You can leave the work to the people below you.”

Liu Jingyi chuckled softly. “I’d like to leave it to you.”

At those words, Liu Jingxi reacted as though he’d just seen a terrifying beast. “You know perfectly well that numbers give me a headache. Forget it.”

Liu Jingyi coughed twice. “Our family’s business will still have to be handed over to you eventually. Once Jinghao’s affairs are settled, you should spend more time by my side and learn a few things. That way, when I’m gone, you can be Dad’s right-hand man—”

Liu Jingxi hurriedly cut him off. “Don’t say such inauspicious things. You’ll live to be a hundred!”

Liu Jingxi naturally led Liu Jingyi to the tea room next door to have some tea, leaving Yan Jiyun alone in the study. Now he could open the casket.

He pulled the book aside, revealing the casket’s original appearance. The little lock had already been picked. Using his paw pads, he pushed the lid backward, only to discover a piece of parchment rolled into a cylinder inside.

Yan Jiyun grabbed the parchment in his mouth and leaped toward the edge of the window. However, jumping back down to the ledge below was going to be a little difficult this time. If he failed to land securely, he could fall straight to the ground.

Meanwhile, Liu Jingyi was deliberately coughing up a storm, hoping Liu Jingxi would leave as soon as possible. Liu Jingxi didn’t keep him waiting either. After chatting for a few moments, he pretended to be afraid that his brother might cough himself to death and even said he would find someone to come and look after Liu Jingyi.

“Ge, have you taken your medicine? I’ll get someone to bring it to you right away. Where has Sister-in-law gone?”

“Your sister-in-law is with Mom. I’ll be fine after resting for a while. Don’t bother bringing anyone over.”

“No, Ge, we can’t afford to neglect your health! I’ll get someone over right away!”

Liu Jingxi disappeared at a speed that even Liu Jingyi couldn’t stop. In truth, Liu Jingyi hadn’t wanted his younger brother to leave quite so quickly either.

At that moment, Yan Jiyun still hadn’t dared to make his first move. He wondered why Liu Jingxi hadn’t kept Liu Jingyi occupied a little longer. He still hadn’t figured out how to jump down. On his way over, he’d moved horizontally, but now he had to jump downward.

After seeing Liu Jingxi off, Liu Jingyi headed straight back toward the study. Yan Jiyun gritted his teeth and leaped down to the ledge below!

Yan Jiyun’s front paws landed lightly on the narrow ledge, but his hind legs nearly lost their footing. His body wobbled, almost sending him tumbling into the pond. He broke out in a cold sweat from fright, but fortunately, he managed to turn things around at the last moment and cling tightly to the wall, narrowly avoiding a fall.

He retraced his route and quickly slipped out through the eastern wing’s main entrance.

Just when he thought he could leave without any trouble, he discovered Liu Jingxi standing right at the entrance. Yan Jiyun met his gaze, then immediately turned and ran. Without saying a word, Liu Jingxi chased after him.

A black cat ran in front, with a human chasing behind. The servants passing by all found the sight rather strange.

“Is Second Young Master out for a night run?”

“Who knows? Maybe it’s some new activity he’s come up with. Second Young Master is always keeping up with the latest trends.”

“That’s true. I wonder what new fads have appeared in our town lately.”

“There aren’t any new activities, but there are some new foods. I heard they’re called boba milk tea and fried chicken with beer. It’s a strange combination, but I tried them once, and they were delicious!”

“Then I’ll try them on my next day off.”

Yan Jiyun sometimes found his excellent hearing rather annoying. Why did he have to hear conversations like this? He wanted fried chicken too! He wanted milk tea!

But right now, he was being chased by an NPC. Forget fried chicken and milk tea, even water was out of reach.

Following behind Yan Jiyun, Liu Jingxi called out, “Xiao Hei, put down the map in your mouth!”

Yan Jiyun darted into a dense patch of low shrubs, crouching down and weaving between the branches with his legs bent. He thought to himself that there was no way he would give up his item.

Strangely enough, Liu Jingxi could keep finding his exact location!

No matter where he crawled, Liu Jingxi could pinpoint his direction with uncanny accuracy. He was already as black as could be, so how was he still being spotted? This made absolutely no sense.

Yan Jiyun continued sprinting. He wanted to find out whether Liu Jingxi could really pinpoint his location with such accuracy a second time.

He doubled back beneath the bushes and ran toward the eastern wing, only to be spotted by Liu Jingxi again.

Did this NPC have a third eye or something? How could he follow Yan Jiyun wherever he went?

Liu Jingxi looked at the black cat crouching beneath the artificial rockery, the rolled-up parchment clenched in its mouth. “Xiao Hei, put down what you’re carrying. In exchange, I can arrange to give you dried fish regularly.”

Yan Jiyun wasn’t interested in that trade. He had worked hard to obtain this item. Was he really supposed to hand it over just like that?

But if the parchment could serve a greater purpose in Liu Jingxi’s hands, then perhaps playing the long game and reaping a bigger reward wasn’t such a bad idea. Besides, he could still transform into the “cousin” and continue staying by Liu Jingxi’s side to keep an eye on him. The most reasonable approach would be to cooperate with Liu Jingxi in his cat form.

After considering the various possibilities and weighing the pros and cons, Yan Jiyun placed the rolled-up parchment on the ground. Liu Jingxi walked over, picked it up, and slipped it neatly into his pocket. He started to reach out and pat the black cat on the head, but stopped when Yan Jiyun tilted his head.

“Fine. The deal isn’t complete yet, so I can’t pet you, is that it?”

Yan Jiyun thought that wasn’t quite the reason. He was well-fed and satisfied at the moment, so he didn’t need to “beg for food” from humans.

Liu Jingxi headed toward the western wing with the parchment, and Yan Jiyun followed at a comfortable distance. Liu Jingxi didn’t object either. The black cat was unusually intelligent, but he still had some questions. Why had it stolen the parchment from the casket? Had someone trained it? But if it had been trained, why was it willing to give the parchment to him? Was it because of the dried fish?

If it really was all for dried fish, then he’d gotten an incredible bargain.

Yan Jiyun followed Liu Jingxi back to his courtyard. The little courtyard was decorated quite cozily, though it was probably maintained by someone hired specifically for the job. It was only after entering the room that Yan Jiyun discovered Liu Jingxi truly didn’t break character at all. Half the furnishings were Chinese-style and the other half Western-style. There were records, basketballs, footballs, posters, and all sorts of other things.

Once again, Yan Jiyun had found evidence of the strange, disjointed nature of this Jiangnan town. They clearly couldn’t leave the place, nor could they follow celebrities, so where had Liu Jingxi seen posters of sports stars?

Yan Jiyun jumped onto the modern sofa and flopped down. There was a little mud on his paw pads, and when he stepped onto the cream-colored upholstery, he left several very conspicuous paw prints shaped like plum blossoms.

Liu Jingxi’s eyelid twitched. “……”

He had thought the black cat would be shy around strangers. Who would have expected it to claim his sofa without the slightest hesitation? However, since this black cat had brought him a map on parchment, he couldn’t afford to offend it. He had to treat it well. With no other choice, he found a towel and walked over to the cat.

Liu Jingxi crouched in front of Yan Jiyun. “Xiao Hei, your paws are filthy. Let me wipe them clean.”

Yan Jiyun flopped over on the sofa. Liu Jingxi didn’t even need to figure out how to get him to lift his paws; Yan Jiyun had already raised them on his own.

Liu Jingxi felt that this cat was far too intelligent. It understood human speech perfectly, and communicating with it was remarkably easy.

As he crouched in front of the black cat and wiped its paws, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Congratulations to our Kitty Baby for acquiring a new servant on the very first day of entering the instance!”

“Other players enter instances and face all sorts of dangerous and thrilling situations, never knowing where their next meal will come from. Our Kitty Baby, on the other hand, gets to play games full of danger and excitement while also acquiring an NPC servant to take care of his daily needs. When he gets tired of playing, he has food and drink waiting for him and can even enjoy a good night’s sleep. What a comfortable life!”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough! Our Kitty Baby works hard in his instances too. He even worked so hard in the previous one that he caught a cold.”

“I feel bad for our Kitty Baby. So, can we please get a look at the map on that parchment already? I’m dying to see how the story unfolds! We can confirm for now that this isn’t a supernatural instance. There must be some kind of special secret hidden in the town, and it seems to involve several families. I’ll be waiting for Kitty Baby to unlock the mysteries one by one.”

Liu Jingxi served Yan Jiyun attentively, cleaning every last bit of mud from his paw pads. He then filled a bowl with water and placed it in front of him.

After obtaining the parchment, Liu Jingxi’s attitude toward Yan Jiyun had changed. He no longer kept calling him “Xiao Hei” in a casual manner. Instead, he addressed him respectfully. “Lord Cat, please have some water.”

Yan Jiyun drank without the slightest restraint. Running around all over the place had indeed made him a little thirsty. In his heart, he gave his “cousin” Liu Jingxi a five-star rating.

Only after finishing his duties as Yan Jiyun’s attendant did Liu Jingxi sit beside the coffee table and unroll the parchment he had just obtained.

The parchment was tied with a thin cord. A gentle tug was all it took to unfurl it, revealing a map, just as expected. However, Yan Jiyun couldn’t quite make sense of some of the symbols marked on it. There was one thing he did understand, though: the map was incomplete. Judging by the way it had been drawn and cut, there should be three other pieces. Combining all four would produce a complete map.

Could this be a treasure-hunting instance?

That damn system really knew how to rip people off. Just who was the one being cherished in [The One in My Heart] 

If this was a treasure-hunting instance, couldn’t they have named it something like [The Secret Treasure] or something like [Mysterious XX]?

Although Yan Jiyun had just complained about the system, it still dutifully issued him a notification.

[Congratulations, player! You have obtained one mysterious treasure map. Collect the complete treasure map to unlock a mysterious hidden mission.]

Oh, wow.

This wasn’t a Main Mission, but a hidden mission?

So, would the Main Mission still be about escaping Jiangnan Town, or would it continue to focus on the romantic storyline?

What was the key to leaving Jiangnan Town? Would he have to uncover the secret behind escaping the town?

There were already plenty of things that didn’t add up. He hadn’t encountered any supernatural phenomena, which suggested that this might not be a supernatural instance after all. Yet he hadn’t discovered any major incident worth investigating, either.

Since he only had one-quarter of the treasure map, he would have to keep searching.

Next, he still needed to continue with the missions related to Liu Jinghao’s death.

Could the Liu family’s restaurant be hiding some kind of secret?

It was already late. Given the town’s pace of life, the restaurant would probably be closed for the night by now. There was no need for him to make another trip at this hour. More importantly, he didn’t even know which restaurant belonged to the Liu family.

Right. Since Liu Jinghao had died, the Liu family would surely collect his personal belongings and take them down with him to the grave. He had to hurry to Liu Jinghao’s bridal chamber and see whether he could find any information related to the restaurant.

Liu Jingxi had already put away the quarter-map. Yan Jiyun knew where he had stored it, and it wouldn’t be difficult to retrieve. That was a relief.

Liu Jingyi probably wouldn’t suspect Liu Jingxi. Liu Jingxi had an alibi for the time the map disappeared, and Liu Jingyi himself could vouch for it. Besides, Liu Jingyi had obtained the map through theft rather than openly and legitimately acquiring it. He wouldn’t dare make a big fuss about searching for the map unless its rightful owner discovered it was missing.

Yan Jiyun could relax for the time being. Switching back and forth between human and cat forms made it rather inconvenient to keep the map on him, so this arrangement was just right.

Having settled on a plan, Yan Jiyun decided to wait until the dead of night before visiting Liu Jinghao’s bridal chamber. He needed to find any information related to the restaurant before Liu Jinghao’s personal belongings were cleared away.

Liu Jingxi copied the information he had just seen on the map onto a piece of paper. Yan Jiyun jumped onto the table and watched for a while, memorizing the map Liu Jingxi had drawn. That gave him a backup as well.

After resting for a few minutes, Yan Jiyun was ready to move on to his next destination: Liu Jinghao’s bridal chamber.

Liu Jingxi followed him out the door, but this time, he genuinely couldn’t keep up with Yan Jiyun’s speed. He even muttered, “All that effort wiping your paws for nothing.”

Yan Jiyun nearly slipped. So that was why Liu Jingxi had followed him out? To get his paws dirty again? He’d thought the man was going to catch him and drag him back inside.

Yan Jiyun slipped into the shadows and headed toward Liu Jinghao’s bridal chamber. At that moment, the Liu residence, which had been shrouded in an eerie atmosphere because of the funeral, suddenly sprang to life. Quite a few servants were heading toward the main hall with flashlights in hand.

Yan Jiyun listened to their conversation as he walked.

“What exactly has First Madam lost? Why is she calling all of us over?”

“Who knows? Maybe there’s a thief inside the main residence and something’s been stolen.”

“Let’s hope we don’t get dragged into this. I haven’t even been near the main residence today.”

Yan Jiyun understood. So someone had discovered that the map was missing?

But how had First Madam found out so quickly? She had still been lecturing her eldest daughter-in-law just a little while ago.

It was possible that Liu Jingyi or Ah-Juan had somehow informed First Madam that the casket was gone.

Yan Jiyun successfully slipped into Liu Jinghao’s bridal chamber. No one had come in to clear away his belongings yet. The lights were still on, and the entire room was red. It was rather frightening at this time of night.

The outer room was a reception hall, the inner room was the bedroom, and the room next door was a side chamber where the maids usually rested. There was also a study off to the side, securely locked.

Where had they stored the belongings?

Standing in the bridal chamber, surrounded by red in every direction, Yan Jiyun felt all the fur on his body stand on end.

Then, all of a sudden, a beep, beep, beep alarm sounded in his ears.

Startled, he immediately ducked into a corner to hide. What the hell was that? He had never heard such a piercing, terrifying sound before!

The alarm wasn’t coming from the instance he was currently in. Instead, the system had displayed a glaring red warning!

[Sub-account player, please take note: The main-account player’s life is about to end. If the main-account player dies, the sub-account faces the risk of being deleted. You now have two choices—]

[A: Once the main-account player’s life ends, the system will delete both the main account and the sub-account. You will disappear from the game completely.]

[B: Enter the instance where the main-account player is located and assist the main-account player in clearing the game.]

Yan Jiyun’s pawpad clenched in anger!

Damn this system! Did he even have a choice?