DSMC Chapter 187.2

Before Xiao Hei appeared, the Qi Yunchu he saw might not have been the real one either. He remembered that Qi Yunchu was sick, yet he had been running that fast. It didn’t seem like it was really him.

Time was running out. Yan Jiyun needed to find Qi Feng. He and Qi Feng had never agreed on any signals to use, which made things rather troublesome. Surely he couldn’t rely on following Qi Feng’s scent to find him? Well, technically he could, but the entire mall was filled with the smell of blood. How was he supposed to pick out one person’s scent from an overpowering stench of blood that was enough to make him nauseous?

There was no main mission in this instance, and he didn’t have time to keep guessing. Right now, the most important thing was to avoid all the traps designed to screw players over and find Qi Feng.

He ran toward the third floor of Building B. Outside a Thai restaurant, he spotted another Xu Xian who was dead beyond any doubt.

It was obvious now: one player could have more than one copy.

What was the pattern behind the appearance of these copies?

It had already been twenty minutes since he entered the instance, caught Xiao Hei, and arrived here, yet he hadn’t seen another Xiao Hei appear. Was there some kind of special rule governing when or how they appeared?

Based on what he had seen so far, the copies inherited the original player’s abilities. The stronger the player, the stronger their copy would be. If too many copies were created, the original player would be suppressed. No wonder Qi Feng was in trouble. If several copies with roughly the same strength as him were to gang up on him, even someone as powerful as Qi Feng wouldn’t gain much of an advantage. Even if it didn’t end in mutual destruction, he would definitely be suppressed.

But where did the Sanity value come from? Were the players driven insane by their copies? Or was it caused by some unknown creature that created the copies? Wasn’t this thing made by the system? Surely it couldn’t be that terrifying, right?

Yan Jiyun couldn’t make sense of it. Nor could he afford to be someone who stood around talking without knowing what it was like to be in their shoes. After all, his constitution was special, and he had only been in the instance for a short time. He didn’t even know what the main quest was. There was little point in wildly speculating.

At the moment, he could hear sounds coming from inside the mall, but whenever he followed them, he couldn’t find a single person. It was strange.

It seemed that the further he went, the more problems he was going to encounter.

Xiao Hei was still in his hands, and he hadn’t encountered a second one yet.

He held onto the handle of the eco-friendly bag and lowered Xiao Hei to the ground. It was essentially like walking a cat on a leash. Xiao Hei could put all four paws on the ground now, and it tried to run, but its body was still controlled by the bag in Yan Jiyun’s hand. No matter how much it twisted and struggled, it was useless.

It had been looking for an opportunity to escape this whole time. It had probably only just been copied, and there was no memory in Yan Jiyun’s mind of having his four limbs shoved through holes in an eco-friendly bag. The copy hadn’t inherited that particular memory either.

Of course, that was still just Yan Jiyun’s own speculation.

He had just realized something: he and Qi Feng had interacted far too little. Now that he was trying to save him, he didn’t have enough information to work with. If something like this happened again in the future, he couldn’t rely entirely on the system. The insufficient Intimacy had reminded him of that. Sooner or later, he and Qi Feng would have to enter instances as a team. They needed better chemistry and more opportunities to cooperate inside instances.

As Yan Jiyun was thinking about this, he suddenly heard a scream from the center of Building B, immediately followed by the deafening sound of something heavy hitting the floor.

He had heard the sound of someone falling from a great height before, but hearing it again still made his scalp tingle.

He rushed to the railing overlooking the central area of Building B and happened to see a familiar figure disappear around the right side.

Yan Jiyun felt Xiao Hei struggling frantically. It wanted to chase after that figure.

Xiao Hei’s reaction gave Yan Jiyun an idea. He understood.

He glanced at his Human Form Time Card. There were only a few seconds left on it, and he released Xiao Hei immediately.

Xiao Hei chased after the familiar figure ahead. Yan Jiyun, who had transformed back into a cat in an unoccupied corner, followed after them as well.

That figure had looked far too much like Qi Feng, but Yan Jiyun knew it wasn’t Qi Feng. Qi Feng didn’t hunch forward like that when he ran.

That had to be Qi Feng’s copy.

If Xiao Hei was chasing after Qi Feng’s copy, did that mean Xiao Hei also had some kind of bond with Qi Feng’s copy? If so, would Xiao Hei be able to find the real Qi Feng?

Yan Jiyun decided to wait and see.

The person who had just been pushed off the building was probably a player. The player count had dropped by one. There were only 29 players left now.

There had only been Qi Feng’s copy around when the player fell, which meant that the copy had pushed him off.

If the player hadn’t died, then when his teammates came looking for him, they would surely think Qi Feng had done it.

Yan Jiyun finally understood where that sense of terror came from. No one knew whether the person beside them was human or a monster. No one knew whether they might suddenly be betrayed by their own companions. Everyone was living in fear.

Who had sent the little cards Xu Xian and the others received? The real Su Qiuming, or his copy?

Yan Jiyun continued following Xiao Hei, while Xiao Hei stayed close behind the copy of Qi Feng in front of them. This gave Yan Jiyun a glimmer of hope that he might be able to find Qi Feng. There was no way he could run to the broadcasting station and shout, “Where is Qi Feng?”

Still, according to the master-pet dynamic notifications, Qi Feng had obtained an important prop and was being hunted by other players. It wasn’t just copies — there were other players after him too. This was danger upon danger. Even just reading the notification, Yan Jiyun could tell how perilous the situation must be.

Qi Feng had entered the [Sweet Christmas] instance three and a half days before him, and he still had to complete missions. Yan Jiyun, on the other hand, had less than a day left in the instance and wasn’t required to complete any missions. In other words, was he essentially an outside player who had entered the instance?

He had no missions and was only responsible for rescuing someone. Did that mean there were more things he could manipulate?

He needed to think this through carefully.

Xiao Hei continued following the copy ahead of them. The other one openly took the escalator, as if trying to lure someone out.

No.

He was going downstairs to check whether the player who had fallen from the third floor to the first was dead.

He checked the player’s breathing and, after confirming that he was dead, left. This further confirmed that he wasn’t Qi Feng. Qi Feng was a player, and his latest status could be seen directly from the system panel. There was no need for him to check whether someone was dead again.

The copy of Qi Feng suddenly turned around.

He saw Xiao Hei following behind him, but for some reason, Xiao Hei didn’t pounce at him the way Yan Jiyun normally would whenever he saw Qi Feng. Instead, it remained by the elevator, staring at the copy of Qi Feng.

It even secretly turned around and glanced at Yan Jiyun, who was hiding behind an advertisement board.

The copy of Qi Feng called out to Xiao Hei, “Caramel?”

Yan Jiyun: “……” For fuck’s sake.

If he hadn’t caught Xiao Hei ahead of time, he definitely would have walked over and revealed himself when the copy of Qi Feng called out “Caramel.”

That was the trap in this instance.

The copies had Qi Feng’s memories.

Although the copy of Qi Feng called Xiao Hei “Caramel,” Xiao Hei didn’t seem to react at all. When the copy approached Xiao Hei, it even took a step backward.

Yan Jiyun crouched motionless behind the advertisement board, silently praying that Xiao Hei would follow the copy of Qi Feng.

After struggling for a while, Xiao Hei reluctantly followed the copy.

Yan Jiyun didn’t dare let his guard down again. Qi Feng was extremely sensitive to his presence. If the copy realized that this Xiao Hei wasn’t the real Caramel, it might kill Xiao Hei outright.

Even though Xiao Hei was only a copy of a cat, its impact on Yan Jiyun was currently minimal while its usefulness was enormous. He couldn’t let it die. So for the time being, he couldn’t appear in front of Qi Feng’s copy.

The copy of Qi Feng picked up the unwilling Xiao Hei and carried it toward another part of the first floor.

Yan Jiyun quietly followed behind.

The copy of Qi Feng entered the employee lounge in the back. He opened one of the break rooms, and Yan Jiyun heard a familiar voice from inside.

“Qi Feng, how are things outside?”

It was actually Qi Yunchu.

“Have you found Su Qiuming?”

Fake Qi Feng replied, “No.”

Qi Yunchu paused before asking, “Is that the cat you were carrying?”

Fake Qi Feng used Qi Feng’s usual cold tone as he replied, “Yeah. Its name is Caramel. It got lost after coming in with me. I just found it.”

The real Caramel, crouching outside and secretly listening: “……”

When the real Qi Feng talked about him, he would always sound like he was showing off. He would never be this cold and indifferent.

Qi Yunchu took a breath. “It looks really healthy. Can I pet it?”

Qi Yunchu hadn’t noticed that this Qi Feng was a fake?

Still, from Qi Yunchu’s breathing, Yan Jiyun could tell that he might be injured or that his illness had flared up.

Qi Feng handed Xiao Hei toward Qi Yunchu. “Sure.”

Yan Jiyun sneered inwardly. The real Qi Feng would never casually let someone else pet his cat.

Qi Yunchu said, “It’s really comforting.” He coughed again.

Fake Qi Feng said, “Let me help you sit up.”

Qi Yunchu replied, “Thanks.”

Clearly, Fake Qi Feng had already gained Qi Yunchu’s trust. What was he planning to do next? Did he know where the real Qi Feng was?

Yan Jiyun was muttering to himself when a system notification suddenly appeared.

[Your Sanity value has decreased by 1 point.]