DSMC Chapter 192

As for the question of how he had gotten in, if Yan Jiyun refused to answer, he risked arousing suspicion. So he came up with a reasonable explanation that Qi Feng had no way of verifying.

Yan Jiyun casually pointed at the two black cats. “I followed the cats in. One of them had originally followed me into another instance. At the time, I happened to be holding it while hiding in a corner and gathering information. Then its body suddenly started glowing, and in the blink of an eye, the two of us were here.”

Qi Feng’s expression remained impassive, and Yan Jiyun had no idea how much of the explanation he actually believed.

In truth, Qi Feng was also evaluating Yan Jiyun. Caramel had always been able to successfully leave instances with him, and the two of them had also made it through the previous instance together. The fact that Caramel had been raised so well showed that Yan Jiyun was a caring person. On top of that, he’d just worked together with Qi Feng.

Qi Feng decided to tell Yan Jiyun that Caramel was a player. He had accepted Yan Jiyun as Caramel’s new owner.

Qi Feng said, “Caramel is actually a game player too. I was the one who brought him in. The reason he entered this instance was probably because he received a signal that I might be about to die.”

Yan Jiyun didn’t ask Qi Feng about the fact that “Caramel” was a player. He knew his own situation better than anyone. Asking too many questions would only make it easier for him to expose himself.

He looked Qi Feng up and down. “Are you okay? Under what circumstances did you send Caramel a distress signal?”

Qi Feng shook his head. “Rather than saying I sent it, it would be more accurate to say that the system detected it. It thought I was about to die, rather than me thinking I was about to die.”

Yan Jiyun clicked his tongue. “It can do that? Under what circumstances does the system send out that notification? What were you doing at the time?”

Conversely, if a sub-account ran into trouble, would the system also send a distress signal to the main account like it had this time?

Or could players only enter higher-level instances from lower-level ones, and not enter lower-level instances from higher-level ones? But since they could already enter top-level games, this question was no longer relevant.

Yan Jiyun had another question. Since the system could pull him into Qi Feng’s instance, did that mean they could also unlock some kind of function that allowed them to help each other?

He began to think about their Intimacy level. 

The problem was that, in Qi Feng’s eyes, he was now merely Caramel’s new owner. Besides, neither of them knew exactly what specific actions increased their compatibility. However, one thing was certain: as long as the two of them acted together and cleared instances together, they should be able to increase their bond points.

After the two of them reunited, they exchanged information about what they had experienced after entering the instance.

Yan Jiyun told Qi Feng about encountering the fake Qi Feng. “How many copies of you have been created in here altogether? And what are the rules for how the instance creates copies?”

Qi Feng had indeed already learned about the rules governing the clones. “Based on my observations over the past few days, at first, a clone would appear every other day. Back then, we’d just been dragged into the instance and didn’t know what was going on, so quite a few people were fooled. After verifying things several times, we finally realized that clones existed. Quite a few people were deceived and killed because of them.”

Yan Jiyun was puzzled. “What happened to the original players in the instance?”

Qi Feng told him the grim truth. “Fifty people entered. Only ten are left. The others were killed by the clones— or rather, replaced by them.”

Yan Jiyun understood. Once they reached the higher-level instances, the system no longer gave them notifications about everything the way it did in the easier levels. There would no longer be notifications when a player died. In this clone instance, not knowing who was alive and who was dead was precisely what made it so horrifying.

“The clones are our biggest obstacle to leaving the instance,” Yan Jiyun said with certainty. He still needed more information. “Oh, right. When I was outside, I found out that you were forcibly brought into the instance. Do you have a Main Mission?”

Qi Feng nodded. “Yes. It said: on the night Christmas Eve arrives, find the Christmas present delivered by Santa Claus.”

Yan Jiyun told him about his own situation. “I came in with Caramel. I don’t have a Main Mission. What does the Christmas present refer to?”

Qi Feng didn’t know what the backend of a sub-account looked like, so he simply told the truth. He wanted to make their information as transparent as possible and increase the trust between them.

However, this instance didn’t even have an NPC protagonist, and there was no way there could be a Christmas celebration. Where were they supposed to find Santa Claus and his gift?

He remembered that the notification had mentioned monsters, but where were they now? When would they appear? He hadn’t seen a single one since entering, nor had he found any corpses. But he couldn’t ask about it. Asking would be impossible to explain and would only give Qi Feng more things to worry about.

Without waiting for Yan Jiyun to ask more questions, Qi Feng voluntarily gave him a brief explanation of how he had entered the instance. His main purpose was simply to let Yan Jiyun know the most important information. Time was precious to them now, so there was no need to describe every detail of the process. They could simply skip it.

“At first, I couldn’t figure it out either. Later, after I reunited with the others, everyone gathered together and shared information, and things became clear. When we first entered, we encountered all kinds of Christmas monsters, such as mutated Santa Clauses and mutated reindeer.”

Yan Jiyun said, “But when I came in, I didn’t see a single one. I didn’t even find any corpses.”

Qi Feng said, “That was only the beginning. After the players defeated the mutated monsters, their bodies turned into water, and then the clones appeared.”

Yan Jiyun asked, “So there were actually NPCs around at the beginning?”

“There were. But as the mutated monsters appeared, all the NPCs were scared away. Now this enormous shopping mall has become completely deserted. Then the clones began appearing. We have to search for the Christmas presents while dealing with the clones at the same time. This is how frequently they appear: on the first day, there is only one. On the second day, if the clone from the first day hasn’t been eliminated by the players, it creates another clone. The original player also gets copied, meaning that each player can have one to two clones created on the second day.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Then the number of people in the mall would increase, making it harder for you to identify your companions.”

“Mm. At first, the players had secret signals between each other. But eventually, even those signals had to be abandoned, because the clones don’t just copy our memories. They also copy the memories of other clones. Every newly created clone completely inherits the memories of the clone that disappeared.”

He looked toward the black cat wearing a white collar.

“This is just a copied Caramel. It was created after this one and I came out.”

Yan Jiyun froze.

He hadn’t expected Qi Feng to notice the difference between Xiao Bai and the others so quickly. But Qi Feng already knew the rules beforehand, so once he applied them, it wasn’t difficult to figure out.

He asked Qi Feng, wanting to hear the answer directly from him. “What about that one?”

Qi Feng shook his head and sighed. “Neither of them is the real Caramel.”

Yan Jiyun’s heart leapt with joy.

Saving Qi Feng hadn’t been in vain after all.

He suppressed the urge to let the corners of his mouth curl upward. “How did you figure it out?”

Qi Feng sounded slightly smug as he said, “You might not believe me, but my Caramel is more like a person. They don’t have that quality.”

His cat had very expressive eyes. It seemed capable of understanding human speech, whereas these two had been behaving like ordinary cats the entire time.

From Qi Feng’s careful observations, whenever someone was talking, Caramel would generally lie there without moving, occasionally lifting his eyelids. It was almost as if he could understand what humans were saying.

These two black cats weren’t particularly affectionate toward him. From that, it was clear that his Caramel had entered the game, but these two weren’t the real Caramel.

Only then did Yan Jiyun say, “They really aren’t Caramel. Actually, besides these two, there are two others. I just don’t know where they’ve run off to now.”

Qi Feng suddenly understood. “So that’s why you asked me about the rules for when the clones appear.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. “Mm. I observed that Caramel’s duplication rules are somewhat different from those of humans. Ten minutes after entering, the first Caramel was duplicated. Now, one hour after we entered, four have been duplicated. There are four Caramels now.”

Qi Feng hadn’t noticed at first that the little black cat wasn’t the real Caramel. He only realized it after interacting with it for a while. After all, a copy was still just a copy. There was no comparison with the real Caramel — the difference was simply too great. The copied Caramels were intelligent, sure, but their intelligence was still within the range of an animal’s intelligence. The real Caramel, on the other hand, behaved in ways that were often completely different. As his owner, how could Qi Feng possibly fail to notice?

“Caramel’s duplication rules are a little unusual. It might be because Caramel wasn’t originally human. Or it might be because this one brought me out of the game, so the game classified it as being on the players’ side. During the second round of duplication, it first created two Caramels, and then this one created another one, resulting in three copied cats.”

Yan Jiyun took the red collar from his pocket and put it around Xiao Hei’s neck. Xiao Hei didn’t like it and struggled a little. Its characteristics were actually more similar to Yan Jiyun’s, something Qi Feng hadn’t realized from his own perspective. That made sense now.

He suddenly sat upright. “Then the other two have also become cats on the players’ side. Doesn’t that mean the number of copied cats will multiply in the next round?”

Was he going to have to beat them up one by one when that happened? How was he supposed to handle that many?

Qi Feng said, “Don’t worry. Caramel will be fine.”

Yan Jiyun thought to himself: How could they be fine? There were so many cats. How was he supposed to beat them all?

He looked at Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei. These two didn’t look particularly capable of fighting. If it came down to it, he’d have to find Xiao Lv and Xiao Huang, his two fighters. Although they had both been defeated by him before, their combat abilities were definitely superior to Xiao Hei Hei and Xiao Bai’s.

On the subject of “cats,” Qi Feng felt that he and Yan Jiyun had enough in common that he trusted Yan Jiyun a little more.

Sure enough, people who liked cats tended to have softer hearts.

The problem of the copied cats was easy enough to solve. Yan Jiyun could handle it himself. The most urgent matter now was dealing with the copied humans.

Yan Jiyun said, “Mm. I can handle Caramel’s situation.”

Qi Feng felt rather conflicted hearing that. They were clearly his cats, yet their new owner was even more certain than he was that Yan Jiyun could take care of what needed to be done.

What an inadequate owner he was. No wonder Caramel always ran outside. He simply didn’t understand his own cat well enough.

Yan Jiyun had no idea that Qi Feng had developed the competitive mindset of a cat owner. He naturally believed he could handle his own affairs himself; he just couldn’t tell Qi Feng that.

He suddenly thought of a way to deal with the clones, and his eyes lit up. “Oh, right, Feng-ge, have any other players entered the City of Sin?”

Qi Feng shook his head. “Other than my clone and Su Qiuming’s clone, there shouldn’t have been anyone else.”

Yan Jiyun immediately straightened his back. “Su Qiuming? You mean the one who entered the City of Sin with you was Su Qiuming’s clone? Not the real him?”

Qi Feng shook his head. “No. The clone lured me into the game and then tried to kill me.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Then that clone must have done this kind of thing more than once. That fake Chu Mo just now had my memories, and I was also pulled into the game.”

Qi Feng said, “Either Chu Mo knew about the City of Sin game before we did, or clones instinctively know about trap-type games. I lean toward the latter.”

If the clones knew about it beforehand, then that was part of the setting for their appearance. They could use that against them.

Yan Jiyun asked, “Have you ever thought that if we lure all the clones into the game, it might be easier to deal with them?”

“Mm. I was thinking the same thing.”

It was just that he hadn’t gotten around to doing it before he discovered that Yan Jiyun had entered too.

Actually, after getting out, Qi Feng had wanted to find his clone, but he still needed someone to cooperate with him. When he returned to the game arcade to study the “City of Sin,” he unexpectedly saw Yan Jiyun’s face and was nearly scared out of his wits. He quickly pulled himself together and helped Yan Jiyun escape from the game.

Yan Jiyun said, “Then should we go lure the clones out now?”

Qi Feng said, “Don’t rush. My situation is much more troublesome than yours. When I entered the game, I still hadn’t dealt with one of my clones. At the current duplication rate, there should be three of my clones outside by now.”

Yan Jiyun said, “That’s easy. They definitely know me. I’ll lure them into the game arcade.”

Qi Feng said, “It’s not as simple as you think. They’re half of me.”

Yan Jiyun looked toward Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei. “I can bring one of them with me. There’s one thing you can rest assured about: I won’t mistake them for you. And for now, all the copied Caramels can be trusted.”

He had just hugged Qi Feng, so Qi Feng’s scent was now on him. The other two would recognize that scent and know that Qi Feng was someone under his protection. Their memories also told them that Qi Feng was their owner.

Qi Feng might have felt a little unbalanced about that, but it also proved that Yan Jiyun had taken good care of Caramel and that Caramel trusted him deeply.

What Qi Feng was worried about now was Yan Jiyun. “But this will be dangerous.”

Qi Feng took a submachine gun from his item inventory and handed it to Yan Jiyun. “This is the gun I got from the City of Sin. Keep it.”

Yan Jiyun suddenly remembered something. “Huh? When I entered, the game notification said there would be a reward if I successfully got out. Why didn’t I receive one?”

i Feng said, “Check your prop inventory. I didn’t get a notification either. I only discovered it myself when I checked my inventory.”

Only then did Yan Jiyun open his own item inventory and see a new prop. “Got it!”

It was a sniper rifle, the very same sniper rifle he’d been carrying when he left. He had actually brought it out of the game. Why wasn’t it the submachine gun he’d been holding in his hands?

He took out the sniper rifle and tossed it to Qi Feng without hesitation. “Then I’ll give you this sniper rifle. Looks like the gun you’re holding doesn’t count as the reward. It has to be one you’re carrying on your back.”

Qi Feng said, “Mm. I was holding the submachine gun at the time, while I kept the sniper rifle as a backup. The one I received after leaving was the submachine gun.”

Yan Jiyun could now skillfully check how many bullets were left in the submachine gun. “But we don’t have enough ammunition. Looks like we’ll have to enter the game again.”

“Don’t rush. With your sniper rifle, I can deal with my clones first, then we’ll deal with yours.”

Yan Jiyun’s heart sank.

This was bad.

Everyone in the entire game except him had clones. He didn’t have a human clone, only copied cats.

At this point, Yan Jiyun nodded along with Qi Feng’s words. “Mm. Your clones have higher combat abilities than mine, so let’s deal with them first. My clones are better at hiding, so we probably won’t find them for a while. It would be best if other players eliminated them before we find them. After all, I’m still a new player. I don’t have much experience and I’m relatively weak. They won’t last very long.”

He was giving Qi Feng some advance warning now. If his own clones didn’t appear later, at least he’d have an explanation ready.

He couldn’t help but suspect that the shitty game had deliberately pulled him into this instance.

Yan Jiyun noticed the dark circles under Qi Feng’s eyes and said, “Why don’t you rest for a while first? I don’t think we need to rush this. We’ll keep watch for you.”

If there was any movement nearby, he could react immediately, allowing Qi Feng to get some proper rest.

He had barely seen Qi Feng rest at all while they were inside the game. His body simply couldn’t withstand such prolonged, high-intensity exertion.

Qi Feng said, “All right. Sorry to trouble you.”

They could only make use of every second they had to rest.

He found a stuffed toy on the carpet and used it as a pillow. Soon, he closed his eyes.

Compared with taking turns resting when he was with his other teammates, he was somehow able to relax and fall asleep much faster beside Yan Jiyun.

‘How strange…’ that was Qi Feng’s last thought before falling asleep.

Yan Jiyun also closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. He hadn’t gotten much rest in the other instance either, and he’d been tense ever since arriving here. Fortunately, he had a good talent: he could half-rest while still keeping an eye on his surroundings.

An hour and a half later, the shopping mall suddenly filled with the sound of running footsteps.

Qi Feng had probably been exhausted from going so long without rest. Surprisingly, the noise didn’t wake him.

Yan Jiyun crouched low and slipped out of the Christmas tree. He put a Santa hat on his head, then hid among a pile of stuffed toys and looked down.

Well, damn. Sure enough, exactly what he’d anticipated earlier had happened.

One of the players was waving a kitchen knife at a man who looked exactly like him. “Get lost! Get the hell away from me!”

The man opposite him was holding a pot lid. “You get lost! I can only go home and reunite with my wife and children after you die!”

The player holding the knife had clearly lost his grip on reality. “Bullshit! You’re the fake one!”

Just then, Yan Jiyun spotted a man standing in the corner.

His stance was extremely cautious, but Yan Jiyun could determine his position from the sound of his footsteps.

It was none other than fake Qi Feng.

As for which number fake Qi Feng he was, that remained to be determined. What made Yan Jiyun frown was that he was holding Xiao Lv in his arms.

Yan Jiyun turned around, intending to wake Qi Feng. But the moment he turned his head, he felt a warm presence approaching beside him.

After an hour and a half of rest, Qi Feng looked completely refreshed. There wasn’t a trace of fatigue on him as he raised the sniper rifle Yan Jiyun had given him and took aim.

Yan Jiyun immediately told him, “Your clone has appeared. I’ll go check him out.”

Qi Feng nodded. “Be careful. Try to lure him out, but don’t get close. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Got it.”

Yan Jiyun’s expression became serious. He brought Xiao Hei with him and carefully slipped out from the other side of the Christmas tree, then took a concealed ladder directly down to the third floor.

After getting close to fake Qi Feng’s position, he put Xiao Hei on the ground and let it run. Then he pretended to chase after it.

He shouted in an utterly innocent, naive voice, “Caramel, come back! Don’t run!”

Fake Qi Feng, who was crouching around the corner with Xiao Lv in his arms, curled his lips into a slight smile and cautiously poked his head out.

Fake Qi Feng dropped the black cat he’d been restraining in his arms. He leaned half his body out and stretched both hands forward from behind Yan Jiyun, fingers poised to grab his neck.

“Yan Jiyun, what are you doing—”

His words fell at the same moment as the sound of Qi Feng pulling the trigger.

The bullet passed straight through his temple. The fake Qi Feng crashed heavily to the ground.

Yan Jiyun stared at fake Qi Feng lying on the floor from such close range.

That face was completely identical to Qi Feng’s.

His heart nearly stopped. ‘Holy shit, that was terrifying!’