DSMC Chapter 194

This was the first time Yan Jiyun had killed someone at such close range. None of his previous instances had ever made the experience so direct. The clone lying on the ground still hadn’t closed its eyes.

If Qi Feng hadn’t contacted him in time, he might really have fallen for the instance’s trap. Of course, that was also thanks to him finding the walkie-talkies. It was almost as though everything had been predestined.

He didn’t have any more time to think about how many terrifying truths might be hidden behind the instance. Suddenly, a large group of people appeared ahead.

It wasn’t as though the two sides were shouting insults at each other, fighting, or hacking each other apart. Instead, several people were standing in the central area of the mall, around the car exhibition display, in a place where everyone could see them.

There were six people in total. One of them was Chu Mo, whom Yan Jiyun was relatively familiar with. His teammate Wen Ye was there as well. Looking farther over, Yan Jiyun recognized Qi Yunchu and Xu Xian. Sitting on the hood of a car was the medium-long-haired man he’d seen in the City of Sin.

Compared with his clone in the game, the real person had an indescribable quality to him. If Yan Jiyun’s guess was correct, this person should be Su Qiuming, the mastermind responsible for dragging Qi Feng and the others into the game.

But strangely enough, despite having fallen out with Qi Feng so badly, and despite not exactly having a good reputation, Qi Yunchu and the others were still willing to be friends with him.

Yan Jiyun didn’t know any of them, and he had no good explanation for how he’d appeared in a Top-level game. He estimated the distance between them, then quietly reported the situation to Qi Feng over the walkie-talkie.

Yan Jiyun: “Qi Yunchu and several guild leaders are having a meeting up ahead. Want to come take a look?”

What he really wanted to ask was whether Qi Feng would join them.

Qi Feng said, “Wait for me. I’ll be there soon.”

Not long afterward, with Yan Jiyun guiding him, the two successfully reunited in Building C.

They hid underneath a cosmetics livestreaming booth.

Yan Jiyun didn’t see Yin Zi, the injured woman, or Yang-ge following them. He guessed that the two of them had probably been wary of Qi Feng as well and had found somewhere to hide. The clone had originally been waiting for an opportunity to kill them, but had failed and been exposed, only to be killed by Yan Jiyun in the end. The two of them had been pretty lucky, so naturally they hadn’t come out and caused trouble for Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng.

The meeting was still going on. They seemed to be discussing how to gather the other players who were still online and work together to defeat the clones.

But there was no way for the group to know whether the other players were clones or not.

Qi Yunchu was leading the small meeting. “Chu Mo and Wen Ye can vouch for each other. I believe they’re on our side. Do you have any way to verify yourselves?”

Su Qiuming didn’t say anything. Xu Xian glanced at him before speaking. “I can vouch for Ming-ge, and he can vouch for me.”

Qi Yunchu nodded. “All right. Then that leaves only Yu Zhe¹if you forgot them, here’s a cheat sheet: Yu Zhe-President of New Forces Guild (this guild messed up Qi Feng’s hangout spot, so Yan Jiyun bombed their place in return). Xu Xian-current leader of Fenghuo Guild (Su Qiuming’s guild). How can you prove that you’re the real one?”

Yu Zhe hadn’t expected the suspicion to fall on him. He hadn’t been with the others earlier, so he had no way to prove himself.

The six people fell into a stalemate. As long as they couldn’t verify even one of them, there was no way they could continue discussing how to deal with the clones.

They had all been separated for a while, so there really was no way to verify each other.

Yan Jiyun held down the two little black cats, preventing them from running around.

He and Qi Feng crouched side by side underneath the table, with the colorful wall set up by the livestreaming company behind them. Yan Jiyun nudged Qi Feng’s shoulder and whispered, “I can verify whether this Qi Yunchu is the real one.”

Qi Feng hadn’t thought of a way to distinguish the real players from their clones despite being here for so long. He’d considered several methods, but every single one of them could be rendered useless when the next generation of clones appeared. The fact that the clones could copy their most recent memories was extremely troublesome. It was basically cheating.

He was genuinely curious about how Yan Jiyun planned to identify whether Qi Yunchu was the real one.

Qi Feng asked, “How?”

Yan Jiyun picked up Xiao Hei and stuffed him into Qi Feng’s arms.

“Xiao Hei has been held by Qi Yunchu before. It can smell its own scent on him. If it doesn’t avoid Qi Yunchu, that means there’s nothing wrong with the Qi Yunchu we’re looking at now. But we won’t be able to verify anyone else this way.”

Qi Feng nodded. “Mm. Don’t get involved with them for now. Since Chu Mo and Wen Ye are the real ones, let’s approach them privately first.”

Yan Jiyun’s thoughts once again happened to coincide with Qi Feng’s. He said happily, “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Qi Feng volunteered, “I’ll go talk to them.”

Yan Jiyun thought about Su Qiuming and the tangled history between him and Qi Feng. He grabbed Qi Feng by the shoulder. “Wait. If you go over there now, they’ll suspect you.”

Qi Feng pointed at Xiao Hei Hei in his arms. “Didn’t you say he’d interacted with Qi Yunchu before? I’ll test him. Then we’ll know.”

Yan Jiyun added, “Chu Mo and Wen Ye also know about the cats.”

Qi Feng was just about to stand up, but as soon as he heard that, he immediately crouched back down. “First, tell me how many people Caramel’s clones have rubbed against.”

Yan Jiyun wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly felt guilty on behalf of the clones. “Not many. Just Qi Yunchu, Chu Mo, and Wen Ye. They should recognize each other’s scents. As long as Xiao Hei goes over and rubs against someone, that person is real.”

After all, every cat had its own unique sense of possessiveness. Even though they were identical clones, they would still prefer to leave their own scent on humans.

Chu Mo and Wen Ye had been together the entire time, so there was basically no chance of anything going wrong between them. Qi Yunchu, however, still needed to be verified by Xiao Hei Hei.

If Xiao Hei refused to approach Qi Yunchu, then there would be something to talk about.

Qi Feng asked him again, “You’re sure there aren’t any others?”

Yan Jiyun nodded with absolute certainty. “Definitely not.”

However, he had no idea where Xiao Lv and Xiao Huang were hiding now. Hopefully, they were all right.

Black cats could hide anywhere. They were pretty good at fighting, but they didn’t like crowded places.

Yan Jiyun could now somewhat understand what Qi Feng must have felt like when he couldn’t find him. He really had been way too willful about hiding back then, and had treated his poor cat owner terribly. Now he was experiencing the headache of not being able to find the other two black cats himself.

After making sure they hadn’t missed any other information, Qi Feng finally parted ways with him. He handed the sniper rifle to Yan Jiyun and explained how to choose the best angle for shooting.

Yan Jiyun decided to circle around and take the elevator up. There was no way he could simply crouch here and wait for the other clones to fall into their trap. He had only happened to encounter the previous one by chance, and it was all thanks to Qi Feng giving him the phone.

He returned the phone to Qi Feng. “Let’s take turns using it.”

Qi Feng wanted to take it back, but in the end, he accepted it.

In this instance, the only human he could truly trust was Yan Jiyun. As for non-humans, there were his Caramel and several of Caramel’s clones.

But where had Caramel gone? Yan Jiyun didn’t seem worried about it at all.

Qi Feng was a little puzzled, but not overly so. His cat was very good at hiding no matter where it was. There was no point in Yan Jiyun showing concern in front of him. Perhaps Yan Jiyun and Caramel had already grown accustomed to this kind of arrangement in instances. Caramel was actually safest when it wasn’t around humans.

The two of them left from different sides of the livestreaming booth. Yan Jiyun quietly took Xiao Bai upstairs, while Qi Feng carried Xiao Hei toward Qi Yunchu and the others.

His appearance immediately attracted everyone’s attention. Even Su Qiuming, who had originally been sitting on the hood of a display car, jumped down.

Yan Jiyun glanced down at the scene below. Qi Feng looked like some big-shot making a grand entrance, with everyone turning their eyes toward him. What a spectacle. Yan Jiyun couldn’t help feeling proud by association.

Qi Feng walked neither quickly nor slowly, his steps steady and powerful. He was deliberately buying Yan Jiyun time to find a suitable position from which to hide and provide cover.

Yan Jiyun continued upstairs. Building C was much taller than Building D. D had only five floors, whereas this building had seven, giving him plenty of options. But if he didn’t choose his hiding spot carefully, it could still be extremely dangerous.

Unlike an ordinary building where you could simply crack open a window and shoot through it, a shopping mall offered no easy openings. To find the best position, he could only stay near the edge of the corridors.

For an ordinary person, lying on the floor meant they could be discovered at any moment, and they were also vulnerable to attacks from behind. That was why he and Qi Feng had hidden inside the Christmas tree earlier. It provided cover while also making it convenient to escape.

But things were different here. The seventh floor had no suitable place to crouch. Being high up didn’t help if there was nowhere to hide.

In the end, Yan Jiyun chose a position on the sixth floor. There was a stall selling hats and scarves here. He could crouch underneath it, using the pile of scarves on the stall to conceal his body. The dust cover draped over the stall also happened to block him from view, making it an excellent position.

He hadn’t expected to find a scarf stall on the sixth floor either. Most stalls like this were usually located below the third floor.

Yan Jiyun wasn’t afraid of being attacked from behind, though. As long as someone appeared within fifty to a hundred meters of him, he would abandon his position. By the time they noticed him, he would already have run away. That was the advantage of having excellent hearing.

By this point, Qi Feng had already begun speaking face-to-face with Qi Yunchu and the others.

He was holding a black cat in his arms, so there was no way to hide the fact that he’d brought a cat into the game.

Everyone’s eyes fell on the black cat in his arms. Qi Feng’s appearance had certainly given them hope, but seeing him arrive carrying a cat was beyond anything they had imagined.

Qi Feng had always presented himself as a cold and intimidating figure. Who would have thought that, in an instance this dangerous, he’d have a cat with him?

Chu Mo had already seen it in the game, so he was much calmer. The cat had even rubbed against his leg earlier.

Xu Xian was the first to speak. Of everyone present, he was the only one who seemed genuinely incredulous. “Feng-ge, where did you get that cat? Was it in the backpack you had that day?”

Qi Feng didn’t need to explain where the cat came from. He stood beside Chu Mo and Wen Ye with Xiao Hei in his arms and didn’t take another step forward.

His attitude said everything. He trusted Chu Mo and Wen Ye and believed they weren’t clones. As for the other four, he wasn’t so sure.

Qi Yunchu suddenly understood. “There was actually a cat inside? No wonder you refused to let the guild members search your bag back then.”

Chu Mo reached out to pet Xiao Hei. He’d seen the cat during the Peak Competition, and now he had encountered it again here. What a coincidence.

Xiao Hei could smell the scent of another black cat on Chu Mo. It was different, but it didn’t dislike him.

Qi Feng opened with a bombshell. “One of the six of you is a clone.”

The six people were Qi Yunchu, Chu Mo, Wen Ye, Xu Xian, Yu Zhe, and Su Qiuming.

Four of them were guild leaders. If all four really died here, their guilds would likely undergo major changes not long afterward.

Chu Mo and Wen Ye had already been confirmed as the real ones without a doubt. The remaining four exchanged glances.

Su Qiuming pulled the hair tie from around his wrist and began tying up his hair. “Qi Feng, you’ve never been with us this whole time. How do you know there’s a clone among the four of us?”

Qi Feng replied, “I killed your previous clone.”

Su Qiuming made an OK sign. “All right, then I’m cleared.”

Yu Zhe said, “That doesn’t mean you’ve been cleared of suspicion. Another wave of clones appeared just now. You still have another clone, don’t you?”

Su Qiuming said, “That’s true. But compared with me, you guys have more clones left over from the previous wave that haven’t been killed. I only have one clone, while you could have more.”

Qi Feng walked toward Qi Yunchu, following Yan Jiyun’s instructions and having Xiao Hei Hei approach him.

A newly created Qi Yunchu clone would possess Xiao Hei’s memories. But an older Qi Yunchu clone that hadn’t yet been eliminated wouldn’t know about Xiao Hei and had never been touched by him.

When Qi Yunchu saw Xiao Hei approaching, he took a step back. “What are you trying to do?”

Qi Feng looked at him. “Nothing. Don’t be nervous.”

A hint of uncertainty appeared in Qi Yunchu’s expression. “Then what are you trying to say?”

Xiao Hei stood in front of Qi Yunchu without doing anything else. He didn’t rub against his leg. Instead, he returned to Qi Feng’s feet and stood there as though he were simply shy around strangers.

This method of verification had no scientific basis. Qi Feng was relying entirely on his trust in Yan Jiyun and Xiao Hei.

The others immediately understood what Qi Feng was getting at.

If Qi Yunchu were the real one, Xiao Hei wouldn’t have reacted this way when Qi Feng brought him over.

Su Qiuming was standing close to Qi Yunchu as well. “You really put on a convincing act. We almost fell for it, clone.”

The exposed Qi Yunchu didn’t become angry. Instead, he nimbly jumped onto the roof of a car and cursed at Qi Feng. “You ruined my plans, Qi Feng. And your cat too. I’ll remember you.”

He was clearly trying to escape.

Qi Feng didn’t waste words on him. He grabbed the clothing at his shoulder, but fake Qi Yunchu lowered his body and slipped neatly out of his clothes. He slid to the other side of the car and was about to escape when another figure moved even faster and blocked his path.

It was Su Qiuming.

This was a matter of life and death. Fake Qi Yunchu had no intention of wasting time talking to them. As long as he escaped now, he still had a chance to survive. He could always come back later and deceive them again. But if they caught him, he would be completely finished.

Su Qiuming attacked fake Qi Yunchu’s lower body while Qi Feng attacked from above.

Caught between them, fake Qi Yunchu had nowhere to escape.

His memories contained no experience of fighting Qi Feng or Su Qiuming, so taking them down in such a short amount of time wasn’t easy. And he didn’t have the opportunity to do so anymore, because Xu Xian had joined the fight as well.

Qi Yunchu had originally been seriously ill, and his clone was the same. His physical stamina was poor. He stumbled into Xu Xian’s path, giving Xu Xian the opportunity to grab him and twist his neck.

Crack.

Fake Qi Yunchu died instantly.

There was no blood, but it was brutal enough.

They had witnessed the cruelty of their own companions, as well as the cruelty of the NPCs.

This was the game [Destiny], a game that stripped away everyone’s masks and exposed another side of them.

Yan Jiyun had just killed a clone himself, and now watching Xu Xian twist a clone’s neck with his bare hands certainly made a strong visual impact, but it didn’t affect him very much mentally.

In this particular instance, if a player showed even a little too much mercy, the one who died would be the player. There was no choice.

Aside from that, Yan Jiyun noticed that Qi Feng and Su Qiuming had worked together quite well just now. It was obvious that they really had once been a pair of highly compatible partners.

If he’d met Qi Feng earlier, perhaps the two of them could have become an equally well-coordinated team.

With fake Qi Yunchu eliminated, everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. 

But Yan Jiyun’s gun was still aimed at another person: Yu Zhe.

From the very beginning, Yu Zhe had never been able to prove that he wasn’t a clone.

Yan Jiyun knew who he was. He was the leader of the New Forces Guild and had clashed with Qi Feng in a previous instance.

At that moment, Yu Zhe was standing very close to Qi Feng. The three of them had just finished dealing with fake Qi Yunchu, and they had relaxed for a brief moment.

They didn’t immediately notice that someone behind them had raised a knife and was about to strike.

Chu Mo and Wen Ye were somewhat farther away from the other three. When they saw Yu Zhe raise the knife toward Qi Feng’s back, they didn’t have time to rush over and kick him away.

Just as they lunged forward to stop him—

Bang!

A bullet pierced Yu Zhe’s temple.

He froze in place, still in the middle of the motion of stabbing Qi Feng. 

Qi Feng abruptly turned around and kicked fake Yu Zhe, who had already been shot by the sniper rifle, to the ground.

The others looked around them, trying to locate the shooter. It was an ally, but they didn’t know who.

In their minds, aside from Qi Feng, no one else in this instance had the ability to precisely hit someone’s temple without their hand trembling.

Qi Feng had enough experience to know where Yan Jiyun was. He glanced upstairs, then quickly looked away. He didn’t want to expose his trump card in front of the others, but he couldn’t help letting the corners of his lips curl up slightly.

Yan Jiyun was an excellent teammate. Once again, he’d saved his life.

Yan Jiyun, who had just cleanly taken down another clone, finally let out a breath of relief. He shook his sweaty hand.

He had been so damn nervous!

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  if you forgot them, here’s a cheat sheet: Yu Zhe-President of New Forces Guild (this guild messed up Qi Feng’s hangout spot, so Yan Jiyun bombed their place in return). Xu Xian-current leader of Fenghuo Guild (Su Qiuming’s guild)