DSMC Chapter 38.1

To prevent the blue-haired man from seeing that he had really attracted a black cat, Qi Feng suppressed the excitement in his chest the moment he saw Caramel, and swiftly took him back to his personal space. During the transition back to the real world, one would lose consciousness for a short while, but that wasn’t a concern right now.

Inside the personal space, aside from the system being able to observe, players were considered relatively safe.

Qi Feng had thought for the past two days about how to find Caramel, and finally came up with this method.

Caramel was usually quiet, not noisy or troublesome, but it had its own preferences and temper. It loved to eat, but was also picky; its favorite food was human cuisine. It didn’t care much for cat food or canned cat meat, but snacks like dried little fish were something it could never resist. If Qi Feng didn’t feed it regularly, it could open drawers itself; if it wasn’t in the drawer, it would even rip open sealed bags. Because of its gluttony, the cat had been hospitalized several times, and Qi Feng had followed the vet’s orders not to let it overeat.

Before entering the game each time, Qi Feng would check his house thoroughly, storing all snacks in cupboards that were both out of reach and difficult to open.

Once he’d calmed down, he devised several possible plans. Finding his cat wasn’t the hard part. The hard part was that Caramel might have been taken by another player, which worried him the most. Qi Feng had met countless players in the game, from good, bad, eccentric, even psychopathic. If Caramel had encountered someone who enjoyed torturing cats, he would be heartbroken. After much thought, he finally decided to use food as bait to lure Caramel, hoping his cat wouldn’t trust other players too easily.

Once the plan took shape, he sought out Lan Mo, a player who often tinkered with odd gadgets.

Lan Mo was one of the few people Qi Feng trusted in-game. Still, he never told him the real reason. One, because he wasn’t sure he could find the cat; two, because “a cat got sucked into the game” sounded too absurd; and three, because secrecy meant safety. The fewer people who knew, the safer Caramel would be.

But how could a cat become a player? Even the earliest batch of players had never heard of such a thing.

Qi Feng held up Caramel by its hind legs with practiced care. Once they were in his personal space, instead of putting it on the sofa, he first checked it over for injuries. The kitty looked fine. Its fur clean and sleek, only his paw pads slightly dirty from walking, but that was easily wiped clean.

“Caramel, that day when I went to the study and showered, did you touch my nameplate and get pulled into the game?”

Yan Jiyun was still shocked that Qi Feng had so casually brought him into his personal space without any suspicion. He took a look around. Qi Feng’s space was several times bigger than his own, plenty of room for a cat to run laps until exhausted. The decor, of course, was perfectly in line with Qi Feng’s style: simple, dull, and utterly devoid of color.

That wasn’t the point now, though. The point was that Qi Feng had actually thought of using dried fish as bait to find him. It was a bit excessive, but undeniably effective. No cat could resist fragrant crispy dried fish, especially when made by their owner. Certainly not him.

Qi Feng checked Caramel from head to tail again. Finding no injuries, he finally relaxed. As long as the cat was fine, he could breathe again.

He then hefted the cat a little, feeling the soft belly fur against his palm. “Why do I feel like you’ve gotten fatter?”

“That shouldn’t be right.”

“Did someone feed you good food in the instance?”

“Caramel, don’t just eat whatever strangers give you in instances. What if it’s poisoned?”

Yan Jiyun: ‘What are you touching for? The muscle on my stomach is not for random groping!’

More importantly, he hadn’t gotten fat, thank you very much!

After leaving the instance, his diet hadn’t been great, though at Lin Xie’s place it was decent enough. But there was no way he’d gained weight with how much he exercised every day. It’s impossible.

Since they’d met in-game, Qi Feng wasn’t planning to return to reality just yet. Their time together here was limited. 

In two days, Qi Feng would have to enter another instance, and Caramel’s next run was approaching as well. Before finding the cat, Qi Feng hadn’t thought about anything else, but now he had to.

He checked the notification log: Caramel had last exited an instance three days ago. Meaning two days later, he’d be automatically pulled into another random one. Rather than let that happen, Qi Feng wanted to hand-pick the safest, easiest instance possible. He had argued with the system before, demanding his cat be released from the game, but the system refused, insisting that the pet could survive perfectly fine.

After seeing Qi Feng touch him all over his body and finding that he was not injured, Yan Jiyun was held as Qi Feng sat on the sofa, thinking about something.

He himself had calmed down by this point. He scratched Qi Feng’s thigh with his claws. He had a fixed behavior towards Qi Feng: if he wanted a snack of dried fish, he would scratch his thigh; if he was hungry, he would pat the back of his hand; if he wanted a shower, he would stand in front of the bathroom; if he needed to go to the toilet, he could do it on his own without any prompting. Qi Feng had never trained Yan Jiyun. Most of the time, it was Yan Jiyun who trained Qi Feng to understand what he meant. Anyway, there were many ways for them to communicate. Over time, Qi Feng could understand what Yan Jiyun wanted to do through certain behaviors of Yan Jiyun. 

Personally, Yan Jiyun called it the tacit understanding between a cat and its poop scooper.

Yan Jiyun was quite happy that Qi Feng did not choose to give up on him, but instead tried to find him in [Destiny]. 

Just as he was basking in that happiness, he heard Qi Feng asked the system, “Can I choose my pet’s next instance?” 

Players cannot see the game interface of another player, nor can they communicate with the other party’s system. Yan Jiyun only heard Qi Feng ask several questions, all of which were related to his next instance.

Qi Feng wants to choose Yan Jiyun’s next instance? 

But he had already made his choice. He chose a simple Introductory instance that was not too difficult.

Yan Jiyun saw Qi Feng start to focus on the game interface. Although he couldn’t see it, he was looking intently in a certain direction. He must be choosing an instance. 

Again, Qi Feng argued with the system that day about the cat’s inability to survive the dungeon. He’d urged the system to release his cat back to reality, but the system had consistently denied it, insisting that his pet could survive the game, as evidenced by its ability to solo two Challenging-level instances. The system was incredibly logical; no matter how many questions Qi Feng asked, it wouldn’t reveal a single detail about the instance Caramel had conquered, leaving him completely clueless about how he’d gotten there.

But today, the system seemed slightly more agreeable.

The mechanical voice replied, “The main account player may choose an instance for the sub-account player. However, since the main and sub-account levels differ greatly, they cannot enter together at this stage. Please acknowledge.

Qi Feng exhaled slowly. “That’s fine, as long as I can pick for him.”

Still, he couldn’t decide which instance would be safest. He had to think carefully, plan for every risk, and ensure his cat came out alive. Only three more instances to clear, and he’d be out of the danger bracket. After that, he’d find a way to stay by his cat’s side permanently.

Right now, he couldn’t accompany him into instances, but he could find a trusted player to escort him instead. Once Caramel’s points rose, he’d take him into higher-level instances himself.

Meanwhile, Yan Jiyun had no idea Qi Feng was already planning all this for him.

Qi Feng felt a prickling on his thigh, as Caramel was scratching lightly. He instantly understood. “Alright, I’ll go bring back the dried fish. Stay here and don’t wander.”

Yan Jiyun wasn’t going anywhere.  Here, he has food, water, and pampering. There was no better place to be. Being beside his owner made him feel truly alive, relaxed in a way nothing else could.

Qi Feng returned shortly with a small plate of dried fish, but only gave him five pieces, placing a bowl of handmade cat food beside it.

“How about eating your proper meal instead? Too much dried fish isn’t good for you.”

Yan Jiyun: “…” Fine. Five pieces it is. Better than none.

He hopped off the hard sofa in Qi Feng’s personal space, bowing his head to chew the dried fish. Each bite filled him with quiet emotion. He hoped the next instance would have an NPC who could fry dried fish this well.

While Yan Jiyun ate, Qi Feng left the personal space again. Lan Mo was still waiting outside.

Seeing the now-empty basket, Lan Mo asked, “Feng-ge, what are you even doing going in and out of your personal space? Are we still running this stall or not?”

Qi Feng said, “No, but keep the stall for later. I’ll still need it. Store it in your personal space for now.”

His cat might get lost again after the next instance, so if he missed catching him at the exit, he could reuse this bait method next time.

Lan Mo didn’t find anything strange about it. “Got it.”

The system didn’t provide food, but all other materials and tools could be exchanged for points in the marketplace.

Then Qi Feng looked at Lan Mo seriously. “By the way, I have something to discuss with you.”

Caught off guard by the intensity of Qi Feng’s gaze, Lan Mo felt like a junior employee being stared down by his boss. “Feng-ge, don’t look at me like that. I swear I wasn’t badmouthing you earlier, okay? I just made one little comment!”

Qi Feng had this knack — he could see through people no matter how they tried to hide it. Lan Mo was most afraid of that cold, serious expression of his; just being looked at like that made him feel an unexplainable chill.

Qi Feng said, “Not that. I want you to help me find out which guild has the most complete information about Newcomer instances, both the Introductory ones and the Challenging ones.”

Lan Mo froze for a moment. “We don’t have any newbies. What do you need that for?”

Qi Feng was silent for a few seconds. “I’ll tell you once I have the info.”

Lan Mo didn’t press. Among their familiar circle of players, Qi Feng was the most mysterious one. Every time he came out of an instance, he barely even looked at the rewards before logging off and disappearing. Yet lately, he’d been acting completely different. First setting up a small street stall like some secret agent, and now asking about Newcomer instances. It all seemed strange, like he was scheming something.

Lan Mo said, “Alright, I’ll go ask around. I haven’t kept up with Newcomer instances for ages.”

They still often looked into Hard- and Top-level information, but Newcomer ones were far removed from them now. They didn’t even play with that group of people anymore. To find out anything, he’d need to ask for help.

In the end, Qi Feng decided to go with him.

When they returned later, Yan Jiyun had already merged perfectly into the folds of that black silk blanket.

Qi Feng thought: ‘It’s about time to change the color scheme in his personal space. Otherwise he’d risk bumping into Caramel in the dark.’

Hearing Qi Feng come back, Yan Jiyun cracked one eye open. When Qi Feng lay down, he closed it again.

Yan Jiyun had already picked his next instance. No matter what instance Qi Feng might try to assign him, it didn’t matter — he had his own plan. After all, the one entering the instance would be him. He’d already decided: rest one more day tomorrow, and the day after that, it’s back to work.

Now that Qi Feng had perfectly solved the problem of their in-game distance, as long as one of them had a base, the other could use it to find them, without arousing any suspicion.

Besides, with their Intimacy level being a big fat 0, they couldn’t see each other’s instance info. Qi Feng naturally wouldn’t suspect that his cat could turn human to farm points in instances. Even if he did notice the points later, Qi Feng would probably assume it came from the livestream, a perfect cover for the transformation secret.

Having thought through everything, Yan Jiyun drifted into peaceful sleep. 

The next day was the day before entering the instance. Yan Jiyun stayed in Qi Feng’s personal space. Qi Feng went out in the morning, apparently still trying to gather info about Newcomer instances.

Yan Jiyun thought he must be running himself ragged, but he couldn’t turn into a human and tell him not to waste the effort. He couldn’t even show a hint of it.

Still, that was fine. Once he entered the instance, Qi Feng would understand. His cat’s instance entries weren’t something he could control. Only the cat itself could choose which instance to enter.

By afternoon, Qi Feng had come back with a thick stack of files. It was the instance data he’d painstakingly collected for Yan Jiyun.

[Deduction instance] — crossed out.

[Escape instance] — crossed out.

[Supernatural instance] — crossed out.

[Apocalypse instance] — crossed out.

[Mystery instance] — crossed out.

[Romance instance] — crossed out.

Choosing an instance for a cat was proving impossible. None of these were suitable. They were all designed for human players. How could any of them fit a cat?

Caramel must’ve cleared two Introductory instances by sheer coincidence. By that logic, it still had one Introductory and two Challenging ones left. The top priority now was to lock down which Introductory one to tackle next.

“How about this one?” Qi Feng muttered. “I’ll spend some points to find a trustworthy player to take you along and  make sure it’s foolproof.”

“Caramel, what do you think? Would you be okay being escorted by someone else?”

“If I find someone to take you, I can’t hide your identity. But if you go alone, I’ll be worried.”

Qi Feng found himself suddenly developing choice paralysis. Up till now, he’d thought Newcomer instances were simple. But now? Every single one looked dangerous. He couldn’t pick, and he didn’t know where to start.

Yan Jiyun, watching him sift through the files, lazily flicked his long tail on the coffee table. The tail tip brushed over the papers, so Qi Feng pressed it down. Yan Jiyun tugged free, then used his tail to push aside the Challenging instance files. Qi Feng promptly pressed his tail again.

“Be good. Don’t move.”

Yan Jiyun only wanted to tell him to skip the Challenging ones. He’d already cleared two of those, leaving three Introductory ones.

‘Sigh. Foolish human. Stop choosing already. Just let it be.’

In the end, he decided. ‘Whatever. Let the human be happy.’