DSMC Chapter 41.1

In his previous two instances, Yan Jiyun had never encountered teammates who changed sides so quickly. In the first one, the three he met — Yang Xue and her two companions — were a fixed team who trusted each other completely. In the second, Zhou Ying, Yang Li, and Wen Nanxing had adventured together in the game and formed a genuine friendship. If someone changed allegiance simply to survive, he couldn’t really blame them; after all, when one’s life was being threatened, it was hard to act like a martyr trained to die for a cause. Their choices were understandable. But what made him truly disgusted was that they had gone as far as to expose the locations of their former teammates. That had already crossed into a matter of character.

Of course, expecting others to uphold moral integrity in a game wasn’t realistic. Yan Jiyun was aware that he himself might face such a dilemma someday. It was better to see these people’s true colors early. He didn’t want to be stabbed in the back when it mattered most. That would be the real nightmare.

Team A’s number had now increased to seven. They were sweeping through the area in a carpet-style search. With the couple joining in, the commotion and noise grew even louder than before.

Yan Jiyun wasn’t sure whether having Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu hide in the well had been the right move. If they were caught, would they defect to Team A too?

He wanted to believe in his own judgment, and in his pooper scooper’s eye for people. He hoped he hadn’t helped the wrong ones, and that his shoveling officer hadn’t picked the wrong “bodyguards” for him. Surely, Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu were under even greater pressure now than he was.

Yan Jiyun watched as the seven members of Team A split up, entering different shops to search inch by inch. Timing his move, he slipped back into the house across the street from where he’d been hiding earlier. There were no players stationed inside, and it had a backyard cluttered with junk, so it was perfect for making some noise to draw attention, while still giving him plenty of places to hide.

Xiaoyun Street lived up to its name — dark clouds piled overhead, no sunlight to be seen, giving the whole place a sense of desolation. A poetic soul might write a thousand-word reflection here, and a poet could easily compose a melancholy verse or two.

But Yan Jiyun simply thought it was a good place to hide. As long as he wasn’t caught, anywhere was good.

His strength was limited. What kind of noise could he make that players outside would actually hear?

Meanwhile, the two he was worrying about were still hiding at the bottom of the well. Since they’d gone down, they had no idea what was happening outside.

They’d climbed down easily enough, using the rope. It had been a quick, silent drop. But climbing back up was another matter entirely. With no one above to pull them, they could only fret about how to get out.

The bottom of the well was pitch dark. Qiu Xi tried using sign language, but Gu Wenzhu couldn’t see. In the end, they resorted to writing words into each other’s palms, communicating quietly and efficiently.

Qiu Xi pointed upward and wrote in Gu Wenzhu’s palm: “Should I climb up and take a look?”

Gu Wenzhu wrote back: “Not yet. Someone came just now. They’ll probably come again.”

Qiu Xi nodded. Despite Gu Wenzhu’s gentle appearance, he was clearly the more cautious and intelligent of the two.

They waited at the bottom of the well, relying on system notifications to know what was happening. From those, they learned that even if one was caught, there was still a chance to switch teams, which meant they wouldn’t be immediately eliminated, and could even continue searching for items.

Since they were stuck waiting anyway, Qiu Xi thought they might as well look around for items in the dry well. Maybe they’d get lucky.

Because no outside props could be used in this game environment, they began feeling around with their hands. Surprisingly, they actually found something strange.

Following Yan Jiyun, Team F had discovered another item.

[Team F Player No. 9 has collected High-Level Prop: “Necklace.”]

Team A’s seven players: “…”

Was this fate?

They’d been searching for ages and only managed to find a single common prop, while the remaining three members of Team F had now found three high-level props. Was this some kind of sick joke?

Did Team F have some secret shortcut to rare loot?

But Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu weren’t feeling lucky at all. Because just as Gu Wenzhu had predicted, Team A came back again.

And this time, they seemed to have located the well.

No. 24: “Could they have jumped into the well? We’ve searched everywhere and didn’t see a single shadow.”

No. 18: “At least we found that couple.”

No. 24: “They’re our teammates now.”

No. 18: “Should we check below? We win as soon as we touch them, anyway.”

Hearing this, Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu’s hearts tightened. There was nowhere to run. If the others climbed down, they were done for. Resistance would be useless. The rules heavily favored the seekers; one touch was enough to claim victory.

Player No. 24, short and stocky, began inspecting the rope tied above the well. Just as he was looping it around himself, a sound echoed from the shop outside. Instantly, all of his teammates rushed out.

No. 24: “What’s going on?”

No. 18: “Someone exposed their position while moving! Let’s go catch the next one.”

No. 24: “Can’t believe someone made a mistake like that. Looks like this round will end soon.”

At the bottom of the well, Qiu Xi turned to Gu Wenzhu. With that couple having defected, the only one left outside was Yan Jiyun.

Qiu Xi grabbed Gu Wenzhu’s hand and wrote: “What do we do?”

As the sounds above faded, Gu Wenzhu whispered, “I think that Yan guy did it on purpose, to draw them away from us.”

Qiu Xi: “You mean it wasn’t an accident?”

Gu Wenzhu spoke with quiet confidence: “He doesn’t seem that foolish. That couple was untrustworthy from the start. He’s different. Trust me, I’m good at reading people.”

He didn’t tell Qiu Xi that he’d seen Yan Jiyun’s name on the leaderboard after the last instance ended. He wasn’t sure if it was the same person, but he had a hunch it was.

Even so, they were just temporary allies, strangers thrown together by the game. Who could say what might happen? Still, they couldn’t help worrying for Yan Jiyun.

Hopefully, he had really made that noise on purpose to lead Team A away, and hadn’t simply slipped up.

But there were seven people out there. One against seven. Making noise was as good as giving away his position, he’d be caught sooner or later.

Both Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu shared the same grim thought: if Yan Jiyun was caught, Team F would lose for sure.

Elsewhere, Yan Jiyun had indeed deliberately knocked an old ceramic teapot off the table. It had even been half full of water, and it took quite an effort to make it crash. He’d chosen that one because smaller cups wouldn’t make enough noise to draw attention.

Except for the couple — Players No. 21 and No. 22 — the five other members of Team A all converged on the old house.

No. 5, the loudmouth, ran in excitedly. “Where is he? You got him, right?”

No. 14, the short-tempered one, snapped, “The guy’s too cunning. He broke the teapot, but there’s no trace of him.”

No. 5: “Could he have done it on purpose?”

No. 14: “Of course! He must’ve wanted to distract us from finding the other two.”

No. 5: “But he’s not exactly small. No way he can hide forever. I checked, these shops share the same backyard. If we seven surround the area and search inch by inch, we’ll get him for sure!”

Player No. 18, the temporary captain, agreed. “Fine. We’ll use the human wave tactic.”

The newly joined couple was called over as well to help with the encirclement.

Yan Jiyun not only overheard their entire plan but could also clearly see every movement they made.

The two of them split into a team: one blocked the front door, the other the back. They rummaged everywhere, continuing to smash what little furniture the shops and houses had left.

But even after tearing up everything they could, it seemed their luck had run dry; no new items appeared for Team A. 

Up above, Yan Jiyun crouched silently along a wooden beam of the old-fashioned house next door, watching the Team A players running frantically back and forth yet still failing to find him. The more agitated they became, the more amused he was.

Even if they thought to look up, they wouldn’t see him — the rafters above were darker than the floor below, shrouded in shadow.

Besides, with how those players thought, they’d never imagine anyone hiding up there. Their first impression of Yan Jiyun had been of a man dressed in flamboyant colors. He was too bright, too bold. If he were to hide above them, the flashy clothing would have given him away immediately.

They were so certain for another reason too. Ma Haiyang had just come out of the only clothing store in the area. No one from Team F had entered afterward, so there was no chance Yan Jiyun had changed clothes.

Yan Jiyun just waited for them to lose patience and for the clock to keep ticking.

Time passed, second by second.

[Hiders Captured: 0/3]

[Remaining Time: 30 minutes 30 seconds]

Half an hour left.

They still had no idea what the items they’d found were for.

What was the difference between normal and advanced items?

Yan Jiyun threw one of his collected props down toward a short player No. 24from Team A, but the system immediately chimed a warning:

[This prop cannot be used on players.]

If it can’t be used on players, then on who? There weren’t even any NPCs here.

Which meant the items could only be used in later rounds? It was supposed to be just a simple game of hide and seek — why make it so complicated? If that was the case, then he’d better keep collecting more props. Who knew what ridiculous or dangerous twist the next stage might hold?

Team A spent ten whole minutes searching, yet still failed to notice Yan Jiyun perching above their heads. Their patience was nearly gone when the short player, No. 24, suddenly remembered something.

No. 24: “Wait, just before we went down the well, we heard that teapot smash. What if someone’s down there, and they did that to draw us away so we wouldn’t find them?”

The temporary captain, No. 18, turned to No. 14 and No. 24. “The three of us will check the well. That cripple couldn’t have gone far. We’ve searched everywhere else, and only the well is left. The rest of you stop staring at these shops and search elsewhere. That player might’ve slipped away already.”

Yan Jiyun remained crouched on the beam, motionless. ‘I didn’t leave. Still watching you.’