DSMC Chapter 42

Thank you Dulce for your support! Enjoy this bonus chapter~

Another note, with 1 more ko-fi donation for this series, there will be another bonus update!

Inside the 50 sqm tailor shop, three grown men squeezed together, making the air feel thinner and murkier with every breath.

They flipped over the cashier’s counter and the sewing table, tore down the curtains in the fitting area, even smashed the mirrors into shards that scattered all over the floor. Their shoes crunched against the glass with sharp crk-crk sounds.

Hearing the destruction, Yan Jiyun’s entire body tensed, his back slightly arched. These people didn’t feel like players trying to clear a stage. They felt more like a pack of violent street thugs who’d start swinging the moment someone said the wrong thing.

The hot-tempered man growled, “The Navigator clearly showed he was here. Why can’t we find anything?”

Common props could only be used once; after activation, they vanished from the temporary item inventory. The moment they confirmed a direction, the Navigator lost its effect and disappeared.

“No way there’s nothing,” the temporary captain, No. 18, muttered. “Could there be a basement we missed?”

No. 14, the hot-tempered one, plopped down onto the silk-covered stool, sounding discouraged. “I just checked by knocking all around. It’s tiled, no basement. The whole place is this small, there’s no way we missed anything.”

No. 18 frowned. “Strange. They’ve found plenty of items, but definitely not any kind of invisibility cloak. So how are they still hiding?”

Right then, Yan Jiyun was curled up beneath the stool No. 14 had just sat on. He was terrified they’d notice the hollow space underneath.

No. 14 scowled. “No way they’re not here. Did we miss some corner?”

No. 18 tilted his head upward. “Did you check the ceiling beams?”

No. 14 replied, “Not yet. I’ll look. The light’s too dim to see clearly.”

He stood up again, planning to use the same stool for height, but after tearing off the silk, he found it too short and too unstable. He reached to grab it, hesitated, then let go.

The moment No. 14 pulled off the silk, Yan Jiyun’s claws dug deep into the velvet lining inside, anchoring himself so he wouldn’t fall out. Just as he was about to make a split-second move to change hiding spots, No. 14 gave up on the stool entirely.

Turns out, he’d spotted a taller chair near the sewing station and decided to use that instead.

“Think you can reach?” asked No. 18.

No. 14 puffed up proudly. “Of course I can.”

The shorter player was still searching the shop for any remaining items. Everyone had their own agenda, any item found belonged to whoever discovered it. Distrust simmered between them.

No. 14 climbed onto the chair and peered around, but saw nothing. The ceiling above was pitch dark. When he rested his hand on the beam, it came away covered in dust.

“Nobody up there,” he said gruffly. “He’s not here.”

No. 18 cursed under his breath. “That No. 29 sure knows how to hide. Time is running out.”

Everyone in Team A was anxious, especially the couple who had temporarily joined them. They hadn’t just switched sides because they’d been threatened; they’d also thought joining Team A’s five would give them a better chance at victory.

But now, with the first round nearly over and the Team F survivors still not found, regret gnawed at them.

No. 21 muttered angrily to his girlfriend, No. 22, “Why didn’t you just choose elimination?”

“I didn’t mean to,” she whispered. “I just hesitated for a second, and the faction-switch screen vanished. It only gave ten seconds! I wanted to live, so I switched.”

No. 21’s frustration burned hot. If she’d just refused to switch, Team A wouldn’t have cornered and threatened her, and he wouldn’t have followed her over. If he’d stayed with Team F instead, maybe they’d be winning right now with that sneaky No. 29. He wondered if it was still possible to switch back.

[Remaining time: 5 minutes 03 seconds]

Meanwhile, the No. 21 called “that guy who hides so well” didn’t dare move a muscle. One small sound could alert the players still lingering in the shop.

He’d heard the couple’s whispered argument, too. Regret was useless. A person’s choices always reflected what they clung to inside, and those choices determined the road they’d regret later.

This system wasn’t testing human nature, it was exploiting it.

The more instances he experienced, the clearer the game’s real purpose became: to draw out the inner darkness of people — their violence, their selfishness, their hidden cruelty. In the peaceful world, such instincts lay buried, but here, the game dragged them to the surface.

If one didn’t take the bait, they might survive. But if one did, their downfall was inevitable, and the things they lost would only keep piling up.

That couple likely wouldn’t last much longer. Cracks had already formed between them. Soon, they’d start bickering over every small thing, make bad decisions, and spiral into collapse. The ending was already written.

The three men in the shop came up empty-handed. They left the tailor shop in frustration.

Only then did Yan Jiyun allow himself a silent sigh of relief.

But just then, the three men suddenly broke into a run. Someone outside was shouting.

“We found the mute and the cripple!”

Yan Jiyun: “…”

Five minutes left. How had Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu been found?!

Their hiding spot shouldn’t have been easy to discover. Why had Team A decided to check the bun shop again?

Yan Jiyun glanced at his interface.

[Teammates Captured: 0/3]

[Remaining Time: 4 minutes 03 seconds]

If they’d been caught, it should show 2/3. So if Team A really found them, why wasn’t there a prompt?

They must’ve used the items.

He’d given Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu two: a pair of running shoes and a frying pan.

Pretty easy to guess their uses. The frying pan could be used to hit someone, though how effective, he didn’t know. The shoes were probably for faster running speed.

As Team A dashed out, Yan Jiyun crawled from beneath the stool and hid behind the doorway to peek outside.

Sure enough, Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu had used the items. Qiu Xi was sprinting forward with Gu Wenzhu on his back, Team A hot on their heels!

“Catch them!”

“Don’t let them escape!”

“How do they have items?!”

“Weren’t those found by that No. 29?”

“Damn it, No. 29 actually shared his items with them!”

With only four minutes left, Team A was desperate. Catching even one would do. If they nabbed the mute and the cripple, they could focus all their manpower on finding the last player. They didn’t believe No. 29 could vanish into thin air.

The couple’s hearts sank when they heard that. If only they’d hidden a bit longer, maybe they’d have gotten items from No. 29 too.

Too late for regrets. They were now forced to join the chase for those two. 

And yet, Qiu Xi was running surprisingly fast even while carrying Gu Wenzhu.

They couldn’t catch up.

But the map had limits, and air walls blocked both ends of the street. Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu couldn’t run forever. Eventually, they’d be caught.

Team A knew it. Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu knew it too. But they had already made their plan.

When they learned that the Navigator prop had targeted another teammate instead of them, they knew exactly what they had to do.

Yan Jiyun had risked himself to protect them and even delivered items in secret. So now, they’d repay the favor.

They hadn’t planned to move from their hiding spot, but after realizing Team A had found Yan Jiyun, they decided to sacrifice themselves to draw attention away, to buy him time.

Gu Wenzhu had analyzed the situation: the game determined victory by team, not by individual performance. They had to cooperate.

The items Yan Jiyun gave them were perfectly chosen: the shoes for Qiu Xi, whose stamina was decent, and the frying pan for Gu Wenzhu, who could use it to strike if necessary.

They’d hold out for as long as they could—one minute, two, as long as it took.

And in that moment, Yan Jiyun understood what they were doing.

He hadn’t misjudged them after all.

There was nothing left to search in the tailor shop. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone else had run toward the end of the street, he quickly dashed to a small Western-style restaurant diagonally across the way. The place looked rather ordinary. Its decor just leaned a little more toward the “boutique” side, but the entrance was lined with lush green plants, perfectly hiding his figure.

Suddenly, something glinted faintly between the potted plants. Looking closely, he saw a bunch of keys wedged between two flowerpots. He reached a paw into the narrow gap, hooked it with his fingertip, and pulled it out.

[Team F Player No.29 has collected the High-Level Prop “A Set of Keys.”]

Team A: “……”

Damn it!

Where the hell was No.29 hiding? Why was he still calmly looking for items at a time like this, instead of worrying about his teammates?

Team A had just been about to charge toward the mute and the cripple, but their enthusiasm for the chase was instantly crushed. That system notification felt like a slap in their collective faces.

The temporary captain, No.18, looked toward the hot-tempered No.14 and frowned. “Was that navigation you gave us wrong? Maybe No.29 wasn’t in the tailor shop at all?”

No.14 scowled. “Are you accusing me? The item indicator really did point to the tailor shop! Why else would he start finding items again right after we left?”

The short one added, “We can’t even see your navigation. How do we know you didn’t just pick a random shop to make us go into?”

Now Team A started turning on each other, a proof that they’d completely lost faith in finding No.29. Instead of admitting their own lack of skill, they started suspecting a traitor among them.

No.14 snapped, “Are you all insane? Instead of catching them, you’re blaming me?”

No.18 quickly defused the tension. “That’s not what I meant. I’m just suspicious of the system itself. Let’s catch the mute and the cripple first.”

Though plain-looking, No.18 had a calm, steady way of speaking that easily soothed the irritable No.14. He knew exactly how to redirect people’s attention.

But even so, the situation was slipping out of their control. No.29 was too cunning, he might even be right under their noses, yet somehow invisible to them.

While Team A was busy bickering, their frontmost member was about to reach Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu. At that exact moment, Gu Wenzhu swung his frying pan. The one charging him happened to be No.14, the same man who’d shoved him earlier.

Clang!

The pan struck No.14 squarely on the head. Before anyone could react, No.14 dropped to the ground and vanished in front of everyone.

He was gone!

[Team F Player No.8 has knocked out Team A Player No.14. No.14 is eliminated.]

The eliminated player disappeared on the spot. None of the Team A members dared step forward now. The frying pan in No.8’s hands suddenly looked terrifying.

So, Hiders could eliminate Seekers after all! As long as they weren’t caught, they could use items to fight back!

Now everyone finally understood — this instance had props that could knock people out!

Unfortunately, Team A learned this too late. They had no offensive elimination tools left.

Gu Wenzhu’s frying pan wasn’t a one-time use item, instead it had a time limit. Anyone struck by it would be eliminated. But no one knew where the eliminated players went. Would they reappear in the next round, or were they gone from the scene for good?

This damned system was already unfair enough, but what was worse was that it never even explained the rules properly. They had to discover everything by trial and error.

Yan Jiyun, who had just collected his new item, hadn’t expected Gu Wenzhu to be so gutsy. Truly “learning by doing”, and in doing so, he’d uncovered a vital rule: Hiders weren’t powerless. With clever use of items, they could turn the tables and win.

Team A’s players were now far more cautious. None of them wanted to end up instantly eliminated  like No.14.

Only three minutes remained in this round of Hide and Seek. 

The chaos gave Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu precious extra time. They could keep stalling, and if they managed that, their remaining teammate might survive till the end.

Meanwhile, Yan Jiyun, after finding A Set of Keys, moved on to the next shop. His teammates were doing great, so he didn’t even need to worry about being found.

Team A’s real issue was internal: they behaved more like a street gang than a team. Wherever they went, they stuck together, with no proper division of labor. Of course they couldn’t finish their task.

Yan Jiyun, on the other hand, felt quite at ease in this game. He kept searching for more items.

Below the Western restaurant was a bookstore. Its shelves were filled with middle- and high-school workbooks, extracurricular reading, and popular biographies. A rack by the counter displayed various stationery for sale.

There were lots of things inside, but nothing stood out as collectible.

Time was running out. He figured it couldn’t hurt to grab more props. Maybe they’d help in later stages. Hopefully he could find another before the round ended.

What was the most unique thing in a bookstore?

Yan Jiyun thought back to his past visits. What kind of books he’d usually buy, what kind of people came in, which books were put front and center for promotion.

He leapt onto the display table and tapped the topmost book and got no system notification. Not that one, then.

In such a small shop, what else would they sell?

He moved toward the back shelves, checking for anything out of place. Behind them, he found a small back room with more shelves. It was immediately clear that there was nowhere to hide here. Books were too heavy to throw around, so Team A hadn’t bothered wrecking the place.

Unlike the main area, these shelves held leisure reading — the kind of novels and comics parents would call “a waste of time.” Wuxia, web novels, youth fiction… all the light stuff.

A small sign above the top shelf said, Books for rent, priced 10 fen a day¹1 yuan = 100 fen. So cheap it had to be from twenty or thirty years ago. Nowadays, one couldn’t find anything for even 1 yuan, let alone 10 fen.

Only two minutes left.

Judging by the wear on the covers, he could guess which ones were most popular. His gaze landed on a dust-free novel sitting on the far right of the third shelf. He tapped it lightly and Ding! — the system responded.

[Team F Player No.29 has collected the High-Level Prop  “A Book with a Story.”]

Team A could only curse under their breath. At this point in the game, how was No.29 still out there finding props?!

No.18 barked, “Damn it! You all go find No.29! Me and No.5 will handle the mute and the cripple!”

After all, this round might end soon. They might not even stay in this same area afterward. What was the point of prop-hunting? Their frustration boiled over, and they took it out on the two remaining Team F players before them.

Gu Wenzhu’s frying pan was in its last seconds. Once its effect expired, he’d lose his one lifeline.

Sure enough, when the game had only one minute left, the frying pan vanished from his hands. Behind them was a wall, the invisible boundary of the game. They had nowhere left to run.

The three Team A players lunged to attack, but before they could land a hit, Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu both chose the “Abandon Round” option.

They vanished instantly from the scene.

The system registered them as captured, not eliminated, all because they still had a teammate alive.

Having a teammate really was reassuring.

Yan Jiyun didn’t get greedy. With two minutes left, he obediently stayed hidden while Team A searched frantically in vain.

To avoid being recognized as a cat again when returning to the exit, he planned to use his Human Form Time Card before the game ended.

But just as the timer hit thirty seconds, the male half of the couple, No.21, burst into the bookstore. He rummaged frantically, clearly panicking.

Yan Jiyun was curled up inside a box barely the size of a shoebox, quietly waiting for him to finish. His heart was racing. The seconds were ticking down.

No.21 wasn’t even searching properly anymore. He stormed through the shop, circled the back room once, hurled a book to the floor in frustration, and finally turned to leave.

Ten seconds left.

Yan Jiyun waited a few more, until the countdown was nearly up and no more footsteps sounded nearby. Then, he slipped out of the tiny box.

[Countdown: 3 seconds]

2 seconds—

1 second—

He tapped the 5-minute Human Form Time Card.

A tall, slender young man now stood in the small, once-empty back room of the bookstore.

Yan Jiyun saw the word “Victory” appear on his game interface and let out a deep breath. Finally, it was over.

[Congratulations! Team F’s Hiders have won this round of “Hide and Seek.” Reward: 1000 Points.]

[Want to be Human] livestream channel:

“As expected, Hide and Seek really is the perfect game for the little cat! Smart and adorable… my heart nearly jumped out of my chest during that last countdown!”

“Not necessarily. There are plenty more instances ahead. I’ll go check which ones might suit our little kitty best.”

“Congrats to our baby for winning the first round! That last moment was so intense!”

“It’s only the first round, don’t celebrate too early. There are several more to go, and their team only has three people, plus all of them from the disabled group. Who knows if they’ll even make it out alive? Besides, they haven’t realized yet that every player only has a limited number of eliminations and captures. Once you hit that limit, you die.”

“Ah, upstairs, thanks for the reminder. You’re right.”

After seeing the system notification, Yan Jiyun noticed something — the message didn’t say “Rewards will be issued after the instance ends.” That meant the team points weren’t necessarily the same as each player’s personal score. The points might serve some other purpose later.

When the instance ended, all players were ejected from the game area. Yan Jiyun blinked, and the next instant he was standing at the center of a stage. Many others appeared with him. He quickly spotted Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu; from their expressions, it was clear they’d just been teleported here too.

His in-game backpack had been dropped beside his feet. Yan Jiyun picked it up and handed it to Qiu Xi.

Qiu Xi ran his hands through the empty bag and found no cat inside. The joy of their recent victory instantly dimmed. Remembering his boss’s cat and the instructions he’d been given, worry crept in. He prayed that the little black cat would safely clear its beginner dungeon. Once they got back, he definitely wouldn’t ask the boss for any share of the points.

Yan Jiyun had no idea what was going through Qiu Xi’s mind. He turned to Gu Wenzhu and asked, “What happened to you guys after you were caught?”

Gu Wenzhu lowered his voice. “After getting caught, the system gave us two options: ‘Switch Faction’ or ‘Immediate Elimination.’ We both chose ‘Immediate Elimination’.’ Then we were thrown into something like a pitch-black room. All the interface screens turned gray. We couldn’t see any game progress, and we couldn’t move our hands or feet.”

Qiu Xi nodded, indicating the same experience for him.

Gu Wenzhu was curious about how Yan Jiyun had managed to hide so well, but after a moment’s thought, he decided not to ask. The other probably wanted to keep his abilities secret. Prying into that would be rude.

After the three regrouped, Yan Jiyun started scanning the players on stage. There were fewer people now. He noticed the player Gu Wenzhu had struck with the frying pan wasn’t among them.

Gu Wenzhu noticed it too. The two were just about to exchange a few words when a voice interrupted them.

The “show director” NPC stepped forward to speak. “Congratulations to Teams B, C, and F for winning this round. I believe everyone now understands the basic rules of the Hide and Seek game. In five minutes, we’ll begin drawing lots for the second game scene.”

Then the NPC director sat back down, chatting with other NPCs about so-called ‘filming procedures.’

The five-minute break seemed like a rest, but it was actually time for players to exchange information about the game’s rules. Since not every scene necessarily followed the same mechanics.

At the start, everything had been fair, as no one knew the rules. But after the first round, the difficulty began to rise.

Some players now knew the rules; others didn’t. Some didn’t even realize that seekers who got eliminated wouldn’t reappear on stage, or that captured players could switch factions.

Yan Jiyun and his teammates retreated to one side.

The six remaining members of Team A were glaring at them, or more precisely, at him.

They’d never even encountered No.29 in the field, yet the system kept broadcasting messages about him finding high-level props. If not for him, Team A would’ve already won. Their hatred for No.29 burned deep.

The temporary captain of Team A, player No.18, raised his voice among the crowd:

“I’ve got some information to sell, about a certain player. He’s very good at hiding. If any team runs into him in the next round, you’d better watch out.”

Everyone was already thinking about how to gather intel, so his offer immediately drew attention.

Yan Jiyun, for his part, had zero affection for this so-called captain.

Players from the other four groups turned to look at him.

Someone from Team B asked, “That’s too vague. Everyone can hide.”

Team A’s captain replied, “I’m selling intel on a Team F player. Points trade, limited time offer! Only five minutes of rest!”

Team B turned to consult among themselves, then said, “We might not even run into Team F next round. Why bother buying?”

Team A’s captain grinned like a pushy insurance salesman. “This game’s about to reshuffle the groups. You’ll have a fifty-fifty chance of facing them. And the info’s only about one player, so you won’t lose out.”

Yan Jiyun simply looked at him quietly. Selling his personal information, huh?

The man met his gaze with a taunting smirk.

Yan Jiyun smiled faintly in return, then raised his hand and gave him a very internationally recognized gesture of… “goodwill” .

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  1 yuan = 100 fen