DSMC Chapter 48.1

Literally speaking, Yan Jiyun really wasn’t human.

He hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly with finding props. Maybe it was because he was willing to lower himself, like pretending to be a dumb, harmless cat. As long as he picked the right person to stick with, he could keep surviving like this.

But now he was in a bit of a dilemma. When he touched the black bracelet, the prop had entered his inventory, but the bracelet still physically existed in the NPC’s hand. Liang Yu and Chen Xiaoyu¹BTW, the “Yu” in these two names are different. Liang Yu is 梁余 (Liáng Yú), while Chen Xiaoyu is 陈晓雨 (Chén Xiǎoyǔ) probably still had storylines to play out. He figured it didn’t concern him anymore and was ready to leave.

He hadn’t expected Chen Xiaoyu to move so fast. She grabbed him in one swift motion. Despite her delicate appearance, her grip was surprisingly strong, as if she were venting her frustration on him, pinning him hard against the floor. Yan Jiyun could feel the killing intent radiating off her.

He wasn’t about to let her keep holding him down. He  wasn’t dying to an NPC. Twisting his body, he lashed out and raked her wrist with a sharp swipe, leaving three bloody marks.

Chen Xiaoyu shrieked, “Ah! This stray cat scratched me!”

But Liang Yu didn’t even flinch at her scream. Instead, he calmly scooped up the angry black cat. He had clearly seen how roughly she’d pressed down on it just now, and his tone was steady when he said, “You were shaking my bracelet. It must’ve thought you were trying to play with it. You pressed it too hard, so it got uncomfortable and scratched you.”

Chen Xiaoyu clutched her bleeding hand. “You mean it’s my fault that it scratched me?”

Liang Yu said coolly, “You should rinse it with soap and water. It’ll disinfect the wound.”

The meaning was clear: it was her fault.

Yan Jiyun had been planning to make a break for it, but Liang Yu had stepped in too quickly.

These NPCs reacted like they were running on a 0.01-second processing delay, everything happened at double speed.

Liang Yu’s behavior was strange. Chen Xiaoyu was supposed to be his girlfriend, yet he treated her so indifferently.

Her face turned pale with anger. Between being furious at him and tending to her wound, she chose her hand first and stormed into the bathroom to wash it.

Meanwhile, Liang Yu gently unhooked the bracelet that was caught on Yan Jiyun’s claws and murmured, “Good thing it didn’t get damaged.”

Yan Jiyun: “…”

So the fast rescue had been for the prop, not him. And he’d almost felt grateful. What a waste of sentiment.

He wriggled out of Liang Yu’s arms. The smell of fish was wafting from downstairs. He needed food, now.

But Liang Yu was unexpectedly good at holding cats. He didn’t let Yan Jiyun go easily, and the two even struggled a bit.

Then Chen Xiaoyu came out of the bathroom, saying coldly, “Liang Yu, you agreed to be my boyfriend. Shouldn’t you at least act like one?”

Liang Yu finally set the cat down and idly slipped the bracelet back onto his wrist. “You’re mistaken. I never said I’d be your boyfriend.”

Chen Xiaoyu’s face went rigid. “What are you saying? I invited you to my hometown, so why did you agree if not because you’re my boyfriend?”

Liang Yu remained calm. “You misunderstood. I agreed to join your group trip to Qingyun Town. I never said anything about being your boyfriend.”

Even Yan Jiyun, who was on the front line of this drama, couldn’t help thinking that Liang Yu seemed a bit of a scumbag.

Chen Xiaoyu froze for several seconds. “You’re not my boyfriend? But I confessed to you in the library, and you nodded!”

Liang Yu frowned slightly, as though struggling to recall. “That day in the library, I was nodding to someone else in greeting. Also, I was wearing headphones. I didn’t hear your confession. I’m sorry if that gave you the wrong idea.”

Chen Xiaoyu went speechless, then her eyes reddened with anger.

So it had all been a misunderstanding?

Yan Jiyun wasn’t sure whether to pity her or call Liang Yu heartless. But to be fair, Liang Yu’s explanation was plausible. He hadn’t led her on, hadn’t shared a room with her, and hadn’t done anything inappropriate.

Whatever their romantic mess is, it wasn’t his problem. The smell of fish was getting stronger, and his stomach was already growling.

Tang Shi came upstairs carrying the cooked fish. His classmates told him Oreo had followed Liang Yu, so he came here to fetch the cat—

—only to run into Chen Xiaoyu, tearful and pitiful. He opened his mouth, but she suddenly threw herself at him, clinging tightly.

Tang Shi froze. The goddess was in his arms, seeking comfort. This was the very moment he’d dreamed of. And now it has come true.

Chen Xiaoyu sobbed prettily, “Tang Shi, I accept your confession. I’m willing to be with you!”

Tang Shi went stiff. Balancing the plate of fish in one hand, he carefully extended the other without touching her.

Meanwhile, the hungry Yan Jiyun: “…”

He’d never even been in a relationship, yet here he was suffering from the consequences of other people’s. Romance was one thing, but it couldn’t stop him from eating.

If he wanted to save himself and the fish, he had to break up this melodrama before dinner ended up on the floor.

He darted forward and leapt up, swiping at Tang Shi’s right hand that was holding the plate.

He looked every bit the desperate cat begging for food.

Liang Yu, watching from the doorway, almost laughed out loud but managed to keep a straight face.

Chen Xiaoyu had no idea that the cat had completely hijacked Tang Shi’s attention.

Thanks to the interruption, Tang Shi’s foggy, impulsive thoughts suddenly cleared. He gently pushed the tearful Chen Xiaoyu away and turned to grab the cat that was trying to hook the fish with its paw. Moving the plate to safety, he said, “I can’t have this falling, if so, none of us would eat.”

Holding the cat in one arm and the fish in the other, he looked at Liang Yu standing at the doorway. “I just came to find the cat. If there’s been a misunderstanding, you two should talk it out.”

Chen Xiaoyu stood there, stunned and humiliated. The misunderstanding was cleared up, but she was the one left embarrassed. Tang Shi, who had once worshiped her, had just walked away.

He decisively left with the black cat in his arms.

Liang Yu twirled the black bracelet around his wrist, then followed Tang Shi across the hall to his own room.

Chen Xiaoyu’s eyes went red with fury.

The smell of the fish was heavenly. It really proved that when one was hungry, anything smelled good.

Tang Shi set the plate on the small table in his room. He’d already made up his mind not to think about Chen Xiaoyu anymore. He might’ve wavered a little earlier, but Oreo had snapped him out of it just in time.

Yan Jiyun gave a little push with his hind legs and jumped up, picking a boneless section of the fish to start eating.

Of course, he kept one ear open for the ongoing gossip.

Yan Jiyun didn’t understand why the love rival NPC, Liang Yu, had followed Tang Shi back to his room. Was it to warn him to stay away from Chen Xiaoyu?

But that wasn’t the point. He’d already collected the high-grade props carried by both of them.

He’d been stuck here long enough that the third wave of NPCs had already entered the scene.

The whole hotel was noticeably livelier now, which made it slightly harder for him to locate the remaining three players from Team C.

The two Team C players eliminated earlier had both been taken out by NPCs, so the three who remained would definitely be extra cautious. Yan Jiyun realized that relying solely on NPCs to eliminate them was unlikely to work. Plus, all he had left was a single common prop. He needed to find an opportunity to pass that to his two teammates.

[Time remaining: 29 minutes 32 seconds]

This round’s NPC storyline progressed surprisingly quickly. Barely ten minutes in, and a love triangle had already wrapped up, all sparked by a misunderstanding.

Since there was no need to follow the main story quest, and since Liang Yu and Chen Xiaoyu weren’t actually a couple, that meant the plotline was complete.

By deduction, Tang Shi and Liang Yu were probably college classmates, though seemingly not even friends. Liang Yu was the one Chen Xiaoyu liked, while Tang Shi viewed Liang Yu as a romantic rival.

College students these days sure had complicated relationships.

After finishing the fish and wiping his mouth, Yan Jiyun prepared to leave.

He jumped down from the desk, ready to slip away while Tang Shi and Liang Yu were awkwardly facing each other—only to be interrupted by Liang Yu’s sudden question.

“Tang Shi, why did you move back to Qingyun Town after graduation?”

Qingyun Town?

That was the second time the NPCs had mentioned that name.

Yan Jiyun was now certain that his next game scene would take place in Qingyun Town. He decided to listen and see what they’d say about it.

Tang Shi replied, “Of course because my family’s here, and I like the slow pace of life in Qingyun Town. Why are you asking? It’s none of your business.”

Liang Yu didn’t mind his tone. “But Qingyun Town isn’t what it used to be.”

Tang Shi’s expression darkened. “You’ve lived there before?”

Liang Yu nodded. “Yeah. When I was a kid. But we moved away later.”

Tang Shi: “So you’re just visiting now?”

Liang Yu followed up smoothly, “Something like that. Where’s your house?”

Tang Shi: “On Xiaoyun Street.”

Yan Jiyun: ???

Wait a second— his first scene had been on Xiaoyun Street! If Tang Shi lived there, could he have stayed in one of those houses?

But if he’d already returned, why wasn’t he staying there now? Why live in a hotel instead? Just because it was more fun with classmates?

Tang Shi’s expression had clearly shifted when Liang Yu mentioned the old Qingyun Town. Had something significant happened there?

This hotel was full of odd people. Like the man with the pocket watch earlier, who looked more like a detective investigating something in town.

So far, from “Tang Shi, who has a home but stays at the hotel,” “Liang Yu, who once lived in Qingyun Town,” “the detective asking about Siyun Castle,” and “Chen Xiaoyu, who also has a home but doesn’t stay there,” Yan Jiyun had pieced together fragments of the story.

If he were pursuing the storyline, he could dig deeper for clues. But right now, he just needed to find props. Plot development didn’t seem useful for that.

Still, no harm in remembering these details. They might come in handy later.

At that moment, one of their classmates knocked on Tang Shi’s door, asking if they wanted to keep playing games.

Both Tang Shi and Liang Yu agreed to continue; they didn’t just hang out with Chen Xiaoyu, after all.

As Tang Shi opened the door, Yan Jiyun — fed, rested, and ready — darted out in an instant.

Tang Shi called softly, “Oreo, where are you going?”

Yan Jiyun heard nothing. Who was Oreo? He was Player No. 29, Yan Jiyun.

Liang Yu said, “You can’t even keep a cat under control. It’s obvious it’s not yours.”

Tang Shi looked in the direction Oreo had run, a trace of sadness in his eyes. “It was never my cat to begin with.”

But his melancholy didn’t last three seconds, because a black blur suddenly appeared, sprinting straight toward Tang Shi and Liang Yu.

Yan Jiyun never expected to run into Qiu Xi disguised as hotel staff, right at the stairwell!

Why wasn’t Qiu Xi hiding? Coming out so boldly too. Wasn’t he afraid of being spotted by the Team C players?

Yan Jiyun immediately dashed back into Tang Shi’s room, startling both NPCs. But, as usual, they automatically filled in the blanks with their own logic: the black cat must have gotten scared and hid, since the hotel staff tended to chase it out of the restaurant.

When Qiu Xi approached, Tang Shi casually closed the door, leaving just a narrow crack.

Liang Yu, suddenly left outside: “…”

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  BTW, the “Yu” in these two names are different. Liang Yu is 梁余 (Liáng Yú), while Chen Xiaoyu is 陈晓雨 (Chén Xiǎoyǔ)