DSMC Chapter 48.2

Qiu Xi, meanwhile, hadn’t actually seen the black cat. He simply passed by without looking around and entered the janitor’s closet. He hadn’t expected NPCs to be wandering around the fourth-floor hallway, staring directly at him. This had scared the life out of him. Still, as a player who had cleared three instances already, he managed to stay calm.

When Yan Jiyun heard Qiu Xi’s footsteps fade into the closet, he sighed in relief. But Qiu Xi’s sudden appearance had actually given him the perfect chance to pass along a prop.

He hooked his claws through the crack under the door, scratching lightly to draw Tang Shi’s attention.

He couldn’t meet Qiu Xi directly right now, but he could hand over the prop while hidden.

Tang Shi blinked. “You want to go out again?”

Yan Jiyun didn’t really want to go out. It was much nicer napping on the bed.

But then Liang Yu opened the door from the outside, picked him up, and said, “You’re too mischievous. Come play with us.”

And just like that, Yan Jiyun was once again carried off by the ever-grabby NPCs. He couldn’t even resist. His plan to find Qiu Xi fell apart.

Human society was really complicated. People who were just crying and arguing a moment ago were now laughing together playing games.

Yan Jiyun still watched for a chance to escape. While the NPCs got absorbed in their little love-triangle drama disguised as a party game, he finally slipped away.

With the third wave of NPCs now active, the entire hotel had grown noisy and chaotic.

Out in the hall, guests were arguing with staff about their rooms. Some claimed they’d made reservations that the hotel had no record of. The longer the problems went unresolved, the angrier everyone became.

Yan Jiyun had been listening the whole time, waiting for Qiu Xi to emerge. But the man hadn’t left the janitor’s closet. Through the narrow gap, Qiu Xi could only peek at the hallway, not see Yan Jiyun creeping by.

Moving soundlessly along the wall, Yan Jiyun slipped the common prop through the gap under the door, tapped lightly twice with his paw, and ran off. By the time Qiu Xi opened the door to find the prop and his hidden teammate, there was no sign of anyone. 

Qiu Xi had looked upward first, scanning the hall, while Yan Jiyun had slunk low against the wall. He never stood a chance of spotting him.

All Qiu Xi could do was silently marvel: what a reliable teammate.

But… why had Yan Jiyun given him the prop? High-grade props couldn’t be used on players. By handing over his only common prop, Yan Jiyun had left himself without any usable tools.

What did that mean?

Was it to help him and Gu Wenzhu survive?

Or to have them take on Team C’s remaining players?

Probably both, but Qiu Xi sensed that Yan Jiyun mostly wanted to make sure he and Gu Wenzhu stayed safe for now.

That thought alone made Qiu Xi unexpectedly moved.

What a great teammate indeed! 

Every time Yan Jiyun entered a new scene, he was like a ghost, appearing and disappearing at will. In the first round, he’d delivered props to his teammates; in the second, he’d personally wiped out Team B’s players. He was simply playing on a different level.

Even Qiu Xi couldn’t help wondering if this was some top-tier veteran smurfing on a low-level account. But everyone knew that in this death game, the higher a player’s score, the more dangerous the instances became. And once a person ranked high enough, there was no going back to the beginner levels.

This time, the common props Yan Jiyun had found were pitifully few. Almost everything he’d picked up was high-level. He only had two common props, and one of those had been scavenged from the game room earlier.

He needed to search elsewhere.

He hadn’t explored the second floor yet.

Twenty minutes ago, when the Team C players had been active here, the second floor was still quiet. But that had changed. Now, with more NPCs entering the scene, the floor has become increasingly crowded.

That was when he spotted Player No. 19, disguised as a room-service waiter, pushing a cart up and down the hallway like a snack vendor on a train.

It looked odd, sure, but the disguise worked perfectly. He could slip into rooms when the occupants left their doors open, searching for props without drawing suspicion.

His cover was airtight, and with his clean, mild-looking face, people trusted him easily.

Player No. 19 was cautious to a fault.

From behind a potted plant, Yan Jiyun watched him work. No. 19 had an uncanny pickpocketing skill. He’d brush past a guest and, in the same motion, lift their room keycard. That let him sweep through rooms in minutes.

It had become a full-on Team C showcase.

[Team C Player No. 19 has collected the high-level  prop XXX.]

[Team C Player No. 19 has collected the common prop XXX.]

Within five minutes, No. 19 had hit several rooms, collecting prop after prop.

His method was simple: while “delivering food” with the cart, he’d swipe a few keycards from guests. Once those guests went down for dinner, he’d slip in and loot the room.

Yan Jiyun didn’t follow him inside. There were no NPCs in those rooms, meaning he couldn’t trigger the NPC-based elimination mechanics there.

No. 19’s route was predictable, and his awareness sharp. How could Yan Jiyun take him out?

The common props he had weren’t much help. None of them could confuse or incapacitate a player without revealing himself.

The hotel’s setting was an older era, long before surveillance cameras were common, so he couldn’t rely on that either.

Yan Jiyun’s eyes fell on the food cart.

Whenever No. 19 entered a room to search, he’d leave the cart outside in the hall. Everything on it was real. They were the dishes and food he’d stolen from the restaurant downstairs to make his act convincing.

When No. 19 entered another freshly vacated room, Yan Jiyun crept closer, leapt onto the cart’s top tier, and kicked an aluminum cloche off. The hallway was carpeted, so it barely made a sound. But sound wasn’t what he wanted from it. He wanted the cloche itself.

Each floor had iron railings — old-fashioned ones that screeched horribly when struck, enough to grate on anyone’s nerves.

Yan Jiyun nudged the cloche to the railing, flipped it over so it was bowl-shaped, and began pressing down rhythmically with his paw, making the edge clang against the metal.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The noise echoed through the building.

Everyone, upstairs and downstairs alike, was drawn to the sound.

Guests began opening their doors to see what was going on. In this era, entertainment was scarce, and gossip was a thrill.

The moment the first door opened, Yan Jiyun abandoned the cloche and slipped into the shadows between the potted plants, vanishing into the dim light.

No. 19 had no idea what caused the noise, but he grew wary, planning to leave the room at once.

Guests, however, were furious.

“Who’s banging on the railing? It’s deafening!”

“Yeah! Can’t you stop making that noise? Where’s security?”

“Whoever it is has lost their mind! I finally fell asleep and now this? Damn it!”

As the shouting spread, people called the front desk to complain.

The hotel might’ve looked dated, but its security staff was modern and fast.

Yan Jiyun saw the two guards arrive. They were the same pair who’d escorted Team C players out earlier.

At that exact moment, No. 19 stepped out of the room and walked straight into them.

Normally, if players disguised themselves as staff or maintenance workers, the system’s guards would look the other way. But now, No. 19 had come face-to-face with them, seemingly caught causing a disturbance. The system had no choice but to intervene.

Guard A frowned. “I don’t remember you working here.”

Guard B noticed the keycards still in his hand and barked, “A thief! Take him to the police station!”

And just like that, Player No. 19 was dragged downstairs and tossed out of the hotel. Whether to the station or just the curb, who knew.

[Team C Player No. 19 has been eliminated from this round.]

Yan Jiyun had successfully removed the third Team C member. He now understood the elimination mechanics like the back of his hand.

[Time remaining: 23 minutes 32 seconds]

For Team C, the shock was immediate. A second ago, they’d been pleased about No, 19’s progress of finding multiple props! Now, he and all his loot had vanished from the scene. Eliminated out of nowhere.

No. 19 was a rare recruit from a top guild; he wouldn’t make a rookie mistake. He must’ve checked carefully before acting. There was no way he’d have noticed any Team F players nearby.

So who had made that clanging noise?

They’d all heard it, but no one had seen who caused it.

Could it have been a prop effect?

But the system announcements showed no invisible or puppet-type props had been found. Maybe it was a trap someone built by hand?

Or maybe whoever did it was just fast? Like, hitting the railing and running before anyone could react.

Either way, they couldn’t keep focusing on prop collection. They had to hunt down Team F before getting picked off themselves.

They’d learned from experience: as long as they didn’t act suspiciously, they could move freely through the hotel without being targeted by NPCs.

Now the two remaining Team C players refused to split up. Going solo was too dangerous with those shadowy Team F members lurking around.

They regrouped in the first-floor restroom.

No. 1: “See any sign of them?”

No. 26: “They’re too good at hiding. I can’t find a trace.”

No. 1: “That director said the game penalizes inactivity. They have to be moving around somewhere. They can’t just sit in one spot forever.”

No. 26: “Yeah, and isn’t one of them a cripple? We can ask the NPCs if they’ve seen a limping guy.”

No. 1: “Good idea. They’re mute and lame, easy to identify.”

They immediately got to work. With twenty-three minutes left, they had to at least find one Team F member. Otherwise, it’d be humiliating — five able-bodied players losing to two disabled ones.

They were already clearly at a disadvantage.

While they scoured the hotel, they didn’t notice that the bartender at the small lounge had changed.

In the dim light behind the counter stood Gu Wenzhu, wearing a fake beard. At this hour, there were few guests ordering drinks, so he didn’t attract attention.

The two Team C players ran up and down the hotel, finding no one. Exhausted, Player No. 26 slumped onto a barstool and ordered a cocktail.

All food and drink in the game was real. If they couldn’t find any players, they might as well have a drink to take the edge off.

Gu Wenzhu’s disguise was perfect, with new hairstyle, new clothes, and the beard completed the illusion. Player No. 26 had never interacted with him closely before, so even up close he didn’t recognize him as Team F’s lame player. And his bartending skills looked professional, flashy even, so it looked like pure NPC behavior.

Gu Wenzhu slid the glass toward him with a courteous smile. “Please enjoy, sir.”

Player No. 26 took a sip — and immediately slumped forward, unconscious on the counter.

Gu Wenzhu’s lips curved in satisfaction. He’d just used the common prop Red Wine, mixing it into the cocktail during preparation. Apparently, Player No. 26 had no idea he should’ve been wary of the drink.

[Team C Player No. 26 has been eliminated from this round.]

And with that, only one Team C player remained.

Moments earlier, Player No. 1 had just separated from No. 26.

Now he froze.

“…What the fuck. Team F again?!”