DSMC Chapter 52.2

Yan Jiyun’s blood pressure spiked.

He forced his voice to stay calm. “You said the number tag was stolen?”

Tang Shi nodded apologetically. “Yes.”

Yan Jiyun went silent.

Tang Shi had lost his number tag.

His number tag was gone.

Gone.

Seeing his expression, Tang Shi said, “I’m sorry. I’ll try my best to find the bag.”

Yan Jiyun was crying inside, but kept a level face. “Please… please make sure to find that number tag. It’s extremely important to our kitty. Whenever he really likes someone, he entrusts them with his number tag. Please, you must find it. It’s a sign of his trust in you.”

Tang Shi, suddenly burdened with a sacred mission: “I’ll find it. Please don’t worry.”

[Time remaining until human form expires: 3 minutes 1 second.]

Time was running out.

And Yan Jiyun was heartbroken. His number tag was gone.

He’d just been proud that no one could find his tag. Then the next second, the tag was missing. He really needed a more reliable NPC.

Don’t ask. The answer is regret.

“My friend is waiting for me. I have to go. I’ll leave the kitty in your care. And let me nag for just a moment… please don’t let it go hungry. Its favorite food is salmon. It needs a meal every three to four hours. It can’t eat human food or he’ll get gastroenteritis. It also uses the toilet by itself, so no need for a litter box, very economical. Also, it likes sleeping on the bed, so please don’t push it off, or it will get very sad. And don’t cage it, it hates that and can get depressed. And last thing: the number tag must be found. Absolutely must!”

Yan Jiyun wasn’t sure if he’d explained everything clearly, but he really was out of time.

Tang Shi: “Alright. I’ll find it.”

“I’m leaving now. Goodbye.”

[Time remaining until human form expires: 1 minute 46  seconds.]

Tang Shi tried to memorize all the instructions from the “former owner,” but in the blink of an eye, the man disappeared at high speed, clearly rushing against time.

And the usually silent Liang Yu suddenly said, “Do you think the owner can’t afford such a delicate cat, so he decided to hand him over to us?”

Tang Shi: “I think it’s fine?”

Liang Yu: “He said Oreo loves salmon. Do you know how much salmon costs?”

Tang Shi: “How much?”

Liang Yu: “The pricey kind is seventy or eighty per pound. Cheap is twenty or thirty. You’re a broke student. You can afford that?”

Tang Shi: “I’m not that broke… We can buy cat food, right?”

Liang Yu: “Good cat food is dozens per pound. Cheap ones are two or three per pound. Oreo’s used to eating salmon. You really gonna feed him the cheap stuff?”

Tang Shi: “Wow, you’re suddenly an expert. You wanna raise him then?”

Liang Yu: “Yeah, my family had a cat before. I know a bit.” Then he added, “I could raise him. It’s not impossible.”

Tang Shi shot him a huge eye roll, realizing all that talk was basically a ploy to fight him for the cat.

Liang Yu caught his mood. “I’m not trying to take the cat from you. I mean we can raise it together. I’ll handle its food, and you handle grooming and stuff.”

Compared to Liang Yu, the rich second generation, Tang Shi really was a broke student. He’d heard classmates say that when Liang Yu takes friends out to play for a night, the cost is counted in tens of thousands. Instead of wasting money on pointless stuff, using it to raise a cat and cultivate his tastes sounded way better.

Tang Shi backed down instantly. Someone wants to spend money on his Oreo, why not. He agreed right away. “Alright, you take care of the food.”

Yan Jiyun returned to the condemned building, hid the printed stickers, then transformed back into a cat and slipped out.

Before going in he had checked there were no other players around. He hid everything carefully, and he had to be just as cautious slipping back out, in case some clever player noticed a human going in and a cat coming out.

Tang Shi and Liang Yu were still discussing how to raise the cat.

Yan Jiyun deliberately sniffed Tang Shi, reminding him he still had the “former owner’s” scent. Then he shook his head in front of Tang Shi, reminding him to go look for the lost number tag.

With the tag missing, his life in this round was up in the air. If a player found it, he could be killed at any moment.

He had to find that tag, and he had to hunt desperately for the resurrection prop. He believed Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu would use it to save him.

Tang Shi was already thrilled that Oreo had come back to him willingly. He perked up at once. “Sorry, I lost your tag. Let’s go find the backpack now.” At first he thought the backpack was empty, but then he remembered the number tag was in the small pocket and he hadn’t taken it out.

Yan Jiyun thought, ‘That’s more like it.’

If they couldn’t find his tag, he was dead for sure.

He didn’t blame anyone. NPCs in the game weren’t under his control, and he’d made his own choices. He had to swallow the consequences and remind himself to be more careful next time.

Since they had to search for the backpack, they might as well start.

Tang Shi’s backpack was a bit old; whoever snatched it probably only wanted the wallet. If they found nothing, they’d definitely toss the bag.

They rifled through all the trash cans on the street again.

Young Master Liang held his nose the whole time. But they still didn’t find the backpack.

Tang Shi came up with the best solution. They went to the police station to file a report, hoping the officers could keep an eye out during patrol, in case someone was carrying his bag.

The officer was very helpful and wrote everything down seriously, even giving him a receipt.

Liang Yu actually had common sense. “I thought they wouldn’t care.”

Tang Shi said, “The police station only gets a handful of cases a year. Mostly they help villagers find lost cows or send wandering elderly people back home. If something gets stolen, it’s usually easy to guess who did it. They just go camp outside the thief’s house.”

Yan Jiyun: …

So Qingyun Town is actually pretty safe?

Well, safe for NPCs. Definitely not for an out-of-towner like him.

If a player got his tag, he was done. The cops here would never find it for him.

In the end, he figured he still had to rely on himself.

But since he had no idea where the backpack went, he still needed Tang Shi and Liang Yu.

By the time they left the police station, an hour of game time had passed.

[Remaining Time: 19 hour 58 minutes 40 seconds]

Meanwhile, in two other scenes he couldn’t see, several brawls had already broken out.

Just after Tang Shi praised the police station for never having big cases, the moment they stepped out, several officers who had been sipping tea suddenly threw on their hats and rushed out.

Tang Shi asked one he knew, Officer Yong, “Uncle Yong, what’s going on?”

Officer Yong said, “Some disturbance on Xiaoyun Street. The castle keeper reported a theft too.”

Tang Shi hadn’t planned to follow, but Yan Jiyun tried to jump into Officer Yong’s car. Tang Shi finally understood.

“Can we ride with you? We’ll check if anyone brought the backpack to Xiaoyun Street too.”

Liang Yu, exhausted from digging through trash cans all night: …

He really didn’t want to go dig through more trash cans on another street.

Officer Yong said, “Sure, hop in.”

He was headed to Xiaoyun Street, and the car only had two seats. Tang Shi and Liang Yu got in.

It wasn’t far from the main road in front of Yunxiao Hotel to Xiaoyun Street. Just a few minutes by car, faster than walking.

On the way, Officer Yong asked why they were bringing a cat. Tang Shi said he was helping a friend take care of it and they’d just found it.

Hearing their conversation, Yan Jiyun realized Officer Yong and Tang Shi seemed pretty close. Neighbors or relatives, maybe.

After getting out, Officer Yong went off to handle the situation. Tang Shi and Liang Yu got out with the cat.

The disturbance was at the steamed bun shop, and Yan Jiyun heard shouting, chaotic footsteps, people shoving at the storefront.

He heard a cane fall. He knew that sound. It was Gu Wenzhu.

Some player had found him and was attacking him.

He turned toward Officer Yong, but Tang Shi, remembering the last scare, held onto him tightly so he wouldn’t get lost in the crowd.

Yan Jiyun wasn’t someone Tang Shi could pin down just by holding him, and besides, Tang Shi would never hurt him.

“What are you trying to do now?”

Liang Yu had a knack for guessing the cat’s intentions. “He probably wants to follow Uncle Yong and watch the chaos.”

Tang Shi said, “Let’s check it out then. Sounds like Auntie Pang’s bun shop.”

Liang Yu said, “Don’t they close really early every day?”

Tang Shi suddenly bolted with Yan Jiyun in his arms. “That’s Auntie Pang’s voice!”

He’d lived here so many years he could never mistake her voice.

Yan Jiyun remembered Gu Wenzhu had exchanged for the bun shop owner as his NPC. Now some player must have seen a lame man and assumed he was easy to bully, trying to snatch his number tag.

Tang Shi and Liang Yu rushed over. Auntie Pang was shoving with a foul-mouthed woman; both their hair looked like bird nests.

The foul-mouthed woman yelled, “Pang Juan, you seduced my husband when you were young, and now your daughter is seducing my son! Your whole family is shameless!”

Auntie Pang shouted back, “Everyone knows what kind of trash your son is. My daughter seducing him? Only someone who spews crap like you could say something that disgusting. Even if he paid us a million, I’d never let my daughter be with him! He’s not worthy! Pah!”

The other woman screamed, “Your daughter is the slut! She dated the guy from the audio shop when she was sixteen! A million? If she paid us a hundred million we still wouldn’t take her. My son is going to marry a virgin!”

Auntie Pang snorted. “Pah. Your son made a girl get three abortions in one year and still refused to marry her. Who would dare let their daughter marry him? And he looks like a rat. Oh, right, I heard he’s been cozying up to some rich old lady from the county lately. Want to check on him? I heard that woman’s older than you.”

She ran a shop. She’d seen everything and heard every piece of gossip.

“You, you, you’re slandering my son!” The woman’s face turned purple. Unable to win, she staggered aside and fainted, yelling, “My son would never hook up with a rich old lady—”

The scene exploded. Both sides were trading dirty secrets. The bystanders gasped, and Officer Yong arrived just in time to catch the woman before she hit the ground.

[Team E Player No. 3’s NPC was defeated by Team F Player No. 9’s NPC. NPC Cai Jie has returned to the prop inventory. Other players may redeem the NPC in the next exchange period.]

As the public announcement popped up, Yan Jiyun saw Player No. 3 dart out from the crowd toward Gu Wenzhu, who had no cane in his hand.