DSMC Chapter 53.2

The two of them carried Yan Jiyun to the far end of Xiaoyun Street.

Yan then realized the first round’s “Xiaoyun Street” had only been a small section. There were alleys between the houses. After Qingyun Town started developing, more people came for tourism, settled down, and built more houses. So, the streets expanded.

The real far end of Xiaoyun Street had almost no foot traffic. The houses along the sides were closed up, small two- or three-story Western-style homes glowing from the inside. A couple of local mutts wandered around and didn’t even run away, probably someone’s pets.

Tang Shi knocked on one of the doors. A big yellow dog with a black nose ran toward the house, glanced at the black cat in their arms, then slipped inside through a dog hole.

They didn’t wait long before a slightly hunched old man opened the door. The yellow dog stood beside him, continuing to stare at the cat. But Yan wasn’t a real cat. He didn’t bother looking back. To humans though, he looked very aloof.

The old man asked, “And you two are?”

“It’s me, Uncle Ming. I’m Tang Shi. I live on Xiaoyun Street,” Tang Shi said.

The old man squinted. “Oh, you’re Xiao Shi¹Uncle Ming called Tang Shi as “Little Rock”. Both are pronounced the same (shí), but have different characters: Tang Shi is 唐湜, Xiao Shi is 小石. Tang Shi’s name means: 唐= the same as “Tang Dynasty”; can mean “to exagerrate” or “in vain” or “empty”.  湜= clear water? You shot up so much I almost didn’t recognize you. What brings you here this late?”

Tang Shi lifted the black cat. “My cat’s sick. I heard you used to be a vet. Can you take a look?”

Uncle Ming eyed the cat and said, “Vet is just a nice title. Back then I just castrated pigs.”

Liang Yu immediately handed over the gifts. “Uncle Ming, sorry to bother you so late.”

Uncle Ming looked around fifty-something but still ruddy and healthy. The moment he saw the pricey cigarettes and liquor, he changed tune instantly. “Come in, come in. I’ll take a look. I can’t sleep at my age anyway.”

Yan Jiyun squirmed desperately: …

What vet? He’s a pig castrator. He does not want to stay here.

What if the guy says, “Ah, this boy is just in heat,” then asks Tang Shi and Liang Yu if they want to get him fixed?

And what if they say yes?

What if he actually gets neutered? Terrifying.

His human had never mentioned neutering him, and he’d never had any of the stereotypical tomcat behaviors.

He’d even secretly researched cat stuff online once. Not every male cat goes into obvious heat; he was one of the exceptions.

Besides, he was originally human. No way would he have animal heat cycles. Fuck no. He’d rather die.

But he really was weak right now, nowhere near strong enough to break free of Tang Shi’s grip.

He just hoped the old man wouldn’t start diagnosing nonsense. He was fine. He just needed to recover.

Uncle Ming led them inside. People did often ask him to look at their pets, give pigs vaccines, hand out meds for chickens. It just helped him scrape by.

“Put him on the table,” he said. It was a homemade wooden table with some dinnerware on it.

Yep. Pig castrator vibes were on full blast. Yan Jiyun could even see the well-sharpened knife.

The moment Tang Shi set him down, he jumped off and landed on the floor. But the yellow dog was there, staring right at him, and when he landed it tried to sniff him with its wet nose.

Yan Jiyun darted the other way, but Liang Yu caught him and put him back on the table. Tang Shi held him down.

Tang Shi tried to comfort him. “Oreo, don’t be scared. He’s just checking you.”

Yan Jiyun lay flat, trying to crawl into Tang Shi’s arms. Keep those tools away from him. Tang Shi might not be afraid, but he sure was. He did not need any weird procedures!!

Uncle Ming asked a few questions, and they honestly explained everything Oreo had eaten.

Then Yan Jiyun watched the old man’s big rough hand reach toward his neck.

He tried to dodge, but Uncle Ming’s hand was faster, gently stroking down his fur.

Yan Jiyun: ……

He really is a veterinarian. His touch is surprisingly comfortable.

When Yan Jiyun saw that the man didn’t seem to have any intention of castrating him, he calmed down and watched to see whether this guy actually knew how to treat patients.

Seeing the black cat relax, Uncle Ming started checking his eyes, teeth, and fur, doing a simple exam.

It didn’t feel any different from the doctors Yan Jiyun had met in the real world.

Uncle Ming said to the others, “This cat’s teeth are good. His build is bigger than an ordinary housecat. Where’d you buy this purebred?”

He lifted the black cat to gauge his weight. “Around twelve pounds.” (6 kg)

Yan Jiyun: ‘Huh? Last time I had gastroenteritis, I weighed around ten. Did I really get fatter? Looks like Qi Feng wasn’t lying.’

Liang Yu, thankfully still using his brain, said, “A friend didn’t want to keep him anymore and gave him to us. We don’t know what breed he is.”

Uncle Ming nodded and continued feeling around his body, though it was really just checking whether he’d eaten something weird.

Yan Jiyun sprawled out, unwilling to move. He was sure now. This guy was absolutely a vet.

After a couple more pats, Uncle Ming said, “Probably just can’t handle human food. There isn’t anything strange in his stomach. Don’t feed him meat for the next couple days. Give him some of that store-bought cat food from the city. I’ll mix a bit of medicine for him. He’ll be bouncing around again soon.”

Watching how quickly he got to work preparing medicine, Yan Jiyun couldn’t help remembering how every time he went to a pet hospital, the vet would talk the owner’s ear off, coaxing and threatening them about all the tests he supposedly needed. Without fail, his owner would get scared he was about to die, spend tons of money doing everything, and bring home a pile of useless stuff. It got to the point where he was afraid to even get sick anymore. Keeping him alive was expensive.

Right there on the spot, Uncle Ming fed him half a pill. After swallowing it, his head didn’t hurt as much.

Just as he was getting pleasantly surprised, Uncle Ming suddenly asked, “I see he’s a male. If he’s got a habit of peeing around the house, bring him over and I can snip him.”

Yan Jiyun: ……

The man cannot go three sentences without mentioning castration.

Tang Shi saw Oreo’s body shiver slightly at those words and laughed. “No, he uses his litter box.”

Feeling much perkier thanks to the medicine, Yan Jiyun hopped off the table again. He didn’t want to stay surrounded by people. Uncle Ming’s castration tools looked terrifying.

Liang Yu said, “He seems a lot better.”

Tang Shi said, “Uncle, your medicine works pretty well.”

Uncle Ming said, “I diluted the dose. It’s enough for simple symptoms like this.” Seeing the black cat wandering around the house with the yellow dog trailing after him, he didn’t pay too much attention. Then he shifted topics. “Xiao Shi, you haven’t been back in years, have you?”

Tang Shi said, “Yeah. Once I started uni, I was too busy to come home.”

Uncle Ming said, “The cat just took its meds. Observe him for a bit. If he’s fine, you can take him home later. I just bought a watermelon and chilled it. It’s especially sweet. Come have some.”

Tang Shi and Liang Yu helped fish the watermelon out of the well and started eating.

It wasn’t even that hot in May, but having watermelon already was pretty great. Sadly, Yan Jiyun couldn’t eat it, so he kept wandering.

The big yellow dog returned after eating a huge chunk of watermelon and continued following the black cat, clearly curious.

Since Uncle Ming could treat animals, Yan Jiyun figured he must be an important NPC. But strangely, he wasn’t on the list of selectable NPCs.

Uncle Ming and Tang Shi reminisced about old times. They talked about all sorts of funny things he’d experienced. Yan Jiyun wanted to eavesdrop on some gossip, but they didn’t mention Tang Shi’s family. Maybe they weren’t close enough yet.

He batted away the big yellow dog sniffing him and hopped onto a chair to glare down at it.

Then he heard Uncle Ming ask Tang Shi, “Your house is empty now, so why did you come back?”

Tang Shi said, “The aunties and uncles here watched me grow up. Compared to the cold, impersonal city, I like it here better.”

Uncle Ming laughed. “That’s true. We did watch you grow up. I thought you’d go looking for your parents.”

Tang Shi shook his head. “No. The trail has gone cold.”

Liang Yu, who didn’t know anything about Tang Shi’s background, looked confused.

Yan Jiyun was confused too. Wasn’t Tang Shi raised here? Why would he need to search for his parents? Was he adopted, or picked up by someone?

No wonder he’d been staying at a hotel. Turns out there was no one waiting for him at home. Yan Jiyun figured this must be the main reason Chen Xiaoyu hadn’t considered him. The guy was dirt poor and an orphan to boot.

Once someone tasted city life, who wants to return to the countryside and date someone with no money or status?

Gossip didn’t slow Yan Jiyun down as he continued wandering around Uncle Ming’s house.

The place was simple, with no modern furniture. Wooden chairs, wooden cabinets. The room behind the main hall was a bedroom, but the door was latched. The latch hung loose, but he couldn’t jump up and twist it open.

Wandering a bit more, he found a box under the TV cabinet. He squeezed inside and pushed the wooden box to the floor. It hit the ground with a thud, the lid popped open, and an irregular black stone rolled out. Curious, he poked it.

The moment his paw touched it, the system pushed a global notification.

[Congratulations to Team F Player No. 29 for obtaining the resurrection prop “Revival Stone.”]

[Enable team prop sharing? If enabled, teammates may use the Revival Stone at any time.]

Yan Jiyun was stunned for a moment, then chose “yes” without hesitation.

So the resurrection prop was just an irregular black rock.

Of course he had to share it with the team. If another player got hold of his number tag, he’d be eliminated immediately and could only rely on teammates to revive him.

The three NPCs outside heard the box hit the ground. Tang Shi’s first thought was that Oreo had knocked something over and hopefully didn’t break anything.

Uncle Ming followed but wasn’t worried. Dogs chew table legs and shoes. Things fall. He didn’t care that much.

They came in and saw the odd black stone on the floor.

Uncle Ming said, generously, “It’s fine. Just a rock. Can’t break it.”

Yan Jiyun thought grimly that this thing was very valuable.

He tried to mentally nudge Tang Shi into asking whether there were more of those stones. Before he even finished thinking about it, Tang Shi asked.

“Uncle Ming, do you have any more stones like this?”

“Only that one. Ten years ago, a strange man came to our town and gave a few identical stones to several families. This one was meant for the old man next door. Before he passed, he handed it to me for safekeeping. I asked some gem appraisers about it. It’s just a regular black stone. Worth nothing. No special minerals inside.”

Tang Shi asked, “How many were there in total?”

Uncle Ming said, “I’m not sure if I heard correctly. Maybe four, maybe ten. The old man had a thick accent. I didn’t catch it clearly.”

Yan Jiyun: ……

Even NPCs have accent problems. Even “Four” and “ten” sound the same²both are not pronounced the same in the standard accent. Four is “Sì”, Ten is “Shí”!

So there were either four or ten resurrection props. Each one was precious.

As other players gradually learned the PK rules, they started forming alliances to ambush weaker Teams. Scores shifted.

With more points, they could fatten up their NPCs, making them stronger and more useful, maybe even unlocking new abilities.

The system notification feed was full of the other five Teams’ battle reports when suddenly a message related to the Revival Stone appeared. All players froze mid-battle.

“Is the Revival Stone the resurrection item?”

“Did Team F cheat? How did they even find it?”

“It’s not Team F cheating. It’s Player No. 29. He was the first to eliminate someone and the first to find a revival item.”

“Damn it!”

“We need to unite and take down Team F’s No. 29!”

Players across all regions began forming alliances.

Siyun Castle area players:

“Number No. 29 has to go!”

“Yeah! Kill him off!”

XIaoyun Street players:

“We can’t let No. 29 keep finding resurrection props or they’ll be unstoppable! We have to eliminate him!”

“Alright. Alliance formed. Target No. 29!”

Yunxiao Hotel area players:

“I wonder if killing No. 29 will make him drop the Revival Stone.”

“Let’s try!” 

While Yan Jiyun was still thinking about how to find the next Revival Stone, players from all the other teams were already preparing to gang up on him.

• 1
  Uncle Ming called Tang Shi as “Little Rock”. Both are pronounced the same (shí), but have different characters: Tang Shi is 唐湜, Xiao Shi is 小石. Tang Shi’s name means: 唐= the same as “Tang Dynasty”; can mean “to exagerrate” or “in vain” or “empty”.  湜= clear water
• 2
  both are not pronounced the same in the standard accent. Four is “Sì”, Ten is “Shí”