DSMC Chapter 59.2

He didn’t want to waste a second. Holding the dagger, he charged straight at Yan Jiyun.

Yan Jiyun didn’t have offensive items, but he had defensive ones. He immediately buffed himself and, at the same time, used another high level prop to exchange for a new NPC!

“Game Token” produced a young NPC. He had his hair dyed in several colors, mouth full of chewing gum, and holding a baseball bat in both hands.

“Who the hell is courting death here?” the young man shouted wildly. “Wanna try the power of A-Wei’s bat?”

No. 18 was only two meters away from Yan Jiyun when A-Wei reacted instantly and smashed a heavy blow onto No. 18’s arm!

Yan Jiyun could keep exchanging NPCs with high level props, but No. 18 couldn’t. He had no choice in what props he found. He had to use whatever he had, tactics be damned. 

No. 18 provoked him. “Kid, only know how to hide like a turtle?”

Taunts were useless on Yan Jiyun. He just smiled and gave A-Wei a command.

No. 18 wanted him dead, so was he supposed to sit and wait? Was he stupid or what? His favorite thing was to solve problems before they escalated, so no one could lead him by the nose.

Thanks to Tang Shi and Liang Yu, Yan Jiyun was getting more and more adept at controlling NPCs. A-Wei followed his command and launched an attack.

Whatever No. 18 could think of, Yan Jiyun could too. In this 24-hour instance, no healing props had appeared. Players could kill each other. He wouldn’t kill on purpose, just injure the opponent until they posed no threat.

As for whether No. 18 would get eliminated by others afterward…. Well, that wasn’t his concern!

No. 18 had murderous intent; naturally, Yan Jiyun had to protect himself first.

A-Wei really lived up to being a kid who grew up playing arcade games. His swings were clean and sharp. Every hit that landed on No. 18 sounded painful enough to feel it through the ears.

The fight was extremely bloody. Yan Jiyun wanted to turn his head away.

“Fuck, No. 29 you sneaky bastard! Damn it! How dare you smash my leg!”

Yan Jiyun didn’t respond. A-Wei kept swinging violently. No. 18 had no choice but to grab A-Wei, wanting to use Boss Huang to shield himself, but Boss Huang was completely lost in his rage toward Detective Gao, ignoring No. 18’s call, still chasing the endlessly chattering detective.

In close combat, No. 18 naturally wasn’t weaker than A-Wei. But since he’d already taken several brutal hits at the start, his reaction slowed, and his leg was directly crippled.

Even Yan Jiyun hadn’t expected A-Wei to be so savage.

Eventually, No. 18 collapsed under A-Wei’s bat. He tried to retrieve his dagger, limping badly, but the dagger prop had already expired.

Yan Jiyun didn’t waste any words. He rushed forward and swiftly snatched his number tag.

[Congratulations to Team F Player No. 29 for successfully defeating Team A Player No. 18 in the “Number Tag Match.” Reward: 500 personal points, 200 team points.]

When Yan Jiyun returned from the forced PK arena to Tang Shi’s home, he immediately saw his victory announcement and another one related to No. 18.

[Team B Player No. 4 has successfully snatcted Team A Player No. 18’s number tag. Team A Player No. 18 is eliminated.]

[Team A Player No. 18 used a Revival Stone and successfully revived.]

The two connected notifications completely confused the other players. What did this mean?

No. 18 had just come out of the “Number Tag Battle,” so how was he instantly eliminated by 4?

Some sharp players had already figured it out.

“He must have been crippled by No. 29. After coming out, he no longer had the ability to protect himself!”

“Holy fuck, so this instance doesn’t forbid players from killing each other, does it?”

“You’re too naive. Entering the PK arena is always a fight to the death. If the other side is ruthless, they can kill you!”

“No. 18 got eliminated and then revived. That means their team’s revival item has been used.”

“So… if a player dies, can the revival item still revive them afterward?”

The players began to panic.

They’d been following the instance’s rules all along and nearly forgot the most despicable part of the instance.

Some players, however, felt this made things even more exciting.

This time, No. 18 from Team A got injured. He must have had a fierce fight with No. 29. Maybe No. 29 got hurt too? Wouldn’t this be the perfect moment to strike?

But… where exactly was No. 29?

Yan Jiyun wasn’t worried about No. 18’s revival, because No. 18 might still be stuck in the same spot afterward, with injuries too heavy to move far. The other teams could easily figure out his situation and take his number tag at any time, unless his team somehow found a second resurrection prop. 

The fact No. 18 wasn’t immediately eliminated again after revival suggested the Revival Stone had a period of protection. But how long?

Three minutes later:

[Team B Player No. 4 successfully snatched Team A Player No. 18’s number tag. Team A Player No. 18 is eliminated.]

They figured it out. After revival, the protection lasted less than three minutes.

This was not good.

Most likely, players would start contacting their team members and team up to take down lone players first.

It was broad daylight. He couldn’t leave Xiaoyun Street to pick up Qiu Xi.

After exiting the forced PK arena, Yan Jiyun was still in human form. But since Tang Shi and Liang Yu were outside, he could only wait until the timer ran out and he returned to cat form.

With three seconds left, he unlocked the door.

Tang Shi was waiting outside. Through the rough glass door he saw the silhouette of an adult man inside!

“Who’s in there?” Tang Shi gripped the handle, instantly tense.

Only Oreo had gone in earlier. Could a thief have broken in?

Liang Yu was about to help Tang Shi clean up when he heard Tang Shi’s vigilant tone. “What’s wrong?”

Tang Shi made a “shh” gesture at him. There was definitely someone inside. Otherwise, why had Oreo been in there for nearly five minutes without a sound? Maybe someone discovered the pricey value of his cat and wanted to steal it?

He shoved the door open. Inside, there was no man’s shadow at all, only a black cat standing at the entrance, looking up at him with beautiful, wide eyes.

The house hadn’t been cleaned for years. Dust coated the floor, but there were no human footprints, only pawprints.

“You probably saw wrong. There are no footprints.”

Yan Jiyun had expected this suspicious man to doubt him. Fortunately, he’d placed a towel under his feet earlier and kicked it behind the door before they entered. They definitely wouldn’t consider a dirty towel worth noticing.

Sure enough, neither of them did.

After the false alarm, Tang Shi and Liang Yu began cleaning.

Tang Shi’s adoptive parents were quite trendy. The living room on the second floor had light-colored tiles that were easy to clean.

Yan Jiyun lounged on the old sofa Tang Shi had just wiped down, keeping an eye on the team notifications.

Qiu Xi had consecutively sent several gifts to Butler Cao with three successes and one failure. He seemed to grasp Butler Cao’s preferences quite well.

Gu Wenzhu had also sent many gifts to Auntie Pang. They had quite a lot of high level props, but both were only raising a single NPC right now, and their bond values were growing steadily.

After learning more about Liang Yu and Tang Shi, Yan Jiyun had a direction on gifts. He also started sending gifts to his two NPCs.

He picked two completely different gifts: for Tang Shi, something inexpensive but thoughtful: a bar of “Handmade Soap” to soothe the gloom left by Chen Xiaoyu. As for Liang Yu… what couldn’t a rich second generation get? So he gave him something strange again. Previously it was a “Magical Book of Mind Reading,” and this time it was “A Key to Open your Heart”. Giving odd gifts to Liang Yu was always the right move, as regular gifts annoyed him.

Unexpectedly, both gifts worked well.

Tang Shi: +20 Bond. Current bond value 29/100.

Liang Yu: +20 Bond. Current bond value 40/100.

Seeing this, Tang Shi’s bond still wasn’t high enough. Yan Jiyun sent one more gift: a motivational book titled “Walk Out of Heartbreak and Embrace a New World.”

Tang Shi gave another +15. Current bond value: 44/100.

The “temporary shop” refreshed gifts regularly. None of the new items fit Liang Yu. Sending more back-to-back might even lower his bond.

As bond value increased, Yan Jiyun realized it was easier to convey thoughts to Tang Shi.

However, he could only control Tang Shi. When he tried controlling Liang Yu, Liang Yu showed no reaction, only his gaze would occasionally drift toward Yan Jiyun before frowning.

Yan Jiyun’s emerald eyes held disappointment: control failed.

Two hundred points wasted.

Yes, it wasn’t one point per bond increase. Higher-level gifts cost more and gave fewer points. But without investing, he’d fall far behind others later.

Qiu Xi and Gu Wenzhu’s NPC bond values were already higher than his. His two NPCs were simply harder to raise.

[Want to Be Human] livestream channel:

“Wait, is Kitty Baby trying to control Liang Yu? I just saw the bond values pop up above their heads.”

“Of course. Those two are his exchanged NPCs. If he doesn’t raise their bonds, who would he raise?”

“I’m laughing to death! Liang Yu is impossible to control. No player has ever succeeded. His behavior depends entirely on his mood. He’s the most unpredictable NPC, and he’s the protagonist of the original instance, after all. He works only when he feels like it.”

“But I think he’s quite willing to help our Kitty Baby. He found a revival stone for him.”

“That was him completing his own character quest, not helping.”

“But he brought Meowmeow along, which he definitely never did with other players. And one thing is weird. In other players’ instances he always appears as Chen Xiaoyu’s boyfriend. But with Meowmeow, the plot goes completely differently, even deviating from the original instance.”

“If this is a detective-type instance, could Kitty Baby unlock a brand-new ending again?”

Liang Yu finished cleaning the small balcony facing the street. Yan Jiyun jumped onto it to observe.

He had barely squatted for a minute before shouts sounded below.

“Hey! You from Team F, stop running!”

Team F?

Yan Jiyun poked his head out, but a shop’s rain awning blocked most of his view.

He barely managed to see Qiu Xi running with an elderly man.

Yan Jiyun felt both relieved and troubled.

Relieved that Qiu Xi had made it out of Siyun Castle.

However, other players were chasing him. His NPC looked way too old, trembling as he ran, like he might faint at any moment. It didn’t look like he was helping Qiu Xi. If anything, Qiu Xi was practically supporting him.

But there was no time to think about that.

Yan Jiyun almost jumped down in impulse to help, but Liang Yu stopped him.

Liang Yu saw Oreo preparing to jump and feared the cat might foolishly leap from the second floor. He pressed down on its back.

“It’s the second floor. Little Black Cat, it’s dangerous.”

Yan Jiyun could see the players closing in behind Qiu Xi. Jumping now would achieve nothing. He had to look up and send Liang Yu a plea, to “save Qiu Xi”.

but Liang Yu didn’t respond at all. Instead, he leisurely watched the commotion below while holding down Yan Jiyun.

Damn it, it was enough to drive someone mad!