DSMC Chapter 69.1

Qi Feng’s only goal was to look for his own cat. He didn’t care at all about the disbelief written all over Lan Mo’s face.

Lan Mo was straightforward by nature, and probably because he’d been with Qi Feng for so long, he wasn’t afraid of him anymore and dared to say anything.

Mainly, he really couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Feng-ge, can I ask what’s been making you act so strange lately?”

Who on earth could turn this eternally icy cool guy into someone completely lovestruck, restless, and unable to eat or sleep? This was way too different from the Feng-ge he knew.

Qi Feng walked along the information-trading street in a very good mood and said, “I’ll tell you when there’s a chance in the future.”

Which clearly meant he couldn’t say it now. It had to remain a secret.

Fair enough. If the person he wanted to protect wasn’t strong enough yet and couldn’t join them in instances, he would still need people to carry.

Lan Mo switched topics, asking about Qiu Xi. “How’s that kid doing? Is your friend satisfied?”

Qi Feng didn’t deny that he had a “friend” inside the game. “Qiu Xi entered a Challenging instance, my friend entered an Introductory one. What do you think?”

Lan Mo: “Didn’t they go in as a party? How did they get separated?”

Qi Feng: “Maybe the game system glitched.”

Lan Mo: “Does that even happen? We’ve been in the game so long and never seen a system bug.”

Qi Feng nodded as well, thinking Caramel might not have entered as a player. …could it have been entered as an NPC?

Qi Feng exchanged a few more sentences with Lan Mo and then stopped talking. He was in a hurry to get back to their base, so he quickened his pace, and Lan Mo had no choice but to hurry after him.

Once they returned to their territory, Qi Feng went back to his personal space. Lan Mo sat in the tavern by himself, acting as a bartender, looking quite lonely.

When Yan Jiyun returned to Qi Feng’s personal space, he found that it had changed a lot. The old cold, minimalist style had turned back into something very similar to their home in real world.

He’d decorated it to look exactly like their real-world home. Was he not planning to take him back anymore?

That was fine. Better than being brought back and then unable to return, creating unnecessary trouble.

Yan Jiyun spotted his favorite bright yellow beanbag sofa near the balcony!

There was no scent of him on the sofa, so it seemed it had just been redeemed from the system shop. Real-world items couldn’t be brought into the game, so the pooper scooper could only exchange for new ones. Finding something so similar wasn’t easy.

This broken system arranged their daily life very thoroughly. Besides the item shop, there was even a lifestyle marketplace. Without real death involved, it was basically no different from a large online game.

Sigh… the better his master treated “Caramel,” the more pressure he felt.

But in this familiar space, Yan Jiyun finally relaxed completely. After spending 24 hours in the instance, barely resting and exhausting much of his energy, he lay down for only a moment before falling asleep on the soft beanbag.

Qi Feng entered his personal space, then left again for a while. When he came back, he saw a curled-up black ball on the bright yellow sofa.

He quietly walked over and stroked the fur on Caramel’s forehead, pressing gently twice.

Yan Jiyun felt incredibly comfortable and stretched out, changing positions, exposing his chin for the pooper scooper to smooth.

Being trusted like this by his own cat made all of Qi Feng’s daytime worries melt into gentleness. A thousand words condensed into one thought: ‘It’s good you’re back.’

Yan Jiyun slept extremely soundly. When he woke, it was already midnight. He went to the bathroom, nibbled some pretty decent cat food, and went back to sleep.

However, since he had crawled through a trash can yesterday and hadn’t bathed, he didn’t climb onto Qi Feng’s bed.

Qi Feng wasn’t in his personal space, but most things here carried his scent. He must’ve come back earlier and gone out again for something.

Yan Jiyun was still sleepy, so he lay back on the sofa. When he woke again, daylight had already broken.

If he didn’t know this was a personal space, it really felt no different from the real world.

Qi Feng eventually returned and brought fresh cat food for him. It’s not much different from what he ate in real life.

Yan Jiyun gobbled the food and then made Qi Feng bathe him.

Qi Feng used a functional shampoo to lather his fur, then began settling accounts. “You sneaked into someone else’s shop and stole barbecue?”

He had seen the notification in the system messages.

Yan Jiyun froze slightly in the bath basin.

What kind of stupid game system was this? How did eating just two pieces of barbecue get reported to his pooper scooper?!

Qi Feng didn’t expect Caramel to respond. When it came to food, cats couldn’t control themselves. If he were beside him, he could still restrain him. But once Caramel entered an instance, nothing could be controlled.

“And you threw up too, didn’t you?”

“If someone hadn’t taken you to get treated, you probably wouldn’t have made it out this time.”

He continued, “This was just an Introductory instance. Next time it’ll be a Challenging one. They’re much more difficult.” 

Yan Jiyun splashed a handful of bathwater at him, drenching Qi Feng. Just hearing this made him angry. If the pooper scooper weren’t a Hard difficulty player, why would he have to enter a Challenging instance every single time? There was no cat more miserable than him.

Being a cat wasn’t the problem. Being the cat of a Hard-difficulty survival-game player was.

Qi Feng pressed down his flailing paw and cleaned the fur between his paw pads. “Stop splashing, you’re soaking my clothes. Lift the other paw.”

Yan Jiyun obediently lifted his other paw.

Qi Feng then washed his two hind legs as well. This was why Yan Jiyun always sought him out after leaving an instance. Tormenting his own cat was one thing, but treating his cat so tenderly afterward was another. A master like Qi Feng was rare.

If only he could go back to the time before entering the game… life back then was carefree and comfortable.

The pooper scooper played around in the game, while he lived a leisurely retired life in the real world. They didn’t interfere with each other, and it was perfect.

Qi Feng replaced the water again.

“Where exactly did you crawl and hide? Why is the water this black?”

Yan Jiyun thought about where he’d hidden: trash piles, under beds, corners of unsafe buildings. He really went wherever it was darkest, and those places were never cleaned. He didn’t even want to lick his fur right now. It’s definitely caked in dirt and germ. Way too dirty. 

Qi Feng changed the water two more times, added nourishing hair-care liquid, and only after finishing the full grooming process did he rinse him clean. Once blow-dried, Yan Jiyun’s fur visibly fluffed up and swayed smoothly.

Actually, Yan Jiyun’s fur wasn’t short. It was between that of a long-haired and short-haired cat.

He comfortably jumped onto the sofa and sprawled there. Home was still the best.

Qi Feng brought over a bunch of bottles and jars and applied paw balm to his toe beans. Yan Jiyun lifted his paw to sniff. It was his favorite orange scent.

He decided not to argue with Hard-difficulty-player Comrade Qi Feng. The service was pretty good.

After resting half a day, he’d eaten two nutritious meals prepared by Qi Feng.

Yan Jiyun felt like he had returned to the days of eating and sleeping in a perfect cycle. He loved this life of clothes handed to him and food delivered to his mouth.

But times were different now, and he couldn’t be too lazy. While lying there, he could at least start looking for the next instance.

[Hide and Seek] wasn’t a search-type instance, so after leaving it he only received the usual reward settlement, he got no NPC ending. But the extra episode he unlocked should count as a new ending.

Now that he was full, well-rested, and lying beside Qi Feng, he opened the instance selection interface.

But when he clicked into it, he realized the interface had changed.

What new situation was this now?

He remembered that the instance selection screen used to have a light-blue interface. Had it changed after just one day in an instance? Why did it become a light-purple background?

The young man–system was summoned out by him.

He said, “Congratulations on unlocking the Easy level instances. You are no longer a newcomer player.”

Three clusters of colorful fireworks appeared in front of Yan Jiyun’s eyes, crackling for three seconds before disappearing.

What did that mean?

He had unknowingly unlocked the Easy level instances?

Yan Jiyun: ‘I don’t have to enter Newcomer level instances anymore? I directly skipped the newcomer level and entered the Easy level?’

The young man: “Yes. Your cumulative points from the first three instances have exceeded the upper limit for Newcomer-level instances. They are now closed to you. The currently open stage is the Easy level instances, and you may choose freely from its available instances.”

Yan Jiyun’s claws scraped three scratch marks across the sofa.

Qi Feng squeezed his paw. “Don’t scratch the sofa.”

Yan Jiyun ignored him, still sulking.

He asked the system: ‘How many points does it take to skip the Newcomer level?’

He hadn’t even had time to accumulate more experience.

Yan Jiyun: ‘Has any player before me entered the Easy level instances early?’

The young man: “There was a player who entered early before you. You have one fewer instance than that player. Congratulations on breaking their record.”

Yan Jiyun: ‘Is there a reward?’

The young man: “No.”

Yan Jiyun: “…”

He really couldn’t grasp the rules of this game. He asked, ‘How are points divided between the different levels? So, if I reach the point threshold for the Hard levels early, I can jump directly from Easy to Hard-level instances?’

The young man: “You’re correct. Players whose points exceed 100,000 in Newcomer level instances can no longer choose that stage’s instances.”

Yan Jiyun: ‘Then how many points does it take to move from Easy-level to Hard-level instances?’ 

He remembered the system saying that his shit shovel officer was a Hard-level player, which was why all his Newcomer instances had only Challenging Mode.

The young man: “If you’ve entered ten instances in total, or your points reach 50,000 early, you can enter Intermediate level instances and above.”

Meaning he could actually choose Hard-level instances now?

Because he had more than 100,000 points.

After asking for a while, he finally understood the requirements for each instance stage:

Newcomer instances: All new players may enter. Players with over 100,000 points may no longer enter.

Easy instances: Players who clear 5 Newcomer instances may enter. Players with over 300,000 points may no longer enter.

Intermediate instances: Players who clear 10 instances, or whose points exceed 150,000, may directly enter. No upper point limit.

Hard instances: Players who clear 20 instances, or whose points exceed 150,000, may directly enter. No upper point limit.

Top instances: Players who clear 30 instances, or whose points exceed 300,000, may directly enter. No upper point limit.

Besides the regular instances, there were also other competition fields that opened irregularly.

The combined points from his first three Challenging Mode instances had surpassed 100,000 because he got a double-point bonus in the last one. He earned quite a lot from the [Hide and Seek] instance. The leftover group points were split among the last three survivors, and he had many eliminations, each worth 1,000 points. Ten eliminations was 10,000, and he had eliminated more than ten players. Overall, his personal score was indeed high.

He didn’t expect the game to have hidden rules like this. But it was because he hadn’t asked thoroughly. If he had asked veteran players, they would’ve known.

Probably because survival itself was already hard enough, very few newcomer players entered a higher stage before completing even five instances.

As for the stage above Top-level…

Yan Jiyun didn’t get answers from the system anymore. It kept replying: “Player level insufficient. Permissions insufficient. No comment.”

Forget it. He’d learn slowly.