DSMC Chapter 70

T/L: Hello everyone! This is the last chapter of this arc~ /ᐠ > ˕ <マ ₊˚⊹♡  I will be resting for the rest of this week~ See you next Monday <3 

Yan Jiyun didn’t e

ven have time to learn the personalities of the other team members before Qi Feng brought him to the Central Zone to gather information.

However, he could sense an aura from them that was different from ordinary players.

Anyone who could follow his master into a Hard-level instance definitely wasn’t an ordinary player; they must have their own specialties in certain areas.

Yan Jiyun had never had time to think about what kind of guild Qi Feng might join, but based on his current observations, he arrived at a conclusion: Qi Feng and his teammates were probably all free players who hadn’t joined any guild. Or perhaps they were their own small organization, just not officially operating under the guise of a guild.

They certainly hadn’t started the game recently. They all looked righteously indignant, but in reality their eyes were filled with excitement. Yan Jiyun wasn’t mistaken. They weren’t truly angry. Instead, they looked like they were relishing the misfortune.

If things were really serious enough to threaten their lives, would his pooper scooper still have taken him out shopping?

Sure enough, the next moment, Yan Jiyun heard their relaxed chat.

“I’ve already thought of three ways to counterkill them.”

“Shut up, let me handle it.”

“Forget it. People say they want to snipe Feng-ge every day. When have any of them succeeded?”

“So pissed.”

“You promised to let me practice, why are all of you fighting me for it!”

Right now, the pooper scooper was more worried not about himself, but about his own pet.

While Yan Jiyun was overthinking, Qi Feng had already brought him from their small tavern base to the busiest area in the central district.

He had been busy asking around about instance info before and hadn’t actually taken the time to wander the central district. He had only seen player-made Central Zone maps. He had also asked the system for one, and although the system provided a map, it was extremely crude. It’s just the city’s original construction layout, with no labels for what each area was for.

However, Yan Jiyun still managed to gather some information from it: the land of Central Zone was provided by the system, but all the shops and living facilities were built entirely by players. Equipment could also be exchanged from the system. Almost everything could be exchanged, including ingredients.

As humans who build wherever they go, it wasn’t surprising that people were doing business in Central Zone. But this wasn’t so friendly to newer players, they had missed the best opportunity to become part of the “first wave of settlers.”

The earliest players to enter the game probably had more opportunities and resources than ordinary players. But regardless of what kingdoms they built inside the game, eventually, time would force them to re-enter instances. Of course, they could also use points to hire players who needed points to protect them.

With the emergence of various trading patterns, Central Zone formed a commercial district using “points” as its currency.

The Central Zone had restaurants and entertainment venues. If one didn’t care about dying in the game, this place was no different from the real world — a “paradise” where one could indulge in pleasure. The only thing that restricted them was the system’s rules.

Aside from basic facilities and flashy establishments, the ten veteran guilds of Central Zone were scattered everywhere, and their members filled the place.

Qi Feng, wearing a mask and carrying the backpack with Yan Jiyun inside, walked through the streets tirelessly explaining which guilds controlled which streets, where they could go, and where they couldn’t.

Most importantly, he needed to remember how to get from the Easy instance exit back to the tavern.

Qi Feng thought Caramel already knew where to find him, so he didn’t walk through the route a third time.

“Caramel, next time you come out of an instance, I’ll still wait for you at the stall area. I’ll check if there’re any properties for sale near there, so once you exit an instance you can go inside. If my instance run takes a long time this time, remember to follow Qiu Xi. He’s the young guy who doesn’t talk.”

“Next, I’ll take you to the busiest street in Central Zone, the place with the most people. It’s a public area with lots of interesting entertainment venues. Businesses that can’t openly operate in real life? They’re everywhere here.”

“I don’t know if you can understand, but it’s best not to come here. The players in this area have the heaviest murderous intent, and many guild members operate around here.”

“Caramel, do you understand?”

Of course Yan Jiyun understood. He would keep Qi Feng’s warnings in mind and absolutely wouldn’t wander.

But for now, in front of Qi Feng, he was a cat and didn’t respond.

Qi Feng shifted the backpack to his front and opened a slit at the side, allowing Yan Jiyun to see everything he saw as they passed by.

They were currently in the busiest and most prosperous part of the central district, just as Qi Feng said.

The Central Zone was more like a city divided into east, south, west, and north.

Players exited instances into the eastern district, with different levels leading to different exits. Rules there were stricter, and fighting was prohibited.

Qi Feng didn’t mention anything about the leaderboard. For a cat, that didn’t matter. The most important thing was for his cat to learn the roads. No matter which level instance it exited from, it needed to know the way home and find shelter immediately. The best way was to familiarize Caramel with the streets and alleys of the central district so he would have fewer worries.

With Qi Feng guiding him, Yan Jiyun now had a general sense of the Central Zone’s layout.

The Central Zone currently housed nearly a million players, and the number of players online daily also reached over a million. This meant that the number of players entering instances each day was at least over a hundred thousand. And this was only the Central Zone they knew. Nobody knew whether there were Central Zone No. 2 or No. 3 beyond this.

The number “over a million” referred to the players who had survived, and this player population had remained stable for years. It didn’t include those who had already died.

“Caramel, after seeing so many players alive, you still have no idea how many have died in the game. Newcomer instances are hard, but they’re relatively lenient toward new players. The death rate isn’t high. Clearing those instances is easy with the lowest death rate. Challenging Mode increases difficulty, so the death rate rises. Once you enter the Easy-level instances, you’ll see they’re even harder. There’s no Introductory or Challenging Mode, they’re all equivalent to Challenging Mode. And the difficulty of Challenging Mode is divided into levels. The higher the difficulty, the higher the death rate. When you enter an unfamiliar environment, you must protect yourself at all cost. Your life is the most important.”

Yan Jiyun nodded internally. The information Qi Feng shared was extremely important. He would soon enter the Easy-level instances, so he needed all the useful intel he could get. He scratched at Qi Feng’s hand near the zipper, hoping he would say more about the Easy-level instances.

There was still a tacit understanding between them as master and pet, so Qi Feng assumed Caramel wanted him to keep talking.

“Easy-level instances are where the real game begins. True player deaths also start there. You’ll meet many friends in these instances, but they may leave you for various reasons. Some die from danger in the game, some betray you, some have conflicts of opinion. Caramel, if you meet good people in an instance, don’t be sad when you part ways. Just remember, as long as I’m alive, I’ll always wait for you outside the instance.”

Through the backpack, Yan Jiyun patted his chest with his paw. He knew Qi Feng must have experienced everything he was describing, or he wouldn’t speak with such emotion.

Back at home, he had never known that every time Qi Feng disappeared, he was facing a life-or-death choice. Some people might become numb to death after being in the game for so long, or even lose themselves in it. But Qi Feng could still keep a clear mind, meaning he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Once you reach Hard-level instances, getting injured becomes routine. Easy instances usually involve physical attacks, but starting from the Intermediate instances, there will be mental attacks. If you endure them, you’re fine. If not, it’s basically death. Besides that, the instance mechanics will multiply. I really don’t want you to encounter those.”

Yan Jiyun truly hadn’t thought about why the instance would include mental attacks. What did that even mean?

“But instances with mental attacks are relatively rare. They usually appear in supernatural instances. If you reach the Intermediate level, I won’t choose those for you. People say cats aren’t afraid of supernatural stuff, but I think cats are all timid. How could they not be afraid of those things?”

Yan Jiyun couldn’t agree more. What cat wouldn’t be afraid of supernatural stuff? They weren’t idiots!

If he could enter instances with Qi Feng, wouldn’t that be like living the good life? Just sit in the backpack and do nothing.

Mm… just wishful thinking.

Qi Feng didn’t squeeze into crowded areas; he just glanced at the entertainment district before leaving.

From passing conversations, Yan Jiyun heard someone complaining about losing all their points at the casino. He sighed. These players weren’t being killed by the instances but by these entertainment venues. If they spent all their points and didn’t have enough for instance items, wouldn’t they die?

But he didn’t think they would actually die. If there were casinos, there would naturally be point loan sharks. But the lender bore great risk. If the borrower died in an instance or earned too few points, they wouldn’t be able to repay.

Besides this, players also ran around looking for information for their next instance run or simply trying to survive. The most common topics among players were guilds and instances.

Qi Feng stood in an extremely crowded area and whispered to Yan Jiyun, “Caramel, there’s a bounty board here.”

Bounty board?

What did that mean?

Because he didn’t have enough points before and his activity area was small, he had only seen a tiny corner of the central district. There was still so much he didn’t know.

Of course, his goal remained earning points.

Qi Feng said, “Caramel, the farther you go, the more guild people you’ll run into. Conflicts between guilds often break out in instances. If you make enemies, you will get hunted down. Fighting and killing are forbidden in the Central Zone, but inside instances you can kill people. No matter the instance type, players can infight and slaughter each other.”

Yan Jiyun sighed. He already knew this. Just in the last instance, he almost watched his own teammate die at another player’s hands.

Right now, he was drawn to the bright-red scrolling list on the screen.

He seemed to hear his own name in the crowd!

He looked again, and sure enough, he didn’t mishear. His name really was on the list.

What was going on?

[Bounty Board]

Bounty Issuer: Mingmen Guild, Junior Division

Target: Yan Jiyun (Newcomer-level player)

Task: Anyone with information on this player, please contact the Junior Division manager; Location: XXX

Reward: 100 points/1 piece of information; important intel negotiable in person.

Yan Jiyun stared at the bounty for a long moment. His information could be exchanged for points?

Mingmen Guild sounded vaguely familiar.

He remembered Gu Wenzhu mentioning them. They were players from Team C in the [Hide and Seek] instance last time. A few of them were from the Mingmen Guild.

He hadn’t offended them. Eliminating players by strength and earning points, what was wrong with that?

He didn’t even know which ones among them were from Mingmen Guild. 

Why were they looking for his information, and even posting a public bounty?

Yan Jiyun reviewed his performance in his first three instances. After confirming no one had discovered his real identity, he finally relaxed. But this bounty gave him a warning: three consecutive first-place finishes, ranked #1 on the newcomer points list. He was already being noticed.

Fame invites trouble. From now on, he needed to be even more cautious in every instance.

Those standing in front of the bounty board were players seeking ways to earn points outside of dungeons.

After hearing the bits of gossip related to himself, the rest were all new intel.

He guessed there was probably no online communication network. Otherwise, guilds wouldn’t need to set up physical information shops in the game.

Even Qi Feng, who had been in the game longer than him, still relied on gathering intel manually.

If players could access the internet, they wouldn’t all be crowding the streets like this.

Most likely the game system restricted outside networks. Entering the game was “logging in,” and “logging out” meant leaving to return to reality.

Suddenly, he heard people reacting to a new message that had just appeared on the bounty list.

“The number one guild posted a bounty!”

“Looks more like recruitment to me.”

“Well, this just got complicated.”

“They’re looking for someone who can raise NPC favorability.”

When Yan Jiyun heard favorability, his heart skipped. He saw a highlighted, enlarged entry.

[Bounty Board]

Bounty Issuer: Cruiser Fleet Guild

Target: Players who can raise NPC favorability

Task: Recruiting a player with this ability. Interested parties may contact the guild manager; Location: XXX

Reward: Salary negotiable, high pay and benefits offered.

Yan Jiyun still had some impression of this Cruiser Fleet Guild. They were said to be the number one ranked guild.

“Pretty rare for a Cruiser Fleet to post a bounty.”

“They usually have plenty of intel sources on their own.”

“There are probably only very few players who know how to farm NPC favorability, right? Doing missions is hard enough, who has time?”

“Doesn’t this actually reveals something? Look, the issuer is the main Cruiser Fleet Guild, not a branch. That means higher level dungeons must require players who can raise NPC favorability!”

“Dude, you might be right. Otherwise, why would they suddenly seek someone who raises those ‘dust-collecting’ stats?”

“Speaking of that, two days ago, I passed by the rankings and saw someone max out an NPC’s favorability. I bet Cruiser Fleet is trying to lure that newcomer into a trap.”

“Someone actually maxed NPC favorability? Are they just bored out of their mind?”

While Yan Jiyun listened to people discussing him, Qi Feng also saw the new bounty.

Taking advantage of the crowd’s distraction, he quietly escorted Yan Jiyun away.

He was utterly transparent with Yan Jiyun, explaining, “The NPC Favorability List shows how much NPCs like a player. If you do things that please them, they’ll give you favorability and even help you through dangers. Looks like the Cruiser Fleet is paying attention.”

That last part was more to himself.

Qi Feng was deeply worried about Caramel’s future dungeons. The further one progressed, the more complex the mechanics became. Many would require teams, and they needed compatible party members to survive.

But Caramel couldn’t talk. It couldn’t team with humans. The moment he entered a team-based instance, its identity would be exposed.

He had brought Caramel out today specifically to check whether anyone was talking about a “cat player.” Only he could investigate this. He couldn’t tell others.

He normally avoided crowded places, but for his cat, he had to gather information.

So far, no one had mentioned cats. He could relax, for now, and keep thinking about how to help him clear future dungeons.

Yan Jiyun still didn’t quite understand NPC favorability, but Qi Feng’s explanation was right. Doing things that made NPCs happy would earn favorability. Players rarely did it willingly. His own favor gains were all accidental.

A single morning wasn’t enough to walk through every zone. Qi Feng only took him through the east and central district. The remaining three districts were full of guild bases and complicated streets, so he avoided them.

“Caramel, remember it is best not to go to the other three districts. There are too many guilds. Guild players get into conflicts all the time, sometimes even fights. We should stay away. Besides guilds, there are many independent player groups too. I used to be in a guild. Just remember, we will never join one.”

Yan Jiyun waited for Qi Feng to tell him about his past guild, but he clearly didn’t intend to. Probably not convenient to talk outside.

He was curious, but knowing more would only mean learning about more cruelty. If Qi Feng didn’t say it, he had no choice. He’d learn someday anyway.

Yan Jiyun had never intended to join a guild for three reasons: First, his identity; second, the messiness of guild polities; and third, from the moment he entered the game, he and Qi Feng were bound together. If he were ever forced to choose an organization, his first choice would always be Qi Feng, without a second thought.

They had been out long enough, so Qi Feng brought Yan Jiyun back. On the way back they had to pass several blocks, all of which they detoured around the crowded areas. The return went quite smoothly.

Yan Jiyun silently memorized this route, so he could follow Qi Feng’s directions later.

When they returned to the tavern area, Yan Jiyun could already hear that the number of people inside had increased.

The tavern actually wasn’t small at all; it was just a disguise.

When Qi Feng walked in, everyone sitting inside drinking greeted him.

Yan Jiyun felt that Qi Feng’s prestige was quite high.

There were six people inside, five men and one woman. Their atmosphere was relaxed, their conversations casual, suggesting they were people who had known each other for a long time.

After returning to his own territory, Qi Feng noticeably relaxed.

Once he entered the private area inside, Lan Mo and the others outside immediately began gossiping.

“Why has Feng-ge been acting all mysterious lately? He doesn’t even reply to my messages.”

“When is Feng-ge not mysterious?”

“I remember when he left, he had a bag on his back. Now that he’s back, he still has that bag. What’s in it? Momo, you’re with Feng-ge every day, you can’t tell me you don’t know.”

Lan Mo quickly waved his hands. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know anything.”

He really didn’t know what treasure Feng-ge was carrying in that backpack.

Ever since that strange period when he acted unusually, the bag had appeared.

After Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng returned to the room, Qi Feng made cat food for him. After Yan Jiyun finished eating, he went right back to living a life no different from reality — eat, then sleep.

When he woke up, Qi Feng wasn’t there. Yan Jiyun wanted to sneak out while he had the chance, but leaving from Qi Feng’s personal space would definitely mean running into Lan Mo and the others, so he gave up.

Forget it. He had rested for quite a while this time. Once Qi Feng entered an instance, he would be free to move around.

At two in the afternoon, Qi Feng returned right on time.

Yan Jiyun was still lazily sprawled out. He rolled over on the long sofa, then hopped down and stretched.

Qi Feng held something that looked like a gun — real or not, he couldn’t tell — and said to him, “Caramel, it’s training time.”

Just as Yan Jiyun’s paws finished stretching mid-air, he froze slightly. “……”

Training was fine, but was it really necessary to point a gun at his nose? Did he have to raise him like a strict tiger parent!?

Of course, the gun Qi Feng held wasn’t real. It was a rubber-bullet toy gun, just for show, not to actually threaten Caramel.

His plan for the afternoon was to give Caramel simple physical and reaction training, then teach him how to use a gun, so that the next time he saw one, he’d know how it worked.

He had spent points in the mall to buy a target and set it up on the lawn.

While Yan Jiyun trained, Qi Feng trained alongside him. He was good at everything, from pull-ups, dips, to sit-ups. When Yan Jiyun ran obstacle courses, Qi Feng followed behind him without missing a single movement.

That was why Yan Jiyun was willing to follow Qi Feng’s pace and didn’t mind training. His master  didn’t just watch; he trained with him. Human and cat working out together meant it wasn’t lonely, and it motivated progress.

“Caramel, the last obstacle run for today. Let’s see who reaches the finish line first.”

Yan Jiyun thought, ‘Obviously me!’

“Ready, go!”

Yan Jiyun shot forward like the wind. He leaped over the suspension bridge, crawled under the wire net, flew over the obstacle wall, swam across the big pond, and finally reached the finish line!

See? Beating the pooper scooper was such an easy thing.

He turned around and saw Qi Feng casually jogging across the grass from the side, a triumphant smile on his face.

Yan Jiyun: ‘He actually dared lie to me!’

Soaking wet, Yan Jiyun leapt back onto the balance beam and pounced straight at Qi Feng. Qi Feng hadn’t expected Caramel to double back toward him. Instinctively he stretched out his hands to catch the dripping cat, only to have a face full of wet cat fur!

Pfft.

Yan Jiyun slapped a paw on his head. ‘Just admit you were wrong.’

Qi Feng picked the cat off his face and wiped the fur back onto Yan Jiyun’s own body, smiling as he said, “Alright, alright, I was wrong.”