DSMC Chapter 72

[“Crazy Zoo” will open once the player count reaches 50.]

[Player count reached. Instance locked.]

[All players will enter the instance in three minutes.]

[You can bring up to 15 props for “Crazy Zoo”.] 

The more items he can bring, the longer the instance will run. Yan Jiyun hurriedly bought the props he had originally prepared, and since the instance had just been updated, he swapped out three of them for others. After purchasing, he converted all remaining points into Human Form Time Cards. All 300,000 points were completely emptied out.

He had to start saving points again. Probably no other player was like him, clearing all their points every time they entered an instance.

He wondered if he should dye his fur or something. Otherwise, why was it that every time he entered an instance, nothing ever went smoothly? His luck was pitch-black.

[Instance preparation time is over. Players will enter in five seconds.]

[Five, four, three, two, one. Instance loading—]

[The game is about to begin. Life and death are your own responsibility. Wishing players a pleasant gaming experience!] 

When Yan Jiyun came to, he realized there was no one around him at all. Even stranger, he had clearly entered the instance in human form, yet the paws he saw were pitch-black cat paws. He remembered that the Human Form Time Card hadn’t run out yet.

[Human Form Time Card remaining time: 13 minutes 50 seconds]

The card was indeed working fine, the time hasn’t expired. 

To avoid being screwed over by the game, he had activated the Human Form Time Card before entering the instance, choosing a full 20 minutes. Six minutes were spent waiting for the update and buying props, and another 10 seconds vanished during the transfer into the instance.

So why was he still a cat?

He had deliberately chosen the “Crazy Zoo” instance because it might involve animals. His reasoning was simple: communicating with animals was way easier than communicating with people. The intel he bought also indicated that this was an animal-related exploration instance.

After receiving the instance information, he had guessed the main mission might involve uncovering what the zookeepers or the director planned to do to the animals. He hadn’t expected things to look like this.

His Human Form Time Card was still active, so why wasn’t he humanoid? Did the card fail in this instance?

Yan Jiyun’s ears twitched. He was lying down at the moment. Sensing no immediate danger, he slowly got up. The surroundings were quiet, so quiet that not a single figure was in sight.

Why was it this quiet?

But not far away, he heard animal calls.

“Crazy Zoo” implied he was probably in a zoo. Animal sounds were normal, though at this hour most large animals — aside from nocturnal ones — should be resting.

Once he calmed down, the system’s broadcast came through.

[Instance Name: Crazy Zoo]

[Instance Duration: 5 Days]

[Instance Difficulty: Challenging Level 2]

[Main Mission: Please resolve Xianghe Zoo¹Chinese name: 香和动物园 “Xiānghé Dòngwùyuán”; AFAIK, 香 means fragrance/smell; 和 means “and”. 动物园 means zoo/animal park.’s ongoing crisis.]

[Mission Details: Xianghe Zoo is on the verge of shutting down. Players, please use your ingenuity to save the zoo.]

[Surviving Players Number: 50/50]

Yan Jiyun knew that after the Newcomer level, Introductory Mode instances were removed. He had thought higher instances no longer had difficulty tiers. But instead of “Introductory” and “Challenging,” the game now ranked the difficulty within the Challenging category, this one being Challenging Level 2. 

The game was as malicious as ever. The Newcomer instances didn’t even label themselves as Level 1, but now there was Level 2, meaning the Newcomer instances were basically appetizers. Calling them “Newcomer” was generous; they were more like the system handing out a Pacific Ocean’s worth of “safety” water.

Once a player entered the Easy level, they started straight from Challenging Level 2²so from my perspective: Newcomer level is divided into two: Introductory and Challenging, but they’re both Level 1 in terms of actual difficulty (though Challenging is harder than Introductory). Easy instances started at Challenging Level 2, aka straight +2 stages of difficulty from Newcomer-Challenging mode..

Seeing the player count for this instance, Yan Jiyun grew even more certain that Challenging Level 2 would be tougher than the previous three instances. He had no idea what kind of tasks awaited.

Looking again, the main mission was to resolve Xianghe Zoo’s crisis.

So he really was in a zoo, just unclear which section he’d been dropped into.

He had entered the instance in the morning, but the instance’s internal time wasn’t tied to the outside world. Here, it was nighttime.

Yan Jiyun looked around.

If this were a small-animal enclosure, he should see fences or similar structures. But nothing was in sight.

So this was a large animal exhibit?

But why was it completely silent? Not a single sound from other animals in the area. That was far too strange.

He listened carefully again this time and heard human footsteps. Two people were casually sweeping flashlights around in the distance, looking like night-patrolling security guards.

Unsure where he was, he decisively ran out and followed behind them.

Darkness was his best camouflage. Being extra dark didn’t hurt.

Wherever security patrolled was likely safe.

The streetlights were dim, and as long as he didn’t walk right down the middle, he wasn’t too conspicuous.

Just as he was thinking things weren’t too dangerous, the two security guards in front of him were suddenly pounced on by a large animal bursting out from the side!

Yan Jiyun nearly jumped out of his fur and dove straight into the bushes.

Holy crap!

He had just thought security meant safety, and immediately got proven wrong. Looking closely, the creature that pounced on the guards was a huge white tiger!

Judging from its size, it was at least over three meters long and should be a male; female tigers typically would be smaller.

Yan Jiyun could smell everything around him, but a tiger’s range was even stronger; their range is measured in five kilometers increments.

The guards were nearly scared to death. They had only been knocked over and didn’t seem injured.

“Ahhh! Run!”

“Why is there a tiger out here!?”

“Help!”

After yelling for help twice, the guards actually bolted away from the tiger. Yan Jiyun watched as the white tiger only opened its mouth but didn’t bite or claw them. It was just roaring, not acting like it was defending territory.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

Yan Jiyun’s plan to follow the security guards to explore the terrain was interrupted. He didn’t dare run out now, afraid the tiger might get excited and chase him down for a bite. After all, their sizes were worlds apart.

If a cat and a tiger got put together, the cat would definitely be the one getting bitten to death.

A tiger’s sense of smell is extremely sharp. If it caught scent of him and came over, he’d have to run immediately.

He lay low on the ground, cautiously, ready to bolt at any moment.

He watched every move the white tiger made.

After pouncing on the two security guards, the big white tiger didn’t maul them at all; it didn’t seem to have any intention of eating humans.

Yan Jiyun noticed that the white tiger’s gait was very strange, looking extremely awkward, almost as if it didn’t really know how to walk on four legs.

A strange thought flashed through his mind: the way the white tiger walked was very much like how he moved when he had first become a kitten.

When Yan Jiyun first turned into a cat, he couldn’t properly walk on all fours either. No matter how he walked, his gait looked clumsy. After watching him for two days, Qi Feng thought something was wrong with his legs, wondering maybe he had been injured or was naturally malformed. So he took Yan Jiyun to the vet for X-rays. After examining him, the doctor joked that maybe the cat was just dumb and hadn’t learned how to walk yet. Later, whenever Yan Jiyun saw that doctor again, he kicked him hard. And afterward, because he disliked that vet, his master switched to another pet hospital.

Calves learn to stand and walk right after birth. Kittens and puppies don’t need to learn; once their legs strengthen, they naturally walk.

An adult white tiger shouldn’t have trouble walking. Which meant this white tiger was probably a player.

Was it possible that all players entering this instance turned into animals?

He observed for three minutes. The white tiger hadn’t noticed him at all; it was still seriously practicing how to use its four limbs.

Yan Jiyun didn’t want to expose himself yet. He just watched, and to him, the white tiger’s movements were incredibly clumsy.

No wonder his caretaker always had a smile on his face back then. So he was laughing at him.

He kind of wanted to laugh at this white tiger too.

But he had to shift back to the instance itself.

The main mission was to solve the zoo’s crisis, but it didn’t specify what the crisis actually was.

In the real world, a zoo failing to operate usually had to do with funding. Without money, animals starve. If all the animals are listless, how can they attract visitors? That’s likely the biggest crisis a zoo can face.

He had once seen online cases of zoos starving once-healthy tigers until they were skin and bones, even committing abuse. It was heartbreaking. With the development of social media, many such abuse cases were exposed, and incidents like that gradually lessened.

But this was a game, and couldn’t be judged by common sense. Turning humans into animals was already the biggest crisis for players.

Of course, the zoo’s crisis didn’t necessarily have to be about funding either.

He had entered the instance using a Human Form Time Card. The system identified him as human, treated him like one, then turned him into an animal, and still failed to detect that his true form was a cat. That was very strange.

Had he triggered a bug?

His Human Form Time Card still had time left. Who knew what would happen when the countdown ended?

This zoo was quite large. Aside from the white tiger, he hadn’t encountered any other players yet.

What a waste of an identity. The white tiger player had such a majestic, impressive form.

Ever since he became a cat, he had longed for a body as powerful as a white tiger’s. Why couldn’t he have turned into a tiger? That physique was truly magnificent.

After practicing for a while, the white tiger’s gait finally grew a bit smoother.

Right then, the game released its first mission.

[All players, please quickly adapt to your identities. Staff will begin work at 6 AM and will deliver breakfast to everyone in the park.]

[Please play your assigned roles properly. Do not behave in ways inconsistent with your role, or you will be penalized by the system.]

Yan Jiyun had guessed right; every player had an identity, and each one might be an animal.

The zoo could even afford to raise a white tiger, meaning the place was huge. Players were likely only one type among many animals.

Based on the current logic, not all animals in the zoo had to be players, but all players would definitely become animals.

Another question: would players stay as animals until the instance ended, or could they revert to human form midway?

Everything needed to be explored by the players.

Dawn came quickly. One moment it was pitch-dark; the next it was faintly light, and in a little while it would brighten fully.

With the system’s notification, Yan Jiyun received his identity card.

[Player: Yan Jiyun]

[Assigned species: Black Panther]

[Habitat zone: Leopard Zone³In Chinese, both panther and leopard shared a character (豹 bào). And scientifically speaking, “panther” is a general name for black-colored big cats (mostly leopards or jaguars). All of them belong to the genus Panthera, with leopards being Panthera pardus. Other members of this genus are tigers and lions. I will refer to Yan Jiyun’s assigned species as black panther, but his enclosure/habitat as Leopard Zone. As for the reason, I’ll write in the footnote.

[Warning: Player has entered the Tiger Zone. Please return to the Leopard Zone immediately. Failure to do so will result in penalties.] 

Yan Jiyun didn’t expect he would have to play a panther. This was asking too much. He was a genuine black cat! Had the system failed to detect he was a cat and just assigned him as a panther?

He realized something: in this instance, being in cat form was extremely disadvantageous. He was surrounded by animals bigger than him, every one of them could crush him.

What was he supposed to do?

And according to the current rules, he had almost no freedom of movement. Players couldn’t leave their designated habitat zones.

Though not necessarily. Since the rules hadn’t fully been revealed yet, there must be other ways around this.

After watching the white tiger player’s performance for a bit longer, Yan Jiyun ran back according to system instructions. For now, observation came first.

Once NPCs appeared, he’d be able to get a clearer picture and slowly figure out what the game wanted them to do.

Before solving the crisis, he at least needed to know what the crisis was.

Completing tasks in animal form wasn’t really a problem for him. The real difficulty lay in the restrictions and punishments. None of the earlier three instances had a punishment system.

Fortunately, he had chosen to play cautiously instead of recklessly entering the instance with his caretaker. What he had seen of the rules so far wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. If he rushed into Intermediate or Hard-level instances now, he’d die without even knowing how.

Only by fully understanding the gameplay of these instances could he progress. Otherwise, it was a dead end.

He only had one life, and he needed to treasure it.

Yan Jiyun had no choice but to go back to the place where he first woke up. The sky was getting brighter and he could see his surroundings more clearly. He found a fake mountain to crouch behind.

His assigned role was a black panther, but he wasn’t actually a black panther. Something might have gone wrong when the system converted their roles.

But that didn’t matter for now. He needed to first see what kind of NPCs would appear next. Were they caretakers who acted like doting caregivers, or simply feeders who tossed food and left?

He found a clean spot under the fake mountain and crouched down. This instance lasted five days, which meant he probably wouldn’t be able to bathe for five days.

Suddenly, a faint set of footsteps approached the enclosure.

Yan Jiyun tensed up completely.

These definitely weren’t human footsteps. Humans’ steps were heavier, he could usually hear them clearly even from hundreds of meters away.

But he hadn’t heard anything earlier. It must be a native inhabitant of this area, very likely a leopard!

It must be a leopard—

He had already seen a leopard poking half its head out of the bamboo grove. Not just one, but three in total!

Yan Jiyun had never been this panicked in previous instances. With humans, his speed made him impossible to catch. But against leopards, he had no chance of outrunning them. He slowly shrank back into the narrow crevice inside the fake mountain. Please don’t find him. At his size, one bite and he’d be gone!

Why was an Easy-level instance this dangerous?

Meanwhile, Yan Jiyun’s livestream exploded!

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Holy shit!!! Am I seeing this right? How did the kitten enter an Easy-level instance? Crazy Zoo isn’t a Newcomer instance!”

“Did I miss something? I remember every instance triggers a stream alert once the room opens. Did I miss his two Newcomer instances? It’s been ten days since the last stream.”

“I haven’t seen Kitty Baby stream for ten days either. What happened?”

“Don’t panic! Don’t freak out! Kitty Baby probably leveled up in the previous instance. For those who don’t follow the leveling rules: there’s a ten-day rest period between Newcomer instances and Easy-level ones. I bet he cleared three Challenging Mode instances and unlocked new endings each time. His points probably exceeded the Newcomer cap, so he got bumped straight into the Easy-level instance.”

“Ohhh, that makes sense. Scared me, I thought I missed a stream.”

“But wow, this Crazy Zoo instance looks really fun.”

“Why are the Kitty-cat’s instance picks always so entertaining?”

“The kitten got assigned the black panther role?”

“Yep. The character assignments in this instance are quite interesting. Players turn into whatever animal corresponds to the area they land in.”

“Oh no! Those leopards are circling the fake mountain! Kitty Baby is inside!! What do we do?! He’s a cat, not a leopard! He’ll get bitten to death, right? I remember there’s one particularly aggressive leopard in the leopard zone!”

“I’m watching first-person POV right now. Any time the cat runs into something like this, I get scared but also kind of thrilled.”

“Same, same. Please don’t let a ferocious leopard show up.”

What was it like being surrounded by several leopards?

Yan Jiyun felt that if he managed to get through this instance alive, he would never again want to experience the pressure of being trapped with leopards.

The three leopards continued approaching the fake mountain. The enrichment facilities here were incredibly realistic, with branches for climbing, and nests that matched their natural habits.

The fake mountain was probably one of the enrichment structures meant to train leopard instincts, providing something to play with and good for hiding. But no amount of hiding could block out their keen sense of smell.

Leopards were agile hunters of the jungle; they could distinguish scents between species.

Yan Jiyun never expected his previously arrogant cat form would encounter a natural enemy. He really shouldn’t underestimate any instance. This game only dug traps for players. How could it possibly let him pass easily?

He would never dare get cocky again. Being a cat player didn’t guarantee an advantage!

He couldn’t let his success in three consecutive Challenging Mode instances inflate his ego. In this game, there was no “hardest”, only “harder.”

He tried holding his breath, realized he would suffocate, and gave up.

He could smell the leopards’ scent. One leopard was quietly approaching the spot where he was hiding. Its footsteps were so light they were almost inaudible.

This was even more intense than the time he was chased by the female owner in his first instance. 

Humans couldn’t pinpoint his location, but leopards could locate him precisely.

Yan Jiyun realized he still smelled like scented shampoo. With such an obvious fragrance, there was no way the leopards wouldn’t detect him.

Damn it, that was a detail he hadn’t noticed. From now on he must never use scented shampoo. All daily products needed to be switched to unscented. He suspected his owner hadn’t noticed this either due to lack of experience.

To Yan Jiyun, leopards were huge. They were felines like him, but their physique was enviable.

The leopard outside suddenly lay down at the entrance of the cave he was hiding in. If it were a human, it would be impossible to find a black cat in a pitch-black hole. But leopards were different, as they had sharp senses. Its nose even moved forward, sniffing to confirm the presence of a non-same-species scent.

Yan Jiyun knew it couldn’t enter. He stretched out his paw and smacked its nose as hard as he could. The leopard outside couldn’t see his attack. After feeling the pain, it retreated slightly.

Maybe living in the zoo had softened its wild instincts a bit. It had courage but lacked caution.

These leopards must have come out at this hour because they were hungry.

Yan Jiyun realized he couldn’t stay hiding here forever. He needed to find a chance to escape.

The leopard outside didn’t retreat after being hit on the nose, instead, it stretched its paw into the cave. The sharp claws made Yan Jiyun terrified. If those claws landed on his neck, his throat would be torn open instantly!

He couldn’t cower. The leopard outside couldn’t see him anyway.

Yan Jiyun straightened his upper body, crouching on his hind legs. The space was tight. If the leopard’s paw reached a few centimeters further, its sharp claws would slice his skin open, and he wouldn’t need five days. He’d die from infection tomorrow.

This was a battle between big cats and small cats!

Though tiny, he couldn’t lose in momentum. He gauged the distance between himself and the leopard’s huge paw. If he struck, would the leopard retaliate? If it did, would he be scratched? Or would his attack make it retreat?

If he didn’t counterattack, the leopard would keep guarding the entrance. No feline lacked patience. Younger ones might be more playful, but they never went against their instincts.

His paw was pitifully small compared to the leopard’s, barely enough to cause harm. But as long as he could intimidate it, that was enough!

He needed to force the leopard outside to retreat. He decisively extended his paw and unleashed a barrage of hits on the leopard’s paw, smacking it repeatedly. If once didn’t hurt, then twice; if twice didn’t hurt, then three, four, five times. One of them would sting eventually.

His strikes were fast and precise, each smack landing on the leopard’s thick, muscular paw.

Maybe the leopard didn’t expect its paw to be attacked so many times so quickly. It immediately pulled back, but it still didn’t leave!

This was likely a young leopard, with less caution and a more playful nature.

Yan Jiyun wanted to roll his eyes. Could it leave already?

His prayers seemed somewhat effective. He heard human footsteps, and the leopards outside heard them too.

The leopard watching him didn’t leave right away, but the other two turned and ran toward the approaching human NPC, likely a familiar keeper.

Just when Yan Jiyun was despairing, the human outside suddenly called, “Jixiang? Jixiang⁴吉祥. It means “auspicious/lucky”?”

The name indeed sounded auspicious. The leopard crouching at his entrance finally reacted.

Yan Jiyun let out a sigh of relief.

The moment the leopard named Jixiang left, he darted out the other side of the fake mountain and ran across the pine-bark-covered ground toward the dense fencing. He squeezed out through a gap big enough and hid within the leopard area, but far away from the leopards.

At that moment, his Human Form Time Card had only three seconds left.

[Remaining time on Human Form Time Card: 3 seconds]

2 seconds—

1 second—

Yan Jiyun thought nothing would happen like before. He assumed he would remain a cat.

But as the timer ended, his vision suddenly rose.

His black-furred limbs turned into human limbs.

Yan Jiyun saw his palms pressing against the ground, and was utterly stunned.

Why did he suddenly turn back into a human?

What kind of bug was this? His card had turned him into a “cat,” but his “true body” had reverted to human?

How was he supposed to play now?

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Holy shit, how did the kitten just turn human? And a guy earlier said there’s a really aggressive leopard in this zone, and I think the kitten entered its territory. He’s not gonna get eaten by that fierce leopard, right?”

T/N: About Yan Jiyun’s assigned species.

Minor spoiler here (they’re in the next chapter), but there are a couple of leopards in the enclosure, one of which is a black-furred one. I decided to translate all black leopard as “black panther”. Yes, panthers can be leopards, but they can be jaguars too. 

Though, if you felt otherwise (Yan Jiyun should be black leopard), feel free to try to persuade me otherwise! Maybe you can tell me a good reason? I’m open to suggestion~

• 1
  Chinese name: 香和动物园 “Xiānghé Dòngwùyuán”; AFAIK, 香 means fragrance/smell; 和 means “and”. 动物园 means zoo/animal park.
• 2
  so from my perspective: Newcomer level is divided into two: Introductory and Challenging, but they’re both Level 1 in terms of actual difficulty (though Challenging is harder than Introductory). Easy instances started at Challenging Level 2, aka straight +2 stages of difficulty from Newcomer-Challenging mode.
• 3
  In Chinese, both panther and leopard shared a character (豹 bào). And scientifically speaking, “panther” is a general name for black-colored big cats (mostly leopards or jaguars). All of them belong to the genus Panthera, with leopards being Panthera pardus. Other members of this genus are tigers and lions. I will refer to Yan Jiyun’s assigned species as black panther, but his enclosure/habitat as Leopard Zone. As for the reason, I’ll write in the footnote.
• 4
  吉祥. It means “auspicious/lucky”