DSMC Chapter 75.2

He observed the small exhibits they passed by, unsure how players were assigned.

There were tens of thousands of players in the game, and it couldn’t be guaranteed that there weren’t others like him who had learned how to use time cards. That veterinarian just now could very well have been a player. His first reaction was to look at Yan Jiyun’s badge.

The system was nasty, directly exposing all players’ names on the leaderboard. Someone with a good memory could tell at a glance whether he was a player just by seeing his name.

In the Easy-level instance, players’ points wouldn’t exceed 300,000. As long as they cleared ten instances, they could level up, but the game didn’t force players to enter the next tier once they had cleared ten instances. As long as their points hadn’t reached 300,000, they could keep grinding beginner instances as practice.

Capable players who filled up to 300k points would enter the Intermediate level directly, making Easy instances essentially practice grounds for harder instances. 

This was Yan Jiyun’s first time entering an Easy-level instance, and the players he was facing were likely all very experienced. Some players might also have purchased props that allowed them to transform into humans and could now be mixed in among the crowd.

Players in Easy instances had already gone through the Newcomer-instance screening. He had to be even more cautious and absolutely couldn’t let other players discover him.

When Yan Jiyun had first entered the instance, he had accidentally wandered into the tiger zone. At that time it was still very dark and he hadn’t seen the full picture. Now, however, he could take in the entire tiger zone at a glance.

There were still differences between the tiger zone and the leopard zone.

Tigers generally hunted on land. They could climb trees but didn’t do so often. Their bodies were relatively large and bulky. Most of them lay on the ground — some alone, some playing together — unlike the leopards in the leopard area, who all loved perching up in trees.

Yan Jiyun scanned several white tigers. One of them stayed by itself, deliberately imitating other tigers by licking the fur on its paws, yet looked unwilling while doing so. At a glance, it was different from the other tigers. This should be the player who couldn’t even walk properly.

As a “newbie” zookeeper, Yan Jiyun didn’t dare to run around randomly in the tiger area and stuck close to Uncle Man.

The tigers might have some affection for Uncle Man and wouldn’t display aggressive behavior just because he entered, but Yan Jiyun was a newcomer, and that wasn’t guaranteed. Only by following Uncle Man could his safety be ensured.

Uncle Man explained how to interact with the tigers in the tiger area and even introduced several with relatively gentle temperaments. He emphasized, “Absolutely do not get their names wrong, or the consequences will be unimaginable.”

Yan Jiyun memorized each tiger’s name and corresponding stripe patterns. Having been a cat for over a year, he had seen plenty of cats and found it easier to remember tiger stripes, just like human facial features. He remembered which eye was a bit rounder, which nose had a darker spot, which “king¹this character -> 王” character on the forehead wasn’t quite straight. He looked at tigers and felt just like looking at his own kind.

As for this trait of being able to instantly read tigers, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He was practically being assimilated by felines.

Forget it, forget it. It didn’t matter. As long as he didn’t use the time card in this instance, he was human, and no one could stop his determination to be human.

“There are a total of 27 tigers here: 15 South China tigers, 8 Northeast tigers, and 4 Bengal white tigers. Usually, two other zookeepers and I take care of them. Today it’s my shift. If you’re assigned here in the future, then the four of us will take turns looking after them.”

Yan Jiyun counted the large white tigers, and there were indeed four. It seemed the system directly arranged the data, with newly joined players also counted as part of the zoo’s lineup.

“Okay, I’ve got it.”

Yan Jiyun helped Uncle Man tidy up the tigers’ living environment.

In fact, their habitat was a one-to-one simulation of the wild and wasn’t shabby at all. There were artificial mountains and waterfalls, streams and grasslands, many branches and horizontal logs, dug-out streams, and pools with flowing water. Some tigers even soaked in the water.

These tigers were living quite comfortably. Their fur wasn’t even as long as his.

Yan Jiyun carefully observed whether there was anything abnormal in the tiger zone. Aside from one Bengal white tiger being a player, the other tigers were quite normal. They ate and drank as usual, lying around, grooming themselves, chewing grass and coughing up fur. No different from his own daily routine.

There weren’t actually 27 tigers in the tiger zone, only about half that number, around ten or so.

Uncle Man suddenly called out, “Hey, my stomach hurts a bit. You wash everything down here later. I’ll be right back.”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

Damn it, wasn’t this the classic setup for something bad about to happen?

Yan Jiyun could only watch as Uncle Man slipped through the bushes and ran off until he disappeared, just leaving him, a newbie zookeeper, behind. Was that really appropriate?

As soon as Uncle Man left, the tigers that had been lying on the ground all fixed their gaze on Yan Jiyun, making his spine go cold.

Being a zookeeper really wasn’t a good job. No wonder the recruitment requirements emphasized “not afraid of death.” Being stared at by over a dozen tigers was truly terrifying.

Each pair of eyes was like a high-powered light bulb shining on Yan Jiyun’s back. Stop staring, stop staring, if this continued, his back was going to burn holes.

Yan Jiyun felt ashamed of his earlier boldness. Who on earth had given him the courage to become a zookeeper?

Trash system, digging pits one deeper than the last.

He had seen tigers in other zoos bite hole after hole into very sturdy large plastic barrels. If he got bitten even once, wouldn’t he bleed out and die in three minutes flat?

Yan Jiyun forced himself to calm down. He had to think of a solution.

Two tigers were moving toward Yan Jiyun. He turned his back toward the direction without tigers, facing them as directly as possible.

In the first hour of a newbie zookeeper’s tenure, he was probably about to die.

Yan Jiyun once again heard the sound of a sightseeing vehicle, and more visitors had arrived. But all his attention was on the one, two, three tigers approaching him.

Including the player who had transformed into a Bengal white tiger, who was also staring closely at this newly arrived zookeeper. From the earlier conversation between Uncle Man and Yan Jiyun, he had already judged that this was a newbie zookeeper. If the newbie got pounced on by the other tigers, should he try to save him?

Just as the three tigers approached Yan Jiyun, wanting to sniff his scent, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.

The Bengal tiger player never would have imagined that this zookeeper would pull a telescopic rod out of the pocket of his work pants.

According to his own reasoning, since they were all felines, they would definitely like a teaser wand toy. So Yan Jiyun repeated his old trick, using the cat teaser to keep the big tigers at a distance of about two meters from him.

He nimbly climbed onto a nearby rock, creating a height difference between himself and the tigers. Of course, this position didn’t prevent the tigers from pouncing on him, but it gave him the option to make a quick escape. Once he dove into the woods, he could turn into a cat and flee at top speed.

As soon as the tigers made a move, he would react.

Fortunately, teaser wands were a universal toy among felines.

This time, the feather he pulled out of his item slot was even bigger than before. He didn’t know if the system automatically adjusted it based on the target of the toy, but it seemed to change on its own.

The three tigers below began jumping up and stretching out their paws to swat at the large feather swaying in front of them, one swipe after another.

At just this moment, a sightseeing vehicle entered the tiger zone, and the visitors got an eyeful.

“Wow, the tigers are so cute! Last time I came, they were all just lying there not moving. This time I even saw their little bellies!”

“So cute, so cute! I want to film a video. Driver, please don’t drive so fast!”

“The zookeeper is pretty cool too. He’s different from the other keepers.”

“Dear, don’t you think this looks kind of familiar? I just watched a short video where a cat was playing with a teaser toy, teasing a leopard, which is also at this zoo.”

“This zoo is really something else.”

At this moment, the Bengal white tiger player couldn’t sit still anymore.

He saw that a bunch of visitors were all gathered outside the fence, admiring the other tigers. He needed popularity points to earn points too. He had to get some attention.

This zookeeper seemed to have some tricks up his sleeve and should be able to bring in traffic. If other tigers bullied him later, he could choose to help a bit.

The Bengal white tiger player also started moving. Seeing the swaying feather bell, he felt an inexplicable urge to pounce for some reason. He didn’t even know why.

Yan Jiyun knew the Bengal white tiger was a player. Sure enough, no matter who turned into a feline, no one could resist a cat toy. 

His cat-teasing skills were unparalleled; every tiger that came over to play was taken care of evenly, without favoritism.

After successfully resolving the immediate crisis, Yan Jiyun finally took some time to check the rankings.

The one whose ranking was skyrocketing was clearly the Bengal white tiger player. The increases for the other players were relatively steady, but he was riding a rocket, shooting straight from 18th place up to 8th.

Yan Jiyun decided to give him a bit more room to keep charging ahead. With someone rushing the rankings in front, even though his own ranking was also rising, he wouldn’t attract attention.

visitors rarely saw a Bengal white tiger playing with a teaser wand, so it felt especially novel, and all eyes were drawn to it.

The guide took the opportunity to advertise the white tiger: “There are only a little over 200 Bengal white tigers left in the world. The white tigers bred nowadays aren’t purebred. The one you’re seeing now is one of the few purebred white tigers left. It’s very rare to see it this lively. If you want to take videos, hurry up.”

Of course, some visitors were discussing the zookeeper instead.

“The zookeeper is really good-looking. Standing with the tigers like that is so pleasing to the eye. I really want to see him take a photo with the tigers.”

“I want to see him ride a tiger.”

“Guide, can we make a small request? We want to see the keeper interact closely with the tigers.”

Just as Yan Jiyun was preparing to withdraw triumphantly and head to another area to look for clues, the system suddenly popped up a notification.

[Player has triggered a side mission: “Dancing with Tigers.”]

[Mission details: Please engage in friendly interactions with any three tigers in the tiger zone. Actions may include hugging a tiger, riding a tiger, petting a tiger, kissing a tiger, etc. Players may use their own creativity.]

Yan Jiyun: “……”

He thought that once he turned human, the system wouldn’t be able to detect his actions. He was still too naive, damn it!!

• 1
  this character -> 王