DSMC Chapter 76.1

A question: do you want me to list the named animals in Chapter 0? I usually list all important NPCs there, but considering that this instance is about a zoo… well, there’s a lot of important animals here.

Also, sorry I forgor to give a CW for this whole arc…

CW: gore, animal cruelty

[Want to be Human] Livestream channel:

“Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter! How could Kitty Baby be so foolish to become a zookeeper? This mission is way too difficult, but it’s so exciting.”

“There’s absolutely no problem with zookeepers interacting with tigers, Kitty Baby, hurry up and go!”

“But he’s only been a zookeeper for less than an hour, right? Hahaha, can he even complete such a high-difficulty mission?”

“Grabbing a tiger’s paw rashly would get you bitten to death, right?”

“It’s possible. Look, Kitty Baby deliberately put the cat toy in front of the white tiger, and all the other tigers pounced toward him.”

“Did you forget the Bengal white tiger is a player? Kitty Baby already saw him when he first entered the instance, and even saw the white tiger player practicing walking.”

“He did it on purpose, right? He couldn’t possibly not know that doing this would only help other players gain exposure and have no effect on his popularity ranking.”

“I’ve followed four instances already. I feel like many of the kitty’s actions are things I’d never think of, and there’s always an unexpected effect. I’ll just follow Kitty Baby brainlessly and hope he doesn’t end up getting himself into trouble this time.” 

Yan Jiyun felt that this time he had really jumped straight into the system’s trap and couldn’t crawl out no matter what.

This was currently the only mission he had received that came with points. Not doing it felt like a loss, but doing it meant gambling with his own life, and this trash game even gave him a time limit.

Yan Jiyun had no choice but to turn his gaze to the Bengal white tiger. This player had knocked down two security guards last night without causing them the slightest harm. How about finding him to do the mission? It was just touching a big tiger, giving it a hug, no problem at all.

He decided to make a move on the big white tiger.

Yan Jiyun used the cat teaser to lure the Bengal white tiger beneath the rock, then, in the moment when the other tigers hesitated, jumped down from the rock and touched the big white tiger’s head.

[“Dancing with Tigers” Progress: 1/3]

That was to say, Yan Jiyun had smoothly completed the task of interacting with the first tiger just like that.

Bengal white tiger player: “……” Getting his head patted was quite sudden.

He had just been feeling grateful to the zookeeper for helping him gain popularity on the ranking list, thinking that being patted on the head by an NPC was no big deal. After all, he was just a tiger right now. No matter what, he wouldn’t lose a chunk of flesh.

But Yan Jiyun still needed to interact with two more real tigers. He had dared to make a move because he knew the white tiger was a player, but he didn’t really dare touch real tigers. What if they bit him?

What should he do now? He still wanted his hands, and right now he didn’t dare approach the tigers that were closing in. A tiger’s teeth were no joke, definitely not something he dared to casually pet.

Because Yan Jiyun stopped waving the teaser toy, the tigers that wanted to play all stepped forward to remind him, and some even took the initiative to come over after seeing him touch the white tiger.

Yan Jiyun struggled between resisting and reaching out. Just touching two big fluffy things should be fine, right?

He still cautiously reached down and scratched hard under the chin of the South China tiger closest to him. This tiger’s nose was a fleshy pink color with a small black dot on it. Its build was not as robust as the other tigers, seeming rather lean, but often tigers with this kind of physique had greater explosive power. The robust ones were all fattened up by humans. If they really fought, they definitely wouldn’t compare to this lean South China tiger in front of him.

Something he’d never even dared to imagine was actually realized in the game: he had petted a South China tiger, a living, breathing South China tiger!

This tiger was really handsome. Its long and solid build truly made him envious.

Yan Jiyun scratched under its chin with some force and said, “I remember your name is Orange¹橙子. As in the fruit, not the color. Though the color orange also shares the first character because it is named after the fruit lol..”

The South China tiger Orange could smell Yan Jiyun’s scent, which resembled that of its own kin but not quite the same. In the end, it still succumbed to Yan Jiyun’s cat-petting technique.

Yan Jiyun did everything according to the way the caretaker had petted him before. Whichever hand posture felt most comfortable, he used that on Orange. The effect was unexpectedly good.

[“Dancing with Tigers” Progress: 2/3]

Great, time to switch to the next big fluffy classmate.

He definitely didn’t dare try interaction behaviors like riding a tiger; he still wanted to keep his life.

Like a sea king²slang for playboy, Yan Jiyun continued searching for the next target, and then he saw a fat tiger automatically nudging into his hand. That’s right, it was the biggest one among all the tigers, with more flesh on its belly than the others³in other words, IT’S A CHONKER!!!!!!!!!!!. Even Orange, the South China tiger standing next to it looked a size smaller.

Truly, without comparison there is no harm.

Yan Jiyun thought of how the caretaker would sometimes touch his belly to prevent him from gaining weight. If he put on even a little, his diet would be controlled.

Obviously, this tiger hadn’t done a good job controlling its diet and weight. His hand itched, and he touched this tiger’s round belly.

Tiger: “……”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

Sorry, he couldn’t control himself for a moment.

[“Dancing with Tigers” Progress: 3/3]

[Congratulations to the player for completing the “Dancing with Tigers” task. Point reward will be distributed after the instance ends.]

Even Yan Jiyun himself hadn’t expected to be so brave as to touch a big tiger’s belly!

A burst of excited screams came from outside. After he made a move on the fat tiger, the visitors screamed, seemingly expressing admiration for his brave behavior.

The distance wasn’t very far, and he could basically hear their conversations clearly.

“Wow, I just said I wanted to see the young zookeeper interact with big tigers, and it really happened!”

“Xiao gege is awesome! He touched several big tigers in a row, and every single one was so well-behaved around him. I want to reach out and touch them too.”

“All the good-looking xiao gege go raise animals. Can I ask if you have social media? Can I add you?”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

‘I really have to thank you all.’

He finally understood; it was the visitors who were making the mission. The system issued tasks to players based on the visitors’ psychological needs. The system could detect that his identity was a player, but it couldn’t detect whether he was in panther form or not.

For example, if a player turned into a monkey and visitors suggested the little monkey do a somersault, would the system then issue a task to the player to do a somersault to entertain the visitors?

If the visitors proposed a mission that the player couldn’t do, could they refuse?

In the mission that was just issued, there was no prompt saying the mission must be completed. It seemed to be the same as the previous instance — side missions could be completed selectively.

He glanced at the system’s “Visitor Prompt Area” after completing it, and saw a new line of content added.

[Visitor +1]

[Visitor +1]

[Satisfying Visitor Needs +10]

So he could play it like this?

The visitors paying attention to him weren’t as many as imagined. Most of the visitors to the zoo were parents and children; only a small number were interested in the zookeepers. After this wave of visitors passed, Yan Jiyun’s visitor increase was still less than that of the Bengal white tiger player.

Up to now, Yan Jiyun still didn’t know what this popularity ranking was used for. He chose to continue keeping a low profile, maintaining a mediocre ranking.

After he finished the task, Uncle Man, who had slipped away earlier, came back again.

Seeing a group of tigers gathered around Yan Jiyun, he was extremely surprised. “No wonder you studied this major, the tigers all really like you.”

Yan Jiyun forced a smile. “It’s alright, it’s alright.” It was all thanks to the cat teaser toy in his hand.

Some tigers still wanted to keep playing with the cat teaser, especially that fat tiger. It nudged Yan Jiyun with its big head.

Uncle Man fell silent for a moment, then said, “You can keep them company and play for a while. The tigers usually aren’t this enthusiastic.”

Yan Jiyun asked, “Is that okay?”

Uncle Man said, “There’s nothing wrong with it. Oh right, they also like playing with balls. There are a few balls over there, you can give it a try. But when we play with them, they usually don’t pay much attention. Also, be careful yourself. Don’t let them bite you.”

Yan Jiyun needed to play the role of an NPC properly, so he followed Uncle Man’s instructions and tried his best to act like a zookeeper. However, he could also tell that Uncle Man’s tone was becoming colder and colder, and there was no emotion visible in his eyes at all.

Never mind that for now. Better play ball with the tigers first.

He didn’t really understand why tigers liked playing with balls. He didn’t like balls himself; only dogs that liked chasing frisbees liked playing with balls.

Yan Jiyun put away the cat teaser and took down two pink round balls from a nearby tree. These toys had originally been prepared by the zoo in advance for the tigers.

Great, using the balls, he could lure the tigers away and free up both hands. He really didn’t want to go through the process of nearly shaking his hands off again.

Yan Jiyun didn’t know whether the reason the zookeepers couldn’t get the tigers to play ball was because the tigers didn’t want to play, or because they didn’t like the zookeepers.

If they didn’t want to play ball with Uncle Man and the other zookeepers, they might not necessarily want to play with him either, right?

Full of doubts, he took down the balls hanging halfway up the tree. The tree was covered in claw marks scratched out by the big cats. If those landed on a human body, an entire layer of flesh would be gone. Thinking about it this way, his own claws really posed no threat at all.

He held one ball in each hand. Big cats reacted more strongly to bright colors. He moved the ball from left to right in front of them, and their gazes followed along.

Did that mean they wanted to play?

Yan Jiyun tried tossing the first ball. He didn’t throw it too far. If the tigers didn’t chase it, wouldn’t he have to go pick it up himself? That would be exhausting.

Just when everyone thought the tigers’ reaction to the ball wasn’t very strong, all the big cats that had just been gathered together playing with the cat teaser rushed toward the ball Yan Jiyun had thrown.

Six or seven big cats charging toward a single ball created a ground-shaking spectacle!

“Holy shit, this zookeeper is amazing. When I came last time, these tigers wouldn’t even move. This time it’s cat teasers and playing ball. Such a huge change.”

“This zookeeper has some kind of charisma buff on him.”

Orange, being the lightest and most agile in build, caught up to the red ball, then carried it back and placed it in front of Yan Jiyun.

Yan Jiyun: “……” Why was it locking onto him specifically? Was it because he looked easier to bully, with no sense of threat?

It felt like he had unlocked the traffic password of the tiger zone.

Seeing this, the Bengal white tiger player felt he also had to join in, otherwise he’d seem too out of place.

Yan Jiyun took back the ball Orange had carried over, then threw out the other ball in his hand. This time he threw it farther. All the tigers ran in the other direction. Then he threw out another one. Almost all the tigers present started moving, and the scene was extremely spectacular.

Standing to the side, Uncle Man’s expression grew worse and worse. This was also the first time he had seen such an unusual zookeeper. This kid had no real communication with the tigers, yet the tigers were all willing to play with him, which made him feel a sense of crisis.

The visitors outside were watching with envy.

“I really want to play ball together with the big kitties too!”

“This zookeeper is awesome. Why wasn’t he hired earlier? I’m only seeing him now, and I felt inexplicably moved. It’s a beautiful picture of humans and animals living in harmony.”

“Tsk tsk, didn’t you forget there was a tiger biting someone to death incident before? I remember back then there was also a zookeeper who wanted to play ball with a tiger, but that tiger was in a bad mood that day and directly bit the zookeeper to death. The scene was really brutal.”

“Seems like I’ve heard of that.”

T/N: oughh,,,,, Yan Jiyun can pet tigers’ chubby belly,,,,,,,, im so envious………………..

• 1
  橙子. As in the fruit, not the color. Though the color orange also shares the first character because it is named after the fruit lol.
• 2
  slang for playboy
• 3
  in other words, IT’S A CHONKER!!!!!!!!!!!