DSMC Chapter 77.2

Happy New Year! Here’s to a better new year…

The four tigers sniffed around everywhere. Uncle Man’s control over them seemed to be weakening. One of the tigers had already run off in another direction, while the other three stayed behind.

Uncle Man cursed, “You three idiots, useless trash. Can’t even find one person. I still have to rely on Orange.”

Then he chased after Orange and went far away.

Yan Jiyun hadn’t noticed earlier that the South China tiger would divert Uncle Man away for him. He didn’t know whether it was coincidence or intentional. If it was the latter, Yan Jiyun felt immense gratitude in his heart. It meant the effort he’d spent playing with them earlier hadn’t been wasted.

There were still three tigers guarding this place. What should he do?

In this ten-minute timed side mission, only one minute had passed so far.

In his moment of urgency, Yan Jiyun had used a five-minute time card. He wanted to extend himself another five minutes. If he avoided Uncle Man’s pursuit, when the space effect was lifted, the experience card would end at just the right time and he would turn back into a human.

No, that wasn’t right. There would be a difference of dozens of seconds. After the space effect was lifted, he wouldn’t be able to turn back into a human immediately.

Yan Jiyun paused on the interface to renew the time card. He also had to consider whether, when the side mission ended, he would appear in human form or in cat form.

If he wanted to win against Uncle Man, he only needed to hide for ten minutes, on the premise that he wasn’t afraid of visitors and the Bengal white tiger player seeing the abnormal situation of him turning from human to cat and then from cat back to human.

If he didn’t want players and visitors to discover his true identity, then he had to deal with Uncle Man before his card ended. 

But now there was another problem: how to deal with Uncle Man, who was holding weapons?

At present, it was known that Uncle Man had two extremely lethal weapons on him: an electric baton and the whip he used to lash the tigers.

Among his remaining fourteen props, there weren’t many that could deal with Uncle Man. It was obvious that the game had indeed been updated; most of the purchased props were useless.

This time, he had really lost quite a lot of points… this stupid game! 

Yan Jiyun squatted there for a while longer and noticed that the footsteps of the three tigers outside were becoming steadier, no longer as frantic and restless as before.

One of them had already stopped, jumped onto the platform on top of the rockery, and lay down to rest. The other two were still pacing around, but there was no longer any low growling.

So Uncle Man’s powder had a time limit. If Uncle Man had made the tigers catch him within two minutes, he would have been dead for sure,but now the situation had reversed.

Now the only unknown was whether Uncle Man still had powder on him. Without powder, he couldn’t control the tigers, but he could try other methods.

Yan Jiyun cleared his throat. At this point, there was no need to worry about maintaining any image of a cat that didn’t like to make noise.

Two seconds later, cries for help from a cat came from inside the rockery.

“Meow~”

“Meow~ meow~”

“Meow~ meow~ meow~”

After hearing the soft, fluffy cat cries, the red in the three tigers’ eyes slowly faded away. Even the tiger that still had some red left and was irritable stopped moving. All six ears perked up, listening for where the cat cries were coming from.

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“Ahhh, no, I can’t take it anymore, I’m dead, I’m dead! Those few mewls made my whole body numb. Why is our Kitty Baby so good at this!”

“The kitten cried! So cute! I never would’ve thought of this way out. My perspective was too narrow. I thought the kitten was definitely dead this time. Where are the four tigers?”

“Help, how can he be this cute and this smart!”

“Am I the only one who feels disappointed? I’m so disappointed in Uncle Man. How can he not even beat a cat?”

“Another new tactic. This time he’s reeling in big cats. If it were me hearing this kind of distress call, I’d immediately take him home and serve this darling the best food money can buy. My bed and all my pillows would all be his to sleep on.”

“Arrrghhhh, I want to hear more! The cry of a cold, aloof black cat is actually this sweet. Big kitties, please don’t hurt the Kitty Baby.”

Yan Jiyun had only ever used this trick on his master. Back when he had just turned into a little stray kitten, he’d relied on this kind of adorable cry for help to attract a human’s attention, and was then taken home.

The three tigers became a little unsettled. They wanted to squeeze into the rockery to find the source of the sound.

Yan Jiyun cried out several times in succession. After hearing the movement outside, he felt that there shouldn’t be a problem now. Only then did he cautiously and tentatively squeeze out through the not-so-wide crevice. The continuous crying made him feel that he was breaking through his own limits. Ah, so having no bottom line was probably like this. To stay alive, what was wrong with sending out fake distress calls? Besides, he really was on the verge of not surviving, so a distress call was appropriate.

He stretched out a black-furred paw. The three tigers’ huge heads were right outside the rockery, curiously looking at the black paw reaching out from inside.

Seeing that they had no intention of attacking, Yan Jiyun poked his head out as well.

He tilted his head at the three tigers outside and called, “Meow~”

The tiger standing in the middle stretched out a paw and gently touched his head, its eyes full of confusion.

The tigers, in a clear-headed state, didn’t develop any hostility toward Yan Jiyun. He even wanted to develop some kind of comrade-in-arms bond with them. But just at that moment, he heard the footsteps of Uncle Man returning!

Could it be that he’d discovered Orange might have already broken free from the powder’s control?

Yan Jiyun didn’t see Orange. It was possible that Uncle Man hadn’t caught up to it and then ran back.

Uncle Man was just a human. The tiger zone was vast. As long as Orange ran around casually, he might not be able to find it. Uncle Man didn’t have superhuman vision or sense of smell. Without tigers scouting ahead for him, it was impossible for him to find Yan Jiyun.

And at this moment, Yan Jiyun was being sniffed all over by the three tigers that had already shaken off the powder’s control. One even tried to nudge him with its head. Yan Jiyun almost lost his footing. Their heads were way too big. He patted the big tiger head that was leaning in.

The tiger hadn’t expected Yan Jiyun to pat it back. It froze for a moment.

They also heard Uncle Man’s footsteps and started to become a little restless.

Uncle Man was walking toward them, shouting from afar, “Jinzhu, Yinzhu, Yuzhu!¹金珠、银珠，玉珠. 珠 = pearl；金 = gold；银 = silver；玉 = jade。”

Just from the names, he could tell these three tigers were sisters.

Uncle Man walked straight toward them. Yan Jiyun’s heart began to panic. He couldn’t outrun tigers. He had to think of a way to leave quickly!

Uncle Man’s figure was already within their field of vision, though there was still a short distance to cover.

Yan Jiyun decisively patted the head of the tiger with a black dot on its nose. Seeing that it didn’t get angry, Yan Jiyun directly jumped onto its back. Its back was broader than the other two’s.

Yan Jiyun immediately let out a cry: “Meow~” to signal them to run!

Every type of cat cry had a different meaning. The earlier cries for help had already proven that the tigers shared a common “language” with him. They could understand.

The tiger being ridden by Yan Jiyun froze for a moment, then really did understand his cry. It let out a low roar and ran off in the opposite direction from where Uncle Man was coming. The other two tigers also started running along with it.

Yan Jiyun lay on the back of one of the Zhu Sisters, gripping the tiger’s fur tightly with his claws. If he were human, he obviously couldn’t lie on a tiger’s back. But he wasn’t human now, so of course he could.

Uncle Man roared, “Jinzhu, Yinzhu, Yuzhu, why are you running? All of you, come back!” He swung the whip in his hand, the snapping sounds extremely ear-piercing.

Perhaps due to the long-standing intimidation Uncle Man had imposed on them, the speed of the three tigers actually slowed down.

Yan Jiyun’s heart skipped a beat. No way, were they going to stop?

How great was the influence of Uncle Man’s usual tyranny over the tigers? Could he control the minds of all the tigers?

The three Zhu Sisters really did stop.

Yan Jiyun’s heart sank halfway, but he didn’t jump off the tiger’s back. Instead, he watched Uncle Man approach them!

Uncle Man’s whip cracked with fierce force, but it didn’t seem to land on them. There was still some distance between him and them.

What should he do?

Yan Jiyun heard the sound of Uncle Man’s boots again. His ears stood straight up. He couldn’t let him get any closer. If that whip lashed onto him, he would be dead on the spot.

He didn’t know whether crying out miserably enough would trigger the vigilance of the three Zhus. They were filled with fear toward Uncle Man, but if a weaker little animal asked them for help, would they resist Uncle Man?

The three tigers turned to face the pursuing Uncle Man. At this moment, Uncle Man had no idea that they had already developed an extremely intense sense of anger toward him.

Yan Jiyun could only continue to guide the tigers with his voice!

“Meow!”

“Meow!”

“Meow!”

He continued to “fan the flames,” lowering his voice further so it sounded like he was extremely afraid of Uncle Man.

Uncle Man raised his whip at the tigers. “You dare to resist?” His other hand reached into his pocket.

Yan Jiyun guessed that he was definitely preparing some unknown white powder in his pocket, and immediately switched to a different kind of cry to attack him.

The three tigers were usually oppressed by Uncle Man. Now, hearing the cat cries that kept their minds clear, and acting on the instinct to protect a cub, they directly interrupted Uncle Man’s “casting.” The tiger closest to Uncle Man rose up and pounced on him. The imposing Uncle Man was suddenly pressed to the ground.

Yan Jiyun shouted, “Meow meow meow!”

“Bite his hand! His hand!”

Whether the tiger understood or not, it instinctively opened its mouth and bit down on Uncle Man’s left hand that was reaching for the powder.

Uncle Man screamed, “Jinzhu, let go of my hand! Believe it or not, I’ll whip you to death!”

From behind, Yan Jiyun cried, “Meow!”

“Don’t let go!”

His cry pierced straight into Jinzhu’s ears. As for the human’s voice, Jinzhu didn’t take it in at all, nor could it understand it.

Yan Jiyun turned toward another Zhu Sister and called to it, “Meow~!”

“Zhu-jie, get in there! Bite his other hand too.”

The other Zhu Sister only understood that Yan Jiyun wanted it to attack Uncle Man. As for the specific method of attack, it improvised on its own.

It charged straight at Uncle Man, who was struggling to get back up.

Uncle Man’s eyes were full of terror. He probably hadn’t expected the tigers he had always controlled to suddenly rebel against him!

This collision from the second tiger knocked Uncle Man unconscious. It opened its mouth, wanting to bite Uncle Man’s other hand, and instead clamped onto the whip, tearing at it nonstop. After the whip had been chewed to shreds, it planted its foot on Uncle Man’s face. With several hundred jin of weight pressing down, Uncle Man’s face was probably beyond saving.

Yan Jiyun silently turned his face away. Just watching made it hurt.

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“This move by Meowmeow was so badass! This is the first time I’ve seen, after watching so many instances, a player riding on a tiger’s back and commanding them in battle! I’m so hyped!”

“Hahahaha, Uncle Man is way too miserable. Why did he have to pick a fight with our Kitty Baby?”

“I was just worried for the Kitty Baby, and then it ended the fight so quickly again. What on earth does he have in his head? He always comes up with weird tricks to solve problems.”

“Can only say, worthy of being a cat? Guiding big cats takes no effort at all.”

“This instance is so satisfying. The kitten meowed so many times~ too cute!”

“First time watching this instance. Can someone spoil it a bit? Are the zookeepers the problem, or are the animals the problem?”

Yan Jiyun glanced at the remaining time on his experience card.

[Human Form Time Card remaining time: 5 s]

Uncle Man was now lying on the ground, unable to move. It was unclear whether he was dead or alive; he didn’t even make a groaning sound anymore.

Yan Jiyun jumped down from the back of the third Zhu Sister and walked over to Uncle Man.

At this point, there was no need to be afraid of the three tigers. They had just fought side by side and worked together quite smoothly.

As Yan Jiyun was wondering why the system hadn’t yet prompted that he had defeated Uncle Man, the system notification popped up.

[“Uncle Man’s Anger” side mission has been completed. Point rewards will be distributed after the instance ends.]

After the system popped up the task completion notice, Yan Jiyun stood there in human form, while Uncle Man lay on the ground with his face covered in blood.

After the task ended, the system gave Uncle Man a reasonable exit explanation.

[Uncle Man, due to improper operation, had tampered with the enrichment facilities and was injured on the head by an upturned stick.]

Yan Jiyun let out a sigh of relief. When he looked up, he saw the South China tiger Orange, which had run far away earlier, standing atop the rockery and staring at him, confusion written in its eyes.

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  金珠、银珠，玉珠. 珠 = pearl；金 = gold；银 = silver；玉 = jade。