DSMC Chapter 81.2

So far, Jiang Meiying hadn’t shown anything obviously wrong. Like Yan Jiyun, she braved the heavy rain as they moved forward together, leading the way ahead of him. Everything seemed perfect, without any issues at all.

Yan Jiyun kept a distance of about two to three meters from her, within visible range.

Seeing that Yan Jiyun was keeping his distance, Jiang Meiying didn’t show any anger on the surface. In the heavy rain, she said to him, “We’re almost there. We need to climb this small slope first. Once we get over it, we’ll see the rockery. The wolf pup might be underneath, and we can also take shelter from the rain for a bit.”

Her voice was very soft, softer than before it started raining. Luckily, Yan Jiyun had good hearing. If it were an ordinary person who couldn’t hear her clearly, they would definitely step closer to ask again, which would shorten the distance between them.

Yan Jiyun was certain that Jiang Meiying was definitely not an ordinary NPC. The other caretaker NPCs all treated him like they were just watching a show, but Jiang Meiying started talking to him, and the moment the mission appeared she immediately followed up by saying she’d help him. He didn’t believe the system would give him such a coincidence. Everything felt deliberately designed.

His vigilance toward Jiang Meiying rose even higher.

“Alright, I got it.”

Jiang Meiying pulled her rain hood forward slightly, her expression obscure and unreadable: “……”

She didn’t understand how, from such a distance, Jiang You could still hear her, even though she had deliberately lowered her voice so much.

The small slope wasn’t very high. Yan Jiyun’s steps were steady, and the two quickly arrived in front of the rockery.

Jiang Meiying said, “You go in and look around. If you don’t find anything, we’ll switch to another location.”

Yan Jiyun walked toward the rockery in the heavy rain.

Perhaps because gray wolves were small¹T/L: idk the measurement of “small” in this instance, but gray wolves’ bodies have a lot of variation. Typically, their length (minus the tail) ranges from 0.9 to 1.5 meters, and they stood about 60 to 80 cm tall. to begin with, the rockery wasn’t very large, but it was tall.

He didn’t hear the cries of a wolf pup from inside, nor did he smell any trace of one.

If he were the game designer, he wouldn’t have designed this mission at all. A wolf’s sense of smell isn’t much worse than a dog’s. They could rely on their own abilities to find their cubs. Giving this task to an ordinary person was indeed difficult; if it were given to a wolf player, it would be simple. Following the law of novel protagonists, finding a cub might even earn them a commendation from the alpha wolf, followed by a promotion in the pack.

As soon as Yan Jiyun approached the rockery, he already knew there was no wolf pup inside.

But he felt Jiang Meiying should know that too. He deliberately walked into the rockery, wanting to see what she intended to do.

Dragging the stick in his hand, he slipped into the rockery. There was indeed no sign of a wolf pup inside. There wasn’t even the scent of other wolves.

How was Jiang Meiying planning to make her move?

Yan Jiyun pretended to circle around inside the rockery. When he turned around, he discovered Jiang Meiying standing right behind him, less than a meter away. He was nearly startled, but his face remained calm.

“Do you want to come in and take shelter from the rain?” Yan Jiyun asked. “I’m planning to go out and continue searching.”

Jiang Meiying said, “This rain looks like it’ll last a long time. How about we wait here for a bit and go out again after it stops?”

Yan Jiyun refused. “You’re a girl. You really shouldn’t get soaked in the rain, it’s bad for your health. How about you stay here and take shelter, and I’ll go look.”

Jiang Meiying shook her head. “Forget it. Since I promised to help you look together, I won’t give up halfway.”

Watching the mission timer tick away second by second, Yan Jiyun decided not to argue with her. “Fine. Where are we searching next?”

Jiang Meiying continued leading the way ahead. “There’s a small grove around the bend. Gray wolves usually like to run there. When it rains, they’ll hide indoors, so they shouldn’t be there right now. We can go take a look.”

“Wouldn’t it be impossible not to find an injured cub in an area they frequent?” Yan Jiyun voiced his doubt.

Jiang Meiying hadn’t expected Yan Jiyun’s logic to be online. She froze for a moment. “You’re right. Then let’s go to the plains area. There should be traces there.”

Yan Jiyun said, “Mm-hmm, then let’s change locations.”

There were lots of trees in the small grove. Who knew what methods Jiang Meiying might use against him there.

On one hand, he genuinely hoped Jiang Meiying would just lead him around here for a bit. On the other hand, he also wanted to resolve this hidden danger as soon as possible. It was deeply unsettling.

They circled past several small slopes and arrived at a small plain. It really was very flat. On a rainy day like this, one couldn’t even see a groundhog.

Wolves would also dig holes on the plains. He searched around the simulated plain for a while, but still didn’t hear any cries for help from a wolf pup.

Logically speaking, if this was within the wolf zone, the wolf pack should have been able to find their own cubs. Yet now he hadn’t seen a single wolf, not even a small animal.

Strange. He had almost walked the entire wolf zone without discovering any trace of it. Could it be that it wasn’t here at all?

At this moment, Jiang Meiying said, “It might have run into the neighboring elephant zone. We can go check over there.”

Once again, Yan Jiyun widened the distance between himself and Jiang Meiying. “The elephants in the zoo are relatively gentle. They shouldn’t pose any threat to a wolf pup, right? Let’s go toward the monkey zone instead.”

Jiang Meiying was just about to say to go to the elephant zone when her expression paused. “That works too. You’ve just arrived, but you’re already quite familiar with our zoo’s map.”

Yan Jiyun pretended not to notice anything and said, “It’s for work. I memorized it myself.”

He could feel that Jiang Meiying was deliberately dragging out his time, constantly leading him toward places with no trace of a wolf pup. Her behavior was extremely strange.

His mission time was limited. He couldn’t keep dragging things out like this.

Jiang Meiying clearly wanted him to go to the elephant zone. He didn’t know what purpose she had in delaying his time. The elephants in the zoo were all trained and relatively gentle, but the monkeys were another matter entirely. Monkeys were always smart, but some of them didn’t have good tempers. Just look at the monkeys in certain real-world scenic spots that rob tourists — they could be described as extremely vicious.

Yan Jiyun’s sense of direction was decent. If it weren’t raining, he might still be able to smell traces of wolves on the ground, but after the rain, many scents had been washed away.

Only then did he realize that the wolf zone wasn’t far from the monkey zone. If a wolf pup had been injured somewhere, it was very possible it was in the monkey zone. 

Jiang Meiying’s voice suddenly lost its gentleness as she urgently said, “It definitely isn’t in the monkey zone. Let’s go check the elephant zone.”

But by the time she spoke, Yan Jiyun had already run far ahead, not intending to listen to her arrangements anymore. It was simply a waste of time.

Yan Jiyun broke into a run, and Jiang Meiying started chasing him!

Jiang Meiying shouted angrily, “Stop! If you keep running, I won’t be polite!”

The more she said that, the more Yan Jiyun wanted to run. His subconscious had just told him that he absolutely couldn’t confront Jiang Meiying head-on in the grass or woods, because she seemed to be constantly trying to lure him into the forest.

Did Jiang Meiying have something special on her?

Damn it! He’d been so focused on the task at the start that he forgot to ask which area Jiang Meiying was responsible for.

Just then, Yan Jiyun heard rustling sounds coming from the grass, all from behind him. The rustling grew closer and closer.

Yan Jiyun’s face changed drastically!

He knew what it was!

Ahhh!

It was snakes! What he feared most was snakes!!

Now he knew it. Jiang Meiying was responsible for the snake zone, and she even kept snakes herself!

Jiang Meiying chased after Yan Jiyun, her emotions fluctuating wildly. She laughed loudly and said, “Jiang You, why are you running? My babies can’t wait to eat you.”

Yan Jiyun cursed inwardly: ‘As expected, not a single NPC in this game is any good. Who knows how many snakes are chasing after me now.’

He had to go to the monkey zone. He didn’t know whether monkeys could deal with snakes.

Ahhh, snakes are so disgusting!

Yan Jiyun could only speed up. Since he hadn’t been pulled into an additional game space, he couldn’t turn back into a cat. If he transformed now, the system would judge it as zone-hopping and impose corresponding punishment.

He knew it! The game was never that simple. That one hour wasn’t for him to complete the task, but for the NPCs to take his life.

Luckily, this zoo wasn’t an actual wilderness. The monkey zone quickly appeared within his field of vision.

He sprinted toward the fence, then hurled the bag he was carrying over to the other side, stepped on the railing, and jumped across!

Thanks to the zookeeper’s training program, he was now very proficient at jumping when he saw fences below him.

There was still a ditch between the wolf zone and monkey zone, but these snakes weren’t large animals. They could squeeze through anywhere, and they still followed Yan Jiyun over.

Yan Jiyun felt that just running like this wouldn’t work. By identifying the rustling sounds, he could tell how many snakes there were.

Not many, only two. But they weren’t easy to deal with. These two snakes were under Jiang Meiying’s control. Disgusting as hell!

Yan Jiyun tossed the red-white-blue bag aside, picked up the stick in his hand, and stood atop a large rock.

Two snakes that he really didn’t want to describe slithered over with hissing sounds, almost reaching Yan Jiyun. He swung the stick swiftly, smashing one of them right on its vital spot, and it slid down to the ground.

The other one followed closely. Yan Jiyun repeated the move, striking it with the stick. One hit didn’t kill it, so he smashed it two more times!

Jiang Meiying chased over. She also nimbly leapt over the fence. Facing the two dead “vanguards,” she showed not the slightest bit of distress.

She still had a small one in her hand, hissing at Yan Jiyun.

Yan Jiyun asked in confusion, “Why do you want to harm me?”

Jiang Meiying said, “It’s just that you’re too good-looking. You annoy me.”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

That reason was really outrageous.

Yan Jiyun said, “Then I’m really sorry. So may I ask, beautiful lady, how will you let me go? I’m in a hurry.”

Jiang Meiying said, “That won’t do. It depends on whether my little baby is willing. Let it bite you once and I’ll let you go.”

Yan Jiyun said, “I have no malice toward animals living in this world, but I don’t have a favorable view of using small animals to harm people.”

Jiang Meiying chuckled, then charged at Yan Jiyun. But Yan Jiyun wasn’t that easy to touch. He swung his stick and struck the hand Jiang Meiying had wrapped with the small snake.

Jiang Meiying failed to dodge in time and screamed, “Ah! Men really are unreliable! You’re beating women too!”

“You can’t talk nonsense like that. I respect all women who respect others, but when someone wants to kill me, I can’t lie down and let you stab me.” Only a fool wouldn’t resist.

In the monkey zone, there wasn’t much else, but there were plenty of rocky hills. Yan Jiyun leapt from his current position to another. Jiang Meiying was a senior keeper at the zoo and was very familiar with the terrain.

“I told you, stop and I won’t hold it against you!” Jiang Meiying shouted from behind while chasing him. She was clearly extremely excited.

Yan Jiyun could only continue climbing over the hill, while also watching his footing. On rainy days, not only was visibility obstructed, but the rocks were also hard to step on. Everything was slick with water. One slip and he could easily slide down. He wouldn’t even need Jiang Meiying’s venomous snakes to kill him. He could take himself out first.

And at this moment, as Yan Jiyun got closer to another area of the monkey zone, he realized he might be able to find the injured wolf pup. But before going to look for the cub, he had to deal with Jiang Meiying. Sure enough, she knew the cub had fallen into the monkey zone and deliberately led him in circles to prevent him from completing the task, while waiting for an opportunity to kill him. Eliminating players was the reason for her existence.

He stopped caring about anything else. When Jiang Meiying clung to him like a leech, he swung his stick. He had thought the two of them would fight for a long time, but who would’ve thought that the rock Jiang Meiying was standing on was a place monkeys often played. Once it rained, it became extremely slippery. Her foot slipped, she failed to plant it firmly, her body tilted, and she fell off the rocky hill.

“Ah!”

Jiang Meiying fell just like that. The rocky hill wasn’t low, and below was hard ground. She was probably already knocked unconscious, if not dead on impact. The small snake on her also fell with her and was flattened under her body.

Yan Jiyun: “……”

He hadn’t expected rain to have this kind of effect.

Now wasn’t the time to worry about whether Jiang Meiying had been smashed into minced meat. He let out a breath.

Amid the crashing sound of the rain, he heard the miserable cries of a wolf pup. It made his heart ache.

“Awoo~ awoo~ awoo~”

Of course, besides the pitiful whines of the little baby wolf, there were also mixed-in chittering sounds from monkeys.

T/L: Just some wolf facts~

From National Wildlife Federation: Adult gray wolves (Canis lupus) exhibit significant size variation depending on their geographic location. In general, wolves in northern regions are larger than those in southern areas. Males typically weigh between 70 and 145 pounds (32 to 65 kilograms), while females usually weigh between 60 and 100 pounds (27 to 45 kilograms). The body length of a gray wolf ranges from 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters), with the tail adding an additional 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 meters). At the shoulder, they stand approximately 26 to 33 inches (66 to 84 centimeters) tall.) compare that to the largest wolf species Mackenzie Valley Wolves (Canis lupus occidentalis), it weighs up to 175 pounds (80 kilograms) with body lengths ranging 5 to 7 feet (1.5 to 2.1 meters).

Also, here are photos of a gray wolf and its pups!

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  T/L: idk the measurement of “small” in this instance, but gray wolves’ bodies have a lot of variation. Typically, their length (minus the tail) ranges from 0.9 to 1.5 meters, and they stood about 60 to 80 cm tall.