DSMC Chapter 99.1

Yan Jiyun had only been wandering around the zoo for a single day, so he wasn’t very familiar with its internal roads yet. Maybe after another three days he would know the layout better. Without someone leading the way, in this pitch-dark environment he had no idea where he might end up driving.

He also didn’t know whether Dr. Zhou had noticed his current predicament through the surveillance cameras.

Two cars were still tailing closely behind Yan Jiyun’s vehicle, endlessly annoying. After realizing his driving skills were good, they stopped recklessly rushing forward to block him. Now they neither attacked nor fell behind, just stuck to him like parasites.

After one reckless car had charged ahead earlier and been smashed aside by Yan Jiyun’s drifting maneuver, they changed tactics. Instead of forcing a stop, they simply followed him persistently. It was infuriating.

Yan Jiyun needed to find a way to circle toward the entrance Dr. Zhou had mentioned.

He had no phone and therefore no navigation system. He could only rely on his own sense of direction.

He knew where the four gates were located, but those were pedestrian sightseeing paths for visitors, not vehicle roads. Even if he reached an exit now, it would be useless. With a string of pursuers behind him, his objective would immediately be exposed. The commotion was already too large.

While he was thinking about how to deal with the cars behind him, someone shouted through a loudspeaker: “Jiang You, stop the car! Hand over the tiger and lion!”

The one shouting at Yan Jiyun was Dr. Peng. When had he appeared? Had something gone wrong on Dr. Zhou’s side?

Dr. Peng continued yelling, “Do you really think Zhou Yiqun can cooperate with you from the inside? Do you think we didn’t prepare anything? You’re too naïve!”

“Jiang You, I told you to stop! Give me the tiger and lion, and I won’t hold this against you! I’ll even give you a promotion and a raise!”

Of course Yan Jiyun wouldn’t stop. Stopping now would mean handing Soy Sauce, Orange, Caesar, and the others directly to Dr. Peng. It’s no different from delivering sheep into a tiger’s mouth. He had finally rescued them; sending them back would be idiotic.

Dr. Qiao’s car was still ahead but gradually slowed until it drove alongside him. He shouted, “Supervisor Jiang, I’ll block them for you! You must help me find my son! You’re the only one I can trust!”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

Damn it. Was he really going to sacrifice himself like this? Did he even know who Yan Jiyun really was, trusting him so completely?

Yan Jiyun shouted back, “Don’t do it! You’ll die!”

Dr. Qiao cried out tragically, “If I can’t find my son, I might as well be dead! Whether you find his body or find him alive, please take good care of him and tell him his father never gave up on him!”

Why was a heartfelt family drama unfolding at a time like this?

Dr. Qiao slowed down even further, maneuvering his car behind Yan Jiyun’s vehicle and wedging himself between Yan Jiyun and Dr. Peng, completely blocking the two pursuing cars.

Yan Jiyun shouted backward, “Dr. Qiao, you don’t need to sacrifice yourself! I can handle them!”

The moment he finished speaking, sharp screeching brakes and violent collision sounds erupted behind him, tragic and brutal.

Yan Jiyun thought, ‘Dr. Qiao just morally blackmailed me!’

Whether Dr. Qiao lived or died was unknown, but after such a sacrifice, refusing to help find his son would feel almost indecent.

They had only known each other for a few minutes, yet even knowing the man was an NPC, Yan Jiyun was still moved by a father’s desperate determination. After all, he was human, not a machine. Still, considering his current missions, his investigation so far, and the information Dr. Zhou had revealed, he felt certain another secret lay hidden beneath everything. Dr. Qiao’s appearance was definitely not coincidence. Rather, it was a hint.

He pushed the vehicle to maximum speed, driving straight toward the deepest part of the zoo, leaving both the pursuing vehicles and all surveillance cameras behind.

Yan Jiyun stopped the vehicle in a blind spot outside camera coverage and did not move further.

Now he needed silence to carefully organize every doubt and clue before making his next decision.

First, Dr. Zhou’s older brother was Patient Number 1. The experiment had succeeded from the very beginning, his consciousness entering the black panther, and under Dr. Zhou’s protection he had remained safe.

Second, there were 202 case files, meaning 202 patients in total. Currently, only 20 were known to be alive. Where had the remaining 182 cases gone? Who brought them in, and who took them away?

Third, was Dr. Qiao’s son among those 182 failed cases?

Fourth, the 8 “passengers” currently with him were all either wealthy, influential, or physically strong. Did the remaining 182 + 12 patients come from ordinary families?

Fifth, Dr. Zhou couldn’t have installed the “sedative gas” sprayers throughout the zoo alone. They must have been approved by the zoo director. Their target was all animals containing transferred human consciousness — animals that could no longer return to their original bodies.

Sixth, the rioting animals had specific targets. Not all animals were in a frenzy. Their violent state wasn’t caused by drug experiments. It was meant to control animals with human consciousness and prevent them from going berserk.

Seventh, living patients and their consciousness-animal forms might still be reversible, but the dead were truly dead. Dr. Qiao’s son might already be one of the zoo’s “rioting animals.”

The “failed” cases he saw in the records room were actually a cover-up. Every so-called failure had become a consciousness animal.

And the one driving all of this could only be a single person: the zoo director, who had never appeared.

Inside the vehicle, all the “passengers” waited quietly for him to drive again.

Yan Jiyun smiled at the black panther and Xixi. “Give me a moment. Next, we’re going to pull off something big.”

From beginning to end, the real problem of this instance was never the zoo itself. It was the people in the zoo.

Yan Jiyun now knew exactly what he needed to do.

He opened the partition between the cargo compartment and the driver’s cabin.

“Alright, meeting time. We’re about to do something major. If we succeed, you’ll never be controlled by anyone again. If we fail— no, there is no failure. Only success.”

“First, we rally all the animals and destroy every sprayer in the zoo. We must finish within half an hour.”

“Second, gather at the tiger zone after thirty minutes. If you understand, hit the vehicle once.”

The first to respond was Meng Changsheng. Ever since the high-speed chase, he had been extremely excited and accidentally exposed himself.

Next was Caesar, clearly thrilled. Then the black panther responded as well. One after another, the animals reacted. They all understood.

The meeting was brief and efficient. But instead of opening the door, Yan Jiyun picked up his walkie-talkie and pressed the transmit button.

“Director, I know you’re listening.”

“I already know who you are.”

“From the very beginning, you’ve been watching everything.”

“Soon, this will all be over.”

After declaring war on the director, Yan Jiyun drove to the tiger enclosure and released Orange and the white tiger.

“See you soon!”

Meng Changsheng, who had just gotten out of the vehicle, was completely confused.

“…?”

Wasn’t Jiang You an NPC? Why was he looking for the director?

And why did he sound so much like a player when he spoke?

Could Jiang You also be a player?

But yesterday the system had issued a mission related to him, helping deliver blood samples together. How could he be a player? Impossible.

He had entered eight instances already and had never seen the system assign a mission specifically centered on another player.

No way. How could he possibly be a player!

But—

He really was opposing the zoo director!

And who even was the director?

If he really was a player, how could he know so much information ahead of everyone else?

Yan Jiyun then delivered the black panther back to the leopard area and returned Xixi to the aviary zone. Aside from the injured little wolf who couldn’t move easily, all the human-animals — including the player Meng Changsheng — were let off the vehicle.

Next, chaos spread throughout the entire park.

All the spray nozzles hidden in the trees were torn down and smashed by the animals.

Yan Jiyun knew there were a total of 202 animals with special identities in this zoo.

During yesterday’s meeting, he had seen the quarterly financial report prepared by accounting. Xianghe Zoo’s quarterly revenue far exceeded that of other zoos in the same city, meaning the zoo had absolutely no financial crisis.

At a previous supervisors’ meeting, the operations manager had also mentioned online reviews. Visitors believed the animals here were unusually intelligent. Many people repeatedly returned just to see their favorite animals again, praising them for seeming able to understand human speech.

In the end, the director had exploited Dr. Zhou for personal gain. Perhaps that had been part of a deal between them.

Yan Jiyun parked the truck outside the leopard zone and waited for the black panther to return.

He didn’t know how his next arrangements would unfold. The plan kept changing because of small, unexpected variables. Well, plans could never keep up with reality.

He just hoped he hadn’t misjudged the black panther, Orange, and the others.

After waiting a while, Meng Changsheng and Orange appeared within his line of sight. Their efficiency was astonishingly high.

A group of large tigers lined up neatly under Orange’s authority. The scene was quite intimidating.

The second group to arrive came from the nearby lion enclosure. There weren’t many lions in the zoo, but all of them had come.

The third to arrive were the wolf couple. 

The fourth were the brown bear and several animals who seemed unsure of what was happening.

The fifth arrival was Xixi, bringing along a noisy flock of companions.

In the final minute of the half-hour deadline, the black panther finally emerged with the leopards. Yan Jiyun counted. Every single leopard was present.

Yan Jiyun didn’t care whether there were players among them, but he knew that since they could understand the consciousness entities’ instructions, most of these animals must possess corresponding human consciousness. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have assembled so quickly.

This further proved his hypothesis correct.

As long as the consciousness entity didn’t enter a rioting state, they could understand signals from their own kind.

Yan Jiyun looked behind him as more and more animals gathered. Even the elephant had brought its companions.

So the elephants were also—

Could it be that every animal in the zoo had undergone experimentation?

Meanwhile, the players mixed among the animals looked completely confused. Wasn’t tonight supposed to involve animal thieves?

What kind of formation was this? It was even more terrifying than last night’s zoo-wide riot!

All the animals were fully conscious now, as if preparing for something major.

And the zookeeper standing on the cargo truck… what was he planning to do?

Yan Jiyun picked up the loudspeaker from the truck and shouted, “Advance toward the management district!”

The players following behind were puzzled: Why the management district?

Wasn’t he just a zookeeper? What was he doing?

What was in the management district?

Why was that his target?

Were zookeepers this bold now?

Could he be a player?

But weren’t all players turned into animals?

The players who still hadn’t completed their side quests remained utterly bewildered.

Whether they had entered the instance as teams or alone, they couldn’t communicate verbally, so they couldn’t immediately exchange information with teammates or other players.

Yan Jiyun had no time to explain things one by one. Saying too much would only make players overthink and might even ruin his plan. After all, as the saying goes, one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.

Each animal displayed its own abilities. Nearly half the zoo’s animals gathered together, charging toward the management district in a massive procession.

Yan Jiyun drove the truck, with the black panther still seated in the passenger seat. Xixi had to command his avian army and didn’t have time to come back and chatter.

He found a loudspeaker in the vehicle and recorded a message to play on loop.

“Tonight’s final battle at the management district! Don’t miss it, everyone has a role in protecting the zoo’s stability!”

“Join us now! Tigers, leopards, lions, and elephants are already here. Big brown bear, we’re just waiting for you!”

“Friends, charge toward the management district together!”

Players: “……”

This outrageous move was something none of them had expected. Was the driver a player or an NPC?

Damn it! Why could he return to human form while they were stuck in animal bodies?!