DSMC Chapter 1

Hi hello everyone~ ฅ≽(•⩊ •マ≼

I’m translating a new series, the promised Unlimited Flow with added Pet/Master(?) setting! Our MC is a very cat-like black kitty, and our ML is his master/owner :3. However, the romance is very slow burn. They only meet in like, chapter 60s? And they officially got together near the end.. The romance is sweet though, and they teamed-up together very well and very often way before they got together!

Since this is about pets… there’s a lot of pet names. I’ll be translating some of them (i.e, our MC’s pet name is Caramel), but I’ll keep some of them as pinyin (i.e Xiao Hei/”Little Black”, etc). As for which is which… I’ll use whichever sounds better to me lol 

This series is 339 chapters long, and we are in for a long ride… Please be patient with me. Tentative update schedule is everyday except Saturday and Sunday because I don’t want this project to take like, 3 years to complete. Also, I’m taking a couple days break after an arc is complete! For today, enjoy this 3 chapters upload ᓚ₍⑅^..^₎♡

CW for ALL of first arc: severe child abuse, threats of animal abuse (against our cat MC)

Btw, I’ll be referring to our MC as “it” or “he/him” interchangeably, depending on who the POV narrator is. 

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Arc 1 – Going Home From School

June arrived, bringing along a gray-blue sky stained red by the afterglow.

On a tree near the Fengli Community Senior Activity Center, a black cat with a curled long tail lay lazily, casting a glance at the noisy sparrows chattering on the branches. Then it tucked its head back into its left foreleg and resumed its nap.

Suddenly, it perked up its ears.

Under the old banyan tree next to it, a few elderly men were playing chess. One of them, wearing a typical elder’s undershirt, had a radio next to him, which was broadcasting the news.

“Recently, there have been a series of suicide incidents in our city. The first involved three high school students who made a suicide pact and checked into a hotel. The police have not yet released further details.”

“The second happened yesterday at 2 PM, when a housewife suddenly jumped to her death. Investigations show she had a loving husband, healthy children, and harmonious in-laws. Yet, she chose to end her life.”

“The third case occurred just past midnight. In a downtown shopping mall, a woman spontaneously combusted. When emergency services arrived, she showed no signs of life.”

The black cat suddenly opened its pale green eyes and sprang to its feet, stretching out luxuriously on the thick branch. It crouched slightly, then leapt gracefully from one end of the branch to the other, causing a rustle that sent the sparrows flapping away from the dense foliage.

The elderly men below were unfazed. They were used to the cat. It had an owner but was rarely seen. It was aloof and never sought affection, yet never harmed anyone.

The black cat leapt gracefully from the tree, its paws cushioned by soft pads as it landed on the grass.

His name was Yan Jiyun. He had once been a human. Now, he is a cat named Caramel[mfn]CN: 焦糖 “Jiāo Táng”[/mfn].

A year ago, he had an accident. When he woke up, he had turned into a small black cat and was later adopted by a human.

Yan Jiyun weaved through the tall buildings of the community and slipped into the path leading to the villas. The deeper he went, the quieter it became. With his excellent hearing, he could distinguish two different sounds even if they were a meter apart and twenty meters away. He stopped in front of Villa No. 9, slipped through the iron fence, and entered the house through a small door set beside the main entrance.

Inside, the house was empty. No one called his name.

He walked up to the automatic feeder and tapped the switch. A mix of freeze-dried cat food clattered into the ceramic bowl.

As a former human now forced to eat cat food daily, it was… pretty miserable.

Not because his master mistreated him, but multiple visits to the vet had confirmed he couldn’t handle oily or rich human food.

Now, he was so sick of cat food it numbed his soul.

Yan Jiyun raised his right paw and disdainfully swatted at the food bowl. Just a few pieces of kibble came out. Great. He was almost out of food.

He gave up on eating, turned around, and ran up to the second floor. Stopping at the study door, he leapt up and batted at the handle. With a “click”, the door swung open.

No one was in the study.

This time, his master was later than usual. Several days had passed and he hadn’t shown up.

Yan Jiyun was genuinely curious about what his owner did for a living. The man would vanish suddenly, and then reappear at the same spot days later. Usually within three to five days, with the longest being seven.

This time it had already been over seven days. Today was day eight. If the guy didn’t return soon, Yan Jiyun was going to have to beg for food on the streets.

He curled up on the bright yellow bean bag chair in the study.

Before he came, the whole house had been decorated in black, white, and gray. But ever since he became the real “master” of the house, his human had spent two months redecorating the house in warm tones, because his black fur made him impossible to spot otherwise. Now, it was easy to find him, unless he really didn’t want to be found.

The afternoon sun made his whole body feel warm and cozy. Yan Jiyun slowly closed his eyes. But didn’t fall asleep, his ears still alert for any sound.

An hour later, in the pin-drop silence of the study, a tall man with long limbs appeared out of thin air.

The man paused, his figure swaying slightly. He let out a deep breath, pressed a hand to his forehead, and sat on the couch. In his hand was a silver chain with a tag, which slipped down onto the sofa.

Yan Jiyun opened his eyes the moment the man appeared and quietly observed him.

After composing himself, the man finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and low, with a hint of sternness. “Caramel, come here. Let me hold you for a bit.”

Yan Jiyun stretched, jumped down, and obediently hopped onto the man’s lap, settling into a comfortable position.

He could always tell that his master’s mood was low every time he returned like this.

The man’s fingers gently stroked his sleek fur. His mind seemed to wander, but holding Yan Jiyun always calmed him.

Yan Jiyun’s gaze drifted to the silver nameplate tag on the couch. It was a bit darker than pure silver, with a string of numbers on the front.

For cat owners, petting a cat clearly could relieve their psychological pressure. It pulled him out of an extreme state and brought him back to normal.

Ten minutes later, he let go of Yan Jiyun and went into the en-suite bathroom.

Yan Jiyun curiously pawed at the silver tag. In the year he’d been here, the man had never taken it off, so this was his first time getting a proper look. What made it so precious? Did it have some special meaning?

The tag was a darker silver and had a string of numbers. Yan Jiyun flipped it over — on the back was a cartoon raccoon face. Pointy snout, mischievous expression. It’s not as handsome as his sleek feline form.

He played with it for a while and got bored. Just as his paw pressed down on the raccoon’s face—

Everything went black.

His body was pulled by a force, completely weightless.

In the blink of an eye, Yan Jiyun vanished from the sofa, leaving behind only a few strands of black fur.

Half an hour later, the man came out of the shower. He picked up the fur-covered tag, but there was no sign of Yan Jiyun.

He towel-dried his hair and left the study, casually calling out to the mischievous young cat, “Caramel?”

Owning a black cat that rarely made noise was… a unique experience. He often just couldn’t find it.

At that very moment, Yan Jiyun — who was labeled as “hard to find” — opened his eyes and found himself in a cramped space, his body swaying slightly. He knew this feeling well: he was inside a pet carrier.

Was he unconscious earlier, and now his owner was taking him to the vet?

But he didn’t feel unwell, and besides, the man didn’t use a carrier anymore. He had a custom cat backpack.

He peeked through the small mesh window, but the view was too limited to assess where he was.

Suddenly, a strange voice echoed in his mind. It was a bright, lively young man’s voice.

[Welcome, player, to the game “Destiny.” Clear instance challenges to earn points. Accumulate enough points to purchase Human Form Time Cards from the system store.]

Yan Jiyun thought, ‘Wait, does this mean he could turn human again?’

[Any wish can be granted?]

[Of course! As a newcomer player, after completing your first instance, you’ll receive a bonus five-minute human experience time.]

Yan Jiyun immediately sensed the system’s wicked sense of humor.

[System has detected that you entered the game via another player’s account. A sub-account will be created for you under that player.]

[Player “Yan Jiyun” profile generated. Would you like to start live streaming?]

He was someone who had already died once. Thinking about the pooper scooper’s situation, maybe that nameplate was connected to this game?

What kind of game could torture a person down like that?

Yan Jiyun quickly pieced together the connections.

He asked, “What’s the point of livestreaming?”

[System: Once livestreaming is enabled, viewers can send the streamer Fate Coins. Fate Coins can be exchanged 1:1 with points, making them one of the quickest ways to earn points. However, livestreaming is only available during instance challenges. No livestreams allowed outside of them.]

Yan Jiyun: “Turn it on.”

[Please name your livestream channel.]

Yan Jiyun thought for three seconds: “Want to Be Human.”

[Channel name updated successfully. The game is about to begin. Life or death is your own responsibility. Enjoy the game, player!]

Right after that, a cold, emotionless robotic voice echoed in his mind.

[Player must complete the instance “Going Home After School” within 24 hours.]

[Instance Name: Going Home After School]  

[Instance Duration: 24 hours]  

[Difficulty: Challenging[mfn]I’m using my creative liberty for the difficulty naming. So basically, the og is closer to “difficult/hard”, but there’s two separate types of instance: “newcomer” and “normal”. For newcomer, I’m naming them Introductory (easy) and Challenging (hard). For normal, it will be explained further in the story, but I’m naming them Easy, Intermediate, Hard, and Top[/mfn]]

[Main Mission: Escort Li Muyang home after school.]  

[Li Muyang’s current HP: 90%]  

[Surviving Players Number: 10/10]

Then, a middle-aged man’s voice muttered from somewhere nearby.  “It’s Yangyang’s birthday today. I got him a cat. He’s going to be so happy.”

Li Muyang? Who was that?

His mission was to escort Li Muyang home after school… As a cat, how the hell was he supposed to escort anyone? This wasn’t some animated show starring Black Cat Sheriff!

As he was getting tossed around inside the pet carrier until he was ready to puke up yesterday’s cat food, Yan Jiyun was finally set down on the floor.

He peeked through the mesh gate. It was nighttime, so the lights were on inside the house.

Despite the father’s seemingly warm intentions in gifting a black cat for his child’s birthday, what Yan Jiyun heard next made his fur stand on end: a woman screaming insults at a child.

“Li Muyang, are you stupid? You still can’t do this easy problem? I’ve explained it hundreds of times!” The woman’s sharp, screeching voice echoed through the whole living room.

Yan Jiyun nearly had a heart attack right there.

“Are you a pig? I just taught you this question and you forgot again!”

“You’re  a devil, all you ever do is torture me!”

The man who had just walked into the house said nothing. It was like he had some kind of filter on, perfectly ignoring everything his wife was doing to their child.

The boy stayed completely silent under his mother’s barrage of verbal abuse.

This soul-crushing ordeal lasted half an hour. Meanwhile, the man played games on his computer, constantly swearing.

Once the mother stopped yelling, the man’s game screen flashed a red “Defeat” across it. It was visually jarring.

It was 9 PM. The man finally stood up and said to the boy, whose face was swollen red: “Yangyang, it’s your birthday tomorrow. Don’t you love cats? Daddy caught one for you.”

He opened the carrier gate and reached in roughly, yanking Yan Jiyun out and stuffing him into the boy’s arms.

In the boy’s embrace, Yan Jiyun could feel his little hands trembling. He looked up and saw the boy’s swollen cheeks and bloodshot eyes. What really caught his attention, though, was a six centimeter scar on the boy’s throat.

Meanwhile, the violent mother now stood by them, wearing a stiff smile, admiring the adult black cat like nothing had happened.

In a different family, this might’ve been a heartwarming scene. Here? It was pure horror.

Li Muyang croaked out, “Th-th-thank you, D-dad.”

Every hair on Yan Jiyun’s body stood on end. ‘Fuck this freaky game!’

Meanwhile, in the “Want to be Human” livestream channel:

 “Tuning in for a fresh newbie! Starting out with ‘Going Home After School’ on Challenging mode? This is gonna be fun!”

 “Why is this first-person POV so weird? I’ve never seen an NPC’s face this close before!”

 “I’m here to cultivate a new seedling! Let’s switch to third-person… huh? Where’s the player???”

 “This is my first time seeing someone jump straight into an NPC’s house on the first night.”

 “Wait, which one is the player?”

 “I switched from third-person to first-person, then back, and then looked at the stream title again. System bug? Why is the first-person view… from a cat?”

 “This game is insane! They’re dragging innocent little kitties into this now? …I’m weirdly into it, not gonna lie. Following the cat streamer now!”

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T/L: if you’re used to read my translations, you know that for comments (be it in livestreams or online comments), I prefer to use this [bracket] to indicate it. But this novel natively uses quotation marks (instead of this 「brackets」 or nothing at all (like in My Agent Can Read Minds), so I’m following this formatting. 

Also, chapter 0 is a character files/instance list, etc. I’ll be marking spoilers up to the current arc translated, please proceed with caution.