DSMC Chapter 3

Yan Jiyun reacted faster than the woman. He slipped from under the left side of the sofa to the right side.

After all, the woman’s strength was limited. She had only moved the larger sofa and couldn’t catch Yan Jiyun immediately.

He couldn’t let her find him again, nor could he let her keep chasing him around. If this went on all night, even if she had the stamina, he wouldn’t last.

While crouching under the sofa, Yan Jiyun used the time to observe the living room and spotted the light switch. A plan came to mind.

If he could turn off the lights in the shortest time and then find a hiding spot…

Right now, the woman could keep track of his movements. But if he turned off the lights and she turned them back on, there’d be a moment where she’d lose track of him. That would be his chance to escape capture.

Yan Jiyun darted out from under the sofa again. Just as the woman was trying to lift the right-side couch, he sprinted for the switch. Leaping high using the scattered cardboard boxes, he raised a paw and smacked the light switch.

With a “click”, the lights went out, and the woman was plunged into darkness just as she was about to pounce.

Using the cover of darkness, Yan Jiyun darted back under Li Muyang’s bed. The woman wouldn’t think of searching there again so soon.

She cursed while fumbling to turn the lights back on, then continued rummaging through the living room, searching for the cat.

“You damn beast! If I find you, I’ll stew you alive!”

Meanwhile, Li Muyang crawled out from under the bed and quietly shut the door. Amid his mother’s curses, he bravely locked it – a thing he’d never done before.

He whispered to Yan Jiyun under the bed, “She… can’t get in now. You can… come out.”

Unable to find Yan Jiyun, The woman cursed at the cat, then at her husband, before eventually giving up and going back to bed.

Yan Jiyun finally let out a breath of relief. He laid under the bed without moving, listening for a while. Once he was sure there were no footsteps or shouting outside, he climbed onto Li Muyang’s bed to rest.

For the moment, he was safe. But now he felt hungry and deeply regretted not eating the cat food he’d looked down on earlier.

So hungry…

[“Want to be Human” Livestreaming channel]

“Kitty-cat is so smart! I’m loving this new kind of game streamer!”

“Our cat streamer has a pretty high IQ.” 

“Watching Li Muyang’s mom get played like that is so satisfying!”

“First time I’ve seen Li Muyang’s HP stay at 90% before bed.”

“No need to say no more, I’m tipping him!” 

“Disappointed. The kitty still didn’t get caught! That woman is not good enough!

At the same time, the other players still staked out downstairs had just finished coming up with two or three plans of action. But right before they moved, they noticed that the noise from unit 6002 had stopped, the lights were off, and Li Muyang’s health was still at 90%. That meant even with all the mother’s earlier rage, he hadn’t been harmed. Players watching from different floors silently concluded that another player must have gone up and stopped the abuse.

Just as they were beginning to relax, the system issued a copy progress notification:

[Player Yan Jiyun gained +5 Favorability with Li Muyang.]

All the players were stunned.

None of them were pure newbies. Anyone bold enough to choose Challenging mode had at least one to three completed runs under their belt. But none of them had ever heard of being able to increase favorability with a mission NPC!

Young man in hoodie: “Wait, you can increase the protagonist NPC’s favorability?!”

Red-haired man: “This is my first time seeing it too.”

Short-haired girl: “How do you even raise NPC favorability? Is it just random?”

Young man in hoodie: “Who the heck is this Yan Jiyun? Do any of you know?”

Other players were just as puzzled.

Why did NPC favorability exist? And how was it gained?

An experienced player chimed in, “I’ve heard from some veterans in our guild that NPCs can sometimes give favorability to players they take a liking to. But the chance is extremely low. It’s hard to farm.”

“What’s the benefit of raising it?”

“There’s definitely a benefit. It increases your chance of clearing the instance. But most players are too busy looking for clues to deliberately farm favorability. Plus, most of the NPCs in [Destiny] are terrifying. You’d have to be crazy to try charming them. And not all NPCs even can give favorability – only the ones tightly tied to the mission objectives.”

“You think Yan Jiyun did it on purpose?”

“Probably just luck. It’s only been an hour into this 24-hour instance. I doubt he’s actively farming favorability. Just a coincidence.”

Compared to the other players’ surprise and confusion, Yan Jiyun remained relatively calm. It felt no different than when he used to play games and gave small gifts to NPCs, who would then increase their favorability based on the value of the gift. He had just led Li Muyang’s mom on a wild goose chase and ran so much he was starving. So, getting a little favorability from Li Muyang seemed pretty reasonable.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully.

Later in the night, Yan Jiyun eventually jumped onto Li Muyang’s bed, half-asleep and constantly alert for another outburst from Li Muyang’s mom. Thankfully, she didn’t act up again.

The next morning, to their surprise, Li Muyang’s mom cheerfully got up early and made breakfast for both Li Muyang and his father, as if nothing had happened the night before. Yan Jiyun even got his own special cat meal — a bowl of goat milk and a bowl of cat food.

At first, he hesitated about whether or not to eat it. In the end, he did, and it actually tasted pretty good.

It seemed like Li’s mom had completely forgotten what happened the night before.

[“Want to be Human” Livestream Channel]

“What’s going on? Normally, wouldn’t she be yelling and kicking the door, waking Li Muyang up?”

“Did Aunt Li get patched or something? She looks so much gentler.”

“Did getting schooled by the kitty last night change her personality overnight?”

“Is this a new storyline? It’s… kind of heartwarming?”

“Next, it will be Li Muyang going to school! We’re about to see our cat streamer encounter all kinds of chaos!”

After filling up on food and milk, Yan Jiyun checked the current instance info:

[“Going Home After School” Instance]  

[Main Mission Progress: 5%]  

[Li Muyang HP: 90%]  

[Li Muyang Favorability: 5/100]  

[Time Remaining: 12 hours]  

[Surviving Players Number: 10/10]

A night had passed with no major changes. All players were still alive.

Yan Jiyun had tasks to complete. He couldn’t stay inside all day. While Li Muyang packed his school bag, he slipped into it. It was spacious enough for him.

Li Muyang noticed the black kitten inside as he hoisted the backpack.

He was in primary school, and had to leave the house by 7:50 AM. to make it in time for morning reading class.

As soon as he left the complex, a group of strangers started tailing him.

Yan Jiyun peeked out through the slightly unzipped opening and saw that all of them were players.

Li Muyang’s walk to school took about 20 minutes, passing six intersections and waiting at four traffic lights. Some crossings didn’t have traffic signals, and those required special caution.

When a primary schooler walked alone without parental escort, one careless moment was enough for everything to go wrong.

Yan Jiyun carefully unzipped the backpack a bit and poked his head out, keeping a close eye on the road ahead.

Freed from his violent mother’s line of sight, Li Muyang was noticeably more cheerful.

He whispered to the cat, “How about I give you a name? Let’s call you Sesame.” (芝麻; Zhīma)

Yan Jiyun: “…” He really didn’t want to accept this new name. 

Li Muyang continued, “I heard from the grandma downstairs that once you name a pet, you’ll grow attached and won’t want to give it away.”

“If you left… would you come back to visit me?”

“Sesame, why don’t you make any sounds? Other kittens meow.”

Yan Jiyun didn’t compromise his principles just because the boy was a kid. He could act like a cat, but he wouldn’t meow. He had his dignity. He was a human. Turning into a cat was just an accident.

He kept his eyes fixed on the road. The first crosswalk was just ahead.

He heard Li Muyang say, “But if you go to school with me, you can’t make any noise. If my classmates find out, they’ll take you away. They all like to bully little animals.”

Just as he said this, the light turned red at the first intersection. Distracted by talking, Li Muyang walked straight into the street — right as a white car, turning from the left without slowing down, approached fast.

Yan Jiyun instinctively wanted to pull Li Muyang back to the crosswalk, but before he could reach out and tap him, a young man in hoodie grabbed Li Muyang’s backpack and yanked him back to the sidewalk.

But things didn’t end there.

The car’s driver, startled by Li Muyang’s sudden appearance, had a “Trainee” sticker on the windshield, clearly a newbie. In panic, they mistook the gas pedal for the brake and turned the steering wheel the wrong way — heading straight for Li Muyang and Yan Jiyun!

The car accelerated directly toward them. If it hit, Li Muyang would be badly injured… or worse.

The hooded young man didn’t expect the car to swerve at them and tried pulling Li Muyang back with all his strength. A red-haired man rushed forward and grabbed the front of the speeding car with his bare hands, lifting its rear wheels off the ground and halting its momentum. At the same time, a short-haired woman smashed the window, kicked the driver unconscious, slipped into the driver’s seat, and stomped the brake in time.

The car finally came to a stop. Li Muyang’s life was temporarily safe.

The short-haired girl jumped out of the car and looked at the young man in hoodie holding Li Muyang.

“Are you okay?”

The hoodie-wearing young man shook his head. “I’m fine.”

The short-haired girl frowned. “Who asked you? I asked the kid.” 

The hoodie-wearing young man mumbled, “If I’m fine, he must be fine too…”

Their seamless teamwork made Yan Jiyun realize something: these three were players, skilled, coordinated ones. That red-haired guy had freakish strength, and the short-haired girl was quick and agile.

Since he was still unfamiliar with this game, it was better to keep a low profile. The nail that sticks out gets hammered, after all.

He pulled his head back into the darkness of the backpack.

After the car accident was averted, Li Muyang thanked the two gege and jiejie, then continued on to school.

With crowds thick on the street, the players stayed highly alert, following closely behind Li Muyang, terrified that even the smallest slip could result in his death.

The rest of the walk was no less dangerous. First a near-miss with a car, then nearly stepping into wet cement, then a bird egg fell from the sky and almost hit him on the head. Just before reaching school, a surge in the crowd nearly pushed him into the road. Fortunately, the players protected him the entire way.

So many strange incidents. When Li Muyang finally reached school, the warning bell rang.

Players without cover identities were stopped outside the gate. Only Yan Jiyun followed inside easily.

He heard Li Muyang running toward the classroom. But no matter how fast he ran, he was still a kid with short legs. He was late.

As he stopped, a harsh voice reached Yan Jiyun’s ears:

“Li Muyang, this is your third time being late this month. For today’s morning reading class, go stand in the hallway and reflect. Why do you keep getting late? I’ll be calling your mother!”

Li Muyang stood by the door, his face turning red. He murmured, “I’m sorry, Zhao-laoshi… I didn’t mean to be late… Can you not call my parents?” Panic flickered in his eyes.

Yan Jiyun peeked out from the bag and saw the source of the stern voice.

A middle-aged woman with a strict expression, looking like she wouldn’t have any tolerance for nonsense. Her face was cold, and she ignored Li Muyang’s pleading tone.

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T/L: from what I knew, cats typically wouldn’t meow when communicating with other cats (they would hiss, yowl, or purr). They used body language instead. They meowed when speaking with kittens, and if they lived as a pet, with humans. So, YJY not meowing to LMY is kinda very accurate to how a non-pet cat would act.