DSMC Chapter 8

This was Yan Jiyun’s second visit to the school infirmary.

The layout of the infirmary was simple, with only two sections, the consultation area near the entrance, and a rest area further inside. The space wasn’t very large.

For human players, finding Dr. Chi’s secret in this small room, where everything could be seen at a glance, would be quite difficult.

But for Yan Jiyun, it wasn’t that hard. He had already smelled an unpleasant odor both times he came in. The first time, he was too busy confronting the doctor to think about it. Now that he had time to reflect, he realized the smell was related to Dr. Chi. It was masked by the overwhelming scent of various chemicals scattered around, but he just needed to carefully determine where it was coming from.

Dr. Chi was staring at him intently as he slowly made his way toward the shelves. Yan Jiyun couldn’t fully concentrate on his search — system missions always popped up without warning and gave him no time to react.

If Yan Jiyun weren’t covered in black fur, perhaps the sweat on his forehead might be visible[mfn]fun fact: cats cannot sweat. So this is not possible to begin with lol[/mfn]. This fear was largely thanks to how doctors were portrayed in movies and games. 99% of the time, they were villains, either psychopathic killers or intelligent criminals. They were always clever and calculating, capable of killing without bloodshed, usually the final boss.

Villainous doctors who were both perverted and smart were absolutely not to be messed with!

The pungent smell was spreading in the infirmary, and Dr. Chi was getting closer and closer to Yan Jiyun.

[Livestream Channel] 

The viewers using the first-person perspective were completely overwhelmed by the tense atmosphere.

“No, no, no! Seeing Dr. Chi from this angle, I can barely breathe.”

“Same here. So oppressive! Little kitty, run! Don’t let the doctor catch you!”

“Third-person view is way less intense.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh so nervous!”

“So thrilling! Dr. Chi, my happiness today depends on you!”

“I heard the game has a new species streamer, so I came here to check it out.”

Yan Jiyun was still crouched on the cabinet. Dr. Chi stood about 1.8 meters tall, with long limbs. If he reached out, he could easily grab Yan Jiyun. No matter which way Yan Jiyun ran, he would be caught. He had already been caught once in the morning and had only escaped by sheer luck. Back then, he hadn’t even provoked Dr. Chi. But now, he had completely angered him, escaping again was unlikely.

Since he couldn’t run for now, he might as well keep provoking the doctor. Yan Jiyun quickly scanned the bottles and jars on the shelf.

There were still many jars lined up on the shelf. He could reach the topmost layer and extended his paw again to push a bottle.

It was a brown bottle. From his angle, he noticed something different. Inside the liquid, something was floating. His claw peeked out from beneath his paw pad and lightly nudged it. The brown bottle wobbled slightly. In the light, he saw what was inside.

Yan Jiyun froze mid-motion.

Oh my god! The bottle had a pair of eyes floating in it!

Dr. Chi really was a complete freak — who the hell keeps a pair of human eyes in their office?!

At the same time, Dr. Chi’s gaze followed Yan Jiyun’s line of sight and stopped in place.

Yan Jiyun calmed down. He noticed that Dr. Chi had a reaction to the brown bottle. These eyes were a threat. He deliberately kept his paw on the bottle, looking like he was about to push it off, testing the doctor’s reaction.

The eyes clearly meant something important to Dr. Chi. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have placed the bottle directly in front of his desk where he could always see it. Just thinking about it made his fur stand on end.

Dr. Chi’s mouth tightened into a straight line, his eyes dark as he stared at Yan Jiyun. He said in a negotiating tone, “Little black cat, you’re clever. You knew to come here and get a band-aid for that little boy earlier. So let’s make a deal. I’ll let the kid go, and you don’t touch my bottle.”

Of course Yan Jiyun wasn’t about to reveal that he could understand human speech. People were naturally curious about unusual behavior. What if Dr. Chi got even more interested in him?

A cat that could understand human language would be popular anywhere. But Dr. Chi was a lunatic who collected eyes. He had no intention of falling into the hands of a psycho.

Yan Jiyun thought for only a second, then pressed down harder with his paw. The brown bottle began to tip. Dr. Chi’s attention was entirely focused on it. He panicked and rushed forward with both hands to catch it!

This is a good opportunity! 

Yan Jiyun took the opportunity to leap off the cabinet and dashed across the room. In the blink of an eye, he jumped out the same window he had entered through.

Dr. Chi clutched the bottle and looked in the direction the black cat had disappeared. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Little kitty, you’re dead.”

[Livestream Channel] 

“Meowmeow has gone too far. He actually threatened Dr. Chi! He’s totally doomed now.”

“Players are usually terrified of Dr. Chi. He always toys with them. But now? He’s the one being toyed with by a cat! This is so damn worth the wait!” 

“That was so satisfying. Dr. Chi’s precious baby almost got knocked over by a paw. His expression is something you can only see once in a century.” 

“Yeah! Is Dr. Chi actually scared now?”

“Hahaha, cat streamer best streamer.”

“Dr. Chi, you let me down. I was ready to watch some real action, and you just stood there? Roast that cat’s paw already!”

Yan Jiyun had escaped for now. He had to keep himself alive first.

He still had thirty minutes left to uncover Dr. Chi’s secret. He had already found the thread, it was only a matter of locating the source of the smell. As for the eyes soaked in formalin, they might be related to the secret, or they might not. But, it was clear — that bottle was very important to the doctor.

After all that chaos in the infirmary, Yang Xue and the hoodie-wearing youth finally rushed over.

Yan Jiyun poked his head out from a hidden corner.

They didn’t know what had just happened. As they approached, they only saw the figure of a black cat. The cat stood not far away, guiding them toward the garage. The cart had been left just outside the infirmary’s side door.

The short-haired girl was sharp. She said to her teammate, “It’s Li Muyang’s cat. It followed us here. Looks like something happened to Wang Mian and Li Muyang. Let’s follow it.”

The hoodie-wearing youth had missed the chance to get acquainted with the cat earlier and didn’t know anything about it. “Shouldn’t we check the infirmary?”

Yang Xue crouched under the window and replied, “It’s a mess in there. Wang Mian must’ve fought with the doctor. Going in now would just blow our cover. You want to walk into a trap? Anyway, the doctor’s not in there.”

Hoodie-wearing youth: “Can we trust the cat?”

Yang Xue: “Unless you’ve got a better way to find Wang Mian.”

Hoodie-wearing youth: “…Let’s go, then.”

Yan Jiyun looked back at the two slowpoke players. Hoodie-wearing youth had just caught up and probably got the feeling that the cat was judging him.

They followed Yan Jiyun further back and saw Wang Mian and Li Muyang lying on the cart.

Yang Xue sighed. “After all that running around, Li Muyang is finally back in my hands again.”

They pushed the cart toward the back of the cafeteria, where it was quiet. That area led to the cafeteria’s kitchen.

Earlier that morning, the three of them had explored the cafeteria and found a temporary hiding spot.

Guangming Elementary School wasn’t a boarding school, it only provided breakfast and lunch. At this time of day, the cafeteria was closed.

The hoodie-wearing youth said, “I think taking Li Muyang away is useless. He’s the protagonist. No matter where he is, he’ll encounter all sorts of danger that we’ll have to save him from. The game has already arranged the process for him. Saving him is our task.”

Yang Xue went into the cafeteria, fetched a bowl of water, and splashed it on Wang Mian’s face. “But no matter what, we have to keep him under our noses.”

Wang Mian hadn’t inhaled much ether and quickly came to. When he saw his two companions, he visibly relaxed.

Wiping the water from his face, Wang Mian said, “That doctor is seriously suspicious. The moment I went in, he knocked me out.”

Yang Xue: “Did you reveal yourself in front of him?”

Wang Mian thought for a moment. “I don’t think so. How’d you two find me?”

The hoodie youth leaned his chin on his hand and said, “We first heard some commotion coming from the infirmary. We saw you nearly wreck the place. You were making quite a scene.”

Wang Mian looked puzzled. “What? I didn’t do anything! The doctor knocked me out before I could even react. If the infirmary’s a mess, it wasn’t me.”

Yang Xue: “Could someone else have been there?”

Hoodie-wearing youth: “Could it be that guy Yan Jiyun who’s always hiding in the shadows?”

Yang Xue: “That’s possible.”

Hoodie-wearing youth: “Have you noticed? This time, we haven’t received any side missions. I bet Yan Jiyun found the side mission before we did.”

Yang Xue nodded. “You’re right. That infirmary doctor clearly isn’t normal. He must be hiding a mission.”

Meanwhile, Yan Jiyun had secretly followed them into the cafeteria and was currently crouching behind a large meat freezer, eavesdropping. From their conversation, he concluded that in this game, whoever discovers a side mission gets ownership of it.

And their speculation was spot-on. Dr. Chi’s side quest was indeed tied to him.

He glanced at the upper right corner of his vision: 20 minutes remaining for the side mission.

Now, how should he complete it?

The first time he went into the infirmary to steal a band-aid, Dr. Chi didn’t really care. But now he’d just wrecked the doctor’s office. Dr. Chi probably wanted to cook him alive at this point.

As he was thinking, the three of them began discussing taking a risk — going to the infirmary to farm points off the doctor.

Li Muyang was still unconscious and couldn’t be treated like a normal player. They’d just have to wait for him to wake up naturally. Who knew what would happen if they splashed him with water?

Yang Xue boldly suggested, “Why don’t we go to the infirmary and take Dr. Chi down?”

Yan Jiyun nodded silently in agreement. He was just thinking the same thing.

Wang Mian shivered at the thought. “That doctor’s not easy to deal with. The infirmary is his home turf. Who knows what dangerous items he has in there?”

The hoodie-wearing youth supported Yang Xue’s idea. “I don’t think that cat running around the infirmary is a coincidence. It must mean something. Fortune favors the bold. Let’s earn more points and get out of this game sooner.”

Wang Mian: “Alright, but someone has to stay behind and keep an eye on Li Muyang, right? We need to stick with him and help him through his next dangerous mission. There’s still an hour until school ends.”

They played rock-paper-scissors, and Wang Mian ended up staying to protect Li Muyang.

Yang Xue and the hoodie youth gathered their gear and headed toward the infirmary. Yan Jiyun trailed after them, stealthily moving from hiding spot to hiding spot.

Now that he had help to distract Dr. Chi, he could take the opportunity to look for the doctor’s secrets.

However, since Yan Jiyun was dressed all in black, he was easy to spot under the sunlight. The two sharp-eyed players soon noticed him.

Yang Xue: “That cat keeps following us. I don’t know why.”

Hoodie-wearing youth: “Didn’t you say Li Muyang brought it to school? It must be his pet. Maybe it’s trying to thank us for saving Li Muyang.”

Yang Xue: “That’s just wishful thinking. Something feels off.”

When they arrived at the infirmary, it was still a mess. No one had cleaned it up and Dr. Chi was nowhere to be seen.

The two began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, but nothing triggered a system event.

Yan Jiyun crouched on the windowsill. The eyes mounted above the medicine cabinet were gone, probably taken away by Dr. Chi.

Amid all the smells in the room, he once again caught a whiff of that sharp, putrid odor. Even the medicinal scent couldn’t cover it up.

Earlier, it hadn’t been this strong. He turned his head to breathe in some fresh air and noticed the smell was even worse outside.

The infirmary window faced west, and the spot he was standing in had been baking in the sun all day. The stench was intensifying.

He hopped down onto the soil and stepped around. He noticed the earth had been disturbed, showing signs of being freshly dug. The smell was stronger here. Absolutely disgusting.

He reached out a paw to try digging, but quickly remembered they were shovels. Instead, he hopped back inside, circled around Yang Xue’s feet, then jumped onto the windowsill again and looked back at her.

Yang Xue immediately understood what he meant. The little black cat wanted to show them something.

Even the hoodie-wearing youth caught on.

“It wants to lead us somewhere?”

Yang Xue followed Yan Jiyun to the windowsill. “Definitely. Let’s go check it out.”

Yan Jiyun gently pawed at the dirt. Yang Xue and the hoodie youth instantly got the message.

Hoodie-wearing youth: “There’s definitely something buried here. Do you smell that?”

Yang Xue jumped down and touched the soil. “It stinks. The soil here is loose. Let’s dig it up.”

Yan Jiyun found a clean spot and sat down, watching the two of them pull out tools and start digging.

Five minutes later, Yang Xue and the hoodie-wearing youth uncovered something. Beneath the loosened soil were gleaming white bones!

Just by looking, they could tell the bones belonged to children. Nearby lay a rotting corpse that was enough to make anyone gag.

The hoodie-wearing youth covered his nose with his sleeve. “Holy shit, that doctor’s a total psycho. He killed so many people!”

Yang Xue frowned. “It’s disgusting. If we hadn’t gotten here in time, Li Muyang would’ve been next.”

Yan Jiyun shrank back. He didn’t dare look at the grotesque remains buried in the earth.

Of course, he understood Dr. Chi’s horror even better than the other two. The doctor didn’t just kill, he collected eyeballs.

At that moment, he received a system notification:

[“Dr. Chi’s Secret” completed. Rewards will be distributed at the end of the instance.]

Suddenly, Yang Xue and the hoodie youth both felt a chill down their spines. They turned around… and saw, not far behind them, a man in a white coat holding a massive axe.

It was Dr. Chi, who had mysteriously vanished earlier!

[Livestream Channel] 

“Those two players are so unlucky.”

“These two tools are so miserable. They did all the work, and the cat gets the reward.”

“Hahahahahaha! I’m dead from laughing.”

“Wait, is that really how Dr. Chi’s secret gets revealed? I’ve never seen that side quest appear in this instance before. First time seeing his ‘collection.’”

“Smart cat streamer supremacy!”

“Aaaah, I love it so much!”