Cat 140: Professor Qu, Here I Come
by CristaeChapter 140: Professor Qu, Here I Come
Yan Jiyun found Han Ruibai in the same classroom as in Instance A.
It was break time. Han Ruibai was quietly making his way to the water dispenser at the back of the classroom.
Yan Jiyun deliberately positioned himself beside Han Ruibai, pressing a hand to his chest, and, with urgency in his voice, confided to a nearby classmate, “I just came from the auditorium—Cheng Su fell from the second floor. She’s dead!”
Hearing this, Han Ruibai’s face went pale as paper. The mouth of his water bottle tipped, half his freshly drawn water spilling out. He set the cup aside, gripping Yan Jiyun’s arm tightly. “What did you say?”
Seeing his genuine shock, Yan Jiyun kept to the act, feigning terror, “Cheng Su fell from the second floor in the auditorium—she died right before my eyes!”
Han Ruibai’s breath caught. Without another word, he turned and bolted from the classroom.
Having gotten his answer, Yan Jiyun followed, but he wasn’t chasing Han Ruibai; his aim was to find Wang Ziming.
Lan Mo had, as prompted, tracked down Liu Yixuan. Upon hearing the news, Liu immediately went to Wang Ziming, and just as Yan Jiyun emerged, he saw Liu whispering by Wang’s ear. Wang’s eyes went wide, his speech nearly stuttering.
Wang Ziming said, “Cheng Su is really dead?”
Liu Yixuan: “Yes. I just heard she fell from the auditorium’s second floor. She’s really gone.”
Wang Ziming muttered, “How could this happen?”
Liu Yixuan, fear rising, said, “Yang Pingping drowned this morning. Now Cheng Su’s fallen from the second floor… Is this because we played Ouija?”
Wang Ziming rubbed his arms, “But Ouija was just a game. Maybe it’s the wishing at Mirror Lake that’s the problem?”
Liu Yixuan: “But so many people wished, and nothing happened. Why just us?”
Wang Ziming shook his head, “I don’t know. Xuan-ge, I’m scared. Am I next? I don’t want to die.”
Liu Yixuan, equally rattled, replied, “You think you’re scared? I’m scared too. Where’s Han Ruibai?”
Wang Ziming: “I saw him run out—guess he’s heard about Cheng Su, too.”
They’d barely processed Yang Pingping’s death, now this—panic and confusion taking root.
Liu Yixuan added, shivering, “At first I thought Yang Pingping was some revenge for Jiang Shiwen, but now what about Cheng Su?”
Wang Ziming groaned, “No idea. She’s gone. All I want to know is if someone’s trying to kill me. Could it be them? No… it can’t—they’re already—”
Yan Jiyun shared the question: who wanted them dead?
Lan Mo, eavesdropping, was just as baffled.
Main Quest 1 cited five NPCs; now two were gone, and it was only midday.
Once Wang Ziming and Liu Yixuan, summoned by the class bell, had returned to the classroom, Lan Mo went to the stairwell, Yan Jiyun following to exchange intel.
Yan cut to the point: “What did you observe?”
Lan Mo replied, “When I mentioned Cheng Su’s death, he just froze, totally stunned before the fear hit.”
Yan Jiyun said, “Han Ruibai and Wang Ziming reacted about the same. Looks like there’s still someone else at play.” Of course, it was also possible their acting was impeccable, and everyone was deceived.
Lan Mo, with little reason to doubt this mystery player, asked, “Anything else?”
Yan Jiyun shrugged and posed his own question: “Have you been to the music building?”
Lan Mo shook his head, “No. It’s just an abandoned place—never heard of any rumors about it.”
Yan Jiyun said, “Last night, I saw all five of them come out of there. Seemed like they played Ouija inside, got spooked, then ran to the lake to make wishes, and this morning Yang Pingping was dead. That’s what I know.”
Lan Mo shared his end, though it was mostly known to Yan Jiyun. He didn’t hold back much.
Lan Mo invited, “Want to team up to get to the bottom of this?”
This supernatural instance was far too eerie—another ally couldn’t hurt.
“Yan Jiyun,” Yan stated simply.
Lan Mo looked surprised. “I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere…” but couldn’t quite recall.
Yan Jiyun said, “Lots of people have the same name.”
Lan Mo shook his head, “No, that’s not it…” then his brow lifted as he remembered, “Wait—you’re the one on the rookie leaderboard. The one with top favorability?”
Yan Jiyun nodded indifferently, “If you say so.”
It seemed everyone who recognized him linked him straight to favorability.
Lan Mo examined him anew: even as a high-difficulty player, this rookie’s ability to rack up favorability was unusual.
Then he realized, “You’re a rookie—shouldn’t be in a level 4 instance.”
Yan Jiyun folded his arms, “That’s what I thought. I was supposed to be in a level 2 one.”
He wanted to share his bizarre experience—teaming up would facilitate an early instance clear.
Lan Mo followed his lead: “What do you mean?”
Yan Jiyun explained, “Originally, I was set for Level 2, but the system updated and my instance turned into this Level 4. And then, I actually crossed over from my original hard instance to here.”
Lan Mo listened carefully, suddenly remembering the Qi Feng he’d searched for yesterday. “So, after the update, Level 2 and Level 4 instances got jumbled?”
Yan Jiyun didn’t expect Lan Mo to recognize him, so he told the truth: “Yes. I’m sure I entered a Level 2 instance. If there’s another explanation, I’d like to hear it.”
Though Lan Mo had played through many instances, he’d never seen this before. The trust came a bit fast, but Yan Jiyun’s pure gaze made it feel sincere. No wonder he was so popular with NPCs.
Still, Lan Mo kept a veteran’s caution: “I’ll need a moment to process this.”
Meanwhile, Yan Jiyun took the chance to ask: “Did you see or hear about a teacher named Qu when you arrived?”
Lan Mo: “Professor Qu?”
Yan Jiyun: “If his name hasn’t changed, it should be Qu Wanchao.”
Lan Mo sensed the topic’s urgency—every word here mattered. “An important NPC? How important?”
Yan Jiyun thought a moment: “Not sure exactly, but he can move freely between instances. And the NPCs between both instances are nearly the same, just in different roles. I’m telling you everything I know; hope you share any key info with me too.”
He hoped Lan Mo could find the breakthrough they needed.
Lan Mo said, “I’ve told you all I know. Oh, if you see a black cat, don’t hurt it—it’s a critical NPC too.”
Yan Jiyun: …That wasn’t the kind of info he needed. “Got it. One more thing—what’s this instance’s main quest?”
Since Yan Jiyun was from Level 2, Lan Mo figured he didn’t have the local main quest, so he answered truthfully: “Main quest is to find the greatest secret of Mingya High School.”
Yan Jiyun: “What’s the instance title?”
Lan Mo: “‘Mingya High School.’”
Yan Jiyun: “Pretty broad—doesn’t give us much.”
Lan Mo: “The main quest 1 you shared is probably one of the school’s secrets.”
Yan Jiyun now had a general sense of things: Level 4 hard mode’s mission was to uncover the school’s secrets—likely several misleading branches. Mirror Lake could be one such false trail.
The Level 2 instance, “Mermaid,” had a clear direction; Level 4 required players to feel their way along, peeling back layers. No wonder Lan Mo and the others made no progress yesterday—finding the thread was slow, and every NPC was possibly misleading.
An old school, many secrets—but finding them all in a short time would be tough.
If he hadn’t exited the music building, Lan Mo and company would have spent even longer connecting the dots on Yang Pingping and the others, not to mention unearthing quest 1.
So far, Yan Jiyun had stumbled onto the first thread. If he followed it, the truth was within reach.
He asked, “Have you checked Yang Pingping and Cheng Su’s dorms or desks?”
Lan Mo: “We’re working on it. Cheng Su’s a girl—it’s hard to sneak in, and the NPCs watch those places close.”
Yan Jiyun eyed He Yuanle skipping toward them and cocked his chin, “Let him do it.”
Lan Mo: “How?”
Yan Jiyun: “A dress and a wig.”
Lan Mo: “You’re pretty experienced.”
Yan Jiyun just gave him a look.
He Yuanle spotted them, “B-boss, you’re in this instance too!”
Lan Mo looked at them, “You two know each other?”
He Yuanle circled Yan Jiyun with excitement, “We met at the championship.”
Yan Jiyun grabbed his arm, not wasting time, “Let’s go.”
He Yuanle, “Wait, go where?”
Lan Mo, thinking of the props he’d moved earlier, sized Yan Jiyun up. He really didn’t seem like a Level 2 player—far too composed.
The three returned to the auditorium—rehearsal ongoing. Lan Mo hunted through the boxes for a black wig, and found a performance dress backstage as well.
He Yuanle blushed, “You’re not really going to dress me up as a girl, are you?”
Lan Mo, “Mission’s the priority. Cheng Su’s in the hospital, status unknown. Our best shot is to check her dorm.”
He Yuanle looked plaintively at Yan Jiyun, “Isn’t he better for this?” Yan Jiyun fixed him with a cool glance, and he wilted: “Fine. I’m better suited—or at least, shorter.”
Indeed, He Yuanle now looked like an underdeveloped middle-schooler, maybe 1.65 meters tall; with a wig, his soft face and ambiguous voice were perfect.
Yan Jiyun was quite satisfied with the effect.
Heading out, an NPC even remarked, “What a cute girl.”
He Yuanle huddled behind Lan Mo, “You guys better get me to the girls’ dorm safe and sound.”
Yan Jiyun said, “He Yuanle, give it a rest. A guy with a brain like yours has worn drag before—you handled that lipstick awfully well.”
Caught, He Yuanle dropped his fake innocence.“Okay, how’d you know?”
Yan Jiyun had noticed during his possession last night—it was mostly self-protection.
“You overdo it,” Yan Jiyun said.
He Yuanle sighed, “Guess the act’s up.”
As they chatted, they arrived at the girls’ dorm.
Cheng Su’s room was easily located: Building 3, Room 501, top right on the fifth floor.
He Yuanle smoothed the skirt, summoning confidence. “Wait for my good news.”
At ease, he was clearly quite capable.
He Yuanle abandoned the crippling weakness, and Yan Jiyun’s impression of him changed.
Lan Mo gave Yan Jiyun a thumbs-up, “I couldn’t stand his acting last night.”
Yan Jiyun agreed, “Normal’s better.”
The girls’ dorm wasn’t busy at this hour. Each had their own mission: Lan Mo went to check Yang Pingping’s room on the fourth floor, while Yan Jiyun’s destination was Room 309 on the third floor—Han Ruibai’s dorm, matching Instance A.
There weren’t many NPCs around, but he didn’t relax.
Room 309 was locked—not a problem. Yan Jiyun always brought lockpicks; opening it was trivial.
Nothing had changed in Han Ruibai’s dorm. If a character’s role didn’t change between instances, neither did their basic stats; only the personality and story shifted.
Without a way back to Instance A yet, he took his time, mapping inter-instance overlaps.
Han Ruibai’s dorm was just as before; of four beds, his was the tidiest.
He also noticed Han Ruibai’s possessions were older than those of his peers.
Unlike his seemingly fortunate counterpart in Instance A, this Han Ruibai didn’t seem well-off.
Opening his locker, Yan Jiyun found little of value except a relatively new laptop.
Clearly, the computer didn’t match with his generally shabby things—none of his clothes were name brand.
The game’s scenarios could be wild, but realistic instance types stuck to their audience’s concept of normal—no surprise giant mechs breaking immersion.
He plugged in the laptop, finding it dead; it hadn’t been used recently.
Starting it up, he discovered it was password-protected. Scouring Han’s books and course notes, he found no clues.
He decided to take it—perhaps one of the others could crack the code.
Still, this raised suspicions—did Han Ruibai come into some windfall?
Living so frugally, yet owning an expensive laptop… maybe it wasn’t his at all.
Besides the laptop, he discovered five perfumed love letters in Han’s locker—the scent so overpowering it made him sneeze. Skimming them, he saw they were all addressed to Han Ruibai.
The first was full of praise for his diligence and charm, and asked if he’d like to be friends. Subsequent letters were the musings of a schoolgirl—conflicts with friends, spats with family, hopes for the future.
The signature simply read:
A person who wants to become a mermaid.
Mermaid?
Was there a link between instance B and A? Was “Mermaid” one of the school’s secrets, too?
No sooner had he finished reading than the system prompted him:
[Player has triggered side quest: “A Person Who Wants to Become a Mermaid.”]
[Quest: Han Ruibai received a love letter, but has never known the sender’s identity. Please help Han Ruibai find this person.]
So he had to help Han Ruibai find the writer?
Both instances gave quests linked to him—Han’s role must be significant indeed.
Taking the letters, Yan Jiyun decided to let the others “enjoy” them, too—no need to let his nose suffer alone.
Having looted the dorm, Yan Jiyun snuck out.
Upstairs, he heard sounds of a scuffle—Lan Mo, encountering trouble.
He jammed laptop and letters into a backpack and hurried up.
Before he reached the stairwell, he glimpsed a black-figure in a baseball cap vaulting over the rail.
Approaching, he caught a whiff of sandalwood—it was Professor Qu!
Damn—he just had to show up when Yan Jiyun wasn’t in cat form.
Lan Mo rushed down, “He was also in Yang Pingping’s room—he took something important.”
Yan Jiyun knew Qu was too fast to chase now; besides, meeting him as a human wouldn’t help—might even get him smacked.
“What was it?” he asked.
Lan Mo said, “A voice recorder—it was taped under Yang Pingping’s drawer. I’d just found it when that guy snatched it.”
From the sounds above, he and Professor Qu had already clashed.
Yan Jiyun sighed, “He’s got good skills.” No way he could win that.
Lan Mo thought he was calling himself weak: “Too cramped. In a bigger space, I’d have a shot.”
Yan Jiyun wondered if Professor Qu recognized him in cat form only.
Qu was his key to returning to Instance A, but he’d need to approach as a cat.
Together, he and Lan Mo searched Wang Ziming and Liu Yixuan’s rooms, but found nothing unusual.
Clearly, these two were not the principal players.
Right on time, in half an hour, he met up with He Yuanle at the dorm entrance—no mishaps this round.
Shi Yan also arrived, a bit confused to see Yan Jiyun.
He Yuanle eagerly introduced him.
Shi Yan, as one of Qi Feng’s teammates, trusted Lan Mo’s judgment and said nothing.
They began sharing intel.
Yan Jiyun handed over the laptop. “Anyone know how to break the password?”
His lockpicking item couldn’t hack electronics, unfortunately.
All three shook their heads.
Lan Mo said, “Qi Feng could, but he’s not here.”
It was unlikely Yan Jiyun would know they were Qi Feng’s friends, so he kept quiet about seeing him in Instance A.
He packed up the laptop, turning to the letters, distributing them and triggering the side quest for everyone.
He didn’t care about the quest—he simply wanted to figure out the relationship between the two instances.
[“Just Want to Be Human” Live Chatroom:]
“I can tell—the kitty is kind of listless and tired, not the least bit fired up anymore.”
“Is the instance just too hard? The kitty’s thinking too much, seems drained. This one’s a real grind.”
“Never seen two instances before. Could it be something like an overworld and an underworld?”
“Maybe the overworld is the bright face, the underworld is the darkness.”
“I don’t think it’s quite overworld/underworld—just two instances. Level 2 ‘Mermaid’ I haven’t seen, but I’ve watched a run in ‘Mingya High School’—really tough; it’s not easy to find the school’s secret. But this cat is something else, already found ‘Mermaid’! Just a hint, the ‘Mermaid’ isn’t what you all think! Ha!”
“Sounds like someone wants a durian to the face—so who’s the ‘Mermaid’ after all?”
After sharing clues, Yan Jiyun and the others pondered: Who was the mermaid?
He Yuanle found a set of black clothes in Cheng Su’s dorm.
Shi Yan, investigating Jiang Shiwen’s death, was tangled in complicated relationship lines but found little connected to Yang Pingping’s death.
Lan Mo, checking Yang Pingping’s room, turned up nothing but the missing recorder.
After compiling info, they separated again—main and side quests both needed progress.
Yan Jiyun found an empty office, transformed back into a cat, then leapt from the window, dashing after Professor Qu’s scent.
Professor Qu, here I come!