Cat 205: Nerve Training
by CristaeChapter 205: Nerve Training
Qi Feng glanced at the replicant Yinzi, now sprawled on the ground, and echoed Yan Jiyun’s words: “Feeling sorry for a girl?”
Yan Jiyun put away his expression—and the gun in his hand—turning to him with eyes shining brightly. “Did you take care of that Yang Ge?”
Qi Feng nodded. “All done.”
When they’d used the Righteous Guild as a test, they’d both realized these two had been replicants infiltrated among the players.
In fact, they’d suspected it for some time. The two never gave opinions, just going along with whatever they said—never offering any suggestions of their own.
Yan Jiyun had been dubious from the start, but he’d kept it to himself.
The reason he let those cats stay near them was precisely to test this. The two replicants didn’t care about the cats—so if there was trouble, the cats would simply run off on their own.
He still didn’t quite understand the matter of “mental pollution value.”
Yan Jiyun scratched his chin. “How did the replicants know that holding cats increases mental pollution value?”
Qi Feng checked his own mental pollution value. “My mental state has nothing to do with that.”
Yan Jiyun answered honestly, “Same here.”
Qi Feng reasoned, “If Yang Ge was a replicant, he must know players have a mental pollution value. Maybe he has one too.”
Yan Jiyun said, “He used the cats just to get close to us. Now I’m starting to wonder—Qi Yunchu and the others said their mental value returned, but were they telling the truth? Could they all be fakes?”
Qi Feng replied, “Not necessarily. Xiao Huang and Xiao Lv have been running all over, haven’t they? If they met other players who’d held cats and figured out the truth…”
Yan Jiyun considered. “That’s possible, too.”
He realized he shouldn’t overthink it. There had been witnesses for the others, and come to think of it, the replicants might have mental values too, or how would they control the cats. The original and the replicant should have a push-and-pull dynamic—one strong, the other weak, and so forth.
If that was the case, it all added up. No need to dwell on it.
But what had caught his attention now was Qi Feng’s earlier statement. “You just said your mental value came back too? How did that happen?”
Qi Feng looked at him. “How did yours recover?”
Yan Jiyun saw no reason to keep information from Qi Feng. “It’s simple. When I’m with you, I don’t get scared. My value just comes back up.”
Qi Feng felt a warm, strange sensation—something as comforting as it was odd. “Oh.”
Yan Jiyun looked back at him. “You haven’t told me about yours yet.”
Qi Feng said, “Pretty much the same for me. Maybe because we know each other well—when I’m with you, mine recovers too.”
Qi Feng carried Caramel’s unique scent—he couldn’t be mistaken by anyone. With familiar company, Yan Jiyun let down his guard, face relaxing and at ease.
He grinned joyfully. “Seems we’re mutually reinforcing each other. I trust you, you trust me—that’s exactly what this instance was designed for: testing trust between people.”
After exchanging this information, neither mentioned the other five by unspoken agreement. Two people made for a far better team than the alternative.
Qi Feng smiled, not sure what to say, and sighed. “Yinzi and Liu Yang may have been replicants, but the hole we smashed open is real—looks like something’s down there.”
Yan Jiyun, standing by the opening, said, “You make it sound like we’re knights-errant on some grand adventure. Let’s go down.”
Qi Feng was about to remind him to be careful, but before he could, Yan Jiyun had already leapt down nimbly, the other replicate cats following right after. Watching them filled Qi Feng with envy; if the replicate cats loved following Yan Jiyun so much, how much more would Caramel? How had Yan Jiyun won Caramel over like that?
Never mind—that could be sorted out after they got out of the instance. Everyone was good to Caramel; there was no reason to compare or discriminate.
Yan Jiyun, oblivious to Qi Feng’s musings, advanced while the drumming sound grew louder.
He turned to ask, “Should we just follow the drumming?”
Qi Feng landed and said, “That’s the plan. Looking around, this isn’t an underground parking lot—it’s more like a sewer.”
Yan Jiyun glanced around; there was dim lighting inside—not bright, but enough to see if anything blocked the floor.
The passage was narrow, allowing only one person at a time. The drumming echoed from deeper within.
Walking a while, they reached the end of the passage, where steps led directly down into a sewer.
Water rushed by with a steady slosh, and the drumming sound was nearly on top of them, but the source was still unclear—until they reached the outflow, overhead was a slow-turning fan, whose motion made the sound.
A piece of wood jammed the fan’s center, striking the frame with each revolution, and inside the sewer’s enclosed space, the echoes made it resemble the thump of drums.
But Yan Jiyun was puzzled. “Why does it sound so much like drumming?”
Qi Feng knocked the wall with his hammer—dong, dong, dong—the same resonance. “It’s the building materials. This is just a toy world—I actually think it’s just a scaled-up toy, not real at all. Aside from the mall, everything else may be made of toy materials, just covered up.”
Yan Jiyun stepped up and saw the material underneath the wall’s surface. “It’s plastic—no wonder it makes that noise.”
He remembered having a plastic basin at home when he was little, and if you overturned it and struck it, it would produce a drumming effect—just like this.
Qi Feng said, “What’s certain now is that we’re inside a giant toy. The way out is probably to defeat the giant.”
Yan Jiyun: “That’s very likely, but do you recall the main quest?”
Qi Feng replied, “I do.”
Yan Jiyun looked around, even though there was no one else, and said, “There’s something I’ve been wondering about since I came in with Caramel. I got here late, so I don’t have the main quest. Does that mean I can leave whenever, or never leave at all, no matter what?”
Qi Feng didn’t have a complete answer. “That’s a first for me, too. But you probably don’t need to worry. The system’s annoying, but it rarely singles anyone out. If we beat the instance, we should both get out.”
As he finished speaking, Yan Jiyun’s long-grayed-out quest bar in the upper right corner suddenly lit up with a highlighted notification.
[Sub-account player has successfully joined the main account player. Sub-account must assist main account in completing the “Sweet Christmas” primary quest and ensure main account survival. Both must live to exit the instance.]
Yan Jiyun: “…”
So, the instance system had been eavesdropping on their conversation this whole time! How did it pop up so conveniently—right after he raised his doubts!
Clearly, it was Qi Feng’s “rarely singles anyone out” line that prompted it to resolve his confusion. Was that regarded as praise?
Yan Jiyun said purposefully, “Mm, I’ve always found it very fair and impartial. It shouldn’t make things hard for me, since I was just promoted to mid-level and entered a top instance by accident.”
Qi Feng looked at Yan Jiyun with suspicion, paused for a beat, then smiled and played along. “Honestly, in all my years with this game, the instance system has been the fairest, almost never makes mistakes, always delivers tasks promptly, with clear descriptions—I can’t really find fault.”
Yan Jiyun, perfectly straight-faced, kept going: “Great minds think alike! It must be a model employee: punctually at work, never lazy, always Number One in its KPIs—a true top student among systems.”
Qi Feng quirked an eyebrow at him. Wasn’t this going a bit far, flattering the system like that?
Yan Jiyun shook his head; his system notifications remained silent. Had the flattery run its course?
As they prepared to follow the sewer, Qi Feng gave him a thumbs up: “My main quest fifteen just appeared.”
Yan Jiyun blinked, realizing, “Alright, so what do we do next?” Apparently, flattery did have some effect.
Qi Feng said, “Now that we’ve found out the truth, the next step is to leave the glass sphere and find the giant.”
Yan Jiyun: “That means we’re almost finished here.”
For now, their focus was on exiting the glass sphere, which aligned with the instance’s latest quest.
Water still flowed forward through the sewer, but ahead, there was no path left.
“Are we supposed to swim out?” Yan Jiyun asked.
“It’s possible.” Qi Feng began adjusting his clothes. “I’m a decent swimmer. Let me go down and see if I can get through.”
There was no way Yan Jiyun would volunteer for this—he was a cat, after all, and without a dryer, he wanted nothing to do with water. Soaked fur was heavy, cold, and miserable!
Next time he entered an instance, he’d have to bring a dryer, a towel, and pet shampoo.
Qi Feng left his heavy items behind and took off his jacket.
It was Christmas season in the instance, so it should be cold, but they were inside a toy glass sphere—the water wasn’t dirty and didn’t feel cold.
Maybe it was because they’d been indoors that they hadn’t thought about the temperature—so many distractions had kept them from finding the right way out.
With a splash, Qi Feng jumped into the water, inching forward.
Yan Jiyun hugged Qi Feng’s jacket, a visceral aversion to the water welling up. Aside from bathing and drinking, he had no desire to get wet.
The farther Qi Feng waded, the deeper the water became. When he reached the wall beneath the fan, it nearly covered his head. He ducked under and vanished from Yan Jiyun’s sight.
The fan’s knocking persisted. Left behind with nine replicate cats, Yan Jiyun hunched his shoulders and asked them, “Don’t you guys think this place is kinda scary?”
The nine cats only stared at him without reply.
[Want to Be Human] Live Stream Room:
“I bet a cucumber—the kitten’s scared.”
“I bet two cucumbers—he’s afraid of the water.”
“Three cucumbers—he definitely wants to cuddle his human right now.”
“I think he’s fine, hahahaha, but he looks so funny right now! Shrinking back, scared, a world away from how ruthlessly he took out that replicant. The little guy has chickened out!”
“Anyone gone to the other teammates’ streams? Were those really replicants or not?”
“I just checked in—those five are in chaos, almost at each other’s throats!”
“Anyone figure out if there were replicants among them?”
“Yes, there were, but I’ll keep it secret—won’t spoil the fun, hahaha!”
“So chaotic? Did our kitten miss a replicant?”
“No, no, it’s just that several replicants showed up and tailed them. Things are a mess, I’ve been thoroughly entertained. But now it’s time to enjoy our kitten chickening out.”
“What the hell, kitten, what are you doing? Even if you’re scared, don’t experiment on your companions! Hahahahaha!”
Yan Jiyun didn’t consider himself cowardly—he just didn’t like water, that was all.
He sat waiting with Qi Feng’s jacket, getting a bit antsy. To distract himself, he squatted down in front of Xiao Huang, wrapped his arms around the cat, and tried placing it on the surface of the water.
“Cats and dogs can do it too, you guys should be able to swim.”
But Xiao Huang began to struggle wildly—her back legs practically kicking Yan Jiyun’s hand—and let out a desperate, drawn-out wail: “Meow~ aow! Aow!”
Yan Jiyun had to set her back down. “Alright, Xiao Lv, your turn.” He reached for the next-closest cat.
Xiao Lv didn’t move as quickly as Yan Jiyun’s hand, and likewise was set on the water. Xiao Lv curled up tightly, refusing to let her legs touch the water, calling out piteously, “Meow~ aow! Aaaoo!”
Yan Jiyun disappointedly set her down, then tried two more—all howled in misery.
His face collapsed in exasperation. “I’m not afraid of water, why are you?”
When he turned again, the other cats had all fled, save for Xiao Bai, whom he managed to pin down with his left hand.
“Xiao Bai, you’re not thinking of running too, are you?”
Just as he was about to continue his experiment, the water splashed and Qi Feng surfaced. “What are you doing?”
Yan Jiyun, startled, replied, “Building… building my courage.”