Cat 272: Team Alliance

Chapter 272: Team Alliance

With one less burden on his mind, a brightness radiated from Yan Jiyun. Even upon seeing the strange rewards from the last copy, his good mood remained undisturbed.

After several copies, he’d discovered that, more than any in-game item, what helped him most were the Experience Card, the Master-Pet System, and the special items collected from within the instances.

The young man’s voice chimed in again: “Would player like to claim the Sweet Christmas copy’s grand reward package right now?”

“Yes,” Yan Jiyun replied.

The rewards dropped, and immediately a flurry of messages appeared in his system notification bar.

Congratulations! You have obtained item: Tuna x3;
Congratulations! You have obtained item: Sardine x3;
Congratulations! You have obtained item: Beef Patty x3;
Congratulations! You have obtained special item: ‘Copy Cat’.

Copy Cat?

The system still gave no instruction on how to use the special item ‘Copy Cat’. But this was a huge and wholly unexpected surprise for Yan Jiyun.

No other player had managed to bring their copy out of the instance, but he had brought out Copy Cats—a total of ten. In other words, he had ten copy cats at his disposal, though the usage duration and cooldown time would have to be tested in practice.

Having successfully brought out ten copy cats, Yan Jiyun was more than satisfied with the reward—it made risking his life in the copy worthwhile.

After examining the Sweet Christmas reward pack, he moved on to unlock the new instance pioneer record reward.

The reward pack opened, but its contents weren’t particularly noteworthy.

Congratulations! You have gained an extra ‘Points Reward Doubler Card’ x1. Use now?

Points Reward Doubler Card?

Yan Jiyun chose to use it at once. Every new copy was an uncertainty; for him, points existed purely to accumulate Experience Cards for human form. As his stock of points increased, he became better prepared for later copies. Now, having reconciled with Qi Feng, they could tackle instances together, meaning the Experience Card might become less important.

The Points Reward Doubler Card was spent almost as soon as it arrived. His entire points pool doubled; twenty million immediately became forty million.

Two copies’ worth of points—enough for what he needed.

He remembered that when he first entered the instance, the system had mentioned that someday he could use points to exchange for a real body.

Would forty million be enough?

He asked the young male voice tentatively: “How many points do I need to exchange for a physical body and leave the game?”

The youth replied, “Congratulations, player! Your points far surpass those of most, but at present, points alone do not permit you to exchange for a body and leave the game. Please keep up the effort!”

Yan Jiyun asked: “What else is required? I can already enter top-level fields with no issues.”

The young voice responded, “Temporarily unable to disclose. Player is encouraged to redouble their efforts.”

As expected, there was no new hint from the guide system—it was still up to him to explore.

Previously, he’d kept his ties with Qi Feng and the others at a modest distance, and plenty of information had gone unspoken.

But now, another question pressed on him—one that concerned how he would survive the next copies.

Yan Jiyun: “When clearing the last copy, my ‘master’ was at death’s door and I skipped instances to rescue him. Does this mechanic trigger if either I or my master is near death?”

Youth: “Not necessarily.”

Yan Jiyun: “What does that mean?”

Youth: “Only if your master is in mortal danger will this mechanism be triggered. If you are in danger, the main account receives no warning, as you are a sub-account.”

So that was it.

He was a sub-account—the system only allowed sub-accounts to take risks for the main, to sacrifice themselves. There was no mechanism for a main account to do the same for the sub. If the main account died, so did the sub. Only when the main was about to “GG” would there be a prompt; the sub-account, as an avatar of the main, was not deemed worthy of alerts.

This was something better left unsaid to Qi Feng.

Yan Jiyun used all his points-boosting items, then added Qi Feng as a friend—remembering the other’s nameplate ID. Qi Feng quickly approved the request.

He wondered if his friend list would show a “sub-account” label—at least on his end, it didn’t say “master” or “main account.” In fact, adding each other as friends did nothing to expose his secret identity.

He stayed a while in his personal space before heading out; really, the personal space was just a private lounge for players—you could check system rewards in the outside world, too.

With more than enough points, he wouldn’t need to spend them all at once in the next copy. With Qi Feng around, it was like an extra insurance policy.

Now, the key issue was that his teammates weren’t especially strong. They hadn’t accrued many useful items.

Yan Jiyun left his personal space. Qi Feng was on the sofa, sipping coffee made by Lan Mo, though Lan Mo himself was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Lan Mo?” He recalled Lan Mo having coffee here just a moment ago.

“He went next door to find our other teammates. I’ll take you to meet them—helpful for future teamwork.” Qi Feng could hardly hold himself back from telling everyone his cat could turn human. He was still a little excited, though he hid it well.

“Wait a bit—I have a lot of questions I want to discuss with you,” Yan Jiyun said.

“Alright, go ahead.” For the moment, Qi Feng’s urge to show off could wait.

Yan Jiyun had already drawn up a simple plan. First was their mutual cooperation.

“I can’t maintain human form for long periods in the game. I’ll only use the Human Experience Card when necessary. If we’re entering copies together, we need to build real coordination.”

Qi Feng’s eyes darkened. “Right. We’ll need training. Let’s arrange some.”

Yan Jiyun: “How long does it take for the medicine you bought to heal your shoulder?”

He recalled seeing the player who bullied Qi Feng back on his feet after only a few days—no visible injury left.

Qi Feng checked his wound. “Although the item-grade healing meds work faster, even the regular ones will have me fully recovered in three days. Won’t impact training.”

He’d finally understood why, when Yan Jiyun stubbed his toe in a copy, it was the cat’s paw that swelled. Now it all made sense.

Qi Feng couldn’t help asking, “The other day, when you stubbed your toe—why was it your front paw that was swollen?”

Yan Jiyun guessed, “Probably a random effect from the system. The Human Experience Card isn’t a real body; it doesn’t specify a match between stubbed toes and a particular part of the cat body.”

Qi Feng nodded; so it was tied to the Experience Card.

“Do you still have enough points? If not, I can transfer you some.” Right now, Qi Feng was quite torn—he wanted to see Cat, but also enjoyed Yan Jiyun’s human form.

“No need, I’ve got plenty,” Yan Jiyun assured him.

Qi Feng insisted, “But you haven’t entered many copies.”

Yan Jiyun: “I just got a Points Doubler Card from the new pioneer copy.”

Qi Feng suspected Yan’s haul wasn’t huge; he hadn’t been through many copies, and streaming tips hadn’t likely added up yet, so he asked directly, “How many points do you have now?”

Yan Jiyun: “Forty million. Is that a lot?”

Qi Feng paused. “…It is. You haven’t been in the game that long, have you?” After three years, he’d only managed to scrape together a hundred million.

Yan Jiyun cleared his throat. “I, uh, freeloaded your streaming room, remember?”

Qi Feng took the cue, “Next time, you can freeload even more.”

Yan Jiyun felt their conversation was straying into odd territory; better to get back on track.

He steered the topic: “So, you’ve all been searching for a way out of the game? Last time, quite a few guild leaders entered the top-level field. Did they figure anything out?”

Qi Feng nodded, “There’s a lead. This new pioneer copy is a sign—an opportunity.”

Yan Jiyun caught his meaning instantly. “You mean we should pioneer the next copy as well?”

Qi Feng: “Yes. But the new advanced-level copies are very tough. Few players have cleared them so far.”

Yan Jiyun leaned against the sofa, resting his chin on one hand in thought. “To break through, we’ll need to get into the top-level field. Advanced-level instance pioneers are tough enough—the top-level ones will be even more so.”

They’d been through the top-level field before, knew all too well the carnage there—rivers of blood, mountains of corpses.

No avoiding it. Sooner or later, they’d have to face it.

Now, there was plenty on their plate:

First, get their intimacy rating up, and build even greater teamwork.
Second, from now on he’d always team up with Qi Feng—never act separately. This was best for both of them.
Third, keep probing for an exit from the game. In his notebook, he’d jotted what he saw as the breakthrough point: NPC favorability.
How could that be exploited?

Yan Jiyun shared all these findings with Qi Feng, who reciprocated; together, their accumulated intel bumped their odds of breaking through by several points.

Qi Feng told him to keep searching for the game’s background.

“Background?” Yan Jiyun echoed.

“Have you ever noticed,” Qi Feng asked, “how real every copy feels, especially some story-driven ones?”

Yan Jiyun: “I also noticed something odd during the last peak match. In one of the minor copies I entered, there seemed to be spectators—an audience cheering on as players fought. They sat above, betting, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t see their faces. Who could possibly create a game so real? Certainly not anyone from Earth.”

Qi Feng pointed upward. “Something higher—we’ve included that theory before.”

It made sense. Yan Jiyun easily summarized: “So, the goal now is to find a breakthrough. How can we encounter those player-watching spectators again?”

Their eyes met. In unison, they said, “The Peak Match.”

It had been at least two months since the last one.

Qi Feng, now officially teammates with Yan Jiyun, began finalizing arrangements.

Both teams agreed to meet that noon in one of Central City’s large hotels.

Yan Jiyun’s side had four members; Qi Feng’s, seven.

Lan Mo and Shi Yan were both familiar faces from prior merged copies.

Qi Feng’s team also included four others: the capable Su Liang, muscleman Chang Ge, engineer A He, and scholarly, bespectacled Zhuang You.

Each brought unique traits to the table.

After everyone was introduced, it was clear: one team of veterans, one of newcomers. Although not all in Qi Feng’s team were pleased, face was given for Qi Feng’s sake and complaints held in check.

Noting lingering unease, Qi Feng slid an arm around Yan Jiyun’s shoulders: “He and I are family. Meeting him is like meeting me.”

He silently thanked the depth and nuance of the Chinese language.

Yan Jiyun saw nothing amiss in that wording—he was Qi Feng’s cat, and Qi Feng, in name at least, was his owner. They were family, indeed.

A silence fell. “…”

They understood now—a team alliance was essentially a match of families.

Amid conversation, a bold system alert suddenly appeared before everyone’s eyes.

“A new round of the Peak Match will open in three days. See the game announcement for details.”

Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng exchanged a glance. Ask and ye shall receive.

Everyone hurried to check the game notice—each Peak Match featured different rules, each opening in its own way.

This was Yan Jiyun’s second time at the Peak Match. With last time’s experience, he was less anxious.

He opened the announcement and scanned it, quickly grasping the outline of this round.

A team format.

[Game Announcement]

[With Children’s Day approaching, to celebrate this holiday full of childlike joy, the game will launch a carnival for all. Every online player (except those currently in an active copy) must participate!]

Game Name: Children’s Day Party.

Game Modes: Solo Challenge; Duo Challenge; Four-Person Challenge.

Game Duration: Three days.