GRMFBS CH205

Then, after being brought back to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau by these people using a series of restraints like handcuffs and shackles, and undergoing various messy examinations, Agave finally realized he had been controlled by Infinite.

The Bureau also honestly told him about his condition. Because the “Heart-Leading Thread” in his soul had been hosted by Infinite’s will, it was very difficult to extract. There was only one solution: to be guided by a Ghost King into the Netherworld for reincarnation, using the power of this world’s reincarnation cycle to cleanse and remove the thread from his soul.

Of course, this also meant he had to die once. And there was a high probability he wouldn’t retain his memories.

Agave didn’t want to die. So the Bureau gave him a second option:

The Bureau had developed a special suppressor that could completely block the influence of Infinite-natured power. As long as he wore this suppressor, the “Heart-Leading Thread” in his soul would remain completely dormant and have no effect on him.

Both options were troublesome. The former required a Ghost King to personally guide him, and the latter required regular replacement of the suppressor. Agave couldn’t afford either cost.

So the person in charge at the Bureau smiled and proposed an exchange:

As long as he returned to the Black Market, told the Artisan everything truthfully, and allowed the Artisan to examine his condition, the suppressor would be given to him for free—and he could pay for subsequent suppressors by working for the Bureau.

Although supervision within the Bureau was strict, the benefits for internal employees were excellent. For sky-high priced suppressors like this, once an internal employee passed the review and it was deemed a necessity, they could purchase it at a 90% discount, and it could be exchanged with internal contribution points—which had a super high deduction value!

Agave calculated and found that with such a discount, the suppressor really wasn’t much of a burden for him.

So he came to find the Artisan.

Agave swallowed nervously. Although the Bureau didn’t reveal more to him, as a keen intelligence peddler by trade, he naturally sensed the Artisan’s extraordinary status from this series of events.

“They said the predicament you’re facing might be more troublesome than mine. But they also have better suppressors than the one on me.”

Zhan Suiru examined Agave’s condition.

The “Heart-Leading Thread” was still tightly entangled in his soul, but that filthy power was indeed dormant, as if dead.

Ning Xi didn’t know what kind of predicament Rong Sui was facing, but he knew Infinite had hold of Rong Sui’s weakness. So he only needed to create a product that could completely isolate Infinite’s power.

Zhan Suiru not only checked Agave’s condition but also examined the suppressors he was wearing.

It was a bit cumbersome, consisting of three pieces in total. One on the head, one on the neck, and a loop around the waist. Disguised as a headband, a choker, and a belt respectively, they weren’t very noticeable.

Zhan Suiru understood how it was made as soon as she inspected it. While the Artisanship and materials were precious, what truly made it effective was the rules of this world that it invoked.

This was something Zhan Suiru couldn’t imitate. She was a soul from another world; even after over twenty years of integration with this world, there were still some incompatibilities.

“I’ll go there tomorrow.”

…

Bao Qingshan also saw the promotion for Ji Lele’s new movie.

“Ghost School. Hey Zhan Yan, isn’t this the one we filmed last winter break? It’s about to be released. Shall we go watch it together? Let me check the trailer first.”

The trailer for Ghost School was edited very well. In the middle, there was the shot of them turning their heads to look at the camera together. Coupled with the sound effects and sudden dead silence, it made one’s heart skip a beat.

The video ended echoing the poster:

In the pitch-black night, the only lit classroom seemed glaringly bright. The curtains flapped wildly outside the window, and a creepy silhouette flickered in and out of sight beneath the curtains.

The difference was that this time, a person stood in front of the creepy silhouette: the character played by Xie Dongshu.

Bao Qingshan got goosebumps all over from the trailer.

Zhan Yan poked him: “Still want to go watch it together?”

Chu Chengcheng and Cheng Yichu also gathered around to watch. They had also participated as extras back then.

“Go, of course we’ll go. What a rare experience!”

“Old Bao, you aren’t scared, are you?”

Bao Qingshan: “Me, scared? Joke!”

So the few competitive college students agreed to watch the movie together.

Zhan Yan: “Let’s wait for next weekend. Gu Jiancheng is coming this Sunday. Let’s take him along next weekend.”

Bao Qingshan: “Sure. What about you two?”

Chu Chengcheng: “I’m fine with it. Hey, when is he coming on Sunday? Or we could watch it together this Sunday.”

Cheng Yichu: “Their farm internship ends on Saturday. Getting here on Sunday would be late, right? Next week then, I’m fine too.”

After happily settling it with everyone, Zhan Yan carried his bread back to his room—this batch was what he went back to get a couple of days ago. The five little ghosts squeezed inside the puppet all had long faces; they probably got scolded by his brother. But afraid he would overeat, they dared not disobey and not give it to him.

Zhan Yan felt a tiny bit guilty, then proceeded to clear out most of their stock again.

Sunday arrived quickly. Zhan Yan went to the crossing to pick someone up again.

Standing at this crossing now, he was filled with emotion.

He had picked people up at this crossing four times. The first time was his brother, who lost his cover here, transforming from a socially anxious sweets monster into the cool and handsome Linyuan Ghost King.

The second time was his mom, the Heavenly Master big shot, who swiped a bunch of local specialties from here.

The third time was his sister’s puppet, leading him to strip away her third layer as “Artisan.”

The fourth time was his sister herself, and her cover dropped to the “Lord” Rong Sui layer—there shouldn’t be another layer, right?

Now he was here to pick up Young Gu. Finally, an ordinary person. Things should be relaxing from now on.

Zhan Yan soon saw Young Gu riding over on a small electric scooter.

He waved happily at Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng had meticulously studied melodramatic TV dramas. The character settings were quite interesting: a wealthy young master and a girl from an ordinary family swap souls, and the female lead—a charming and naive girl—rides a small electric scooter all day spouting domineering CEO lines.

Gu Jiancheng stopped in front of Zhan Yan, propped himself up with one foot, and revealed a devilishly charming smile: “Young Master, are you ready to elope with me?”

Zhan Yan was stunned.

Young Gu had been locked up in the pig farm for too long and his chuunibyou flared up? His mental state was quite ‘beautiful’? True, their pig farm was very strict, not letting anyone out for three months, and the environment wasn’t as good as outside.

Zhan Yan’s heart ached, and he decided to play along with Young Gu.

He straddled the back seat of the scooter and said dashingly, “Let’s go, elope with you!”

Gu Jiancheng felt Zhan Yan’s arms wrap around his waist, his supple body pressing against his back.

His heartbeat suddenly sped up by several beats: “Sit tight.”

The scooter vroomed and sped off.

Zhan Yan laughed and shouted behind him: “Hey hey hey, turn turn! That crossing on the right!”

The summer wind blew hot past their ears, the sunlight glared off the ground, passing through patch after patch of green shade, leaving behind loud cicada songs.

Zhan Yan’s laughter chased behind his back.

For a moment, Gu Jiancheng felt like he was really taking a clean, unbridled young master on an elopement. His heart beat so fast, his breathing rising and falling, all his attention on the hands around his waist.

For a moment, he seemed to return to the past, to the boy who had never entered Infinite, running freely in the summer.

“We’re here.” Zhan Yan tapped him. “It’s this building.”

Gu Jiancheng suddenly felt a bit disappointed.

Zhan Yan had already gotten off the back seat and beckoned him to lock the bike: “Come on up! I saved grapes for you.”

The big sun had made him sweat. The grapes were in the fridge; once taken out, a layer of condensation quickly formed on their skin.

Cheng Yichu and Chu Chengcheng had agreed to go to the lotus pond today. Seeing the two, they greeted them and left.

After going out, they started gossiping.

Cheng Yichu: “Why do I feel like Gu Jiancheng isn’t that scary anymore?”

Chu Chengcheng sighed deeply: “Isn’t this the power of love?”

Big Shot Gu, immersed in love, was sweet as a love-struck fool. Looking at the washed grapes, he didn’t eat them himself but looked at Zhan Yan with bright black eyes, the corner of his mouth hooking up into that devilish smile again:

“Young Master, peel one for me personally?”

Bao Qingshan opened his door and poked his head out: “Hey, I found a few cinemas nearby…”

Before he could finish, he was stuffed with a mouthful of dog food (PDA).

Bao Qingshan: …

Gu Jiancheng: …

“Any cinema is fine, you guys pick,” Zhan Yan said to Bao Qingshan.

“Okay, okay.” Bao Qingshan promptly retreated into his room and closed the door.

Zhan Yan shoved a peeled grape into Gu Jiancheng’s mouth: “Eat yours!”

Young Gu had thick skin and didn’t blush at all, just staring at Zhan Yan’s reddening ears and giggling foolishly.

“What cinema?” He peeled a grape for Zhan Yan in return.

Zhan Yan: “Remember that horror movie we filmed last winter break? It’s about to be released. Let’s go watch it tomorrow?”

Gu Jiancheng: “Sure, sure! Let me find where you are in it.”

Zhan Yan: “I’ll look for you too, let’s see who’s faster.”

Xingxing walked over with his tail up, jumped onto Zhan Yan’s lap, and started observing Gu Jiancheng carefully: “Meow.”

Who is this guy?

Gu Jiancheng: “Ah, is this Xingxing? I prepared a gift for Xingxing!”

Gu Jiancheng started pulling things out of his backpack:

Dried meat for teething. This was the only food item. Having tasted Zhan Yan’s cat food cooking skills, Xingxing definitely wouldn’t care for anything else. This kind of natural teething snack was best.

Xingxing meowed reservedly and accepted the teething jerky.

Gu Jiancheng then started taking out various toys: small balls with bells inside, fake mice that scurried around on their own, a roly-poly rattle that dispensed jerky when batted…

Who said meeting the boyfriend’s cat didn’t count as the first step of meeting the parents?

After the young couple had enough cuddling, Zhan Yan pushed him to go shower. Riding the electric scooter around in the summer heat had made them both sweaty.

While waiting for Gu Jiancheng to shower, Zhan Yan opened the Gossip System to search again.

A thought suddenly occurred to him: Big Shot Deep Shadow had a mysterious healer big-shot lover. Would this person be useful for Yang Ran’s condition?

He searched around. Hey, why can’t I find out who this healer big shot is? All the gossip feeds related to this mysterious healer were from Deep Shadow’s perspective:

[Deep Shadow, anxious to call his lover, unleashed his ultimate move and annihilated Anomaly X.]

[Deep Shadow was soothed by his lover and was in a good mood. His overly friendly attitude towards Zhuo Xun, the leader of the Retirees Alliance, made Zhuo Xun extremely nervous.]

[Deep Shadow felt his lover was too cold to him recently and was in a bad mood, so he brutally eliminated 123 anomalies.]

…

Seeing things like this opened Zhan Yan’s eyes.

He really didn’t expect the domineering and cool Big Shot Deep Shadow to be like this when in love. Tsk, it’s kinda shippable. He really wanted to know what Deep Shadow looked like in front of his lover.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t dig up deeper gossip. Deep Shadow’s gossip feeds didn’t leak any information about his lover at all. It was obvious he was extremely vigilant in this regard, determined to protect any news about his lover.

Sigh, in that case, Zhan Yan couldn’t ask Deep Shadow directly either. He couldn’t explain how he knew Deep Shadow was dating. Asking rashly would probably only make his impression in the big shot’s eyes plummet to rock bottom, maybe even creating enmity.

He could only try asking indirectly.

Approaching Science: “Boss, Boss, do you know any powerful healer big shots?”

Big Shot Deep Shadow didn’t reply; he was probably offline.

The water in the bathroom splashed. Zhan Yan curled up on the sofa eating grapes one by one.

He spaced out while scrolling through the Gossip System, thinking he was sweaty too and needed a shower later.

The water sound in the bathroom stopped. Zhan Yan snapped out of it. After a while, seeing Gu Jiancheng still hadn’t come out, he suddenly noticed the towel draped over the sofa.

Zhan Yan picked up the towel, intending to bring it to him, when he suddenly remembered last time. Gu Jiancheng’s eyes had widened in disbelief, flushing red from his chest to his forehead in an instant.

Oh my, kinda want to whistle at him again.

Zhan Yan decided to be a kind person and not tease Young Gu. He picked up the towel and knocked on the door: “Did you forget your towel again?”

Gu Jiancheng was taking deep breaths in the bathroom.

Last time Zhan Yan teased him, he didn’t have time to tease back!

Gu Jiancheng repeatedly recited the lines he prepared based on TV dramas, ready for Zhan Yan to open the door.

Zhan Yan turned the handle. inside the bathroom, Gu Jiancheng, with his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs, wearing a bright red face, lifted his chin at him with a devilish smile and delivered a CEO line: “Young Master, are you satisfied with what you see?”

Zhan Yan: …Pfft.

No! He had to hold it in!

He didn’t hold it in.

“Hahahahaha!”

Support me on Ko-fi