GRMFBS CH241

So what if you couldn’t hold it back? Were you supposed to tell me why you were so happy?

“I’m so happy today, Yanyan.” Gu Jiancheng’s unconcealed laughter came through the phone.

I won over your sister today!

“I’m really happy today too~” Zhan Yan replied.

I was half the reason we won over my sister!

In the summer evening, the setting sun stretched the deep shadows of the lush, green trees. The ground sluggishly released its residual heat, making people want to hop with every step. The Deep Shadow Boss strolled through the shadows, feeling as if even the dark shade of summer were glowing with light.

“Then I’m even happier.” Gu Jiancheng tugged at a leaf, let it go, and watched its shadow sway in the sunlight.

He thought back to the time he rode his electric scooter, carrying Zhan Yan as they sped along the concrete roads of the township. At that time, he was still immersed in his own melodramatic script, claiming he wanted to elope with the little young master.

After realizing that it was all a misunderstanding on his part, he didn’t even dare to imagine what Yanyan had been thinking when he played along…

But, at that time, Zhan Yan was sitting right behind him, arms wrapped around his waist. The wind blew into his short sleeves, violently tugging and flapping the hem of his shirt. They cast shadows on the ground, and dragged those shadows along as they dashed forward…

Elopement, elopement… If you stripped away all the complex meanings of the word and interpreted it purely through action, all that was left was “two people running forward together.”

Gu Jiancheng’s heart suddenly couldn’t sit still either. He wanted to run forward, keep running forward endlessly, grab onto a certain someone, and run together with him. That way, he could leave everything else behind.

“Yanyan…”

Zhan Yan leaned against the windowsill. Outside his window was a tree, and on the tree hung a water bottle he had placed there.

He had been so busy lately that he had forgotten to refill it for a while. Yet, at this moment, two little birds landed on the edge of the bottle, leaning in to drink. After drinking, they hopped right in, shaking their feathers to take a bath, and then flew up to the branches to dry themselves in the sunlight.

He watched the two happy little birds, wanting to take pictures and record a video to share with the person who said he was even happier because Zhan Yan was happy. But more than that, he wanted to watch them together with him.

“I want to…”

The two spoke at the same time, and then paused at the same time.

Gu Jiancheng felt his heart trembling endlessly, just like the shadow of the leaf swaying in the sunlight.

He wanted to go see Yanyan. Was Yanyan thinking the same thing?

Zhan Yan couldn’t help but curve his eyes into a smile. Just as he was about to say something, a new notification suddenly popped up in his vision—The Chronicle of the World’s location had updated.

He paused, pursed his lips, and used the gossip system to sync the new information to the Librarian.

Gu Jiancheng waited for a moment. When Zhan Yan didn’t speak, he asked, “What did you want to say?”

Zhan Yan snapped out of his daze. “Mm… nothing really. I saw two birds and wanted to take a picture for you. They’ve already flown away.”

The birds were actually still there, but Xiao Gu would probably receive the address soon, right?

Before “Infinite” was dealt with… or at least, before The Chronicle of the World was dealt with, they couldn’t afford to relax too much.

“Oh…” Gu Jiancheng paused, watching the swaying tree branch slow down. “Yanyan, I want to…”

His communicator suddenly rang.

Gu Jiancheng looked down at the message.

“Shall we talk on the phone again tonight?”

Zhan Yan: “Okay.”

He tapped open Gu Jiancheng’s melon feed, hung up the phone, and watched as the text refreshed with new content. Xiao Gu had already set off to hunt down The Chronicle of the World.

He stared blankly at the feed for a while before snapping back to reality and looking at the papers on his desk again.

Thinking optimistically, this inexpressible information wasn’t complete yet. Only after unlocking all the fragments and piecing them together could their true meaning be deciphered.

Perhaps this was just a special encryption mode, and once the complete meaning was deciphered, it would become expressible content?

The Wanyan Cat’s unicorn horn definitely existed somewhere, and a physical location couldn’t possibly be this kind of un-pointable information—you could always draw a map, right?

Zhan Yan packed up the messy pile of blueprints and prepared to go out for a workout.

He adjusted the interface of the Gossip System to the edge of his vision, changed his clothes, and went downstairs.

The daytime heat had yet to dissipate. As soon as Zhan Yan arrived at the small neighborhood plaza, he saw the local square-dancing troupe.

These highly energetic retirees still couldn’t let go of their square dancing. They chose to practice fitness qigong in the mornings and continue square dancing in the evenings. However, they usually picked a time after dark so it wouldn’t be too hot.

Why so early today?

Zhan Yan, who was just passing by, was pulled over by the familiar uncles and aunties.

“Xiao Yan, we’re heading over to Tonghua Square to dance. Do you want to come with us?” the uncles and aunties invited him enthusiastically.

“Why switch to Tonghua Square?” Zhan Yan asked.

“It’s more spacious over there.”
“Another square-dancing troupe we know dances there too.”
“We want to try joining forces and dancing together.”

Understood. The uncles and aunties’ competitive spirit was flaring up again.

In terms of dancing skills, everyone might be on par, but their side had a young, handsome lad who danced amazingly! How’s that for eye-catching!

Square dancing was fine; Zhan Yan couldn’t really calm his mind enough to practice fitness qigong right now anyway.

There were quite a few people exercising and playing in Tonghua Square. Besides the square dancers, there were skateboarders, badminton players, dog walkers… It was further from the residential areas, frequently hosted events, and was always bustling. The square-dancing music was blasted straight from the speakers.

Zhan Yan ran to the back of the line and found a spot. He had a good memory for movements, so even though he was zoned out from beginning to end, staring at The Chronicle of the World’s melon feed, he could still fluidly complete the routine.

His mind wandered from square dancing to fitness qigong, from fitness qigong to teaching others at school, from teaching at school to teaching Xiao Gu, and from teaching Xiao Gu to…

Sigh, Xiao Gu had already mastered all the sets of fitness qigong he knew, so he couldn’t even use teaching him as an excuse anymore. Maybe teach him square dancing instead? Pfft…

A few “Loading…” messages refreshed in The Chronicle of the World’s melon feed, which obviously meant there was new action. But the “Shedding Cicada” feed hadn’t updated, so he couldn’t continue tracking the location…

The square dancers came and went. Some ran out of stamina halfway through and retreated to the side to drink water and rest, while others joined back in mid-routine once they had recovered.

A newcomer also joined in near Zhan Yan. He looked quite young, and although his movements weren’t very practiced, he was dancing very earnestly.

Hmm… It seemed square dancing wasn’t considered too outrageous in the eyes of other young people. Maybe Xiao Gu would actually be willing to do it?

He decided to head back after finishing this set. It was already dark, and the time was about right. But Xiao Gu was currently hunting The Chronicle of the World, so they might not be able to talk on the phone tonight…

Suddenly, several people lunged over, pouncing fiercely on the young man near Zhan Yan. Shouting things like “Don’t move!”, they pinned him to the ground.

The square-dancing troupe was startled. The captors revealed their identities; they were all plainclothes police officers.

The arrested young man was still shouting indignantly, “How did you find me?”

Police officer: “Nonsense, you’re the only young person in the square-dancing troupe.”

The arrested guy looked defiantly at Zhan Yan.

Zhan Yan: …

The uncles and aunties who came with Zhan Yan chimed in: “Our kid dances so well! You can tell he dances all the time. You’re the only one trying to pass off as part of the group!”

“Exactly! You couldn’t even keep up with the moves, you stood out like a sore thumb.”

“Your dancing was terrible. It’s obvious you aren’t part of our troupe.”

Police officer: “There you have it.”

The arrested guy was utterly indignant.

Zhan Yan noticed one of the police officers smiling at him continuously. He thought the man looked a bit familiar.

“You’re…” Zhan Yan was trying to recall.

Police officer: “Yep, that’s me. You came to deliver pastries to us before.”

Zhan Yan suddenly realized. He had seen him in the office when he was helping Auntie Bai deliver pastries to Sister Wenwen.

“Your memory is amazing!” Zhan Yan sighed in admiration. It had been over a year, and he could still recognize him.

The police officer smiled shyly. “It’s alright, mainly because you left a deep impression.”

He had never met anyone like Zhan Yan, who, like a camera, memorized all the details of their office in just a few minutes. But today, he recognized Zhan Yan’s face faster than Zhan Yan recognized him, hehe!

Since they were carrying out official duties, Zhan Yan asked for a handshake and then stopped bothering them.

He decided to rub off some of the police officers’ good luck in quickly catching people, hoping it would help Xiao Gu and his sister catch The Chronicle of the World sooner!

The melon feed refreshed in his vision:

[Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng has captured The Chronicle of the World.]

Zhan Yan looked up in shock. Was the Police Uncle’s luck really that effective?

Gu Jiancheng was in a rather bad mood—he was originally in a great mood. Yesterday he won over the sister, today he had held back for a long time and finally got on the phone with Yanyan. The atmosphere was just perfect when The Chronicle of the World suddenly popped up.

He was absolutely certain that the “I want to…” Yanyan had started saying earlier definitely didn’t mean he wanted to take pictures of two birds for him!

It was all The Chronicle of the World’s fault!

The interrupted Deep Shadow Boss’s rage meter skyrocketed. Upon receiving the message, he rushed over swiftly, his combat power off the charts.

This time, the Boss arrogantly didn’t hold back his power. Under the cover of night, he spread out his Sea of Shadows, directly enveloping an area with a three-kilometer radius. After finding The Chronicle of the World, he then let all the other people out.

Upon hearing about this maneuver, Tu Yue silently lit a candle in prayer for the logistics department.

The logistics department gasped collectively on the spot.

Boss, do you know how hard it is for us to explain when you involve this many ordinary people all at once? And the True Science News Agency… how are you expecting them to spin this?

Gu Jiancheng couldn’t care less.

At least he could safely release all these ordinary people, whereas those poor souls used as “Shedding Cicadas” by The Chronicle of the World were all still in the hospital right now.

Wasn’t catching this guy earlier a good thing?

The people trapped in the Sea of Shadows felt as if they were plunging into absolute darkness. Everyone was isolated individually, just in case some unlucky soul was too close to The Chronicle of the World and accidentally became collateral damage.

Gu Jiancheng was busy letting people out first, so he temporarily didn’t do anything to The Chronicle of the World. He just restrained him within the Sea of Shadows to prevent him from escaping.

The Chronicle of the World’s shadow had already been swallowed by the Sea of Shadows. He couldn’t run and couldn’t move, but his mouth wasn’t idle. Even while facing an expanse of pitch-black darkness, he still babbled: “Deep Shadow?”

“The Monster Doctor mentioned you to me.”

“Even though he’s very annoying, he was right about some things.”

“You’ve grown weaker.”

Gu Jiancheng scoffed.

He was ridiculously strong now, okay? Without the side effects, the first time he could tear away half a book of your skills, and the second time he could beat you up casually!

Gu Jiancheng continued releasing people, too lazy to engage with The Chronicle of the World.

“In the past, I had to hide as soon as I saw you from afar. As for now,” The Chronicle of the World stared into the darkness and continued, “Have you counted how many times I’ve escaped your grasp?”

“Because you care about those ordinary people, you initially didn’t even dare to fully unleash your abilities. Now, even after releasing a bit of your power, you waste time delaying because of those same ordinary people.”

“You think your abilities are stronger than before, but the results of your actions are weaker.”

Having finished releasing the civilians, Gu Jiancheng prepared to seal this idiot up and toss him over to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

“What if, during the time you delayed, everything you cared about was destroyed?” The Chronicle of the World licked his lips with full malice.

Suddenly, a dense killing intent permeated the shadows.

Gu Jiancheng pressed his hand against his fitness band.

The heartbeat from the other end of the band transmitted over, beating steadily against his palm, thump by thump.

Yanyan was still perfectly fine.

He stood in the shadows, staring coldly at The Chronicle of the World.

The Chronicle of the World couldn’t see him; his gaze fell on empty space. Yet he could feel the surrounding killing intent growing heavier and heavier, making him involuntarily lick his lips again—this time out of nervousness.

The dense killing intent meant he had guessed correctly. Deep Shadow now had something he cared about, perhaps a person, perhaps an object. By having something he cared about, he gained a weakness. He would become constrained, terrified of losing even once. But the more this was true, the easier it was for him to lose.

Amidst his nervousness, The Chronicle of the World also felt a trace of excitement.

He hadn’t wanted to enrage Deep Shadow. Although they most likely wanted him alive to extract information from him, Deep Shadow used to be a lunatic…

But only if he probed out the reason why Deep Shadow’s side effects had disappeared would the Monster Doctor agree to help him.

“That person…” he guessed.

The dead-silent shadows suddenly surged forward, completely swallowing The Chronicle of the World.

……

“I have many little secrets~”

Gu Jiancheng looked down at his phone. This was the exclusive ringtone he had set for Zhan Yan.

Right, he had delayed a bit too long. It was already the time he and Yanyan usually talked on the phone.

Gu Jiancheng picked up the phone, but didn’t speak immediately.

He was afraid his voice wouldn’t be able to cover up his emotions.

“Xiao Gu.” Zhan Yan’s gentle voice came from the other end of the line.

Gu Jiancheng gave a short “Mm.”

“Do you still remember that TV drama you memorized lines from?”

A small wave of embarrassment suddenly hit Gu Jiancheng, dragging him out of his gloomy mood a little.

“I remember,” he admitted somewhat reluctantly.

Zhan Yan’s voice carried a smile: “I’ll tell you a secret: I actually really like one of the lines from it. ‘Love makes people brave…'”

Gu Jiancheng subconsciously followed up: “‘…Those who treat love as a weakness and avoid it at all costs, are all cowards…'”

“‘…How could a brave person ever lose to a coward?'” After repeating the line, Zhan Yan, wearing a comforting smile, whispered to him, “Next time, will you recite this line for me?”

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