GRMFBS CH252

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After finishing his teasing, Zhan Yan immediately turned off his phone.
He let out a yawn.
Time to sleep! He wasn’t going to stick around to watch his sister explode.
Zhan Yan rolled over, shifting to a cooler spot on the bamboo mat to sleep.

Sigh, so what if he harbored illicit intentions? On such a hot day, he’d just break out into another sweat anyway. It was too sticky; he only had the heart for illicit intentions, but not the conditions to act on them.

He hoped the air conditioner would be fixed by the time he woke up tomorrow…
Although it was still very hot in the room, the power of his drowsiness was even stronger. Zhan Yan’s breathing gradually grew heavier, and he soon sank completely into a deep sleep.

The shadows beneath Gu Jiancheng quietly stretched out, covering Zhan Yan like a thin blanket. The heat was drawn away by the shadows, and the unconscious frown on Zhan Yan’s sleeping face slowly relaxed.

Gu Jiancheng kept his eyes open, staring at the ceiling for a while. Listening to the relaxed, slow breathing and heartbeat nearby, he unknowingly fell asleep as well.

Around 2:00 AM, the air conditioner let out a beep as it started up, and the lights in the room flickered twice before steadily coming back on.

Zhan Yan opened his eyes groggily.
Gu Jiancheng had already appeared in front of the switch and smack, turned the lights off.

“Go back to sleep,” he said in a low voice, quickly setting the air conditioner to night mode.
Zhan Yan was already awake, but he chose to close his eyes and pretend to be asleep.

They had left the light switch on earlier to test when the power would come back, and forgot to turn it off before sleeping, so it suddenly lit up when the power returned. The speed Xiao Gu used to suddenly flash over to the switch wasn’t normal for a regular person, right?

Oh dear, wasn’t he afraid of being discovered? Or did he just think Zhan Yan was still groggy from waking up?
The corners of Zhan Yan’s mouth couldn’t help but curl upwards.

The Gossip System popped out, unwilling to be left out:
[Gu Jiancheng was worried you wouldn’t sleep well because it was too hot at night, so he used shadows to help cool you down.]

Now Zhan Yan couldn’t even control his steady, relaxed breathing anymore.

[Gu Jiancheng noticed the change in your breathing and realized you weren’t asleep. He feels very annoyed with himself for turning off the light too late.]

Zhan Yan: See, with him acting like this, who could control themselves from wanting to harbor illicit intentions towards him?
No good. How am I supposed to control my breathing like this? Xiao Gu definitely knows I’m not asleep.

Zhan Yan rolled over and decided to enter the Dawn World.
Since he couldn’t sleep anyway, he might as well grind some info-terms for a while. Besides, after entering the virtual world, his body would appear as if it was asleep.

Right after entering the Dawn World, Zhan Yan ran into Qi Ye.
“Did you wake up early, or haven’t you slept yet?” Zhan Yan asked.
With the game exhibition going on these past two days, shouldn’t Qi Ye, as a developer for the game, be attending? Why would she log into the Dawn World at this hour?

Qi Ye looked at him with dark circles under her eyes: “A legend has suddenly appeared in the Dawn World over these past few days.”
“Rumor has it that in the dead of the silent night, when all things have fallen into slumber, a monster with messy hair, a protruding snout, long horns, and a giant bloody maw will suddenly appear. After startling the sleeping people awake, it will vanish with a shrill laugh amidst the panic.”

Zhan Yan: “Ah, about that…”

Qi Ye: “I’ve been investigating for several days, trying to figure out what this strange rumor signifies.”
“Do you have any clues about this legend?”

Zhan Yan: “It was an accident!”
The creatures in the Dawn World were way too fragile! What had he even done? He hadn’t done anything! He merely appeared suddenly and then vanished suddenly. Aside from that one time in the treasury, his appearances in most other situations barely lasted more than a single second!

Despite her exhaustion, Qi Ye still had some curiosity: “So how exactly did you do it?”

Zhan Yan: “Ah… I basically just randomly teleport out from the core zone, then return to the core zone, and randomly teleport out again. I’ve been using this method to unlock the map…”

Qi Ye’s eyes lit up: “That’s a great idea!”
After the apocalyptic world had merged in, the map had changed, and even she didn’t know what the full picture of the Dawn World looked like anymore. However, thanks to the fact that she was one of the builders of this game world, she had retained a portion of the game system, which included the game’s map function.

Zhan Yan nodded vigorously: “Right, right?”
As long as Qi Ye also did this, he could just use his gossip feeds to leech off the map areas she unlocked!

Qi Ye nodded: “I’ll try it today!”

Zhan Yan looked at her dark circles: “How about you wait until tomorrow instead?”

As soon as Qi Ye finished speaking, she let out a yawn, and the bit of energy brought on by her excitement was suppressed. “It really will have to be tomorrow. I’m logging off for now, bye-bye.”

Zhan Yan’s drowsiness was coming back as well. He logged out of the Dawn World and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, after the two of them finished breakfast, they had barely taken a few steps out of the hotel’s main entrance when they encountered a roadblock-kitty.

Wan Yan squatted in front of them, tail flicking back and forth unhappily on the ground.

Gu Jiancheng: …Why is he here again?

Zhan Yan had already crouched down: “Hey kitty, you’re here. But I didn’t bring anything tasty…”

Wan Yan looked up at him: “Meow-aow!”
He didn’t come here for food! Did he really look like he loved eating that much?!

Zhan Yan: “We’re going to the game exhibition, do you want to come with us?”

Wan Yan was satisfied. He tilted his head up, motioning for him to lead the way.
But once they arrived at the game exhibition, the security guards wouldn’t let the cat in.

Wan Yan: …

The Little Cat Wan Yan ran off angrily again. He darted from the ground toward a wall, and without even using the middle of the three-meter-high wall for leverage, he scaled it with a whoosh before Zhan Yan could even react.

The security guard’s eyes widened: “That cat sure can jump…”

“Let’s go, let’s go, I’ll take you to play on that pseudo-holographic equipment!” Zhan Yan pulled Gu Jiancheng and ran towards their own company’s booth.

Currently, the Dawn World can still only be accessed via the network interface. Zhan Yan guessed that they would probably have to wait until all the concepts from the apocalyptic world were fully integrated before they could open an entrance in the real world.

Xiao Gu didn’t have any network-type abilities and couldn’t enter the Dawn World for the full holographic experience. Zhan Yan had always felt it was a pity for him, so he figured he would let him try out the simulated game experience first.

Halfway there, Zhan Yan noticed the cosplayers around them and suddenly realized something. He hurriedly went to buy a face mask—he had left his “Garbage but Loves to Play” mask back at the hotel. This time, he switched to a new one: “Professional at Getting Carried.”

“Why do you need to wear a mask?” Gu Jiancheng asked curiously.
Zhan Yan lowered his voice: “I’ll get recognized. Didn’t I cosplay a game character for advertising before?”

Gu Jiancheng nodded: “I’ll buy one too.”
“Professional at Getting Carried” held hands with “Professional at Carrying” as they went to line up for the game equipment.

Halfway through the line, Zhan Yan suddenly let go of Gu Jiancheng’s hand.
Gu Jiancheng turned his head and looked at him in confusion.

Zhan Yan whispered: “Oh no, why is Sister Luoluo here too? She can recognize me…”
There were quite a few employees at Shoude Company, but not many could recognize him, and even fewer were familiar enough to recognize him with a mask on. Unfortunately, Luo Luoluo was one of them.

Luo Luoluo was usually very busy and generally wouldn’t rush to the scene for a single game project event. Ah, ah, was this because of the mess Luo Yigang caused yesterday?

He had overheard things at the exhibition; a lot of people were discussing the indoor “heavy snow” from yesterday. The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau really had explained it using the new projection technology, emergency-releasing a new large toy with similar features onto “Polar Glory.” They claimed it was originally an event scheduled for the latter days of the exhibition, but it was accidentally set off while testing the equipment.

Today, there were also quite a few more Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau staff members at the venue, making it feel very secure.

“I’m not lining up anymore; you play by yourself. I’ll wait for you on the side.” After whispering in Gu Jiancheng’s ear, Zhan Yan hurriedly ran off.

If he and Xiao Gu lined up together wearing matching couple masks, Sister Luoluo would turn right around and tell his mom…
Gu Jiancheng looked at him pitifully, as if he’d been abandoned.

It really wasn’t great to let his future mother-in-law find out her son was dating from someone else.
But! Hadn’t he already resolved the biggest problem of meeting the parents? Why did they still have to hide…

Zhan Yan: …
I can’t take it, I can’t take it!
He sneaked a kiss through the mask.
This time, he really had to run.

Zhan Yan slipped away to a window. They were on the second floor of the exhibition, occupying the best location, and right next to them was a large, clear glass window facing the square and fountain outside.

Zhan Yan picked an empty seat, sat down, and continued to restore Di Ting’s puzzle. Previously, while lighting the Zhulong’s little candle, he had collected another batch of pieces but hadn’t had the time to restore them. He lacked the energy to grind it himself yesterday, but after a good sleep, his energy was back!

Sigh, he still needed his brother’s sweet bread or cookies to sustain his life… He wondered how his brother was doing now, hoping his sister’s revenge wouldn’t be too harsh… It shouldn’t be, right? He had already told his sister that their brother was busy lately helping Wan Yan recover; his sister knew how to prioritize.

He opened a gossip feed to search.
[Zhan Suiru sincerely said to Zhan Jinli: “Brother, you’ve been so busy lately, you look so tired. I hope everything you’re busy with goes smoothly!”]

Zhan Jinli: …
Why would his sister suddenly speak directly to him out of nowhere?
His divine ability had been triggered!
He could already feel it—the research for the Ghost Festival would definitely go smoothly, but as fortune brings misfortune, the corresponding disaster had already been arranged.

He looked faintly at Zhan Suiru.
For some reason, he felt that his sister had been acting weird since yesterday. The way she looked at him was strange, making the hairs on his back stand up.

Zhan Jinli typed: “What’s wrong with you?”
Zhan Suiru: “I’m perfectly fine.”

Zhan Jinli: …
What a familiar phrase; it made him want to back away upon hearing it.
Could it be that she was let down by that person making the cookies?

Zhan Jinli’s gaze instantly sharpened.
“Did someone bully you?”

Zhan Suiru: “Nope, just been too busy with orders lately.”
Having to revise it eighteen times in one day!

After enacting her little revenge, Zhan Suiru left under the guise of work. Yang Ran’s soul was mostly recovered, and she was going to try to see if she could transfer the creation ability back.

Zhan Jinli remained suspicious for several days, all the way until the day of the Ghost Festival, and everything went well without any mishaps occurring.
The magical artifact ordered from the Artisan was very effective. He adjusted it a bit and estimated that it would be ready to use by next year.

Everything went smoothly; only Xingxing was quite unhappy.
Zhan Yunkai and Ji Yueming had gone out traveling, Zhan Yan and Zhan Suiru were also not home, and Zhan Jinli was out busy all day because of the Ghost Festival. Xingxing had been eating dry food dispensed on a timer from the automatic feeder—even though it was custom-made dry food crafted by Papa Zhan, when had Xingxing ever suffered such a grievance!

You all go out to play! None of you take me!

When Zhan Jinli returned, Xingxing immediately started throwing a tantrum.
Holding the cat by the scruff, Zhan Jinli looked at Xingxing with her vertical cat pupils, baring her fangs and claws, and couldn’t help but remember the last time Wan Yan threw a tantrum.

The Ghost King, whose Ghost Festival experiments had gone smoothly, was in a good mood and suddenly smiled.
“Stop fussing, I’ll take you out to play tomorrow.”

Hmm… Who was it that mentioned to him before? Youfeng City was promoting tourism and had an “Eighteen Scenes of the Underworld” event. The whole town was doing live-action roleplay, both wanting to capitalize on the Ghost Festival and avoiding the actual day, so it was specially scheduled for the day after.

Humans really could play around with anything. Having haunted houses and escape rooms wasn’t enough; now they were playing make-believe with a whole town.

At the same time, the young couple’s dates had been hounded by Wan Yan the cat for two days. As soon as they stepped out the door, Wan Yan would pop out from some unknown corner.

When Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng drank a beverage, the kitty would eerily creep out from the bushes; when Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng walked hand-in-hand, the kitty would trot clip-clop right beside them; when Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng sat together whispering, the kitty would prick up his ears next to the bench…

Gu Jiancheng was extremely aggrieved.
What kind of psychotic third wheel is this?!

“He won’t follow us if we go play in Youfeng City tomorrow, will he?”

Zhan Yan was also worried: “How about I find a restaurant, rent a stove, and make a huge feast for him?”
Gu Jiancheng pointed out: “Are you sure that won’t make him stick to you even more?”

Zhan Yan: …
Ah—I really need to find Di Ting’s single horn as soon as possible!

Gu Jiancheng gritted his teeth.
Tomorrow! If I see Wan Yan at Youfeng City’s Eighteen Scenes of the Underworld event tomorrow too, I’m going to switch to my Shen Ying persona and beat that cat up!