GRMFBS CH292

Zhan Yan: “Four hours…”

“Sis, are you even speaking human?”

“You don’t love me anymore [cat accusing].”

Zhan Suiru: “Be good, don’t act spoiled.”

“I’m giving up my beauty sleep for this.”

That was true… his sister was someone who could literally leave a broker hanging for an entire night just to get her beauty sleep.

Zhan Yan pulled out a small restoration pill and logged into the Dawn World when he went to sleep that night.

His login location was the random spot where he had logged off last time, and as soon as he came online, Zhan Yan was a bit stunned.

Huh? He remembered logging off on a plain covered in shrubs and wild grass, so why was there a lake right beside him this time? Did connecting to Reincarnation really affect the terrain of the Dawn World this much?

The water in the middle of the lake suddenly began to rise, bulging up like a mountain peak while water cascaded down from the top like waterfalls on all sides.

Something massive was rapidly ascending from the bottom of the lake.

Just as Zhan Yan was getting curious, the lake water quickly revealed the answer.

A massive head of a Western dragon poked out from the shoreline first. The dragon’s giant eyes blinked twice as it stared at Zhan Yan, and then its vertical pupils suddenly dilated, shooting out tangible flames of fury.

“It’s you!” the dragon roared, causing the surrounding grass and shrubs to instantly bend in one direction. The lake water bulged even faster and more violently.

Zhan Yan took a bewildered step back, suddenly remembering that pettily narrow-minded dragon whose eyelids he had accidentally propped open right when it was about to go to sleep.

Ah, ah, he had heard that this petty dragon had been hunting him down all this time.

Then what was he waiting for? Just teleport back to the core area and escape… Core area… Meow it, why can’t he return to the core area?!

Was this another side effect of the Dawn World connecting to Reincarnation?

The dragon’s front claw, attached to its wing, violently lifted out of the lake water and slammed down onto the shore. The lakebank instantly caved in, forming a massive pit.

Ah, now he knew how this big lake came to be.

Zhan Yan turned around and bolted.

Seeing him flee, the dragon grew even more furious and roared loudly, “Little thief, don’t you run!”

More than half of its body had already pulled out of the lake, its wings beating up fierce gusts of wind.

Zhan Yan used the wind to run even faster.

“Sister, save me, ahhhh!”

Why hadn’t his sister shown up yet?

Oh right, he hadn’t agreed on a specific time to log on with her; she had only said to log on at night.

This was bad!

The dragon was already roaring and taking to the sky. Sensing the chill behind him, Zhan Yan ran faster and faster, crossing mountains, sprinting through forests, leaping over rivers, and crossing streams.

The NPCs in the Dawn World only felt a gust of strong wind brush past them, failing to even catch a clear glimpse of what it was, before the furious roar of a dragon echoed from the sky.

“Little thief”? What little thief? Had the dragon’s treasure been stolen?

After Zhan Little-Thief lured the dragon across nearly half the continent in the Dawn World, Zhan Suiru finally logged on, arriving fashionably late to pin the dragon flat against the ground.

Standing at two meters thirty, Zhan Yan patted his chest: “Scared me to death! Sis, why did you take so long?”

Zhan Suiru silently turned her gaze away.

Back when she didn’t know this avatar belonged to Yan Yan, she had viewed him as a little dragon demon and felt nothing peculiar about it. Now, seeing this mighty, burly shell making such familiar gestures, it really was… a bit of an eyesore.

Zhan Suiru: “Why didn’t you log off?”

Zhan Yan: “If I log off on the spot, I still have to log back on in the exact same spot. If this dragon sees me disappear, won’t I still get cornered by him if he stays and guards the spot?”

Zhan Suiru: “Contact me after you log off. I’ll log on first and catch him.”

Zhan Yan: …Right. Why hadn’t he thought of something so simple just now?

He must have been completely dazed by his sister’s “four hours of sleep a day” statement!

Being so thoroughly ignored by the pair, the dragon couldn’t bear the humiliation. It struggled frantically to spread its wings, raising its head and tail: “ROAR! You shameless bunch of—”

Zhan Suiru slapped the dragon’s head. Another crater appeared on the ground.

Zhan Yan’s eyes sparkled: “Sis, you’re amazing!”

Zhan Suiru teleported the passed-out dragon away. Steering clear of the dragon, her height dropped significantly, forcing her to tilt her head back to face her two-meter-thirty brother.

“…How did you come up with the idea of customizing a dragon head?”

Zhan Yan: “Isn’t it super fun? Having a dragon head is so cool!”

Zhan Suiru: “What about this build?”

Why did Yan Yan have to mold himself into a two-meter-thirty French door? It looked way too bizarre!

Zhan Yan flexed his arm muscles with immense satisfaction: “Of course a game world needs a build completely different from reality to be fun.”

Zhan Suiru: …Was it because Dad kept forcing the kid to exercise and watch that fitness influencer named Wen-whatever, causing Yan Yan’s aesthetics to go completely off the rails?

“That dragon has already memorized your appearance. Next time you come online, he’ll hunt you down again.”

Zhan Yan: “…Sis, do you know how to change appearances?”

Zhan Suiru opened a back door for Zhan Yan, letting him remold his appearance.

This time, his height was normal, but Zhan Yan gave himself a tail.

Zhan Suiru: ?

Zhan Yan: “If given the chance to not be human, of course I have to try it out.”

Having wings, or being a centaur or mermaid, definitely wouldn’t work—those unlucky souls from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had already set a bad example for him. He had already tried having horns on his head, so this time he swapped it for a tail.

Zhan Suiru stared at the tail swishing back and forth behind her brother, her eyes locked for two full seconds. It was kind of cute.

Whatever, if her brother wanted a tail, let him have a tail. He liked dragon heads and tails, probably because subconsciously he felt he was supposed to look like that anyway.

Zhan Yan was thrilled: “Sis, how do you use that spiritual energy of yours?”

He wanted to be that cool and handsome too!

Zhan Suiru pulled her gaze back from his tail: “How were you kite-running that dragon earlier?”

Zhan Yan froze for a moment, then realized: “Oh, right.”

Normally speaking, he couldn’t outrun that dragon at all. So he had learned to use spiritual energy under pressure? He really was a little genius!

Zhan Suiru slowly let out a smile: “So, your ability is still unstable right now and needs intensive training…”

At six the next morning, Zhan Yan woke up with a blank stare.

Gu Jiancheng noticed something was off with him and felt quite concerned: “Yan Yan, what’s wrong?”

Zhan Yan pulled up the corners of his mouth: “Nothing, I might just be a bit unfamiliar with the bed.”

What did it feel like to sleep only four hours a day relying on pills? It was… physically not sleepy, and mentally quite sharp, but it just felt unfamiliar. Utterly unfamiliar!

After a week of grinding, Zhan Yan began to miss his older brother’s sweet bread.

What was so bad about sweet bread? Was it anything more than being a bit too sweet? At least it didn’t come with a sleep-replacing function. If he were still eating sweet bread right now, his sister would have no excuse to grind him into sleeping only four hours a day!

Zhan Suiru tousled her younger brother’s slightly overgrown curly hair: “Be content. We recently found clues on Monster Doctor and other Infinite strongholds. Mom and Dad are both busy; otherwise, the two of them were planning to take turns supervising you.”

She was very busy herself, utilizing her spiritual imprint to help with tracking down locations. If only her eldest brother, Zhan Jinli, were here, they could have him keep an eye on Yan Yan. Sigh, why was Big Brother recovering his divine abilities so slowly?

Zhan Yan vaguely felt something was off. His family’s protective instincts seemed a bit excessively intense. But no matter how much he pondered, it felt as if a layer separated his thoughts, leaving him unable to put a finger on it. He must have grown dumber from being ground into sleeping four hours a day lately!

“Aren’t you interning with Deep Shadow? Stay with him as much as possible during this period, don’t separate,” Zhan Suiru continued to instruct.

Zhan Yan thought to himself that if Xiao Gu heard this news, he would be thrilled out of his mind.

The cattle farm was not a closed facility, so they were allowed to leave after work hours. Antai Ranch wasn’t in a particularly remote location, sitting roughly three bus stops away from the nearest town, making it completely viable to go out and explore on days off. The local food and lifestyle were quite distinct, making it well worth a stroll.

On Friday night, after everyone finished eating together in the cafeteria, they began mulling over where to go for fun over the weekend.

The work at the cattle farm was quite physically demanding. Hoof trimming, feeding, and administering injections were far from easy tasks. Cattle were strong, ate a lot, and had thick hides; if a person lacked strength, the syringe couldn’t even pierce through the hide.

Some classmates with weaker stamina hadn’t adapted yet during the first week and waved their hands at the dinner table like lingering souls on their last legs: “Not going, not going. I’m going to sleep in the dorm for a whole day this weekend.”

“Hey, Zhan Yan, are you coming with us?”

Zhan Yan said limply, “No, I need to sleep for a whole day this weekend, too.”

“Huh?”

Zhan Yan had great physical stamina. Two days ago, when a classmate knelt in the wrong spot and was nearly kicked by a cow, the passing Zhan Yan had reacted with lightning speed, grabbing the cow’s hoof and saving the classmate’s face from being kicked into disfigurement.

How much strength did a cow have? With Zhan Yan’s physical stamina, there was no way he needed to catch up on sleep over the weekend after just a few days of interning.

Even though they were assigned to different groups, Gu Jiancheng had spent the past few days trying his best to find time to stick close to Zhan Yan. But Zhan Yan had been going to sleep very early every night, looking utterly depleted of energy. Gu Jiancheng had secretly used his Diagnostic Pen to check him, but found zero issues.

He had been looking forward to spending the weekend with Yan Yan. Going out or not didn’t matter; the key was being together. Even if it was just strolling around the small square connected to the facility or the yards in front of and behind the dorms, it would be fine.

Zhan Yan caught Gu Jiancheng’s disappointed little expression. Sorry, Xiao Gu. He had been driven to exhaustion lately, mostly from mental fatigue.

Sigh, he didn’t know how long he would have to grind before he was considered qualified. He could already fly through the sky and burrow into the earth in the Dawn World, but it was just erratic. His sister said he couldn’t use the Dawn World to transfer his spiritual energy into reality yet, because during the transfer process, that instability would be amplified. Using spiritual energy in reality would easily lead to accidents.

Zhan Yan thought for a moment and whispered into Gu Jiancheng’s ear: “In two weeks, once I get used to it, let’s go watch the grassland sunrise and sunset together.”

Gu Jiancheng’s eyes instantly lit up.

Zhan Yan felt his heart flutter at the sight. Whatever, he thought, isn’t it just grinding? He would get used to it over time. Once he was used to it, even if he only slept four hours a day, he would still have the mental energy to go on dates with his beauty!

This internship consisted of four groups in total, with each group staying for three weeks before rotating to another.

In the second week, the Animal Husbandry Group began going out to inspect the pastures and test the soil.

A veteran employee from the ranch drove them to the pasture. In just a few days, the green grassland had already begun turning yellow. The people scattered across the grassland looked like stars dotted over the plains.

“We need to cut and bale the forage grass now, storing it up as winter rations for the cattle,” the veteran employee explained.

On the pasture, workers were busy operating lawnmowers. On the side were balers and neatly stacked haystacks.

Zhan Yan and his paired classmate walked along the edge of the pasture, making sure not to disturb the workers.

Bales of grass were piled into stacks, and beside one stood a youth wearing a hat, holding a pitchfork in his hand. He stood there motionless with his back facing them, his shoulders twitching repeatedly.

The classmate approached: “Hey, bro, what’s wrong?”

Could this employee be having a medical episode?

Zhan Yan felt something wasn’t quite right. He rested a hand on his classmate’s shoulder, quietly pulling him back a few steps so both of them kept a distance from the youth.

Monster Doctor slowly turned around, the corners of his lips curving up into a bizarre arc: “Nothing. I’m just… too happy.”