GRMFBS CH305

Zhan Yan’s life of covert operations had actually been quite thrilling.

Because he had just been targeted by Monster Doctor, his family was on high alert. All the protective amulets on him had been upgraded once over. His parents made it clear that as long as he stayed within Yunjin City, he could go wherever he wanted to have fun.

So, Zhan Yan spent every day taking Gu Jiancheng for morning exercises, playing with Xingxing, tidying up the courtyard, taking Xingxing out, buying groceries at the market, playing with Xingxing, dancing in the square, and playing with Xingxing. The little cat used to stay home alone often, but now he was fiercely clingy. Gu Jiancheng didn’t mind in the slightest. After all, they could always sneak around together in the Dawn World at night.

Mom, Dad, older brother, and older sister were all very satisfied. He and Yan Yan were separated at night, and during the day there was Xingxing causing distractions, so Deep Shadow had been behaving with exceptional poise and restraint throughout.

Of course, beyond spending time with Gu Jiancheng, Zhan Yan was also busy with serious business over the past few days—working hard to level up the Gossip System on one hand, and feeding everyone all sorts of useful intelligence on the other.

With Monster Doctor dead, Infinite had actually grown even more active. Lately, all sorts of manipulative organizations, big and small, had been sprouting up one after another. Next door, the police officer sister Zhao Wen had been dreadfully busy, and Zhan Yan even went with Gu Jiancheng to help Bai Linghui deliver a huge box of pastries to her at the police station.

Pyramid schemes, online fraud, the “Blue Whale” challenge that induced self-harm… all kinds of chaotic messes seemed to pop up overnight.

Zhao Wen was swamped, doing grueling physical field work every day, and felt distressed whenever she saw mildly sweet pastries. She craved savory, hearty food! After negotiating with Zhan Yan, Zhao Wen traded half a box of pastries for half a box of meat paste. And so, Zhan Yan brought Gu Jiancheng back into the kitchen to simmer meat sauce together.

After living with Zhan Yan for several days, Gu Jiancheng felt a dazed sense that this life by Yan Yan’s side was almost surreal. Such routine, such ordinary days, such wonderful bliss.

What had he been doing during breaks in the past? Investigating anomalies, slaying anomalies, fighting with brainless pursuers… that was the everyday routine he was used to. Back then, without even realizing it himself, he had actually been looking forward to the start of the school semester.

Gu Jiancheng let out a long breath. Fortunately, he still had a shadow avatar hustling away outside right now; otherwise, he might really have just wanted to lie flat and slack off.

Zhan Yan was mincing meat when his phone suddenly let out a meow~ chime.

Xingxing, who had been kicking his toy in the living room, abruptly twisted his upper body 180 degrees backwards upon hearing it, little ears pricked straight up as he glared over. Who is saying “pay attention to me”? Why does that voice sound so much like mine?

Noticing Xingxing’s reaction, Zhan Yan laughed, his hands coated in slick grease. He had secretly recorded Xingxing’s meow and set it as a notification chime; he figured he’d fry up extra minced meat later as copyright fees for the cat.

He directed Gu Jiancheng to check the phone for him.

Gu Jiancheng put down the perilla leaves in his hand, wiped the water off on his apron, and unlocked Zhan Yan’s phone.

“Sister Luoluo—who’s that?”

Zhan Yan instructed him through unlocking the screen: “My mom’s assistant at the company, but practically speaking, she’s the real person in charge. Tap the voice message for me.”

Luo Luoluo’s crisp voice sounded from the speaker: “Xiao Yan, you’re home these days, right? Interested in coming to the company for a supplementary commercial shoot? The video of you summoning the eagle blew up with massive traction before; don’t let the traffic go to waste.”

Summoning an eagle? What eagle had he summoned?

Gu Jiancheng caught on first: “The one where you helped Professor Miao look for his phone and attracted a falcon.”

Zhan Yan came to a realization. How long had it been since that wave of popularity? That viral traffic happened back during their internship at Antai Ranch, which was nearly a month ago by now.

Luo Luoluo: “The game added an eagle-training plotline to the character based on you. Tying it in with reality for a quick shoot and an official post will surely trend.”

Zhan Yan: “The one trending right now is clearly you; you could just film one yourself.”

He shared the gossip with Gu Jiancheng. Earlier, the Shoude company had invested in a business venture in Beiling City. Because it was a rushed partnership, the background check wasn’t thorough enough.

When Luo Luoluo went to sign the contract, she discovered the company was embroiled in a messy divorce and asset division between the founding couple. The husband hired eight hulking men to storm the office and snatch the company seal. The innocent Luo Luoluo got cornered inside the office, completely clueless about what was happening, only seeing nine aggressive men charging straight at her.

In that crisis, Luo Luoluo drew an ornamental sword off the wall and fought all nine men single-handedly with the longsword, stubbornly holding out until the police arrived.

She was a family member of an employee at the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau; although she had no supernatural ability, she had trained in the Bureau’s physical combat techniques, and paired with some exchanged potions, her fighting prowess wasn’t something ordinary people could match.

Somehow, the incident was later leaked online and became wildly popular, with rumors saying that replicas of the ornamental sword had completely sold out.

Luo Luoluo expressed deep regret over this: “Missed out on a hefty sum of advertising revenue.”

Zhan Yan: … Sister Luoluo—a ruthless money-making machine.

“There isn’t an NPC matched to me in the Dawn World, and forcing one in abruptly won’t work well. You might as well come down; treat it as hanging out, and you can get an internship certificate stamped while you’re at it,” Luo Luoluo enticed him with the internship certificate.

Zhan Yan kept steadily mincing the meat with rhythmic thuds, asking Gu Jiancheng, “Do you want to go?”

He didn’t mind either way; he neither liked nor disliked his previous commercial shoot experience, but Xiao Gu had never seen it before. Xiao Gu even had an NPC in the Dawn World, so Zhan Yan wondered if he’d find the filming process interesting.

Gu Jiancheng nodded, eyes sparkling. He was interested in everything Yan Yan experienced!

So Zhan Yan set a time with Luo Luoluo.

Once the minced meat was prepped, Zhan Yan started seasoning and stir-frying. As the heat rose, the savory aroma of the meat began wafting outward.

Xingxing couldn’t focus on his toy anymore, padding over to the kitchen doorway to meow inward.

Zhan Yan: “This has seasonings in it; you can’t eat it. I set a separate portion aside for you and’ll make it in a bit.”

Xingxing stopped meowing and returned to the living room to play, pacing over to the kitchen door every five minutes to check in.

While Zhan Yan fried the meat sauce, Gu Jiancheng washed the used utensils in the kitchen.

Zhan Yan: “You don’t need to wash those by hand. There’s a dishwasher next to the fridge customized by my sister; it works better than anything on the market and gets things super clean.”

Gu Jiancheng started tinkering with the dishwasher. Curiously, he extended his shadow inside to inspect its structure.

The dishwasher immediately blared: “Warning! Intrusion of supernatural energy detected! Warning! Intrusion of supernatural energy detected!“

Startled, Xingxing sprang up with a sharp meow-yowl!

Zhan Yan had just turned on the range hood and yelled loudly at the dishwasher, “Stop screaming nonsense!“

The dishwasher paused, shut its door with an aggrieved clatter, and began washing dishes.

Gu Jiancheng quickly retracted his hand, narrowly avoiding getting pinched by the door.

He lowered his hand nonchalantly, acting casual as he drifted over to Zhan Yan’s side.

Finding his reaction amusing, Zhan Yan didn’t stop stirring the pan with his spatula, but reached his other hand back to give Gu Jiancheng’s arm a pinch.

“My sister upgraded all the appliances in the house and installed some kind of smart system. They stay quiet normally, but they’re extremely sensitive to supernatural energy.”

Gu Jiancheng took the opportunity to wrap his arms around his waist: “I haven’t put the cutting board in yet…“

Zhan Yan teased: “Then go coax it into opening the door again so you can put it in.”

Gu Jiancheng hummed stubbornly: “It’s not you, why would I coax it?”

He grabbed the cutting board and went to wash it by hand.

After finishing the meat sauce, Zhan Yan set the pan aside to cool before jarring it.

Gu Jiancheng had already prepared the ingredients for the cat-friendly treat version.

Xingxing was thoroughly pleased, purring happily as he devoured his meal. Watching him made Zhan Yan hungry: “Should we grab a bite too?”

Gu Jiancheng, distracted by something, replied, “Huh? Eat Xingxing’s?”

Xingxing instantly jerked his head up from the food bowl, glaring at Gu Jiancheng with an expression of pure, unadulterated shock.

Zhan Yan: “…What are you thinking? I meant the meat sauce we cooked earlier.”

Only then did Gu Jiancheng snap out of it: “Ah… I spaced out for a second.”

Zhan Yan: “What happened?”

Gu Jiancheng: “Nothing much, caught a big guy.”

Oh, something on the shadow avatar’s end.

Zhan Yan scooped out meat sauce over rice, chatting as they ate: “People on the forum are already discussing this.”

Gu Jiancheng: “Yeah, Infinite has been making too much noise lately.”

Most of those rapidly spreading organizations had anomalies lurking behind them. As the Dawn World integrated and the boundaries between the concepts of “spiritual energy” and the “mental-network” continued to erode, Infinite had found loopholes to siphon even more negative spiritual energy from reality.

Yet for Infinite, this was actually too late. This world had spent over twenty years purging its remnants; Infinite’s frantic harvesting of spiritual energy would only expose its deeper-hidden claws. The speed at which it harvested spiritual energy couldn’t keep up with how fast everyone else was clearing out the anomalies.

Infinite knew this, yet it pressed forward anyway.

It needed to gather these reserves of power to accomplish what its lost anomalies couldn’t.

What could it be?

…

Mount Chaofu.

Ghost King Wan Yan finally cornered Ghost King Lin Yuan.

Zhan Jinli stopped in front of Ghost King Wan Yan, looking unreadable.

This was their first real face-to-face encounter since Ghost King Wan Yan had recovered—the brief moment when he first woke up didn’t really count.

Zhan Jinli was currently unsure of how to treat Ghost King Wan Yan. Now that he was back to normal, treating him like a mentally deranged cat wouldn’t do; yet immediately reverting to their past dynamic with Di Ting was rather difficult for him as well.

Ghost King Wan Yan panted for breath: “Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan, I have something important to tell you!“

He had been searching for Lin Yuan for days, missing him every single time. It was as if some bizarre metaphysical influence was at play, to the point where Ghost King Wan Yan wondered if Zhan Jinli had cast a divine ability on himself that accidentally attracted some strange misfortune.

Oh, right. Zhan Jinli remembered. When he had first come out of seclusion, Ghost King Wan Yan did say he had something crucial to share, but Zhan Jinli had been in such a rush to save his younger brother that he didn’t stick around to listen.

“Go ahead.”

Ghost King Wan Yan: “Um, stay calm first…“

Seeing how solemn Ghost King Wan Yan looked, Zhan Jinli couldn’t help but tense up as well. Di Ting’s divine ability could overhear countless secrets—could it be something catastrophic?

Ghost King Wan Yan: “The family you were reincarnated into… isn’t quite ordinary.”

Zhan Jinli: …Oh. Gave him a fright for nothing.

It made sense for Ghost King Wan Yan to know. He was already connected to his younger brother; making a round there and picking up everyone’s secret identities from their inner thoughts was completely expected.

“I know.”

Ghost King Wan Yan: “Don’t worr—you know?”

Zhan Jinli nodded: “I know. My dad is Chongming Demon King, my mom is Tianshi, my sister is Rong Sui, my younger brother is Approaching Science, and he’s dating Deep Shadow.”

If he had known this was what Ghost King Wan Yan wanted to tell him, he wouldn’t have been caught so off-guard when that whole circle of family members shed their disguises back then.

Ghost King Wan Yan nodded blankly: “Ah… so you know it all. Then you also know your brother is actually…“

He stopped abruptly halfway through. Mm, this can’t be spoken aloud, but Lin Yuan must know by now.

He looked at Zhan Jinli with hopeful, knowing eyes.

Zhan Jinli: ? Yan Yan is what?

He remembered the riddles his family and Deep Shadow were playing the other night. It was infuriating!

Zhan Jinli: “Actually what?”

Ghost King Wan Yan: “Huh? You don’t know?”

Zhan Jinli: (个_个)

Ghost King Wan Yan: “Ahhh, but I can’t say it.”

Zhan Jinli: (▼へ▼メ)

Ghost King Wan Yan fretted for a moment before thinking of a workaround: “He’s my best friend!“

Zhan Jinli: I know my brother is your frie… wait, what?

It clicked.

Ghost King Wan Yan meant back when he was Di Ting… Bai Ze?!