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[Sheng Maotong was affected by the C-level anomaly “Evil God · Beginner” and conducted a sacrificial ritual in the basement of the Tiansheng Club.]

Wow! That strange statue really is an anomaly! He thought it was odd how twisted the statue looked!

Zhan Yan continued scrolling. The ground fissure in the Tiansheng Club wasn’t an accident either. It was caused by the Demon King of the Wan Yao (Ten Thousand Demon) Alliance, Zhan Yunkai, who shook the basement. The anomaly in the statue had already been taken away by the Demon King, leaving only an empty shell.

The big shot is so awesome! Solved the anomaly and casually collapsed the basement too.

This was the first time Zhan Yan had seen the title “Demon King of the Wan Yao Alliance” in the gossip system. He quickly dragged the term into his information tray and tagged it for later.

The gossip system primarily relies on keyword searches, similar to a search engine without recommendations; only by searching will related content appear.

The title “Tianshi” was something he stumbled upon during a location search. Although he had come across some extraordinary beings from different worlds since then, none could compare to the “Tianshi” big shot.

In addition, there was an information tray area, which functioned like a collection system.

The information tray was like a vast, boundless universe. In the dark background, individual pieces of information shone like stars. Different terms had different colors and brightness: white was the dimmest, green was slightly better, blue was in the middle, purple was brighter, and the most dazzling were the golden terms.

Both “Tianshi” and “Demon King of the Wan Yao Alliance” were golden terms.

Currently, the information tray was still quite dark, with only scattered starlight.

Zhan Yan had a hunch that once he lit up enough information terms, the gossip system would upgrade. He wondered what new features would appear by then.

Zhan Yan typed “Demon King of the Wan Yao Alliance” as a keyword to search.

[The Demon King of the Wan Yao Alliance carefully groomed each of his feathers.]

[The Demon King of the Wan Yao Alliance flew over a polluted city district and then took a bath in a hot spring.]

[The Demon King of the Wan Yao Alliance used a Flying Plate Feather Protection Balm, but found the effect unsatisfactory and decided to try a different brand next time.]

……

This Demon King is a clean freak who loves beauty.

His phone suddenly rang, so Zhan Yan closed the gossip system and answered the call.

It was from the news agency he had applied to earlier. It was a small team, but the benefits were good. Zhan Yan had joined the university’s news club, so it was somewhat related. He had been idle at home during the holidays and decided to try a short-term job. After checking the conditions, he sent in his resume.

When he heard the person introduce themselves, Zhan Yan remembered the interview. The written test and interview had been on the same day. The test content was a bit strange; it didn’t cover theoretical knowledge, common error corrections, or hot news. Instead, they had been given three pieces of content, and for each, they had to write a news report and commentary.

The three pieces included a video, a photo, and pure text, all of which Zhan Yan still remembered.

The video was a blurry shot of the sky with a “mirage” in the distance. The reason for the quotes was that the mirage displayed bizarre and unusual images that kept changing.

The photo showed a fishing boat viewed from above the water, with a massive shadow beneath it contrasting with the boat.

The text described a group of students who went on a mountain trip and went missing. Three months later, they reappeared unharmed but thought they had only been in the mountains for three days.

The call was from the president of the news agency, informing him that he had been hired and asking when he could start.

Since he had nothing else to do, Zhan Yan packed up and went straight there.

On the way, there was a new message in the class group. Zhan Yan opened it to find that it was from Duan Hong, the leader of his dorm. He had stayed at school during the break to prepare for the graduate school entrance exam.

Duan Hong had posted several photos of English exam papers, all filled out with answers, half of which were correct.

Others started teasing him:

[Duan-ge, what happened to you?]

[Only a few days into the break, and you’ve regressed?]

Duan Hong: [Damn it, I didn’t do it!]

[I left the exam papers in the self-study room to save a spot, and when I came in this morning, I found my answers were already done.]

The group immediately became lively:

[Is this for real? Hahaha!]

[People are even stealing other people’s exam answers now.]

[What kind of weirdo does that? I’m dying of laughter.]

Zhan Yan teased him a bit, and immediately a private message popped up.

Zhan Yan clicked on it and, unsurprisingly, it was his handsome and charming boyfriend, Gu Jiancheng:

[Yan Yan, I want to come see you.]

With a cute emoji.

Zhan Yan coldly rejected him: [No.]

Gu Jiancheng was perfect in every way, except for being too clingy. Zhan Yan had been stuck with him all semester, and during the holidays, he wanted to experience some personal space again.

Gu Jiancheng: [Why? Crying]

Zhan Yan: [I have to work.]

[I’ve already arrived.]

[Bye.]

Determined and focused, Zhan Yan closed WeChat, fixed his messy curls and walked into the news agency.

In the mountainous area of Yutang City, Gu Jiancheng was stepping on something so strange it should have been pixelated, looking depressed as he exited WeChat. He dialed a number: “Hello? Give me a few more abnormal reports.”

“Boss!” The voice on the other end almost kneeled in desperation. “Do you think anomalies are like leeks? You harvest one crop and another grows?”

A bloodied, pixelated mass quietly extended a blood vessel, trying to crawl into Gu Jiancheng’s pants.

Gu Jiancheng stomped on it forcefully. The thing trembled twice and stopped moving completely.

He impatiently clicked his tongue: “Why don’t you change your name? Stop calling yourself the All-Knowing One, and call yourself the All-Clueless One instead.”

“Boss, you’re still being hunted by the Anomaly Affairs Management. Can’t we focus on sustainable development? You’re so annoyed, go find your little boyfriend.”

Gu Jiancheng snorted.

“Oh… your little boyfriend doesn’t want to see you? You can go find him! Boss, let me tell you, when you’re in a relationship, you need to…”

The All-Knowing One kept chattering. Gu Jiancheng left a message saying “Give me the report” and hung up the phone.

The anomaly under his feet and the dirt around it were intertwined.

Gu Jiancheng squinted his eyes in displeasure. Yan Yan has to work. What’s so great about working? Does it have him in it? He’ll see what kind of little demon that job is!

Zhenke News Agency.

Zhan Yan was being shown the ropes by the president. His job was simple at the start—just like the written test, he had to write news based on the provided materials. After getting familiar with the work, he would need to go on-site to gather news.

The president, Zhen Hua, was a middle-aged woman with thick glasses, smiling kindly: “Our team is small and informal. You’re still a year away from graduation, right? What are your plans after graduation? Our full-time employees get better benefits; would you consider it?”

She was way too enthusiastic. Zhan Yan didn’t respond, feeling a bit wary.

“Ah, I’m really pleased with you.” Zhen Hua noticed his hesitation and praised him, “You write news quickly and well. Isn’t that what the news industry is about—speed? And when I interviewed you, I could tell you’re a firm materialist who won’t be swayed by all that information.”

Zhan Yan: …He hadn’t even bound the gossip system during the interview.

But it wasn’t a big deal. He could be a firm materialist while working.

“I’ll think about it,” Zhan Yan replied.

Zhen Hua smiled and didn’t bring it up again. After giving him the office supplies, she told him to return to his desk.

As the door closed, Zhan Yan overheard someone say to Zhen Hua: “Zhen-jie, the pile of files we’ve got is almost rotting. When are we hiring a file organizer?”

“It’s hard to hire…”

File organizing? Such tedious work was usually given to newcomers. But Zhan Yan had been waiting all morning and hadn’t been called for anything. He hadn’t been given any news to write either. Zhen Hua said she would send him something when needed, and when there was nothing, he could just relax. So… he was just sitting there, getting paid for nothing?

Zhan Yan felt something was off. With such a relaxed situation, how could they not find anyone?

He opened the gossip system.

[After three consecutive years of failed recruitment, Zhen Hua finally hired an employee who passed the mental stability test and was so moved she ate eighteen bowls of rice.]

Zhan Yan: ???

Forget the eighteen bowls of rice; what was this mental stability test nonsense? When did he ever take that?

In the president’s office.

Zhen Hua took off her thick glasses, revealing mysterious patterns faintly appearing in her eyes. She pulled out Zhan Yan’s written test and interview records, and the more she looked, the happier she became.

Finally, she had hired someone useful, and she was determined to keep this kid!

She was genuinely very satisfied with Zhan Yan. Writing news quickly and reasonably was one thing, but the most important thing was that he was stable enough, unaffected by anomalous information. That was crucial for this job.

Some anomalies influence people through their perception of information. When people are exposed to these related pieces of information for too long, they gradually lose their sanity. So, it was necessary to find someone stable enough.

Nowadays, young people all believe in things like mysticism, forwarding lucky koi messages, and talking about “left eye twitching for wealth, right eye twitching for disaster—screw that feudal superstition.” While they may not be firm believers, their faith in science is just as unstable. If they worked here long enough, they might end up with mental issues.

All employees here undergo regular mental checks, but those who aren’t mentally stable lose their rationality too quickly. After three months, they’re no good.

Zhan Yan was different. During the test, he showed no mental fluctuations at all, even more stable than many superhumans in the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

However, file organizing was still not suitable for him. That involved facing a lot of anomalous information, and he needed to be observed for a while. If he could handle it, she would give him a raise!

At his desk, Zhan Yan spent half the time reading gossip, half organizing and guessing, and he almost figured out what was going on with this news agency.

The Zhenke News Agency was a small branch of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, responsible for explaining anomalous phenomena exposed to the public in a scientific and rational manner.

The mental stability test was completed using hidden suggestions in the patterns of the written test papers and abilities used by the president during the interview. Some strange anomalies affect people’s minds by consuming others’ cognition and belief in them to gain strength. This was also why the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau concealed the truth from the public.

Since this was a legitimate job, Zhan Yan didn’t worry anymore.

This was the front line of gossip! Maybe he’d even get a chance to meet the idol Tianshi someday. He typed in the keyword in the gossip system.

[In the task report from Yitao Mountain, “Tianshi” wrote: “Because that damn A-level anomaly ‘Gap’ was too good at hiding, I got lazy and used a group attack to solve it.” Their teammate cried and clung to their leg, shouting: “Captain! You can’t write the task report like this, Captain!”]