GRMFBS CH38

Gu Jiancheng did not move.

Zhan Yan’s gaze was like a feather, sliding softly and lightly along the contours of his profile.

Clasping Zhan Yan’s hand, he felt his own heart rate quicken, beat by beat.

Gu Jiancheng still remembered the year he had first met Zhan Yan.

Back then, he was suffering terribly from the aftereffects. Even though Gu Jiancheng could conceal it seamlessly in front of others, his temper was inevitably foul.

Enshrouded in a cold, tyrannical shadow, not even the most insensitive person could fail to sense the danger radiating from him. Driven by instincts of self-preservation, people avoided him; his dormmates would rather huff and puff carrying luggage themselves than ask for help from him, standing there empty-handed.

From physical contact to conversation, they did everything they could to keep their distance.

Gu Jiancheng thought this was just fine; he had neither the patience nor the energy to deal with a bunch of lively college students.

On that day, he had plunged into hallucinations once more. Amidst violent dizziness, sharp, shrill tinnitus pierced his temples like long awls. In his daze, a wash of blood seemed to surge behind his eyes, casting a dark red shadow across everything in his sight.

Outside the window, a Ferris wheel twisted into grotesque shapes amidst a roaring blaze, refusing to collapse; beneath him, the seat was skewed and broken, safety harnesses tangled haphazardly around his waist and legs, digging straight into his flesh through the rips in his clothes; the texture under his palm was half slimy and icy, half parched and brittle, pressing against some unrecognizable, charred mass.

He saw an amusement park in flames.

Yet Gu Jiancheng knew perfectly well that he was sitting safe and sound in his dorm room, and those things were merely trees, chairs, and desks.

The tactile sensation in the hallucination was truly repulsive. Gu Jiancheng pulled his hand away, brushing against what felt like a burning coal in the process.

The burning coal was knocked to the floor by his touch. Its charred crust cracked, scattering sparks and exposing half of a scorched skull. Only a tiny portion of a young Gu Jiancheng’s face remained faintly recognizable. Eyeballs devoid of eyelids rolled around in a full circle and suddenly fixed upon him; fused lips moved, uttering no sound, yet Gu Jiancheng read his lips clearly.

He said, “I told you. No one can be trusted.“

He said, “Don’t hand me over to anyone else.”

Gu Jiancheng stared at it for two seconds, remembering that the spot should have been a water cup sitting on the desk.

He leaned down to pick it up, his expression placid, as if in his eyes it truly was nothing more than a cup.

Halfway through reaching out, however, Gu Jiancheng’s hand brushed against something—warm, soft, and dry.

In that twisted world, a hand appeared: pale, clean, utterly out of place with everything around it, shielding him from his nightmare.

“Don’t pick it up; it’s easy to cut yourself. Wait until I get the broom.”

Like grains of salt falling into water, the hallucinations shattered and dissolved rapidly. The distant trees, the desk before him, and the chair beneath him all returned; the ringing in his ears vanished, and the world fell instantly silent.

He looked up and saw Zhan Yan.

Zhan Yan withdrew his hand, fetched a broom, and swept the shards of the porcelain cup into the trash can.

As that touch of warm softness faded, the headache returned, but the hallucinations were gone, and even the pain felt somewhat dulled.

Perhaps noticing that Gu Jiancheng was staring, Zhan Yan even smiled at him.

Gu Jiancheng drew a deep, slow breath.

With the sudden vanishing of his long-endured agony, relief and exhaustion swept over him all at once, like submerging a battered, suffering body into a hot spring, leaving him groggily longing to curl up and fall asleep.

His body and spirit unwound with all their might, yet his mind sounded a frantic alarm—another aftereffect: persecutory delusion.

Gu Jiancheng did not believe in benefits that came without a price.

In the Infinite world, whenever you found an easy, unobstructed path before your eyes, you had better stop immediately and check whether you had strayed too close to the bait inside a trap.

Most people who lacked this awareness had ended up dead.

……

Zhan Yan’s gaze was still tracing his features, openly admiring the line of his profile.

Gu Jiancheng clasped Zhan Yan’s hand. The back of his own hand faced upward, covering Zhan Yan’s on the seat without exerting any pressure, resting gently over it. Their fingers intertwined, like a lock.

Gu Jiancheng let out a sigh inwardly, sounding almost like a groan of self-pity.

Zhan Yan was perceptive when he was perceptive, but when he was oblivious, he was exasperatingly so.

That single touch while picking up the water cup seemed to have flipped some sort of switch. From that point on, as long as Gu Jiancheng stayed within five meters of Zhan Yan, his aftereffects would ease.

During that period, he had craved it madly on one hand, while remaining fiercely vigilant on the other. He could only force himself to stay within five meters of Zhan Yan, all while doing his best to avoid any interaction. No touching, no talking, no eye contact.

Otherwise, he feared he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from locking this person up, chaining him down, and keeping him bound to his side to satisfy his craving and soothe his paranoia.

It took Gu Jiancheng quite some time to sort through those two diametrically opposed emotions, yet Zhan Yan had remained entirely oblivious to it all.

Just as he was equally oblivious right now.

The Ferris wheel reached the very top. Gu Jiancheng turned his head, his pitch-black eyes locking onto Zhan Yan. His throat bobbed, and he whispered, “Want to kiss?”

The Ferris wheel slowly passed over the summit and began its descent. Their overlapping silhouettes parted.

Zhan Yan’s face was slightly flushed.

The first time he met him, he had felt that Gu Jiancheng’s eyes were peculiar—dark and cold, like two extinguished stars. Later, he discovered that whenever those two stars looked at him, they would catch fire.

He really… had an exceptionally hard time resisting that look.

The two of them stayed at the amusement park until closing time.

Gu Jiancheng was very reluctant to part.

During the ghost encounter at the haunted house today, Gu Jiancheng had observed him closely. Although Zhan Yan’s reaction had been a little odd, it definitely wasn’t the reaction of someone seeing a ghost.

Zhan Yan was still an ordinary person; he hadn’t gained any supernatural powers, yet he knew of their existence.

Gu Jiancheng understood what was going on once he looked into the True Science News Agency. The news agency was merely a minor cover channel operating under the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Gu Jiancheng was certain that before the break, Zhan Yan had been a steadfast believer in a materialist worldview, but that certainly wasn’t the case anymore. If one didn’t understand the real circumstances, the work at that news agency was exceedingly dull, reading like fabricate-on-the-fly tabloid garbage. Zhan Yan would never have been interested in it.

That bottle of essential oil couldn’t have come through the news agency’s channels. High-grade goods like that were scarce even within the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, let alone a place like the news agency, which was practically on the fringes of the supernatural.

Rather than Zhan Yan having his first contact with the supernatural world through the news agency, Gu Jiancheng was more inclined to believe that Zhan Yan had encountered something supernatural prior to it. Only after spotting clues linking it to the supernatural inside the agency had he decided to stay.

Zhan Yan knew, but he didn’t intend to let Gu Jiancheng get involved, which was why he had pulled him along to resign.

Asking Zhan Yan directly likely wouldn’t yield any answers. After turning it over in his mind, Gu Jiancheng realized the best thing he could do right now was spend as much time with Zhan Yan as possible, so that if anything went wrong, he would be there in time to protect him. When they were apart, he would investigate further and procure some high-quality protective talismans to equip Zhan Yan with.

Gu Jiancheng let out a slow breath. Wasn’t it just being clingy?

“Yan Yan~“

Before parting, the two agreed that Zhan Yan would show him around Yunjin City over the coming week before they headed to school together.

When Zhan Yan got home, his ears were still red.

What was up with Gu Jiancheng? Even when he was clingy before, he had never been this… this…

“Yan Yan~“

Hearing that inflection, Zhan Yan shuddered and snapped his head up to glare at Zhan Suiru: “Jie, don’t use that baby-talk voice on me!”

Zhan Suiru draped an arm over his shoulder: “How was your day? Why’s your face so red?“

“It’s the heat.” Zhan Yan didn’t feel guilty in the slightest. It really was hot today!

“I’m so thirsty; I need water.”

“There’s fruit juice in the fridge, freshly squeezed.” Zhan Suiru didn’t lose sight of her goal. “Who were you hanging out with today?“

“Just a classmate.” Zhan Yan grabbed the juice, spun around, and used the refrigerator door to block Zhan Suiru, dodging past her toward the living room.

Just then, Zhan Jinli walked in through the door. Zhan Yan hurried to greet his older brother, keeping his mouth busy so he wouldn’t have to talk to Zhan Suiru.

“Yan Yan’s all grown up now. Going out with classmates and leaving his older brother and sister behind.” Zhan Suiru began fake-wiping tears.

Zhan Yan: “…Well, if you want, I can go to the amusement park with you guys too.”

Zhan Jinli: ?

No thanks! Not going to an amusement park again in this lifetime!

Zhan Suiru actually wasn’t interested in amusement parks either. For someone who transmigrated from an apocalypse, what kind of thrills hadn’t she seen? The measly little toys at an amusement park were far too tame.

Having her teasing parried by her little brother, Zhan Suiru huffed in dissatisfaction: “Then let’s all go—“

Zhan Jinli: ?!

In a panic, he hoisted the bags in his hands, forcing out three words through gritted teeth to cut Zhan Suiru off: “Ice… cream… stuff!“

Zhan Jinli’s entire face practically screamed four words: unwarranted collateral damage.

Zhan Yan gave him a look of deep sympathy. Look at that! She’d badgered his brother so badly he was actually speaking out loud.

Zhan Suiru let the previous topic slide and stared warily at Zhan Jinli’s bags: “…You’re making the ice cream yourself?“

Zhan Jinli breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out his phone to type: Ingredients for making ice cream.

He knew full well his tastes were peculiar; if he brought home finished ice cream he’d made himself, not a single person in the house would be able to eat it.

Milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and various mix-ins.

When Ji Yueming and Zhan Yunkai returned home, they were greeted by the sight of Zhan Suiru and Zhan Yan each clutching a large mixing bowl. One was whipping heavy cream, while the other was whisking egg whites. The kitchen door stood open, where Zhan Jinli was inside simmering jam—Zhan Yan had measured the sugar, and Zhan Jinli was purely in charge of stirring.

Zhan Yan was mildly curious: “Dad, how come you went out too?“

His dad was usually very free when he didn’t have filming duties, but lately, due to that sudden surge in internet fame, he had been staying home most of the time.

Zhan Yunkai took off his wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses, speaking with absolute righteousness: “A date, obviously.”

Without responding or marketing it, his online buzz had already started to cool off. They knew Yunjin City inside out, so finding a nice spot with few people wasn’t hard.

The three kids at home were either freelancers or unemployed, liable to come home whenever they felt like cutting work early. Was it easy for him to find a chance to spend quality two-person time with his wife?

Both of them carried smiles on their faces, clearly having enjoyed themselves.

A date, huh…

Associating with those two words, a small smile instinctively tugged at the corners of Zhan Yan’s mouth as well.

Suddenly, his brother began tapping on the bowl Zhan Yan was holding. Snapping out of his reverie, Zhan Yan looked down.

Crap! He had overwhipped the cream!