GRMFBS CH44

Back in the dormitory, Duan Hong and Bao Qingshan enthusiastically helped Zhan Yan wipe clean the dust from his bed and desk. Then they watched as he pulled jar after jar of pickles and meat sauce out of his suitcase, both swallowing hard.

This was the dorm’s secret. If anyone else found out, there’d be less to share!

That evening, Zhan Yan planned to open a jar of pickles.

Duan Hong was very eager. “I’ll go buy porridge from the canteen. You guys finish tidying up!”

The others had just returned today, but he’d been staying on campus the whole time, so there wasn’t much for him to sort out.

Bao Qingshan sprang up as well. “Wait, I’m done packing. I’ll come with you.”

No way was he staying in the dorm to watch this dog food fest!

As the two walked out together, Duan Hong asked, “You just got back today. Why not rest for a while?”

Bao Qingshan replied, “Didn’t you see Gu Jiancheng’s glare? Wow! So cold it could kill!”

Duan Hong fell silent. Gu Jiancheng usually didn’t talk much and was the cool guy type, but when it came to dating, he was unbelievably clingy.

Bao Qingshan nudged him. “Don’t you think every time Gu Jiancheng eats the stuff Zhan Yan brings, his eyes get extra frosty?”

Duan Hong nodded. That was definitely true!

“Maybe he likes the food too? And hates that we eat so much?”

“But he doesn’t eat that much himself…”

In the dorm room.

Gu Jiancheng was smiling, making Zhan Yan’s ears flush red.

Zhan Yan struggled for a long time trying to open the pickle jar. His hands were sore, so he gave it to Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng easily twisted it open. This jar was the sweet-and-sour kind—the tangy smell immediately wafted out of the gap, making their noses itch as if they were about to sneeze.

Zhan Yan reached for the jar, but Gu Jiancheng didn’t let go.

What’s wrong? Zhan Yan blinked.

Gu Jiancheng complained, “They got to eat this a whole year before me!”

Back in their freshman year, he hadn’t gotten any!

Zhan Yan laughed hard. “You ate with them too. I just didn’t bring any at first because I didn’t want to stand out. I didn’t know the food in the canteen was so bad back then.”

By the time he started bringing food from home, Gu Jiancheng had already blended into the dorm—more or less, anyway. Definitely better than when he’d first arrived and barely spoke a word.

After dinner, Duan Hong and Bao Qingshan cleaned the table and opened the windows to air the room out, hiding all traces of their feast like seasoned pros. No way they could let anyone else in the dorm find out—if more people came asking for food, what would they do?

With how practiced they were, no wonder Gu Jiancheng suspected they’d secretly snacked without him back in their freshman year!

That night, Zhan Yan remembered the red-yellow-haired punk from the high-speed rail who still hadn’t been dealt with. Lying on his bed, he opened his gossip system and started digging.

Oh! That colorful-haired punk was actually a demon!

Well then—time to clean house!

He kept searching. The punk was a horse demon named Ma Xingfan, currently competing in the Yaoguai Speed Race—and leading far ahead. Thanks to the high-speed rail.

Hah, technology these days—even demon races were cheating with human inventions. And this guy had the nerve to act all smug while doing it.

Zhan Yan saved the evidence. No way was he reporting this now—if he did, Ma Xingfan would only get disqualified. He wanted to wait until the guy won the championship—he’d clearly planned to brag and show off everywhere. After Ma Xingfan had his moment of glory, Zhan Yan would send the evidence crashing down on him!

Zhan Yan rolled over and drifted into a deep sleep.

Gu Jiancheng lay quietly, eyes closed. Zhan Yan was in the bed on his side, their heads practically touching. Listening to Zhan Yan’s slow, steady breathing, his heart calmed and he sank deep into his own mind.

The world stretched out like a black ocean, waves rising and falling, washing away scorched earth.

He walked along the water’s surface, hooked his toe under a horse-shaped shadow, and flicked it into the air. Ripples spread out, forming the shape of a train carriage and bunk bed—it looked like Ma Xingfan had switched to a long-distance high-speed sleeper train.

Gu Jiancheng sneered coldly, placing his toe on the shadow’s left front shoulder and slowly grinding it down.

The thing had used demon power on its shoulder the second time it tried to shove Zhan Yan.

Slowly, carefully—unless he tormented this thing to death, he wasn’t Gu Jiancheng.

In the long-distance train, Ma Xingfan lay on the sleeper bunk, playing on his phone.

He was in a foul mood today. On the previous train, he’d seen a human that pissed him off. No reason—just hated him at first glance—so he deliberately shoved him.

And the human dared glare back! That made him even madder. He was about to teach him a lesson when the guy’s companion glanced over. That look had freaked him out and he’d frozen up.

A mere human… Ma Xingfan grew angrier the more he thought. He opened his chat app and started picking fights.

“This year’s championship is mine!”

“Fine, let’s bet! Loser calls the winner Daddy!”

“Just wait—all of you will call me Daddy when I win!”

Hmph! Once he won, no one would dare mention that humiliating childhood incident again—being nearly neutered at a human breeding farm.

Ma Xingfan rolled over and stretched his shoulders. Why did they feel stiff? These human beds were so cramped!

…

Classes started the next day.

Zhan Yan was studying veterinary medicine—a five-year course, with internships starting in the second half of his fourth year.

Veterinary studies had loads of classes—tons of theory to memorize and hands-on practice. But Zhan Yan had a great memory, so theory and anatomy charts were easy for him. Now that he had the system’s “information memory” feature, it was even easier.

He’d chosen this major mainly because animals had always liked him since childhood—cats and dogs being walked on the street would often bump into him on purpose. But after he’d assisted in a few spay and neuter surgeries during practice class, this gift had disappeared. In fact, it seemed to have reversed.

He hadn’t been “bumped into” by a single small animal all break! Every time he saw one, they ran away.

After a few days back at school, Zhan Yan hadn’t forgotten about the supernatural world.

That #2 garbled anomaly was still lurking here in Beiling City!

The sooner he settled this, the sooner he’d have peace of mind.

These past two days, his domain had been sending him fresh clues. As usual, he sorted out the useful ones and sent them back after confirming them.

With everything else going on, he’d stopped his morning training. After all, he was at school—his dad couldn’t make him get up early here.

Family group chat.

Zhan Yun opened: “@Zhan Yan, are you still exercising at school? Don’t slack off on good habits.”

Zhan Yan: “Still training.”

Zhan Yunkai: “I saw your WeChat step count didn’t increase this morning.”

…Dad, don’t you have the energy to go on a date with Mom instead?

Zhan Yan: “I jogged on campus this morning without bringing my phone.”

Zhan Jinli: “Didn’t you buy a fitness watch? Just sync the data and we’ll see it.”

Brother!!!

No way out. Zhan Yan turned his head toward Gu Jiancheng in agony. “Can you wake me up for morning exercise tomorrow?”

The next morning, Zhan Yan was huddled in bed under the blanket, dazed, while Gu Jiancheng leaned over and pinched his cheek.

Zhan Yan stared at him with dead fish eyes and whispered, “Why are you all so energetic!”

Gu Jiancheng grinned at him. Zhan Yan felt that smile seriously deserved a punch.

They quietly got up, changed clothes, went for a jog, and bought breakfast for the others on the way back. When they returned to the dorm, the other two were just waking up.

After washing up, Bao Qingshan grabbed his breakfast and headed out. “Thanks, I’ll transfer the money to you later.”

Zhan Yan was drinking porridge and gave him an “OK” sign.

Duan Hong stopped Bao Qingshan. “We have class later. Where are you going?”

Bao Qingshan: “Got something to do. I’m skipping.”

Duan Hong: “But it’s a lab session today!”

Bao Qingshan waved his hand and left.

Duan Hong muttered, “What’s wrong with him lately? He’s skipped so many classes already.”

Zhan Yan hadn’t been paying attention to his roommates’ affairs lately, but when Duan Hong mentioned it, he realized Bao Qingshan had indeed been skipping more often. He’d have to ask him later if something was going on.

The whole morning was spent in lab sessions. After class, Zhan Yan went back to the dorm for a nap. Lying in bed, he logged into the Supernatural Forum to check the latest updates.

Hm? A private message from “Just Saved the World!” popped up.

Gu Jiancheng had been sneaking out every night to clear anomalies. Since they were back in Beiling City and he knew Zhan Yan was starting to get involved with the supernatural world, he made sure to clean up the surrounding environment thoroughly.

He’d cleared the school and nearby areas in the past few days. He couldn’t check the rest of the city in such detail, so he planned to borrow some help. Whenever he had time, he’d find all the anomaly missions in Beiling City and send them to “Approaching Science.”

“Just Saved the World!”: “[Link][Link][Link]”

“Taking this or not?”

Zhan Yan: Ha! A few days ago you barely gave me the time of day, and now you want to work together again?

Approaching Science: “Taking it.”

No reason to pass up free points!

Deep Shadow worked fast and reliably. He could gather some gossip threads and sort them out to earn a ton of points. Apart from his occasional irritating “mysterious cool guy” attitude, their teamwork had been smooth. Triple missions in one night—Zhan Yan had been raking in the points like crazy, but he was even busier now…

Lately, all Deep Shadow’s missions were in Beiling City. Zhan Yan didn’t think that was a coincidence.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau hadn’t announced anything about the #2 corrupted code anomaly, but after so many days, word was bound to leak out. Zhan Yan suspected they did this on purpose.

The #2 anomaly was clearly different from the #1—it was good at hiding and had a kind of teleportation escape ability. By the time the bureau tracked its movements, it was already too late. It likely had ways to jump beyond Beiling City as well. A full lockdown would only force it to run.

Zhan Yan suspected the bureau wanted to lure it out.

When the bureau locked down Yunjin City last time, it tipped off many sharp-eyed folks. Anyone with ability would sense the unusual activity here and might naturally follow the trail to Beiling.

But these days Zhan Yan was buried in coursework, morning runs, and logging into the forum to take missions. His time was getting eaten away.

There were only 24 hours in a day. Zhan Yan couldn’t do like Gu Jiancheng—attend classes by day, sneak out to clear anomalies by night, and still be full of energy.

So he’d lie in bed during breaks, curtain drawn, pretending to nap while actually scanning the forum for anything related to the #2 anomaly.

After holding back all winter break, Gu Jiancheng was itching for a date. “Yanyan, there’s a new hot pot place outside campus. I heard it’s good. Let’s try it?”

“I want to go back to the dorm,” Zhan Yan replied.

Gu Jiancheng was gentle and considerate: “Okay, you go rest first. Want me to bring you anything from the cafeteria?”

Zhan Yan: “Something sweet will do.”

As soon as they separated, Gu Jiancheng’s expression fell like a stone.

Unhappy!

This was the 21st time Yanyan had turned him down since the semester started! And every time it was “going back to the dorm.”

At first, Gu Jiancheng had worried Zhan Yan might be sick. But after secretly checking, he found Zhan Yan was perfectly fine—he just preferred lying in the dorm to going out with him! He never used to be like this!

Gu Jiancheng was aggrieved. Confused!

In a bad mood, Gu Jiancheng logged into the Supernatural Forum, ready to hunt more anomalies in Beiling. The bureau was so useless—the place was messy again!

He messaged “Approaching Science” again. That guy was greedy for points but fast and reliable, the best info dealer he’d worked with. Other informants usually couldn’t keep up with his pace—they’d burn out after a few missions.

Gu Jiancheng was quite satisfied working with him. It was just that lately, Beiling’s anomalies had all been cleared by him…

He sent Approaching Science a message directly offering to buy anomaly info on Beiling. Even without missions, he could clear them himself.

While waiting for a reply, Gu Jiancheng browsed the forum. In a bad mood, he wanted to pick a fight.

And sure enough—someone @-mentioned him:

{“Just Saved the World!” is acting up again?}

OP:

The anomalies in Beiling are almost all gone, thanks to him. @I Just Saved the World! Boss, at least leave some leftovers for the rest of us!

14L

 “I Just Saved the World!”:

Heh. Trash.