GRMFBS CH74

Zhan Yan figured out in an instant why Deep Shadow had canceled the mission.

Approaching Science: “Did you find a solution for your after-effects?”

That was good. He had always felt that the after-effects Deep Shadow suffered from were a potential disaster; it was better to resolve them sooner rather than later.

Gu Jiancheng had just sent the message to Approaching Science when he saw the file being transferred.

He opened it out of habit. The contents were detailed and complete, with case studies for reference, making it easy to choose.

Gu Jiancheng was a little surprised. He had originally thought that in such a short time, Approaching Science would at best have compiled a rough list. How did he manage to investigate so quickly this time?

Seeing Approaching Science’s latest reply, he suddenly understood why he had rushed the job.

Zhan Yan suddenly received a large point transfer from “I Just Saved the World!”, more than double the price he had previously negotiated with Deep Shadow! The transfer sent him straight onto the points leaderboard!

Approaching Science: “Did your account get hacked?”

I Just Saved the World!: “I’ll give as much as I want.”

Still the same flavor, that same arrogance. It was definitely Deep Shadow himself.

In any case, he was the one benefiting.

Approaching Science: “Thank you, boss. May the boss get rich!”

Gu Jiancheng snorted with a laugh.

I Just Saved the World!: “Someone might ask you to look for Infinite Fragments soon.”

“Don’t take it.”

The Celestial Master had also warned him about this.

Zhan Yan wanted to probe for more information.

Approaching Science: “Why?”

I Just Saved the World!: “Anyone who would ask you to take this mission is no good.”

Zhan Yan: …

The reason sounded like a child throwing a tantrum.

But that wasn’t Deep Shadow’s personality. Zhan Yan thought for a moment and roughly understood what he meant.

Anyone looking for Infinite Fragments at this juncture was either the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau officially wanting to destroy or hide them in advance, or someone with covetous designs on them.

If it were the former, they shouldn’t be looking for personnel from outside the Bureau; if the latter, their greed meant they would likely harbor ill will toward anyone else who knew the fragments’ locations.

Of course he wouldn’t take it! He was even planning to jot down the name of whoever asked him in his little notebook, and maybe even report them!

Then he received a private message from Lingyu.

Administrator Lingyu: “Approaching Science, there is a mission here that requires you.”

“Are you familiar with Infinite Fragments?”

Zhan Yan, holding his little notebook: …

This tone was definitely not the Lingyu he knew!

…

Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Nie Yu, wearing a monocle, stood up and sat down, highly agitated.

Seeing her like this, Ji Yueming gestured to her. “Come sit. You’re making me dizzy.”

Nie Yu went over and sat down, but still couldn’t settle. “What are they doing with my account?”

Ji Yueming patted her. “What are you afraid of? I’m here.”

Someone in the Bureau wanted the Infinite Fragments, using research as a noble cause, but in reality, it was for their own selfish reasons.

Ning Xi wasn’t around at the moment; he was too busy. The man’s sense of responsibility was too strong, and he couldn’t let anything go. It was easy to divert his attention; just arrange for a serious incident, and he would be temporarily tied up.

Ning Xi hadn’t noticed those people’s intentions because he managed too many things. He had personally witnessed how much the technology developed from Infinite Fragments had improved their capabilities.

Without teleportation technology, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau wouldn’t be able to dispatch teams with such flexibility.

Without improvements in weapons and equipment, the casualty rate of the execution teams would be at least 30% higher.

Every piece of data was clearly laid out in Ning Xi’s mind. He knew how many lives and how many families these represented.

They weighed heavily on his heart, which was why he valued research on the Infinite Fragments.

Ji Yueming was the bureau’s grand captain; she was only responsible for executing missions. She had experienced the most tragic event twenty-six years ago and had ventured deep into the Infinite to witness what kind of world it was.

She knew its power to bewitch people’s hearts, and she knew its cockroach-like vitality.

The destroyed Infinite was left with only scattered fragments, like incomplete puzzle pieces that could never be reassembled.

But the Infinite World wasn’t a puzzle. It was a macro-world composed of countless small worlds. It didn’t need complete fragments to be pieced back together; it only needed to assemble one small world to be reborn from that foundation.

She wasn’t against researching the Infinite Fragments; such research had been going on within the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau for many years.

The path of progress was to explore the unknown, but one shouldn’t open Pandora’s box before having the ability to control the situation. It was like jumping into the deep sea before inventing a deep-sea submarine.

Gathering all the Infinite Fragments was the deep sea they were currently unable to control.

But it was fine. She could handle the fallout, just as Ning Xi cleaned up her messes.

Family relies on each other, and friends have each other’s backs.

Infected by Ji Yueming’s overly calm attitude, Nie Yu gradually calmed down. Except for when she was writing reports, her captain was always extremely reliable!

She saw Ji Yueming operating her phone with a strange expression and, curious, she glanced down.

…The captain was voting for the rankings!

Looking closer, the captain was voting for her husband.

Oh right, the captain’s husband was an actor, very handsome, and described by the external affairs department as “looking like he’s up to no good with that face.”

Nie Yu: “…Captain!”

Every time she thought her captain was awesome and super reliable, Ji Yueming would do something to ruin her image!

Ji Yueming: “Shh, don’t disturb me. His new drama is out. I recommend it to you!”

The drama Zhan Yunkai had filmed during the holidays was released. The production team had rushed to edit it, catching the tail end of the discussion about Ling Yuteng’s octopus-like entanglements.

Although the character Zhan Yunkai played had few scenes, as the white-moonlight character who appeared throughout the series, he would show up from time to time—too handsome and with too outstanding of a temperament, Director Liu couldn’t bear to cut a single scene, stuffing him in everywhere, almost making him the fourth male lead!

With a decent screen time, a beautiful character setting, clean and crisp martial arts scenes, and a unique face and temperament, Zhan Yunkai, who was originally just a temporary stand-in and had only filmed for a few days, saw his popularity soar, even breaking into the rankings.

Ji Yueming thought, how fun is this! Vote, vote! Let’s push Lao Zhan’s popularity up!

Zhan Yunkai didn’t know his wife was voting for him.

He was currently on Chao Fu Mountain, perched on a branch of a white-leafed Wen Yu tree, preening his feathers.

The netherworld aura made him uncomfortable, like a layer of moisture clinging to his feathers.

“Still no trace of Bai Ze?” Zhan Yunkai asked.

Studying the Heart’s Pull mark was just an excuse and cover for Zhan Yunkai to come to Chao Fu Mountain. His real purpose was to find Bai Ze.

Twenty-six years ago, Bai Ze had fallen in the war against the Infinite. But the circumstances of his fall were rather special, and there had been no news of him since. The Wan Yao Alliance had used all sorts of methods, but they could never find any trace of him and eventually had to give up.

No one had mentioned it since. Everyone tacitly assumed that Bai Ze’s soul had scattered.

But as soon as the hidden remnants of the Infinite appeared, they began searching for Bai Ze.

The Infinite wanted to obtain Bai Ze. It had a deep obsession with him, and it had some methods that were different from this world’s.

This gave Zhan Yunkai a glimmer of hope. Maybe Bai Ze’s soul hadn’t scattered? Maybe he was just hidden for some special reason?

The Minghe Ghost King was formed from the Minghe in the netherworld. All souls that were reincarnated had to pass through the Minghe to be sent to the cycle of rebirth.

As long as Bai Ze’s soul had gone through reincarnation, it must have passed through the Minghe Ghost King’s bloody sleeves.

So Zhan Yunkai came to find the Minghe Ghost King.

As for that Corpse Flower Konjac Demon, he had already thrown it to the Iron Prison Ghost King to deal with.

The Iron Prison Ghost King was a later-cultivated ghost king, his cultivation and seniority a notch below the other major figures. Now that the Lin Yuan Ghost King was missing, the Wan Yan Ghost King was a nutcase, and the Minghe Ghost King never meddled in affairs, only the Iron Prison Ghost King diligently worked as a corporate drone, single-handedly supporting the vast enterprise of Chao Fu Mountain.

The Minghe Ghost King propped her head, lying on her side on the raised roots of the Wen Yu tree. The river of blood flowed beside the roots, nourishing this serene and silent divine wood.

She let her hand fall, dipping it into the river of blood. The water splashed with her movement, creating droplets like blood pearls.

“He’s very hard to find.” She scooped up a length of river water. “When he died, I didn’t have the energy to pay attention to the souls in the river. He hasn’t come by since.”

“Maybe he was reincarnated during that time and has never died since.”

There were far too many beings that could live for over twenty-six years. The human population alone was over ten billion! Not to mention the demons.

What flows through the river will leave a trace in the river. The Minghe Ghost King had fallen into a deep slumber to recuperate from twenty-six to twenty years ago. Now, to re-examine the traces from those years was more than just a little troublesome.

“What about Wan Yan?” Zhan Yunkai asked.

He wanted to grab another strong laborer to help him search. But the Iron Prison Ghost King was already overworked, the Lin Yuan Ghost King was hiding somewhere, leaving only Wan Yan.

When Wan Yan was still Di Ting, he had a pretty good relationship with Zhan Yunkai. He felt this laborer could be roped in.

The Minghe Ghost King frowned. “That psychopath…”

She had learned this new word, “psychopath,” from a ghost drifting by in the Minghe. She felt it suited Wan Yan very well.

Over twenty years ago, she was in deep sleep. That psychopath Wan Yan, in order to find Lin Yuan, had turned the entire mountain upside down, waking her up.

The Minghe Ghost King didn’t indulge his nonsense, wrapping the misbehaving cat in her sleeve and beating him. But this guy never learned his lesson. After being beaten several times, he still dared to sneak into her sleeve to rummage around, checking if Lin Yuan was hiding in the Minghe—it made sense, the Lin Yuan Ghost King was a fish, after all!

The Minghe Ghost King was thoroughly annoyed, but Wan Yan had just managed to piece his soul back together. She couldn’t just beat it apart again.

Now that the psychopathic cat had run off to torment others, the Minghe Ghost King had left a drop of river water on him, lest he get himself lost again.

She squinted, peering into the river water. “He’s at a university now, being a mascot.”

Zhan Yunkai: ?

…

Northern Agricultural University.

Duan Hong carried various fresh meats and vegetables, asking Zhan Yan to teach him how to make cat food.

Zhan Yan: “Don’t you know how to make it?”

Duan Hong looked distressed. “What I make isn’t as tasty as yours. The wishing cat turned its nose up at it.”

Zhan Yan: “Huh?”

What wishing cat?

Duan Hong: “Didn’t you take me to make a wish to that little white cat before? Later I went to make an offering to that ghost myself, and it really worked!

“The little white cat is so magical! I planned to buy some good food to thank it. But it doesn’t eat cat food, not even the most expensive cat treats and canned food. So I could only try making cat food.

“But it just sniffed it and ran away.” Duan Hong sighed. “It turned its head and went to chew on the dried beef jerky someone else gave it.”

Zhan Yan: “There are others?”

Duan Hong: “Yeah, making a wish to it is super effective! A senior from next door lost his experimental chicken, so he brought a chicken leg to make a wish, and the cat led him to find the lost chicken.”

The Wan Yan Ghost King, Northern Agricultural University’s new mascot, the students’ wish-granting spirit cat, had become a huge hit among the university students.