GRMFBS CH97

Ji Yueming fell into deep thought.

It seemed her family had developed a new hobby in her absence!

This hobby was healthy, positive, and mood-lifting. It should be very helpful for improving Zhan Yan’s aesthetic sense. It would be even better if it could also improve Suiru’s aesthetic sense along the way.

She should accept her family’s changes!

After giving herself a pep talk, Ji Yueming began to re-watch the video with a sense of tolerance and appreciation.

Yan Yan has become the lead dancer! Very good!

Old Jian’s movements aren’t very skilled, but his posture is graceful. Ai, I’ve never seen him dance before, he’s quite talented! We can have him learn in the future!

Jinli’s movements aren’t wrong, but why do his arms and legs look so stiff? Hmm… that’s normal too. With his socially anxious personality, it’s quite pitiful for him to be mixed in with a square dancing group.

Suiru’s movements aren’t open enough, she still needs more practice.

After her appreciation, Ji Yueming began to reply to Bai Linghui’s message:

“Not bad, not bad!”

“If they like it, let them dance more.”

“I’m too busy, I might not have time, so I’ll pass.”

Then she replied to the family group. Her family’s new hobby needed encouragement!

Thus, after the group of one leading three finished their square dance, they all simultaneously received a new message notification from the family group.

Ji Yueming: “@Zhan Yunkai Very good! You have a talent for dancing! We can try ballroom dancing in the future.”

“Suiru is also great! Do you want to continue developing this hobby? Mom can sponsor you for a dance class.”

“Jinli was able to break through his limitations, join the crowd, and square dance with everyone. Mom is so proud of you!”

“Yan Yan danced the best! It’s amazing that you became the lead dancer!”

Zhan Suiru: …

No, no! I really just want to be a slacker!

Zhan Jinli: …

How did Mom know?!

Zhan Yan: His gaze started to wander…

Ahem…

Zhan Yunkai stared at the words “ballroom dancing.”

Oh my! Oh my my!

His face was full of excitement!

He glanced at his three children: “Your mother is so happy, don’t let her down.”

The last time their dad said “don’t let your mother down,” the three of them ended up with small silver locks around their necks that they hadn’t taken off for over a decade. This time…

Zhan Jinli: Ah! I really don’t want to square dance in a crowd!

The time passed until New Year’s Eve. Ji Yueming still hadn’t been able to come home, but she said she could be back before midnight tonight.

Zhan Yunkai bought ingredients and prepared the dumpling filling. The task of kneading the dough for the wrappers was given to Zhan Jinli. Zhan Jinli accidentally kneaded it until it formed a windowpane.

The Spring Festival Gala was playing on the TV as background music.

As Zhan Yan was wrapping dumplings, a strand of hair fell loose and tickled the side of his face.

He rubbed it with the back of his hand, and the tip of his nose accidentally touched his finger, getting a layer of white flour on it.

Zhan Suiru saw this and laughed: “Don’t move. I’ll go wash my hands and tie up your hair.”

Zhan Yan shook his head, flicking the loose hair to one side, and sat on the chair with his two flour-covered paws held up.

Xingxing wanted to climb onto his lap but was gently pushed away by Zhan Yan’s foot. At first, the little fellow thought he was playing with it. After understanding, it huffed and ran to Zhan Yunkai’s feet, circling his legs and meowing coquettishly.

With just one meal of cat food, Zhan Yunkai had successfully risen to become the second favorite person in Xingxing’s heart.

Zhan Suiru came over with a comb to help Zhan Yan tie his hair, complaining as she did so, “This year’s skits are so bad.”

Zhan Jinli nodded vigorously.

Zhan Yunkai simply turned his back to the TV, just listening to the noise. His mind was full of when his wife would come home.

Zhan Yan wasn’t watching the Spring Festival Gala either. He had his tidbit feed open and was scrolling through the gossip.

The New Year was really lively. The tidbits were refreshing much faster than usual.

The firecrackers outside were exploding non-stop, and the nearby ghosts were all cursing.

[The ghost Shan Yankai complained loudly: “Didn’t they say there were restrictions on firecrackers? Why is it still so noisy!”]

There were also some unconventional ones:

[The ghost Shi Pei thought the momentary scalding feeling of being passed through by a firecracker was fun and deliberately stood in front of the children who were throwing them.]

The Chaofu Forum should be quite lively too, but unfortunately, Zhan Yan couldn’t log in right now. However, that wasn’t his main focus at the moment.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had two major events on New Year’s Eve: one was transferring the infinite fragments, and the other was the suburban sacrifice.

Every year during the crossover to the new year, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau would hold a suburban sacrifice at the Tai Altar, presided over by the Great Dancer.

The suburban sacrifice began in the afternoon and lasted until the next morning. The Great Dancer used the ceremony to communicate with heaven and earth, with two main purposes: one was to heal the wounds the world had suffered twenty-six years ago, and the other was to assist heaven and earth in wearing down the infinite fragments.

However, this time, the second purpose was greatly reduced, as most of the hidden infinite fragments had been dug out by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Besides the ceremony’s presider, the Great Dancer, there were other participants who took up unimportant positions in the ceremony, purely to make up numbers and take advantage of the situation.

When the Great Dancer presided over the ceremony, the power of heaven and earth would vibrate, and all living beings in the ceremony would be cleansed. The area where he presided over the ceremony was green with grass all year round, not withering even in the dead of winter, all due to the vibration of the power of heaven and earth.

In previous years, the participants in this ceremony were mostly front-line combat personnel. Some hard-to-recover injuries would have a chance of turning around as long as they could hold on until the annual suburban sacrifice.

But this year on New Year’s Eve, the outstanding front-line personnel were basically all assigned to participate in the transfer of the infinite fragments. As a result, a number of positions in the Great Dancer’s ceremony were left empty. He recompiled a list and squeezed in a new batch of people.

The gossip system couldn’t see the scene of the suburban sacrifice, only a text broadcast, which was quite boring.

After the dumplings were wrapped, Zhan Yan found a moment to call Gu Jiancheng.

Both ends of the call were filled with crackling sounds.

Zhan Yan: “Do you have any plans for tonight? If not, want to play a couple rounds of games with me?”

Gu Jiancheng was wearing a painted-face mask, strolling down a street interwoven with tourists. On his left, electronic firecrackers flashed with seven or eight different colored lights, exploding into cyber fireworks on an electronic screen. On his right, two paper dolls in red jackets with red-painted cheeks popped out of a paper red lantern to wish people a happy new year, creating a total eclectic vibe.

This was the New Year’s street arranged by the Retirees’ Alliance this year, to create a chaotic get-together for this group of unattached, wandering strangers from another land during the most lively and reunion-filled time.

Gu Jiancheng extended his phone towards a group of candy soldiers fighting over red envelopes on a sand table, draped in red silk. The lively sounds traveled through the receiver to the other side.

“It’s very lively here,” Gu Jiancheng said with a gentle smile as he retracted his phone.

Did Zhan Yan really want to find him to play games? It was just that he was afraid he had no one to accompany him.

He walked through the long street, picked a small, three-story pagoda, and jumped to the top. He sat on the roof and looked down. The messy little rooms formed messy scales, which, together with the dragon head at the beginning of the street and the dragon tail at the end, formed a miscellaneous-colored dragon.

Zhan Yan’s voice, accompanied by the background noise of firecrackers and the Spring Festival Gala, came through the phone.

Gu Jiancheng listened quietly.

The Retirees’ Alliance liked to use Deep Shadow’s name to pull weight, but they didn’t know that Deep Shadow, who had never paid them any mind, would actually come to visit them every year during the New Year.

For many, many years, this was the first time someone had called him during the New Year.

Fireworks bloomed in the distance, and tiny snowflakes quietly drifted down.

He and this miscellaneous-colored dragon had both settled down in this world.

After hanging up the phone, Zhan Yan felt a tug at his pant leg. He looked down and saw Xingxing grinding its teeth on his pant leg.

He rubbed Xingxing’s head: “You adapt so quickly!”

When the firecrackers first went off, it was so scared it hid in his arms and needed constant comforting. Later, it wasn’t scared anymore and continued to pester people to play with it.

His sister called him from downstairs to hang lanterns. Zhan Yan picked up Xingxing, placed it in its bed, gave it a couple of rubs, and went downstairs in his slippers.

It was snowing outside. At first, it was just fine and sparse, like crushed shell fragments, but now it was gradually getting heavier.

Ji Yueming sent a message saying her flight was delayed. ZHan Yan searched the tidbits. His mother’s recent tidbits, aside from being fewer, showed no problems. It seemed she should be fine.

But with one person missing, the house still couldn’t feel lively.

Zhan Yan opened the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s gossip feed. Their transfer of the infinite fragments had already begun, with the Tianshi personally overseeing it.

The transfer of the infinite fragments couldn’t use the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s teleportation technology. That was a method researched from the infinite, and a previous attempt had nearly caused the sealed infinite fragments to erupt. So, they could only take the ordinary route for transport.

On the transport vehicle, sealed boxes were stacked stably, one by one. Each box was inlaid with intricate sealing patterns. There were three layers nested inside and out, with a thick, slurry-like electric current flowing within the outermost layer, ensuring that the infinite fragments sealed inside would absolutely not erupt.

Ji Yueming sat in the largest transport vehicle, her eyes half-open, her left hand resting on a sealed box.

All the infinite fragments that needed to be transported were already on the vehicles. Next was the final leg of the journey, to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s secret location—the Infinite Research Institute.

She glanced out the window, her right fingertips lightly tapping on her thigh twice.

The research institute was a circular building, half above ground and half underground. Within a three-kilometer radius of the institute, there was no vegetation, only specially treated hardened ground. There was an interception net above and a deep formation underground, ensuring no other living creatures were near the institute.

The transport convoy drove to a point three kilometers outside the research institute. The headlights of the checkpoint, a hundred meters away, flashed a light signal at them, and all vehicles began to slow down.

Ji Yueming opened her eyes: “All units on alert. At least three people remain in each vehicle, take turns for inspection.”

Problems were most likely to occur when just about to enter the research institute and when the vehicles were slowing down.

Document checks, identity verification, contamination detection… each item had to be verified before they could enter.

No living creatures, other than necessary personnel, were allowed inside the Infinite Research Institute. This was because inside the institute, the largest piece of the infinite was sealed—the Apocalypse Fragment.

The “Apocalypse Fragment” could almost become a small instance world. The entire Infinite Research Institute was a huge, complete seal to prevent its contamination from spreading to the outside.

Ji Yueming never got out of the vehicle from beginning to end. Her inspection was different from the others.

The young man who came to inspect her had a tense face, his eyes a mix of nervousness and excitement, but his actions were steady. He saluted Ji Yueming and handed her a finger-length white wafer.

Ji Yueming took it and squeezed it in her hand. A startling crack like a thunderbolt appeared on the wafer.

This little thing was made of a special material from the research institute, with extremely high resistance to lightning. Besides the Tianshi, no one could instantly release a burst of lightning that could destroy its structure.

The young man took the wafer back, verified it with an instrument, and then, his voice three pitches higher, invited her to enter.

After entering the research institute, most of the transport team stayed at the first gate. Only the Tianshi, leading a seven-person team, continued inward with the institute’s director and security personnel to deliver this batch of infinite fragments.

The director of the research institute nodded at them with self-importance, occasionally pointing out how strict and excellent their protective measures were along the way.

No one in the team spoke to him, maintaining a silent and vigilant watch. The director didn’t seem to mind. His gaze would occasionally dart from under his glasses towards the Tianshi. In this group, the only person he truly wanted to introduce things to was the Tianshi.

However, the Tianshi gave no reaction he was hoping for. All her expressions were concealed under that mask, and in the only visible eyes, there was no emotion.

The sealed boxes were stacked on a small transport vehicle. The seven-person team surrounded the vehicle, walking forward along the rainbow bridge leading to the second gate. One of Ji Yueming’s hands was always resting on a sealed box, while the other was hidden in the sleeve of her draping Tianshi robe, her steps regular and stable.

The director fell silent without realizing it. By the time they reached the second gate, he was startled to find that he had unconsciously been drawn into the Tianshi’s rhythm.

She was just walking…

The director looked at her with astonishment.

After passing through the second gate, the true interior of the research institute was revealed.

The center of the research institute was empty, extending down at least two hundred meters and up about a hundred meters to the ceiling. A huge polyhedron, like fragments of a picture frame pieced together, sat in the very center. Each fragment had a different scene, and these scenes, though seemingly different, shared certain common characteristics, causing anyone who saw it to automatically link and piece together the fragmented information in their minds.

This was the “Apocalypse Fragment.” The entire research institute was built around it.

Several members of Ji Yueming’s team were here for the first time. They couldn’t help but be amazed by this near-miraculous sight. Their excellent training ensured that even in their astonishment, they did not shift their attention from the sealed boxes.

“Very good. Don’t pay too much attention to it. That’s the most basic form of information contamination,” Ji Yueming said.

Large infinite fragments all contained a huge amount of information. A living being’s instinct would make them want to sort out this information the moment they saw it. But that was impossible. In the process of sorting, the living being would only be drawn deeper and deeper by the chaotic information, and eventually, their mind would be sucked into the infinite fragment, never to return.

The Tianshi’s voice was like thunder rumbling in a bronze bell.

The director of the research institute laughed upon hearing this: “There’s no need to be so vigilant. Our technology is already very well-developed. We have set up two layers of information barriers outside the ‘Apocalypse Fragment’.”

He casually pointed at the behemoth in the center: “If you’re curious, just stare at it directly. Nothing will happen.”

“Is that so?” Ji Yueming extended her right hand, which had been hidden in her sleeve, and turned her palm up.

The corpse of a beetle lay in her palm. An eye grew on the beetle’s back—not an insect’s compound eye, but a mammal’s fleshy eye. This made it look extremely bizarre.

“Where did you get that?!” The director’s voice suddenly became shrill.

He was too familiar with this! The anomalies from the “Apocalypse Fragment” were almost all of this style! Creatures contaminated by the “Apocalypse Fragment” would also mutate in this direction.

“On the way here, before entering the three-kilometer checkpoint,” Ji Yueming said. “Your protection technology doesn’t seem very reliable.”

She tossed the insect corpse to the director, as calm as ever: “Keep moving. We still have a way to go to the receiving point.”