GRMFBS CH101

By the time Zhan Yan noticed the little red notification dots wildly piling up in the upper-right corner, he had already cleared eight pages of tasks all on his own and was forging ahead toward finishing the ninth page.

Zhan Yan pinched the bridge of his nose and decided to take a short break.

As he casually collected the last new information term into his information plate, the energy bar in the Items column filled up with a whoosh, turning into a fresh little star.

[An exciting moment has arrived! Item Descriptions have received a brand-new upgrade! A superior user experience awaits you! Item Descriptions now feature a newly developed History function. From now on, you will be able to view the historical states of items!
— This is a plate of egg fried rice, but ten minutes ago, it was an egg that couldn’t hatch a chick after three days and rice left overnight in the fridge.
Want it? Excited? Come try it out now!]

Zhan Yan’s spirits lifted!

The history log was finally here! Zhan Yan swiftly looked down, picked up the small silver lock on his chest, and tapped open the Item Description history log.

[This is a silver lock brimming with blessings, with an Ag content of 95.5%, a Cu content of 2.7%…]

[This is a silver lock brimming with blessings, with a silver purity of 955.]

[This is a silver lock top-tier talisman brimming with the protective power of thunder, with a silver purity of 955.]

Top. Tier. Talisman!

One only needed to glance at the forum’s point redemption section to understand the sheer weight of these four words. All the top-tier talismans in the redemption section added up to no more than five types, and over the past twenty-six years, the total number redeemed had barely broken into the double digits.

There was a massive watershed between top-tier and high-tier; without the corresponding level of cultivation, one could never craft a top-tier talisman.

Thunder-attributed, top-tier talisman—could there possibly be any other candidate besides the Tianshi?!

Zhan Yan’s suspended heart not only failed to settle down, but drifted even higher.

He clicked open his mother’s gossip entries and the Tianshi’s gossip entries to cross-check the timelines.

The abnormal static electricity, the small silver lock whose active state was briefly triggered, Mom’s insistence that the three of them wear their silver locks… plus the perfectly aligned timeline!

Zhan Yan swallowed hard several times in a row and dragged the two interfaces to overlap.

Golden special-effect fireworks reflected in his unblinking eyes as “Ji Yueming” and “Tianshi” merged into a single information term. Golden lightning danced over her name, suspended high at the apex of the information plate.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself beforehand, when the dust finally settled, only one sentence kept refreshing in his mind:

Tianshi, Tianshi, Tianshi! My mom is the Tianshi!

Zhan Yan flopped backward, sprawling out in a starfish pose on the bed.

Thinking Zhan Yan was playing with it, Xingxing let out a “meow” and pounced right onto his chest.

Zhan Yan: “…”

“You’re already a cat over five pounds! Could you please have some self-awareness about your weight?”

Set down! Laying on chests is strictly forbidden!

Although taking five pounds of kitten on the chest was manageable for now, Zhan Yan had looked it up—this little guy could grow to over a dozen pounds in the future. Zhan Yan had no desire to experience being crushed by Mount Tai, so starting now, he wouldn’t allow it to develop the habit of lying on his chest!

Zhan Yan rubbed his chest, which had just taken a hit from the five-pound chunk of meat, and stared at the golden star floating inside the Gossip System.

His phone vibrated twice as an app pushed breaking news to him.

Zhan Yan absentmindedly tapped open the notification. The news industry workers on Spring Festival overtime had already rushed out the latest update: “Rare Lightning Strike Phenomenon Stuns Suburbs, Clearly Visible From Ten Thousand Meters Away; Experts Call It a Rare Natural Phenomenon.”

Since everyone was staying up late for the New Year, quite a few people had spotted the thunderbolt from afar and were now gathered in the comments section:

“I was just filming fireworks with my camera when that massive thunderbolt suddenly came down—it almost blinded me!”

“What kind of thunder is that? Why was it so absurdly thick?! It looked like a water bucket.”

“That definitely wasn’t normal lightning. Normal lightning zigzags when it strikes down, not like this straight-as-an-arrow column.”

“Which fellow Daoist is undergoing tribulation here?”

Familiar goofy netizens, familiar memes, but seeing them now felt completely different.

How many times in a lifetime could someone hit the ultimate jackpot?

The top powerhouse I stan is my mom.

Zhan Yan held down Xingxing with one hand as it tried to pounce on him again, while his other hand touched the small silver lock on his chest.

He had previously planned to equip everyone in the family with a Lightning Talisman, but it turned out Mom had already equipped the entire family long ago!

Wuuu, Mom is the best!

Mom had even mentioned on the forum earlier that she wanted to gift him a Lightning Talisman—ah, was this telepathy between mother and son?

Wait, no! He still needed to save up for a Lightning Talisman to equip Gu Jiancheng with. Let him calculate the points…

Zhan Yan finally noticed the red dot alerting him to new messages in the upper-right corner of the forum. What new notification was this?

Oh, right, it was that bunch on the forum frantically @-mentioning him to serve up gossip.

He knew the inside scoop, of course, but he wasn’t going to spill it! He had to wait and see what Mom’s plans were so he could coordinate with her!

Let him search and see… Those Infinite fragments had been destroyed, and the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau was in absolute chaos right now. The higher-ups were arguing fiercely and working overtime through the night, yet his mom could still go home to celebrate New Year—the Tianshi was truly worthy of the title Tianshi!

Come on, let’s see who’s jumping up and down calling to punish the Tianshi; he wouldn’t stop until he dug up every last bit of their dark history!

Zhan Yan rolled up his sleeves and got straight to work, spending the whole night digging into every single higher-up in the bureau who harbored malice toward the Tianshi, compiling it all into a spreadsheet.

His mom was home for the New Year right now, but she’d have to head back to the bureau later to handle this matter. This information would definitely come in handy!

However, Ji Yueming didn’t log into the forum very often, and she was busy lately, so sending it directly to her meant there was no telling when she’d see it.

Zhan Yan thought for a moment and first searched for “Administrator Lingyu’s” information. Great, this account was back in Nie Yu’s hands now.

Nie Yu was a loyal little fan of the Tianshi, so contacting her was very safe!

Zhan Yan began pinging her.

Approaching Science: “Are you online?”

“I have important news!”

Nie Yu had been bored to death recently, but ever since the Captain blew up the Infinite research lab tonight, she knew she wouldn’t be clocking out anytime soon.

Yet Nie Yu was overjoyed to work overtime! The Captain was ridiculously cool!

Because Approaching Science was on her special-follow list, Nie Yu still took time out of her busy schedule to click open his DM.

Important news? Approaching Science was someone who never shot without a target.

Administrator Lingyu: “What is it?”

Approaching Science: “You can contact the Tianshi, right?”

“Have the Tianshi log onto the forum.”

“I’ll send the information to her.”

Now this made Nie Yu unhappy. How long have you even known our Captain? And you’re already pulling the “little secrets” routine in front of me?

Administrator Lingyu: “Fine, I’ll pass the message right now.”

“I’ve been a team member under the Tianshi ever since I joined the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.”

“Naturally, I have a way to contact her immediately.”

Zhan Yan: ?

Why did he feel Lingyu’s tone was a bit weird?

Whatever, as long as the dossier reached his mom’s hands.

After sending the dossier over, Zhan Yan finally had time to pay attention to the forum users frantically @-mentioning him in the chatter section.

With a rough skim, the forum was flooded with all kinds of wild guesses, and photos or videos of that lightning strike from various angles were flying everywhere.

Zhan Yan clicked open one of them.

The video resolution was very high, clearly shot with a professional camera. It opened with bursts of fireworks blooming across the sky, high-definition and steady. Roughly twenty seconds in, the entire frame suddenly turned blindingly white. The screen then gradually dimmed, revealing a pillar of lightning dropping straight down from the sky toward the right side of the video. Several seconds later, the camera picked up a deafening roar of thunder.

The netizens under the video were losing their minds:

2F:
Ahhhhh this is definitely the Tianshi’s handiwork! What absurd level of lightning technique is this?! Worshipping the powerhouse!!!

3F:
Teach me, Master, teach me!!

Wuuu, I’ve practiced my Palm Thunder for a whole year, and my master said it’s great—it can be used to charge phones.

8F:
Is anyone analyzing the Tianshi’s combat strength? Did this scale surpass every single past combat record of the Tianshi?

11F:
Can we stop hyping it up already? The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau hasn’t even responded yet, so it’s not even confirmed to be the Tianshi. In the Tianshi’s past records, the ceiling was never this insane, was it?

13F:
Who else could it be if not the Tianshi? You’re not going to tell us this was a natural phenomenon, are you?

18F:
I’m a fan of the Tianshi’s combat power and have been compiling relevant data. There indeed hasn’t been a record of this magnitude before. But there’s also never been an anomaly that required this level of output. So what I’m more curious about is what actually happened. What kind of situation would require the Tianshi to unleash such overpowering lightning art? @Administrator Lingyu Begging the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau for an explanation.

24F:
I’m more interested in knowing just how monstrous the energy output of that single lightning strike was. So is anyone going to do a combat analysis? I feel like this combat capability isn’t just ranking first within the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau anymore, right?

25F:
Don’t bait drama, Floor above. Aren’t there enough power-scaling flame threads already? Who filmed the video? With the filming location and camera angle, shouldn’t it be possible to roughly pinpoint where the Tianshi’s lightning landed?

37F “Just Charge In”:

Currently on my way to the lightning strike location. Wait for my update, everyone.

49F:
Waiting for your news, buddy!

85F:
A whole round of arguing is done. Has the buddy on 37F not returned yet?

188F:
Three rounds of flamewars are already over! Argued over combat strength, argued over factions, argued over fanbases—can we get an update from Floor 37 before the fourth round ends?

192F:
Not sure, but I know the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau must be swamped right now. Usually, if a thread turned into such a brawl, Lingyu would have stepped in to purge the posts already.

211F “Just Charge In”:

Guys, I’m almost there. Dropping a quick update first.

I feel like something’s wrong. There seems to be a blockade ahead.

213F:

@Just Charge In Be careful, don’t get yourself dragged into something dangerous!

222F “Just Charge In”: [Video] Here’s a live look for everyone. Looks like a blockade set up by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

242F “Just Charge In”:

Crap, I think I’ve been spotted.

After that, “Just Charge In” never appeared again, and wild speculations erupted throughout the thread.

Zhan Yan searched inside the Gossip System and discovered that the guy had wandered into a restricted area, gotten hauled off by Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau personnel for questioning, and would be released once cleared of suspicion.

The thread asking him to drop gossip was also growing rapidly, though the atmosphere there was far more peaceful, without all the hostility:

3F:
What do you mean “suspected Tianshi”? With thunder that ferocious, who else could it be?

OP:
Isn’t that just to stay rigorous? Who knows, maybe it really was a rare natural phenomenon? [doge]

5F:
OP, you’re killing me. What in the world is a “rare natural celestial phenomenon”? Do you work for the Science Truth Press or something?

7F:
Don’t derail, don’t derail. Is no one going to discuss the overlapping timing between the Tianshi and the Chongming Demon King? The two big shots belong to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance respectively—aren’t those two organizations constantly at each other’s throats? Could it be that the two powerhouses were duking it out?

Zhan Yan shot straight up.

Right!

His dad and his mom belonged to two major rival organizations!

Wait, Dad!!! Mom!!!

How on earth did the two of you start dating in the first place?!!!