GRMFBS CH160

The unhappy big shot Deep Shadow received the data that Zong Xiaoping had compiled.

From a timeline perspective, it was completely normal for Deep Shadow not to have any impression of “World Record”. World Record had only surged up the rankings later on. When he was hovering around entering the top hundred, Deep Shadow had already been sitting firmly in the number one position for a long time. Every day, his thoughts were occupied with how to leave this wicked world of Infinite; he didn’t have the energy to pay attention to a newcomer climbing up the rankings.

Some people might think climbing into the top one hundred ranking was an incredible feat.

To rank in the top hundred out of Infinite’s vast sea of players was indeed quite incredible. But as long as one kept an eye on how quickly the names on this top hundred list rotated, they would realize this “incredible” was merely a meaningless castle in the air.

Didn’t the ones who previously ranked second and third also fall in a single task?

Zhuo Xun: “When World Record surged up, he caught quite a bit of attention. He jumped straight from not being on the list to forty-third place. At the same time, eight names dropped off the list.

“These people entered the same task instance as him and all perished inside; he was the only one who came out alive. After coming out, he jumped straight to forty-third place.”

This kind of situation wasn’t exactly common in Infinite. Those who were attentive highlighted World Record’s name—who knew how those several people died, and how World Record’s ranking surged up like that?

If one encountered this person in an instance, they absolutely had to be careful.

Zong Xiaoping had compiled all the abilities World Record had exposed and various reliable and unreliable rumors, making it comprehensive and well-organized.

When handing the data over to Zhuo Xun, he was still asking: “Brother Zhuo, did this World Record survive? He doesn’t seem to be in our alliance.”

“Of course he isn’t. It’s not like every player will join our alliance,” Zhuo Xun said casually while flipping through the data Zong Xiaoping compiled.

Among this group of players, some had joined the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, some maintained contact with the Wan Yao Alliance, and a portion hoped to sever ties with the past, completely avoiding any contact with supernatural factions. Their group of players in the Retirees’ Alliance were merely the pitiful worms among them who couldn’t trust other organizations nor sever themselves from the shadows of their past, thus huddling together for warmth.

Ah right, there were probably also some guys who missed the past or arrogantly thought they could extort benefits from Infinite.

He just didn’t know which of these World Record belonged to.

Zhuo Xun finished flipping through the data Zong Xiaoping compiled; it was extremely detailed and clear.

He praised, “You did a really good job. I didn’t expect you to have this skill.”

Zong Xiaoping rubbed his head sheepishly and chuckled, “It’s alright, I’m fairly good at organizing data.”

Zhuo Xun’s expression suddenly changed: “Then how come I’ve never seen you organize data this well when working for me before?”

Zong Xiaoping: “This, that… normal work and doing work for… is of course different.”

For work, wasn’t it enough just to mostly finish it…

He quickly mumbled over the word “idol”. But what kind of hearing did Zhuo Xun have?

“Brother Zhuo Zhuo Zhuo Zhuo Zhuo! Don’t get physical—ow!”

Zong Xiaoping covered his head and scurried away like a rat, fleeing out of the office.

Zhuo Xun slammed the door shut, huffing with anger.

Wasn’t it just being a fan of Deep Shadow? If you’re a fan then be a fan, but you even kept it hidden. Over so many years in the past, no one had any idea.

Zhuo Xun sent the data Zong Xiaoping painstakingly compiled to Deep Shadow, and then started complaining about Zong Xiaoping in a small group chat of familiar people within the alliance.

Still Wanting to Abdicate and Yield to the Worthy Today: [Last time when Deep Shadow came to the alliance, I felt something was off with this kid. Hiding it day in and day out; if I hadn’t figured it out today, who knows how long he planned to keep it bottled up.]

Still Wanting to Abdicate and Yield to the Worthy Today: [What is there to be a fan of with Deep Shadow? He’s extremely dangerous from afar, and up close he’s arrogant and mad. Aren’t you nervous interacting with him?]

Rolling Over Just to Bask in the Sun: [You can’t really say that.]

Rolling Over Just to Bask in the Sun: [Deep Shadow is powerful. It’s quite normal for youngsters to admire the strong.]

Before Zhuo Xun could even complain about the term “youngster,” someone else in the group replied.

Can’t Wake Up Early at All: [We relied on his name for shelter for quite a few years in the past, after all.]

What to Eat Tonight: [And twenty-six years ago, we all saw Deep Shadow clash head-on with Infinite.]

What to Eat Tonight: [It’s normal for everyone to have a little admiration, right?]

Zhuo Xun realized it belatedly.

Still Wanting to Abdicate and Yield to the Worthy Today: [Wait wait wait.]

Still Wanting to Abdicate and Yield to the Worthy Today: [What’s going on?]

Still Wanting to Abdicate and Yield to the Worthy Today: [You guys aren’t all fans of Deep Shadow, are you?!]

Alliance Leader Zhuo asked around the alliance, and he died of laughter; fifty percent were Deep Shadow fans.

What point was there in him being this alliance leader? The Retirees’ Alliance might as well change its name to the Deep Shadow Fan Club!

Still Wanting to Abdicate and Yield to the Worthy Today: [I quit.]

Rolling Over Just to Bask in the Sun: [Brother Zhuo, Brother Zhuo, don’t be like that.]

Rolling Over Just to Bask in the Sun: [It’s perfectly normal for everyone to appreciate Deep Shadow. Don’t you appreciate him too?]

In the past when they were in Infinite, everyone hoped to see someone break free from Infinite. Deep Shadow stayed in first place for several years and was known as the person with the most hope of breaking free from Infinite.

They longed to see Deep Shadow successfully break free from Infinite, so they could see the hope of themselves breaking free from Infinite through him. This placement of hope inevitably led to people transferring their emotions.

However, back then there were also quite a few people who feared Deep Shadow. At that time, Deep Shadow’s reputation in Infinite was notoriously cold and ruthless. Moreover, this big shot was too crazy, and his madness trended upwards.

In his early years, Deep Shadow wasn’t a lone wolf; he had very close teammates, the kind who had braved many life-or-death situations together.

Later, in a five-star, high-danger instance, everyone died except for Deep Shadow. Rumor had it that Deep Shadow sacrificed everyone in that instance just so he could come out alive. This kind of occurrence wasn’t rare in Infinite.

No one knew the truth of the rumor, but in short, from then on, Deep Shadow never sought out teammates again.

No matter how deeply they pinned their hopes on Deep Shadow, they all knew that if they encountered Deep Shadow in an instance, it was best to stay far away from this big shot. Don’t expect him to give any special care out of consideration for fans; managing to hide far enough away to avoid being collateral damage was good enough.

So most people’s feelings towards Deep Shadow were relatively restrained, just placing their hope of leaving Infinite on him.

But now, they were all people who had been liberated by that war twenty-six years ago.

Back then, Deep Shadow seized the opportunity to tear Infinite apart from the inside, and through the torn gap, they saw another world. Shaking stars, looming giant scales and claws, lightning, flames…

Zhuo Xun saw Deep Shadow charge out, and from his panicking heart amidst the great upheaval, envy was born.

“He broke free…”

So nice.

I really hope I can break free too.

I really want…

Zhuo Xun snapped out of it after one glance. Deep Shadow had liberated himself, but Zhuo Xun still had to find a way to survive the great upheaval.

He roared at the people in his team, telling them to stop looking and hurry up and run out of this instance.

Everyone sprang into action; only Zong Xiaoping was still standing there foolishly.

He grabbed this fool to dodge a falling boulder and was just about to curse him out.

Zong Xiaoping pointed at the sky and said to him, “Brother Zhuo, look, what is he doing?”

Zhuo Xun had never seen Zong Xiaoping wear such an expression, so he raised his head, and subsequently showed the same expression as Zong Xiaoping.

He saw Deep Shadow turn his head and charge back, rushing towards Infinite’s core with suicidal resolve.

They luckily survived this great upheaval, broke free from this nightmare due to Infinite’s demise, and were taken in by this world.

But Deep Shadow was probably dead—what player could survive after crashing into Infinite’s core? The big shots of this world might be able to, but they were players; all their abilities came from transactions with Infinite. They were countered too severely by Infinite.

The players who finally broke free from Infinite even mourned for the big shot Deep Shadow once, but right after mourning, they heard the news that Deep Shadow hadn’t died. Not only had he not died, but he also became a wanted criminal by the three major factions of this world.

Zhuo Xun immediately stopped his mourning and started scheming how to borrow Deep Shadow’s name to make things easier for his small Retirees’ Alliance.

What to Eat Tonight: [In the past, everyone was somewhat afraid of Deep Shadow’s mental state.]

What to Eat Tonight: [Now that he’s come to our alliance and his aftereffects are resolved, he’s not hard to interact with.]

What to Eat Tonight: [What’s there to be apprehensive about now? Isn’t it just being a fan of an idol?]

Zhuo Xun fell silent.

Not hard to interact with.

Hehe, not hard to interact with.

It’s not you guys interacting with Deep Shadow, is it?

Do you know how shameless I had to act back then just to get Deep Shadow’s contact info?!

You bunch of guys who only know how to sit back and enjoy the fruits of others’ labor!

The others were desperately trying to persuade their alliance leader not to abdicate.

—If Zhuo Xun abdicated, how could they lie flat (slack off)?

As Zhuo Xun was mentally grumbling, he received Deep Shadow’s reply at this time.

Deep Shadow: [Thank you, the data is very complete.]

Gu Jiancheng had just finished reading the data; the detailed level of this data made it obvious at a glance that it was compiled with care.

Staring at these two words from Deep Shadow’s reply, Zhuo Xun couldn’t help but feel a burst of smugness in his heart. After being smug for a moment, he snapped back to his senses.

Bah! No, wasn’t it just Deep Shadow saying thanks? What was he so proud of? Why was he acting like a little kid who just got praised!

Zhuo Xun: [Why look into World Record?]

Deep Shadow: [Asking for someone else.]

Asking for someone else? Who? Who could make Deep Shadow help them look up information?

Gu Jiancheng still had no idea he had a bunch of fans in the Retirees’ Alliance; he forwarded the data to Approaching Science.

I Just Saved the World!: [Why look into World Record?]

Zhan Yan was currently flipping through the data and had just seen the twenty-first place ranking.

He didn’t even remember the twenty-first place… The big shot Deep Shadow’s memory was truly worrying.

Approaching Science: [I asked someone to help look into Monster Doctor, and following that trail, I found World Record.]

Approaching Science: [They collaborated before, and then fell out later on.]

Approaching Science: [Those growth-type anomalies on the internet were all researched by World Record.]

Approaching Science: [The person helping me investigate said they recently found traces of Monster Doctor on the internet.]

Gu Jiancheng frowned slightly. Based on his understanding of Monster Doctor, this guy’s abilities were completely unrelated to the internet. If he had a falling out with World Record, he shouldn’t be hiding in the network.

Perhaps they had collaborated once again, or maybe he obtained a network-type ability through some method.

If Monster Doctor was hiding in the network, then he would genuinely be quite hard to catch. Gu Jiancheng had absolutely no network-type abilities.

Wan Shitong was network-type though, he needed to give him a heads-up.

Gu Jiancheng went to contact Wan Shitong.

Wan Shitong’s automated reply responded: “Hello, the user you dialed is currently creating a world, please dial again later.”

Gu Jiancheng: …What the hell?

Oh, he remembered. Wan Shitong mentioned before that the game he was making was finished, and he would be beta testing it recently, so he might not have time.

That game was made by him and another network-type superpowered individual; they used supernatural powers to build a virtual world. To ordinary people, it looked like a normal game, but to network-type superpowered individuals, it was a second world that could be entered through supernatural powers.

Now that the game was finished, they needed to test it with supernatural powers first. During this period, the two of them couldn’t contact the outside world.

Finding Monster Doctor wasn’t urgent right this second; Gu Jiancheng left a message for Wan Shitong and decided to go look for trouble with Infinite and the anomalies first. His shadow avatar had already arrived at Zifeng Valley.

At the same time, Zhan Jinli, wearing his Ghost King Lin Yuan alias and holding a sprig of Buddleja, followed the gloomy Yin energy guiding the way on it, stepping out from the Yin Road and entering Zifeng Valley.