GRMFBS CH175

The gossip consumer becomes the gossip.
Heaven’s wheel turns; no one escapes karma.
What you sow in the world, you reap eventually.

…

Zhan Yan found the highlight compilation. The person who’d made it had even given it a name: “Noob Little Brother’s Rainbow‑Colored Praise and the Masked‑Up Big Sister.”

Zhan Yan: …

He watched the whole thing with superhuman willpower and afterward felt like a useless badger.

Zhan Yan was generally very easygoing about these things.

He honestly didn’t mind the audience’s hahahas—but why did Gu Jiancheng have to find out?!

He felt his image was shattered…

With trembling hands, he found Gu Jiancheng’s WeChat, wanting to message but not daring to.

Then he saw Gu Jiancheng’s status change to “typing…” and then disappear. A moment later it changed to “typing…” again, but the message never came through.

He could practically see Classmate Gu’s struggling, conflicted expression 🙂

Why did my boyfriend have to find out?!

Oh right—he had given his account to Gu Jiancheng.

He wanted to time‑travel back and punch himself.

Zhan Yan watched the “typing…” status appear and disappear repeatedly. He took a deep breath and exited the chat. Not looking anymore!

Gu Jiancheng was deeply conflicted.

He didn’t know if he should tell Yan Yan. Not telling felt wrong… but if he told, Yan Yan would definitely be mortified.

Though the way Yan Yan gushed about him was so cute! He wanted to hear more…

If he just made himself a gaming‑god alt and carried Yan Yan, he could hear it again.

But no—that would be deliberately deceiving Yan Yan.

Still… he really wanted to hear it.

Just as Gu Jiancheng was wrestling with this, movement came from the shadow clone area.

A writhing ball of light slammed down in front of him, its thousand squirming mouths belting out twisted hymns while radiating light pollution: “Praise the sun! Praise the sun! Glory to radiance! Glory to light!”

Each mouth opened and shot out a beam of blinding light.

Like a disco ball that had gone insane.

Gu Jiancheng: … Where does the Monster Doctor even GET these deranged inspirations? What kind of stuff does he normally look at?!

The Monster Doctor’s creations used to just hurt the eyes; now they hurt the ears too.

Gu Jiancheng started fighting the anomaly.

After clearing this batch, there was still no sign of the Monster Doctor itself.

Gu Jiancheng felt like he was getting closer, but irritation was brewing in his chest.

Infinite wanted to dangle the Monster Doctor in front of him to keep him busy. He wanted to take it down now and ruin Infinite’s plans.

But whether he defeated the Monster Doctor early or late, the network world was completely inaccessible to him.

This sense of lost control made him restless.

Something felt off. The network world was somewhere he couldn’t participate in at all. Had it been the same when he was in Infinite? Had he never encountered network‑type dungeons there, or had he relied on Jack‑of‑All‑Trades when he did?

He couldn’t remember. He’d completed so many tasks in Infinite that many memories had become blurry. When every task was heart‑pounding, “heart‑pounding” became routine.

He remembered being dependent on others’ abilities during dungeon tasks—but had he ever experienced a task where he was entirely unable to participate?

If he’d experienced something like that, based on his nature, he would’ve found a way to fill the gap. That kind of incomplete ability set was far too dangerous.

Yet he still had no network‑type abilities. Was it because Infinite and this world’s rules differed? Because Infinite had no network‑type world?

The stars above the Sea of Shadows flickered. His restlessness gradually subsided. The fitness band on his wrist vibrated slightly—was something happening with Yan Yan?

A movie or some other emotionally stimulating activity on his day off?

Gu Jiancheng speculated for a moment, then his thoughts drifted back to the broadcast clip.

Yan Yan really was adorable.

But how was he supposed to hint about it…

Gu Jiancheng was conflicted again.

…

Zhan Yan had wanted to forget about the clip, but he discovered that his “Objects” column’s little star had upgraded because of all the gossip scrolling.

Since when did game items count as “Objects”?!

The Objects column had upgraded twice before—once granting him item‑analysis abilities, once giving him access to historical records of those analyses.

Now a new ability had appeared, extremely practical, but…

This ability was network‑related. It allowed Zhan Yan’s consciousness to hide within any information that referred to him. While concealed like this, he could be completely covered by the reference to him in that information.

For example, in the comment “King Badger is a noob at gaming.” Zhan Yan could hide beneath the reference “King Badger.” Because that reference fit him so perfectly, almost no one in the network could detect his consciousness. In other words, he could now be even more concealed than a “network ghost”—every piece of information about him online could become his shelter and his eyes.

But the limitations on this concealment were equally steep. He could only hide within information related to himself, and that information could only exist in network spaces it naturally belonged in.

“King Badger is a noob at gaming” could appear in entertainment sections but not in academic forums.

If he wanted to go somewhere those references couldn’t reach, he’d have to abandon the concealment.

Despite the many limits, there was no denying this was an incredibly powerful ability.

[You don’t seem happy about the upgrade. Why?
Come on, cheer up! Think about it—the more gossip about me spreads online, the stronger my ability gets!]

Zhan Yan: …

What the hell. Want to smash the system.

Never mind. It was his own golden finger anyway, and he couldn’t reach it to smash it anyway.

Zhan Yan quickly composed himself.

This ability was actually quite practical for him right now. Since Nie Yu hadn’t taught him how to deal with network‑type anomalies yet and the online environment was dangerous, Zhan Yan hadn’t been online in a while.

Now he could definitely use this ability to go online and check things out.

He’d looked it up—Nie Yu had suddenly gotten busy because of a mysterious new network‑type big shot.

He’d watched via gossip feeds as the big shot cleaned up network viruses and anomalies—absolutely badass!

This made Zhan Yan, who’d never personally cleaned an anomaly, quite envious.

Before, he could only eat gossip, but now he could actually enter the network world himself. Who didn’t have a few combat fantasies?

But there was only one piece of gossip on that big shot, no previous information—mysteriously secretive.

Though going online and the mysterious network big shot could wait. Right now he had a lot to sort out.

He’d already uncovered his sister’s alt ahead of schedule, so he’d never experience another shock like his parents’ and brother’s reveals.

After thinking it through, it looked like as long as the stance contradictions got resolved, his parents could easily stay together. His brother was fine too—even though he belonged to Chaofu Mountain, Chaofu Mountain was so “salty” it had no conflicts with anyone. That left only the lifespan issue for him and his sister.

Time to teach sis the training method when I get home!

He glanced at Wan Yan’ feed again.

[Wan Yan Ghost King gets lost in the Maze Forest for the thirty‑second time. Thinking of himself desperately searching while Lin Yuan secretly raised another cat, Wan Yan’ fury has no outlet. He curses the Maze Forest to go bald.]

[The Maze Forest yields and opens a path for Wan Yan Ghost King.]

??? Is the Maze Forest alive?

How’s it so spineless? A whole forest afraid of going bald?

The kitty had escaped so quickly! Zhan Yan urgently got an urgent task and frantically pinged Ten‑Thousand‑Manifestations.

Whatever I do, I can’t let him run straight to his brother!

If his parents caught them together, his brother would be instantly exposed. His brother’s exposure would easily trigger a chain reaction, causing his parents to expose each other too.

Thankfully, the kitty was too mad to think straight. First plan: log onto the Chaofan Forum and post a rant about Lin Yuan.

Zhan Yan looked—the post was long, rambling, and perfectly captured the kitty’s rage. The main message: “Lin Yuan you absolute liar, you’re raising another cat?!”

The post was immediately flooded with gossip enthusiasts trying to hunt down the tea.

6L: Tea, tea! Front row, selling sunflower seeds and cola!
8L: Does anyone know what history lies between King Ten‑Thousand‑Manifestations and the Lin Yuan Ghost King?
9L: Do you even have to ask? It’s obviously the usual tragic love triangle—he loves him but he doesn’t love him, he chases him but he runs away, they’re star‑crossed lovers, eventually one has his awakening while the other’s heart has turned to ash, so they reverse positions and…
10L: ??? Do you have a death wish?!
You do see whose tea this is, right?
14L: Oh god, I fell asleep listening to melodramatic audiobooks and my brain is stuffed with dogblood scenarios.
My sincerest apologies, Lord Ten‑Thousand‑Manifestations, forgive a brain‑damaged idiot. Don’t curse me! I wish you and the Lin Yuan Ghost King eternal harmony, intimate companionship, and family happiness!!!
15L: Pffft hahahaha my wretched comedic taste. Never got to eat Wan Yan tea, but watching the guy above scare himself half to death is hilarious.
17L: QAQ Stop enjoying the show, help—why can’t I delete my reply?
18L: Do you have enough reputation points? If not you need to ask an admin for deletion.
Though our forum admins… Luo Wang and Ling Yu aren’t active lately, and if the third one sees it you’d better go apologize hahaha.
Such suffering.
20L: Stop scaring people, Wan Yan Ghost King doesn’t just throw around serious curses. You have nothing to worry about, OP.
21L: Is the person above in‑the‑know? Spill the tea!
22L: So he does throw around non‑serious curses?
24L: Can’t tell. I don’t really know what’s up.
Wan Yan Ghost King likes to throw around petty curses—losing hair, running out of toilet paper in the bathroom, that sort of thing. Nothing scary.
26L: For real? I always thought Wan Yan Ghost King had a dark, terrifying image.
27L: Hair loss is terrifying!!!
29L: Stop going off‑topic people. Doesn’t anyone care about the actual content of Wan Yan’ post?
30L: Wan Yan Ghost King is dark and terrifying? Since he started posting on the forum to find the Lin Yuan Ghost King, that image has been completely destroyed okay?
31L: So is anyone going to spill the actual tea?
34L: Why does Wan Yan Ghost King say the Lin Yuan Ghost King is a liar?
35L: Did you check the Lin Yuan Ghost King’s account? @Admin: Absolutely Won’t Raise Cats
37L: Ohhh, so the Lin Yuan Ghost King won’t raise cats? What cat is he raising now? Why is Wan Yan so upset?
40L: No idea, that’s what we’re waiting for the tea on.
43L: Even if no one spills it, based on past patterns, Wan Yan will end up ranting the whole situation out in the post anyway.
45L: Is Wan Yan posting a rant because he can’t reach the Lin Yuan Ghost King and is trying to shout at him across the forum?

But the gossip crowd never got their sequel.

After ranting his post, the kitty finally noticed the notification icon blinking in his message box.

No mood to check messages. Just very mad.

But cats can’t resist tapping a constantly blinking notification.

The kitty opened his messages and noticed one from a familiar person.

Approaching Science! Right, he still hadn’t thanked Approaching Science!

Approaching Science’s intel had been spot‑on. He’d gone and found Lin Yuan right away!

Hmph hmph hmph! Everyone at the Black Nest and Ling Yu’s domain had tried to stop him from finding Lin Yuan. Only Approaching Science had helped him. Wan Yan decided to stop paying attention to those people. From now on, Approaching Science would be his third friend, after Bai Ze and the chef!

Well… the chef was holding that tabby cat that Lin Yuan raised, so he was crossing the chef’s name out halfway. Performance review pending!

Wan Yan kitty opened Approaching Science’s message and was instantly captivated.

Oh! What Approaching Science said makes sense!

Hmph hmph hmph! The only reason Lin Yuan could bully him was because he couldn’t beat Lin Yuan!

Wait! Once Approaching Science helped him recover his memories and he figured out how to become the big, powerful form from his dreams, he’d go find Lin Yuan again!

And then Lin Yuan would never be able to grab him by the neck ever again!

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