GRMFBS CH234

[Zhan Suiru considered that Deep Shadow should also be very familiar with the player community, so she decided to ask Deep Shadow to investigate who your boyfriend Gu Jiancheng really is.]

Zhan Yan went completely blank when he scrolled past this gossip strip.

Jie, you’re really… you’re really something…

[Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng calmly agreed to help Zhan Suiru find the person, intending to pick out several individuals who match the criteria from the Retirees’ Alliance to stall for time. Zhan Suiru is deeply grateful.]

Zhan Yan: …

Won’t debts be settled when the mask falls off later, though?

Then again, classmate Xiao Gu didn’t seem to have any other choice… he couldn’t very well refuse either. Pondering it back and forth, agreeing first and bluffing through it seemed like the only viable move…

Balding from stress. Why had things spiraled into such a mess? What was he supposed to do?

Think of a way, think of a way…

A fresh gossip strip popped up:

[Using the Artisan account, Zhan Suiru messaged your alter-ego Approaching Science, inquiring about your progress in investigating your boyfriend Gu Jiancheng.]

Enough already, why am I dragged into this loop again?!

Zhan Yan took a deep breath.

Forget it, he couldn’t care about anything else now. He’d better log into the Approaching Science account first, cherry-pick a few qualifying players, and bluff his sister through this round.

Zhan Yan pulled up several eligible players and forwarded them over.

Artisan: [Thanks.]

Zhan Yan felt thoroughly guilty…

Riddled with guilt, Zhan Yan continued scrolling through gossip strips, sorting through imagery, and hopping into Dawn World to farm information words… Once he got busy, the guilt would naturally vanish!

Having not visited the core zone for several days, quite an accumulation of abnormal concept dumplings had gathered here once more. He planned to head in and gobble down a batch first.

Zhan Yan tilted his head to look up at the ceiling of the core zone. The colorful rosy clouds representing the apocalyptic world’s concepts seemed to have faded slightly, while the shimmering lights reflecting off the sea beneath his feet grew increasingly breathtaking.

Shifting from yellow to orange, pink to purple, they bobbed gracefully within the ocean waves in marvelous harmony.

More concepts from the apocalyptic world had merged in, causing the concept dumplings bouncing across the sea surface to dwindle.

Zhan Yan casually scooped up a dumpling and squished it. Mmm, the texture is genuinely great.

Zhan Yan strolled around the perimeter, devouring all the accumulated concept dumplings from other categories first before heading to the biggest stockpile of abnormal concept dumplings.

Not having visited in a while, the concept dumplings here had piled into a mini mountain once more.

Zhan Yan gave it a poke. The jelly-like dumpling mountain wobbled precariously, frightening him into instantly stepping back two paces. He had no desire to get buried alive again.

Juice blender, activate!

Whirrrr—

Kneading dumplings, blending dumplings, slurping dumplings… Mmm, truth be told, this was exceptionally stress-relieving.

After polishing off a massive tumbler of dumplings, the little star in the “Anomaly” column ranked up once more.

The description for the newly unlocked star function possessed quite a personality:

[.—— ——- -……- -.—— ——- ……- -……- -.—— …… -……- ——. . -……- -……- …… .- ——- -……- —— …… -……- —— ……，.——- …… ……- -……- -…… ……- -……- ——. .- ——- -……- …… ……- -……- -. ……~]

Zhan Yan: ???

What on earth is all this?

Dots and dashes… could this be Morse code?

Just as Zhan Yan was about to search online for Morse code, the Gossip System automatically popped up an input box before him.

Close it… couldn’t close it. Try again… still couldn’t close it. The input box stubbornly hovered right in front of his eyes, almost like wagging a tiny tail while clinging to him: Use me, use me, use me~

Catching on, Zhan Yan copied and pasted that lengthy string of dots and dashes right into the input box.

An automated translation popped up below the input box:

“I’ve got a little secret, but I won’t tell you~ Unless you learn how to decrypt it too~”

Zhan Yan: …

It was a cipher translator. Entering encrypted data would automatically yield the decoded text.

“Truly,” Zhan Yan said to the Gossip System with absolute sincerity, “I think you should try acting a bit more normal.”

The Gossip System ignored him.

Quite a few abnormal concept dumplings remained. Since the process proved genuinely therapeutic, Zhan Yan decided to save this activity for whenever he was completely overwhelmed with stress.

Exiting Dawn World, Zhan Yan noticed that Gu Jiancheng and his sister had hopped onto a fresh topic and were hitting it off even better.

Gu Jiancheng had smoothly pivoted the conversation toward handling Infinite, diving into discussions with his sister on how to collaborate to strike Infinite down.

Gu Jiancheng was immensely satisfied with this. Rong Sui was an exceptionally dependable partner who shared his deep-seated hatred for Infinite. Most importantly, the more attention she diverted toward Infinite, the less energy she would spend trying to peel off his secret identity.

Zhan Suiru was equally pleased with this arrangement. Deep Shadow was a reliable ally; they shared a mutual foe, and Deep Shadow possessed a wealth of intelligence she lacked. Partnering up allowed them to better counter Infinite on one hand, while getting closer to Deep Shadow would also make it easier to figure out who was trying to abduct her little brother on the other!

Zhan Yan was very satisfied with this as well.

Splendid. Let the two of them keep each other busy; neither of them should bother him for now, giving him breathing room to resolve the matter with his brother and Wan Yan the cat first.

While the situation with Wan Yan the cat was somewhat tricky, at least his brother wouldn’t stress him out to the point of balding.

His brother went out every day to research matters regarding Ghost Festival, never forgetting to bring him sweet bread when returning home. Eldest brother was the best!

Zhan Jinli was currently fretting.

Over these past few days, he had gathered considerable information regarding Ghost Festival, developing some ideas on utilizing the day’s unique properties to aid Wan Yan’s recovery. However, he couldn’t test it directly on Wan Yan; he needed an initial trial run first.

He required a magical artifact to run simulations. Zhan Jinli had a blueprint for crafting the artifact, but he wouldn’t finish it in time before Ghost Festival. Artifact forging was simply not his forte.

Yet if he missed this year’s Ghost Festival, he would have to wait an entire year.

Zhan Jinli decided to seek out Ghost King Tie Lao.

Ghost King Tie Lao was far more skilled at forging artifacts than he was—he even shared his moniker with his own Tie Lao Hall.

At the same time, Ghost King Tie Lao had just confirmed that the Artisan had free time to modify the “Lin Yuan” puppet that had been gathering dust on his shelf.

Ghost King Tie Lao began packing the puppet, preparing to send it over to the Artisan.

Wonderful! Once this puppet underwent remodeling, that minor awkwardness between him and Senior Lin Yuan would be thoroughly put to rest, and he could liberate this precious labor force that had been idle for so long.

The “Lin Yuan” puppet lacked a power-off mode, so Ghost King Tie Lao switched it to Cat Lover mode. Whenever he saw the “Lin Yuan” mode, it reminded him of that fateful day: sensing the gates of his magical artifact being torn off, he rushed back in a panic, only to catch the “Lin Yuan” puppet spouting wild nonsense right to Senior Lin Yuan’s face…

Not to mention the chilling, baleful smile Senior Lin Yuan wore when turning around.

It still made his heart shudder.

Better to stick with Cat Lover mode. Though Cat Lover mode was both perverted and chatty, at least it wasn’t insolent enough to utter words that would make his liver tremble in fear.

Right as Ghost King Tie Lao was halfway through packing, the “Lin Yuan” puppet in Cat Lover mode chimed in with fierce dissatisfaction: “You’re pathetic! How could you yield to a pervert who wants to strip away a kitten’s ears and tail?

“You need to have your own backbone, an independent personality! Think about it, giving up the moment someone intimidates you—how humiliating… how humiliating for a ghost! You’re a Ghost King, after all!

“Look at me, I’m fiercely true to myself!”

Ghost King Tie Lao continued boxing it up, wrapping the “Lin Yuan” puppet right up to its chest with a deadpan expression: “Yes, your personality. Your perverted cat-huffing personality.”

The “Lin Yuan” puppet refused to back down: “How is cat-huffing perverted? Kitties are the most sacred creatures in the world! That guy over there is the real pervert!”

Stretching its arm out of the packing crate, it pointed right behind Ghost King Tie Lao.

Ghost King Tie Lao shuddered, thinking to himself: No way, no way? Please don’t tell me…

Zhan Jinli: “What are you doing?”

Ghost King Tie Lao turned around stiffly: “Me? …Haha, hahaha, I’m planning to send him back for maintenance. Having the Artisan alter his… his appearance and… and personality settings.”

Zhan Jinli looked thoughtful. Right, how could he have forgotten about the Artisan?

The Artisan’s crafting abilities were top-tier; she should be capable of rushing out the artifact he needed before Ghost Festival.

Overhearing Ghost King Tie Lao say he wanted to alter its personality, the “Lin Yuan” puppet threw a tantrum: “You tasteless wretch! Cats are the most sacred animals in this world! How dare you try to strip away my love for kitties, you’re too perverted! Too cruel! Too terrifying! Wuwuwu, how am I supposed to endure days without remembering little kitties…”

With his train of thought interrupted, Zhan Jinli raised a hand and sent a strand of yin energy to seal the “Lin Yuan” puppet’s mouth.

The “Lin Yuan” puppet glared daggers at him.

“How does the Artisan’s artifact-refining ability compare to yours? Does he understand souls well?” Zhan Jinli asked.

He cast a sideways glance at the “Lin Yuan” puppet, which was squirming in an attempt to jump out and headbutt him. Setting everything else aside, the Artisan was definitely superior to Ghost King Tie Lao when it came to making puppets.

Ghost King Tie Lao answered honestly: “With traditional ghost artifacts, he definitely can’t match me, but his creativity surpasses mine, and his working speed is much faster. He should have a solid grasp of souls, having consulted me for considerable reference materials regarding souls previously.”

Zhan Jinli decided on the Artisan. Not knowing souls inside out didn’t matter as long as there was a foundational understanding; he could supplement that part himself. The crucial factor was speed.

Only a few days remained until Ghost Festival. Asking Tie Lao for help wouldn’t be in time; furthermore, seeing Tie Lao grinding so hard, he truly couldn’t bear to pile on more pressure.

Ghost King Tie Lao: “Senior, do you plan to commission the Artisan? But he isn’t taking commissions right now.”

The only reason he could get the Artisan to modify the puppet was that it merely required adjustments, and out of their past rapport, the Artisan was willing to carve out time to modify it.

Silently looking at the frantically struggling “Lin Yuan” puppet, the corner of Zhan Jinli’s mouth curved upward coldly: “He will agree.”

Did the Artisan pay him copyright fees for modeling a puppet after his likeness and programming such a personality into it?

“Isn’t this puppet meant to be delivered to the Artisan for modifications?” Zhan Jinli said unhurriedly. “I’ll deliver it for you.”

Ghost King Tie Lao: …Will my puppet ever return? Won’t you be unable to resist destroying it halfway through?

Yet, he had no way to refuse.

Ghost King Tie Lao watched helplessly as Senior Lin Yuan carried off the custom puppet he had spent a fortune on.

What should he do? He couldn’t warn the Artisan in advance that Ghost King Lin Yuan was coming either…

After agonizing over it, Ghost King Tie Lao opened his messaging interface with the Artisan.

Ghost King Tie Lao: [Speaking of which, you don’t know very much about Ghost King Lin Yuan, right?]

Ghost King Tie Lao: [Let me introduce him to you.]

Ghost King Tie Lao: [You know Wan Yan Ghost King, right? Highly skilled in curses.]

Ghost King Tie Lao: [Ghost King Lin Yuan is even more skilled in curses than Wan Yan Ghost King.]

Zhan Suiru: ?

What did Tie Lao mean by suddenly introducing this? Didn’t he want to modify the “Lin Yuan” puppet so it wouldn’t resemble “Lin Yuan” anymore?

Artisan: [What do you mean?]

Artisan: [Do you want to endow the puppet with Ghost King Lin Yuan’s curse abilities?]

Ghost King Tie Lao didn’t reply. Zhan Suiru didn’t linger waiting either. In any case, Ghost King Tie Lao’s puppet hadn’t arrived yet. It wouldn’t be too late to clarify when it came time to modify it.

Zhan Suiru continued discussing improvements to the studio fortress with Yang Ran—it would be a waste not to deploy such a massive weapon against Infinite. It was perfect timing, as they were currently discussing ways to deal with Infinite alongside Deep Shadow.

An hour later, a knock sounded on the studio door.

Through the surveillance system, Zhan Suiru saw a large ghost clad in a hooded cloak; his face was hidden beneath the hood, a full-height parcel rested beside him, and he held a voucher issued by Ghost King Tie Lao in his hand.

The “Lin Yuan” puppet Ghost King Tie Lao wanted her to modify had arrived.

For some reason, looking at this courier ghost gave Zhan Suiru an odd premonition.

She furrowed her brows and messaged Ghost King Tie Lao to confirm first.

Ghost King Tie Lao replied instantly.

Ghost King Tie Lao: [Yes.]

As long as it was verified. Zhan Suiru changed her clothes and opened the door to invite the visitor into her reception room.

She tore open the packaging, giving the “Lin Yuan” puppet a brief inspection.

The “Lin Yuan” puppet had a wad of yin energy muffling its mouth and binding its hands and feet, its wide-open eyes frantically winking and twitching at Zhan Suiru.

Zhan Suiru expertly ignored the puppet. Having crafted it herself, she knew its personality settings better than anyone. Being gagged and bound like this clearly meant it had suffered an episode and needed restraining.

After running a quick check over the puppet, she confirmed again: “No structural damage. So it just requires adjusting its appearance and personality module, correct?”

Zhan Jinli’s voice was deep and steady: “Correct.”

“Understood. I will notify Tie Lao to pick it up in a few days,” Zhan Suiru gestured toward the door. “You may leave.”

Zhan Jinli remained stationary. He was thoroughly accustomed to being sculpted into clay figurines; during his past life as a river god, countless shrines along the banks offered worship, each river god temple housing statues of his likeness.

Yet this was his very first time being molded into such a puppet, endowed with such… cat-loving, or rather eccentric personalities.

Zhan Jinli found it quite novel, and he was equally curious about the Artisan who dared to create such a thing.

“Is there anything else?” Zhan Suiru asked, noticing he wasn’t leaving.

“Yes.” Zhan Jinli pulled back his hood, revealing a face identical to the puppet’s.

Zhan Suiru: ??!

Tie Lao, are you insane? Why did you make Ghost King Lin Yuan deliver the package?!