GRMFBS CH315

Zhan Yan: …Who touched your waist? I just wanted to see your injury! Besides, didn’t I fail to touch it anyway? The second I reached out, you grabbed my hand.

“I just wanted to see if you were hurt or not.” Still, he obediently explained himself. The current Xiao Gu was an amnesiac, blackened version of Xiao Gu.

Deep Shadow’s eyes were dark and fathomless: “Me, hurt?”

He let out a low scoff through his nose.

Deep Shadow found this rather bizarre. The dungeon was fraught with perils; when dealing with this kind of player—who wasn’t merely dead weight, but also a suspected traitor—even if he didn’t find a way to eliminate him, he should have at least ensured the guy couldn’t affect him. How had he chosen the foolish and laborious method of keeping him by his side? Splitting one’s focus in a dungeon was practically synonymous with death. Yet, he had actually brought this fellow out of the dungeon too!

Still, for reasons he couldn’t fathom, staying by this person’s side made him feel remarkably at ease.

Reason told him to remain vigilant, that it was best to eliminate this bizarre person right now; yet emotion told him to grip this person tight and never let go. Reason warned him to beware of such irrational feelings—any unfamiliar player capable of exerting such a massive influence on him was bound to be problematic; yet emotion snapped, to hell with reason! Keep this person by your side!

Reason then suggested: Let’s compromise. To be safe, let’s imprison him first.

Emotion replied: Fine.

Deep Shadow rubbed the fingertips Zhan Yan had tried—and failed—to touch him with: “How do you plan to inspect me?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized his tone sounded rather flirtatious. However, the big boss Deep Shadow deemed this unworthy of concern; the strong could speak however they pleased.

Zhan Yan: …Is Xiao Gu flirting with him? Even after losing his memories and getting injured, he still remembers to flirt?

Then even if you’re injured, it can’t be that bad!

…

Outside the dungeon, Zhan Yunkai and Ji Yueming wore grim expressions.

This dungeon, hastily assembled by Infinite on short notice, was riddled with loopholes. The moment Zhan Yunkai activated his double pupils, he clearly traced the dungeon’s fragile nodes.

The problem was that Infinite had arranged Bai Ze’s divine ability fragments across the outermost layer of the dungeon, weaving them into a net. No matter where one breached the dungeon, it would harm Bai Ze’s divine ability fragments first; no matter which single point was struck, the impact would be dispersed across the entire lattice of divine ability fragments.

In other words, if they wanted to break the deadlock using brute force from the outside, they would inevitably have to destroy Bai Ze’s divine ability fragments first.

Zhan Yunkai: “Where’s Deep Shadow?”

“He entered the dungeon to find Yan Yan.” Ji Yueming furrowed her brows. “Just a moment ago, he suddenly suffered severe backlash and coughed up blood, saying Yan Yan was hurt.”

“I didn’t sense the Feather Talismans being triggered.” Zhan Yunkai exchanged a glance with her, understanding instantly: Yueming’s Lightning Talismans hadn’t been triggered either.

Deep Shadow had probably left a life-substituting technique or something similar on Yan Yan…

Zhan Yunkai’s expression shifted slightly. Turning his double pupils back toward the spacetime rift formed by the dungeon, his brows knitted tightly together.

Yet now, they were left completely immobilized by Infinite’s maneuver.

Ji Yueming raised her hand and pressed it against the exterior of the spacetime rift, the faint electric sparks leaking from her palm drawn inside. The dungeon tugged at her, but the pull was not yet strong enough to forcefully drag her in.

“Can we investigate the internal situation?”

There were only so many lost divine ability fragments of Bai Ze; no matter how much Infinite patched things up with its spiritual scalpel, covering the exterior of the dungeon meant it couldn’t fully coat the interior as well. Since breaking through from the outside was impossible, they would have to do it from within.

“I’ll try.” Zhan Suiru attempted to use her spiritual energy to sense the spiritual imprint she had left on Infinite, but the original purpose of that imprint wasn’t surveillance; forcing a connection right now only yielded chaotic, disorderly fluctuations.

Zhan Suiru stopped, taking a deep breath. Just as she suppressed her irritation to try again, she turned her head and saw her brother forming a hand seal, muttering incessantly under his breath.

“Brother, what are you doing?”

Zhan Jinli ignored her, his lips fluttering rapidly.

Zhan Suiru listened closely: “Infinite bad luck, Infinite bad luck, Infinite terrible luck…”

Zhan Suiru: … I believe in you, Brother!

Yang Ran sent a message over: [The weapon I made for younger brother back then has a video function; we can give that a try.]

Back when he learned they were crafting a weapon for Bai Ze, Candle Dragon had bestowed a blessing upon it. This communication might very well pierce through the dungeon’s spacetime barrier. However, he designed the function for communication rather than monitoring, so the video call would only connect if the other party accepted.

“Try it, try it!”

Yang Ran initiated the call.

A few seconds later: [The other party has declined your call.]

Question marks popped up over the entire family’s heads. They had considered the possibility of the signal being blocked and failing to connect, but they never imagined it would be declined.

Why? What had Yan Yan encountered? Was he temporarily unavailable, or did he deliberately refuse to answer?

…

Zhan Yan sat cross-legged on the bed, his wrist still chained to the wall; fortunately, the chain was long enough that it didn’t completely restrict his movement.

“I’m not saying you can’t suspect me, but can we consider practical matters for a second?”

Deep Shadow, who had been busy with who-knew-what by the desk, shifted his gaze, offering him a look and a low grunt through his nose: “Hm?”

Zhan Yan rattled his wrist, the shadow chain clinking with a dull sound: “Are you planning on making me sleep here tonight?”

The personal rooms provided by Infinite could be customized freely, but it cost points. Gu Jiancheng lived alone, so he had only molded a single bedroom with a single bed.

Deep Shadow walked over, looking down at him with a heavy, pitch-black gaze entirely devoid of light.

Zhan Yan felt unhappy seeing this. While inwardly cursing Infinite, he pondered how to crack open this detestable trial dungeon.

The dungeon hastily constructed by Infinite clearly harbored numerous loopholes, and right now, they were sitting right inside one—this was supposed to be a projected image of the past, but with the arrival of Xiao Gu’s shadow avatar, it had morphed into an entirely new illusion. Perhaps he could locate another loophole in the dungeon from right here.

Noticing him spacing out, Deep Shadow pinched his chin, looking thoughtful: “Are you seducing me?”

Zhan Yan: … Seducing your head!

The call came through right at that moment.

Zhan Yan had previously studied the manual Yang Ran gave him very carefully, testing out every single function. Hearing the familiar chime now sent a jolt through him, and he instinctively used his spiritual energy to decline the call.

Yang Ran’s communication feature was extraordinarily comprehensive; though called a video call, it was practically a 3D projection. If it projected his current situation over to them…

When on earth did Xiao Gu get this close?!

Deep Shadow was quite dissatisfied with this scheming little player. He couldn’t even put his heart into seducing him, actually spacing out halfway through the act.

“What are you thinking about?”

Zhan Yan: “Um…”

The environment around them suddenly began collapsing like pixelated blocks of color.

Zhan Yan’s pupils shrank violently as he lunged forward to grab Deep Shadow, but shadows instantly enveloped him in protection, drawing a veil of deep darkness between them.

“Xiao Gu…”

Deep Shadow stared at his surroundings in bewilderment.

The home, stripping away its color blocks, resembled a glass painting washed clean by water, its warm colors streaming down like tear stains, growing fainter and fainter. As the final blur of illusion peeled away, the truth revealed itself before his eyes.

Stone steps suspended within the abyss ascended tier by tier, each step representing a segment of the past, aligned beneath the cold, hard throne of the judge, awaiting evaluation and judgment.

Now, seated upon that throne was a figure shrouded entirely in shadow.

Gu Jiancheng instinctively retracted the shadows.

Yan Yan. The courtroom.

The stone steps flowed beneath the judge’s throne like strips of film.

Suddenly realizing what was happening, he grabbed that hand tightly.

“Yan Yan, don’t look…”

Before the shadow avatar could finish speaking, it was suppressed by the rules and collapsed back into the true body.

Gu Jiancheng’s past flowed through Zhan Yan’s consciousness like a movie, yet his mind remained entirely fixed on Gu Jiancheng’s eyes from moments ago.

Flustered, terrified… pleading.

He was afraid.

Because the Deep Shadow steeped in Infinite was no longer the youth who would gently cradle a beautiful moth with a tissue and set it free. What stained his hands was far more than just the shadows that devoured anomalies.

Don’t look.

I beg you, don’t look.

At how despicable, ruthless, and vicious I once was.

Those eyes, their starlight flickering on the verge of collapse, begged within Zhan Yan’s consciousness.

Yet Zhan Yan would know even without looking.

Making Zhan Yan experience those dungeons firsthand had been Infinite’s selfish manipulation; the courtroom originally held no such rule, as the judgment seat only required knowing the past of the judged. Freed from the segments artificially forced by Infinite, the rules woven from Bai Ze’s divine ability fragments naturally flowed through his consciousness, letting him know everything he never wished to know.

The towering stone seat carried Zhan Yan upward as step after step shattered beneath it. The heavy stones of the past piled high into a platform within the abyss, until he finally reached the peak of this rootless, floating dais, taking his place before the golden balance.

Horns as firm as jade grew atop his head, and every strand of his hair turned into lustrous, translucent white. The divine ability that rightfully belonged to him transformed into ribbons of pure white light, draping from the ends of his flowing hair like a deity suspended high in the heavens.

To take, one must first give. Infinite had returned his divine ability to him, and so he became part of this dungeon as well.

Infinite looked at him with a smile.

“O omniscient Bai Ze, do you see this golden balance? It chose you, granting you the key to operating the rules that I have coveted for countless ages.”

“Will you not pass judgment?”

Do you believe Deep Shadow is an innocent man? Acknowledge his guilt, and send Deep Shadow back to his world. Or defy your human morality for the sake of love, insisting on his innocence, proving my truth, and winning the wager for me.

The rules of the dungeon guided the judge to raise his hand, touching the balance.

Gu Jiancheng’s face was as stiff as cast iron, his starlike eyes fixed unblinkingly on Zhan Yan.

Within those crystal-clear eyes shone countless stars. Every single star was a soul. The night sky bore all the stars, yet Gu Jiancheng could not find his own.

The golden balance gleamed within Zhan Yan’s consciousness. Everything he knew took on weight. Some were light, some heavy; some sought to rise, some sought to fall; some tilted to the left, some tilted to the right, weighing the soul upon the balance—guilty or innocent.

Zhan Yan spoke slowly: “Who is to pass judgment?”

The translucent white divine ability coiled around the golden balance. The weight of information settled upon the scales.

“The world that nurtured you must have possessed a wonderful consciousness,” Zhan Yan said, his voice gentle and compassionate. “Do you believe that knowing everything brings absolute justice?”

“Yet if you knew as much as I do, you would realize that neither of us has the right to pass judgment.”

Translucent white information flowed across the balance like a river, outlining a river network denser than a star map. Fate was like a river network, destined to flow into the sea; this was the omniscience seen by Bai Ze.

All living beings existed within this river network; they could halt, proceed, leap above the water, or switch riverbeds at a fork. A fish paused at a crossroads: waves of suffering pushed him into one river, turning an orphan into a pickpocket; waves of happiness swept him into another, turning a child into a philanthropist.

Guilty or innocent? Who is to judge?

“Those who are tall can pick more fruit; those who are short navigate obstacles with greater agility. Some worlds choose to lengthen the rivers of the kind, while others leave wider channels for the ruthless.”

“Whatever rules exist will nurture whatever life arises,” Zhan Yan said, looking at Infinite coiled on the other side of the balance. “Your rules are far too sinister; no soul could ever be born from them, yielding only anomalies like you.”

Bai Ze knew everything, and so Bai Ze said nothing. He saw the entire river network, yet he always favored the very instant a soul made its choice. That was the choice each soul struggled to carve out for itself; that was the “unknown” that belonged to him.

The weight of omniscience pressed down upon the balance, causing the golden beam to sink heavily beneath it. The rule of “judgment” plummeted, and the dungeon began to crumble.

Zhan Yan looked toward Gu Jiancheng, curving his eyes into a soft smile, like a crescent moon embracing its star.

I saw a fish pushed time and time again into treacherous currents, yet he never perished, nor did he drift downstream toward stagnant pools of putrid water.

I saw him make the choice to swim upstream again and again, ultimately surging into the vast, pristine sea.

“I love him.”

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