GRMFBS CH92

Whoa! This is a job for the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau!

While Zhan Yan sent an anonymous tip to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau on his end, the police had also arrived at the scene Wei Fu had disclosed.

There were no bloodstains at the scene, nor was there any sign of a murder having taken place. They were currently continuing to search for clues while interrogating Wei Fu on the side, having also rounded up the other gamblers who had coordinated the sting with him for questioning. They also wanted to see if Wei Fu simply needed a trip to a psychiatric hospital.

Another squad of officers was currently shutting down and sealing off the various underground casinos; on this point, the information Wei Fu had provided was entirely accurate.

Even if people from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau stepped in to take over the matter, ruling out a homicide still left the illegal gambling ring for the local police station to handle. It seemed unlikely that Sister Wenwen would be able to return home anytime soon.

Closing the Gossip System, Zhan Yan sent a message to Zhan Suiru: [Sis, when are you coming back?]

Zhan Suiru: [In about ten minutes or so.]

Inside the studio, Zhan Suiru stretched lazily, a small metal nameplate dangling from her fingertips. “Aiyah, finally finished!”

Standing nearby, the puppet butler held an elegant, ramrod-straight posture, looking every bit like a detached, mysterious, and impeccably polite butler from an ancient castle in the movies—provided one ignored the little calico kitten currently running rampant in his arms.

The little calico was only about the size of two palms, yet its attitude was formidable. The puppet butler’s neatly pressed, crisp tailcoat had already been shredded with multiple tears. One of its claws was hooked into a snagged thread of the fabric, while the other relentlessly aimed straight for the puppet butler’s face. The sharp claw tips swept across the synthetic skin, leaving not a single scratch behind.

“May I put this overly energetic young lady down now?” the puppet butler asked calmly.

Seeing his state, Zhan Suiru burst out laughing. “Hold on a bit longer, hahahaha…”

Only after laughing her fill did she instruct, “Grasp the scruff of its neck. Don’t use too much force.”

The puppet butler cautiously reached out and pinched the little calico’s scruff.

His grip was too gentle; the little calico flipped around and swiped at him again. Two more tears were added to the cuff of his tailcoat.

Laughing heartily, Zhan Suiru stepped in to handle it personally. The flailing little calico was forced to settle down, opening its mouth to hiss indignantly: “Meow!“

The puppet butler raised an eyebrow. “It is an honor to bring you joy.”

“Alright, drop the sarcasm.” Zhan Suiru slipped the metal nameplate around the little calico’s neck, gently scratching the top of its head. “Let go.”

The little calico kicked forcefully against the puppet butler’s arm, leaping into Zhan Suiru’s embrace. It sniffed around in confusion, seemingly deciding that this embrace was much better than the puppet butler’s, and stopped baring its claws, picking a comfortable spot to settle down.

Zhan Suiru flicked the metal nameplate, quite pleased with its effect. This was something she had crafted in between fulfilling the Tianshi’s order. It had no grand function other than causing the small animal wearing it to feel an innate closeness to the aura imbued within the nameplate.

Dressed in his tattered formal attire, the puppet butler bowed slightly. “Are you taking this young lady who dislikes me and departing now?”

“Yeah, I’m heading home,” Zhan Suiru said.

The room fell quiet for a moment. Looking up again, she reached out and hooked a finger into the tear across the chest of the puppet butler’s clothes, tugging him slightly toward her.

The puppet butler stepped forward compliantly.

Zhan Suiru looked into his eyes, where concealed gears turned smoothly—neither speeding up nor slowing down in the slightest—like a steadily running machine: safe, stable, and completely dependable.

“While I’m away, remember to keep working on the sculptures,” Zhan Suiru said. “I’m looking forward to your work.”

She fetched a small fleece blanket to wrap the little calico in. When it squirmed to climb out, she tapped its little head gently. The little calico grew drowsy at once, let out a yawn, and curled up asleep inside the fleece blanket.

“Older Sister said she’ll be back in about ten minutes. Let’s wait for her,” Zhan Yan said.

“Ah…” Zhan Jinli replied slowly, unable to stop his thoughts from drifting back to the last time he watched a movie with his sister.

It had probably been around the time he just started high school. That time, the whole family had watched together in the living room.

Watching a movie at home didn’t require much formality; everyone could chat freely while watching. Back then, their parents had shared the short sofa, while the three kids sat on the long sofa. Zhan Jinli and Zhan Suiru sat on the left and right, with Zhan Yan in the middle.

Partway through the movie, Zhan Yan went to use the restroom. Zhan Suiru was watching with rapt attention, completely unaware that Zhan Yan hadn’t returned yet. Turning toward him, she blurted out, “Hahahahaha, let’s play this together sometime when we’re free!”

On the screen, two characters were playing a riddle guessing game: the loser had a turtle drawn on their face, one stroke per loss, to see who ended up with a fully drawn turtle first.

What happened next… was better left unsaid.

Zhan Jinli decided to occupy himself with something else to overwrite that memory of ultimate social mortification. He logged onto the chaofan forum.

After scrolling through two pages of casual water cooler threads, Zhan Jinli noticed that Wan Yan had popped up again. However, instead of spamming posts to furiously tag him, he had simply posted a mission in the task section.

The mission had been posted several days ago, but no one had accepted it. Every few hours, Wan Yan would bump up the reward… bump it up again… and by now, the bounty had accumulated to a staggering amount.

This had sparked a brand-new thread in the water cooler section, full of wild guesses about what this mission posted by Wan Yan Ghost King was all about. Did it have anything to do with Ghost King Lin Yuan?

The mission description contained only a single picture and one sentence, asking if anyone recognized the object in the image.

The image depicted a black iron fish-shaped pendant.

Zhan Jinli gave a quiet click of his tongue and clicked to accept the mission.

At Mount Chaofu, the Wan Yan cat had been scooping through the Ming He River for months trying to find the residual reflections of Bai Ze’s reincarnation. In the beginning, he had been able to focus diligently, but after months of fruitless, mind-numbing repetitive labor, Wan Yan couldn’t take it anymore!

Wan Yan cared deeply about his friends; he wasn’t on strike, but he needed breaks between work!

During his breaks, Wan Yan began rummaging all over Mount Chaofu. Digging here and searching there, he eventually unearthed this little trinket from beneath the Wenyu Tree.

Carrying it in his jaws, he went straight to Ghost King Minghe.

“Minghe, Minghe! Look, what is this?”

Ghost King Minghe reached out and picked up the black iron fish. Within it, she sensed Di Ting’s demonic power, which had protected it from decaying for nearly a thousand years.

Yet she didn’t remember what the object was either. Di Ting had always been one of the livelier figures around Mount Chaofu, surrounded by countless trivial little happenings; she had always let him frolic around the mountain as he pleased and never paid close attention.

“It should be an old belonging of yours.” Ghost King Minghe returned the black iron fish to him.

Wan Yan pawed at it, his fluffy, massive tail swishing back and forth in distress. “But I can’t remember!”

Carrying the item in his jaws once more, he went to ask the Chongming Demon King.

Although Zhan Yunkai didn’t know the exact history between this item and Wan Yan, he could tell it originated from the mortal realm.

The divine bird lowered its enormous head to lean close, the double pupils in its eyes contracting and expanding slightly.

“It looks like an ornament meant to weight down a cord. Made of black iron… hmm, probably around seven or eight hundred years old.”

Wan Yan was startled by the figure “seven or eight hundred.” “Huh? That long ago?!”

“Is that long?” Zhan Yunkai wondered, puzzled. “It’s alright. In the past, you would often stay in Mount Chaofu for two or three hundred years at a stretch.”

Wan Yan felt a bit dizzy. “But I’ve only had memories for a little over twenty years!”

Oh… Zhan Yunkai understood. From Wan Yan’s perspective, he truly was still just a little kitten!

Zhan Yunkai grew a bit more patient: “Then you should think carefully about it. If you can recall the memories tied to this object, it means you’ll be able to reclaim a piece of your past from seven or eight hundred years ago.”

For days on end, the Wan Yan cat held the black iron fish pendant and racked his brains, but in the end, the only thing he could recall was that he had hidden it beneath the Wenyu Tree.

Unable to remember no matter how hard he tried, the Wan Yan cat grew dejected, keeping his little cat ears flattened all day long with no energy left to fish for shadows in the Ming He River.

Zhan Yunkai offered him an idea: “If you can’t remember, perhaps someone else does. Try asking around.”

Zhan Yunkai had meant for Wan Yan to seek out old acquaintances, like Ghost King Tie Lao or other great demons he had been close with.

Hearing this, however, the Wan Yan cat’s eyes lit up, a plan that made total sense to his little head popping up instantly:

He had asked Minghe, and Minghe told him it was his old belonging. He had asked Chongming, and Chongming told him it was from seven or eight hundred years ago. The more people he asked, the more information he could gather! And where were there the most people?

Wan Yan decided to log onto the forum and make a post!

However, Mount Chaofu lacked internet access. Wan Yan began fishing out ghosts with network-type abilities from the Ming He River. Pulling one up, he would ask, “Can you connect to the internet here?” After days of continuous fishing, he finally managed to access the chaofan forum.

Excited, Wan Yan posted a mission.

And then… no one paid any attention to him for days.

“Why isn’t anyone telling me?” Wan Yan felt endlessly wronged. “Did I set the mission reward too low?”

He began piling on more rewards with a vengeance.

Zhan Yunkai had no idea how to advise him anymore. The little kitten was stubborn to a fault. The bounty he offered was by no means low, but where on the forum could one find someone knowledgeable about the secrets of great demons from seven or eight hundred years ago?

His mission description was so vague that if it weren’t for the terrifying deterrent of Wan Yan’s curses, people would have started spinning tall tales to scam him long ago.

Zhan Yunkai said, “Stop wasting your effort on the forum. You’d be better off looking up a few old acquaintances.”

Wan Yan continued to whine, “But I don’t remember! Do you know who I used to be close with?”

Zhan Yunkai thought for a moment. Di Ting had stayed in Mount Chaofu year-round, and there were only four Ghost Kings in the mountain: Lin Yuan had gone into hiding, Minghe had no impression, and they had already asked Ghost King Tie Lao over the past couple of days—he had achieved his Ghost King status later and hadn’t been familiar with Di Ting back then. When Di Ting left Mount Chaofu… he had only really hung out with Bai Ze. That divine ability of his hadn’t been very popular with others.

He spread a wing to scoop the pitiful little kitten inward. “How about you…”

Suddenly jolting, Wan Yan’s ears pricked up as he cheered, “Someone accepted my mission!”

Hmm?

Zhan Yunkai leaned his head over to look at the tiny screen.

The user who accepted the mission: Administrator Rather Die Than Own A Cat