GRMFBS CH102

With trembling fingers, Zhan Yan tapped the search bar and began frantically searching:

[Zhan Yunkai fell in love with Ji Yueming at first sight during the Lantern Festival. To protect his wife, who he believed was an ordinary human, he decided to conceal his identity to date and marry her.]

[Ji Yueming fell in love with Zhan Yunkai at first sight during the Lantern Festival. To fulfill her husband’s desire for a quiet, ordinary life, she decided to conceal her identity to date and marry him.]

The faint morning light peeked through the gaps in the curtains. Having stayed up all night, Zhan Yan felt as though his brain had been tossed into a washing machine and spun dry on maximum speed for countless cycles.

He stared blankly at these two Gossip System slips.

Two top-tier bosses fell in love at first sight, put on fake identities to date and get married, and kept up the act for over twenty years!

It’s over, it’s over, it’s over…

If their covers are blown…

Cover blown = identities exposed = discovering the other is from a hostile organization = turning from lovers to enemies OR a deeply abusive, angsty romance = broken family…

A sudden knock on the bedroom door made Zhan Yan jolt.

“Yan Yan, are you up yet?” Zhan Yunkai knocked vigorously, calling him to get up for his morning workout.

Zhan Yan dragged himself out of bed with great difficulty. His body was screaming that he was exhausted and needed sleep, but his brain was far too overstimulated, caught in a state of chaotic hyperactivity—completely useless for thinking, but refusing to let him sleep.

No wonder Dad’s sleeping habits are so hardcore. No wonder he can sprint the whole way holding eggs without breaking a sweat or cracking a single egg. No wonder he can shatter a school desk with one slap. No wonder he always thinks my physical stamina is too weak…

Wahhh, Dad, I really am just an ordinary human! Who can compare physical stamina with a Demon King?!

Dad, your constitution is this strong, but if your cover gets blown, are you going to be able to withstand Mom’s lightning techniques?!

Zhan Yan opened the door mournfully and went to wash up. Smelling the aroma of food wafting up from downstairs only made him sadder. Wahhh, if our family breaks apart, I might never get to eat Dad’s cooking again! I might never get Mom’s sweet hugs again either!

My brother, my sister, and I were all adopted. We might end up as unwanted kids again… No, we aren’t kids anymore! We can’t even act cute to smooth over our parents’ relationship!

After washing his face, Zhan Yan looked up at his curly hair sticking up everywhere in the mirror and slapped his cheeks.

No, Zhan Yan, you have to pull yourself together!

Brother and Sister don’t know anything. Smoothing over Mom and Dad’s relationship is all on you!

Don’t lose hope! The relationship between the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance is terrible, but Mom and Dad have over twenty years of emotional foundation! This is a romance that started with love at first sight and has been incredibly sweet for over two decades! It can definitely be saved!

Zhan Yan puffed out his chest, gave himself a pep talk that he would definitely succeed, and marched downstairs with soaring morale.

Zhan Jinli and Zhan Suiru hadn’t slept last night either. Their location was quite far from the Infinite Research Institute, so they hadn’t been aware of the commotion over there.

However, the Chongming Demon King’s cry last night had traveled far and wide. Being so close, they had clearly felt the massive disturbance! Upon returning to their rooms, the two immediately began looking into what had happened, only to discover that Tianshi had also caused a massive uproar last night.

Yet the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had sealed the information tight. Neither of them could find out exactly what had occurred.

This was highly unsettling!

The two of them, having stayed up all night preoccupied with their own thoughts, came downstairs—only to be startled by the dark circles under Zhan Yan’s eyes.

“Yan Yan, did you not sleep last night?” Zhan Suiru asked.

But looking at his high spirits, it didn’t seem like he was suffering from insomnia.

Zhan Jinli didn’t say anything, but he also stared at him with deep concern.

Seeing his ordinary, blissfully unaware older brother and sister warmed Zhan Yan’s heart.

I absolutely must protect this family!

“I’m fine. I was just too excited last night and didn’t sleep well,” Zhan Yan replied.

Thinking about it carefully, the feud is between the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance, not Tianshi and the Chongming Demon King!

As long as I find a way to resolve the conflict between the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance, won’t the conflict between Mom and Dad disappear too?

Although this is a monumentally difficult task, I’ll definitely work hard to achieve it!

Zhan Yunkai and Ji Yueming, who had just arrived in the dining room, thought: What’s with the dark circles and the fired-up attitude?

In the end, they still doted on their cub. Today’s morning workout was canceled, and they urged Zhan Yan to go back to bed and catch up on sleep.

Zhan Yan felt even more moved and fired up.

Wahhh, Mom and Dad are the best! Don’t worry! I’ll definitely find a solution before your covers are blown!

Having scrolled through too many Gossip System slips last night, Zhan Yan’s sugar craving hit him. Spotting the “Blooming Wealth and Honor” fondant cake on the table, he asked, “Brother, is this cake edible? I’m gonna break a piece off.”

The fondant for fondant cakes was made with a fixed recipe, leaving no room for his brother’s “creativity,” so the sweetness level should be safe.

Seeing Zhan Jinli nod, Zhan Yan snapped off a peony flower directly and headed back to his bedroom while nibbling on it. Mm, sure enough, it isn’t overly sweet! Just the normal taste of sugar! The texture is pretty good too!

What angsty romance? What Romeo and Juliet? Get outta here! I only want pure sweetness!

Sporting messy curly hair and dark circles, Zhan Yan marched off full of fighting spirit, completely unaware that behind his back, his family members were exchanging worried glances before convening an emergency meeting.

Ji Yueming had only just returned home last night and didn’t have a good grasp of the situation, so she was the first to ask, “Did Yan Yan suffer some kind of shock at school? Or did something happen?”

Stared down by his wife, Zhan Yunkai thought: …He wasn’t very clear on it either. His youngest son had been perfectly normal the past few days he’d been home… Ahem, at least he looked perfectly normal on the surface. He had been waiting for his wife to come home these past few days, so he hadn’t paid quite enough attention to his youngest son.

So he shifted his gaze to Zhan Suiru: “I got back late. Did you notice anything?”

Zhan Suiru thought: …Whatever it is, it’s definitely not a matter of aesthetics! She wasn’t taking the blame for that!

She shifted her gaze to Zhan Jinli: “Brother, we’re asking you.”

He was the first person to interact with Yan Yan after he came back!

Zhan Jinli: “…”

Zhan Jinli pulled out his phone, typed silently, and then held it up for everyone to see:

[It might be because of the aesthetic issue.]

The siblings started squabbling again.

Ji Yueming: “…”

Zhan Yunkai: “…”

The couple sat at the dining table and snapped off a peony flower to taste.

“The kids are unreliable. Let’s figure this out ourselves.” Ji Yueming took a bite of a petal. “Mm, the sweetness is normal. At least Yan Yan’s taste buds are fine.”

She handed the peony to Zhan Yunkai: “You want a taste?”

Zhan Yunkai took a bite directly from her hand. “Looks like he wasn’t infected by his brother. Yan Yan’s issue shouldn’t be too big; his sleep was normal the past few days. The only change since he got back is that he added dancing in the public square to his workout routine.”

The siblings’ bickering provided background music for them.

Zhan Suiru: “Heh, you’re so old, yet you had to make Yan Yan go to the cake shop to rescue you. Aren’t you embarrassed? Huh? Aren’t you embarrassed?”

Zhan Jinli tapped away on his phone as fast as a flying bumblebee, letting the AI voice assistant broadcast his arguments: “Heh, I wonder whose artistic taste is so concerning that it even infected and warped Yan Yan’s aesthetic sense.”

Ji Yueming and Zhan Yunkai took alternating bites of the fondant peony. “What kind of situation do you think could make someone stay up all night and still look as hyped up as if they were on steroids?”

As Zhan Yunkai chewed, he leaned closer and closer to his wife. “Playing games?”

While arguing with her brother, Zhan Suiru managed to squeeze in a response: “Impossible! Yan Yan sucks at games. He couldn’t possibly get an all-night thrill out of playing them!”

Zhan Jinli also typed out a possibility on his phone. The AI voice read it out in a flat, mechanical tone: “Dating.”

The room abruptly fell silent.

“That’s… not impossible…” Zhan Suiru muttered. “Last holiday, I thought something was off when he went out to play later on.”

Zhan Jinli continued via AI voice: “He told me he has experience when it comes to dating.”

“Do you have any more concrete clues?” Ji Yueming’s eyes instantly sharpened.

Zhan Yunkai’s eyes matched his wife’s sharpness: “If he’s dating, he definitely has to go on dates. He went to work as an extra on Ji Lele’s set over the break. I’ll call and ask!”

Completely oblivious to the fact that Gu Jiancheng was ultimately shouldering the blame for everything, Zhan Yan was currently browsing the forum.

With his brain somewhat clearer now, Zhan Yan reorganized his tasks.

While smoothing over the relationship between the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance was certainly important, it wasn’t something that could be accomplished in a day or two. As long as he could ensure his parents didn’t expose their identities to each other, his family was safe for the time being.

He needed to hurry up and grind out the levels for his “Information Confidentiality” ability, so he could add his mom’s information to it as well!

Until then, he just needed to keep an eye on things day-to-day. Since his parents hadn’t blown their covers for over twenty years, there shouldn’t be any issues in the short term.

The most urgent matter right now was actually Tianshi bombing the Infinite Research Institute last night.

In the past, Boss Tianshi was merely an idol he revered and felt close to. Zhan Yan hadn’t worried too much about the aftermath of this incident, assuming Boss Tianshi could definitely handle everything!

But things were different now. Tianshi was his mom. No matter how badass his mom was, she was still his mom—his family. With something this massive happening, he couldn’t help but worry.

Zhan Yan decided to re-evaluate the events of last night first.

Last night, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had decided to transport the collected Infinite fragments. After escorting them to the Infinite Research Institute, Tianshi destroyed all the fragments, including the “Apocalyptic Fragment.”

The disturbance caused by the lightning had been immense, triggering reactions from all sides.

The first to react was the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau. The faction within the Bureau that supported collecting the Infinite fragments was both shocked and enraged. This group was led by the Council of Twenty-Four.

Hmm… It wasn’t like everyone in the Council agreed with this either.

The composition of the Bureau’s Council of Twenty-Four was quite complex. It included bureaucrats who had never been to the front lines, retired frontline operatives, and individuals placed there to balance out other traditional factions.

Their viewpoints were far from unified. Some believed anything related to Infinite needed to be destroyed, or at least strictly regulated. Others believed research could be conducted under safe conditions. Some felt Infinite remained highly dangerous and required continued vigilance, while others thought Infinite was entirely a thing of the past and there was no need to be overly cautious.

This time, the faction that wanted to collect the Infinite fragments had gained the upper hand.

After Tianshi made her move, the majority of this faction had been restricted within the suburban sacrificial ritual by Da Wule. Many of them began manifesting signs of hidden corruption and were now under strict lockdown.

There was another group who, for various reasons, couldn’t be arranged into Da Wule’s suburban sacrificial ritual in time. Because the high-ranking figures were essentially all trapped within the ritual, this group lacked anyone who could make a final decision. Afterward, the Bureau Chief stalled them with various excuses, delaying them further.

They rushed toward the Infinite Research Institute with their men, only to be intercepted by the Wan Yao Alliance’s Immovable Wisdom King right before they arrived.

These people tried to order the three Captains who had accompanied them to attack. Black Wolf pretended not to hear them. Another simply made a token effort, gesturing vaguely. The last one actually wanted to fight seriously, but he simply wasn’t strong enough!

Ahhhh, Mom has such great connections! She even got a Demon King from the Wan Yao Alliance to help out! So, if you ignore the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, Mom’s relationship with the Wan Yao Alliance isn’t that bad, right?! Right?!

He continued reading.

Ahhhh, the Chongming Demon King made a move last night too! Because they were worried that the aura stirred up by the destruction of the Infinite fragments would attract malicious entities, they had coordinated in advance: the moment he sensed the disturbance over there, the divine Chongming bird would suppress any evil spirits with his cry.

Dad! Dad! If you can cooperate with Tianshi, that means there’s no deep-seated enmity between the Chongming Demon King and Tianshi’s identities from the past, right!

Wahhh, this is so great! This is so great!

Zhan Yan danced wildly in pure ecstasy.

Ahhhh, Mom and Dad actually collaborated without knowing each other’s secret identities, and their teamwork was so flawless! I’m so happy, so happy!

Sitting on the pillow watching Zhan Yan go crazy, Xingxing tilted his head in thought for a moment before starting to bounce up and down on the bed too.

Oh yeah! Let’s be happy together!