GRMFBS CH115

Zhan Yan and Bao Qingshan were kicked out together.

Bao Qingshan: “I have a feeling that thing was definitely not made by the Craftsman.”

Zhan Yan: “I agree.”

The item description even showed:
[This is a counterfeit abacus-Luopan that falsely uses the “Craftsman” name. It doesn’t work very well.]

As the two of them wandered, they arrived at the trading area.

Zhan Yan was very curious. “Should we go in and take a look?”

Bao Qingshan was stopped as soon as he entered.

“Those from Kusong Jian are not allowed inside.”

Zhan Yan was indignant on his behalf. “On what grounds? Are you discriminating?”

Bao Qingshan pulled him back and whispered, “No, it’s because I’d ruin their business if I went in. You go ahead and browse by yourself. Remember not to buy anything.”

How would Kusong Jian ruin their business?

Zhan Yan opened his gossip system and searched.

Oh, in his early years when Bao Qingshan was still very forthright, he had browsed here and thought this was fake, and that was fake, and he had said it all out loud.

From then on, he was on the blacklist.

Zhan Yan went in to browse by himself. After a lap, he discovered that there were quite a few things being sold under the names of various big shots.

“Let me tell you, this is thunder-struck jujube wood, struck by Tianshi’s lightning arts! During the last New Year’s Eve, did you see that massive lightning bolt? I got this from near the blast that time. It’s truly incomparably fierce and powerful!”

How is that possible? Wasn’t Mom’s lightning striking the Infinite Research Institute? Where would jujube wood come from?

[This is a piece of thunder-struck jujube wood, created in batches by using a lightning rod to draw down lightning in the suburbs when the weather forecast showed thunderstorms.]

“Look, look, this is a feather from the Chongming Demon King that I got after squatting on Mount Qixia for a long time. It can drive away evil spirits and ward off disasters. It’s also an excellent material for refining artifacts!”

Isn’t Dad a bit of a hidden clean freak? He particularly dislikes his feathers being scattered outside, either collecting them for storage or burning them. They don’t even circulate within the Wan Yao Alliance. The ones available for redemption on the forum are just bronze statues of the Chongming bird that he has personally consecrated.

[This is a Red Sparrow demon feather, refined by secretly setting up a formation at the foot of Mount Qixia to attract and gather the Chong-ming Demon King’s protective power.]

“Good eye! This metal ring was used by the Wanyan Ghost King. Look at the death qi on it!”

[This is a metal ring that contains the power of the Torch Dragon, but it is also saturated with the death qi of decay and decline.]

Zhan Yan stopped in his tracks.

Hey, this one was actually a real thing! Although it had nothing to do with the Ghost King, it had the Torch Dragon power he wanted!

Zhan Yan squatted down in front of the stall. “How can you be sure it was used by the Wanyan Ghost King?”

The stall owner looked left and right, then beckoned to Zhan Yan like a thief. When Zhan Yan leaned closer, he whispered in his ear, “Don’t you feel that this metal ring not only has death qi, but is also particularly unlucky? Besides that one who plays with curses all day, which other Ghost King’s things could be like this?”

Zhan Yan didn’t say anything, but his expression showed his disbelief.

The stall owner got anxious. “Why don’t you believe me? Even if you don’t believe it, don’t just say it out loud!”

He looked terrified that the Wanyan Ghost King would hear and curse him.

Zhan Yan: “…Because it’s a keychain.”

The metal ring was formed by a flat metal strip spiraled twice, with a diameter of about three centimeters. How would Wanyan the cat wear this thing? On its paw?

The stall owner: “The Wanyan Ghost King is so active now, what’s wrong with using some modern things? Isn’t that perfectly reasonable?”

Ignoring the stall owner’s nonsense, Zhan Yan decided to take the keychain and asked the stall owner for the price.

The stall owner: “This is something used by a Ghost King, so the price is definitely…”

In the end, Zhan Yan successfully haggled the price down using the excuse that it was “unlucky.”

Today’s harvest was very good. With the Torch Dragon power from the keychain, he should be able to unlock another “fragment drifting in the river of time” from the gossip system. He just didn’t know what he would unlock. It would be great if he could find the point of conflict between the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance, or perhaps news that could help the two sides reconcile.

Besides looking for information, Zhan Yan also planned to put in some effort elsewhere.

A few rogue demon cultivators were complaining together. “…They came up with some development plan and zoned my cave residence into it. I really want to drive them all away!”

“This matter is not easy to solve. If the conflict accidentally escalates, you might attract the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau. Why not just move?”

“I’ve lived there for hundreds of years! Why should I have to hide from people and move?”

“If it really comes down to it, let’s go find the Wan Yao Alliance.”

Zhan Yan sidled over, being extremely friendly and familiar. “You should be looking for the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau for this!”

The tall and sturdy bear demon looked down at Zhan Yan.

Because of the issue with his cave residence, his recent impression of humans was extremely poor. He looked at Zhan Yan with a very unfriendly gaze.

Zhan Yan was not afraid at all. If this bear demon dared to make a move, he would get struck by lightning.

“Hey, you guys don’t understand. What’s the use of looking for the Wan Yao Alliance for this? They don’t understand the rules of human society. You have to find the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau. They have policies. Once it’s confirmed that the place is your cave residence, they will designate it as a nature reserve. They won’t build on it anymore, and they will protect it to keep people from entering casually.”

“What the heck?” The bear demon was confused by his string of human society terms.

What policies? What nature reserve?

But he understood the last sentence. This human cub meant that as long as he told the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau that his home was there, humans would no longer wander near his home casually? Was there such a good thing?

Zhan Yan patiently explained it to him once. The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau really had this policy, which was established by the Bureau Chief and Ning Xi when they wanted to ease relations with the Wan Yao Alliance back in the day. Unfortunately, it was almost never implemented later, mainly because few demons would go to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau to solve such matters.

The few demon cultivators were half-convinced by his persuasion and decided to give it a try at the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Zhan Yan continued to wander and encountered a group of human cultivators who were worrying about their research data.

This group of cultivators were all scholar-types, specializing in the study of the natural environment, from geological changes to climate changes. Their goal was to solve environmental degradation and achieve a spiritual qi revival.

However, they were now facing a problem: this type of scholar-cultivator had rather specialized skill points, and their defenses were relatively poor. They now needed to collect data in some extreme environments, but with their defensive capabilities, entering an extreme environment would basically mean returning to the cycle of nature.

However, high-level defensive artifacts were too expensive, and their cultivation level couldn’t support the operation of the artifact for too long. If they hired cultivators with sufficient cultivation, the price was also too high.

Now they were discussing whether to pool their money to hire a high-level cultivator to help them collect data.

Everyone showed pained expressions.

If only this money could be spent on experimental research!

“You guys think… since we’re researching for the public good, could we hire someone from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, explain it to them clearly, and get a discount?”

Zhan Yan sidled over again. “Why are you looking for the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau for this? You should be looking for the Wan Yao Alliance!”

“Huh?” The group of scholars looked at each other.

Zhan Yan explained to them, “How cheap can the hiring fee for a high-level cultivator be? But demons are different! Demons are naturally talented! If you want to study the environment in the extremely cold regions, hire an arctic bear demon. If you want to study the environment in the deep sea, hire a deep-sea fish demon. You all should know about tardigrades, right? Even before becoming demons, they can withstand temperatures of 150°C and -200°C and pressures of 600 megapascals. If there was a tardigrade demon…”

The scholars’ eyes lit up!

Demon cultivators could collect the data they needed without requiring a very high cultivation level! Ah! The Wan Yao Alliance is such a great organization!

“Little friend, thank you so much!”

They scurried off to contact the Wan Yao Alliance.

Zhan Yan continued to wander around the venue, continuing his business of introducing demon cultivators to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and human cultivators to the Wan Yao Alliance, with rebellion as his main theme.

The relationship between these two organizations, apart from inherent conflicts like resource competition, was mainly a matter of atmosphere between the upper and lower levels.

Sometimes, the leaders of both sides didn’t see eye to eye, and the people at the grassroots level would follow suit and dislike the other side. The conflicts would increase, and eventually, they would fall out.

Sometimes, the leaders of both sides had no conflict, but the conflict among the grassroots masses was deep. Everyone would fight, and even if the people at the top wanted to mediate, after a certain number of times, they would inevitably be dragged into it.

Zhan Yan had no solution for the inherent conflicts for now, but he could try to solve it from the grassroots level of both sides first. Let the demon cultivators have a good impression of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, and let the human cultivators have a good impression of the Wan Yao Alliance. After a certain number of times, the prejudices against each other would gradually be eliminated, and wouldn’t they become friends?

At that time, even if the two organizations had a falling out, when the grassroots people were carrying out opposing tasks, they’d go over and see, hey, they’re all acquaintances! How could they bring themselves to strike? Just muddle through it!

Wouldn’t things be much easier then?

Although this vision was rather naive and beautiful, Zhan Yan was still willing to hold onto this hope and work hard.

With a little more effort, the possibility of his parents fighting would be a little lower, and the crisis of a broken family would be a little smaller.

Go for it! Continue to introduce members and prospective members of both sides to the enemy forces!

Zhan Yan worked diligently for a whole day and successfully reaped the friendship of N demons and the gratitude of N human cultivators. His network expanded once again.

Sigh, if this continued, his social circle might just catch up to Old Master Weng Yan’s.

Zhan Yan had talked a bit too much today; he felt like he had used up half a year’s worth of social energy.

After returning at night, he logged into the forum again to check. The Craftsman still hadn’t replied to his custom order invitation. Sigh, he didn’t know when the great master Craftsman would be finished with her work.

It was also good that there was no reply. He really had no social capacity left for tonight.

As he was lying there, a game invitation suddenly popped up on his phone. The inviter was “Big Hammer Eighty.” This was the super awesome, cool, and aloof master gamer that Qi Ye had introduced him to last time!

Yay! It’s also relaxing to have a master carry him in games!

The master is so nice, he doesn’t even mind that I’m bad at the game!

Zhan Yan happily accepted the invitation.

…

On the other side.

Ever since swallowing the ceramic clay last time, the doll butler had unlocked a new “king of the grind” attribute, asking Zhan Suiru every day: Have you created anything today?

It also routinely reminded her of her final deadlines, helped her plan her work schedule, and was incredibly considerate.

Zhan Suiru couldn’t stand this kind of consideration and told him to shut up.

The doll butler shut up, and then started to constantly wander in front of her, annoying her eyes.

Zhan Suiru: …

She got up to rush her work. She really couldn’t take any new orders.

Work at the workbench for a while.

Slam the workbench violently.

How can one not go crazy when refining artifacts?!

The doll butler: “Would you like to go play a game with your younger brother for a while?”

Zhan Suiru: “Good idea!”

Putting on her cool master gamer persona, she poked her younger brother and invited him to play a game.

Yan Yan was out playing these few days. He should be back at the hotel by now. He quickly accepted her invitation.

Her brother’s gaming skills were as bad as ever. But it didn’t matter, she could carry her brother to victory!

After carrying her noob brother to victory for two rounds, Zhan Suiru suddenly realized something was wrong.

Why was her brother so unusually quiet and taciturn tonight?

Where were her rainbow praises?