GRMFBS CH127

Puyang Xia was incredibly angry.

How could grapes not be as delicious as lychees?! What a tasteless fellow!

A person with no taste didn’t deserve to eat grapes! Even if it was his own benefactor!

At this very moment, as a northern grape, although Puyang Xia had never even seen a lychee before, he had already decided that lychees would from now on be his most hated plant!

Don’t you just want to eat lychees? Fine! I’ll go find them for you!

First of all:

Puyang Xia: “Where is the lychee a fruit of?”

Lingnan. Puyang Xia was a northern grape, from a place that snowed heavily in the winter, over three thousand kilometers in a straight line from Lingnan.

Puyang Xia was a plant demon and not adept at traveling long distances. Even if he rushed all the way to Lingnan and picked fresh lychees, a newly enlightened grape demon wouldn’t have the ability to keep the lychees fresh and bring them back.

Incapable of fulfilling his benefactor’s wish, a thoroughly humiliated Puyang Xia bore a bunch of lychee-flavored grapes for Teng Yuan.

But Puyang Xia had never tasted a lychee before either, so he had no idea what this thing tasted like. He could only try his best to adjust based on Teng Yuan’s description of a lychee.

Teng Yuan was a cultured person; his adjectives were extremely rich and aesthetic, full of the charm of life and broadness of thought.

This could also be translated as not speaking human language.

Puyang Xia tried his best to bear a bunch of grapes for him according to descriptions like “nectar of jade,” “sweet and fresh fairy dew,” and “spring flow under warm sun.” This taste… was hard to describe, but in short, it wasn’t lychee-flavored.

Teng Yuan was a picky gourmand, as well as a poet. He composed a poem for the lychee on the spot, sighing deeply that ever since leaving Lingnan, he had never again tasted the flavor of those clusters of red jade on branches and fragrant snow pearls on jade plates. What a pity, what a pity.

Puyang Xia: …

Heh! Heh!

I simply must go taste for myself just what flavor this “lychee” is!

Puyang Xia, a plant demon, went through untold hardships to uproot himself and run all the way to Lingnan. In order to wait for the lychees to ripen, he stayed in Lingnan all the way until the hot and humid summer. A northern grape wasn’t adapted to this climate, making the wait extremely agonizing.

After finally waiting until the lychees ripened, Puyang Xia picked some to taste.

They were alright, just averagely delicious. Was it really worth Teng Yuan obsessing over them so much?

Puyang Xia angrily devoured a whole basket of lychees.

After returning, Puyang Xia picked a fight with his benefactor. He sent Teng Yuan grapes every year, insisting on repaying this favor.

But Teng Yuan always said they weren’t alike; one time the texture was wrong, another time the flavor was a bit off.

One time, Puyang Xia had many people taste the grapes he bore, and they all said the flavor of the grapes was almost identical to lychees, so he went to give them to Teng Yuan again. Teng Yuan stubbornly insisted they tasted like rambutan.

Old Senior Puyang was also persistent. From then on, he engaged in a fierce rivalry with lychee-flavored grapes. Teng Yuan had exhausted his lifespan and reincarnated who knows how many lifetimes ago, yet Puyang Xia was still researching lychee-flavored grapes, stubbornly researching for over four hundred years to develop the very grapes they were eating now.

After finishing eating this gossip, Zhan Yan understood everything.

No wonder Puyang Xia relentlessly insisted on researching lychee-flavored grapes, yet firmly refused to advertise its biggest selling point, only saying “Sweet” in the livestream.

It was just that Old Senior Li Huodan was awfully pitiful, becoming a link in their roleplay for no reason at all.

Since he hadn’t found any issues, then this investment should be feasible.

Zhan Yan planned to wait until tomorrow to ask if the grapes sent home had arrived and how they tasted. If they were okay, he would recommend them to the company. However, he didn’t know much about this sort of thing either; he just hoped it wouldn’t cause his mom any losses…

Before exiting the Gossip System, someone suddenly tagged him in the information big shots’ group chat “Have You Eaten Melon Today?”.

Since earning points last time, Zhan Yan hadn’t spoken in the group, mainly to prevent making others feel awkward. Now that so much time had passed, since they were actively tagging him, everyone must have gotten used to it by now, right?

Zhan Yan clicked into the group and started scanning the chat logs.

Pure White Jigsaw: [A Black Nest appeared a while ago.]

Love Eating Pineapple Buns: [???] Love Eating Pineapple Buns: [Really?!] Waltz: [You can’t joke about this!] Book of Secrets: [It’s true.]

Waltz: [Heavens, what’s the situation with this Black Nest now?] Love Eating Pineapple Buns: [A Black Nest has even appeared, so Infinite isn’t just not completely dead, it’s already starting to resurge?!]

Pure White Jigsaw: [No, I’m saying you guys just don’t believe me, right?]

Happy Guessing Game: [@Book of Secrets Bai Bai is angry, you’re doomed.]

Book of Secrets: […]

Tu Yue was truly a bit worried. Pure White Jigsaw’s breadth of information was the weakest in the group, but his ability regarding depth of information was unmatched.

Pure White Jigsaw: in his ability, all information was like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When there were enough known information puzzle pieces, he could reveal the original pattern that should have been in the blank space left after piecing them together, completing the missing parts.

This ability could be used to investigate any deeply hidden secrets.

Tu Yue had always used the identity of Book of Secrets to maintain a good relationship with Pure White Jigsaw, sometimes even cooperating with him. He recently had an Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau task and sought out Pure White Jigsaw for cooperation.

Pure White Jigsaw: [You guys are doomed!]

Happy Guessing Game: [???]

Happy Guessing Game: [What does it have to do with us?]

Pure White Jigsaw: [None of you believed my news!]

Pure White Jigsaw: [Only Ao Ao testified for me!]

Not only did this group of information-type big shots love eating gossip, but they were also awfully childish.

Zhan Yan continued to scan down the chat logs.

The big shots didn’t mess around for long. The main reason was that the news about the Black Nest was too terrifying, so everyone returned to the main topic.

With supplements from Pure White Jigsaw and Book of Secrets, combined with the various information-type big shots investigating themselves after learning the news, quite a bit of information had already been supplemented.

It was known that Deep Shadow had discovered the anomaly that birthed this Black Nest, investigated the location of the Black Nest based on clues, and then destroyed the Black Nest.

Chewing a Big Melon: [Is Deep Shadow really that ruthless?]

Waltz: [How strong is a Black Nest?]

Chewing a Big Melon: [Unclear. Probably only those combat-type big shots who faced the enemy head-on 26 years ago know.]

Too Lazy to Pick a Screen Name: [This thing has been gone for 26 years, none of us have ever seen it.]

Too Lazy to Pick a Screen Name: [A Black Nest is a monster nest, right? It’s said that anyone facing a Black Nest will face a nearly endless tide of anomalies. In short, it’s just very, very strong.]

Pure White Jigsaw: [The most terrifying thing about a Black Nest isn’t the anomaly tide, it’s the pollution.]

Book of Secrets: [Correct.]

Waltz: [Doesn’t an anomaly tide possess pollution too?]

Book of Secrets: [Not the pollution of anomalies, but the pollution of the Black Nest.]

Tu Yue began to explain this concept to them.

All anomalies carried pollution. The pollution of an anomaly tide was certainly terrifying, but it should still be considered within the scope of an anomaly tide, perhaps comparable to the sound wave of silent mosquitoes and flies gathered together—large and broad, yet still within a normal range.

The pollution of a Black Nest referred to the pollution inherent to the Black Nest itself. That was a pollution that transcended an anomaly tide by an entire level.

Love Eating Pineapple Buns: [So Deep Shadow faced this thing and took down the Black Nest?]

Love Eating Pineapple Buns: [Isn’t his mental state unstable?]

Happy Guessing Game: [Is his state okay now? He’s not going to have a pollution outbreak, is he?]

Pure White Jigsaw: [That’s unclear.]

Pure White Jigsaw: [How about you take a guess?]

Happy Guessing Game: [Wait for it.]

Happy Guessing Game ran off to use his ability.

After more than ten minutes, he popped up in the group again.

Happy Guessing Game: [Deep Shadow’s state has stabilized???]

Love Eating Pineapple Buns: [How did he do it? Hasn’t his state always been very dangerous?]

This was also what Book of Secrets wanted to know.

The information Tu Yue knew was more detailed than theirs. Ghost King Lin Yuan had seen the scene left behind after Deep Shadow and the Black Nest battled, and passed this news to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance.

The Black Nest was one aspect; Deep Shadow was another.

With a control freak like Ning Xi as Deputy Bureau Chief, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau found it very hard to tolerate an unpredictable ticking time bomb like Deep Shadow wandering around freely outside. Over these past twenty-plus years, they hadn’t just issued a wanted poster for Deep Shadow and left it at that.

The task force within the Bureau dedicated specifically to targeting Deep Shadow had tried various methods to understand Deep Shadow’s situation. Although Deep Shadow’s own information interference was very strong, there were also many “I Reckon” intuition techniques similar to Kusong Jian’s in this world.

Other information about Deep Shadow was very difficult to obtain, but at least it could be confirmed that his situation had been constantly deteriorating, and reached a critical breaking point four years ago.

No one knew whether Deep Shadow’s collapse would result in a silent death or total madness after being completely polluted.

To ensure that Deep Shadow’s collapse wouldn’t cause severe negative impacts, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau began implementing a backup plan four years ago, ready at any time to forcibly pinpoint Deep Shadow’s location through special means and carry out a series of necessary coercive measures.

As the top information-type in the Bureau, Tu Yue had a share in the task of pinpointing Deep Shadow’s location. The price of forcibly breaking through information interference at this level was very high; Tu Yue had even signed an informed consent form, fully prepared for any price he might have to pay.

The reason they hadn’t proceeded was that an act like forcibly searching for his location was tantamount to provocation and was highly likely to stimulate Deep Shadow’s already unstable condition, perhaps causing his pollution outbreak to worsen prematurely.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau was waiting for an opportunity. There were people on shift 24 hours a day in the task force; as long as it was determined that Deep Shadow’s state had entered an unstable outbreak period, they would immediately begin a series of procedures such as pinpointing his location and dispatching personnel to control him.

And so, this 24-hour shift lasted for four whole years.

Tu Yue watched helplessly as the young man on the night shift went from being full of energy and extremely nervous, to having increasingly heavy dark circles, and finally to numbly and peacefully typing out the daily report: No anomalies.

Deep Shadow’s situation today seems even more stable than before.

Every time he thought of Deep Shadow, Tu Yue felt complicated.

At first, it was complicated because of Deep Shadow as a person. He was a comrade-in-arms who had helped them fight against Infinite 26 years ago, and had also left behind many traces of cleaning up anomalies over these 26 years. But he was also a ticking time bomb that could detonate at any moment and endanger this world. Tu Yue was even prepared to sacrifice himself in an era of peace because of this.

Then he prepared for four years. No matter how much nervousness and complication there was, it had all worn away; sometimes he even wanted to cheer Deep Shadow on.

Hold on a bit longer, big shot! If a person doesn’t work hard, how would they know they can’t miraculously heal themselves?

And then Deep Shadow truly did miraculously heal himself within these four years!

The last time the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau noticed a deterioration in Deep Shadow’s condition through roundabout means was about a month ago, at which time everyone got nervous for a bit. Later, after comparing the timeline with the news provided by Ghost King Lin Yuan, it was confirmed that Deep Shadow’s condition had deteriorated that day because he had taken down a Black Nest.

After a brief slide towards the dangerous edge that day, Deep Shadow’s state quickly shot back up quite a bit. Although it was worse than his previous condition, it was very stable. And then it suddenly got better later, so much better that it was in a… state of near miraculous self-healing.

This was truly shocking!

Cleaning up pollution and healing a polluted mind had always been important research topics and scarce abilities. How did Deep Shadow do it? Teach us!

But this guy Deep Shadow was still as difficult to deal with as before, refusing to respond no matter what. Left with no choice, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau could only try to find a way to investigate themselves.

After investigating for a long time with no results, Tu Yue ran over to the information group chat to see if there was a breakthrough point.

However, everyone else was just incidental; the main focus was still Approaching Science. It had already been proven last time that Approaching Science had the ability to directly find information on Deep Shadow.

Regardless of how much was found, just being able to find it was a breakthrough point. It was always better than their entire group being rendered speechless by the “I just saved the world!” wanted poster he threw out, right?

Happy Guessing Game: [Didn’t you say last time that Approaching Science could find news on Deep Shadow?]

Happy Guessing Game: [@Approaching Science Big shot, please take us along!]

Love Eating Pineapple Buns: [Big shot, please take us along!]

Chewing a Big Melon: [Big shot, please take us along!]

Zhan Yan thought for a moment and gave an answer.

Approaching Science: [Because of love.]