GRMFBS CH142

Deep Shadow?

Black Wolf half-arched his back, carefully looking Gu Jiancheng up and down from head to toe, and then his hair stood on end.

It really was Deep Shadow!

Why would Deep Shadow be here?!

Wasn’t the Retirees’ Alliance just bragging?!

“Why are you here?” Black Wolf started bristling.

“If I wasn’t here, how could you have come looking for me?” Gu Jiancheng said coldly.

Zong Xiaoping confusedly looked at this one, then that one, his eyes suddenly widening as he opened his mouth: “You…”

Alliance Leader Zhuo immediately covered his mouth and dragged him away: “You guys get busy, you guys get busy! If there’s nothing else, we’ll be leaving first.”

Black Wolf: “Wait.”

Gu Jiancheng: “You stay.”

They both spoke at the same time. Black Wolf looked exasperated, while Gu Jiancheng clicked his tongue impatiently.

Neither of them had achieved their goal for coming here yet; how could they let Alliance Leader Zhuo run away first?

Alliance Leader Zhuo felt extremely distressed and had the others take Zong Xiaoping away.

The other few people covered his mouth, grabbed his arms, and dragged him out of the room, even considerately closing the main door.

Alliance Leader Zhuo watched helplessly as the last sliver of the door crack closed.

No, if you two want to fight, what does it have to do with me?

Gu Jiancheng and Black Wolf met eyes, sparks and lightning flying in their gazes.

Seeing the eager battle intent still in his eyes, Gu Jiancheng began to sneer: “Continue.”

Black Wolf saw the shadows writhing restlessly beneath Gu Jiancheng’s feet and barely managed to calm down.

He liked fighting, but he didn’t like being totally crushed.

Just thinking about this matter made him feel sour. Black Wolf’s strength was very high; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to independently lead a large unit in the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

But the problem was, his innate divine ability was Shadow Concealment, which allowed him to hide within shadows and travel freely through them. It was a very practical ability combining concealment, defense, and speed.

Black Wolf’s combat techniques were almost entirely born from combining with his innate divine ability.

However, his divine ability was perfectly countered by Deep Shadow.

Nearly twenty years ago, when everyone still didn’t understand Deep Shadow’s abilities very well, Black Wolf once accidentally ran into Gu Jiancheng while he was clearing anomalies.

He was very confident in his divine ability and decided to conceal himself nearby to observe Deep Shadow first.

And then he was chased across three mountain peaks by a very irritable Gu Jiancheng.

He used shadows to travel; Deep Shadow traveled faster than him in the shadows. He hid in the shadows; Deep Shadow used his bizarre shadows with devouring power to force him out. He stopped hiding in the shadows, wanting to fight Deep Shadow head-on; Deep Shadow hid in the shadows and used shadows to fight him.

Black Wolf had never fought such a frustrating fight!

Black Wolf felt bored just thinking about it. He relaxed from his combat-ready stance, stood up straight, and curled his lip: “I’ll say it if I want to. You poked Jing Zhang’s nostrils.”

Gu Jiancheng: ???

Alliance Leader Zhuo wore a “holy crap” expression.

Is this true? Would Deep Shadow do something like poking someone else’s nostrils? Is this something I’m allowed to hear? Will I be silenced by Deep Shadow afterwards?

Gu Jiancheng was very annoyed by Alliance Leader Zhuo’s gaze.

“Explain clearly. Who is Jing Zhang? When did I ever do such a thing?”

Black Wolf felt Deep Shadow’s gaze turn murderous. He vigilantly shifted two steps back: “Jing Zhang is that whale demon whose nostrils you poked.”

Previously, when the Wan Yao Alliance and the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau were discussing the cooperation plan to find Deep Shadow, there was a highly emotional, over two-meter-tall burly man in the Wan Yao Alliance—that was Jing Zhang.

The incident happened twenty-six years ago. Back then, everyone was fighting Infinite until the sky went dark. Jing Zhang was fighting in his original form in the sea, taking a deep breath to unleash his Whale Spout divine ability.

Unfortunately, Deep Shadow just happened to be knocked down at that exact moment and fell right into the giant whale’s blowhole.

If it had been anyone else, they would have just been spouted out along with Jing Zhang’s divine ability.

But the person who fell was Deep Shadow. He subconsciously used shadows to grab onto the surroundings and stabilize his body.

Jing Zhang’s divine ability was forced back into his body, nearly suffocating him, leaving behind a deep psychological shadow ever since.

Gu Jiancheng remembered. Gu Jiancheng narrowed his eyes dangerously.

This was called poking someone’s nostrils? Who the hell would willingly get half their body stuck in a whale’s blowhole? Black Wolf was asking for a beating!

Black Wolf successfully fulfilled his wish to find a fight.

Alliance Leader Zhuo shouted very helplessly in the room: “You two! Please don’t fight! Ah! My premium large sofa! This is a reception room, not a training ground! If you two must fight, change locations first… My century-old vase! Thank you, big shot…”

Halfway through beating the wolf, Deep Shadow heard a full earful of Alliance Leader Zhuo’s miserable howling. He extended a strand of shadow to catch the teetering porcelain vase and threw it to him.

Alliance Leader Zhuo hugged his old vase and began moving furniture out of the reception room. He forcefully moved all the valuables out during the gaps in Deep Shadow and Black Wolf’s fight.

Deep Shadow and Black Wolf fought with some restraint. The commotion was confined entirely within the reception room.

Outside the reception room, a group of people hid in the corner listening to the commotion. Zhuo Xun grumpily called them over: “What are you hiding there for? Come help me move these things!”

Zong Xiaoping carried a large coffee table and sneaked a glance at the door: “Brother Zhuo, is that really Deep Shadow?”

Zhuo Xun: “No. Go inside and ask him who he is yourself.”

Zong Xiaoping shrank his head back: “Why would Deep Shadow come to our Alliance?”

Zhuo Xun didn’t speak. He furrowed his brow and casually found an excuse to brush the dimwit off: “Probably a tacit understanding with the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.”

The sounds of fighting in the reception room abruptly stopped.

Zhuo Xun shivered in fright.

Oh no. He forgot that the two fighting inside could hear him.

“Go, go, go.” Zhuo Xun quickly shooed the others away and slipped into the reception room through the door crack himself.

He saw Deep Shadow and Black Wolf each standing on one side of the room. Deep Shadow didn’t look any different, but Black Wolf’s wolf ears had popped out, perching on his head and twitching at any slight sound.

Right now, both of them were glaring at him.

Gu Jiancheng and Black Wolf were both disgusted by Zhuo Xun’s comment.

Zhuo Xun coughed awkwardly, pretending nothing happened: “You two are both here for the same purpose, right?”

Black Wolf rebuked him in extreme displeasure: “What are you talking about? Isn’t he the backer of your Retirees’ Alliance?”

Gu Jiancheng cast a sidelong glance at him.

Black Wolf bristled again.

What kind of look is this?!

He naturally knew Deep Shadow had just coincidentally bumped into him; his previous sentence was merely to rebuke Zhuo Xun. But being looked at by Deep Shadow like this made him feel like a fool who couldn’t read the situation.

Zhuo Xun painstakingly pacified the two big shots, both of whom didn’t have great tempers, and they moved to a different reception room to sit down again.

Gu Jiancheng and Black Wolf gave him face and didn’t continue fighting.

It wasn’t like Zhuo Xun and the others’ seals couldn’t be undone. If pushed into a corner, this group of currently useless retirees were still a bunch of ruthless people whose combat power would skyrocket.

But after the two sat down, they didn’t speak either.

Gu Jiancheng was splitting his attention to accompany his boyfriend at school. He hadn’t practiced the shadow clone skill in a long time, and his mental state hadn’t been good previously, so multitasking now made him a bit unskillful. Earlier, when fighting Black Wolf, the shadow clone at school had started zoning out.

Black Wolf was contacting the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, telling Ning Xi that he had suddenly run into Deep Shadow. So what if Deep Shadow’s abilities perfectly countered him? He was someone with an organization! He would soon let this lone wolf experience the shock of summoning a truckload of people with a single message!

Ning Xi still valued him highly. Upon receiving the message, he immediately gave him a new task: pull Deep Shadow in to cooperate together.

Black Wolf: …

Oh right, how could he have forgotten? The Bureau had wanted to pull Deep Shadow into cooperation previously.

But he had just finished fighting Deep Shadow.

Black Wolf looked up, his heart full of conflict.

Gu Jiancheng was focused on teaching his boyfriend how to spin a pen on the other end, when he caught Black Wolf’s hesitant and awkward gaze here, immediately ruining his good mood.

Gu Jiancheng gave him a cold, disdainful look.

Black Wolf: …

Grinding his teeth!

A task is a task!

Zhuo Xun, squeezed between the two silent individuals, felt incredibly awkward. Just as he was trying to figure out how to restart the conversation, he didn’t expect Black Wolf to speak first.

“Hey, you’re also here because of that gravitational tide, right?” Black Wolf asked.

Gu Jiancheng really wanted to give him another look so he could understand on his own to stop talking nonsense. But thinking about how this group of little useless retirees from the Retirees’ Alliance hadn’t sensed anything, he would inevitably have to dig some information out of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, so he reluctantly gave a reply: “Yeah.”

Black Wolf squeezed out a twisted smile: “How much do you know about the world that brought the gravitational tide?”

Gu Jiancheng remained impassive: “Just a dungeon world. What? You guys can’t handle it?”

His tone was cold, appearing very impatient about being held back by others.

Black Wolf suppressed his anger: “We have conducted thorough research on the doomsday world fragments. We just don’t want to disperse forces that could otherwise be united.”

Oh, so the one approaching was the doomsday dungeon world. Gu Jiancheng understood now.

The doomsday was a very famous dungeon, and all kinds of data on it were complete. The only difference between Gu Jiancheng and the players of the Retirees’ Alliance was that they didn’t know which world was approaching.

Zhuo Xun watched from the side in awe. Deep Shadow just successfully provoked Black Wolf like that?

Black Wolf was still staring at Deep Shadow, wondering how to persuade him.

Actually, if it were anyone else, they really might not have been able to provoke Black Wolf. But this was Deep Shadow; just sitting there gave him immense oppressive presence. Black Wolf hadn’t even considered that Deep Shadow wouldn’t even know which world was approaching.

Upon knowing that the approaching world was the doomsday world, Gu Jiancheng frowned inwardly.

Seeing that neither spoke, Zhuo Xun picked up the topic: “The doomsday dungeon used to be called the ‘Desolate Land of Death’ by us. No matter how many people went in or how strong they were, they never returned.”

Black Wolf started frantically taking notes: “Why would there be a dungeon like this?”

According to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s research, Infinite wouldn’t push players to die meaninglessly. It would design desperate situations, but it would also design a chance of survival within them. What it wanted were the players’ desires and the negative emotions they experienced between life and death. Meaningless slaughter would only waste resources.

Zhuo Xun looked at Gu Jiancheng. Seeing he had no intention of objecting, he continued: “Because this dungeon lost control. But after Senior Deep Shadow entered the doomsday dungeon once, it returned to normal afterwards. Only Senior Deep Shadow knows what happened with the doomsday dungeon.”

Black Wolf had no choice but to turn to Gu Jiancheng: “Um… can you talk about what you know?”

Gu Jiancheng: “Information exchange. I want your understanding of the doomsday world’s current situation.”

Black Wolf: “I’ll ask.”

Ning Xi agreed to the information exchange and let Black Wolf decide what to give, trying his best to use what they currently had to coax out all the information Deep Shadow knew.

Black Wolf geared up, vowing to take revenge in this information war.

Deep Shadow definitely didn’t know the doomsday world was already a dead world. Their dungeon strategies and anomaly data were all useless! He had to extract some solid information before he would reveal this news to Deep Shadow!

Just as Black Wolf was about to make his demands, he was caught off guard by Deep Shadow asking a question: “The doomsday world has already been destroyed, right?”

Black Wolf: ? How did you know?

Gu Jiancheng confirmed the answer from his instantaneously contracting pupils.

Gu Jiancheng: “Stop talking nonsense. How are you sure the approaching world is the doomsday?”

These players couldn’t confirm which world was approaching from the gravitational tide. He needed to know how the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau confirmed it and if their judgment was accurate.

Black Wolf was slightly frustrated: “The largest Infinite fragment that the Infinite Research Institute researched previously was from the doomsday.”

They had recorded the specific frequency of the doomsday world, and it overlapped with the frequency causing the gravitational tide.

Zhuo Xun suddenly realized.

A result confirmed by world frequency was sufficiently credible.

He and Black Wolf looked at Deep Shadow together. He was also very curious about how Deep Shadow had handled the doomsday dungeon back then.

Deep Shadow sat steadily on the sofa. He didn’t conceal his figure and face, but as light approached him, it seemed to be devoured, creating a unique gloom around his body that made him impossible to see clearly no matter what.

A profound shadow. Or perhaps, an abyss.

The doomsday dungeon that lost control back then had devoured countless players; it was a desolate land everyone avoided.

When Zhuo Xun was communicating with Black Wolf, he had secretly done Deep Shadow a favor. He had left the situation of the doomsday dungeon ambiguous.

Infinite had dungeon livestreams, and these livestreams would become sellable clearance experiences and strategies. After the doomsday dungeon lost control, every player was afraid they would be forcibly assigned to this dungeon task by Infinite. Many guilds and top-ranking players had issued bounties for clues about the doomsday dungeon.

Some out of fear, some out of curiosity, and others for points; under the circumstances at that time, almost every player who wasn’t too tight on points had watched the recordings of those dead players in the doomsday dungeon.

They didn’t know how the doomsday dungeon returned to normal, but they knew how the doomsday dungeon lost control.

The loss of control of the doomsday dungeon manifested in its most powerful NPC, the “Lord” Rong Sui, suddenly going mad.

Before losing control, this NPC was supposed to be an optional faction for the players. If they chose the human base faction, Lord Rong Sui would become a friendly NPC, and if utilized well, she could even provide extremely powerful assistance.

But after the dungeon lost control, Rong Sui became the most terrifying BOSS in the entire dungeon.

She would seek out all players who entered the dungeon and finish them off one by one.

Everyone knew Lord Rong Sui went mad, but no one knew why she went mad.

Deep Shadow, sitting on the sofa, fell silent for several seconds. It was a solemn posture that Black Wolf and Zhuo Xun had never seen before.

They couldn’t help but become solemn along with Deep Shadow.

“Because Rong Sui discovered that the doomsday was a dungeon world that was constantly being restarted.”

“The home she was desperately trying to save was a game that could never end.”

Black Wolf shivered.

“Your turn,” Gu Jiancheng said. “How do you know the doomsday world has already been destroyed?”

He was clear about this because he had experience seeing Infinite capture other small worlds time and time again. This world shouldn’t have had such an experience.

Black Wolf: “About this, it’s information provided by Approaching Science.”

Gu Jiancheng: ?

Black Wolf thought Deep Shadow didn’t go on the forum and didn’t know who Approaching Science was: “It’s an information-type we cooperate with. We have a good relationship, and he volunteered this information to us.”

Gu Jiancheng: …

Did he pay Approaching Science fewer points than the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau or something? Why did he remember to volunteer it to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau but didn’t tell him?

He felt Approaching Science was playing favorites!