GRMFBS CH151

Zhan Jinli put down the dishes, took out his phone, and started typing: “This thing…”

His brother had tacitly taken out his phone at the same time to type, and before he could finish inputting, Zhan Yan had already sent a message back.

Zhan Yan: “This is fish bait, humans can’t eat it.”

Zhan Jinli: …

“I wasn’t thinking of eating it.”

He just smelled that something wasn’t quite right with this fish bait.

Zhan Jinli first transformed from a fish demon into a Ghost King, and then reincarnated from a Ghost King into a human body. This fish bait had long been useless to him, but based on his past experience, he judged that something in this fish bait had a special targeting effect on aquatic creatures.

Zhan Suiru also saw this thing.

“What is this?”

“Fish bait,” Zhan Yan said. “Given by the person sitting next to me on the ride.”

Zhan Jinli and Zhan Suiru: …Could it be that angler who caught the Luoyu?

The two of them started interrogating their younger brother.

Zhan Yan amused his brother and sister, vividly describing the incident where two mysterious people took the neighboring angler and his suitcase away.

Anyway, his brother and sister were ordinary people, so Zhan Yan started spouting nonsense.

“Those two people weren’t wearing police uniforms, and they didn’t look like plainclothes officers either. I didn’t see the IDs they showed clearly, but they didn’t feel like the common type.

“Do you think our country has that kind of mysterious organization that they don’t tell ordinary people about? Did I run into them?”

Zhan Jinli and Zhan Suiru: Our brother is so sharp…

Zhan Jinli used his socially anxious persona to avoid speaking.

Zhan Suiru rubbed her younger brother’s little curly hair: “Stop going online to read those messy rumors.”

Zhan Yan: “I know they’re all fake!”

Zhan Jinli watched his clueless younger brother and sister making a fuss, thinking to himself that this family still had to rely on him to protect it.

Zhan Suiru felt that she was the only one in the whole family who knew the truth; it was truly lonely.

Zhan Yan felt that it was pretty good for his brother and sister to be materialists, anyway Mom and Dad were both big shots.

A black shadow swished and dashed toward the fish bait in Zhan Yan’s hand. Zhan Jinli had sharp eyes and quick hands.

Xingxing was lifted in mid-air by the scruff of its neck—the scruff of destiny—and loudly meowed in displeasure.

“This thing can’t be eaten.” Zhan Yan put down the fish bait and took Xingxing. The little guy grew fast, having gotten a size bigger again, its fur glossy and smooth.

Xingxing was still very clingy with him. Being pet by Zhan Yan made it purr, and it quickly forgot about the fish bait.

Zhan Jinli very naturally picked up the fish bait.

Xingxing immediately raised its head alertly.

Can’t eat it? If it can’t be eaten, why did he take it? He’s the one who always deducts my treats!

The fish bait was split half-and-half between his older brother and sister.

“Are you guys going fishing?” Zhan Yan asked.

He was only back for a few days, and had to go to the company, so he definitely couldn’t go fishing.

“There’s a lake in Mount Qixia, I heard it’s suitable for fishing.” He shared the lake’s address that Yu Luo had told him with his brother and sister. This lake was located within his dad’s territory, so it would definitely be safe for them to fish there.

Zhan Jinli and Zhan Suiru expressed that they noted it down.

Both of them were fooling their younger brother; neither planned to go. They wanted the fish bait to study its ingredients. What kind of place was Mount Qixia? The Chongming Demon King circled it every day; if they went, they might accidentally expose their secret identities.

After eating, Zhan Yan hugged Xingxing and went back to his room. He opened the gossip threads and saw that his brother and sister both wanted to study the formula of this fish food, and only then did he feel relieved.

He opened the chaofan forum and first set about coaxing the big shot Deep Shadow.

Last time he promised Deep Shadow that he would notify him of any news immediately, and at the same time continue helping him investigate anomalies. But since then, the big shot Deep Shadow hadn’t come looking for him, until today when he suddenly came asking him to investigate an anomaly in a certain place.

Zhan Yan hadn’t seen it earlier, so he hurried to coax him now.

Gu Jiancheng had been waiting for Approaching Science’s message, but he wasn’t in a hurry. Clearing anomalies wasn’t his main task recently.

The Sea of Shadows is a very powerful ability. A fully unfolded Sea of Shadows could contend with a Black Nest at its peak state.

A Black Nest at its peak state wasn’t the kind of incomplete thing he had swallowed before.

What turned Rong Sui’s world into an apocalypse was just two Black Nests.

But Gu Jiancheng had almost never fully unfolded the Sea of Shadows. The negative mental impact of this ability was too great. In his state of being deeply troubled by the aftereffects, he fundamentally couldn’t fully unfold the Sea of Shadows; using even a fraction more power could easily lead to a mental breakdown.

But it was different now. Above the Sea of Shadows hung a bright star; its light penetrated every piece of shadow.

Every time Gu Jiancheng entered the Sea of Shadows, he would look up at this star.

The star’s light was very gentle.

The fierce sunlight never allowed shadows to enter its territory, but the starlight was willing to coexist with the shadows. It swept away the gloom of the shadows, leaving only a black crystal-like transparency.

Gu Jiancheng’s shadow avatars went to every place where traces of Infinite were suspected to have appeared, imprinting his own mark within the shadows of those places.

Under the illumination of the starlight, he was able to stretch out the heavy shadows. They spread out lightly, connecting to every place that bore a mark.

The Sea of Shadows stretched its tides, patiently waiting to capture its prey.

Imprinting marks required Gu Jiancheng to go place by place. Previously, when Yan Yan was at school, he would leave right after placing the mark, having no mood to deal with anything else.

But these past few days Yan Yan had to go home. Gu Jiancheng felt extremely bored by himself, and decided to go look for trouble with the anomalies, clearing out the anomalies in whichever place he went to.

While waiting for Approaching Science’s message, he had already swept through all the anomaly-related tasks near this area on the forum. Now was the perfect time to find Approaching Science to dig deep into the hidden anomalies.

In terms of finding anomalies, Approaching Science was truly much more useful than Wan Shitong.

After Gu Jiancheng received Approaching Science’s message, he boldly transferred over a large sum of points and started beating up anomalies.

After getting the points, Zhan Yan started counting his wallet.

Wan Yan Ghost King was tangled up with the Artisan’s “Lin Yuan” puppet, and probably wouldn’t remember the matter of looking for memories for a while. The plan to earn a Ghost King Seal from Wan Yan Ghost King for his boyfriend’s self-defense had temporarily failed, and he returned to the state of needing to save up points to exchange for a protective amulet.

His little wallet was still too empty. Zhan Yan sighed.

The Artisan’s wool wasn’t very easy to shear recently; he could only pin his hopes on the big shot Deep Shadow being more generous.

87 minutes later, Deep Shadow sent another task request, this time changing to a new location, asking him to continue investigating the hidden anomalies there.

How was the big shot’s efficiency so high? Zhan Yan wondered in surprise while earning points.

77 minutes later, the big shot Deep Shadow sent another address.

I Just Saved the World!: [Anomalies in Nandidao.]

Earned another sum.

84 minutes later.

I Just Saved the World!: [Yuanping Port.]

Earned yet another sum.

64 minutes later.

I Just Saved the World!: [Shijiang.]

Earned another sum yet again.

Zhan Yan was shocked. He opened the map to look at the places Deep Shadow had asked him to investigate, and the distance between each place was no less than a hundred kilometers. Every time, Deep Shadow completed the tasks of clearing the anomalies and traveling in one to one and a half hours.

Was he playing with teleportation?

I Just Saved the World!: [Yuanchuan.]

Approaching Science: [Stop!]

Approaching Science: [Boss, I have things to do tomorrow, I can’t stay up late with you tonight.]

Gu Jiancheng clicked his tongue.

What kind of information-type can’t stay up late?

He glanced at the time. Fine. In another half an hour it would be Yan Yan’s bedtime. He had originally planned to stop after solving two more anomalies, and then call to say goodnight; any later and it would delay Yan Yan’s sleep.

Gu Jiancheng had just exited the forum when a new message arrived.

This time, the person contacting him was Zhuo Xun, the leader of the Retirees’ Alliance.

Last time he went to the Retirees’ Alliance, Zhuo Xun shamelessly begged for his contact info. Thinking that his condition was currently stable, Gu Jiancheng gave it to him.

Zhuo Xun was looking for him this time to report bad news.

After Infinite’s destruction, this group of people from the Retirees’ Alliance spent their initial adaptation period and then completely lay flat in this world. Later, when they heard that Infinite was still struggling to revive, they didn’t get up either.

This was a world capable of annihilating Infinite, full of big shots. Top-tier big shots like BOSS Rong Sui couldn’t even be counted on two hands. Why should a bunch of sick and disabled people like them get up and grind again? The people of this world might not even feel at ease with them, a group of outsiders.

Therefore, the big shots could go ahead and work hard, while they would retire peacefully.

But upon learning that the doomsday world was approaching, Zhuo Xun couldn’t remain calm.

Based on what this group of veteran players knew about Infinite, it would definitely take this opportunity to cause trouble!

In this world, it was home-field advantage; there was nothing to worry about when fighting a dying Infinite. But the people of this world didn’t understand the doomsday world enough, nor did they understand the connection between Infinite and these dungeon worlds enough.

He heard that Infinite previously wanted to collect Infinite fragments to revive, but ended up being blown to nothing again by Tianshi’s thunderstorm. However, even if the doomsday world was already dead, it was still a complete world foundation. It had been controlled by Infinite for countless years; if Infinite obtained it, it could similarly possess the capital to revive.

Zhuo Xun immediately got up and screened all the players in the Retirees’ Alliance. As expected, he filtered out a traitor.

“…He helped Infinite conduct a few experiments over here. I’ve sent you the specific details. I have the person under control,” Zhuo Xun said.

Gu Jiancheng flipped through the files.

He had always known that Infinite deeply desired this world. Unlike those dispensable dungeon worlds, this world contained rules that Infinite craved; it wanted to obtain things it lacked from this world to complete itself.

This desire hadn’t disappeared even now. The traces of Infinite’s actions in this world had already been revealed. Besides wanting to revive, it was also targeting some other objectives.

For instance, Bai Ze. For instance, the target of this experiment.

This person was researching Soul-Intoxicating Incense.

Soul-Intoxicating Incense was a type of plant item in Infinite. Its characteristic was that whatever creature’s flesh and blood was used to cultivate it, once it matured, the fragrance emitted by the plant would have an irresistible attraction to that type of creature.

Infinite’s rules were different from this world’s rules; not every item could exert its full effect upon arriving in this world. Soul-Intoxicating Incense belonged to the type that was suppressed.

What this person was researching was how to allow the Soul-Intoxicating Incense to fully exert its efficacy on aquatic creatures in this world.

According to what Zhuo Xun interrogated out of him, this person was supposed to head to a certain place a few months ago to conduct further experimental research using new materials. But halfway through the operation, Infinite suddenly canceled their mission, and there had been no movement in this regard since then.

Gu Jiancheng found the time and place they confessed to a bit familiar—wasn’t this around the time he was tracking the flesh and blood anomalies? The location was also roughly the same.

But at that time, Approaching Science told him that Ghost King Lin Yuan was investigating the same thing. Continuing further might cause him to clash with Ghost King Lin Yuan, so he didn’t continue.

Was the thing Infinite had these people research related to the flesh and blood anomalies he investigated back then? It was a pity he had switched targets at the time and hadn’t continued the investigation.

But it wasn’t a big problem; he could continue the investigation based on what these people confessed.

“Do you have anything else to ask?” Zhuo Xun asked.

Gu Jiancheng heard a faint noise on the other end of the phone: “No. Handle it yourself.”

“Okay.” He hung up the phone and looked down at the tied-up person at his feet.

The man struggled madly, his eyes bulging and his expression hideous and terrifying, whimpering as if he wanted to say something.

Zhuo Xun bent down, grabbing his hair and lifting his head up: “Your aftereffects are flaring up, aren’t they? Feel like you’re about to die? Is it agonizing? Are you terrified?

“If it’s agonizing, then endure it yourself—

“If you can endure it, you live; if you can’t, you die.

“You went to Infinite. Did you want to drag us old folks, who finally managed to endure and survive, back into hell again?”

Zong Xiaoping pulled him worriedly from the side: “Brother Zhuo.”

Zhuo Xun let go and started taking deep breaths. He stared at the person on the ground with disgust.

This person wasn’t going to make it much longer.

He didn’t bother dirtying his hands anymore.

Zong Xiaoping muttered by his ear: “Brother Zhuo, don’t get angry over this kind of trash. With his meager strength, we can easily deal with him even while sealed.”

Zhuo Xun sneered: “He couldn’t even bear to give up this meager bit of ability.”

This person’s aftereffects originally shouldn’t have been this severe. If discovered early, they could be sealed; if discovered later, the ability could be crippled. He stubbornly dragged it out until it couldn’t be resolved, and finally thought to seek Infinite for help, conveniently dragging everyone back into the water with him.

If you can’t bear to lose your ability, then learn from Deep Shadow.

What Zhuo Xun admired most about Deep Shadow wasn’t that he could resolve his own aftereffects, but that even when he was suffering so much he was on the verge of suicide, he directed all his madness towards Infinite and the anomalies.

Zhuo Xun and Wan Shitong had always kept in touch. Four years ago, Wan Shitong sent over a large pile of anomalous flesh and blood, entrusting Zhuo Xun to cultivate a stalk of Soul-Intoxicating Incense with it. Anomalies were also products of Infinite; the effects of Soul-Intoxicating Incense on them wouldn’t weaken.

The aura of Deep Shadow lingered on the remains of those anomalies. Deep Shadow had killed these anomalies and had Wan Shitong send them over, requesting such a stalk of Soul-Intoxicating Incense.

That was when Deep Shadow was on the verge of being unable to hold on. He wanted to drag as many anomalies as possible to die together with him in his final moments.

Later, this stalk of Soul-Intoxicating Incense went unused.

Zhuo Xun was very happy that a player as resolute, enduring, and unyielding as Deep Shadow managed to survive.

The resolute, enduring, and unyielding big shot Deep Shadow was currently calling his boyfriend and acting spoiled.

“Yan Yan, when are you coming back? I’m already starting to miss you.”