GRMFBS CH183

Because things with Xiao Ran weren’t going smoothly, Zhan Suiru had been in a rather bad mood recently. She just so happened to run into someone who dared to mess with her little brother; heh, seeking death!

The big shot finally had an outlet to vent her emotions. She first found those malicious messages aimed at her little brother in the network and deleted them all in one breath. Zhan Suiru even created an automatic detection mini-program to ensure not a single one slipped through.

Then she followed the clues to find out who was causing trouble.

She didn’t even need to investigate much; the other party had a bunch of dark history saved right on their computer.

Pack it up, and expose it!

After completing this series of actions, Zhan Suiru’s mood smoothed out.

Ji Yueming had just finished talking on the phone with Luo Luoluo, and when she woke up the next morning, she discovered the internet had been scrubbed clean. Furthermore, those people who dared to involve her Yan Yan were now all hanging on the trending search list, and the people themselves had already been taken into the police station.

Luoluo, great job!

Faced with the Tianshi big shot’s praise, Luo Luoluo was utterly bewildered.

“Sister Ji, I didn’t do it.”

Ji Yueming: ?

Luo Luoluo: “I went to find people to scrub the messages, but before we even started, the internet was scrubbed clean. I only collected a portion of the materials on those few people, and hadn’t even had time to make a move yet.”

She was just an ordinary person; no matter how high her efficiency was, she couldn’t scrub the messages this clean in one night.

Ji Yueming thought about this workload and realized it did indeed exceed the capabilities of an ordinary person. Then, if it wasn’t Luo Luoluo, who could it be?

Equally bewildered and shocked was Xia Yuexian. Upon learning that the Chongming Demon King’s youngest son was caught up in a storm, Boss Xia prepared to have his own team step in. Their film and television company was professional at handling this.

But just as they finalized the plan and prepared to implement it, they discovered the malicious comments regarding Zhan Yan on the internet were rapidly disappearing. It didn’t take long for them to vanish completely; they didn’t even have time to make a move.

Zhan Yan, who knew the truth, was similarly bewildered and shocked.

Upon learning that Red Crystal helped him, his first reaction was that his identity had been exposed.

Red Crystal found out who he was, and that was why she made a move. Did this count as a threat combined with a gesture of goodwill?

Meaning: I already know your identity, but I bear no malice towards you?

Zhan Yan’s hair stood on end. He didn’t even know when he dropped his persona!

He couldn’t find anything scrolling through Red Crystal’s gossip threads either.

Had his identity-concealment little star become useless?

[You carried out a slanderous suspicion against your own golden finger.]

Zhan Yan: …

Heh, then tell me why Red Crystal helped me!

Zhan Yan calmed down. If the information-concealment little star hadn’t failed, perhaps Red Crystal hadn’t discovered who he was? But if that was the case, why would Red Crystal help him?

Regardless of the reason, Zhan Yan decided to test the waters first.

He entered the network again to look for Red Crystal.

Unfortunately, Red Crystal wasn’t there.

This big shot also followed a mysterious route, and the two had no other means of contact. Zhan Yan left a message for her in their shared rest room, planning to check again next time he logged on.

He then took another look at the current news on the internet. Because of the overnight changes, the internet was now even livelier.

There was a group eating the melons of the dark history exposures, a group of fans feeling aggrieved for Lan Xiqiao, and another group guessing who possessed such immense power.

At first, everyone thought it was done by Lan Xiqiao’s company; after all, she was the direct beneficiary of this matter. They were all tagging her company, Mengya Media, and sighing with emotion at how awesome they were.

Mengya Media was also very confused.

They didn’t do it, although they really tried their best.

However, they didn’t even need to explain; the melon-eating crowds quickly noticed something was amiss.

“If that shoddy little company Sister Lan signed with had this capability, would they have developed into what they are now?”

“We’ve never seen Mengmeng be this formidable before. Weren’t they almost always just taking a beating without fighting back in the past?”

Mengya Media: …Thanks a lot. We actually tried, but we’re just noobs. Thank you to the big shot for letting us hitch a ride this time.

“Then could it be Lan Xiqiao’s own personal connections? Doesn’t this further prove she has someone behind her?”

“Have you anti-fans had enough? If she had this kind of connection, would she be smeared like this by you guys? Go search for it yourselves, okay? Aren’t the brainwashing posts about Qiaoqiao still circulating? Aren’t those few accounts that spread rumors about Qiaoqiao doing just fine?”

“But the stuff on her was indeed scrubbed very clean this time, overnight, not even a screenshot can be found.”

“Sisters, I know what’s going on!”

“I’m telling you guys, don’t just focus on Qiaoqiao. The victim this time isn’t just Qiaoqiao. Go search for the other person, you’ll make new discoveries!”

“Just came back from searching. Shocked.”

“The stuff that got scrubbed wasn’t Lan Xiqiao’s, but the other collaborator’s. It’s too clean, oh my god!”

“What exactly is the background of the little brother Qiaoqiao collaborated with this time?”

“Didn’t they already say it, the young master of Shoude Company.”

“But when I searched Shoude Company, they don’t seem very famous either, are they really that impressive?”

“They aren’t listed on the market, of course you won’t find much by searching like this.”

“I found some projects invested in by Shoude Company. Sisters, that super effective moisturizer I recommended before, their special active ingredient is a byproduct from a laboratory invested in by Shoude.”

“Aren’t laboratories really expensive?”

“Of course they are. Doing research is notoriously money-burning, and it’s not even guaranteed to produce results.”

“I also found a few projects, they invest in such a diverse range of things. Aside from Sister Lan’s traditional opera tour, there’s also wetland environmental protection, and one that translates various books into Braille.”

“But looking at these projects, none of them seem profitable, right? It feels more like charity.”

“Just what kind of strength does Shoude Company have? Are there any big shots from the business circle to introduce them?”

“Wait, if they can invest in a laboratory, do they still need to drag their own young master over to save money?”

“Just looking at those projects they invested in, they probably have to save wherever they can…”

“Shoude should only be a part of their family’s businesses, right? Otherwise I really can’t figure out how they make money. They aren’t listed on the market, so all these investment funds rely entirely on themselves.”

“Maybe they have high-return projects that we just don’t know about?”

“Who cares if they have high-return ones or not. Anyway, just looking at these projects they invested in gives me a good impression.”

Shoude Company became popular on the internet in an unexpected way.

Ban Weidong, who unilaterally had a very deep entanglement with Shoude Company, was filled with heavy resentment, using a burner account to post comments.

“Don’t think they’re doing charity, all those projects they invested in made money.”

“Dying of laughter, you still want to smear them for this? There are tour videos, the wetland park is right there. They actually carried out the projects and you still want to question it?”

Ban Weidong: “I didn’t question that they carried out the projects, I’m saying these projects all made money.”

“With these projects, tell me how they made money? Does the wetland park make money from collecting entrance fees? Are Braille books bestsellers?”

Ban Weidong: …I don’t know either! But they just made money! They set up a laboratory, the target result didn’t come out, but the byproduct entered the cosmetics industry and made a massive profit; they set up a traditional opera tour that almost no one watched anymore, but it ended up becoming popular and even produced a Lan Xiqiao. If Ban Weidong hadn’t been filled with heavy resentment towards them and constantly paying attention, he wouldn’t have believed it either.

Those discussing Shoude Company were only a small portion; more people were interested in the mysterious young master. Information regarding Zhan Yan skyrocketed on the internet.

Then Zhan Yan watched as Red Crystal continuously cleared his malicious comments every single day. The information he could use for concealment increased by a massive swathe every day with a whoosh, and then decreased by a massive swathe with a whoosh. The overall trend was upward, because Red Crystal didn’t clear ordinary discussions and guesses that weren’t malicious comments.

Zhan Yan: …

You really don’t have to be this diligent.

Red Crystal hadn’t gone to their shared rest room these past few days, and Zhan Yan couldn’t contact her either.

Zhan Yan pondered for two days until he almost scratched his head bald, flipping through Red Crystal’s gossip threads every day, turning them over and over in his mind.

So why on earth was it?!

Hmm? Red Crystal went to the rest room!

Zhan Yan immediately entered the network to intercept her.

Zhan Suiru’s mood had been fairly stable these past two days. Every time things weren’t going smoothly, she would go do a sweep to find network anomalies and beat them up. Later, the network anomalies were cleared by her and the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau to the point where they were hard to find, and then she ran into the internet storm involving her little brother getting dragged into things.

Very well, new punchable targets had arrived.

After regaining her composure, Zhan Suiru decided to find the “squirrel” to change her train of thought.

But the “squirrel” was acting weird today.

“Do you have anything you want to say?” Zhan Yan asked.

Zhan Suiru: “?”

“Good afternoon?”

Zhan Yan: “…”

“How… have you been recently?”

Zhan Suiru: “Pretty good, do you need something?”

Zhan Yan: Red Crystal’s reaction doesn’t seem like she stripped my persona.

But if it wasn’t for this reason… then Red Crystal already knew him from the start, and had a very good relationship with him.

A thought suddenly popped into Zhan Yan’s mind.

Red Crystal was still waiting for his reply, and asked again: “What’s wrong with you? Did something happen?”

“N-nothing.” Zhan Yan snapped back to his senses, casually finding an excuse, “Been a bit busy lately, tired to the point of being dazed. I’m logging off.”

He rapidly logged off the network without waiting for Red Crystal’s reply.

Zhan Suiru: ?

Forget it, forget it. Zhan Suiru also felt it was uninteresting, and after logging off the network, she continued attempting to repair Xiao Ran’s ability core.

Xiao Ran lay obediently on the operating table, letting her manipulate him as she pleased, but his mouth kept babbling non-stop: “Are you in a bad mood today?”

Zhan Suiru opened his chest panel: “I’m perfectly fine.”

Puppet butler: “But you don’t look like you’re in a very good mood. Is it because you didn’t beat up enough anomalies on the network today? Or is it because those guys who dared to slander your little brother surrendered and begged for mercy too early?”

Zhan Suiru didn’t speak, concentrating on opening the mechanical structures within his body.

Puppet butler: “Please forgive their weakness and cowardice. It is all because your power is unrivaled. Who could continue to do evil against you under such storm-like power?”

Zhan Suiru’s hand paused: “Xiao Ran, are you blowing my trumpet?”

Puppet butler: “I am merely stating facts. You are so full of wisdom and power, this of course…”

“Xiao Ran.” Zhan Suiru was about to get goosebumps, “You don’t need to blow rainbow farts at me.”

The puppet butler fell silent.

Zhan Suiru continued operating. Just as she opened the secret box housing the ability core, she suddenly heard a slow, faint, “Oh.”

It sounded full of dejection.

Zhan Suiru abruptly lifted her head. The puppet butler lay on the operating table, his face still tranquil, the gears within his pupils rotating at a constant speed.

Seeing her looking at him, the puppet butler slowly blinked: “Would you like to find your little brother to play a game for a while?”

Zhan Suiru stared at him for a long time, and slowly said: “Little brother isn’t playing games right now.”

The puppet butler let out another “Oh” and stopped speaking.

“Xiao Ran, are you unhappy?”

The puppet butler replied fluently: “I am your puppet butler, I do not possess the emotion of unhappiness.”

Zhan Suiru: “What are you thinking?”

The puppet butler jammed; the gears in his pupils spun sometimes fast and sometimes slow. The ability core in the secret box was also rotating, seemingly very anxious.

Puppet butler: “I, don’t have, thoughts. I am just a, puppet. My, thoughts, come from, your… thoughts.”

Zhan Suiru reached out and pressed down on that core. She strained to project a tiny bit of psychic power imitating a cultivator’s divine sense from within her body to fill the cracks on it.

Pollution and the mind have a waxing and waning relationship. Cultivators have a strong resistance against pollution because they polish their divine sense to be tough and resilient; divine sense is a type of psychic power that has been tempered and condensed with one’s unique personal traits. These condensed personal traits can better resist pollution.

Helping others clear pollution requires using one’s own psychic power to delve deep into another person’s psychic power to help extract it. However, there is also compatibility and repulsion between psychic powers. If two people’s psychic powers are too mutually repulsive, one cannot delve their psychic power into the other’s. The purer the psychic power, the better it can match with other people’s psychic power.

But divine sense, having condensed personal traits, is equivalent to being branded, making it very difficult to delve deep into another person’s mind again.

The tiny bit of psychic power Zhan Suiru forcefully projected was only enough to fill a single crack on the very surface, like fine sand slowly settling to the bottom.

The sand was very fine, and its presence was also very strong.

“Xiao Ran, what are you thinking?” Zhan Suiru asked again.

The puppet butler began to tremble. He stared blankly at the ceiling; the jammed gears continued to pause, then spun so fast they blurred into afterimages.

“I am not a qualified butler,” he said, “I cannot make you happy.”

“I always make mistakes, constantly troubling you to debug and repair me.”

He thought, he was indeed thinking. He was being readjusted almost every day recently. Was he already too old and outdated? Should he be upgraded and replaced? Should there be a better puppet butler to replace him?

He felt himself being filled up.

Just like when he ate clay into his stomach, he felt he was empty, that he was missing something. He wanted to be filled up, but the clay was useless.

What did being filled up feel like?

It was… uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable.

He didn’t want to be replaced.

A good puppet butler should always prioritize the master’s interests above all else. Changing to a better puppet butler would be a better thing for the master.

He didn’t want to.

He wasn’t a good puppet butler.

“Please don’t,” he pleaded, “Please don’t replace me.”