GRMFBS CH189

Zhan Yan left carrying the bread and cakes made by his brother, the baby-faced clerk waving enthusiastically behind him.

A bit weird, but since he’s an employee hired by Brother, it shouldn’t be a big problem, right?

Zhan Yan went to a small supermarket and bought a case of water. He opened the packaging, tore off a small piece of bread, and carefully licked it.

Ah… this feeling of my tongue being stuck together by sweetness, it really is Brother’s craft!

Zhan Yan tore the bread into small pieces, rolled them into cherry pit-sized balls, opened the water bottle cap, took a deep breath, put a ball in his mouth, drank water, and swallowed!

Fantastic! The explosive sweetness only had time to leave a faint sweet aftertaste on his tongue before sliding into his stomach along with the mineral water.

No overwhelming sweetness! No pain! I really am a genius!

Zhan Yan opened the gossip feeds and searched for that baby-faced clerk first.

Found it! Very good, Brother’s bread really works!

[The Five Little Ghosts fought over who would attend to Lord Lin Yuan Ghost King’s brother.]

Zhan Yan: …Oh, so my feeling that the baby face had split personalities was correct!

Knowing the truth, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Unfortunately, the bread can’t be kept for long, otherwise I could stock up more.

Zhan Yan swallowed a handful of bread balls in succession and continued to investigate the Flesh and Blood Server, the Chronicle of the World, and the situation on his sister’s side.

His drive back to buy bread had delayed him for a while. The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had already found the Monster Doctor’s Flesh and Blood Server and started fighting.

The fight was relatively easy. The Flesh and Blood Server’s abilities were all in the network world; its main body in reality didn’t have much combat power. Its only reality-related ability was forcibly pulling people’s consciousness into the network world, regardless of whether the other party had network-type abilities.

After non-network type people were pulled in, they would be surrounded by network anomalies. If unprepared, their consciousness would die in the network world.

But the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau was prepared. They used some kind of protective talisman. People the Flesh and Blood Server tried to forcibly pull into the network only felt dizzy for a moment, then returned to normal.

Nie Yu was also prepared in the network world, launching a pincer attack with teammates acting in the real world.

Hmm… Mom was also alerted by this matter and rushed back to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau. Although she didn’t need to act, it seemed some arrangements needed adjustment.

Soon, this abnormal server was destroyed.

An item “Flesh and Blood Server” was added to the “Anomaly” column of Zhan Yan’s information panel.

This thing was half Black Nest, half Anomaly. It couldn’t compare to a real Black Nest in power, but it had the Black Nest’s ability to produce anomalies.

Zhan Yan reviewed all the Black Nest information collected in the Anomaly column.

The earliest was the Cloakroom Black Nest devoured by Boss Deep Shadow.

The Cloakroom Black Nest was a type of Flesh and Blood Black Nest, an abandoned Black Nest that had been exhausted. When Boss Deep Shadow fought it, it wasn’t difficult. The trouble was the massive amount of pollution it carried, and Boss Deep Shadow still had lingering effects back then.

The next Black Nest appeared when Boss Deep Shadow and his brother, the Lin Yuan Ghost King, investigated the butterfly bush.

Those Black Nests were small Black Nests. Deep Shadow and his brother destroyed two together. According to the news from Deep Shadow, both were small Black Nests. Deep Shadow fought with full power without lingering effects, and with his brother’s super strong support, the fight wasn’t difficult. Most importantly, Deep Shadow didn’t try to devour Black Nests again, avoiding the most terrifying pollution of Black Nests.

Then there was the split Black Nest formed by the Monster Doctor attaching to the Candle Dragon remnant. Deep Shadow solved it using the rule weakness obtained in advance, preventing the Monster Doctor’s ability from being utilized.

Next was this Flesh and Blood Server.

None of these Black Nests were difficult to fight—of course, maybe because he was a rear personnel who hadn’t gone to the battlefield. After all, the adjective given in his brother’s gossip feed was “slightly strenuous.”

And there were reasonable reasons for all of them—one was exhausted, the latter two Deep Shadow’s lingering effects were resolved, the most troublesome one’s rule weakness was found in advance, and the Flesh and Blood Server couldn’t fully count as a Black Nest, plus it had the fatal weakness of separated network and reality abilities.

But isn’t it going a little too smoothly? Would Infinity, which once forced this world to rely on the Candle Dragon Loop to recover losses, caused the death of many big shots, and controlled many players like Deep Shadow, be so simple?

Zhan Yan wanted to convince himself.

Infinity has been destroyed. Now it’s just a few sparks struggling from the residual dead ashes. How strong can it be? Weakness is its normal state.

But something was stimulating his nerves. The scariest thing about Infinity wasn’t its power. It understood human nature deeply, was good at leveraging small things for big gains, provoking weaknesses in human hearts, and using others to achieve its own goals.

In such a weak situation before its eyes, the most important thing to do was not to confront them head-on, but to silently implement division, bewitchment, and utilization. Just like it once silently infiltrated the Council of Twenty-Four of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Who is it bewitching now?

Black Market.

In the Artisan’s reception room.

Zhan Suiru was still dressed the same, the shadow of the wide-brimmed hat covering most of her face, sitting on the sofa covered with a gorgeous woven blanket.

At this moment, Tequila sitting opposite her wasn’t as reserved as the first time they met.

He leaned back relaxedly against the sofa, eyes looking around curiously.

“Where’s the butler from last time?” he asked.

Zhan Suiru didn’t allow Xiao Ran to leave her secret studio.

She stared straight at Tequila, her gaze cold and hard: “Who are you?”

This person was definitely not the Tequila she had collaborated with several times—or rather, the one controlling this body now was definitely not the original Tequila.

“Worthy of being the Lord of the Apocalypse, truly sharp.” “Tequila” praised sincerely, as if he couldn’t sense the various hidden weapons in this reception room already aimed at him, “Don’t be like this. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, just used a little trick to control him. If you kill him, finding another suitable person to communicate with you would be very troublesome for me.”

“A rat hiding behind the scenes.” Zhan Suiru sneered, “Have you already submitted to Infinity?”

She didn’t think anyone could strip her identity so easily except Infinity.

“Tequila” didn’t answer directly: “It’s normal for you to be vigilant, but don’t be so hostile, okay? I am just myself. I came here because we both have the same goal—you want someone to resurrect, don’t you? This is also what I seek.”

Zhan Suiru didn’t answer, just narrowed her eyes at him. She recognized at a glance that this was a player—a former player. She knew them too well. In the endless cycles, she had collaborated with them countless times and been enemies countless times. After she recovered her memories of the cycles later, she had also killed countless players. She didn’t remember meeting the player in front of her—his spiritual power characteristics were different from all the players she had met.

Her gaze was sharp as a knife. Even through “Tequila,” the manipulator behind the scenes felt some discomfort.

“You are just yourself? Based on you alone, where did this news come from?”

“Alright, alright. I have to be honest.” “Tequila” spread his hands, “I did get some news from Infinity.”

“Using the identity of Hong Jing to act in the network world isn’t a good idea. It’s staring at the network world. Moreover, as soon as you appeared, you snatched the meat it was eyeing. As soon as your spiritual power appeared, it realized you were still alive. Before, it thought you were dead. This active ‘Artisan’ is some lucky kid who got the Artisan’s superpower.

“Your spiritual power is different from before, right? Your spiritual power is stained with blood because you killed your own world…”

“Tequila” stopped abruptly. He was pinned in place by a terrifying killing intent.

It took him a while to barely regain his breath, saying carefully: “Hey, I won’t say it, okay? But I have to clarify some things. Only by clarifying can we achieve our goal.”

Feeling the stagnant air gradually loosen, he hurriedly controlled this stressed body to take a few deep breaths.

“Infinity is very sharp. From your… um, spiritual power, it also confirmed who you are. It knows you very well.

“It knows what you want, and it can provide it. It can also tell you why there was pollution in the Artisan’s soul—I mean the original Artisan.”

“Tequila” looked at his watch: “Ah ah, if you have channels to understand the current actions of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau… they are currently fighting the Flesh and Blood Server created by the Monster Doctor. That thing has a special ability; it can pull other people’s spiritual power intact into the network world, regardless of whether they have network-type superpowers. This should be exactly what you need, right?

“That thing was built by me for the Monster Doctor. I can build another one.”

While the Chronicle of the World chattered incessantly, he was also observing the person opposite him.

He hadn’t been to the Apocalypse dungeon, but he had heard of the illustrious name of this dungeon BOSS.

Rong Sui was once hailed as the most terrifying BOSS in the entire Infinity.

This title initially puzzled many people. There were many scary monsters in Infinity. Monsters that made people go crazy at a glance due to mental pollution, monsters so cruel and twisted that people had nightmares every night even after leaving the dungeon, monsters that silently controlled players.

Rong Sui, an NPC with a normal human appearance, neither played bloody perverted tricks nor had the terrifying twisted pollution. Why did she become the most terrifying?

Until later, a table of survival rates for entering different dungeons circulated.

The Apocalypse dungeon after problems occurred was the only dungeon with a survival rate of 0.

In Infinity, going crazy, serious injury, disability, etc., were not despair. As long as there were points, teammates willing to spend points on you, or items purchased in advance that could be used automatically, Infinity could fish people back. Sanity value hitting bottom could also be restored. As long as one didn’t die, there was a future.

There were monsters in Infinity dungeons that meant certain death upon encounter, but they could all be avoided. Experienced players could avoid facing these monsters throughout the process of completing the dungeon.

But Rong Sui was different. She would actively chase every player who entered the dungeon, endlessly until death. This created the terrifying reputation of the Apocalypse dungeon’s 0 survival rate.

So the Chronicle of the World cautiously chose to control someone else to contact Rong Sui.

But now, he felt Rong Sui’s terrifying reputation could end. Rong Sui’s terror lay in her past inability to communicate and not sparing a single player. But now these were all in the past. Rong Sui was a communicable person, and moreover, she had things she cared about.

Even if Rong Sui just sat there, she would generate immense oppressive force.

But once a person had desires, they had weaknesses.

As long as Rong Sui didn’t go crazy, she was much easier to deal with than those irrational pollution monsters.

Zhan Suiru’s gaze was bottomless.

She looked at Tequila, as if simultaneously seeing the Chronicle of the World manipulating him from behind, and also seeing Infinity guiding all this happening behind the Chronicle of the World.

Who she was, her abilities, what she wanted… only Infinity knew her so well. Only Infinity could piece everything together from existing fragmented information.

“Don’t look at me like that.” “Tequila” took a breath and exhaled slowly, “What we want, this world is destined not to give us. Resurrection is something that breaks the rules of this world. But Infinity is different. With Infinity, anything is possible.”

“In the past, there was a ‘Resurrection’ item in Infinity’s point exchange mall, but the point price was too high, almost catching up to the points needed to leave Infinity. Few people could afford it. I estimate only the top five on the leaderboard had enough points.

“I saved for many years in Infinity but didn’t save enough.” The Chronicle of the World sighed, “It is currently weak. Except for now, we don’t have a better chance.

“Isn’t it good for us to cooperate? We can completely use Infinity. It is now forced by the will of this world not to dare show its head. Negotiating terms with it is much easier than before. Two of us have a much higher success rate than one person. Look, I came to request cooperation, I am not Infinity’s lobbyist. I just want to achieve my goal as best I can.

“You understand, right? Since you also have someone you want to resurrect regardless of everything.”

Zhan Suiru didn’t speak for a long time. Her eyes were also hidden in the shadow, making it impossible to judge anything.

“First tell me, where did the pollution in the Artisan’s soul come from?”

Support me on Ko-fi