GRMFBS CH199

Not long after Zhan Yan began searching, he came to a sudden halt.

He realized that relying on the current search bar method wouldn’t work. Using the Gossip System to search for a specific, feasible solution was as difficult as trying to find a website when he didn’t even know the URL. He needed the Gossip System to unlock some new features for him, preferably leveling up once more.

Then again, could the Gossip System have already upgraded on its own?

Earlier, when he was preparing to investigate his sister and Infinite, he had fallen into a dream without any warning and obtained a historically unprecedented, colossal amount of information. That higher observational vantage point he gained in the dream was obviously far superior to merely typing queries into a search bar to flip through gossip threads.

Zhan Yan opened the information disk interface. The display was paused in its starry sky state, with the six sub-tabs temporarily submerged.

When he first opened the Gossip System, this place had been nothing more than an expanse of profound darkness; only later did a few lonely stars gradually appear. Now, it was brilliantly illuminated by a dense constellation of stars.

Zhan Yan was very satisfied with this. Closing his eyes, he felt himself manifest within the boundless sea of stars.

Every little star represented a living being. Zhan Yan located the star representing Yang Ran. Right now, this star was dusty and gray, as if veiled beneath a layer of grime, giving off only a tiny, nearly imperceptible sliver of light.

Zhan Yan poked this star. He remembered that earlier, he had grabbed hold of the star representing his older sister, which had allowed him to watch a live broadcast related to her.

He had the feeling that besides a live broadcast, he could have seen far more things, but he had been in far too much of a panic back then to pay any attention.

Zhan Yan decided to try again!

He took hold of this star, only to be struck by a wave of dizziness, involuntarily dropping out of the sea of stars.

Understood: he had overextended his consumption, and his brain simply didn’t have enough bandwidth right now.

Zhan Yan picked up a bread ball, preparing to keep stuffing himself, only to realize he couldn’t swallow another bite.

…Sigh.

Forget it, forget it. He should rest for a while first and digest.

Zhan Yan closed the information disk’s starry sky state, calling the six information tabs back into view.

During the recent events, he had triggered quite a few new information keywords. Surely they would be enough to fill up an entire energy gauge for him, right?

Six entirely empty energy gauges lay there quietly.

Zhan Yan’s eyes widened.

What is going on?! Where did the little star progress that I worked so hard to grind go? Why is it all gone?!

Check the gossip threads!

Before he could scroll to the answer, the chaofan forum suddenly chimed with a notification for new messages.

Opening it, Zhan Yan found that almost all of them were messages sent by Deep Shadow. Starting from last night, he had initially sent one every few minutes, and later shifted to once every hour. At first, he asked for intelligence regarding the bordering of the apocalyptic world, inquiring whether he could confirm the point of contact. But because Approaching Science never replied, Deep Shadow began asking about his safety, wondering if he had run into trouble.

Unfortunately, there were no other contact channels between them. Aside from checking in on him every so often, Deep Shadow had no other options.

[Deep Shadow suspects that Approaching Science is already dead, and has decided to have someone investigate Approaching Science’s situation to see if he needs to collect Approaching Science’s corpse and avenge him.]

Zhan Yan: …

Gee, thanks a lot.

Approaching Science: [I’m fine. A slight unexpected situation came up, so I temporarily couldn’t be reached.]

Deep Shadow replied almost instantly.

I Just Saved the World!: [Did you run into trouble?]

I Just Saved the World!: [Need help?]

Approaching Science: [No need.]

Scrolling through the gossip threads, Zhan Yan discovered that the big shot Deep Shadow was still clearing away the apocalyptic projections conjured by Infinite.

However, Infinite’s consciousness had already shrunk back, and the apocalyptic world had merged into the gaming world. Having simultaneously lost its source of power and projection origin, the illusions no longer possessed the strength to harm anyone. The increasingly faint and blurry phantoms were actively dispersing.

Furthermore, Zhan Yan had come across relevant news articles: Affected by extreme climatic conditions, mirage phenomena have appeared across multiple regions.

As for why the scenery in these mirages looked so terrifying, it was explained that the ground zero from which the mirages were projected was an ongoing construction site for a horror-themed amusement park set.

One look at this journalistic style was enough to know it came straight from Zhenke News Agency.

Zhan Yan kindly reminded Deep Shadow.

Approaching Science: [Those projections have already lost their power. They’ll disperse in an hour or so; there’s no need to keep clearing them.]

I Just Saved the World!: [Heh]

Zhan Yan: ???

What kind of fit is Deep Shadow throwing now?

Heh your head! Go ahead and waste your energy for nothing, then!

Zhan Yan decided to ignore him.

Right now, the chaofan forum was extraordinarily lively, with everyone abuzz discussing the events that had just transpired.

{Holy crap holy crap holy crap! Can someone explain to me what on earth just happened?}

Did anyone else see those anomalies that suddenly popped up?

2L:

What suddenly appearing anomalies?

LZ:

Go look up the latest news: mirages appeared across multiple regions. It happened just a few hours ago, and some places still have them right now.

The heat on this news isn’t very high, partly because it was handled swiftly, and partly because there’s a lack of photographic evidence. Only some people claiming to have seen the mirages are discussing it, all guessing which horror-themed amusement park it belongs to—saying the sets were built way too realistically, clearly a massive financial investment.

5L:

Just searched it and came back, but why aren’t there any photos? Mirages should be photographable.

7L:

Because it wasn’t a mirage at all! It was an anomaly that brought its own signal interference!

12L:

I can bear witness, it really was an anomaly, and a particularly twisted kind at that.

I’m just a healing-type; a bunch of anomalies suddenly appeared right beside me, scared me half to death. Luckily, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau arrived quickly.

16L:

I was relatively fortunate, only saw it from a distance. Back then, it wasn’t just anomalies popping up; even space distorted. The surrounding environment abruptly turned into ruins, like a chunk of space was sliced off from somewhere and pasted right over the area.

18L:

That terrifying? Just what scale of an anomaly could that even be!

19L:

How was it resolved in the end?

22L:

I don’t know how it got resolved; I just saw the shadows on the ground move, blanketing that pocket of space, and then everything returned to normal. The whole thing took less than two seconds.

24L:

Two seconds? Is the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau really that badass?

30L:

What was the deal with those anomalies anyway? It’s so frustrating not seeing the scene in person and having no footage.

33L:

You’ll have to ask the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau about that. @Administrator Lingyu @Administrator Luo Wang @Administrator Die Before Raising Cats

35L:

Wait, why is everyone just discussing the anomalies? Did nobody notice the changes in the sky back then?

38L:

Right, right! Back then, there was such a massive shadow in the sky, which later turned into such an enormous “mirage.”

42L:

There were anomalies in the sky too?!

43L:

No. Well, not necessarily. A vast reflection of ruins appeared in the sky, but there weren’t any anomalies, only the ruins.

Though with a “mirage” that massive, it might well have been an anomaly too.

48L:

Then what rank of an anomaly would that have to be?

54L:

Not even an A-rank anomaly would have an area of effect this gigantic, right? Currently, the highest classified rank for anomalies is A-rank; could an S-rank above A-rank be making its debut?

55L:

Starting to panic a bit here.

56L:

Wait, did all of you see it? Why didn’t I see anything? Why didn’t I notice such a massive anomalous phenomenon at all?

61L:

Probably depends on the location? You could see it in some places, but not in others. It was visible over in Chennan.

65L:

Might also have to do with the nature of one’s ability. I’m in Chennan too; at the time, I was eating wild mushrooms with a friend. My friend saw it, but I didn’t see a thing.

He was pointing at the sky with a face full of sheer terror, while I saw absolutely nothing, and thought he had gotten mushroom poisoning.

Later, that entire pot of mushrooms was thrown out. It broke my heart!

78L “Administrator Lingyu”:

There is no S-rank anomaly. This phenomenon was triggered by a specific special cause, and has now been completely resolved. There is no need to panic.

Some new developments will arise subsequently, but they will be in a positive direction.

80L:

@Administrator Lingyu has appeared!

What new developments? Dying of curiosity here! Don’t just stop halfway when you talk!!

86L “Administrator Lingyu”:

Mail me a portion of those wild mushrooms and I’ll tell you.

Nie Yu was only joking; they didn’t know her address anyway.

The outcome of the apocalypse bordering their world was magnificent, so she was in a great mood right now.

However, new developments had indeed already been set in motion—the new apocalyptic world forged from its fusion with the gaming world.

Presently, this world hung suspended between the virtual and the real, its condition still undefined. According to reports from the network-type duty personnel monitoring the gaming world, when the apocalyptic world merged into it, the barrier Red Crystal had established around the perimeter first bleached into pure white, before dissolving entirely into the gaming world.

They had observed it from outside the new world: the new world seemed to have shed all data, nor did it strictly reside within the network anymore. Yet, it remained inaccessible.

If one wished to study this world, they would likely have to look for Wan Shitong and Play Games With Me, who had constructed the space originally.

Aside from them, they also needed to find Rong Sui. She likely held certain administrative privileges over this new world as well.

However, Rong Sui had slipped away far too fast; they hadn’t caught her.

Deputy Bureau Chief Ning, on the other hand, was not in a rush. He said Rong Sui would seek them out of her own accord. Who knew what kind of riddles he was playing at.

Nie Yu let out a sigh.

Deputy Bureau Chief Ning wasn’t anxious, but she sure was! She was utterly dying of curiosity regarding that gaming world! Yet she had tried, and she couldn’t get in!

If it were the previous gaming world, despite the various defenses set up by Wan Shitong and Play Games With Me, one look at the surface data was enough to tell her that she could at least attempt to force her way inside.

Now, the surface of this new world bore nothing at all, resembling a smooth, seamless giant egg; she couldn’t even find an angle to start from.

Nie Yu decided to camp them!

In any case, this was an assignment given to her by the Bureau: she absolutely had to bag Wan Shitong and Play Games With Me!

She would just stake out the vicinity of the new world; she refused to believe the two of them wouldn’t show up!

…

Gu Jiancheng was currently brooding in silence.

Infinite had suffered a massive defeat during the bordering of the apocalyptic world. But Approaching Science’s attitude was terrible!

Whatever, if it was terrible, so be it; he wouldn’t stoop to bickering with Approaching Science.

Most importantly, Yan Yan had been so cold toward him over the past couple of days!

Gu Jiancheng brooded as he finished clearing out the remaining apocalyptic projections. Perching on a tree branch to catch his breath, he pulled out his phone, instinctively wanting to check in on his boyfriend.

His thumb slid instinctively across the screen; before he even realized it, the display had stopped right on Zhan Yan’s phone number.

He couldn’t call. When Yan Yan hung up earlier, he said he had things to take care of in a bit.

Bao Qingshan had verified that Yan Yan was watching a television drama, but Gu Jiancheng still felt a sharp sense of crisis.

Why on earth could a drama captivate Yan Yan this thoroughly?

Gu Jiancheng felt he seriously needed to do his homework to win back his boyfriend’s heart. And so, he opened the television drama and began watching.

After twenty minutes of melodramatic soap-opera plot, Gu Jiancheng once again began to doubt his life.

Disaster. Has the gap between his and Yan Yan’s hobbies and interests truly grown this wide?

No! He had to try his best to understand! Since Yan Yan had been moved to tears, this drama had to possess some truly extraordinary qualities!

The big shot Deep Shadow began diligently studying the melodramatic television drama.