GRMFBS CH205

After being brought back to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau by these people using a series of handcuffs, shackles, and other inhibitors, and undergoing various messy examinations, Long Shelan finally realized that he had been controlled by Infinite.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau also frankly told him about his condition. The Heart-Linking Thread in his soul was very difficult to extract because it had been entrusted with Infinite’s will. There was only one way to solve it: have a Ghost King guide him into the Netherworld to reincarnate, utilizing the power of reincarnation of this world to refine and cleanse his soul of the Heart-Linking Thread.

Of course, this also meant he had to die once. And there was a high probability he wouldn’t be able to retain his memories.

Long Shelan didn’t want to die. So the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau gave him a second option:

The Bureau had developed a special inhibitor that could completely block the influence of Infinite’s power. As long as he wore this inhibitor, the Heart-Linking Thread in his soul would remain completely dormant and have no effect on him.

Both options were very troublesome. The former required a Ghost King to personally intervene and guide him, while the latter required regular replacement of the inhibitor. Long Shelan couldn’t afford the cost of either.

So the person in charge of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau smilingly proposed a trade:

As long as he returned to the black market, told the Artisan everything truthfully, and allowed the Artisan to check his condition, the inhibitor would be given to him for free—and he could pay for subsequent inhibitors by working for the Bureau.

Although their bureau had strict supervision, the welfare benefits for internal employees were exceptionally good. For an exorbitantly priced inhibitor like this, as long as an internal employee passed the review and it was confirmed as a necessity, they could purchase it at a 90% discount, and they could use internal contribution points to redeem it—the deduction rate for contribution points was super high!

Long Shelan did the math. With such a discount, the inhibitor really wouldn’t be too much of a burden on him.

And so, he came to find the Artisan.

Long Shelan swallowed nervously. Although the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau hadn’t disclosed more to him, his primary profession was a sharp intelligence broker, so he naturally perceived the Artisan’s extraordinary nature from this series of events.

“They said that the predicament you are facing might be more troublesome than mine. But they also have better inhibitors than the one on me.”

Zhan Suiru examined Long Shelan’s condition.

The Heart-Linking Thread was still tightly entangled in his soul, but its filthy power was indeed sleeping as if dead.

Ning Xi didn’t know what kind of predicament Rong Sui was facing, but he knew Infinite had grasped Rong Sui’s weakness. Therefore, he only needed to create a product that could completely isolate Infinite’s power.

Zhan Suiru not only examined Long Shelan’s condition but also checked the inhibitors he was wearing.

That thing was a bit troublesome, consisting of three pieces in total. One on the head, one on the neck, and a ring around the waist. They were disguised as a headband, a collar, and a belt respectively, making them quite inconspicuous.

Zhan Suiru understood how it was made after a single inspection. Its craftsmanship and materials were certainly precious, but what truly made it effective was the rules of this world that it drew upon.

This was something Zhan Suiru couldn’t imitate. She was a soul from another world; even after over twenty years of adapting to this world, there were still some incompatibilities.

“I’ll make a trip there tomorrow.”

…

Bao Qingshan had also seen the promotion for Ji Lele’s new movie.

“Creepy School. Hey, Zhan Yan, isn’t this the one we filmed last winter break? It’s about to hit theaters. Wanna go watch it together? I’ll check out the trailer first.”

The editing of Creepy School‘s trailer was very good; in the middle of it was the scene they filmed back then where they all turned their heads to look at the camera. Coupled with the sound effects and the sudden dead silence, it made one’s heart skip a beat.

The final scene of the trailer ended at a point that echoed the poster:

In the pitch-black night, the only illuminated classroom appeared extremely glaring. The curtains flapped wildly outside the window, and a bizarre figure flickered under the curtains.

The difference was that this time, a person stood in front of the bizarre figure: the character played by Xie Dongshu.

Bao Qingshan got goosebumps all over from this trailer.

Zhan Yan poked him: “Are we still going to watch the movie together or not?”

Chu Chengcheng and Cheng Yichu also gathered around to watch; the two of them had also participated as extras back then.

“Yeah, of course we’re going. What a rare experience!”

“Old Bao, you’re not scared, are you?”

Bao Qingshan: “Me, scared? What a joke!”

Thus, the competitive college students agreed to go watch the movie together.

Zhan Yan: “Let’s wait until next weekend. Gu Jiancheng is coming over this Sunday; we’ll bring him along to watch it next weekend.”

Bao Qingshan: “Sure, what about you two?”

Chu Chengcheng: “I’m fine with it. Hey, what time is he coming on Sunday? Otherwise, watching it together on Sunday works too.”

Cheng Yichu: “His internship at the breeding farm only ends on Saturday. Rushing over on Sunday would be too late, right? Next week is fine, I have no problem with it either.”

Zhan Yan happily finalized the plan with everyone and went back to his room carrying bread—this batch of bread was actually fetched a couple of days ago when he went back. Those five little ghosts squeezed inside the puppets all had long faces, probably having been scolded by his brother. They were afraid he would eat too much but didn’t dare not to give him any.

Zhan Yan felt slightly guilty for a moment, and then once again emptied more than half of their stock.

Sunday arrived quickly. Zhan Yan once again headed to the intersection to pick someone up.

Standing at this intersection now, he was filled with emotion.

He had picked up people at this intersection four times. The first time was his brother. His brother dropped his persona at this intersection, transforming from a socially phobic sweet-tooth monster into the cold, handsome, and cool Ghost King Lin Yuan.

The second time was his mom. The Heavenly Master big shot snagged a bunch of local specialties from here.

The third time was his sister’s puppet, which led to him stripping off his sister’s third layer of the “Artisan” persona.

The fourth time was his sister herself. This time, his sister’s persona had dropped to the “Lord” Rong Sui layer—there shouldn’t be another layer down, right?

Now he was here to pick up Xiao Gu. Finally, there was an ordinary person, and things could be relaxed from now on.

Zhan Yan soon saw Student Xiao Gu riding over on a little electric scooter.

He happily waved at Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng had meticulously studied melodramatic TV dramas. The character setting was quite interesting: a wealthy young master and an ordinary girl swapped souls, and the female lead, a charming and naive grown woman, rode a little electric scooter while spouting domineering CEO quotes all day long.

Gu Jiancheng stopped in front of Zhan Yan, propped up the ground with one foot, and revealed a wicked and charming smile to him: “Young Master, are you ready to elope with me?”

Zhan Yan froze.

Was Xiao Gu experiencing a chuunibyou flare-up after being locked up in the pig farm for too long, putting his mental state in a rather ‘beautiful’ condition? True, the pig farm was strictly managed; they were locked inside for three months without being allowed out, and the environment wasn’t as good as outside.

Zhan Yan felt his heart ache for him and decided to play along with Xiao Gu.

He straddled the back seat of the little electric scooter and said dashingly: “Let’s go, I’m eloping with you!”

Gu Jiancheng felt Zhan Yan’s arms wrap around his waist, his flexible body pressing against his back.

His heartbeat suddenly sped up by several beats: “Sit tight.”

With a whir, the little electric scooter sped off.

Zhan Yan laughed and shouted behind him: “Hey hey hey, turn, turn! The intersection on the right!”

The summer wind blew hotly past their ears, the sunlight glaring on the ground, passing through patch after patch of green tree shade, leaving behind loud chirps of cicadas one after another.

Zhan Yan’s laughter chased behind his back.

For a moment, Gu Jiancheng felt as if he were truly eloping with a clean and unrestrained little young master. His heart beat so fast, and as his breathing rose and fell, all his attention was focused on the hands wrapped around his waist.

For a moment, it was as if he had also returned to the past, still that youth who had never entered Infinite, running wantonly in the summer.

“We’re here.” Zhan Yan tapped him. “It’s this building.”

Gu Jiancheng suddenly felt a bit disappointed.

Zhan Yan had already gotten off the back seat of the little electric scooter and called for him to lock the vehicle: “Hurry up and come up! I saved grapes for you.”

The bright sun had already made him sweat. The grapes had been placed in the refrigerator’s chill compartment, and as soon as they were taken out, a layer of condensation quickly formed on the skin.

Cheng Yichu and Chu Chengcheng had made plans to go to the lotus pond today. Seeing the two of them, they said hello and left.

After leaving, they started gossiping.

Cheng Yichu: “Why do I feel like Gu Jiancheng isn’t that scary anymore?”

Chu Chengcheng sighed deeply: “Isn’t this the power of love?”

The big shot Gu, immersed in love, was as sweet as someone with a love brain. Looking at the washed grapes, he didn’t eat them himself. Instead, he looked at Zhan Yan with dark, shiny eyes, the corners of his mouth once again hooking into a wicked and charming smile:

“Young Master, peel one for me personally?”

Bao Qingshan opened his door and popped his head out of his room: “Hey, I found a few movie theaters near us…”

Before he could finish speaking, he was stuffed with a mouthful of dog food.

Bao Qingshan: …

Gu Jiancheng: …

“Any theater is fine, you guys pick,” Zhan Yan said to Bao Qingshan.

“Okay, okay.” Bao Qingshan quickly shrank back into his room and closed the door.

Zhan Yan forcefully stuffed a peeled grape into Gu Jiancheng’s mouth: “Just eat!”

Student Xiao Gu had thick skin and didn’t blush at all; he just stared at Zhan Yan’s reddening ears and grinned foolishly.

“What theater?” He peeled a grape for Zhan Yan in return.

Zhan Yan: “That horror movie we filmed during winter break is hitting theaters. Want to go watch it together tomorrow?”

Gu Jiancheng: “Sure, sure! I’ll look for where you are in it.”

Zhan Yan: “I have to look for you too, let’s see which of us is faster.”

Xingxing walked over with his tail raised, jumped onto Zhan Yan’s lap, and started carefully observing Gu Jiancheng: “Meow.”

Who is this person?

Gu Jiancheng: “Ah, is it Xingxing? I prepared a gift for Xingxing!”

Gu Jiancheng started pulling things out of his backpack:

Meat jerky for teething—this was the only edible thing. Having tasted Zhan Yan’s cat food cooking skills, Xingxing definitely wouldn’t care for anything else. This kind of natural-flavored teething snack was perfect.

Xingxing meowed reservedly and accepted the teething jerky offering.

Next, Gu Jiancheng pulled out various toys: little balls with bells inside, fake mice that would scurry around on their own, a roly-poly rattle that would dispense a few pieces of jerky when nudged…

Who said meeting the boyfriend’s cat doesn’t count as the first step of meeting the parents?

After the young couple had enough of being lovey-dovey, Zhan Yan pushed him to go take a shower. Having ridden around on a little electric scooter outside in the middle of summer, they were both sweating.

While waiting for Gu Jiancheng to shower, Zhan Yan opened the Gossip System again to search.

He suddenly thought of something: the big shot Deep Shadow had a mysterious healing-type big shot lover. Could this person be useful for Yang Ran’s condition?

He searched around. Hey, why couldn’t he find out who this healing-type big shot was? All the gossip threads he found related to this mysterious healing-type big shot were told from Deep Shadow’s perspective:

[Deep Shadow was in a hurry to call his lover, so he used his ultimate move to eradicate a certain anomaly.]

[Deep Shadow was comforted by his lover and was in a great mood. His attitude towards Zhuo Xun, the leader of the Retirees Alliance, was overly friendly, causing Zhuo Xun to become extremely nervous.]

[Deep Shadow felt his lover had been too cold to him recently and was in a bad mood, so he brutally eradicated 123 anomalies.]

…

Things like this opened Zhan Yan’s eyes.

He really hadn’t expected that the arrogant, domineering, cool, and badass Deep Shadow would be like this when dating. Tsk, it was actually quite sweet to ship. He really wanted to know what the big shot Deep Shadow was like when facing his lover.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t dig up any deeper gossip threads. Deep Shadow’s gossip threads hadn’t leaked any of his lover’s information at all. At a glance, it was clear he was extremely vigilant in this regard and determined to protect any information about his lover.

Sigh, in that case, Zhan Yan couldn’t directly ask Deep Shadow either. He couldn’t explain how he knew Deep Shadow was dating. If he asked rashly, it would probably just cause the big shot’s impression of him to plummet to the bottom of the valley, and they might even become enemies.

He could only try to ask indirectly.

Approaching Science: [Boss, boss, do you know any impressive healing-type big shots?]

The big shot Deep Shadow didn’t reply; he was probably offline.

The sound of water splashed in the bathroom. Zhan Yan curled up on the sofa, eating grapes one after another.

He flipped through the Gossip System absentmindedly, thinking that he had sweated too and needed to take a shower later.

The sound of water in the bathroom stopped. Zhan Yan snapped out of his daze. After a while, seeing Gu Jiancheng still hadn’t come out, he suddenly noticed the bath towel draped over the sofa.

Zhan Yan picked up the bath towel and was just about to bring it in for him when he suddenly remembered the last time. Gu Jiancheng’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he blushed instantly from his chest all the way to his forehead.

Aiya, he kind of wanted to whistle at him again.

Zhan Yan decided to be a kind person and not tease Student Xiao Gu. He picked up the bath towel and knocked on the door: “Did you forget to bring a bath towel again?”

In the bathroom, Gu Jiancheng took a deep breath.

Last time Zhan Yan teased him, he didn’t even have time to tease back!

Gu Jiancheng repeatedly muttered the lines he had prepared based on the TV dramas, just waiting for Zhan Yan to open the door.

Zhan Yan turned the doorknob. In the bathroom, Gu Jiancheng—with his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs—sported a beet-red face, lifted his chin at him, gave a wicked and charming smile, and delivered his domineering CEO quote: “Young Master, are you satisfied with what you see?”

Zhan Yan: …Pfft.

No! He had to hold it in!

He couldn’t hold it in.

“Hahahahaha!”