GRMFBS CH212

Heheh, he and Yan-yan were destined!

Destined~ Destined~

After replying to the big shot Deep Shadow, Zhan Yan turned around and saw his boyfriend wearing an apron, happily making cat food.

He didn’t even notice Xingxing frantically pawing at his pant legs.

“I don’t want you to make it! Your cooking tastes bad! Meow gave you face yesterday and finished one meal! Put my food down right now!”

Zhan Yan: … Pfft.

Zhan Yan went over, peeled the apron off Gu Jiancheng, and put it on himself to prepare Xingxing’s cat food first. Gu Jiancheng clung to his side, refusing to leave, so Zhan Yan put him to work washing vegetables and cutting meat. Working together, they finished Xingxing’s meal in just a few minutes.

Xingxing went off to eat his cat food with great satisfaction, his little tail swaying leisurely in a good mood.

Zhan Yan crouched in front of Xingxing. “Does Xingxing miss home? We’re going back home the day after tomorrow~”

Gu Jiancheng, who had been in a great mood, suddenly wilted: QAQ

Yan-yan was going home the day after tomorrow.

Zhan Yan felt a sudden gloom settle over the person next to him.

He nudged Gu Jiancheng with his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Gu Jiancheng whined and grumbled, wrapping his arms around Zhan Yan’s waist. “I think we’re a match made in heaven!”

It was the first time Zhan Yan had seen someone manage to look so pitiful yet so triumphant at the same time.

The grievance was because they had to separate in two days, but what was the triumph about? Because he felt they were a match made in heaven?

Zhan Yan was charmed by Gu Jiancheng’s cuteness.

Having received confirmation from the Magician, Gu Jiancheng’s ego was currently inflating rapidly.

He whispered into Zhan Yan’s ear, “Let’s go on a date before you go back on Wednesday.”

He had designed it specifically according to Yan-yan’s preferences!

“Sure. Oh, Xingxing!”

Xingxing had finished eating and was winding his way between their legs, acting all fluffy, soft, and coquettish.

Zhan Yan rubbed Xingxing’s fur. “Did you give him a bath?”

Gu Jiancheng: “I did. I washed his ears and trimmed his claws too. Xingxing was such a good boy!”

Xingxing lifted his head proudly and let out a meow.

While Zhan Yan had been away these past few days, Gu Jiancheng had been constantly playing with Xingxing. Thanks to his tireless efforts, Xingxing now liked him very much.

A freshly washed and fragrant Xingxing was allowed on the bed. Zhan Yan wiped his paws. Xingxing turned in circles on the bed a couple of times before finding his familiar spot: right next to Zhan Yan’s pillow. Specifically, the spot right between the two of them.

Gu Jiancheng: …

Zhan Yan: Pfft.

He pretended not to notice.

Zhan Yan lay back on the bed, closed his eyes, opened the Gossip System, and entered the Dawn World to continue consuming information.

This time he changed direction and ran a lap around the core area, planning to find the “Domain” category first.

After a lap, Zhan Yan discovered that there were no “Domain” concept dumplings here. There were no “Spirit” concept dumplings either.

Right, “Domain” belongs to territory, and the main world doesn’t reject territory. “Spirit” is the same; it has already fully integrated into the NPCs of the game world.

There were also very few dumplings related to “Abilities,” “Organizations,” or “Items.” They were mostly concepts that were incompatible due to the differing rules of the two worlds.

The main world most despised concepts of various “Anomalies,” which was why those dumplings were piled up into mountains there.

His most urgent concern right now was still how to solve the curse on Yang Ran.

The Will of the Infinite was still present. Although that guy had shrunk back for now, who knew if it would suddenly pop out again to cause trouble? And who knew if it was secretly hiding other methods?

Having such a thing wrapped around Yang Ran’s soul was truly unsettling. The sooner it was removed, the better.

Zhan Yan combed through the ability directions of several sub-categories. The information depth of the “Organization” column and the abilities related to the Candle Dragon in the “Domain” column were the most likely to be useful.

First, go find the “Organization” concept dumplings piled up in the core area and inhale them like a storm!

There weren’t many “Organization” concept dumplings. It felt like the apocalyptic world didn’t think it was important whether these things integrated or not, nor was it in a hurry, so it hadn’t managed them specifically—just sprinkling them down with the flow.

These concept dumplings weren’t enough to upgrade a Little Xingxing.

So, if he wanted to collect these information words, he still had to explore the game world.

It was getting late today; sleep first, explore more tomorrow.

Zhan Yan exited the Dawn World. Before he could even turn off the Gossip System, he suddenly felt the blanket on his right side moving gently.

Gu Jiancheng light and slowly extended his hand into Zhan Yan’s blanket. After finding his hand and quietly covering it with his own, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably lifted.

Zhan Yan, eyes still closed, flipped his hand over and interlaced his fingers with Gu Jiancheng’s palm.

Gu Jiancheng instantly froze.

Now it was Zhan Yan’s turn for the corners of his mouth to turn up.

Oh my, last night he thought Gu Jiancheng had hugged his arm in his sleep, but it turned out he was awake and sneaking over to hold his hand.

Zhan Yan happily turned over, ready to snuggle… and ended up kissing a mouthful of cat fur.

Zhan Yan: …

Xingxing was purring, fast asleep.

Pfft, never mind. Zhan Yan closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

Gu Jiancheng sensed the movement from Zhan Yan’s side and was feeling a mix of anticipation and nervousness, but then the movement stopped, and Yan-yan’s breathing became slow and long again.

Did… did he just fall asleep like that?

The next morning, Xingxing was the earliest to rise. He took short cat naps during the day, so he didn’t necessarily need to sleep for long periods at night.

The little guy was very well-behaved and didn’t make a sound. He stepped into the crevice between the two of them to slide off the bed, and on his way, he stepped squarely on Gu Jiancheng and Zhan Yan’s joined hands through the blanket.

Now both of them were awake.

On the way to the veterinary station, Bao Qingshan pulled Zhan Yan aside to whisper, “I specifically tried to sense it this morning.”

Zhan Yan was slightly nervous. “How was it?”

Bao Qingshan: “I still didn’t sense anything.”

“Is that so…” Zhan Yan was a little disappointed but also breathed a sigh of relief.

He had actually been afraid Bao Qingshan would say he sensed something ominous.

Bao Qingshan: “I’m planning to ask the Ancestral Grandma.”

Zhan Yan: “Huh? That’s too much trouble for her, isn’t it? There’s really no need…”

Bao Qingshan: “It’s not entirely about you two; I have doubts myself.”

When sensing spiritual light that didn’t involve himself, how much he could sense depended on the scope of the matter and the strength of the people involved. The last time he couldn’t sense anything at all, it was regarding the merging of the apocalyptic world.

He was, after all, a descendant of Withered Pine Ravine. No matter how poor his cultivation was, it shouldn’t be to the point where he couldn’t sense anything about a classmate’s love life and meeting the parents. Zhan Yan simply dating someone couldn’t possibly involve people as powerful as the merging of worlds, right?

Bao Qingshan suspected there was a problem with his cultivation, so he went to consult the Ancestral Grandma.

While working, Zhan Yan kept refreshing Yang Ran’s gossip feed, searching whenever he had a free moment.

aside from investigating Yang Ran, he now had a mission from Deep Shadow. But the clues were too vague, and Zhan Yan felt he wouldn’t be able to complete this mission anytime soon.

Deep Shadow had done him such a huge favor, yet he couldn’t complete the very first task given to him. Zhan Yan felt really bad about it… he was almost getting anxious!

Although he knew it was likely useless, Zhan Yan poked through his Ability Xingxings one by one again to see if anything could be of use…

[…Whether you want to know exactly how many points Big Sister has…]

Hmm? This was the ability description for the “Little Encyclopedia Search” Xingxing he had just upgraded. Before, he was only thinking about whether this ability could save Yang Ran and hadn’t paid attention to this sentence.

He remembered there was an entry for this in the forum’s “Top Ten Unsolved Mysteries.” The point pool for this mystery had accumulated quite a high amount!

Zhan Yan calculated. The prize pool for this mystery wasn’t enough to exchange for the Thunder Talisman for Little Gu, but there were eight unsolved mysteries left! Several of them were things he could find out now, and they were things he could talk about.

After taking the prize pools for these few unsolved mysteries, he would be able to exchange for the Thunder Talisman for Little Gu, and still have some left over.

Didn’t Deep Shadow want points to climb the leaderboard? How about he give the answer to “Exactly how many points does the Artisan have?” along with the prize pool to Deep Shadow!

Approaching Science: “Boss, Boss, I found out how many points the Artisan has.”

“74,956,739”

Gu Jiancheng had long forgotten about saying he wanted to climb the leaderboard. But he remembered Approaching Science saying that the Artisan was number one on the points leaderboard!

What did this mean? Was Approaching Science planning to treat him like this?

I Just Saved The World!: “?”

Approaching Science: “Boss, go claim the prize pool for that Top Ten Unsolved Mystery.”

“There are nearly a hundred thousand points in the pool.”

“After you take it, you’ll climb the leaderboard even faster!”

Gu Jiancheng realized he had misunderstood and felt a little guilty for a moment.

Sigh, but the reason he said he wanted to climb the leaderboard last time was because Approaching Science thought the Artisan was number one!

I Just Saved The World!: “Aren’t you saving points?”

Approaching Science: “I’ve almost saved enough.”

“I don’t need this many, you take it.”

I Just Saved The World!: “What do you think of the Artisan?”

Approaching Science: “Very reliable and very amazing. Do you want to collaborate with the Artisan, Boss?”

I Just Saved The World!: “Heh.”

Zhan Yan: ?

What was wrong now?

I Just Saved The World!: “Thanks.”

Zhan Yan: ???

Zhan Yan couldn’t figure out what kind of mood Deep Shadow was in and decided to drop the subject.

The morning passed. Zhan Yan scrolled through the forum and found that Deep Shadow hadn’t gone to answer the question “Exactly how many points does the Artisan have.” The prize pool was still sitting there quietly.

Tsk, I really don’t understand what he’s being awkward about.

Zhan Yan was just about to exit the forum when he saw a private message from Administrator Luo Wang (Net).

He clicked it open; she was here to gossip.

Administrator Luo Wang: “Hey, have you heard? The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau found a batch of Network-types to enter the Dawn World. They modeled themselves as half-demons, but ended up unable to move hahahaha.”

Zhan Yan thought to himself, Not only do I know, I saw it happen.

Approaching Science: “I feel like you guys should be the ones doing this.”

Administrator Luo Wang: “Exactly, exactly.”

“We have so many half-demons in the Wan Yao Alliance.”

“It’s a pity that too few of the Demon Race have Network-type abilities. Many demons can only watch helplessly, unable to enter.”

“Sigh, I want to go into the Dawn World to take a look too.”

Approaching Science: “You haven’t gone?”

Luo Wang was a Dream Demon. Given how she managed the forum, she should be able to connect to the network.

Administrator Luo Wang: “His Majesty the Demon King won’t allow it.”

Luo Wang was also distressed. She was a rare demon with compatible Network-type abilities. Ever since learning about the existence of the Dawn World, she had wanted to go in and see.

But the Vajra Wisdom King had issued a ban on her. Luo Wang went to the Chongming Demon King, who said he couldn’t out-stubborn the Vajra Wisdom King and told her to listen. She then went to the Xunmu Demon King, who leisurely gave her a long lecture on philosophy and advised her to listen.

Approaching Science: “Why? Even the Domain-types went.”

Zhan Yan didn’t understand. The Wan Yao Alliance had very few Network-types to begin with; shouldn’t they let Luo Wang go even more?

Administrator Luo Wang: “Exactly, exactly.”

Approaching Science: “The Dawn World uses the game Dawn Continent as a base, so many places should be quite similar to the game.”

“Dawn Continent is about to officially launch. If you’re in a hurry, I can get a beta test account for the game.”

Administrator Luo Wang: “Yes please!”

Zhan Yan had several test accounts on hand, all given to him by Luo Luoluo. He sent one to Luo Wang.

Before he could see Luo Wang’s reply, Bao Qingshan came over to find him.

Bao Qingshan: “Grandma replied to me.”

Zhan Yan threw the Gossip System to the back of his mind, both nervous and expectant: “What did Grandma say?”

Bao Qingshan pressed play on the voice message: “Karma decided long ago, perfectly natural. Like a vast wilderness without wind—how could you sense anything?”

Bao Qingshan had already pondered this.

Grandma meant that these two were a match made in heaven, destined by fate. It was as natural as a windless day. When a person stands in a place without wind, naturally, they feel nothing.

He watched as the corners of Zhan Yan’s mouth began to rise after listening to the voice message, lifting so hard he couldn’t suppress it no matter how he tried.

Bao Qingshan: … Where is there no wind? I’ve been eating dog food [PDA] for the past few days until I’m about to vomit!

Look at them, is this natural?

Is Zhan Yan natural? Is Gu Jiancheng natural? Where is he natural? In front of Zhan Yan, he acts like he’s been bewitched, okay?

…

Wan Shitong felt like he had been bewitched.

He discovered that as soon as he returned to the Dawn World, he could remember his Psychic-type abilities, but as soon as he left the Dawn World, he only remembered that he was a Network-type.

This was absolutely not normal! He had to tell the Boss about this!

Wan Shitong began trying various methods diligently. After tireless efforts, Wan Shitong succeeded in retaining the thought “I have a very important thing I must tell the Boss” after exiting, and sent the message the instant he left the Dawn World.

Gu Jiancheng received the message from Wan Shitong.

Wan Shitong: “Boss, I have a very important piece of news…”

Gu Jiancheng waited for a long time but didn’t see Wan Shitong continue.

Gu Jiancheng: “?”

Wan Shitong was racking his brain. What did he want to say? What was very important recently…

Wan Shitong: “The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau seems to have recently added someone very skilled at making pollution-reducing items. There are a lot of new items of this type in the contribution point exchange area.”

Gu Jiancheng: “I don’t need them. If you need them, use them. If you don’t have enough contribution points, tell me, and I’ll help you do tasks.”

An hour passed.

Wan Shitong: “Boss, I have a very important thing to say…”

Gu Jiancheng: ?

Wan Shitong thought hard again: “The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau has also researched something that can block the power of the Infinite, and it’s recently started being put to use. I found out someone has already exchanged for it. I know that guy; it’s Agave, who used to hang around the Black Market for years. The Administration seemed to have sent a lot of manpower to the Black Market before, but they’ve all been withdrawn now.”

Another hour passed.

Wan Shitong: “Boss, I’m telling you, something big happened…”

Gu Jiancheng: …?

Wan Shitong really couldn’t remember what other big thing there was. So he had to search for it on the spot:

Wan Shitong: “I heard the Broker in the Black Market threw a huge tantrum recently and scolded several subordinates.”

Gu Jiancheng: “Are you okay?”

Wan Shitong: “QAQ Boss, I think I’ve been hexed.”

Looking at this string of chat logs, he also felt his brain wasn’t quite right.

Gu Jiancheng: “Where are you now?”

He planned to send a Shadow Clone over.

Tsk, Wan Shitong had just joined the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and already had problems. The Administration really was useless!

For now, he better not ask Wan Shitong to help investigate that Network-type who was trying to dig up his identity online.

Gu Jiancheng thought of another clue to investigate the supernatural identity of Yan-yan’s sister—Yan-yan’s sister had a boyfriend. At the time, he was focused on Yan-yan’s sister and hadn’t paid much attention to her boyfriend.

Could that man be an ordinary person? Or was he also from the supernatural world?

But this clue was also very vague. Gu Jiancheng tossed the vague clue to the Magician as usual, while his Shadow Clone went offline to find Wan Shitong.

Wan Shitong was very distressed.

He had already checked himself carefully beforehand and found no problems. But why did he feel there was something very important he had to tell the Boss?

Wan Shitong decided to keep investigating. If he could find that very important thing, it would solve his current distressing problem, right?

Gu Jiancheng’s Shadow Clone found Wan Shitong.

Wan Shitong’s eyes lit up: “Boss, Boss! I know why the Broker was angry. Didn’t he always want to keep the Artisan in his clutches? The Artisan ran away hahahaha!”

He had suffered quite a bit in the Broker’s trading Black Market back in the Infinite.

Gu Jiancheng: “Did you eat gossip until you went stupid?”

What did the Artisan running away and the Broker getting angry have to do with them? The point right now was Wan Shitong’s possessed-like state.

Wan Shitong hung his head dejectedly: “Oh.”

Gu Jiancheng: “Stand still, don’t move.”

Wan Shitong’s shadow wrapped around him like flowing water. A moment later, the shadow receded.

Gu Jiancheng frowned. He didn’t find any issues.

“I’ll leave a fragment of shadow in your shadow.” Gu Jiancheng tapped the tip of his foot on Wan Shitong’s shadow. “Be careful when you’re in the online world.”

He could only protect him in reality. If it was a problem in the online world, Wan Shitong would have to rely on himself.

Gu Jiancheng wanted to add a few more warnings, but saw Wan Shitong looking at him as if he was about to burst.

“Speak.”

Wan Shitong’s eyes were sparkling: “I deduce that the Artisan ran to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau. Before, the Broker guarded against it strictly, but back then the Artisan didn’t want to go. Now that the Artisan wants to go himself, he can’t do anything about it. The Broker was so angry, he started screening the Black Market and kicked out everyone from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau that he found hahahahaha.”

Gu Jiancheng: …

Before he could speak, the Magician contacted him. She had performed another divination using the new clue.

The Magician hesitated slightly: “I’ll say this first, the result of this divination isn’t very favorable for you.”

“Go ahead.”

Gu Jiancheng had long since mentally prepared himself. He used to live day by day, offending who knows how many people. As long as he hadn’t offended them too ruthlessly, he could just re-establish relations. If he had offended them ruthlessly… well, he wouldn’t let go anyway!

Magician: “Judging from my results just now, your future sister-in-law has just joined the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau for love.

“I recall you’re still wanted by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, right?

“Do you want to have a chat with the Administration and get them to revoke your wanted warrant?”

Gu Jiancheng didn’t think about the wanted warrant. His mind had been sifting through everyone he had met in the past to see who could match up with Zhan Suiru.

The new clue the Magician just provided swirled in his mind along with the other clues:

Zhan Suiru had just joined the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau for love; someone who could create pollution-curing items had recently arrived at the Administration; the Broker was angry because the Artisan ran away; the Administration had originally activated a formation to block the apocalypse merger, but the apocalyptic world merged in anyway; the relationship between the Artisan Yang Ran and the Lord Rong Sui; the Magician saying he had once deeply influenced Zhan Suiru’s fate…

If all of this was connected… thread by thread, a conjecture formed. A massive wave rose in the sea of his memory, churning up a segment of the distant past.

That was back when Gu Jiancheng had just reached the top of the player leaderboard.

His points were still far short of exchanging for “Return,” and the Will of the Infinite approached him at that time.

It proposed a transaction:

Solve the out-of-control Apocalypse Instance, and it would waive all subsequent points and open the passage home for him.