GRMFBS CH221

Gu Jiancheng wasn’t there. He hadn’t slept when the “Deep Shadow” NPC was active. With Yan Yan not by his side, why sleep?

Never mind that he didn’t need sleep at all now—even the past Gu Jiancheng had been a night owl youth.

Youth was so short—why sleep when you could party!

After hanging up on Zhuo Xun, Gu Jiancheng started browsing the forum.

Approaching Science was looking for him again. What for?

Gu Jiancheng clicked on the private message and saw the post link Approaching Science sent him.

Clicking in, a bunch of people greedy for his wanted reward points were commenting like perverts.

Heh, how boring.

Given that Approaching Science had just sent timely help, Gu Jiancheng decided not to reply for now.

He browsed the forum and found posts discussing him.

Gu Jiancheng clicked into the highest-floor post.

The beginning was all speculation. Later, real information about him started appearing. This content clearly came from those retired players.

However, so far, no heavyweight figures had appeared in the post. The earlier players’ replies were also being questioned.

The reason this post’s popularity suddenly skyrocketed into a high-rise building was because Approaching Science appeared and replied.

Information from Approaching Science had never been wrong. He used his reputation, credibility, and word-of-mouth to prove that Deep Shadow was indeed a hero guilty of nothing.

Not long after, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s detailed explanation also came out.

The explanation didn’t mention Infinite or reincarnation, but confirmed that Deep Shadow had done things that greatly contributed to the world. It was just that he very likely carried serious contamination, and all three parties couldn’t find him, which led to the wanted orders. Now that they’d confirmed he was harmless to the public, the wanted orders were revoked.

After the detailed explanation came out, the post started rapidly building up floors.

The corners of Gu Jiancheng’s mouth lifted and lifted. I said I just saved the world!

After browsing the post, he opened his private messages with Approaching Science.

I Just Saved the World!: “Thanks.”

He stopped reading posts and turned off his phone, lying flat on the sea surface.

Looking up at the galaxy.

Gu Jiancheng lay with eyes open. First entering Infinite, the first dungeon, the amusement park, the apocalypse, Infinite’s gambling table… Past events slid through his thoughts.

Player, top 1, three-party wanted orders… Just some boring identity labels.

The sea reflected the starry sky. He smiled slightly, his pitch-black pupils reflecting scattered stars.

Mm… Really missed Yan Yan. Really wanted to tell Yan Yan. Wanted to so much. Wanted to take him everywhere to play right now. To novel places he liked, to places surrounded by starry skies, to forests, to deep seas, to the sky, to all free places.

The waves rose and fell gently.

But Yan Yan was sleeping.

Maybe he should sleep too.

Gu Jiancheng closed his eyes, one hand pillowing his head, the other hand wearing a sports bracelet resting on his chest.

…

As soon as Zhan Yan and Zhan Suiru finished here, the “Deep Shadow” NPC blocking Wan Shitong disappeared.

Utterly confused, Wan Shitong entered the core area and saw Zhan Yan still inside, not having left.

“It’s you. Were you here the whole time just now?” Wan Shitong asked.

Zhan Yan vaguely said: “Mm, stayed for a bit.”

Wan Shitong: “I thought so—why wouldn’t the NPC let me in earlier?”

Only then did Zhan Yan know the Deep Shadow NPC had blocked Wan Shitong from entering. Ah, he was so nice!

Next time Little Gu mocked him again, he wouldn’t come play as “Deep Shadow” NPC anymore.

He could directly play with Little Gu himself!

Wan Shitong was still sighing: “His favorability toward you should be pretty high. How did you do it?”

He wanted to learn too! He’d accidentally maxed out the difficulty of gaining this NPC’s favorability at the start. Until now, he’d never gotten a good look from the “Deep Shadow” NPC.

Getting mocked by his boss in reality—why did he have to see his boss’s face in the world he built too?

Wan Shitong’s gaze at Zhan Yan couldn’t help but fill with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Why couldn’t he get a kind and friendly boss?

Zhan Yan didn’t pay attention to Wan Shitong’s small emotions. He wanted to tour around the Dawn World now.

Speaking of which, the few times he’d entered the Dawn World, he’d only looked around the newbie village at the very beginning. Later, he’d almost always stayed in the core area.

He still needed to collect other types of information terms in the Dawn World.

“I’m going out to tour around myself.” After greeting Wan Shitong, Zhan Yan prepared to leave.

He directly teleported out of the core area. Zhan Yan didn’t plan to explore the Dawn World together with Wan Shitong and them. He could directly collect information terms from their Dawn World exploration through gossip snippets. Going with them himself would waste efficiency.

He randomly teleported outward from the core area to a place.

When his vision cleared, it had become a forest.

Dense woods surrounded him. Thick green moss grew on ancient trees, vines hanging from branches. Time in the Dawn World didn’t sync with the outside. Now the sun was just right at the zenith, but under the forest it was very dim. Every plant was doing its utmost to compete for sunlight, leaving only thin, dim scattered light at the forest floor.

Zhan Yan looked up at the sky and saw the “Deep Shadow” NPC standing on a tree trunk.

The light was too dim—Zhan Yan didn’t recognize him at first glance and got startled.

Why did this NPC appear again? Was it coincidence? Or did he come specifically looking for him?

“Do you have something?” Zhan Yan asked.

The “Deep Shadow” NPC didn’t speak, reaching out toward him.

Zhan Yan: “…I can’t climb trees.”

The “Deep Shadow” NPC jumped down from the tree and stood before him: “Where to?”

Zhan Yan: “No specific place. I want to go where they haven’t been, and I want to see more people.”

Aside from the “Anomaly” column, collecting information terms for other columns in his information disc couldn’t escape people and places.

Why was the “Deep Shadow” NPC asking this? Did he want to take him?

Gu Jiancheng was dreaming again.

He dreamed he was in a dense forest where Yan Yan was waiting for him. He could take Yan Yan traveling, to all sorts of novel places he wanted to go. So good!

Standing in the tree, he finally didn’t have to look up at 2.3-meter dragon-head Yan Yan anymore.

But dragon-head Yan Yan couldn’t climb trees.

Forget it—looking up was looking up then.

Zhan Yan watched the “Deep Shadow” NPC really start leading the way.

The forest path wasn’t easy to walk. The “Deep Shadow” NPC helped him clear the way ahead.

Zhan Yan walked forward stepping in the “Deep Shadow” NPC’s footprints, deeply feeling he should first research how to level up in the Dawn World. Why was even walking so strenuous?

With the item description function on, Zhan Yan collected quite a few new “Things” type information terms.

[This is a Big Spray Mushroom. Stepping on it will spray out rainbow-colored smoke.]

Zhan Yan curiously stepped on it.

The Big Spray Mushroom’s top opened, spraying out colored smoke.

The “Deep Shadow” NPC stopped to wait for him to finish playing before continuing. He brought Zhan Yan to a wide forest path.

Here there were no tall trees, only low shrubs and wild grass. In the middle of the path, frequently trampled areas even had wild grass less than half a palm high. Very easy to walk on.

[This is a road cleared by Forest Giants, leading to their camp.]

The “Deep Shadow” NPC looked back at him: “Walk here.”

Zhan Yan couldn’t help but sigh that the “Deep Shadow” NPC was really considerate. With him leading the way, this was much easier than randomly crashing through the forest himself.

He watched with satisfaction as the energy bars in various columns in the gossip system rose and rose.

Walking along, Zhan Yan heard huge crying sounds ahead, rumbling like distant thunder.

“What’s this?” He couldn’t help asking.

The “Deep Shadow” NPC still spoke three words at a time: “Living place.”

They walked forward to the Forest Giants’ residential camp ahead.

A five-meter-tall giant wearing grass-woven clothes sat on a rock crying.

[This is a cry-loving Forest Giant NPC, currently possessed by Xi Man’s soul.]

Xi Man? Wasn’t this the strongest psychic-type ability user aside from Sister in Sister’s Hope Base?

“Hey, why are you crying?” Zhan Yan went over and asked.

He started searching gossip snippets.

The sad Forest Giant Xi Man opened his hands toward Zhan Yan. A bristling little sprite emerged from his palm. This sprite, only half the Forest Giant’s finger height, looked extremely angry, desperately biting Xi Man’s finger.

“I fell in love with a little sprite. He’s really too small, but I love him so much wuuwuuwuu.” Xi Man was still very sad. “I really love him so much, but he’s just too small wuuwuuwuu.”

Zhan Yan’s gossip snippet also updated:

[Xi Man’s soul possesses the NPC “Cry-loving Forest Giant.” His lover Ge Yi’s soul possesses the NPC “Furious Vanilla Sprite.” After Xi Man finally found Ge Yi, he discovered the huge size difference between them and was very dejected. Affected by the NPC’s personality, Xi Man couldn’t help crying his heart out in grievance.]

Zhan Yan: Ah… This was a bit tragic.

When the apocalypse world merged, there wasn’t time or ability to arrange every soul nicely. They could only barely categorize them, ensuring intelligent beings’ souls wouldn’t possess small animal NPCs like cats and dogs. After that, they were randomly scattered.

Ge Yi flew to Xi Man’s ear, grabbing his outer earlobe and shouting loudly: “What’s wrong with being small? You’re this big and I still love you! Don’t cry!”

These wounded souls lost their memories when possessing NPCs. For these two to find each other again while having amnesia was too difficult. Could they swap NPC shells?

Zhan Yan turned back to look at the “Deep Shadow” NPC, preparing to ask him.

Xi Man was still crying loudly: “Wuuwuu, with mismatched body types, there’s no way to date!”

Zhan Yan watched the “Deep Shadow” NPC’s pupils shake as he looked at him, then disappear.

Zhan Yan: ???

Why are you running? Did Xi Man’s loud crying scare you? Or did I scare you?

Gu Jiancheng suddenly woke up.

He lay on the gently undulating sea. Under the tranquil night sky, the Forest Giant’s loud crying still seemed to echo in his ears: “With mismatched body types, there’s no way to date!”

In reality, this sentence meant nothing to him. But in the dream, under 2.3-meter dragon-head Yan Yan’s gaze, everything became different.

He dreamed of taking Yan Yan out traveling. He planned to go to forests, deep seas, and the sky. Everything was very good, very in line with his expectations. But why was he dreaming of dragon-head Yan Yan again?

Gu Jiancheng couldn’t help falling into contemplation.

Could it be that he’d stayed in Infinite too long and his subconscious aesthetics had been twisted?

Zhan Yan exited from the Dawn World. It was already very late—he needed to sleep. Tomorrow Mom and Dad were both coming back.

Before turning off the gossip system, Zhan Yan first checked how to help Xi Man and Ge Yi swap body types.

He discovered Sister had already tried. Sister had previously looked for her old friends in the Dawn World and discovered they’d all lost their memories, just like her first few years coming to this world.

These souls needed rest and recuperation. They couldn’t casually change bodies. So… Xi Man and Ge Yi should continue dating like this for now.

Zhan Yan turned off the gossip system and went to sleep.

The next morning, he got up early as usual. Before going downstairs to exercise, while Brother and Sister hadn’t gotten up yet, he packed up a portion of Auntie Bai’s pastries to send to Gu Jiancheng.

Arriving at the courier point, looking at the tightly locked door, Zhan Yan only then remembered it was too early—they weren’t open yet.

Carry it back? Then wouldn’t he have avoided Brother and Sister for nothing?

Zhan Yan stood at the courier point entrance worrying.

Zhao Wen, walking their family’s Da Mao, passed by and greeted him: “Hey, you’re on break?”

Zhan Yan greeted: “Good morning, Sister Wen Wen.”

Da Mao looked at him, came over and sniffed, then started nuzzling.

Zhao Wen was very surprised: “You didn’t get neutered this semester?”

Zhan Yan petted Da Mao with a smile. Hehe, his animal-attracting constitution had returned~

Zhao Wen saw the packed courier in his hand, then looked at the locked courier point door, and started laughing: “You came too early, huh?”

Zhan Yan worried: “Right, if I carry it back I’ll have to make another trip today.”

Zhao Wen: “What is it? If it’s not trouble, I’ll send it for you.”

Zhan Yan’s eyes lit up: “Just some food, sending to my friend. Thanks, Sister Wen Wen!”

Yay, this way he wouldn’t be pressed by Brother and Sister to answer questions about Little Gu!

Zhan Yan handed the courier box to Zhao Wen and cheerfully went to do morning exercises at the small plaza.

The morning exercise group in the neighborhood greeted him very enthusiastically.

“Little Yan’s back!”

“Finally on break—look, you’ve gotten so thin from exhaustion.”

“Let’s practice together. See if I’m doing it right.”

“Hey, Little Yan, when is your dad coming back? Without him, we can’t completely win against the neighboring arts troupe!”

“Your dad sings too well—recorded effects don’t work.”

The elderly arts troupe’s uncles, aunts, grandpas, and grandmas really missed Zhan Yunkai.

Teacher Xiao Zhan sang so beautifully and had patience teaching them. All because of that person who tried to sell Zhan Yunkai’s information last time—made him not dare come to the arts troupe often.

Zhan Yan thought internally: Are you guys wanting to hear songs or beat the neighboring arts troupe? Getting to hear Chongming Demon King sing live—other demon kings wouldn’t dare imagine this treatment.

“My dad should be back in the next few days, but whether he can come is uncertain. There are still people online watching him.” Zhan Yan sighed. First giving his dad a preventative refusal shot.

He felt his dad really wanted to take this opportunity to quit the arts troupe and might not be willing to come. Saying people online were watching him wasn’t wrong either. Videos of Zhan Yunkai singing at the arts troupe had now become material for major music zone uploaders. Whenever the entertainment industry produced subpar songs, they’d edit Zhan Yunkai’s “Sunset Red” together with those songs. The contrast was strong, very mocking.

Having just finished morning exercises, Zhan Yan carried fresh-ground soy milk, fried breadsticks, and side dishes bought at the neighborhood entrance back. Opening the door, he saw Dad Zhan Yunkai had already returned, just put on an apron, and was washing vegetables.

Zhan Yan’s eyes lit up: “Ow, Dad! You’re back so early!”

Mom wasn’t coming back until the afternoon. He’d originally thought Dad would also have to wait until afternoon. Didn’t expect him to come now and plan to make them breakfast!

So happy, so happy! Dad is so good!

Zhan Yan went over to hug.

Zhan Yunkai raised his hand, not letting Zhan Yan touch his water-wet hands, looking at him with a smile: “Just back from morning exercises?”

Zhan Yan: …

Hmph!

Thinking of this made him feel wronged. Before, his dad thought his physical fitness wasn’t good and forced him to exercise. The reason was that his physical fitness was the worst in the whole family—he couldn’t even match his sister, a girl’s strength.

He’d still believed it before. Now looking—were there any ordinary people in his family? Even a boxing champion coming to arm wrestle couldn’t beat them, okay!

“Practiced, practiced. Look at my muscles!” Zhan Yan flexed his biceps at his dad.

Just look at the muscles—don’t arm wrestle. Otherwise, he’d never qualify in this lifetime.

“Very good, very good.” Zhan Yunkai encouraged.

Zhan Yan smiled proudly. Looking at muscle lines, he definitely qualified!

Not knowing what breakfast Dad planned to make, Zhan Yan peeked and saw five big bone sticks in the sink. He asked: “Dad, you’re making big bone sticks this early in the morning?”

Zhan Yunkai: “What bone sticks this early? Didn’t you buy breakfast? This is for making soup. Start now, and by this afternoon you can drink it.”

This afternoon. This afternoon, when Mom comes home.

Oh. So Dad, you rushed back this early for this.

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