GRMFBS CH223

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Zhan Yan couldn’t help but start getting nervous.

Gu Jiancheng meeting his sister shouldn’t be a problem—his sister’s cover identity had already been exposed to Gu Jiancheng, so he would definitely work hard to keep his own cover intact and behave properly. But Gu Jiancheng didn’t know Mom’s cover identity. What if he offended Mom while wearing the “Deep Shadow” persona? With that personality of his—once he put on a cover, he got arrogant to an explosive degree…

He flipped through old gossip entries first. Mm, right—Deep Shadow had said before that he had a pretty good impression of Tianshis, but later he also refused to cooperate. So maybe it wasn’t that deep?

What should he do? He couldn’t exactly tell Little Gu about Mom’s cover—pull on that thread and the whole sweater would come apart…

Maybe he should use the “Walking Into Science” account to give him a heads-up first? Subtly hint that he should be nicer to Tianshis?

But how was he supposed to hint it? What reason would sound reasonable? With Little Gu’s personality after he put on a cover—someone you could only coax by stroking the fur the right way—he’d have to think this through carefully if he wanted to persuade him.

Zhan Yan started scrolling through the gossip feed, looking for some angle he could use on Gu Jiancheng’s side.

His last chat with “I Just Saved the World!” was still on the post link he’d forwarded. “I Just Saved the World!” had replied with a “Thanks.”

Huh? Thanks for what? For forwarding the post?

【Gu Jiancheng saw that you defended him in the post “So does anyone know who Deep Shadow is?”, felt delighted, and replied to Walking Into Science: “Thanks.”】

Ah—

When had Boss Deep Shadow ever cared what other people thought of him? And yet he still said thanks after someone spoke up for him.

Zhan Yan kept scrolling.

【Gu Jiancheng saw the post you forwarded and thought, “Heh, how boring.” Because he was grateful that you previously provided information that Zhan Suiru needed help, he decided not to reply to this for now.】

Zhan Yan: …

Heh?!

Try “heh”-ing at me online one more time. You’re done, you hear me?

Since Little Gu hadn’t actually said it out loud, Zhan Yan decided not to argue with him for now.

First priority: he had to coax Boss Deep Shadow into having a better attitude toward Tianshis…

Zhan Yan thought for a long time and finally came up with an idea.

Walking Into Science: “Boss, boss—when you go to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau the day after tomorrow, the Tianshi will be there too.”
“I’m a fan of Tianshis. Can you help me get an autograph?”

Walking Into Science and Deep Shadow had never had that “big shot and little fan” kind of relationship. In the beginning, they’d even mocked each other. So there was no way a repeat of the last incident would happen—where he praised his mom and his dad got jealous.

Deep Shadow treated Walking Into Science as one of his own. Even though Little Gu, as Deep Shadow, was wild and proud, he’d always taken good care of “his people.” Once he agreed, he definitely wouldn’t treat the Tianshi badly.

I Just Saved the World!: “You asked them and they wouldn’t give it?”

Wasn’t Walking Into Science always on good terms with the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau?

Walking Into Science: “I didn’t ask. If I asked they’d definitely give it, but I don’t want to expose my information to them.”
“But you’re different, boss—you definitely won’t use it as an excuse to look me up, right.”

Boss Deep Shadow got his fur properly stroked.

I Just Saved the World!: “Fine.”
“I’ll get it for you.”

Zhan Yan finally relaxed. See? He knew it—Little Gu really did respond to nothing but being coaxed.

If Little Gu treated Mom a bit better, then even if his cover fell off later, things wouldn’t get unbearably awkward between them.

Sigh. He really was worrying himself sick for his boyfriend.

The fragrance in the air grew more and more tempting. Xingxing swallowed while stepping back and forth on his leg. Mom and his sister sat together watching Dad’s newly filmed drama. His brother was writing and sketching on paper, puzzling over a new bread formula. Dad got up and went into the kitchen; the soup in the pot was gurgling away, bubbling with happiness.

“The soup’s done,” Zhan Yunkai called everyone over.

One plate and one soup bowl per person: big bone-in pieces were placed on the plates, paired with a straw for sucking out the marrow. The soup bowls held broth and winter melon.

Xingxing was dying of craving. She circled at the kitchen door, acting cute with little “miao miao” sounds.

“I want some too, I want some too!”
He’d been drooling all day!

Zhan Yunkai used a small pot to stew a piece of meat and liver just for him, with pumpkin and carrot on the side, then served it into his little cat bowl.

“You can’t eat yet. It’s hot.”

Xingxing looked up at him with big round eyes: “Miu.”

Zhan Yunkai put the cat bowl on the floor.

Xingxing guarded it, waiting for it to cool.

Meanwhile, Zhan Yan had already burned his mouth on a piece of winter melon that seemed cool on the surface but was still scalding inside.

Under his younger brother’s look of “If you dare say I’m worse than Xingxing, I’m going to be mad,” Zhan Suiru held back her laughter.

“It’s all winter melon’s fault.”

Zhan Yan: …Are you soothing a kindergartener right now?

“If you think winter melon is so terrible, you can give all the winter melon in your bowl to me.”

Zhan Suiru scooped him two pieces of winter melon and also gave him a huge chunk of meat.

Zhan Yan: …What do I do? I’m about to be successfully comforted by my sister.

Zhan Jinli watched in silence. He felt like his little brother was pretty easy to fool too.

The meat on the big bones had been stewed to ultimate tenderness; a light poke with chopsticks and it fell right off. The bone broth was clear, fresh, and sweet; the winter melon was fragrant and soft, melting in the mouth. A bite of winter melon followed by a bite of rich marrow—perfect!

“What time is the movie tomorrow morning?” Zhan Yunkai asked.

“9:20. I’ll send the address,” Zhan Yan said, opening the ticketing app and forwarding the successful booking screen to the group chat.

He’d booked a Dolby theater for better sound.

Zhan Jinli clicked the link and saw the cinema’s 5D promotion:

“…From five aspects—visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and motion—bringing you the most powerful, most realistic movie experience!”

He was a little curious and messaged:

“This 5D one looks pretty good.”

Zhan Yan and Zhan Suiru said in perfect unison: “No 5D!”

Zhan Jinli looked up at them.

Since when were little brother and little sister this in sync?

Zhan Yan and Zhan Suiru exchanged a glance.

Last time at the cinema, everyone got beaten up equally.

Just thinking that his sister’s first date with Yang Ran in this world involved getting beaten up in a theater made Zhan Yan feel miserable.

If he booked a 5D hall this time, the theater seats would achieve something even “Infinite” had never managed.

After handling the movie tickets, Zhan Yan finally stretched lazily.

Lately, he’d been rushing from one thing to the next nonstop, never getting a break.

Time to list what he still hadn’t finished.

The most important task—removing Infinite’s curse from Yang Ran’s soul—was just waiting to be carried out the day after tomorrow. He would monitor it remotely using the Gossip System and judge whether it had been fully cleaned based on the returned entries.

Candle Dragon had given him a small piece of candle; for now he didn’t need Candle Dragon’s blessing anymore. But he still needed to keep looking for Candle Dragon’s power. They’d been so generous and helped him out of an urgent bind—he couldn’t just use it and toss it.

But Candle Dragon’s power was harder to find now. Infinite and its lackeys had all withdrawn into hiding. The old method—snatching Candle Dragon’s power from under the monster doctor’s nose—was now very inefficient. He could only check from time to time for anything new, or find other methods.

Mm… he still needed to keep upgrading the “Domain” slot. No idea whether the next ability unlocked there would be useful.

And then there was the “Ability” slot’s information-secrecy little star. Ever since he discovered Mom was the Tianshi, he’d wanted to roll one for her—but the “Ability” energy bar had been drained completely twice! It still hadn’t built back up…

And now there were more people: his brother and sister, plus Gu Jiancheng also needed a little star—four in total.

Right now he had two little stars. One was the initial default: the gray star used for his own information secrecy that had been upgraded. That one could only provide a bit of auxiliary protection beyond shielding his own info, so Zhan Yan used it to protect their home address.

Starting with the second star, he could protect other people’s information. He’d assigned that star to Dad.

By the way, what was the maximum number of stars for upgrades anyway? He still needed four. If the max was only five, that meant one person was doomed to go unprotected! Or did the stars in the “Ability” slot upgrade further as they went up?

Could the system not just provide a feature guide document? Even the most basic mini-games had beginner tutorials these days.

The Gossip System played dead and didn’t move.

Fine. He was used to it already.

The biggest headache was still the cover-identity problem. His brother and sister’s covers weren’t too bad on their own, but if they got exposed, they could easily drag Mom and Dad’s covers out with them.

After cooperating during the Apocalypse Border incident, the relationship between the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance wasn’t as tense anymore, but Zhan Yan couldn’t gamble on that. What if those two organizations clashed again in the future? If Mom and Dad’s covers were exposed, and their differing beliefs led from disagreements to arguments, from arguments to divorce… anyway, he couldn’t gamble!

Even worse was Little Gu’s cover. Sigh. Mom and Dad’s covers were merely tied to two organizations that had conflicts. Little Gu’s cover, though, had been wanted by three sides. Even though the bounty notice was lifted now, that only proved everyone still considered “Deep Shadow” a dangerous person.

Making everyone believe Deep Shadow was a good partner for cooperation, and making everyone believe Deep Shadow was suitable to date someone’s family member—those were completely different difficulty levels.

Zhan Yan counted on his fingers:

As long as Gu Jiancheng helped his sister save Yang Ran this time, after the cover fell, his sister would probably be too embarrassed to stop them from dating.

His brother’s side would be trickier. The Lin Yuan Ghost King still thought the Deep Shadow who crazily tried to outwork him was messed up in the head. Mm… if he could get Gu Jiancheng to help recover Wanyan Cat’s memories and bring Wanyan back to normal, would that earn his brother’s gratitude?

Wanyan Cat had previously swallowed a drop of Candle Dragon’s power. After his brother stabilized his condition, he’d been asleep ever since. No idea whether he’d woken up yet.

Wanyan Ghost King was dreaming.

He dreamed many dreams—fragmented and scattered. He dreamed of many people, many demons, and many ghosts. He dreamed of the Minghe Ghost King.

That was his first time coming to Chaofu Mountain; Wen Yushu was only half as tall as it was now.

The Minghe Ghost King still wasn’t used to manifesting a physical form. She was only a river with no visible source and no visible destination, encircling Chaofu Mountain within it.

He stopped by the river and heard its heart-voice:

“Huh, is this a living one?”

Diting lay down by the river, lowering his head to look at the smooth, mirror-like surface. “Hello, I’m Diting. Can I live here?”

“Why would a living being appear here?” The river rolled up a tiny wave that stood on four legs, grew a single horn on its head, and looked exactly like Diting.

“Baize told me about it. He said I’m naturally close to yin-type power. It’s quiet here—very suitable for me to live.”

The “Diting” made of river water fell back down and suddenly scattered into spray.

He heard the river’s heart-voice:

“You may. I’ve never had a living being here before.”

Yes. He remembered the heart-voice he’d heard from Baize.

“The master of Chaofu Mountain is Minghe. Minghe will agree as soon as she sees you, because she’s never seen a living being before.”

Baize was one of very few—more accurately, the only—living beings who liked his divine ability.

Most living beings in the world feared and hated his ability. A small portion neither liked nor disliked it. But Baize—Baize liked Diting’s ability.

When Diting first met Baize, he heard Baize’s heart-voice—joyful and expectant: “Ah, I finally get to see you! Diting, Diting—you can hear what I’m thinking, right?”

That kind of happiness was like he’d been waiting for Diting for a very long time.

Diting immediately grew fond of this auspicious beast he’d just met. He thought: I’m going to have a very, very good friend.

Baize could speak, but he rarely spoke aloud. Most of the time, he stayed silent. He preferred having Diting directly hear what he was thinking.

But when they first met, Baize smiled until his eyes curved:

“I’m going to think about lots and lots of things. I hope you won’t find me too noisy.”

Diting didn’t think it mattered.

He didn’t actually like constantly listening to other people’s heart-voices. It was really noisy. The chaotic desires and complicated emotions of living beings turned into endlessly surging thoughts—more annoying than ten thousand geese honking at once. And how many thoughts could Baize possibly have?

Later, he discovered Baize had meant it.

If Diting was an outward drama-king who liked playing different roles and pretending to be different beings, then Baize was an inward drama-king who liked running little skits inside his own head.

“Dragon’s son Yuanwei made his mom Ao Pei mad again. Ao Pei beat him up hard, and he said he’s running away from home. Honestly Ao Pei doesn’t need to be so angry—when Yuanwei’s son Yuanjing is born in the future, he’ll understand what ‘karma’ really means, hahaha.”

【You have once again used your divine ability to watch gossip. Extremely irresponsible.】

“What’s wrong with watching gossip? Watching gossip is every living being’s natural instinct! What a waste to not use this ability to watch gossip. I’m only watching by myself—I’m not dragging anyone else into it.”

【You forgot Diting is right beside you. From now on, you can watch gossip together with him.】

“Ah, sorry… I’m used to it.” Baize apologized to him. “I really am very noisy.”

Oh. Diting understood. His new friend was an auspicious beast who talked to himself in his own heart—asking and answering his own questions, teasing himself to pass the time.

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