GRMFBS CH235

When it comes to ordering a giant private custom figure of someone, well—when the original person hasn’t found out, you can fool around however you like. But once the original person finds out, things get awkward. And if the original person comes right to your door in person, then it gets even more awkward…

Even a big-shot lord like Zhan Suiru rarely found herself speechless. In the silence, she decided to blacklist the Tie Lao Ghost King a hundred times over.

“Y-you…” Zhan Suiru had only just managed to say a single word.

At last the “Linyuan” puppet broke free from its restraints. “I was signaling you with my eyes for half the day—how could you not understand? I’m telling you, this guy is incredibly hard to deal with. I barely said two sentences before he tied me up. Do you know how much of a pervert he is? He said he wanted all the cats in this world to have no ears and no tai—”

Zhan Suiru fell silent once again.

The corner of Zhan Jinli’s mouth lifted slightly. “I want you to accept a commission.”

Well then, how could Zhan Suiru possibly refuse? Right now, Linyuan Ghost King had not made any demands over the fact that she had used his image to make a puppet with such a strange personality. But if she rejected Linyuan Ghost King’s commission, then that might not remain the case.

Now she understood why the Tie Lao Ghost King had suddenly sent her messages introducing Linyuan Ghost King’s curse abilities.

Meanwhile.

Gu Jiancheng received a message from Rong Sui. She informed him that something urgent had come up and she needed to pause their discussion for a bit.

While waiting, he kept thinking things over.

Infinite was hiding itself too well. Even the information that Approaching Science could find was limited, but they still had another angle.

Rong Sui had placed a mental brand on Infinite’s will. Although the main purpose of that brand was to restrict Infinite’s ability to devour other worlds rather than track it, that didn’t mean there wasn’t some way to work with it.

He and Zhan Suiru were currently trying to figure out that method.

If they could solve it, then he wouldn’t need to keep fixating on Monster Doctor all the time.

Just as he was mulling this over, another message arrived.

Rong Sui: “Sorry, I can’t work on this for the next few days.”

Linyuan Ghost King was rushing her order too hard—he wanted it before the Ghost Festival, and after it was done they’d still need to leave time for testing. For the next few days she could only focus on Linyuan Ghost King’s commission first, so this matter would have to be put aside for now.

Gu Jiancheng was very dissatisfied with Linyuan Ghost King’s behavior of pressuring and coercing his future sister-in-law into overtime work.

Tch. How could such a huge Ghost King be this petty?

He felt Linyuan Ghost King needed to be pushed a little.

Last time, when the two of them had cooperated in tracing clues about the drunken fish grass, they had exchanged contact information—something Zhan Jinli now very much regretted.

Deep Shadow: “Any news about Infinite, Monster Doctor, or the Chronicle of the World?”

The moment Zhan Jinli saw his chat window, he thought of those days when Deep Shadow had pushed him so hard he practically lived and died by the grind. He stared at the chat box for several seconds, very unwilling to open it.

But Deep Shadow was not the kind of person who messaged others just to chat idly, and given his strength, every message from Deep Shadow was worth taking seriously.

Reluctantly, Zhan Jinli opened the message window.

Oh, oh—he was asking about news related to Infinite. Zhan Jinli let out a breath of relief. He had thought Deep Shadow was here to grind him again.

Linyuan: “No.”

Zhan Jinli replied very straightforwardly.

It wasn’t as if he specialized in information-related abilities anyway.

Deep Shadow: “I’ve already asked every information-type I know.”

“They don’t have anything either.”

Zhan Jinli thought Deep Shadow was acting a little strange. Why was he saying all this?

Deep Shadow: “Infinite is hiding very deeply right now. The longer we drag this out, the more time we’re giving it to recover.”

“Can you use your Misfortune-and-Blessing Interdependence to draw it out?”

Zhan Jinli: …Of course. He knew Deep Shadow wouldn’t come to him for anything good! He really was trying to grind him again!

Linyuan: “Misfortune-and-Blessing Interdependence attracts calamity.”

Zhan Jinli explained calmly.

Deep Shadow: “Can’t you redirect the calamity onto Infinite or Monster Doctor instead?”

Zhan Jinli: …If I could do that, I’d make a wish right now that I never had to cooperate with you again.

Deep Shadow: “Even if you can just choose the direction of the calamity, that’s enough.”

As long as it wasn’t adding more twists and obstacles to his romantic path, Big Boss Deep Shadow had nothing else left to fear!

Linyuan: “I suggest you stop placing your hopes on my divine ability for now.”

Deep Shadow: “If you avoid using it just because you fear the side effects, then this divine ability might as well not exist.”

Zhan Jinli: …

That hit right in the heart. It wasn’t merely “might as well not exist”—right now, it was actually worse than not existing. Every time he thought back to how, the last time around, his divine ability had been used by Deep Shadow like a wish machine while he himself had been unable to stop it, Zhan Jinli felt a knot in his chest.

Deep Shadow: “Need my help?”

Linyuan: “Thank you, but no need. I’m currently trying to solve it.”

Once Wanyan’s soul was healed, he could retrieve his demon core. Once his divine ability was complete again, it naturally wouldn’t be like it was now.

Deep Shadow: “How long will it take to solve?”

Linyuan: “No idea. You’d better look for another solution.”

And even if I solve it, I’m not telling you. Tell you so you can turn around and grind me with it? Heh.

Linyuan Ghost King cut off the communication. Gu Jiancheng clicked his tongue.

He had never seen such a lazy Ghost King. It had been twenty-seven years and he still hadn’t fixed the issues with his divine ability. God knew what he spent his days doing, and yet he still had the energy to dump more work on his future sister-in-law.

Fine. Let Linyuan have a little time to adjust first. In a while, he’d come back and help Linyuan improve his understanding of realizing his own self-worth.

Gu Jiancheng decided to ask over at the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau first and see whether there were any new clues.

And there actually were, though not major ones.

An information-type like Approaching Science might be very powerful, but no matter what, a lone wolf would always overlook some things. The advantage of organizations like the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance was that they had many members, could cooperate, and had a much wider range of attention.

Recently, they had discovered some traces suspected to be related to Infinite and the lackeys it had bewitched, and were currently investigating them.

The moment Deep Shadow heard the word “investigating,” he gave up. He’d wait until they had actual results.

Gu Jiancheng thought it over and decided that Approaching Science was still more reliable.

So he went back to grinding Approaching Science.

[The One Who Just Saved the World!]: “Still haven’t found any clues?”

“The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau has already found leads.”

“Your speed really isn’t cutting it.”

For the past several days, Zhan Yan had been very self-disciplined in grinding himself through work. While hanging up gossip lines, collecting information tags to level up, he was also continuing to work hard to preserve Xiao Gu’s cover in front of his sister, while looking for clues and opportunities that would let Xiao Gu gain favorability in front of his brother.

He had just exited the Dawn World and opened the forum backend private messages when he saw this.

Heh! Every single day, all this guy knew how to do was grind!

Approaching Science: “Yes, yes, yes, my speed isn’t cutting it.”

“Then go find someone whose speed is cutting it.”

Even after complaining, Zhan Yan still dutifully went to poke Administrator Ling Yu and ask about what they had found.

No matter what, Infinite still held the highest level of alert.

Administrator Ling Yu: “How did you know?”

Before Zhan Yan even replied, she reacted on her own.

“Deep Shadow told you?”

Approaching Science: “Yep.”

Administrator Ling Yu: “Wait, I’ll send you a report.”

“[File]”

By now she was already used to it. There was no need to file an application anymore—anyway, the deputy bureau chief would approve it. At first Nie Yu hadn’t been used to it, but after several times, she had figured it out. Wasn’t Approaching Science basically just a very autonomous and extremely powerful outside ally?—He didn’t even ask for points anymore.

Zhan Yan accepted the file, glanced through it, and couldn’t help holding his breath.

Approaching Science: “Why are there so many?”

The report listed a huge batch of suspicious individuals, and then, very responsibly, gave detailed reasons explaining why each one was suspicious. Just the suspicious persons list alone ran over ten pages, and after that there were also a number of suspicious phenomena.

There was so much of it, and all of it was so scattered. If he had to search these one by one, how many gossip threads was he going to have to check?

Nie Yu kindly gave him a suggestion.

Administrator Ling Yu: “You can start from the back. The Bureau will go from the front. I’ll tell you our progress every day, so we won’t duplicate effort.”

With a heavy heart, Zhan Yan accepted her suggestion.

But he really didn’t want to work.

Holding Xingxing in his arms, he rolled around on the bed. “Xingxing, tell me—how can something as annoying as Infinite possibly exist in this world?!”

It was all Infinite’s fault that he had to work overtime. He was checking gossip lines because of Infinite, hurrying to level up because of Infinite, collecting Candle Dragon power and searching for Wanyan’s horn because of the things Infinite had caused, and all his family members were using cover identities… anyway, blaming Infinite for everything was definitely correct!

Xingxing got so dizzy he felt lightheaded, and softly pushed at him with one little paw.

Miiya, stop fooling around! It’s time to eat!

Zhan Yan put Xingxing down. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

Ah, in this cold and merciless overachiever world, only the food his dad made could soothe his wounded soul.

Today Brother and Sister weren’t home. They had both said they’d be returning late, so their meals had been set aside in advance. At the dining table there were only Dad, Mom, and Zhan Yan.

Roasted pork ribs with roasted eggplant, and sweet fermented pear soup.

So delicious, wu wu wu!

After eating, Zhan Yan was preparing to head upstairs and continue grinding himself.

“Yan Yan, how come you haven’t gone out to play lately?” Ji Yueming asked.

[Zhan Yunkai and Ji Yueming have noticed that you’ve been cooped up at home lately. Aside from exercising and eating, you hardly leave your room, and they’re very worried about you.]

Zhan Yan suddenly understood. Right—during his previous vacations, he had gone out for internships and participated in events, but this vacation, after coming home, aside from the one time the whole family went to the movies together, he had spent all the rest of the time shut up at home. Although that was because he was too busy with all kinds of things, his parents didn’t know that.

“I just finished three months of internship. I only came home a few days ago,” Zhan Yan quickly came up with a reason. “In a couple of days, the Dawn Continent game is participating in an expo, and Sis and I already agreed to go together.”

For the moment, that reason convinced his parents.

Once he got back to his room, Zhan Yan sighed worriedly. That excuse could work for a while, but not for an entire vacation. Hmm… maybe he should go stay somewhere else next? But where would he go? And what reason would he use?

Go stay with Xiao Gu? Heh, absolutely not. Xiao Gu had started grinding him again, so there was no way he was going. Xiao Gu was bursting with energy and didn’t rest day or night. If he went over there, he’d have to play with Xiao Gu during the day, and at night he’d still have to use the Approaching Science cover to grind with him. Would that even count as living anymore?

He’d worry about that when the time came. Over the past couple of days, he had almost finished restoring all the hidden patterns in Di Ting’s information.

First get this done. According to the pattern in how he used the Candle Dragon’s power, the information he got from a “Spirit” star should be related to what he was currently thinking about. These patterns very likely contained information related to Di Ting’s missing horn.

Once he sorted it all out, he could think of a way to get Deep Shadow involved. That way, Xiao Gu’s favorability score with his brother would be secured.

Oh right, these past few days he had been too busy to pay attention to his brother and Wanyan Cat. The Ghost Festival was coming soon, and he had no idea how things were going on their side.

So Zhan Yan began searching the gossip feed:

[Linyuan Ghost King, Zhan Jinli, used the excuse that the “Linyuan” puppet created by Artisan had damaged his image, and demanded that Artisan, Zhan Suiru, accept his commission and complete it before the Ghost Festival.]

[After Deep Shadow, Gu Jiancheng, learned that it was Linyuan Ghost King, Zhan Jinli, who had pressured and coerced his future sister-in-law, Zhan Suiru, into working overtime to create a magical artifact, he became dissatisfied with Linyuan Ghost King.]

There were even more detailed gossip lines after that.

Deep Shadow had already gone head-to-head with Linyuan Ghost King and was now frantically PUA-ing his brother.

Zhan Yan: …Help!

Could life still go on like this or not?!

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