GRMFBS CH236

“What is the difference between a divine ability that cannot be used and having no divine ability at all?”

“Allowing Infinite to stay hidden is tantamount to aiding the enemy.”

“While you stagnate, your enemy is growing.”

“Your one-of-a-kind ability is precisely the embodiment of your unique self-worth.”

……

Zhan Yan stared blankly at the screen.

There was really no need to be this intensely driven, okay?!!

[Lin Yuan Ghost King Zhan Jinli thinks Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng is out of his mind.]

Zhan Yan: Inhaling oxygen frantically.

He logged into the forum and opened his direct message thread with I Just Saved the World!. In any case, he had to stop classmate Xiao Gu first!

Just as Zhan Yan was typing, a message popped up from the other side first.

I Just Saved the World!: [Do you know what’s wrong with Lin Yuan Ghost King’s divine ability?]

I Just Saved the World!: [How do you treat it?]

Classmate Xiao Gu wasn’t purely doing this to vent on behalf of his future sister-in-law; he genuinely felt that using Lin Yuan Ghost King as a wishing well was the most thrilling and satisfying period he’d ever had hunting anomalies. It would be far too much of a waste if he gave it up simply out of fear of “calamity.”

They needed to find a cure fast. If he helped heal it, he could demand reciprocation out of gratitude—wouldn’t that force Lin Yuan Ghost King to keep grinding until Infinite was completely wiped out?

Zhan Yan gazed at the chat window with mixed feelings.

He had previously been fretting over what pretext to use to bring Deep Shadow into helping Ghost King Wan Yan, and now, the excuse had delivered itself right to his doorstep.

But why did you have to go and offend him first?!

Approaching Science: [Stop trying to grind Lin Yuan Ghost King.]

Approaching Science: [His divine ability really can’t be used right now…]

Halfway through typing, Zhan Yan suddenly remembered: back when Deep Shadow had treated his brother like a wishing well to obsessively hunt Monster Doctor, it had resulted in his and Xiao Gu’s internships accidentally being split between two entirely different places.

Well, if the “calamity” is only something like that, it’s not unusable. Catching Infinite, who lurked in the dark, early on was also a good thing.

However, there was no guarantee that every “calamity” would be such a harmless, minor inconvenience; it would be disastrous if it veered in other directions…

While Zhan Yan was pondering, his brother returned.

Zhan Jinli silently took out two bags of freshly baked sweet bread and handed them to him.

[Lin Yuan Ghost King Zhan Jinli brought you the 3/7-sugar bread he developed.]

A wave of guilt washed over Zhan Yan. Wuu… His brother was already dealing with all of this, yet still remembered to research reduced-sugar sweet bread for him; how could he possibly think of pushing his brother to grind?

“Brother, you’re the best! Thank you!”

Zhan Yan gave his brother a tight hug.

Zhan Jinli froze for a moment, his expression suddenly softening as he reached out to hug his younger brother back.

After an exhausting day of exasperating nonsense—mainly Deep Shadow acting crazy for reasons unknown—his frustration unknowingly melted away amidst the genuine joy of his family.

Zhan Yan wanted to chatter on and on around his brother, but after opening and closing his mouth for two seconds, he looked down to type:

Zhan Yan: [Brother, did you see the food left for you downstairs? There’s chilled sweet fermented rice in the fridge too. The grape juice trial batch from Mentong County just came out, and a sample crate was delivered earlier. Do you want to try some?]

Watching his younger brother restrain the urge to speak to him and resort to typing with head lowered, Zhan Jinli felt another soft tug in his heart.

Sigh. Because of the flaw in his divine ability, he had barely spoken to his family while growing up. His family had always accommodated and taken care of him.

Seeing his brother like this, he must really want to chat with him out loud, right? Typing held no warmth or tone, offering nothing but cold black characters on a white screen.

Zhan Jinli thought that he needed to heal Wan Yan’s soul as soon as possible, not just for Wan Yan, but also to reclaim his demon core. Once his divine ability was whole again, he would be able to speak normally with his family.

As for Deep Shadow, who had suddenly lost his mind… Heh. If he simply ignored him, what could Deep Shadow possibly do?

Gu Jiancheng felt that his actions were completely justified.

Was he not working to save the world? As a native of this world, shouldn’t Lin Yuan Ghost King possess a sense of public devotion?

Therefore, upon receiving Approaching Science’s reply, he was very dissatisfied.

Whose side was Approaching Science actually on? The last time he cooperated with Lin Yuan Ghost King, it had been the exact same story: when he complained to Approaching Science about Lin Yuan Ghost King, Approaching Science had actually stood up for him!

I Just Saved the World!: [Grind?]

I Just Saved the World!: [With a formidable enemy at hand, shouldn’t he be working hard?]

Approaching Science still hadn’t replied.

Splendid!

I Just Saved the World!: [If you have a specialty, you should use it. Otherwise, are you waiting to be eliminated?]

I Just Saved the World!: [If there’s a flaw, you must make up for it as soon as possible. When it’s too late, regret won’t help.]

……

Zhan Yan didn’t see the messages, because his sister had returned.

Zhan Jinli was eating his meal while Zhan Yan was getting grape juice from the fridge. Caught unawares by his sister’s sudden return, Zhan Yan froze instantly.

Not good—Mom and Dad had gone to the flower market to brainstorm how to remodel the yard, so they weren’t home right now. Although he had agreed to go to the gaming expo with his sister, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t pry for information about Xiao Gu beforehand; she just wasn’t pressing him as relentlessly as before. These past few days, Zhan Yan had still been doing his best to avoid his sister whenever possible—would clinging to his brother as a shield work right now?

As soon as Zhan Suiru stepped inside, she saw her younger brother gripping the fridge door with one hand and holding grape juice with the other, staring at her with wide, startled eyes.

She figured it out in an instant, smiling at her brother: “What are you grabbing?”

Zhan Yan immediately held the bottle out: “Grape juice fresh from the fridge. Here, Sis, want a drink?”

Zhan Jinli glanced over. The grape juice his brother had fetched for him was now in his sister’s hands.

He nodded toward Zhan Suiru, gesturing toward the counter where her portion of food was waiting, then went back to eating with his head down. His sister was carrying immense psychological stress; he had to treat her well. As a mature Ghost King, he wouldn’t be childish enough to bicker over something like this with his sister.

Zhan Suiru brought her food over to sit at the table.

Zhan Yan promptly scurried over to sit on his brother’s other side. He grabbed two more bottles of grape juice, handing one to his brother and opening the other to drink himself—the main point was finding an excuse to keep his mouth busy; using his brother as a temporary shield wasn’t nearly as reliable as Mom and Dad.

Zhan Jinli felt the atmosphere was rather strange. First, he glanced left at his younger brother, who tilted his head back chugging grape juice to avoid his gaze; then he glanced right at his sister, who flashed back a beaming smile that looked suspiciously like she was plotting something mischievous.

Did I miss something? Why does it feel like my sister and brother are keeping little secrets behind my back?

Zhan Jinli finished his food first. He glanced at the bottle of grape juice in his brother’s hand, which was still less than one-third finished.

He typed:

Zhan Jinli: [I still have things to do, I’ll be leaving in a bit.]

He still needed to meet with the Artisan to consult on the spiritual artifacts required for the Ghost Festival. Coming home at noon was strictly to grab lunch.

Zhan Yan panicked: “Ah?”

If his brother left, wouldn’t that leave just him and his sister at home?

Zhan Suiru watched Zhan Yan’s tiny panic-stricken expressions with an amused grin: “I have matters to attend to at the studio as well, so I’ll be leaving right after eating.”

The Ghost Festival took place after the gaming expo. She wanted to finish the spiritual artifacts Lin Yuan Ghost King needed before the expo so tasks could be ticked off one by one without piling up together.

Going home at noon was purely to enjoy the delicious cooking made by Dad.

Still, teasing her younger brother was truly so much fun.

Zhan Yan: … Hmph!

Tease all you want, you deserve to get dragged into overtime by Brother.

If Brother hadn’t pressured her into overtime, Sister wouldn’t be heading back to the studio and would instead keep searching for chances to grill him about Xiao Gu… Wait, why did something feel off here?

Zhan Yan untangled the logic once more.

If Brother hadn’t pushed Sister into overtime, Xiao Gu wouldn’t have targeted Brother, and if Xiao Gu hadn’t targeted Brother, he wouldn’t need to push himself to grind even harder…

Wuu… so it really is all Infinite’s fault!

Once his brother and sister had both left, Zhan Yan went upstairs to continue his own grind. In just that short span of time, Gu Jiancheng had barraged him with a whole string of messages.

… It’s really not necessary, totally not necessary. You weren’t this talkative back when you were wearing the Deep Shadow persona either!

Approaching Science: [I had something going on just now and didn’t get to reply in time.]

The incoming messages from the opposite side abruptly halted.

Approaching Science: [Lin Yuan Ghost King’s divine ability can’t be restored for now. I’m organizing the relevant clues.]

Approaching Science: [Although I don’t know what kind of “calamity” it will be, things termed “calamity” generally develop in directions people don’t want.]

Approaching Science: [Once I find the clues, I’ll let you know.]

Silence settled over the other side, likely because he had remembered the painful memory of being assigned to an internship at a pig farm.

Zhan Yan scrolled back through the chat logs, reading Xiao Gu’s string of ultra-grindset preachings once, and then quietly reading through them again.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long while before typing out a line: This world does not eliminate people, and one’s shortcomings can always be complemented by friends.

Approaching Science: [Balance work and rest, Boss. You don’t have to push yourself so hard either.]

[Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng pondered your suggestion, thought it made a lot of sense, and decided to call you half an hour earlier tonight.]

Zhan Yan: … Hopeless. Completely hopeless. How does calling half an hour earlier count as balancing work and rest?!

A headache. But also a little sweet.

What else could he do? Sigh, he’d better keep grinding himself first; once Infinite was handled, there would be nothing left to grind over.

Time to check the clues compiled by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Zhan Yan began investigating the documents Nie Yu had handed over one by one, cross-referencing his progress with Nie Yu’s team to avoid redundant work.

By nightfall, Zhan Yan checked through everyone’s gossip strips as usual.

Classmate Xiao Gu was pushing himself to clear anomalies.

Brother was pushing himself to research how to use the Ghost Festival to heal souls.

Sister was pushing herself alongside Yang Ran to forge the spiritual artifacts requested by Lin Yuan Ghost King as early as possible.

And he was pushing himself to level up the Gossip System, locate the lost single horn of the cat Wan Yan, protect Xiao Gu’s fake identity trail, cross-examine the clues from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau…

Three days later, Zhan Yan had completely eaten his way through all the decompression dumplings in Dawn World.

Approaching Science: [I’ve investigated 18 pages backward and found 12 anomalies. What’s your progress?]

Administrator Lingyu: [Page 28. I checked, only 8 pages left. Hang in there, almost done.]

Approaching Science: [You said that two days ago.]

Approaching Science: [[Pain]]

Approaching Science: [Why is there more and more work the more we do it.]

At the very beginning, there were only a dozen-odd pages in total, but now it had ballooned to over fifty pages. 8, 18, 28—they were truly cursed by the number 8.

Administrator Lingyu: [[Pat on shoulder]]

Administrator Lingyu: [Discovering problems is always faster than investigating them.]

[After learning of your assistance, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau reassigned some personnel responsible for investigations to positions dedicated to uncovering anomalies.]

Zhan Yan: …

Agony. Yet he couldn’t blame the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau for piling the pressure on him. The problems regarding anomalies existed whether discovered or not; uncovering more meant they could resolve more.

Approaching Science: [Do you think we can catch a big fish?]

The reason the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had clung so stubbornly to these scattered leads was that they sensed unusual patterns beneath them. During his investigations, Zhan Yan had noticed it too; while these faint traces proved very little on their own, anyone who had dealt with Infinite for a prolonged period would share this intuition—he constantly felt there was a massive fish concealed underneath these disjointed phenomena.

Yet digging through them one by one without striking gold inevitably tested one’s patience. Especially when he currently had a mountain of tasks demanding his attention.

Administrator Lingyu: [We haven’t come away empty-handed either. Haven’t we found a lot of anomalies?]

Approaching Science: [These are all minor anomalies.]

Seeing his complaints, Nie Yu felt that Approaching Science’s impatience was quite similar to their Team Leader’s—both held utter disdain toward opponents that were too weak; truly worthy of being a fan.

Nie Yu expertly smoothed his ruffled feathers.

Administrator Lingyu: [Don’t worry. Who knows, maybe the next one is it.]

Zhan Yan let out a sigh; even after receiving comforting words, work still had to be done.

He re-sorted the individuals and locations on the list that had flagged anomalies. Many entries on these rosters turned out to be completely innocuous. For instance, aunties wearing facekinis for sun protection.

Just as he was about to keep combing through, Zhan Yan’s phone rang.

Oh, right. Classmate Xiao Gu had taken Approaching Science’s advice on “balancing work and rest” with absolute earnestness, calling him earlier and earlier each evening these past few days.

Zhan Yan had already consumed all the decompression dumplings, leaving only a handful inside the core zone specifically for squishing to relieve stress. But merely squeezing them without being able to swallow them whole with a squelch left the stress-relief feeling somewhat muted.

While chatting with Gu Jiancheng, he couldn’t help drifting off slightly, his thoughts wandering back to organizing the clues on the anomalies.

Gu Jiancheng picked up on his distraction and asked hesitantly, “Yan Yan, do you like the kind of… um, cooler adult toys?”

“What?” Zhan Yan snapped back to reality all at once.

Gu Jiancheng was referring to toys from Polar Radiance.

He had searched them up after returning home. Polar Radiance had an online store and was already a registered brand. It was quite famous within niche circles.

In the webstore, he had spotted a newly released product combining LEDs with an electric fan. When turned on in the dark, the LEDs would light up according to pre-programmed patterns, forming glowing magic arrays, vortexes, and similar designs as the fan blades spun rapidly, looking exceptionally cool.

What made it even cooler was that this large fan could pair with a matching wand toy they designed. The head of the wand also had visual effects, but it actually served as a remote control, allowing one to manipulate the fan’s changing patterns via hidden buttons along the wand.

This was a newly released model; incorporating a fan made it ideal for summer, and physical Polar Radiance shops hadn’t even stocked it yet—which meant Zhan Suiru hadn’t seen it either.

Gu Jiancheng had originally planned to give it as a surprise gift, but he couldn’t help recalling the disaster from the last time he tried creating a surprise… Anxiety set in. He constantly felt he no longer understood Yan Yan.

Thus, it was better to ask in advance.

Zhan Yan was frantically flipping through his gossip strips. Having spaced out a moment ago, he hadn’t caught the full context of Gu Jiancheng’s question, catching only the last few words.

[Gu Jiancheng feels your condition isn’t great, and thinks you might like the toys from “Polar Radiance”.]

He breathed a sigh of relief. But only partially.

He knew that with Xiao Gu’s personality, he couldn’t possibly be that wild. While he was indeed very interested in all the cool gadgets from Polar Radiance, still…

Do you really have to spread your wings and soar right on the brink of blowing your secret identity?