GRMFBS CH238

“What’s wrong?” Gu Jiancheng asked.

He felt that the way Zhan Suiru was looking at him was strange.

Zhan Suiru stared at him hard.

When she had asked Approaching Science to help her investigate someone, she had listed three conditions:

A player from Infinite — and Deep Shadow was publicly recognized as the top one among the players.

Someone with aftereffects — Deep Shadow had been wanted for more than twenty years precisely because of that.

Someone who had probably started improving around last summer — although she couldn’t determine the exact time Deep Shadow’s condition improved, it was indeed within the last two years.

Most importantly, after piercing through that final layer of paper, Zhan Suiru became certain of something: that day in the movie theater, when she had accidentally run into Yan Yan and Gu Jiancheng, the sense of danger and involuntary tension from that single exchanged glance had been exactly the same as the Deep Shadow she had hunted for three months!

“You…” Zhan Suiru narrowed her eyes, her tone turning subtly dangerous.

Their communicators rang at the same time.

Librarian: “[Location]”

“Quick, this is the most likely one so far.”

Zhan Suiru paused, barely suppressing the churning emotions in her heart. She and Gu Jiancheng exchanged a glance, then wordlessly rushed toward the new location together.

Tch… why did that tacit understanding make her feel so irritated?

Chronicle of the World was slippery as ever and still managed to get away with his messy pile of abilities. But during this chase, the two of them also confirmed a new clue.

Tu Yue organized the route they had tracked all the way through.

Librarian: “He’s running east.”

Before they had started pursuing Chronicle of the World, the scattered traces he left behind hadn’t pointed to any clear destination. During the initial phase of the pursuit, Chronicle of the World himself also hadn’t seemed to have any fixed target — he had simply been fleeing in whatever direction offered him a chance to hide.

But recently, as their pursuit intensified and the pressure on him grew greater and greater, his movement strategy had begun to change.

From his movement path, Tu Yue extracted a not-so-obvious directional trend.

Why was he insisting on running eastward? Was there something there that Chronicle of the World believed could save him? Something related to Infinite?

Librarian: “The action strategy needs to change.”

“We’re planning to send people east in advance to search and block him.”

“The two of you should split up too — one of you should head that way.”

Deep Shadow: “We’ll discuss it.”

In Gu Jiancheng’s hand was half of a torn booklet, with a cicada shell still stuck to it.

This special cicada shell was what Chronicle of the World left behind after using the “Shedding Cicada” method.

According to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’ information from Insect King, although the Shedding Cicada skill had nearly perfect concealment, it also came with its own flaw: just as a cicada nymph inevitably had to molt into a cicada, one use of the Shedding Cicada skill could only be maintained for up to one month. After one month, the skill would fail.

Just now, after Gu Jiancheng and Zhan Suiru had arrived, Chronicle of the World used the Shedding Cicada skill yet again.

By all logic, he had had no reason to do that. It had only been one week since his previous use of Shedding Cicada. But he had still seized the chance during Deep Shadow and Rong Sui’s pursuit to activate it once more, and as a result, when he later escaped, he had been forced to pay a greater price.

“There’s some reason that made him think he absolutely had to use Shedding Cicada again,” Gu Jiancheng said, flipping through the booklet before clicking his tongue lightly. This booklet contained half of Chronicle of the World’s core ability. The abilities he had stolen from others were all attached to this booklet. The part Gu Jiancheng had torn off seemed to be the back half. The front contained records of some abilities, but the latter part was blank.

Gu Jiancheng looked up, intending to discuss it with Zhan Suiru, but found her silence strangely unusual.

“What’s your opinion?” Gu Jiancheng asked.

Zhan Suiru’s mind was running on two tracks at once.

One track was focused on business. The other was furiously sorting through all the things that suddenly made sense once Deep Shadow and Gu Jiancheng were placed under the same identity — along with all the questions that still remained unresolved.

She glanced again at her communicator. There was still some time before Librarian finished organizing the locations that needed interception.

Zhan Suiru said, “I think… yes, we can have a proper talk now.”

Gu Jiancheng: ?

Why did that sentence sound so odd?

But Deep Shadow’s business-first brain won out.

“I don’t know Chronicle of the World very well. But I feel he’s avoiding you,” Gu Jiancheng said.

Zhan Suiru nodded. “Yes. He’s been trying to avoid contact with me the whole time.”

She didn’t believe her own strength was greater than Deep Shadow’s, to the point that Chronicle of the World would repeatedly choose Deep Shadow as his breakthrough point.

Zhan Suiru looked at the half-torn booklet in Deep Shadow’s hand. This was the price Chronicle of the World had paid in order to escape from Deep Shadow. This time he had probably lost quite a few accumulated abilities.

Zhan Suiru felt that if Chronicle of the World had broken through from her side instead, he might not have lost this much — her abilities and Deep Shadow’s were fundamentally different. Chronicle of the World might have been injured by her, but after escaping, he could still use his stored abilities to heal himself, assuming he had the appropriate healing skill.

But Deep Shadow’s ability had a terrifying devouring nature. Like… the gaping jaws of a monster, tearing away anything from its enemy and swallowing it. That was why he had been able to directly target Chronicle of the World’s abilities and force him to give up half the booklet — the very foundation of his survival and powers.

Chronicle of the World also came from the Infinite world. There was no way he didn’t understand Deep Shadow’s ability. Yet even so, he had still chosen to pay such a terrible price rather than face Rong Sui.

“Maybe our research direction is right,” Gu Jiancheng said, flicking the cicada shell with his fingertips. “He fears you because you placed a mental brand on Infinite.”

“He has a deep connection with Infinite’s will. Your mental brand may have been transmitted to him through that connection, but it still lacks one ‘activation.’”

“I don’t know Chronicle of the World well, but if he still hasn’t noticed by now that Shedding Cicada is what exposed his location, then he wouldn’t have climbed onto the rankings.”

“This ability may be able to shield the mental brand to a certain extent,” Zhan Suiru said, understanding what Deep Shadow meant.

As far as Chronicle of the World was concerned, as long as the mental brand on him had not been activated, he could keep hiding. The tracking caused by Shedding Cicada was only range-based, which still left him room to evade. But a mental brand could pinpoint him exactly. In that case, he would have no chance of escape.

At present, this was the most convincing hypothesis.

“So — are you going to intercept, or am I?” Gu Jiancheng asked.

Zhan Suiru gave him a deep look. Once again, Deep Shadow was putting the choice in her hands. This was not the first time it had happened since they had started acting together.

Before, she had thought it was just Deep Shadow’s confidence. But now she was tasting something else in it…

Thinking back over Deep Shadow’s attitude toward her over the past month, it really had been too friendly.

In other words, Deep Shadow had most likely discovered her identity first.

That was understandable. After all, Deep Shadow had already known about her relationship with Yang Ran. But no one would ever have guessed that Deep Shadow could be romantically involved with someone…

And yet there were still many unanswered questions. For example, how exactly had Deep Shadow’s aftereffects been cured?

Zhan Suiru knew very well how much effect her aromatic oils and blended incense beads actually had.

Those formulas had once been researched by Yang Ran. After arriving in this world, because the environment and materials of the two worlds differed, she had adjusted them somewhat.

The former Rong Sui had personally experienced the effects of every one of them. They could relieve mental pain. They had effects similar in some ways to pollution caused by Infinite, and could mitigate players’ ability aftereffects — but their effect had absolutely never reached the level of curing someone like Deep Shadow’s aftereffects.

Deep Shadow’s aftereffects had already developed into a late stage. According to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’ files, they had reached the dangerous borderline as early as the previous two years.

Her oils and incense beads might be able to alleviate aftereffects of that degree, but only alleviate them.

But Deep Shadow’s aftereffects were now in a fully healed state.

Because of that, Tu Yue had inferred that there was some healing-type powerhouse around him, while the information that Deep Shadow had a lover came from Approaching Science.

She could now confirm that the second piece of information was true. But Yan Yan was only an ordinary person — the kind who couldn’t even open yin-yang sight.

So… how exactly had Deep Shadow’s aftereffects gotten better? Was there really some mysterious “healing-type”? And what was his relationship with that healing-type?

Zhan Suiru’s face didn’t change as she replied, “That depends on whether we need to find out what Chronicle of the World is heading east for.”

If they did, then she would continue the pursuit while Deep Shadow handled interception, letting Chronicle of the World flee toward where he wanted to go and then tracing him all the way to his destination.

If they didn’t need that, then she would handle interception while Deep Shadow pursued. No matter where Chronicle of the World wanted to go, the priority would simply be catching him.

Gu Jiancheng agreed.

Now all that remained was to wait for Librarian’s message.

Zhan Suiru estimated the timing. “There’s nothing urgent right now.”

Gu Jiancheng raised a brow. She really was acting strangely today.

Zhan Suiru used her spiritual power to isolate a quiet and hidden space. Beneath the dim shadow, her eyes turned sharp. “Let’s talk… Gu Jiancheng?”

Gu Jiancheng’s pupils shrank abruptly.

He had known all along that his cover would eventually be exposed, but this was way too sudden.

It hadn’t been exposed yesterday! What happened today?

Fine, fine. He had prepared for this day long ago, hadn’t he?

Gu Jiancheng took a deep breath and removed the disguise from his face. His real appearance looked younger than the disguised face, and not as cold or severe.

The moment he changed faces, Gu Jiancheng switched states in a single second. The arrogance and danger belonging to Big Boss Deep Shadow quietly receded, like clear moonlight being taken into deep and heavy shadow. Sharpness became composure; chill became stillness.

Just like the day he had accidentally run into Zhan Suiru and Yang Ran outside the movie theater, Gu Jiancheng curled up the corners of his lips. His smile looked especially pure and harmless, but his eyes were deep and solemn, like a star whose surface was calm while its core burned fiercely.

“Although I don’t think now is a good time to have this conversation, since you brought it up… then let me reintroduce myself. Gu Jiancheng, Zhan Yan’s boyfriend.”

Zhan Suiru: …

The anger surged up.

“Deep. Shadow.” She pronounced each word slowly. “You lied to my brother?”

“Other than hiding my identity, I didn’t lie to him about anything,” Gu Jiancheng said. “Isn’t what I did exactly the same as what you did?”

Zhan Suiru, who had likewise hidden her own Chaofan identity from her younger brother: …

Before he pushed her temper too far, Gu Jiancheng immediately added, with all the sincerity he could muster: “I only recently found out that you’re his sister. There’s nothing in this world worth forcing myself to fake my feelings over. Every single interaction I’ve had with Yan Yan came from the heart.”

Zhan Suiru had originally still been relatively calm. She could understand what Deep Shadow was saying. After coming out of a place like Infinite, she herself had no desire to compromise or force anything in terms of emotion either, much less pretend to love someone.

And there wasn’t really anything in their family worth Deep Shadow targeting. If he had known her identity in advance and wanted to make use of her ability… that route was just too bizarre.

But when she heard him say the word “Yan Yan,” Zhan Suiru started internally bursting into flames again.

Who are you calling Yan Yan?!

She wanted to hit him.

Hold it in. For now, she couldn’t hit him.

Zhan Suiru: “You—”

Tu Yue’s message interrupted her just in time. “We’ve found the destination.”

Gu Jiancheng glanced at the message, then continued sincerely selling himself. “My strength is sufficient, my assets are considerable, I have no bad habits, my personality is excellent…”

Zhan Suiru couldn’t help cutting in. “Excellent personality?”

Gu Jiancheng answered smoothly, “Excellent personality toward Yan Yan. Outstanding appearance too — and if Yan Yan doesn’t like it, I can change that as well. I also—”

Zhan Suiru watched coldly as Gu Jiancheng continued marketing himself. Even though he kept saying “Yan Yan” over and over, she didn’t interrupt him, and only when he was halfway through listing his advantages did she suddenly ask, “How did your aftereffects get better?”

“Because of Yan Yan,” Gu Jiancheng said firmly.

Zhan Suiru raised a brow. “Are you trying to say my younger brother is a healing-type Chaofan being?”

Gu Jiancheng shook his head. “I know he’s an ordinary person. But it’s true that I got better because of him.”

He handed the half-torn booklet from Chronicle of the World to Zhan Suiru. “I just looked through it. There’s an ability in here used for lie detection. Take a look.”

The pollution on the booklet had already been devoured by him. It was now a prop anyone could use by simply holding it.

Zhan Suiru lowered her head to look.

[I don’t like Pinocchio, so… liars don’t grow noses!]

After she had read it clearly, Gu Jiancheng slapped the skill onto himself in one motion.

“I like Zhan Yan. My aftereffects got better because of him.”

Gu Jiancheng’s nose remained perfectly normal.

Zhan Suiru fell silent. Curing aftereffects purely through love…

Did Deep Shadow really love that hard?

Tu Yue, who had gotten no response for a long while, finally called out anxiously: “Hello? Hello? Are you two still there? Are you okay?”

Why had both combat-types suddenly gone silent? That was terrifying! Had something happened?

“It’s fine,” Gu Jiancheng answered him first.

Then the tip of his nose suddenly started shrinking downward. Gu Jiancheng cursed inwardly, swept away the skill effect with a burst of shadow, and his nose returned to normal.

“You’re in a happy relationship now. Why are you trying to stop me?” Gu Jiancheng said righteously, as the man who had helped save Yang Ran.

Zhan Suiru took a deep breath. After a moment of silence, she said, “Even if you’re very good, as Yan Yan’s sister, I still don’t want him to be with a dangerous person.”

Gu Jiancheng looked at her darkly and pointed out, “How do you even have the nerve to call me a dangerous person?”

Support me on Ko-fi