GRMFBS CH250

Zhan Yan noticed a pink dot appear on the edge of the mini-map, and when he zoomed in, it was even shaped like a little heart.

He turned his head to look in that direction.

He was shocked. How did Xiao Gu get here so fast?

Zhan Yan raised his arm and waved at him.

Gu Jiancheng ran over, vaulted directly over the pavilion railing, and stared fixedly at Wan Yan…

Wan Yan glanced at him and twitched his cat ears.

Heh, just the chef’s human pendant.

The little cat turned his head away and ignored him.

Gu Jiancheng: Heh.

As if anyone cares about you.

“You mentioned before that you were coming to the gaming convention. I had some free time these past two days so I came too, and I happened to be nearby.” Gu Jiancheng sat down tightly pressed against him.

Student Xiao Gu, explaining yourself so eagerly makes you look very guilty. Good thing I’m playing along with you.

Zhan Yan nodded: “That’s perfect. We can hang out for a couple more days before school starts.”

“I’ll book a hotel,” Zhan Yan said. “We can stay together.”

Gu Jiancheng’s eyes lit up: “Okay, okay.”

Zhan Yan began searching for bed and breakfasts that allowed pets—Little Cat Wan Yan had come all this way to find him, so he definitely had to bring him along. He was also thinking that keeping Little Cat Wan Yan around might be helpful in finding his missing horn.

“Then this afternoon I’ll go move my luggage to the new place,” Zhan Yan said as he searched.

“Okay, ok—” Gu Jiancheng suddenly realized something. “Wait, you already have a place to stay, why do you need to change?”

His sharp eyes caught sight of the [Pet-Friendly] tag Zhan Yan had selected. “You want to bring him?”

Gu Jiancheng pointed at Little Cat Wan Yan in disbelief.

Little Cat Wan Yan meowed at him unhappily. I’m hanging out with my friend, what’s it to you?

Zhan Yan started spouting nonsense excuses: “Look at how much destiny we share. From my house, to school, to my internship, and now we bumped into him here again. How can I just ignore him?”

Gu Jiancheng: …But he’s not a cat! He’s the Ghost King Wan Yan!! He has ulterior motives for following you like this!!!

The two stared at each other.

—I know he’s the Ghost King Wan Yan, but you don’t know he’s the Ghost King Wan Yan…
—I know he’s the Ghost King Wan Yan, and I know that you know he’s the Ghost King Wan Yan, but you don’t know that I know he’s the Ghost King Wan Yan…

It was a total Matryoshka doll situation.

Just as the two were locked in a stalemate, a notification popped up from the Gossip System:

[According to the latest “City Life Management Regulations,” to bring a pet into a hotel, the pet must have proper pet identification documents.]

Zhan Yan froze. He looked down at the rental regulations, and sure enough, a pet ID was required to bring a pet inside.

Little Cat Wan Yan definitely didn’t have a cat ID… If they went to get one now, leaving aside whether there was enough time, Wan Yan definitely wouldn’t accept it. Even with his abnormal brain circuitry, Wan Yan could never accept the health checkup phase. Letting people casually touch and hold him—does the great Ghost King not need face?

So, changing hotels didn’t matter anymore, because Wan Yan couldn’t get in anyway.

Wan Yan ran off in a huff.

Gu Jiancheng was happy now. Seeing the beads of sweat on Zhan Yan’s forehead, he very eagerly offered to go buy ice cream.

There was a kiosk selling ice cream right inside the pet park. Because it was close to the gaming convention, foot traffic was high recently, bringing a lot of customers to this kiosk too. In the middle of summer, you had to line up to buy ice cream and cold drinks, but fortunately, an awning had been set up outside the kiosk.

While waiting in line, Gu Jiancheng sent a message to Zhan Suiru.

He was slightly dissatisfied with her. She had just said Yanyan was being targeted, so how could she leave him here all alone? What if the Infinite took advantage of this opening to ambush them?

Zhan Suiru had just returned from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

She had tried it. After initial mental contact, she could sense the Chronicle of the World’s presence within a hundred-meter radius. As her mental energy deepened the mental imprint, this range could expand further.

However, the Chronicle of the World had been beaten too brutally by Deep Shadow, and the Bureau hadn’t treated him properly, so he currently couldn’t withstand the mental pressure of the process. Zhan Suiru regretfully had to pause, making an appointment with the Bureau to call her back to continue her research once they had squeezed all the information out of him.

Of course, there was another reason she paused—the Ghost King Lin Yuan was rushing her work.

The Ghost King Lin Yuan expressed: I understood before and let you go catch the Chronicle of the World, but now that you’re back, why aren’t you hurrying up with the work?

He had already tested the artifact prototype Rong Sui delivered and felt some parts could be further improved. So Zhan Suiru hurried back to make revisions. She had no choice; who told her to get caught using his puppet?

After modifying the second version, she handed it to the Ghost King Lin Yuan to test. While waiting for the results, she received Gu Jiancheng’s message.

Zhan Suiru regretted it the moment she saw his text. She really had spoken too soon earlier… she wanted to unsend it.

Rong Sui: “Don’t worry, my brother is very safe now.”
“Once school starts, you don’t need to tightly protect him either. You can go busy yourself with your own things.”
“Having you constantly watch him is too exhausting.”

Gu Jiancheng: ???

What was wrong with Rong Sui? Was she trying to back out of the deal?

Deep Shadow: “It’s not exhausting.”
“I am happy to do it.”

Rong Sui: “Don’t you still have to track down the Monster Doctor?”

Deep Shadow: “I can manage.”
“Yanyan’s safety is the most important.”

Zhan Suiru was just about to continue replying when the Ghost King Lin Yuan reached out again. He had new requirements.

The client was rushing her urgently, so Zhan Suiru had to temporarily set aside her hopeless battle of words with Deep Shadow and continue revising the third version.

It was Gu Jiancheng’s turn in line. He put down his communicator, chose two ice creams and a large cold drink, grabbed a “Y”-shaped straw, and went back to find Zhan Yan.

Zhan Yan finished his ice cream and casually reached for the drink. Just as he was about to ask why there was only one cup, he saw the “Y”-shaped straw.

Oh my, my… He looked at Xiao Gu with a teasing half-smile. Student Xiao Gu kept a perfectly straight face: “I calculated it. The price per milliliter of the large cup is cheaper than the small cup.”

On the other end, Zhan Suiru finally finished modifying the third version. She sent the item to the Ghost King Lin Yuan, picked her communicator back up, and suddenly realized something.

Rong Sui: “How did you know Yanyan was alone?”
“Did you go find my brother?”

No one replied. Gu Jiancheng was currently busy moving hotels with Zhan Yan—moving Gu Jiancheng’s luggage into their hotel.

Zhan Suiru stared daggers at her screen.

That scheming man!

Before she could gnash her teeth for long, the Ghost King Lin Yuan’s new requirements came in again.

Lin Yuan: “I feel like this part can be improved a bit more…”

Zhan Jinli wasn’t intentionally making things difficult for her. It was mainly because the Ghost Festival was too special of an occasion—it only came once a year. If they fell short a little this year, it would be delayed to next year. If they fell short again next year, it would be delayed to the year after. Dragging it out year by year, who knew when it would finally be right? So from the very first year, there could be no shortcomings. He wanted to make sure every aspect was comprehensively considered this time.

But without an artifact that had been tested in practice, no matter how much thought went into the functional design, it was just an empty concept. Right now, he could only test it in a simulated underworld environment, and every time he tested it, he discovered new problems.

Back and forth, they fussed all the way up to version 16. Zhan Jinli sighed.

Lin Yuan: “Version 1’s effect is still the best.”

Zhan Suiru: …

Can a Ghost King die a second time?

Artisan: “O·kay·then”

Zhan Jinli also knew this wasn’t very kind, so his attitude was extremely good.

Lin Yuan: “Thank you for your hard work.”
“On the foundation of Version 1, please add this part from Version 4, this part from Version 12, and the feature from the version you just made.”

Zhan Suiru finished making Version 17 and sent it to him.

Artisan: “Are there any other problems?”
“[Smile]”

It was only because she was collaborating with Xiao Ran. If it were anyone else, let’s see who could satisfy his pile of messy demands!

Taking that order from the Iron Prison Ghost King back then was such a loss… Block Iron Prison a hundred more times!

Lin Yuan: “No other problems. Could you please just change the color of the artifact?”
“[Image]”
“Change it to look like this.”

Zhan Suiru: ???

Was that necessary? Does color affect the artifact’s function now?

Perhaps knowing his back-and-forth revision requests were too excruciating, the Ghost King Lin Yuan proactively sent an explanation this time.

Lin Yuan: “Color is related to the Five Elements, directions, timing, etc., and will affect the fortune and destiny.”

Zhan Suiru: Fine, fine, I get it. She almost forgot, the Ghost King Lin Yuan’s divine power was ‘Fortune and Misfortune are Interdependent’.

It was normal for a bigshot with an ability related to destiny to care extra about fortune.

Zhan Suiru changed the artifact’s color, sent over Version 18, and finally got the nod of approval from the Ghost King Lin Yuan.

She breathed a sigh of relief, lazily threw herself onto the sofa, and the very first thing she did afterward was block the Ghost King Lin Yuan!

“Finally done with this.”

Looking at her communicator, Deep Shadow still hadn’t replied.

Zhan Suiru snorted and sent a message to her brother.

Zhan Suiru: “He went to find you?”
Zhan Yan: “You were the one who told him to stick to me.”
Zhan Suiru: “Little brother has learned to side with outsiders now!”
Zhan Yan: “Sis~”
Zhan Suiru: “How long do you guys plan to stay out?”

Carrying a huge chunk of guilt, Zhan Yan replied: “I was planning to hang out for a few extra days anyway.”

Hanging out until school starts…

Xiao Gu had just told him that a neighboring city was hosting some large-scale event in two days, and he had already agreed to go together.

Zhan Yan: “I’m covered in sweat, I’m going to take a shower first.”

Feeling guilty, he turned off his phone screen and went to shower.

In the family group chat, Mom and Dad sent new messages.

Ji Yueming: “[Image] [Image] [Image]”
“This place is really nice. Next time the whole family can travel here together.”

Zhan Yunkai: “We’ll just have to wait for Yanyan’s next holiday, right?”
“How has everyone been these past few days?”

Ji Yueming: “Suiru and Yanyan are at the gaming convention, right? Are you having fun?”
“What about Jinli? Is there anywhere you want to go?”

Zhan Yunkai: “There’s a very quiet spot at Qixia Mountain, suitable for camping. You can fish if you want to.”

Zhan Suiru: “The convention was quite fun. I had some business at the studio, so I came back first. Yanyan is still there.”
“We bought several single-player games for older brother.”

Her socially anxious eldest brother didn’t like going out. Playing single-player games at home was pretty good for him.

Zhan Jinli: “I like staying at home.”
“As long as you guys have fun, it’s fine.”

He didn’t need to go camping. His sister had been stressed, so as long as she and his younger brother went out and had fun, it was fine.

The siblings were extremely harmonious and loving.

Looking at her brother’s reply, Zhan Suiru felt he was quite pitiful. Everyone else went out to play, leaving him home alone every day guarding his cake shop… Her eldest brother was also the only ordinary person in the family.

Sigh, why don’t I go check on him at the shop. Previously his business had been poor, and later when it got better, it became a hellscape for his social anxiety. Now it had finally stabilized—not too busy, not too desolate.

Zhan Suiru acted on her thoughts, getting up to head to the cake shop to visit her eldest brother.

Since the Ghost King Lin Yuan’s garbage order was done anyway, she had free time now.

Yang Ran was very regretful: “Ah, I didn’t have time to bake the cookies yet…”

Zhan Suiru: …Silly boy, you put so much effort into the cookies that my brother noticed.

Yang Ran instantly understood her gaze: “T-then should I hold off on sending them for now?”

Zhan Suiru: “Don’t send them for the short term.”

It was better to let her brother relax his guard first.

Yang Ran: “What about your younger brother’s?”

Zhan Suiru: “Yanyan hasn’t come back yet. Wait until he’s back, I’ll secretly give them to him when my brother isn’t looking.”

Zhan Jinli put down his phone.

His younger brother planned to stay out and play for two more days… didn’t that mean he wouldn’t be able to eat the pastries he made for several days? How about he make some cookies and mail them over? Cookies could be stored longer and wouldn’t go stale by the next day.

The artifact for the Ghost Festival was finally done. Since he had time now, he would go to the shop and make some cookies.

Sweet Sweet Cake Shop.

Bright sunlight streamed through the large, spotless glass windows. Cake display models of all sizes looked exquisite and adorable. The sweet aroma of cream, jam, and cheese wafted through the crack of the glass door, almost making one imagine their soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Zhan Suiru pushed the door open. The doorbell chimed with a pleasant ring.

“Welcome to Sweet Sweet Cake Shop,” the baby-faced employee smiled at her gently.

Zhan Suiru stared fixedly at the baby-faced employee.

Isn’t this the puppet I sold previously? Why is it working as an employee in my brother’s shop?! What is going on? Was my brother targeted by people from the supernatural world too?

Today it was the Black Ghost’s turn to be on duty inside the baby-faced puppet. The other four ghosts were muttering in the corner.

Red Ghost: “Eh, eh, eh? Isn’t this Lord Lin Yuan’s sister?”
Green Ghost: “What, what, what?!”
Yellow Ghost: “Oh my! Then we can’t let Black Ghost handle the shift by himself today!”
White Ghost: “Right, right! Everyone needs to take turns!”

Ever since they got into a fight over serving Lord Lin Yuan’s younger brother last time, the five ghosts had discussed what to do if they encountered this situation again. They couldn’t fight every time, otherwise the puppet’s movements would glitch out, and people would think there was something wrong with them.

Yellow Ghost: “As expected of Lord Lin Yuan’s sister, she looks so beautiful.”
Red Ghost: “Yes, yes, sister is pretty, brother is cute. And after the brother went back last time, he really did tell Lord Lin Yuan to raise our wages~”
White Ghost: “Ah, the little brother is so nice~”
Green Ghost: “It’s my turn, it’s my turn! Black Ghost, move out of the way!”

Zhan Suiru: Wait! What do these five little ghosts mean? The Ghost King Lin Yuan is my brother?!

That’s impossible, right? Yanyan didn’t tell me! Yanyan peeled off both Mom and Dad’s secret identities, there’s no reason he would leave Brother’s identity hidden.

Moreover, if my brother is the Ghost King Lin Yuan, doesn’t that mean there isn’t a single ordinary person in our family? What are the astronomical odds of that!

Are these five little ghosts messing with me?!

Swapped with the Green Ghost’s core, the baby-faced puppet employee suddenly became extremely lively: “Is there anything you would like? Cakes, bread, pastries? We can custom-make them all~ The egg tarts are fresh out of the oven and super delicious!”

Red Ghost: “Don’t get carried away, you idiot! The ones in that cabinet were hand-made by Lord Lin Yuan! Do you want to give his sister diabetes?!”
White Ghost: “The sister wouldn’t suddenly want to eat Lord Lin Yuan’s sweets like the younger brother did, would she…”
Black Ghost: “Please no—”
Red Ghost: “Wuwuwu, I don’t want to be scolded by Lord Lin Yuan again!”
Black Ghost: “How about Green Ghost steps down and I go back up?”
Yellow Ghost: “In your dreams! If Green Ghost steps down, it’s my turn.”

Zhan Suiru watched helplessly as these five little ghosts bustled about swapping cores and gossiping right in front of her, while the Green Ghost version of the baby-faced puppet stared at her with sparkling eyes.

She smiled gently: “I’m just browsing for now. When did you start working as an employee here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

Baby-Face (Green Ghost Version) started counting on its fingers: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…”

Yellow Ghost shoved him down and replied calmly: “Three months and twelve days. I’m not a new employee anymore.”

Red Ghost chimed in: “That’s right, we’ve been following Lord Lin Yuan for hundreds of years.”
Green Ghost: “We are super veteran employees!”
White Ghost: “Why are you saying all this? The sister can’t hear us anyway…”

Zhan Suiru calculated the dates. It matched perfectly with the time she sold the puppet to the Ghost King Lin Yuan.

Very well, the timeline matches up. But my brother is socially anxious, and the Ghost King Lin Yuan is NOT socially anxious.

Zhan Suiru: “You don’t need to entertain me so much, I’m just here to take a look.”
“My brother doesn’t like to talk. When you’re working with him normally, thanks for bearing with him.”

Baby-Face (Yellow Ghost Version) was very steady: “It’s no trouble at all, the store manager is a very nice person.”

Green Ghost: “Sigh, it’s not like Lord Lin Yuan is silent towards us.”
White Ghost: “So why does His Lordship insist on staying in the human world… His divine power doesn’t have any issues when facing ghosts.”
Red Ghost: “Exactly, exactly! It’s been twenty-seven years, wuwuwu, when will the Great Ghost King return?!”
Black Ghost: “Having to face these living people every day, His Lordship doesn’t even dare to speak. It’s too hard on him, wuwuwu…”

Zhan Suiru understood. Excellent, now even the reason for the social anxiety matches up.

She continued digging for information.

Green Ghost cupped his face: “The sister is so nice, she cares about Lord Lin Yuan so much.”
The swapped-out Yellow Ghost grew alert: “But the sister usually never comes to the cake shop. Why did she suddenly come today? And chat for so long?”
Black Ghost: “Ah! Could something have happened to Lord Lin Yuan?”
Red Ghost: “Impossible! Even if Lord Lin Yuan ran into trouble, he wouldn’t let his sister know. She’s just an ordinary person.”
Black Ghost: “Could it be that something happened to Lord Lin Yuan’s family?”

Zhan Suiru: “When will my brother be back… actually never mind, I don’t need to wait for him. I came to ask if you guys are finding the mini-app easy to use? The shop has added so many new cakes, the mini-app should probably be updated too.”

Green Ghost: “See, I told you the sister came to care about Lord Lin Yuan!”
Red Ghost: “Yeah, yeah, the shop’s mini-app was made by the sister.”

Zhan Suiru: “It seems my brother hasn’t been coming to the shop much lately.”

Baby-Face (White Ghost Version): “That’s not true.”
The reserved White Ghost had nothing else to say.

Yellow Ghost: “Sigh, I heard His Lordship is going to make a big move during the Ghost Festival.”
Black Ghost: “I wonder what it is.”
Green Ghost: “I really want to go see it…”
White Ghost: “But we have to watch the shop…”

Red Ghost kicked the reserved White Ghost down, logged in, and enthusiastically explained to the sister.

Baby-Face (Red Ghost Version): “The manager just happens to be out on errands right now, he’s here most of the time.”

Green Ghost: “His Lordship hasn’t come to the shop for almost a month…”
Black Ghost: “Nonsense, hasn’t His Lordship been coming to the shop every day to bake bread and cookies?”
White Ghost: “To bring to the younger brother.”
Yellow Ghost: “But he only stays for a little while every day…”

Zhan Suiru: “Do you know roughly when my brother will be back?”

Baby-Face (Red Ghost Version): “Ah, this… I can’t be sure either.”

The doorbell rang again.

Baby-Face (Red Ghost Version)’s eyes lit up: “Your brother is back.”
“Manager, Manager! Your sister came to the shop to find you!”

Zhan Jinli had just walked into the cake shop when he saw Red Ghost waving frantically at him, and his sister standing at the counter with her back to him.

Why did my sister suddenly come? Is something wrong? Ah! Could she have been bullied by some scumbag? Was it that kid baking cookies?!

Sister was perfectly fine before going to the gaming convention, and the moment she came back today she’s like this. Did something happen these past two days? Yanyan didn’t tell me…

But it makes sense if Yanyan didn’t notice; two days is too short, and my sister came back by herself later on.

Zhan Jinli’s thoughts raced. He pulled out his phone, ready to type.

Right at that moment, Zhan Suiru turned around.

“Brother—”

Zhan Jinli looked up.

Zhan Suiru slowly, very slowly, broke into a smile.

So the Ghost King Lin Yuan who made me revise that artifact 16 times, ultimately made me revert to Version 1, and tormented me all the way to Version 18… is YOU, Brother…

Having such a soft spot for the number “18”, you really live up to being a Ghost! King! huh!

Zhan Jinli couldn’t help but take a step back.

Why does it feel like a solid black background board just materialized behind my sister…

“Are…” Zhan Jinli opened his mouth to speak a word, closed it again, opened and closed it two or three times, then looked down and typed: “Are you okay?”

Zhan Suiru smiled: “I’m perfectly fine.”

I am doing incredibly well.
I am doing absolutely fantastic.
I am doing just great.

Zhan Jinli couldn’t resist wanting to step back again.

“Sis…”

What kind of shock did you suffer?

Zhan Suiru kept smiling, smiling.

I cannot break character.
No matter how furious I am, I cannot break character!
My vest cannot drop!

Since the Lin·yuan·Ghost·King’s secret identity has dropped, I will have plenty of opportunities for revenge in the future!

18 versions! Version 1 is the best, is it?
Brother, you are so dead!

“It’s nothing. Brother, since you’re back, go ahead and get busy. I’m going to make a phone call.” Zhan Suiru held her head high, puffed out her chest, and walked out of the cake shop with light footsteps.

Zhan Jinli: “…What did you guys say to her?”

The Five Ghosts: “Ah, ah, ah?”
“We didn’t say anything?”
…

On the other side, Zhan Yan had just stepped out of the shower. Before he even had time to dry his hair, he received a phone call from his sister.

What’s so urgent that she’s calling directly?

Zhan Yan picked up: “Sis?”

From the other end of the line came his sister’s voice, gentle as water yet bubbling with dark aura: “Lit·tle·bro·ther~ Is there something you forgot to tell your big sister?”