GRMFBS CH252

After having his fun, Zhan Yan immediately locked his phone.

He yawned.

Sleep, sleep! He wasn’t going to stick around to watch his sister explode.

Zhan Yan rolled over, shifting to a cooler spot on the bamboo mat.

Sigh, so what if they had improper intentions? On such a hot day, they’d just end up covered in sweat again in no time, sticky and miserable; they had all the wicked intentions in the world, but none of the conditions to act on them.

Hopefully the air conditioning would be fixed by the time they woke up tomorrow…

Although the room was still very hot, exhaustion proved far more potent. Zhan Yan’s breathing gradually deepened, and soon he drifted completely into slumber.

The shadow beneath Gu Jiancheng quietly stretched out, draping over Zhan Yan like a thin blanket. The heat was drawn away by the shadow, and Zhan Yan’s brow, which had been furrowed unconsciously in his sleep, slowly relaxed.

Gu Jiancheng stared up at the ceiling for a while, listening to the relaxed, deep rhythm of the breathing and heartbeat not far away, unknowingly drifting off to sleep as well.

Around two in the morning, the air conditioner let out a startup chime, and the lights in the room flickered twice before glowing steadily.

Zhan Yan opened his eyes groggily.

Gu Jiancheng had already appeared in front of the switch, snapping the light off with a click.

“Go back to sleep,” he whispered softly, quickly adjusting the air conditioner to night mode.

Zhan Yan was already awake, but he chose to close his eyes and pretend to sleep.

They had previously used the lamp to test when the power would come back on and had forgotten to turn it off before sleeping, so it suddenly lit up once the power was restored. The speed at which Xiao Gu had darted to the switch just now definitely wasn’t something a normal person was capable of, right?

Geez, wasn’t he worried about getting caught? Or did he just assume Zhan Yan’s head would be too foggy right after waking up?

The corners of Zhan Yan’s lips curved upward uncontrollably.

Not wanting to be left out, the Gossip System popped up:

[Gu Jiancheng was worried you wouldn’t sleep well because it was too hot at night, so he used shadows to cool you down.]

Now Zhan Yan couldn’t even maintain a steady, relaxed breathing rhythm.

[Gu Jiancheng noticed the change in your breathing, realized you weren’t asleep, and felt deeply annoyed at himself for turning off the light too late.]

Zhan Yan: See? With him being like this, who could possibly resist harboring improper intentions toward him?

No, how was he supposed to control his breathing like this? Xiao Gu definitely knew he was awake.

Zhan Yan rolled over and decided to enter Dawn World.

Since he couldn’t sleep anyway, he might as well brush up on some info tags. Besides, once he entered the network world, his physical body would appear as though it were asleep.

As soon as he entered Dawn World, Zhan Yan ran into Qi Ye.

“Did you wake up early, or have you not slept yet?” Zhan Yan asked.

With the game convention happening these past two days, shouldn’t Qi Ye, as a game developer, be attending it? Why was she entering Dawn World at this hour?

Sporting two dark eye circles, Qi Ye looked at him: “A legend has suddenly started circulating in Dawn World these past few days.”

“Supposedly, in the dead of night when all things have fallen into deep slumber, a monster with disheveled hair, a protruding snout, long horns, and a gaping bloody maw will suddenly appear. After jolting sleeping people awake, it vanishes with a shrill cackle amidst all the panic and confusion.”

Zhan Yan: “Ah, that…”

Qi Ye: “I’ve been investigating for days trying to figure out what this bizarre rumor signifies.”

“Do you have any leads on this legend?”

Zhan Yan: “It was an accident!”

The living souls in Dawn World were way too fragile! Did he actually do anything to them? He didn’t do a thing! He just popped in and popped out out of nowhere; aside from that one time in the treasury, he barely stayed for more than a second in most cases!

Amidst her exhaustion, Qi Ye felt a spark of curiosity: “So how did you pull that off?”

Zhan Yan: “Uh… basically randomly leaving from the core area, then returning to the core area, and randomly leaving again. I was using that method to scout the map…”

Qi Ye’s eyes lit up: “That’s a fantastic idea!”

After the apocalyptic world merged in, the map changed, and even she didn’t know the full layout of Dawn World. However, thanks to being one of the architects of the game world, she had retained part of the game system, including a game map function.

Zhan Yan nodded vigorously: “Right? Right?”

As long as Qi Ye did it too, he could just hitch a ride on the gossip tags and mooch off the map areas she uncovered!

Qi Ye nodded: “I’ll try it today!”

Zhan Yan looked at her dark eye circles: “How about waiting until tomorrow?”

Right after speaking, Qi Ye let out a yawn, whatever burst of energy she had gained from excitement instantly fizzling out: “Yeah, it really will have to wait until tomorrow. I’m logging off first, bye.”

Zhan Yan’s sleepiness caught up to him as well. He exited Dawn World and fell asleep shortly after.

The next morning, after the two had finished breakfast and walked just a few steps out of the hotel lobby, they ran into a meowing roadblock.

Wan Yan squatted in front of them, his tail flicking back and forth on the ground in displeasure.

Gu Jiancheng: …Why is he here again?

Zhan Yan had already crouched down: “Hey kitty, you’re here. But I didn’t bring any treats…”

Wan Yan looked up at him: “Meow-aow!”

He didn’t come here for food! Was he really that obsessed with eating?!

Zhan Yan: “We’re heading to the game convention. Do you want to come along with us?”

Wan Yan was satisfied. He raised his chin, gesturing for him to lead the way.

Once they arrived at the game convention, security refused to let the cat in.

Wan Yan: …

The Wan Yan kitty stormed off in a huff again. Leaping from the ground toward the top of the wall, he scaled the three-meter-high wall in a single whoosh without even needing to kick off the brickwork halfway up, leaving Zhan Yan completely dumbfounded.

The security guard’s eyes widened: “That cat can sure jump…”

“Come on, let’s go. I’ll take you to try out that pseudo-holographic setup!” Zhan Yan dragged Gu Jiancheng over to his family’s booth.

For now, Dawn World could still only be accessed via network interfaces. Zhan Yan guessed that a physical gateway into the real world probably wouldn’t open until all concepts of the apocalyptic world had fully integrated.

Since Xiao Gu lacked network-type abilities, he couldn’t experience Dawn World in full holography. Zhan Yan had always felt sorry for him over this, so giving him a pseudo-immersive gaming experience first seemed like a good alternative.

Halfway there, Zhan Yan noticed the cosplayers around them and suddenly realized his mistake. He hurried to buy a mask—he had left his “Garbage Player with an Addiction” mask back at the hotel. This time he swapped it for a new one: “Professional Carry-Receiver.”

“Why do you need a mask?” Gu Jiancheng asked curiously.

Zhan Yan lowered his voice: “I’ll get recognized. Didn’t I cosplay a game character before to promote it?”

Gu Jiancheng nodded: “I’ll buy one too.”

So, “Professional Carry-Receiver” held hands with “Professional Carry” and went to queue up for the gaming rigs.

Halfway through the queue, Zhan Yan abruptly released Gu Jiancheng’s hand.

Gu Jiancheng turned his head, looking at him in confusion.

Zhan Yan whispered softly: “Oh no, why is Sister Luoluo here too? She’ll recognize me…”

There were plenty of employees at Shoude Company, but not many who could recognize him, and even fewer who knew him well enough to identify him through a mask. Unfortunately, Luo Luoluo was one of them.

Luo Luoluo was usually very busy and rarely made an appearance just for an event tied to a gaming project. Ahhh, was it because of that mess Luo Yigang caused yesterday?

He had overheard chatter while walking through the venue; many people were discussing that indoor “snowfall” from yesterday. The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had indeed explained it away as a new projection technology, urgently pushing out a similar novelty toy on “Polar Radiance”. They claimed it was an activity originally scheduled for the later days of the convention, but was accidentally set off while testing the equipment.

There were also significantly more Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau personnel scattered around the venue today, giving off a full sense of security.

“I’m not queuing anymore, go ahead and play by yourself. I’ll wait for you nearby.” After whispering into Gu Jiancheng’s ear, Zhan Yan scurried off in a hurry.

If he and Xiao Gu queued together wearing couple-style masks, and Sister Luoluo turned around and told his mom…

Gu Jiancheng looked at him pitifully, as if he had just been abandoned.

Having his future mother-in-law find out her son was dating someone through word of mouth really wasn’t ideal.

However! Hadn’t he already tackled the hardest part of meeting the parents? Why did they still have to sneak around like this…

Zhan Yan: …

I can’t take this, I really can’t!

He stole a quick kiss through the mask.

This time he truly had to run.

Zhan Yan slipped over to the window. They were on the second floor of the convention center, occupying prime real estate, right beside massive, pristine glass windows that overlooked the outdoor plaza and fountains.

Zhan Yan found an empty seat, sat down, and resumed restoring Di Ting’s single horn jigsaw puzzle. When he had lit the Candle Dragon’s little candle earlier, he had gathered another batch of fragments that he hadn’t had the time to restore yet. Yesterday he was completely drained and didn’t push himself, but after a good night’s rest, his energy was fully replenished!

Ah, I still need older brother’s sweet bread or cookies to recharge my life bar… He wondered how his brother was doing right now. Hopefully his sister’s retaliation wouldn’t be too harsh… It shouldn’t be, right? He had already told his sister that their brother had been busy helping Wan Yan recover lately, so she knew what took priority.

He pulled up a gossip tag to search:

[Zhan Suiru said to Zhan Jinli with utmost sincerity: “Brother, you’ve been so busy lately, you look exhausted. I hope everything goes smoothly with whatever you’re working on!”]

Zhan Jinli: …

Why had his younger sister suddenly spoken directly to him out loud?

His divine ability had been triggered!

He could already sense it: the research for the Ghost Festival would certainly proceed without a hitch, but with fortune comes hidden misfortune. The corresponding misfortune had already been arranged.

He stared deeply at Zhan Suiru.

For some reason, he felt his sister had been acting strange since yesterday. The way she looked at him was weird, sending chills down his spine.

Zhan Jinli typed: [What’s wrong with you?]

Zhan Suiru: [I’m fine.]

Zhan Jinli: …

What a familiar phrase; hearing it made one want to retreat.

Could it be that she had been wronged by the person making those cookies?

Zhan Jinli’s gaze sharpened instantly.

[Did someone bully you?]

Zhan Suiru: [Nope, just been swamped with orders lately.]

Having them revised eighteen times in a single day, after all!

After getting her petty revenge, Zhan Suiru left under the pretext of work. Yang Ran’s soul had mostly recovered, and she was going to test whether she could transfer the manufacturing superpower back.

Zhan Jinli remained suspicious and paranoid for days, but all the way through the Ghost Festival, everything remained peaceful without any hitches.

The magical artifact custom-ordered from the Artisan was extremely effective. After fine-tuning it, he estimated it would be ready for use by next year.

Everything went smoothly, except for Xingxing, who was thoroughly displeased.

Zhan Yunkai and Ji Yueming were out traveling, Zhan Yan and Zhan Suiru weren’t home either, and Zhan Jinli had been out all day busy with Ghost Festival matters. Xingxing was stuck eating dry food dispensed on a timer from an automatic feeder—even though it was handcrafted dry food custom-made by Zhan Dad, when had Xingxing ever suffered such an indignity!

You all went out to have fun! None of you took me along!

The moment Zhan Jinli returned, Xingxing threw a tantrum.

Zhan Jinli picked up the cat, looking at Xingxing’s slit pupils, claws bared and teeth snapping, and couldn’t help recalling the last time Wan Yan threw a fit.

With the Ghost Festival experiment having succeeded, Lin Yuan Ghost King was in an excellent mood and smiled softly.

“Stop fussing. Tomorrow, I’ll take you out to play.”

Hmm… who was it that mentioned it to him before? Youfeng City was promoting tourism with an “Eighteen Sights of the Underworld” event. The entire town was participating in live-action roleplay; wanting both to capitalize on the Ghost Festival buzz and avoid taboo associations with the actual day, it had been deliberately scheduled for the day after.

Humans truly could turn anything into entertainment. Escape rooms and haunted houses weren’t enough, and now they were roleplaying across an entire town.

Meanwhile, the young couple’s dates had been plagued by the Wan Yan kitty for two straight days. Whenever they stepped out, Wan Yan would pop out from some random corner.

Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng would share a drink, and the cat would materialize eerily from the bushes; Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng would stroll hand in hand, and the cat would trot right beside them; Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng would sit together whispering sweet nothings, and the cat would perk up its ears right next to the bench…

Gu Jiancheng felt unimaginably wronged.

What kind of psychotic third wheel was this!

“He isn’t going to follow us when we go to Youfeng City tomorrow, is he?”

Zhan Yan was equally troubled: “How about I rent a kitchen stove from a restaurant and whip up a grand feast for him?”

Gu Jiancheng pointed out: “Are you sure that won’t make him cling to you even more?”

Zhan Yan: …

Ah—I really need to track down Di Ting’s single horn as soon as possible!

Gu Jiancheng gritted his teeth.

Tomorrow! If he spotted Wan Yan at Youfeng City’s “Eighteen Sights of the Underworld” event tomorrow as well, he would log onto his Deep Shadow alt and beat that cat up!