GRMFBS CH253

Upon arriving in Youfeng City, Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng booked a hotel in town first, planning to go play the next day.

It was much cooler here in Youfeng City, and the dog days of summer had already passed. Otherwise, no one would dare host a massive outdoor live-action role-playing game—or if they did, they’d have to theme it around the Flaming Mountains, certainly not the Eighteen Sights of the Underworld.

Otherwise, with eerie ghostly scenery all around while tourists and actors alike were wiping off sweat from the sweltering heat, only sets with the oil cauldron or volcano would feel immersive, wouldn’t they?

“What are the Eighteen Sights of the Underworld?” Zhan Yan was flipping through the official tourist guide.

He knew there were the Eight Sights of the Underworld, as well as the Eighteen Levels of Hell.

Gu Jiancheng lay beside him to read along, their heads pressed close together.

“Ghost Gate, Naihe Bridge, Fengdu City, Home-Viewing Terrace, Offering Pavilion, Lotus Platform, River of Forgetfulness Path, Meng Po’s Tea House, Three-Lives Stone, Reincarnation Platform…” Zhan Yan muttered, “Did they just cram locations from every different legend together to forcefully cobble eighteen of them?”

Gu Jiancheng glanced at the synopsis: “Roleplay as a batch of souls guided to the Underworld by the Black and White Impermanence… Over on our side, does the Underworld just dump the ghosts there and leave them to clear stages on their own, only letting them reincarnate once they succeed?”

Zhan Yan laughed and joked: “That’s right, so clever folks never enter Reincarnation; they make a run for it when the Black and White Impermanence show up to arrest them.”

Gu Jiancheng played along with the nonsense: “Then how do they reincarnate after escaping? Isn’t the Reincarnation Platform located in the Underworld?”

Zhan Yan continued spouting nonsense: “We don’t reincarnate; we turn into adults the moment we hit the ground.”

Gu Jiancheng: “Turn into tiny babies?”

Zhan Yan: “Yeah, straight into tiny babies.”

He went quiet right after saying that, the smile on his face unconsciously fading away.

Back when he first obtained the Gossip System, Zhan Yan had searched for his own gossip tags.

Perhaps because he was querying his own life and everything was something he had personally experienced, the Gossip System hadn’t restricted him to scrolling back only a year or two like it did for other people.

He flipped backward page by page, all the way from nineteen years old down to six years old. He had been adopted by his parents at the age of six, having stayed in the orphanage for half a year prior. Six was an estimated age given to him by the orphanage matron.

Zhan Yan’s earliest memories stopped at age six; he only remembered living in the orphanage, and nothing earlier. When he was young, he asked the matron how he had arrived there, and she said he was found at the orphanage gate in the summer.

Zhan Yan had browsed to that exact gossip tag.

[You were left at the entrance of Starlight Orphanage.]

He never scrolled back any further.

A hand suddenly settled around his waist.

“Mm?” Just as Zhan Yan turned to look at Gu Jiancheng, he was scooped up by the waist and pulled into an embrace, tumbling across the bed.

Walls, ceiling, the other wall… The scene before his eyes spun rapidly, the world turned upside down, and finally he was lying flat on his back on the bed. Gu Jiancheng’s handsome face hovered above him, so close their breaths brushed against each other.

Those eyes, sparkling like starlight, shone bright before him as Gu Jiancheng broke into a radiant smile:

“Give me a smile, Yan Yan.”

Smiles are contagious. Zhan Yan couldn’t help but smile along.

That handsome face lowered, pressing tip-to-tip against his nose, nuzzling twice like a big cat. Soft lips pressed close, impossibly tender, melting his very heart.

Gu Jiancheng rolled over while holding him, both lying on their sides with their arms intertwined.

He leaned in close again, murmuring contentedly into Zhan Yan’s ear: “Yan Yan looks so lovely when smiling.”

Zhan Yan felt an overwhelming tenderness ache in his chest.

He hugged Gu Jiancheng, parting his lips to speak, yet couldn’t utter a word.

Xiao Gu didn’t have a home anymore either.

He himself had merely been less fortunate before the age of six; after six, he had been lucky every single day. He had found a wonderful, loving home.

Xiao Gu deserved to have a wonderful home too.

Except this wonderful home was currently overflowing with little secrets.

Zhan Yan let out a wistful little sigh. He did love secrets, but maybe not this many secrets…

Fortunately, Xiao Gu hadn’t been pushing him to grind as intensely lately, giving him time to attend to other matters.

Checking the gossip tags, his parents had gotten busy too. After spending a sweet vacation together, the break was over, and they each slipped back into their respective personas to work—though there was nothing urgent demanding their direct intervention recently, they couldn’t stay off the radar forever.

Now he had his sister’s help. Sharing half the pressure really took a huge load off.

He wondered how things were progressing on his sister’s end?

Just as he was thinking this, Luowang sent him a message.

Administrator Luowang: [Ahahahahahaha.]

Approaching Science: [Haven’t seen you around in a while, you sure slept for a long time.] [What’s got you so happy?]

Administrator Luowang: [Not sure what happened this time, slept for ages.] [Woke up right to good news hahahaha.] [Oh right, you know Artisan was poached by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, right?]

Approaching Science: [I know.]

Not only did he know, he even played a part in it. But how was Artisan joining the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau considered good news for your Wan Yao Alliance?

Administrator Luowang: [Haven’t you checked the forum?]

Zhan Yan grew curious; he had been too busy lately and hadn’t browsed the Water Cooler area for a while. Had a new thread popped up on the forum?

Zhan Yan clicked into the Water Cooler area and began scrolling through threads. Before he could find it, Luowang sent over a link first.

Administrator Luowang: [[Link]] [Go look, go look!] [Hahahaha]

Clicking the link, it was yet another perennial tier-list debate thread, bickering over combat prowess, arguing over looks, disputing every little detail.

There was nothing remarkable about the thread itself; people praised and criticized as usual, mostly bored users rambling on and grasping at verified or unverified claims to back their points. Aside from a few excessively out-of-line posts being deleted, most administrators couldn’t be bothered to intervene, nor could they keep up.

89L: How could Chongming Demon King’s ranking possibly be that high?! He’s petty as hell, riddled with flaws, and looks far worse with feathers than without. At least without feathers he looks appetizing.

Zhan Yan checked it: this was Xiangliu’s alt account. Xiangliu was ranked several spots below Chongming Demon King.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, you certainly didn’t talk like that when you were getting beaten up.

Xiangliu could only score cheap verbal victories. Zhan Yan continued scrolling down and finally discovered why the thread had blown up—Artisan had entered the thread and was fiercely flaming Xiangliu’s alt!

The two traded blows back and forth for nearly a hundred floors. Midway through, several accounts were muted for triggering banned words; “Artisan” had already cycled all the way to “Artisan No. 7,” while Xiangliu was on his 37th alt account. It was mostly because Xiangliu couldn’t vary his insults; every time he lost his temper, banned words would start flying, earning him an immediate mute, yet he never learned his lesson for the next round.

[Xiangliu’s Head No. 2 scolded Head No. 4: “I told you not to curse with !”]

[Head No. 3 scolded Head No. 4: “You’re going to get muted!”]

[Head No. 5 scolded Head No. 4: “This alt is gone again!”]

[Xiangliu’s Head No. 4 whined furiously and indignantly: “Head No. 1 cursed with *** too, why aren’t you yelling at him?”]

[Head No. 1 leaped up with a roar: “You already yelled at me for an entire round earlier!”]

[Xiangliu’s Head No. 6 urged: “Stop fighting, stop fighting! Artisan is flaming us again!”]

[Head No. 7: “Hurry up and think of how to curse back!”]

[Xiangliu’s Head No. 8 said: “****”]

[Head No. 9: “No, no, that word is forbidden, we were just muted for it a moment ago.”]

Zhan Yan: …Pfft, hahahaha!

109L: Holy crap, am I seeing things? The one picking a fight is Artisan?

113L: Must be an imitation alt, right? Doesn’t Artisan only fan over Tianshi?

116L: I can vouch for this! It’s not just an alt; Artisan’s main account showed up at the start, but got muted and censored because the flaming was too vicious. Check the original 90L.

120L: Ahh? Does that mean Chongming Demon King poached Tianshi’s fan?

Administrator Luowang: [You saw Artisan sticking up for Chongming Demon King, right?] [Hahahaha, so what if the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau poached Artisan?] [Look at that, aren’t they fanning over our Chongming Demon King now too?]

Zhan Yan: …Oh no.

Ahh, if Luowang already knew, then Lingyu must know as well, right? And if Lingyu knew, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau would know too… Won’t they get the wrong idea?

Zhan Suiru hadn’t done it on purpose either. It was mainly because Xiangliu’s initial remarks were so repulsive that she couldn’t hold back. Plus, Xiangliu’s nine heads each insulted with their own distinct flavor, so before she knew it, Zhan Suiru had gotten carried away.

Brother and sister tacitly switched to alt accounts to reply to the thread.

123L: What do you mean by “poached”? That guy’s mouth was so filthy, isn’t it completely normal to refute a few lines when you can’t bear listening to it anymore?

124L: Isn’t Artisan free to fan whoever they want? Both big shots are fantastic; what’s so strange about liking both sides?

125L: But the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and the Wan Yao Alliance don’t get along, hahahaha, this makes things awkward, doesn’t it.

129L: What of it? It’s not like our forum lacks users who fan both sides @Approaching Science

132L: Hahahaha, this is hilarious. Before, Approaching Science was a fan of Chongming Demon King first, then became a fan of Tianshi later. Artisan was originally Tianshi’s fan, and now fans Chongming Demon King too. Are these two big shots sharing fans?

Zhan Yan: …How is this sharing fans? This is sharing kids.

Checking the gossip tags, Nie Yu had indeed already seen it and was fretting alongside her brother Nie Ling over how on earth they were supposed to report this up the chain.

Zhan Yan quickly poked his sister. In the past, he had also assumed the two supreme figures wouldn’t care who their fans liked, but ever since his failed attempt to praise his mother in front of his father, he realized his dad actually harbored quite a petty streak…

While he didn’t know if his mom would react the same way… what if she did?

Zhan Suiru clutched her phone, filled with dread. She had merely taken a brief break while trying to mend Xiao Ran’s soul, casually scrolling through the forum, only to run into someone slandering her dad; she simply couldn’t hold back in the moment.

Artisan: [Should I send her some gifts to show that I still love her the most?]

Approaching Science: [Give it a shot.]

Mostly because there was no other choice.

At the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Nie Yu had seen the thread ages ago and was anxiously debating with her brother.

“What do we do, brother…”

Rong Sui was an external affiliate of their Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau: overwhelmingly powerful, personally bound to a manufacturing-type supreme powerhouse, and deeply intertwined with Dawn World, which was currently merging. Nothing concerning her was ever a minor detail.

Nie Ling: “It doesn’t necessarily mean she’s fanning Chongming Demon King, right? Maybe she just couldn’t stand the slander and spoke up. Let’s just submit the report normally.”

“Look at her burning through seven alts just to defend Chongming Demon King; there’s no way that’s just a passing comment! Besides, threads like this pop up all the time, and we’ve never seen her stick up for anyone else before,” Nie Yu muttered. “Seriously! When did Chongming Demon King even get in touch with Rong Sui to poach her away? Our Captain is so amazing… How on earth are we going to break this to Captain?”

Nie Ling poked her.

Nie Yu: “What is it?”

Ji Yueming asked from right behind her: “Poached away who?”

Nie Yu gave a violent start.

She turned her head stiffly: “C-Captain, you’re back?”

Having just returned from a sweet vacation, Ji Yueming was in high spirits, looking at her with a beaming smile: “What couldn’t you tell me?”

Nie Yu wore a bitter face. How did she manage to get caught whispering behind someone’s back again?

“Nothing, just… just…” Stumbling over her words, she explained the situation with the forum thread.

Ji Yueming waved it off nonchalantly: “What’s the big deal? Look at how stressed you are. Just because she thinks Chongming Demon King is great doesn’t mean she thinks poorly of me. Liking either is fine; it’s not like Chongming Demon King is a bad person.”

Nie Yu: “That’s not the same thing at all…”

Ji Yueming ruffled her hair, playfully pretending to fret: “Ah, then what should I do? My fan has run off…”

Nie Ling let out a cough.

Ji Yueming looked back; clad in enigmatic black, Rong Sui was standing right at the doorway.