GRMFBS CH256

Little Cat Wan Yan was incredibly angry.

He came looking for his friend, but his friend had always been accompanying someone else these past few days. It was one thing if cats weren’t allowed in certain places, but even the rest of the time, his friend was always with that person. Little Cat Wan Yan felt like his friend had been stolen.

The Tree God staff member was stunned. “How did you do that? Is this your cat? Do you train cats?”

“No, I’ve just fed him before.” Zhan Yan stood under the tree and waved at Little Cat Wan Yan. “Thank you. Do you want to come down?”

Little Cat Wan Yan let out a grumble from his throat and turned his back to Zhan Yan.

Hmph!

Zhan Yan heard suppressed exclamations behind him:

“Holy shit, holy shit, what is going on!”

“The Cat’s Repayment?”

“This cat is so smart! How did he know which tag we needed?”

“Was it just a coincidence?”

“Is it still in time for me to go feed a cat now?”

Of course it was too late. Zhan Yan looked up to coax the angry Little Cat Wan Yan.

“I didn’t know where you were, so how could I take you out to play?”

—Even if I knew, I wouldn’t bring you along to be a third wheel…

But he really had been working hard on the puzzle. Now, that weird line puzzle was only missing the head piece. Once he sorted out the final part of the image and completed the puzzle, he should be able to find out where Diting’s single horn was.

After that, Little Cat Wan Yan would return to normal—hey, should he take this opportunity to record more of his embarrassing moments to save for later?

Zhan Yan unlocked his phone and started recording a video.

Little Cat Wan Yan’s ears twitched, noticing Zhan Yan pointing his phone at him. Having been an internet-famous cat at Beijing Agricultural University, Wan Yan had rich experience with this.

Every time, those people would scream, “So cute, so cute!” “Ahhh, so adorable!” “The wishing cat ahhh! I love the wishing cat so much!” and then pull out their phones to film him.

Pointing a phone at him = thinking he’s super cute and really liking him.

Little Cat Wan Yan felt smug.

Hmph, he knew his chef definitely liked him too.

Little Cat Wan Yan jumped down from the tree, squatted in front of Zhan Yan, and reservedly puffed out his little chest, which had a thick collar of fur.

Gu Jiancheng was holding his breath, staring coldly at the Ghost King Wan Yan.

Heh, who needed your help? He had originally planned to secretly cheat using shadows, but now, Wan Yan had forcibly intervened to be a third wheel, and they even had to thank him!

The single guy who came alone took the opportunity to message his friend: “You definitely have no idea what I just encountered.”

He hadn’t originally planned to come play alone. He had made an appointment with a buddy, but halfway here, his buddy called to apologize, saying something suddenly came up at home. He figured he was already halfway here, and he couldn’t just waste a trip on such a hot day, so he decided to come play by himself.

His buddy also messaged him: “You definitely have no idea what I just encountered either…”

Single guy: “What?”

His buddy: “You’ll know once I catch up to you.”

Single guy: “???”

“You came too?”

“Is your family issue resolved?”

His buddy: “Resolved.”

“My younger brother, because he wanted to play on his phone, rode his bike 18 kilometers back home from my grandma’s house in the countryside all by himself.”

“He’s currently getting beaten up. It was too brutal, and as his older brother, I couldn’t bear to watch.”

Single guy: “So you just ran out so you wouldn’t have to watch??”

His buddy: “I should be just one or two groups behind you.”

“Let me tell you, there’s a big boss in my team. Super badass.”

“The boss is covered in muscles, wearing a mask, and holding a tabby cat.”

“He doesn’t say a single word, just aggressively pushes the progress forward.”

“He completely gives off the vibe of a mysterious big shot.”

The single guy glanced at Gu Jiancheng and Zhan Yan, who was squatting and coaxing the cat.

“You might not believe this.”

“There’s also a big boss in my team, and also a cat.”

His buddy: “…”

“I’m serious, not joking.”

Single guy: “I’m not joking either.”

“You’ll see when you catch up.”

“Though I feel like you probably won’t be able to catch up.”

Their team’s speed was also blazing fast. The “Canary” boss had insane physical stamina, and the “Domineering CEO” boss had top-tier brains and observation skills. The entire game felt like flying.

Zhan Yan successfully coaxed the cat with the promise of a big meal. He handed the “Tears of Longing” tag to the Tree God.

“Can we pass the level now?”

The staff member hesitated for a moment. This was an open escape room scene, so it was perfectly normal for a cat to wander in.

The game rejected cheating, but they couldn’t reject a small animal insisting on helping them cheat.

“You may.” The Tree God sighed, getting fully into character. “Alas, entangled in life, still unclear in death. Go on, go on.”

Gu Jiancheng reached out to hold Zhan Yan’s hand, their fingers intertwining.

Just going to stay entangled!

There were two other couples in their group, currently squatting there trying to bribe Little Cat Wan Yan:

“Kitty, can you help us find two Tears of Longing tags too? We’ll buy you good food when we get out.”

“We’ll buy cat treats, canned cat food.”

“We’ll buy the most expensive ones!”

Little Cat Wan Yan ignored them, brushing past Zhan Yan’s leg seemingly by accident.

Hmph! Be proud that this king has taken a liking to you!

It’s a deal, meow. You’re cooking me a big meal when we go back.

The remaining two couples failed to find the tags and had to separate. The ten-person team split into two routes.

The next level was the Bridge of Helplessness. The story to solve the puzzle was about an Infatuated Lover waiting bitterly on the bridge for his sweetheart, wanting to cross the bridge together.

The wooden Bridge of Helplessness had an antique look. Several red tags were tied to the railings on both sides. It looked quite romantic, but beneath the wooden bridge landscape was the water of the Yellow Springs. It wasn’t real water, but entirely red and yellow skull heads. It was very underworld-esque and highly fit the theme.

The Infatuated Lover asked the two of them: “Did you get the Karma Tag from the Karma Tree earlier? If you did, you can tie it to the bridge. I still have to wait for my wife. I wish you happiness in your next life.”

Unexpectedly, there was a little surprise here. Zhan Yan tied the small Tears of Longing tag to the railing of the bridge, and a hidden speaker started playing a song:

“Link by link, we pledged our love for a hundred years. Even if one dies at ninety-seven, they will wait three years on the Bridge of Helplessness.”

The Infatuated Lover recited affectionately over the background music: “I will wait, forever and ever. Legend has it that those who walk across the Bridge of Helplessness hand in hand will grow old together in their next life…”

Wan Yan went tap tap tap and walked right between Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng: …

NOT! HAPPY!

Who wants to cross the bridge with you!

Zhan Yan held back a laugh, looking curiously under the bridge. “Hey, those skulls are moving.”

These skulls looked only a bit larger than a fist. Looking closely, they were actually individual balls printed with skull patterns. There was probably some machinery underneath making these balls rise and fall like river water.

The middle section of the bridge had a square outline. If they had failed the puzzle earlier and walked here, the bridge deck would automatically open, dropping people into the Yellow Springs and extinguishing another “soul fire” (HP).

Gu Jiancheng also looked down into the Yellow Springs. If people could fall in, these skull balls definitely weren’t hard.

“They feel like ball pit balls.”

Zhan Yan: “Hey, I kind of want to jump down and play.”

Gu Jiancheng: “You jump, I jump.”

Zhan Yan looked at the Infatuated Lover: “Look, we’ve already passed the level. If we jump in to play, can you not deduct our soul fires?”

Infatuated Lover: …

Hearing such a request for the first time, the staff member tactfully hinted: “The waters of the Yellow Springs are extremely Yin. If a soul fire falls into it, it will inevitably be extinguished.”

Splash.

The three of them looked down together.

Little Cat Wan Yan had already jumped off the bridge and was rolling around very happily in the ball pit.

Zhan Yan: …

Pfft.

…

Meanwhile, at the Wangchuan Road level, two different teams had just bumped into each other.

The team behind had progressed so fast that they caught up with the previous team, and now they were all staying in the same scene.

“Your team is so badass, catching up this fast,” someone from the first team marveled.

The Eighteen Scenes of the Underworld was designed so that people would stay about 15 minutes per level on average. The first level, the Gates of Hell, was the easiest. The entire game took about 3-6 hours to play. Their team was considered fast, only getting stuck at the Karma Tree for a bit because a few couples in their team wanted to get the Tears of Longing item.

“We have a big boss on our team,” a person from the latter team whispered, giving a thumbs-up to Zhan Jinli, who was wearing a mask. “He just doesn’t like to talk. Since we came in, I haven’t heard him say a single word. He’s super cold and cool.”

The cold, cool big boss was not in a very good mood.

The Ghost Festival had passed too smoothly. Zhan Jinli had a momentary lapse of judgment in his smugness and agreed to bring Xingxing out to play.

But he completely did not expect that there would be SO! MANY! PEOPLE! at the Eighteen Scenes of the Underworld tourist area!

Aren’t humans supposed to consider this taboo? Aren’t they supposed to go “ptui ptui ptui” if they accidentally say the wrong thing? Haunted houses themed around horror ghosts were one thing, but this was a literal Underworld theme. Why were there so many people interested?!

He had even specifically chosen to come at noon—in the middle of summer, isn’t noon usually when there are the fewest people? Why was he seeing people lining up?

This made Zhan Jinli really want to run away.

He felt it wouldn’t matter if he took Xingxing somewhere else to play. Xingxing was just a little kitty. Was there a difference between going to an amusement park or a regular park? Maybe he’d even prefer a lawn. He could find a place with fewer people…

But Xingxing wasn’t willing.

Xingxing could understand human speech. Thanks to Zhan Jinli constantly chattering to him when no one was around, Xingxing’s vocabulary had significantly increased. He could completely understand the meaning of some proper nouns.

Therefore—

“Mee-yow-woo!” Xingxing meowed as if he were a kidnapped kitten, very, very unhappy.

“You clearly promised earlier that we’d go play at the Eighteen Scenes of the Underworld. Why are you backing out halfway?!”

Xingxing felt like he had been fooled.

The little kitty’s eyes were full of accusation.

Zhan Jinli: …

Forget it, as a dignified Ghost King, why would he trick a cat?

Anyway, he was currently wearing the Glazed Mirror. Only completely sincere words could possibly trigger the “blessings and disasters” effect. Playing a role-playing game where everyone is acting means most of the things said aren’t true anyway. Might as well go in and do a speedrun.

Lord Ghost King had drawn a solo identity:

“You are an angler who loves fishing. During a wild fishing trip, you accidentally catch a corpse. Because you are afraid of scaring the fish away, you waited until you finished fishing before calling the police. The water ghost is very dissatisfied with this and dragged you into the water. Your heart is filled with regret and remorse. If you were given another chance…”

Zhan Jinli: …

Fine. An angler it is.

The angler led his team charging all the way to Wangchuan Road.

Under the Karma Tree, the staff member playing the Tree God widened their eyes: “Another cat?”

Are cats standard equipment for big bosses these days?