GRMFBS CH259

Zhan Jinli: …

Zhan Yan: …

Save me! Why is treating two cats fairly harder than keeping the peace between Mom and Dad?!

At this critical juncture, classmate Xiao Gu scored massive points.

He smoothed Xingxing’s fur, scratching behind the kitty’s ears: “We’re not angry, Xingxing. How about I buy some balls for Xingxing too? We love Xingxing so much.”

In any case, he wasn’t afraid of offending Ghost King Wan Yan. He and Wan Yan had already found each other displeasing to the eye for ages.

Wan Yan cast him a sideways glance and grumbled deep in his throat.

Heh. Who cares about your love? Always fighting with me over my chef.

Zhan Jinli bent down to pick up a skull-printed pit ball and looked down at Wan Yan.

“You like this stuff? I’ll find you a few real ones later, stop fussing.”

Weren’t skull mountains everywhere in the Underworld anyway?

Zhan Jinli kept his voice exceedingly low, afraid of alarming the crowd of onlookers.

Zhan Yan noticed as well; they were currently the prime targets for everyone’s gossip-watching.

With more and more people clearing the Three-Lives Stone, players from both groups had essentially gathered at the Reincarnation Platform, every single one of them staring this way with sparkling eyes.

A cat battle royale is pure gold to watch too!

Soothed by Xiao Gu, Xingxing stopped throwing a tantrum for the moment, lying flat in Gu Jiancheng’s arms while mewing softly.

Zhan Yan listened closely, and it was entirely a list of grievances.

Zhan Yan is awful! Zhan Yan deceived the kitty. Zhan Yan even said he missed him, but he spent way more time away than he did coming back! Zhan Yan wasn’t out hunting at all! He went off to hook up with another cat!

Wan Yan had been stuffed forcefully into Zhan Jinli’s arms, held down by the neck with one hand while using his brother’s wrist to grind his teeth.

With the drama temporarily settled, Zhan Yan let out a slow breath and looked up at the onlookers: “Shall we allocate the Soul Fires?”

As long as a single player in a team successfully returned to life, everyone would receive a souvenir keepsake.

Having cleared stage after stage, everyone’s identity cards were mostly fleshed out by now; part was filled in by themselves during the game, and the other part was unlocked through stage progression. After completing the whole journey, everyone’s identity card had either shaped into a tragic tale of regret or a ridiculously goofy gag. The latter brought a lot of laughs and cheer, but when it came down to choosing who received the Soul Fires, everyone tacitly voted their Soul Fires to the person with the most regretful story.

Overall, the game’s sense of immersion and entertainment value were great, making for an enjoyable experience. Besides, during the final settlement, wasn’t there an unexpected easter egg?

—The players, whose gazes kept darting between the two cats and the three humans, were having the time of their lives.

Zhan Yan spoke up first, declaring that neither he nor Xiao Gu needed the Soul Fires and that their votes should go to the others, naturally glossing right over their couple identity card storyline.

Zhan Jinli’s attention was entirely on Wan Yan. When the others asked him, he shook his head to indicate he didn’t want the Soul Fires either, skipping past this step as well—the lingering regret of his angler identity card was that he hadn’t managed to get lost around the residential complex for eight to ten laps while carrying the final giant fish he reeled in on his back.

With the final gameplay section concluded, a personalized storyline was generated for each person’s identity card. The staff printed everyone’s custom stories onto commemorative cards and handed them out as part of the souvenirs, beaming: “Congratulations on clearing the game.”

Both Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng hastily stashed their commemorative cards away. Under no circumstances could they let older brother see their romantic little couple story!

The players bid friendly farewells at the exit, their eyes tinged with lingering reluctance, still wanting to see the conclusion of the cat battle royale! Not to mention this gorgeous young couple and the quiet, imposing older brother boss—they all looked like people with fascinating backstories, making everyone itch to keep following the gossip…

Zhan Yan dearly wanted to take Xiao Gu and separate from his brother immediately to prevent Xiao Gu from blowing his cover before him. But running away right after coincidentally bumping into his brother would look even stranger, and besides, the issue between Wan Yan and Xingxing had yet to be resolved.

Gu Jiancheng still remembered that Zhan Yan had low blood sugar earlier, so the three of them found a nearby pet-friendly restaurant and booked a small private booth.

Holding Wan Yan, Zhan Jinli sat across from Zhan Yan, while Gu Jiancheng sat beside Zhan Yan holding Xingxing.

Wan Yan was still furious; though he ignored Xingxing now, he dedicated himself to testing his teeth against Zhan Jinli’s wrist.

Heh, who’d lower themselves to bicker with an ordinary little cat? He was a dignified Ghost King kitty!

Xingxing paid no mind to Wan Yan either, tucking his ears back and curling up in Gu Jiancheng’s lap.

Hmph! If you’re so willing to be bullied by that bad cat, go ahead and keep playing with him! What does that have to do with me?

Poor Zhan Yan had neither cat paying him any attention and didn’t dare speak aloud to either of them, keeping his head down as he tapped furiously on his phone to show his brother.

Zhan Yan: [This is my college roommate. We bumped into each other while traveling, so we decided to hang out for a couple of days.]

Zhan Jinli looked up at Gu Jiancheng. He seemed fine—a clean, sharp-looking young man whose smile carried a hint of shyness alongside friendliness. Ghost King Lin Yuan’s intuition told him this wasn’t a bad person, so he gave his younger brother’s roommate a friendly nod as well.

Zhan Yan had been discreetly watching their interactions all along.

Phew, thank goodness. Classmate Xiao Gu’s performance was exceptionally steady, showing none of that eager enthusiasm to meet the parents. Tacit understanding—this is pure tacit understanding…

Zhan Yan nudged Gu Jiancheng’s arm with his elbow, continuing the introduction: “This is my older brother, the one I told you about before.”

Wait, why is Xiao Gu’s arm so rock-hard? Every single muscle is tensed solid.

[Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng deduced Zhan Jinli’s identity from Ghost King Wan Yan’s behavior and Lin Yuan Ghost King Zhan Jinli’s words. Recalling his past interactions with Ghost King Lin Yuan under his Deep Shadow identity, Gu Jiancheng felt immense chagrin.]

Pfft. So older brother was the one who got exposed to Xiao Gu.

Even the hand Gu Jiancheng used to pet Xingxing was stiff.

Back in the game earlier, it was fine because of the crowd. Now there were only the three of them—plus two cats. Fortunately, there were two cats; he could use petting Xingxing as an excuse to remain silent.

Rong Sui’s favorability had been easy to farm, but how on earth was he supposed to farm Ghost King Lin Yuan’s favorability?

He had previously treated the man like an all-purpose wishing machine—he was completely screwed, utterly doomed…

For now, preserving his cover came first. Today, he was just a classmate! A roommate!

As for meeting the parents… that could wait until later…

No wonder Xiao Gu was being so obediently well-behaved.

Zhan Yan continued typing away furiously on his phone, while keeping an eye on his brother’s gossip tags:

[Lin Yuan Ghost King Zhan Jinli is fully focused on prying Ghost King Wan Yan off his wrist and hasn’t discovered your true relationship with Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng.]

Gu Jiancheng was a guy. While Zhan Jinli wouldn’t mind his younger brother dating a man, he certainly wouldn’t suspect every man he met of being his brother’s partner.

Zhan Yan let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Bless these cats! Although the cat battle royale was a major headache, it successfully diverted attention away from Xiao Gu!

He was so occupied with chatting via text to protect their covers that he didn’t even notice when the dishes arrived. Seeing that Zhan Yan hadn’t touched his chopsticks for ages, Gu Jiancheng couldn’t resist picking up a bite of food and placing it in his bowl. Yan Yan still had low blood sugar; he had only eaten two pieces of candy earlier.

Zhan Jinli’s gaze drifted slowly toward them.

Gu Jiancheng froze.

Zhan Yan: …

He quickly pulled out the Three-Lives Stone candies he had bought earlier.

“Brother, want some candy?” Zhan Yan split off half the candies to distract his brother, “These are actually really good.”

Zhan Jinli didn’t read too much into it. He had seen online the bizarre antics modern college guys pulled in dorms; last time Yan Yan brought a ton of good food back to school and called Dad, a whole chorus of guys on the other end started calling Dad as well.

He typed a reply with one hand—his other hand still had the Wan Yan kitty dangling from it.

[The candy you wanted to eat was this kind?]

His brother had mentioned wanting small candy spheres before. It wasn’t that he couldn’t make this sort of fruit hard candy, but he just didn’t know how much fruit flavor would remain once finished.

Zhan Yan: [Yes, ideally a bit smaller than this.]

Convenient for him to swallow whole like pills.

Right up until the end of the meal, Xiao Gu didn’t dare pick up a second piece of food for him.

“Brother, are you going to keep hanging out around here?” Zhan Yan typed to ask.

Zhan Jinli: [No, heading back today.]

There were too many people outside; clearing this single game today had been troublesome enough for him, not to mention running right into Wan Yan.

Beside him, Zhan Yan felt the rock-hard muscles in Gu Jiancheng’s arm relax slightly.

Zhan Jinli looked toward Xingxing. Given the current situation… would Xingxing still go home with him?

Xingxing presented him with his backside. Hmph, go on and leave with that little white cat who wanted to beat you up!

Zhan Yan looked toward Wan Yan. The Wan Yan kitty would probably leave with his brother…

Zhan Jinli typed: [When are you coming home?] [Take Xingxing with you for now.]

He still needed to have a talk with Wan Yan, making it inconvenient to bring Xingxing along.

Zhan Yan leaned forward to look at Xingxing, who kept his little ears tucked back flat.

Sigh, what to do? Xingxing has never been this furious before…

[Have fun, you two,] Zhan Jinli typed to show them, giving Gu Jiancheng a polite nod as a parting gesture.

So far, his impression of Gu Jiancheng was quite positive. He seemed like a steady, dependable young man—not overly talkative, and capable of keeping Xingxing calm. It was nice for Yan Yan to have a friend he could travel and play with.

Zhan Jinli forcefully pocketed Wan Yan and carried him off.

Zhan Yan discreetly slipped Wan Yan’s pit balls to his brother, waving goodbye to Wan Yan from an angle Xingxing couldn’t see.

Wan Yan let out a low rumble from his throat, no longer using Zhan Jinli’s wrist to sharpen his teeth.

Hmph, he knew the chef still cared about him in his heart.

You still owe me a grand feast, meow!

Don’t expect me to forgive you easily!

Gu Jiancheng offered a friendly wave to say goodbye to older brother, his shoulders visibly relaxing.

Once Zhan Jinli had walked far into the distance cradling Wan Yan, Zhan Yan crouched down to gather Xingxing into his arms.

“Xingxing—”

Xingxing let himself be held, but the moment he was scooped up, he scrambled right back onto Gu Jiancheng’s lap.

After repeating this several times, Zhan Yan stopped trying, crouching down dejectedly beside them with both hands resting on Gu Jiancheng’s knees: “Is Xingxing really never going to talk to me again?”

Gu Jiancheng looked down at Zhan Yan crouching beside him, the soft curls atop his head swaying gently in the breeze, making one itch to reach out and stroke them.

He quietly fished a lotus bud toy from his pocket, passed it behind Xingxing to Zhan Yan, and gave him a wink.

This was a purchasable prop from the “Lotus Platform” stage in the Eighteen Sights of the Underworld. On the surface, it looked like a plump lotus bud; a light tap on the tip opened it up, and another tap closed it again.

Zhan Yan understood instantly: this was for him to coax Xingxing with.

Without Wan Yan around to listen in, Zhan Yan managed to soothe Xingxing in no time.

With Xingxing mollified and classmate Xiao Gu successfully keeping his secret identity hidden from older brother, Zhan Yan could finally heave a massive sigh of relief. Surviving this past hour had been far more harrowing than the entire Eighteen Sights of the Underworld game!

Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng headed back to the hotel with Xingxing. Having headed out to play early in the morning and spent hours at it, it was now the hottest part of the day; they were better off heading back to enjoy the air conditioning.

Xingxing had a pet certificate, allowing him to accompany them straight into the hotel.

Back in the room, Xingxing trotted off cheerfully to play with his new toy.

Hmph, that wretched cat didn’t get one of these!

Meanwhile, classmate Xiao Gu lingered clingily beside Zhan Yan with a wounded, dispirited look.

“What’s wrong?” Zhan Yan pushed his big head away playfully.

Gu Jiancheng didn’t know how to put it into words either.

The thing was… he had discovered that Yan Yan’s brother was actually Ghost King Lin Yuan. To prevent favorability points from plummeting off a cliff and to reduce the sheer difficulty of farming them, he couldn’t reveal his status as “Yan Yan’s boyfriend” before Zhan Jinli for the time being.

Yet Yan Yan knew nothing of this… and he had promised to let him meet the parents earlier!

Even though his boyfriend identity couldn’t have stayed hidden without Yan Yan’s help, realizing that Yan Yan seemingly didn’t want his brother to know they were dating still made Gu Jiancheng feel slightly wronged.

Wronged, yet unable to speak up, and unable to make demands…

All he could do was stick close and cling.

Through the Gossip System, Zhan Yan watched Xiao Gu’s anxious, insecure state of mind.

…There’s just no helping it. After coaxing the kitty, he still had to coax the big baby. Once he finished coaxing the big one, the chaofan forum alerted him to a new private message from a special-focus user.

He clicked it open to take a look.

I Just Saved The World!: [Do you know what Ghost King Lin Yuan’s preferences are?]