GRMFBS CH261

The air conditioner hummed steadily, its night-mode breeze blowing softly against Zhan Yan’s face, chilling him completely.

He felt as if he were drowning, separated from the entire world by a hazy, foggy film.

Subconsciously, he grabbed the warm body in front of him, gasping for air almost convulsively.

“…Yan Yan? Yan Yan?”

The darkness before him was abruptly pierced by light, and someone’s voice pulled him above the water’s surface.

He didn’t know when he had sat up. His back leaned against half of Gu Jiancheng’s chest and shoulder, while his hands tightly gripped the arms in front of him, all five fingers digging into the relaxed muscles.

Zhan Yan loosened his grip with trembling fingers, only to have his hand held by the other person.

“It’s alright, it’s alright, it was just a dream. You’re fine now that you’re awake,” Gu Jiancheng murmured comfortingly by his ear.

Feeling Gu Jiancheng’s hand wipe his face, Zhan Yan finally realized his face was covered in tears.

The figure in the dream had always been very calm, so composed it was like he was listening to a story that had nothing to do with him.

But he heard it all. He knew how much agony was suppressed beneath that tranquil surface.

The tide poured down, drenching him completely.

“Xiao Gu,” Zhan Yan hugged him.

The emotions that didn’t belong to him had receded, but his heart still ached so, so much.

He only knew that Deep Shadow had been the one to point out the location of Infinite’s core back then, but he didn’t know that this was how Xiao Gu had found it…

“I’m here,” Gu Jiancheng said in a low voice. “I’m here, it’s okay.”

“Xiao Gu.” Zhan Yan’s voice was terribly hoarse.

“I want you to stay with me.”

I want to stay with you forever.

…

The next morning, Xingxing, having slept soundly, got up and took a loooong stretch.

After stretching his front legs, he stretched his back legs. Mid-stretch, the comfortable little cat suddenly widened his eyes, his posture freezing in place.

Something wasn’t right. Hadn’t he gone to sleep on the bed last night? Why was he on the sofa in the small suite living room now?

Xingxing jumped off the sofa, ran to the bedroom door, and started swatting at it.

A few minutes later, Gu Jiancheng opened the door wearing a pair of shorts, his hair a messy bird’s nest.

Xingxing stared at him blankly.

Ah… did I scratch him while I was angry yesterday?

Gu Jiancheng found the dried meat and water, poured them into the food bowl, and rubbed Xingxing’s head.

“Shh, play by yourself for a bit. We’re going to sleep a little longer.”

His voice was slightly deep, carrying a subtle hint of satiation. After feeding the cat, he padded back into the bedroom in his slippers.

Zhan Yan lay lazily on the bed, still in the same posture as before. He was already awake, but too lazy to move.

Anyway, the time for morning exercise had already passed; it didn’t matter if he laid there a while longer.

Gu Jiancheng climbed back into bed, mumbling sleepily, “Xingxing is awake. I’ve already fed him, sleep a bit longer?”

Zhan Yan kept his eyes closed and didn’t speak, lazily leaning over and curling up against him.

He couldn’t fall back asleep at this hour anyway. Opening the Gossip System, his gradually clearing mind began to sort through the situation.

Last night, he had dreamt of Gu Jiancheng’s past memories. It was a continuation of that brief trigger he experienced at the Sansheng Stone checkpoint earlier.

The gossip strip showed he had triggered a bit of Di Ting’s divine ability.

It was probably because he was currently piecing together the puzzle for Di Ting’s single horn, while simultaneously coming into contact with the Wan Yan Ghost King. The Gossip System likely had some connection to Di Ting’s divine ability…

But it wasn’t as if he hadn’t touched anyone else while in contact with the Wan Yan Ghost King before. Yet, he only heard inner thoughts when he touched Gu Jiancheng.

This residual divine ability took effect between him and Xiao Gu because… Xiao Gu was completely defenseless around him.

The air conditioning blew a cool breeze; the early morning was quiet and peaceful.

He just wanted to lie there like this forever…

Xingxing, now full, strolled around the room by himself, ran to the bedroom door, looked up, and stared.

This handle…

Jump, hook, press down.

The cat opened the door!

Xingxing wagged his tail and strutted in, seeing both people lying on the bed.

Pounce! He wanted in on this too!

Through the quilt, he landed accurately and heavily right on Zhan Yan’s waist.

Zhan Yan let out a yelp and shuddered, “Xingxing! You are already an eight-pound cat!”

An arm reached across and scooped Xingxing up by the armpits.

Before Xingxing could react, his position was relocated.

Gu Jiancheng nervously rubbed his waist for him, “Are you okay?”

Zhan Yan caught his breath and angrily bit him.

“I’m hungry.”

Xingxing watched blankly as this person broke into a silly grin, got up, got dressed, and went downstairs to buy breakfast.

He stepped over the quilt and ran to Zhan Yan’s side: “Meow-aow?”

So weird.

Zhan Yan rubbed the little cat’s head, his voice still a bit hoarse, “Xingxing, play by yourself, I’m going to lie down a little longer.”

He needed to check the situation in Dawn World, and see how his brother was doing with the Wan Yan Ghost King.

A quick search showed that Wan Shitong had already reported the new changes in Dawn World, and the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had already contacted the Wan Yao Alliance and Mount Chaofu.

The process of connecting to Reincarnation definitely needed someone to guard it. The candidate for the Underworld… excellent, it was his brother.

The Wan Yan Ghost King was unreliable, Ghost King Tie Lao didn’t have time, and Ghost King Minghe was constantly guarding Reincarnation and could only lend a hand at most. So they still had to rely on Ghost King Lin Yuan.

However, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau also divined an unexpectedly suitable candidate…

Gu Jiancheng went downstairs to buy breakfast.

Porridge? Hmm… smells like it was freshly boiled, not instant food. Perfect, this shop it is.

Century egg and lean meat porridge, eight-treasure porridge, millet porridge, fish porridge… Decision paralysis. He took a sniff; the ingredients for the pumpkin porridge and the fish porridge were the freshest, exactly one sweet and one savory. He’d buy both to take back.

Hmm, the pan-fried dumplings at this stall were good, buy them. That shop’s egg tarts just came out of the oven, buy them. This small stir-fry with seasonal vegetables was very fresh, buy it…

By the time Wan Shitong sent a message to his boss, Gu Jiancheng’s hands were so full he could barely carry it all.

He shifted his bags around and pulled out his phone to check the message.

Oh, it was about Dawn World. But why would the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau think to ask him to help guard Dawn World? He couldn’t even enter Dawn World. Besides, judging from connections to that world, shouldn’t they be looking for Rong Sui?

Wan Shitong felt guilty. This result was calculated by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau using supernatural methods, indicating Deep Shadow was the most suitable. He suspected it was the fault of the “Deep Shadow” NPC he had created…

Wan Shitong explained, “Boss, you don’t need to enter Dawn World. I’m inside Dawn World playing games to keep them company. It seems the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau also found a very powerful and mysterious guy, I don’t know who it is.”

“During the process of connecting to Reincarnation, Dawn World will link with reality.”

“Someone from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau should be coming to find you very soon too.”

He was secretly leaking the news in advance.

Sure enough, right after Wan Shitong finished explaining, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau sent someone to poke him.

The communicator beeped consecutively several times, explaining the whole situation clearly.

Gu Jiancheng stared at the personnel arrangement section.

The Underworld portion was being guarded by Ghost King Lin Yuan. He would guard the passage, which meant he would have some interaction with Ghost King Lin Yuan.

Ah… the opportunity had arrived.

Before finding Di Ting’s single horn, he had to seize the chance to refresh his impression in front of Ghost King Lin Yuan.

…

So, the plan was to have his sister guard from inside Dawn World, his brother guard in the Underworld, and Xiao Gu guard at the passage…

Zhan Yan seamlessly switched the gossip strip over to his brother’s side.

There was definitely no problem with Xiao Gu and his sister cooperating, but this time he also had to cooperate with his brother.

His brother’s secret identity had now been exposed to Xiao Gu, and Xiao Gu definitely wanted to grab this chance to farm some favorability.

It wasn’t their first time cooperating, but the previous mode of cooperation… well, his brother probably had a bit of psychological trauma from it.

It would be best to help Xiao Gu break the ice. He needed to think of a way… His “Approaching Science” account had interacted with Ghost King Lin Yuan a few times. He had even sent messages to help Ghost King Lin Yuan dodge the Wan Yan Ghost King a few times.

Think of a way to put in a few good words for Deep Shadow in front of Ghost King Lin Yuan?

Zhan Yan rolled over and accidentally pulled a muscle. He gritted his teeth, grabbed a pillow, and hugged it. Xiao Gu’s stamina was really too good.

He continued scrolling through his brother’s gossip strips.

He wondered how his brother’s chat with the Wan Yan Ghost King went…

Ah, his brother brought the Wan Yan Ghost King directly back to the Underworld.

It made sense. Even though the Wan Yan Ghost King had recovered most of his memories, his soul was damaged, and he was still relying on that “curse” of his brother’s to hang on. He was still very much in “Eternal Unrest”, and his brother didn’t dare bring the Wan Yan Ghost King home or to The Bakery.

The Soul-Confusing Forest in the Underworld.

The moment Zhan Jinli let go, Wan Yan darted up a tree. He turned his back to him, neither paying him any attention nor running away, just letting a section of his tail hang down, the tip swaying gently back and forth.

Zhan Jinli: …

Standing under the tree looking at the cat’s tail from this angle truly gave him a bit of PTSD.

But looking at Wan Yan like this, he also knew he had remembered quite a bit—at the very least, his brain that inexplicably always wanted to go fishing had been cured.

Wan Yan biting his wrist earlier was purely venting his anger, otherwise he wouldn’t have obediently let himself be brought over.

Zhan Jinli’s voice was deep: “Still going to fish?”

The little cat’s tail stiffened.

He felt somewhat guilty.

Zhan Jinli: “A cat fishing?”

Wan Yan: …

“Meow!”

Zhan Jinli nodded: “Mn. A cat. Was the cat toy Ghost King Tie Lao specifically custom-made for you fun?”

Wan Yan remembered that “Lin Yuan” doll that switched between two modes.

“…Meow-aow-wu-aow-meow!”

It wasn’t even what I asked for! I was tormented miserably by that thing too! That was clearly Ghost King Tie Lao’s fault, why pin it on my head?!

Wan Yan squatted on the branch staring at him, his little whiskers trembling with anger: “Meow-aow-aow-aow!”

You raise other cats! You even buy cat toys for other cats!

Seeing him tremble his whiskers, Zhan Jinli couldn’t help but think of the visual projection Ghost King Minghe had transmitted to him earlier. The little cat pretending to be asleep, the whiskers on both sides braided into pigtails, while keeping his eyes closed and faking snores.

After meowing and yowling for a long time, Wan Yan finally noticed that Zhan Jinli hadn’t said a single word and looked exceptionally calm and peaceful.

He grumbled a couple of times and squatted in the tree without speaking anymore.

The Wan Yan Ghost King started spacing out. He involuntarily thought of the memories in his dream.

—“Lin Yuan, why are you always hanging out with Di Ting?”

—“What’s wrong?”

—“None of us dare to come look for you anymore. That divine ability of his…”

—“He’s very good.”

After Ghost King Lin Yuan returned, he saw the blanked-out Di Ting. Heart voices he didn’t want to hear kept drilling into his ears.

Would he be hated? Who wouldn’t hate someone who affects their normal life?

—You heard?

Ghost King Lin Yuan’s ice-cold hand rubbed the thick fur on his neck.

—“Who I am willing to spend time with is my own business.”

“Come down. Let’s talk.”

Wan Yan involuntarily climbed down.

Through the gossip strip, Zhan Yan saw his brother manage to coax Wan Yan back into a good mood just by chatting.

Wan Yan could go looking for him, but promised not to affect his family members living as ordinary people.

As expected of his brother! He had handled the Wan Yan Ghost King so quickly!

[Ghost King Lin Yuan, Zhan Jinli, asked about Wan Yan’s previous situation. Wan Yan recounted it truthfully and stated that it was fortunate Approaching Science helped him, which was how he managed to find Zhan Jinli.]

!!!

Why did you tell him everything, kitty!

How was he supposed to use the Approaching Science account to farm favorability for Xiao Gu in front of Ghost King Lin Yuan now?!