GRMFBS CH278

Spiritual type. Of course.

If Wan Shitong were merely a network type, he wouldn’t have survived in Infinite to this day. There was simply no such thing as a “network-type” in Infinite to begin with.

Compared to the technology of a specific world, spirit rooted in the soul was a far more universal form of power.

Almost every player in Infinite had a few spiritual-type abilities up their sleeve, just as Wan Shitong also possessed physical combat capabilities.

Monster Doctor was also a spiritual type.

However, that guy usually engaged in perverted manipulations of flesh and blood, leading most players to believe his primary ability was oriented toward flesh.

Gu Jiancheng had also discovered this when that idiot attempted to plant Heart-Guiding Thread into him.

When he tried to brainwash Gu Jiancheng, he used his spiritual-type ability, what was that thing called… spiritual scalpel.

—”Why is the moth in agony? Because it only knows that fire is bright, not that fire burns.”

—”Ignorance is the root of all suffering.”

—”I am merely pursuing the truth.”

That trashy theory of “saving the world through truth” he concocted actually attracted quite a few followers among players driven mad by Infinite.

Gu Jiancheng was annoyed to death by them, because Monster Doctor later claimed that the key to unlocking the truth lay within him. Consequently, this flock of brainwashed fools began chasing after him madly—aside from these guys, few players in Infinite dared to go head-to-head with Deep Shadow, who was already Top 1.

As for why Monster Doctor was so obsessed with Deep Shadow and claimed the key to unlocking the truth lay within him, it was because Deep Shadow had survived the longest and possessed the strongest abilities among all players capable of devouring anomalies.

Monster Doctor believed he could study the secrets of anomalies, Black Nests, and even Infinite through him…

“…Boss?”

Gu Jiancheng snapped back to reality. Wan Shitong was looking at him with concern.

The big boss Deep Shadow habitually wore a deadpan expression, making it impossible to guess his thoughts.

“Continue.”

Wan Shitong: “Uh… Boss, why don’t you catch your breath first?”

Within the Sea of Shadows, waves were rising across the previously dead surface of the sea.

Gu Jiancheng: …He had maintained a blank poker face for nothing.

He took a deep breath and looked up at the stars in the sky.

Wan Shitong followed his gaze upward.

During his time in Infinite, Wan Shitong had entered the Sea of Shadows a few times, not often, and basically only at critical moments.

Back then, the Boss’s Sea of Shadows was often as turbulent as an eighth-degree tsunami. If it weren’t an absolute matter of life and death, Wan Shitong wouldn’t have been willing to enter—he was fleeing for his life before entering, and he still had to flee for his life after coming in.

Wan Shitong recalled what the Sea of Shadows looked like at its most “peaceful” back when he had seen it once.

That time, the Boss was also inside the Sea of Shadows. As soon as he entered, the surging, turbulent Sea of Shadows suddenly turned placid, the surface flat as a mirror without a single ripple.

Just as Wan Shitong let out a sigh of relief, he subconsciously looked down.

He felt as if he were looking at a mirror. It was the kind in a dimly lit room, where barely any light allowed you to see the mirror, but you couldn’t clearly see what was reflected in it—only a chaotic, muddled black. The light and shadow in the mirror shifted as if something was moving, indistinct, yet seemingly eager to burst out from the world beyond the glass at any moment, held back only by that thin pane of glass.

Gu Jiancheng was that pane of glass.

From then on, Wan Shitong never dared to look down at Gu Jiancheng’s Sea of Shadows again.

Now, however, it was different. Entering the Sea of Shadows this time, the familiar spine-chilling dread didn’t appear. Looking at the sea surface again, Wan Shitong even perceived a sense of spaciousness and tranquility capable of embracing all things.

The Boss’s aftereffects were truly completely healed.

Although Wan Shitong had been thoroughly terrified by the fact that “spiritual type” had been forcibly altered to “network-type,” at this moment, he couldn’t help but feel delighted.

The Boss’s boyfriend was super incredible!

Previously, he had worried that the violent emotional swings from the Boss dating someone would trigger an outbreak of his aftereffects. Who could have imagined that after dating for a few years, the Boss’s aftereffects were actually cured!

Look at the Boss’s reaction during intense emotional fluctuations now. The waves rolling up didn’t even reach his calves!

Wishing the Boss and his boyfriend a long and everlasting relationship!

The minor waves vanished after Gu Jiancheng regained his senses. Seeing him look up, Wan Shitong followed suit and raised his head as well.

“Boss, why is there a star in your Sea of Shadows?”

Gu Jiancheng didn’t say anything, only slowly curving the corners of his mouth. That smile… tsk.

Wan Shitong indicated that he had accidentally gotten a heavy dose of secondhand sweetness.

The Boss was so in love that he would specially light a lamp for someone in the Sea of Shadows.

“I remember now.” Gu Jiancheng set aside those suddenly resurfacing memories and continued asking: “How did you remember it?”

As Wan Shitong explained, Gu Jiancheng sorted it out in his mind.

Spirit and flesh—these were the fundamental essentials of every living being.

For all spiritual types to be turned into network-types, never having once manifested spiritual-type abilities in reality, was not merely an issue of memory, but a change at a higher conceptual level.

After Gu Jiancheng combed through it, he roughly understood why this world had implemented such self-imposed restrictions.

Infinite devoured negative spiritual energy; if those with powerful spiritual energy could not manifest it in reality, the food Infinite could swallow would be drastically cut down. This was pulling the rug out from under Infinite’s feet.

Now that Wan Shitong had also recovered his memories and abilities, it showed that this world was beginning to release this self-restriction.

A major upheaval was about to occur.

Gu Jiancheng also thought of a person—Rong Sui.

Before this, Rong Sui had been the only person capable of directly utilizing spiritual energy. With such a glaring case right in front of him, he had stubbornly ignored all suspicious points and hadn’t doubted that something was wrong with this world in the slightest.

Why would this world give her a green light? She definitely knew something.

Oh, right, he had sent a message to Rong Sui earlier saying that he felt something was off. Now that Wan Shitong had explained the matter of spiritual types and network-types to him, his senses had returned to normal.

Gu Jiancheng decided to go talk to Zhan Suiru.

Zhan Suiru had just turned Dawn World upside down without finding any issues.

Now dawn was breaking, and Deep Shadow sent her a message saying his sense that something was off was because spiritual-type abilities had been changed to network-type.

Zhan Suiru: …Worked in vain all night. She still had to face Mom and Dad during the day.

Rong Sui: [‘Spiritual’ was overwritten by the concept of ‘network’.]

[My ability to use spiritual energy was transferred through Dawn World.]

[Wan Shitong also holds partial authority over Dawn World; he should also be able to use spiritual energy in the real world through Dawn World as a relay.]

Gu Jiancheng looked at Rong Sui’s reply. This was roughly consistent with what Wan Shitong had said.

He said he had remembered long ago that he was a spiritual type, but for some reason, he could only remember it while inside Dawn World; the moment he stepped out, he would forget it again.

Wan Shitong had tried various methods to pass the news to him back then, but none succeeded, so he simply gave up later on.

Gu Jiancheng: [Is this why you went crazy a while back, coming to me saying there was something critical, and then told me the Broker was going crazy in the black market because Artisan had run off to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau?]

Wan Shitong: …

Boss, let’s not bring up dark history like that.

Zhan Suiru’s messages continued to come through.

Rong Sui: [It’s likely an effect produced by Dawn World connecting to Reincarnation.]

Dawn World was a world transitioning from the network into reality, inevitably breaking through the overwrite of the “network” concept on the “spiritual” concept.

Rong Sui: [Do not investigate further down. Infinite has been watching.]

Zhan Suiru didn’t know why her younger brother possessed an ability like concept overwriting, but she always remembered the cautious attitude Ning Xi and Mom maintained whenever they mentioned Approaching Science.

Deep Shadow was trustworthy, but regarding her younger brother’s affairs, the fewer people who knew, the less danger there would be.

Gu Jiancheng understood her tacit hint and didn’t press further.

Deep Shadow: [Monster Doctor is also a spiritual type; his abilities are very troublesome.]

The overwrite of “network” on “spiritual” restricted not only this world’s spiritual types, but also the players who had emerged from Infinite.

According to this progression, when Dawn World fully transitioned into reality, the concept of the spiritual type would be completely unveiled, and Monster Doctor would sooner or later be able to use his “spiritual scalpel” ability; they had to prepare in advance.

Gu Jiancheng scheduled a time with the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau to meet and discuss this in detail. After cutting off communication, the previously ignored memories resurfaced once again.

That was after the amusement park dungeon.

In that dungeon, he had used Shadow Substitution twice in total before he could make it out alive. Forcibly using Shadow Substitution the second time had almost caused his abilities to lose control.

Monster Doctor hadn’t fully revealed his perverted nature at that time, but Gu Jiancheng had already intuitively sensed something was wrong with him and began distancing himself from him.

Yet that damn pervert still seized the opportunity.

—”Is someone who kills one person more noble than someone who kills two?”

—”Is someone who kills a criminal more moral than someone who kills an innocent person?”

—”The people I killed had also killed others; am I the hand that executes justice?”

—”Stop engaging in these meaningless debates. Morality is merely a trap.”

—”Trust, goodwill, love, betrayal, malice, hatred—they are all nothing more than hormones secreted by the physical body.”

—”Believe in them, and you will end up reduced to your current state.”

—”Only by knowing the truth can one break free from Infinite.”

Gu Jiancheng gave a low snort.

Love wasn’t some hormone.

Hormones couldn’t cure his aftereffects.

Monster Doctor was just a stupid idiot!

…

In the early morning, Zhan Yan suddenly woke up. He blinked in confusion, reaching for his phone to check the time. It was only a bit past four; had his biological clock malfunctioned? Or was he suddenly unfamiliar with the bed?

Aside from the time, there was also a message notification from Gu Jiancheng on his phone screen.

Zhan Yan tapped open the message. It was Xiao Gu’s reply to him from last night, sent in several consecutive, long paragraphs of text.

As he read, he couldn’t help but smile.

My, so happy after winning over my older brother?

Unfortunately, he still couldn’t let him meet the parents yet. The family was currently at its busiest and most chaotic; they had to wait at least until Mom and Dad sorted out the matter of their secret identities… Besides, Xiao Gu hadn’t farmed much favorability with Mom and Dad yet. Favorability points gained indirectly through his brother and sister always felt a bit unstable to him.

But how should he farm Mom and Dad’s favorability? They didn’t have any troubles that needed solving…

Better leave troublesome matters for the daytime.

Zhan Yan pressed the voice message button and, laden with drowsiness, sent a message to the overly excited Xiao Gu.

After sending it, he yawned, rolled over, and fell back asleep.

Gu Jiancheng’s phone suddenly chimed with a special notification tone.

Hmm? Yan Yan’s? Doesn’t Yan Yan usually sleep at this hour?

Tap open and listen.

Zhan Yan’s sleepy voice was soft and gentle, slurring slightly with a trailing note, like the ripples kicked up by a swimming fish’s tail as it turned.

“Suddenly woke up, missing you. I’m so sleepy, going back to sleep. Mwah.”

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Gu Jiancheng pressed a hand over his heart.

The unhappy memories were swatted away into a corner with a flick of a tail, replaced by light, soft ripples that filled every single corner of his heart.