GRMFBS CH37

After a good meal and a good night’s sleep, the next morning, Zhan Yan got up full of energy. After finishing his morning workout, he returned looking refreshed and full of life.

Knowing that he was going out to have fun today, Dad had specially made him some sandwiches!

Zhan Suiru glanced at his face, which had been wearing a mysterious smile all morning, and then looked down at him furiously tapping away at his phone.

Zhan Suiru: “Look at that smile!”

“So silly!”

“He’s definitely in love, right? Definitely in love!!”

Zhan Jinli: “Huh?”

“Doesn’t he always smile like that?”

Zhan Suiru: “Of course not!”

“When has he ever smiled so stupidly before?”

Zhan Jinli: “I think you’re overthinking it.”

Zhan Suiru: “What do you know, you old man who’s never even dated?!”

“Do you even know where he’s going today?!”

Zhan Jinli wasn’t fazed in the slightest: “Where?”

Zhan Suiru: “The amusement park!”

Do college boys these days go to amusement parks with just ordinary friends?

No way—they’re definitely not ordinary friends!

Zhan Jinli couldn’t grasp the distinction. The mere thought of amusement parks gave him a headache.

Back when he had just been adopted, their parents thought he was too quiet and withdrawn, so they kept taking him to all kinds of lively places. He was the one in the family who had been to amusement parks the most. They took him right after he was adopted, then again after they adopted Zhan Suiru, and again after they adopted Yan Yan—he always had to tag along.

An amusement park, a strange place that kept stuffing balloons and sticky cotton candy into his hands and constantly tied people to bizarre machines that either flung them around or spun them in slow circles.

As a former ghost king, he couldn’t understand—what was the fun in that?!

At the entrance of the amusement park, Gu Jiancheng stood in the small plaza waiting for Zhan Yan. One hand in his pocket, his eyes scanned the park. Adults led children back and forth, with ice cream, balloons, and cotton candy everywhere.

He suddenly seemed to see a little boy standing alone in the crowd, staring at him expressionlessly.

A hallucination.

Gu Jiancheng knew it was a hallucination—because that boy was his younger self.

The young him looked up at his grown self with dark, dull eyes, opened his mouth, but said nothing.

The stench of fire and burning flesh started to drift in. Gu Jiancheng watched his younger self’s mouth shape the words:

“Don’t hand me over to anyone else.”

“No one can be trusted.”

“Gu Jiancheng!” Zhan Yan’s energetic voice snapped him out of it.

Gu Jiancheng turned around to see Zhan Yan carrying a crossbody bag and holding two bowls of stir-fried yogurt, waving at him.

“It’s so hot today,” Zhan Yan said, handing him a bowl. “Here, yours. Eat it quick before it melts!”

Gu Jiancheng’s was plum and mixed nuts. Zhan Yan’s was a chocolate and matcha swirl. He scooped up a big spoonful of chocolate and popped it in his mouth, his cat-like eyes squinting from the cold. Then he scooped some matcha and shoved it into Gu Jiancheng’s mouth: “We’ll switch later.”

This way, they could both taste all four flavors.

Gu Jiancheng found his mouth full of stir-fried yogurt, the matcha aroma filling his nose. The burning stench hadn’t even had time to boil up before it was kicked away like a pesky balloon.

Sunlight fell on Zhan Yan’s face as he squinted against the glare. Gu Jiancheng looked down at his bright, cheerful expression and smiled with yogurt in his mouth.

“Shall we go get our tickets?”

The cold hallucination at the entrance melted away like snow under the sun.

It was a holiday weekend, and the amusement park was packed.

Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng finished their yogurt while waiting in line, then headed to the coolest spot in the park: the haunted house.

The haunted house was impressively set up, with realistic props, clever mechanisms, and even live NPCs. Zhan Yan was totally engrossed—he had a natural immunity to this kind of thing.

He’d never actually tried a haunted house before. When he was younger and just adopted, their parents had taken the whole family to the amusement park but avoided the scarier rides for fear of traumatizing him.

Gu Jiancheng wasn’t afraid either. The two of them wandered hand in hand through the haunted house like they were taking a romantic stroll in a park.

As they walked, a costumed staff member suddenly jumped out beside them, claws outstretched, and roared, “Rawr!”

Zhan Yan was startled by the sudden appearance but quickly started examining the gory face with curiosity: “Is that makeup or a mask?” It was a little too dark to tell.

Gu Jiancheng could see just fine in the dark. After a glance or two, he said, “It’s a mask—the straps are hidden under the hair.”

“Looks really well-made!” Zhan Yan praised.

The actor felt totally defeated.

Nearby, a couple screamed and clung to each other. One whimpered, “I’m so scared, what should I do?” while the other comforted, “Don’t worry, I’m here with you,” clinging tightly like they’d never let go.

Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng both saw it and suddenly realized what a haunted house was supposed to be for.

They exchanged a look.

Zhan Yan hesitated. Was it too late… to pretend to be scared now?

Gu Jiancheng half-raised his hand, uncertain. Would faking fear now ruin the mood?

The disappointed actor glanced at their linked hands.

Heh. Not scared, huh?

Fine!

He drifted off to scare other people.

The two of them were left standing among shrieking, clingy couples, staring at each other. Zhan Yan suddenly laughed: “You’re pretty brave, huh?”

He nudged Gu Jiancheng with his elbow: “I’ve just never been scared of this stuff, but how come you’re not afraid at all?”

Gu Jiancheng smiled: “I’ve seen enough to get used to it.”

Seen enough? How did that work? Did he like horror movies or practice in haunted houses?

Zhan Yan was still wondering when the gossip system suddenly popped up a notification:

[You’ve earned one Real Haunted House Experience.]

Zhan Yan was just about to complain that the system was taunting him again—when he realized something was off. The gossip system never used sarcasm. It only stated facts. But he hadn’t been scared… so what did “real” mean?

He opened the search bar to investigate.

Meanwhile, in the room next to them, a “killer” actor was hiding, ready to jump out and scare them.

The problem was—he was an actual ghost.

The killer burst out, holding a chainsaw, face twisted with rage, lunging straight at them.

Zhan Yan had just pulled up the gossip info and was focused on it. He flinched from surprise—and immediately felt Gu Jiancheng’s grip tighten on his hand as he was yanked behind him.

Gu Jiancheng had sensed ghostly energy the moment they entered the haunted house. It was faint and well-concealed—less impactful than car exhaust—so he didn’t think much of it.

He assumed it was just a ghost who lived here peacefully.

He hadn’t expected it to be a ghost pretending to be a human pretending to be a ghost.

A ghost, posing as a human, posing as a ghost to scare people—what was the point?

Maybe it was just into scaring people. But scaring humans isn’t legal for ghosts—so it got a job in a haunted house?

Gu Jiancheng didn’t get it.

Zhan Yan had already read the melon:

[Ghost named Yu Zhen is pretending to be a human to work in a haunted house and earn money to buy offerings for himself.]

Zhan Yan was stunned.

Even the afterlife was this brutal now?

So tragic. Ghosts had to buy their own offerings now?!

Feeling sorry, Zhan Yan couldn’t help but shoot Yu Zhen a sympathetic look.

The “killer”: ???

Yu Zhen had never met anyone this fearless.

The guy in front calmly shielded the other, but the one in back—what was with that pitying look?

This wasn’t fun at all. Yu Zhen turned and dragged his chainsaw off to scare someone else.

Living workers might get offended—dead workers just wanted to get off shift as early as possible.

After wandering through the chilly, claustrophobic haunted house full of screams, the two stepped back out into the sun and decided they needed a peaceful, sunny spot to sit.

They lined up for the Ferris wheel. Around noon, Zhan Yan took out the lunchbox with the sandwiches and handed one to Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng took a bite and his eyes widened.

Zhan Yan laughed: “Tasty, right? My dad made it.”

Gu Jiancheng nodded. Now he understood why Zhan Yan was so picky about food. With cooking like this at home, who wouldn’t be?

After finishing the sandwiches, the Ferris wheel had reached halfway up, offering a sweeping view of the scenery below.

Zhan Jinli always wore a blank expression—only Zhan Yan could tell he had the look of someone who had lost the will to live.

The Ferris wheel was the only amusement park ride Zhan Jinli could be said to actually enjoy, because he got to sit alone in a closed-off little cabin without having to talk to anyone.

Zhan Yan, sitting next to Gu Jiancheng, asked, “Have you ever been to an amusement park before?”

Had he?

Gu Jiancheng wasn’t sure if it counted.

Before he got dragged into the infinite world, he had never been to one. Inside the infinite world, though, he had once cleared a instance that took place in an amusement park.

But that park… did it really count?

It was a five-star high-risk dungeon. Gu Jiancheng had gone in with his team. They’d encountered several other factions inside, as well as some unaffiliated solo players.

The amusement park gave each player a child version of themselves. The child forms could boost their adult selves’ abilities. But if the child died, the adult died too.

The child form needed to accumulate Happiness Points by going on rides. The more Happiness Points they collected, the stronger the buff. If the player took their own child self on rides, the accumulation coefficient was 1. If someone else took their child, the coefficient was 2.

It was an instance built on trust. If you handed your child self over to someone else, everyone would get stronger buffs, and the odds of clearing the instance would improve.

But giving your child self to someone else meant handing them your life.

Gu Jiancheng came up with a plan. Risky—but it could get everyone out.

Because of the pressure of the five-star instance, he managed to unite everyone. The solo players couldn’t bring themselves to trust others and kept their child selves with them. The faction teams exchanged child selves within their own teams.

In the end, his child self died. Gu Jiancheng was severely injured and barely survived.

The friend who had been with him since the beginning of the infinite world—clearing instance after instance—told him:
“Shenying, your plan was too dangerous. One misstep and we’d all be dead.”

“Just doing the instance normally—sacrificing a few people—most of us would’ve made it.”

“I knew you had that shadow double skill. You wouldn’t die.”

“Don’t blame me. I tried to talk you out of it. You insisted on your plan.”

“People will always seek benefit and avoid harm. It’s instinct.”

In the end, Gu Jiancheng was the only one who made it out alive. That “sacrifice a few to save the many” route had turned out to be the instance’s trap.

“When I was a kid, every time I came to the amusement park, I had to ride the Ferris wheel,” Zhan Yan said.

His voice pulled Gu Jiancheng out of his memories. He turned to look at him.

Zhan Yan was gazing out the window. The Ferris wheel was almost at its highest point. Ten-odd years ago, it had been the tallest structure in all of Yunjin City. Although newer buildings had since broken that record, the view was still stunning.

Zhan Yan pointed out the window. “Look! That’s the event center we passed earlier—the one called ‘Big Heart.’”

He leaned back to give Gu Jiancheng a better view.

There wasn’t much appeal to overlooking the city—once you’d seen it twice, it got old. He always insisted on riding the Ferris wheel mostly because his older brother looked so pitiful with that dead-inside expression. It gave the guy a chance to catch his breath.

Gu Jiancheng looked out.

From above, the “Big Heart” didn’t look like a heart at all. Lying in the middle of the reflecting pool, it looked like a fish. The still water mirrored the blue sky and drifting clouds. The shadow of the clouds slowly glided across, and the fish seemed to be swimming in the sky.

Zhan Yan looked at Gu Jiancheng instead. His profile was right in front of him—the frown that had unknowingly formed between his brows gradually relaxed.

His brows, nose, jawline—all sharply defined and striking.

Zhan Yan smiled silently.

So much better-looking when he’s at ease.