GRMFBS CH39

The gossip system arrived fashionably late:

[You’re looking distracted.]

Zhan Yan: … Cough!

Zhan Jinli helped his brother salvage the overwhipped cream, kneading it into dough for bread.

Making ice cream was a breeze with division of labor. They mixed various flavors with jam, juice, dried fruits, and nuts, then popped them in the freezer to set.

After freezing the ice cream base, Zhan Yan, seeing his sister open her mouth, quickly claimed he’d promised to game with Qi Ye and slipped back to his room.

Once inside, Zhan Yan realized his lie was flimsy. Qi Ye was his sister’s employee—wouldn’t she see through it with one question?

He pulled out his phone and messaged Qi Ye, asking if she was free to play a couple of rounds.

Qi Ye was live streaming.

She hadn’t streamed in a while and was playing casually to unwind, also appeasing her fans with a broadcast.

Having just finished a match, Qi Ye saw her phone buzz, checked the message, and replied, “I’m streaming. You cool with that?”

Her live audience, hearing her voice, started spamming the chat with questions.

Zhan Yan didn’t mind—he wasn’t showing his face. But he worried Qi Ye’s fans might object to his noob skills.

Qi Ye glanced at the chat.

[Is it the game-noob brother?]

[Stream together! Stream together!]

[Actually, I’d rather see Coconut and the boss stream.]

[+1]

[+10086]

Seeing a flood of +1s, Qi Ye said, “Wanna see me get crushed by the boss? Dream on! Watch me carry my brother to the skies!”

Since neither side minded, Qi Ye and Zhan Yan queued up.

[Yikes! Big talk, careful you crash!]

[Waiting for the crash.]

Qi Ye snorted. Crash? Impossible! Even with a noob brother, she’d carry him!

To be safe, she pinged someone from her friends list to join.

Seven Big Coconuts: “I’m bringing someone. You in?”

White-Haired Hottie: “I’m in!”

Seven Big Coconuts: “I’m streaming. Don’t drag me down.”

White-Haired Hottie: “No worries! I’ve got this!”

At Taishi Mountain.

The little white wolf, sprawled on the floor doing homework, got the message, sprang up with a kick of its four legs, and transformed into human form. Sitting cross-legged on a cushion, its unhidden ears twitched happily.

He sneaked a glance at the door, quietly shutting it.

Homework could wait—time for a few games!

With White-Haired Hottie’s confirmation, Qi Ye relaxed. With both of them, it was a sure win!

She boasted, “No way we’re crashing! If we do, I’ll carry my brother to Diamond tonight!”

[You didn’t even say King!]

[Tch, chickening out?]

Qi Ye sneered. Zhan Yan’s current Silver rank was thanks to her carrying him a couple of days ago. Silver to King in one night? Did they want to grind her to death?

Soon, they queued into a match.

Zhan Yan, knowing he’d be a liability, asked obediently, “What should I pick?”

Qi Ye bragged, “Anything! I’ll carry you no matter what!”

The chat speculated:

[With a sister that good, the brother can’t be that bad.]

[Probably just average.]

[It’s normal if he’s not as good as Coconut.]

Zhan Yan chose a low-skill character. Once the game started and his gameplay showed, the chat shifted.

[Hahahahaha]

[Is he that bad? Never seen someone use skills like that.]

[This bad and still playing? Just dragging everyone down.]

Qi Ye, multitasking, caught the chat, banned a few toxic commenters, and snapped, “Getting a superiority complex over a game? Games aren’t for playing? I love carrying—what’s it to you?”

After kicking out the jerks, the stream’s vibe improved.

Zhan Yan, oblivious, showered Qi Ye and White-Haired Hottie with praise.

The chat loved his flattery:

[Haha, the brother’s such a hype man!]

[Look at this guy’s brother, then mine… Oh, I don’t have one. Never mind.]

[Coconut doesn’t have a brother either—this is the boss’s brother.]

[Brother’s so sweet. If I got praised like that, I’d win ten in a row!]

[Ten in a row, Coconut? Gotta make it happen!]

They didn’t.

They crashed.

Qi Ye stared blankly at the defeat screen amid a sea of hahahas.

Not her fault! White-Haired Hottie went AFK halfway!

In the second half, Qi Ye played while spamming White-Haired Hottie: “Where’d you go?!?!”

Zhan Yan didn’t mind—losing was normal for him. He comforted Qi Ye, saying she was amazing and would’ve won without him dragging her down.

Qi Ye wasn’t having it. Look at the chat!

[Not guilty with all that praise, brother?]

[Who said they’d carry to Diamond tonight?]

Qi Ye wiped her face. “Wait, next game, I’ll definitely carry you!”

She pinged White-Haired Hottie again, her keyboard radiating fury: “No good excuse, you’re done!”

Zhan Yan, unaware of Qi Ye’s bet with her audience, saw how fired up she was and checked the gossip system.

White-Haired Hottie was skilled, not the type to suddenly go AFK and screw over teammates.

[“White-Haired Hottie” got so into gaming he forgot homework, was yanked by the scruff by his brother, and forced to log off.]

Pfft, White-Haired Hottie’s still a student? The “yanked by the scruff” phrasing was odd, though.

Before Zhan Yan could dig deeper, Qi Ye had already queued them up again.

Qi Ye was clearly tilted, grinding match after match, carrying him from Silver to Gold, then Gold to Platinum, and still pushing to climb higher.

Zhan Yan: “I’ve never hit this rank before! You’re amazing!”

Qi Ye: “Don’t worry, I’ll keep carrying you up!”

Zhan Yan: “This is high enough already!”

Qi Ye: “No way! Trust me, I’ll take you higher!”

Qi Ye was on.

Zhan Yan: “No, I’m too sleepy, I can’t keep up… o(╥﹏╥)o”

He had morning training tomorrow…

Chat: [Hahahahahahaha]

Qi Ye: …

She let the boss’s brother go sleep.

The next day, Zhan Yan got a message from Qi Ye saying White-Haired Hottie felt bad for ditching them and wanted to add him as a friend to carry him in games later.

Zhan Yan agreed and received a friend request.

White-Haired Hottie: “Hey.”

“Last night, I hit a severe unavoidable issue and had to log off.”

“Sorry for screwing you guys over.”

“If you wanna game later, hit me up. I’ll carry you.”

Zhan Yan: .

Getting dragged off by his brother to do homework was a severe unavoidable issue.

Zhan Yan agreed to play later but didn’t plan to actually follow through.

This kid was young enough to get hauled off for homework—probably a high schooler at most, swamped with studies. Zhan Yan didn’t want to drag a kid into gaming.

213-year-old “little brother” Bai Ji, staring at his phone, saw Zhan Yan’s reply and happily wagged his tail twice.

He loved gaming with this new “brother”—at his age, calling anyone “brother” was fair game.

This brother was a master at compliments, and Bai Ji ate it up!

Zhan Yan, eyeing White-Haired Hottie’s reply, felt the name seemed familiar. But that wasn’t surprising—white-hair fans were everywhere.

Recalling yesterday’s gossip about “yanked by the scruff,” he noted the system always stuck to facts, even in snark, never using metaphors. So, “yanked by the scruff” might literally mean that, which meant…

Zhan Yan searched and soon realized why “White-Haired Hottie” felt familiar.

[“White-Haired Hottie” was banned for ten days on the supernatural forum’s task board for spamming ten matchmaking posts.]

This was a gossip tidbit he’d seen the day he discovered the supernatural forum.

Same username. Coincidence or…

Zhan Yan dug deeper.

[Little wolf demon Bai Ji, upset after a beating from his brother Bai Ce, spammed ten matchmaking posts for his brother on the supernatural forum, only to get another beating when found out.]

Zhan Yan: …

Pfft.

Troublemaking kids were universal, regardless of species.

He couldn’t resist checking the supernatural forum for White-Haired Hottie’s matchmaking posts.

After searching, he found nothing—likely deleted by mods as spam.

Zhan Yan felt a twinge of regret.

While clearing DMs, he saw a message from the Ling Yu admin.

Opening it, he found a task offer.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had spotted clues of a suspected glitch anomaly—a new, hard-to-track phenomenon. Ling Yu asked if he could find related leads.

Directly searching was futile; in his system, it’d just be garbled code, untraceable. But if the glitch anomaly was linked to something else, he could track it, like when he spotted the first anomaly via a hungry ghost.

Zhan Yan requested their existing clues, and Ling Yu sent a file package.

Opening it, he saw indirect leads—apparently, even the Administration’s info-based superhumans couldn’t directly track this thing.

The key detail: the clues were found in Beiling City.

Zhan Yan’s university, Beiling Agricultural University (Beinongda for short), was in Beiling City, nestled in a northern valley of Qixia Mountain with a unique microclimate.

Yunjin City and Beiling City were both near Qixia Mountain. So close…

Zhan Yan didn’t think it was a coincidence. If the Administration’s clues were legit, it suggested a connection between the two glitch anomalies, with the “link” moving from Yunjin to Beiling.

A chill ran through him. He immediately messaged the Ling Yu.

If he could think of this, the Administration surely had.

Ling Yu: “Yes. We suspect the glitch anomaly is man-made.”

Zhan Yan leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath.

The last glitch anomaly dissipated on its own, indicating a flaw. Its creator might have released it for testing. Without a way to track such anomalies, the creator would need to stay nearby to observe results—maybe not right beside it, but in the same city, district, or even street.

He and his brother had been that close to that person—or thing.

It wasn’t just his parents’ frequent business trips anymore. His brother, sister, and Gu Jiancheng were at risk too. The anomaly was in Beiling, where he and Gu Jiancheng studied, and school started next week.

Points! He needed to rack up points!

Using the Ling Yu’s data, Zhan Yan scoured the gossip system, uncovering the new glitch anomaly.

But this No. 2 glitch anomaly was intermittent, hopping between different spirits, unlike No. 1, which fixated on a hungry ghost, making it harder to track.

The Administration’s data mixed issues caused by No. 2 with unrelated ones. Zhan Yan sorted them, sent a detailed report, and worked meticulously.

Approaching Science: “[File]”

“It’s definitely a glitch anomaly. I can’t track it.”

“This is all I’ve got for now. If you’re unsure about anything later, hit me up.”

“I’ll send any new info your way.”

The Ling Yu opened the file and recognized its value.

Filtering out noise and adding Approaching Science’s details, No. 2’s abilities became clear, even hinting at a movement path.

Nie Yu reported it immediately and settled Approaching Science’s points during the wait.

Approaching Science’s intel was a game-changer! She boosted his points by 30% and looked forward to more collaboration.

Zhan Yan, seeing the points: emmm… Why’s the Administration stingier than the Wen Yao Alliance? Compared to Luowang’s task payouts, this was a quarter short.

He was desperate for points!

Ling Yu’s reply acted like they were generous!

Zhan Yan huffed, subtly raising the issue with Nie Yu.

Nie Yu, reading Approaching Science’s message, was baffled.

Huh?

The forum’s point system was set by all three groups. Task rewards followed a standard. She’d given the normal rate, plus a 30% bump!

Yet Approaching Science said the Wen Yao Alliance gave nearly double.

What, you guys are jacking up prices?!