GRMFBS CH46

Ji Yueming: [???]

Nie Yu: [Captain, what happened?]

Ji Yueming was caught between anger and amusement:

[That guy said I was a scammer!]

Nie Yu suddenly realized:

[Captain, let me issue an official verification badge for your account.]

[Once that badge goes up, it’ll scare him to death!]

Their captain’s account was brand new, so it was only natural that people wouldn’t believe it.

Ji Yueming scrolled through the threads Approaching Science had replied to on the forum:

[Is this guy really a fan of mine? He’s spoken up for the Chongming Demon King several times, but he’s barely mentioned Tianshi at all.]

Nie Yu:

[…]

[Because I’m a fan of yours! I deleted every single thread slandering you long ago!!]

Where would there be any room left for Approaching Science to make his mark?!

Zhan Yan and his roommates were staring at the clock in their dorm room. With just half an hour left before the doors were locked for the night, Bao Qingshan still hadn’t returned. He had sent a message saying he was staying out tonight and wouldn’t be back.

__

Tianshui Lane.

This used to be a famous spot in Beiling City. It was home to an ancient well rumored to have been passed down for millennia; its water was sweet and crystal clear, so much so that the entire area was named after it.

A few decades ago, however, the ancient well collapsed. Whether the subterranean water source was clogged or something else happened, no water ever surfaced no matter how much they dug, and the place was gradually abandoned.

Bao Qingshan sighed with a bitter expression: “Grandma, I feel like if I skip any more classes, I’m going to fail my finals.”

The ancestral matriarch of Withered Pine Ravine was dressed in blue-and-white patterned cotton clothes and trousers, sitting cross-legged on the rim of the restored well: “I reckon you can’t just nest inside your school. Coming out for a stroll this time will do you good.”

Bao Qingshan’s phone rang.

Duan Hong:

“Old Bao, what’s been going on with you these past few days? Did you run into some kind of trouble?”

Bao Qingshan:

“I’m fine. No, I mean, I have some business to take care of, but I can handle it myself. Don’t worry, guys.”

Zhan Yan’s voice drifted through the receiver like a faint phantom:

“Old Bao, when trouble hits, you should go to the police. Don’t go straying down a path of crime and villainy…”

Duan Hong followed up immediately:

“If something happened, just spit it out. We can put our heads together and figure it out.”

Bao Qingshan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry:

“Where is your mind even wandering off to? I’m seriously fine!”

His heart felt warm. Their friendship wasn’t in vain. Even though Gu Jiancheng hadn’t made a sound, he was definitely listening on the side as well.

After talking in circles without getting an answer, Duan Hong gave up and grumbled faintly:

“Fine, then. You missed roll call again today. Old Han said if it happens one more time, you’re failing the course.”

Bao Qingshan: !!!

“Wait! Don’t!!”

The call had already clicked off.

Gripping his phone, Bao Qingshan turned to look at the ancestral matriarch, two streams of wide teardrops trailing down his round face.

See! I told you I felt like I was going to fail!

The ancestral matriarch sat steadily on the well rim, sticking firmly to her stance: “I reckon this place is far more important for you!”

Bao Qingshan: “Failing a class is pretty important too…”

The ancestral matriarch: “Is your reckoning better, or is my reckoning better?”

Bao Qingshan yielded: “Yours is better, yours is definitely better.”

Satisfied, the ancestral matriarch tapped the well rim: “You stubborn kid! Couldn’t you have just slipped out secretly at night? You just had to play hooky in broad daylight!”

Bao Qingshan pulled a long face: “I felt like slipping out at night would get me caught.”

The ancestral matriarch pondered: “Is that so? Forget it then, just keep skipping school. I won’t tell your parents.”

Fine. What else could he do anyway?

Bao Qingshan dragged over a small folding stool, sat beside her, and joined the matriarch in gazing up at the starry sky.

Everyone else thought their sect’s method of “inspiration” was unfathomably cool, but the catch was that you could only sit around waiting for inspiration to arrive—there was no way to actively search for it.

What to do when there was no inspiration? Attune to the heavens, blend into nature, and wait.

His roommates had no idea what wild scenarios they were imagining for him. Who would have guessed that over the past few days, he was just wandering the city searching for inspiration? His legs had practically walked themselves thin!

He was starting to suspect the ancestral matriarch’s “inspiration” was just an excuse to make him lose weight!

Out of nowhere, the ancestral matriarch tossed out: “I reckon you’re grumbling about me in your head.”

Bao Qingshan: …Her inspiration was as sharp as ever!

By today, they had combed through the entirety of Beiling City. Between him and the ancestral matriarch, they had caught six ordinary criminals, apprehended seven troublemaking demon ghosts, and exterminated eight lurking anomalies. Yet, they hadn’t found that unnamed anomaly at all. That was why they had picked a spot tonight just to stare at the starry sky.

Bao Qingshan’s back ached from all the walking, but the ancestral matriarch was totally unfazed!

Back in their secluded haven, her cave dwelling was set right into the face of a cliff—the kind without a pathway, where only a few shallow indentations barely deep enough for half a foot were carved into the stone, requiring rock climbing to get up and down. The ancestral matriarch could still scale up to that cave dwelling entirely on her own even now. Her agility was easily ten times greater than his.

“Do you have any inspiration tonight?” Bao Qingshan asked.

“Don’t know. I reckon that thing hasn’t fled the city yet,” the ancestral matriarch said.

“I have a feeling we won’t catch any other anomalies around here next.”

“I reckon the same.”

The dark night was deep, strewn with clusters of stars.

Under the starry canopy, an elder and a youth gazed at the sky, waiting for inspiration in an alleyway. A large pack of supernatural users held their breath, searching for the anomaly. In the shadows, the sixth-ranked user on the points leaderboard was cleaning up anomalies according to intel. And the provider of that intel was sleeping soundly in his dorm bed.

Zzzzz… Zzzzz…

Upon waking, the system had recovered. He was once again the supreme badger feasting in the melon fields!

Today was another practical lab class, taking them to the university’s affiliated veterinary hospital to observe animals.

Their school really was great. It had its own affiliated veterinary hospital and raised all sorts of animals: dogs, cats, hamsters, parrots, as well as cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens. After graduation, whether one wanted to enter the pet medical industry or venture into animal husbandry, the university provided a solid foundation. As for those wanting to work in zoos—never mind, the university couldn’t afford to run one of those just yet.

Old Bao hadn’t skipped this class. He returned early in the morning, yawning non-stop with dark circles under his eyes.

Duan Hong couldn’t help but ask with concern, “What on earth did you go do last night?”

Zhan Yan turned around along with him to look over.

Bao Qingshan: “Observed the stars.”

Duan Hong let out an angry laugh: “You watched them the entire night?”

Hearing that answer, even Gu Jiancheng cast a glance over.

Since Old Bao wasn’t speaking the truth, Zhan Yan decided to consult the Gossip System. But his melon-eating energy was limited lately, so he needed to budget it carefully by stacking several keywords to pinpoint the log precisely.

[Bao Qingshan spent the entire night watching the stars at Tianshui Lane.]

This guy actually watched the stars for a whole night?

Zhan Yan’s gaze toward Bao Qingshan instantly turned bizarre.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Jiancheng asked.

“I think Old Bao isn’t lying,” Zhan Yan said.

Duan Hong looked at him speechlessly: “You actually believe that? Sneaking out to stare at the stars all night—is he crazy?”

“What do you think?” Duan Hong gestured toward Gu Jiancheng, intending to rope him in to force the truth out of Bao Qingshan.

Gu Jiancheng: “I think he isn’t lying either.”

Yan Yan’s powers of observation were beyond question.

Duan Hong: …If I ever butt into this couple’s conversation again, I’m a dog!

Duan Hong was powerless against Bao Qingshan on his own.

Knowing Bao Qingshan wasn’t up to anything dangerous, Zhan Yan couldn’t be bothered to pry further. Weren’t people allowed to have odd quirks? His brother even liked staying in couples’ hotels all by himself.

They entered the veterinary hospital building. The instructor for this course was their vice dean, a stern old professor notorious for failing students without mercy. Everyone behaved impeccably.

While the professor was lecturing, Zhan Yan suddenly heard an abrupt voice:

“Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?”

Which reckless fool suddenly blurted that out?

Zhan Yan whipped his head around sharply to look.

On the nearby exam table, a dog lying with its tongue lolling out stupidly rolled its eyes twice, its tongue still hanging out.

The old professor: “Look, its anesthesia is wearing off. At this stage…”

Everyone gathered around to observe the dog; no one had any comment regarding the abrupt voice from moments ago.

Was he hallucinating?

“Did you hear someone talking just now?” he whispered to Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng leaned close and whispered back, “No. What did you hear?”

“I heard…”

The professor cast a stern, imposing look their way. Zhan Yan shut his mouth.

The dog’s hind legs twitched, and Zhan Yan heard another sound:

“So many giant heads… so scared…”

It’s over. I’m definitely hallucinating. I can hear the dog talking…

By the end of the lecture, Zhan Yan was in a complete daze. He didn’t just hear the dog talking; the other animals were speaking too, some chatty, some quiet. He heard a Norwegian Forest Cat furiously cursing their professor for being a pervert who would bury his face in its belly to sniff frantically whenever no one was looking, pitching his voice high to coo and call it his “little baby”!

After class, Zhan Yan cleared his throat, leaned forward, and asked, “Professor, do you keep cats at home?”

He had heard that Norwegian Forest Cat mention the professor owned a Ragdoll cat and a British Shorthair.

“I do, yes.” Once class was dismissed, the professor was quite approachable.

He remembered Zhan Yan; this student naturally possessed an animal-friendly constitution. When a graduate student under him lost a pet rabbit, it was found entirely thanks to Zhan Yan.

Back then, the rabbit had hidden inside a thick bush. Several people had walked past without spotting it, but the moment Zhan Yan walked by, the rabbit hopped right out to rub against his feet.

Ever since, Zhan Yan had made a name for himself among the department heads. After all, everyone was terrified that their research subjects might dash off if they weren’t paying attention, sending years of hard work down the drain.

At the mention of his cats, the eyes behind the old professor’s glasses gleamed with hidden fondness. Pulling out his phone, he opened his photo album: “Look, this one is Xingxing, and this one is Wangwang.”

A Ragdoll and a British Shorthair.

Confirmed—it wasn’t a hallucination. He really could understand animals talking!

Taking advantage of a break, Zhan Yan opened the Gossip System, only to discover that over the past few days, he had unknowingly grinded out another small star under the “Spiritual” tab.

[A qualified gossip-gatherer must learn to harvest intelligence through multiple channels! With a golden finger handed to you on a silver platter, merely building rapport with little animals should be a piece of cake, right?]

Zhan Yan: …

In the past, he could have confidently said yes.

This really was a remarkably useful ability. But now, after seeing how terrified and panicked animals became in his presence, what was he supposed to do?

Smile gently, politely, and say: “Hello, don’t be afraid. You’re terrified because I took part in a few neutering procedures, but don’t worry, I won’t do that to you.”

That probably wouldn’t feel very comforting…

As for how to solve the dilemma of involuntarily intimidating little animals, Zhan Yan attempted soft coos, food bribes, and playing with toys, but none yielded much success.

Zhan Yan opted to give up for now. Well, even if he didn’t interact with the critters directly, just eavesdropping on their conversations was plenty useful.

Logging onto the chaofan forum as usual that night, he found that the scammer claiming to be “Tianshi” had actually dared to reply to his private message! Tianshi was so busy she hadn’t even registered on the forum; would she register an account just to find him? Was this the supernatural version of “I am Qin Shi Huang, send money”?

Wasn’t this just asking to be cursed out?

Zhan Yan clicked open the private message, just about to reply, when he suddenly noticed a verified badge appended behind the user’s handle.

[??!]

[Nervous? Surprised? If only you had spared one more glance at the system?]

Zhan Yan: …Why are you chiming in to kick up a fuss?!