GRMFBS CH50

Zhan Yan conveyed his earnest refusal to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau by simply withholding his delivery address.

He desperately wanted one! But he was genuinely too embarrassed to ask for six all at once! It was better to save up for them slowly on his own…

Having just turned down a free Lightning Talisman, Zhan Yan felt a pang of deep heartache.

Although tracking Garbled Anomaly No. 2 in real time today hadn’t triggered any of the mental pollution side effects they warned about, he had nearly exhausted his daily capacity for browsing gossip logs. He felt somewhat drained—the sort of mental fuzziness that came from intense cognitive exertion, leaving him craving sweets.

Mmm… no, I need to quit. Thinking sugar was effective earlier had led him to overindulge, bordering on a genuine addiction.

Just one piece, then. The bag of fruit candy Gu Jiancheng bought last time was still sitting there.

Zhan Yan fished out a candy and popped it into his mouth, his palate instantly flooded with the crisp fragrance of green apple.

Estimating that Gu Jiancheng was nearly done showering, Zhan Yan exited the Gossip System. Looking up, he noticed a gray bath towel draped over the back of a chair. It was Gu Jiancheng’s—he had forgotten to take it inside.

Zhan Yan picked up the towel and walked toward the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom.

Gu Jiancheng was thoroughly displeased.

The entire day! Every single time he tried to share a moment of intimacy with Zhan Yan, they were interrupted!

Bracing one hand against the tiled wall beneath the showerhead, steam billowed through the enclosed room in thick white plumes. Streams of water cascaded through his hair, dripping along his furrowed brow, the tall bridge of his nose, and his firmly set lips before tracing down his firm shoulders and back, accentuating the contours of every taut muscle.

He stood with his eyes shut amidst the white noise of rushing water, drawing slow, measured breaths to soothe his agitation…

The dripping water sounded reminiscent of rain.

To think the final attempt had been ruined by a sudden downpour! Today’s weather forecast had clearly called for clear skies!

To hell with this damn weather!

Gu Jiancheng was irritable, profoundly so—irritable enough that he wished he could go crush another hundred anomalies underfoot! As soon as he got out, he would head to the forum to buy anomaly intel from Approaching Science!

A sudden knock sounded at the bathroom door.

Gu Jiancheng’s train of thought stalled.

“You forgot your towel, I’m bringing it in for you,” Zhan Yan’s voice echoed from outside.

With the rushing water too loud and the door in between, Zhan Yan couldn’t tell whether Gu Jiancheng had answered. After knocking twice, he simply turned the knob and stepped inside. They were both guys—what was there to be shy about?

Steam swirled in heavy mists, hazily outlining a figure with broad shoulders, a lean waist, and long legs.

Catching sight of a physique fit for a runway model, Zhan Yan instinctively whistled—pure, shameless rogue behavior.

Hearing the sound, Gu Jiancheng lifted his head. His pitch-black eyes widened in stunned disbelief, his complexion flushing bright red from the base of his neck all the way to the tips of his ears.

Only after whistling did Zhan Yan realize what he had just done. He hastily set down the towel and beat a swift retreat.

Standing frozen outside the door for several minutes, Zhan Yan screamed internally.

Aaaah… My brain must have short-circuited!

Why did I have to do something so mindless? It must be the lingering heartache over turning down that Lightning Talisman!

That was entirely too shameless!

Yet, while one half of him screamed in sheer mortification, the other half felt entirely justified.

What was wrong with teasing his own boyfriend?

They were dating, weren’t they?

They had held hands, and they had kissed. It was merely a wolf-whistle…

Still, why hadn’t Gu Jiancheng come out yet? What was he thinking in there?

He had turned so thoroughly red just now…

Right when Zhan Yan began to worry that he might suffocate himself inside, Gu Jiancheng finally emerged.

His expression appeared composed on the surface, though his ears were still faintly flushed. Whether it was from the hot water or something else remained up for debate…

Neither said a word. Zhan Yan sneaked subtle glances his way, while Gu Jiancheng dutifully dried his hair with a towel, not sparing a single glance toward him—even as the base of his neck began reddening once more…

How is he this innocent? Wasn’t he remarkably clingy before, asking for goodnight kisses with total ease?

Gu Jiancheng was fighting an uphill battle to keep himself under control.

Yan Yan was truly, truly… Did he sense no danger at all?

Gu Jiancheng felt a violent churn in his chest. A fierce, desperate urge welled up within him—to seize the other boy in his arms, pin him tight, lock him away, hide him where no one could see, and envelop him entirely in his own shadow… Yet here the boy was, sneaking little glances at him over and over!

Torn between guilt and amusement, Zhan Yan picked up a dry towel and approached Gu Jiancheng: “Want me to dry your hair for you?”

Someone had to take the initiative to break the awkwardness!

“No need,” Gu Jiancheng said, the words carrying a distinct edge of gritted teeth.

Seeing him pull back, Zhan Yan leaned closer in playful teasing: “Just let me dry it. I was only joking earlier—are you mad?”

Gu Jiancheng pinned him with a dark, heavy gaze, then gently pushed him down into a seat: “Your hair is long. I’ll dry yours.”

“Sure.” Zhan Yan settled into the chair without any fuss.

Watching Zhan Yan lower his head obediently to let him dry his hair, a complex, indescribable sensation welled up in Gu Jiancheng’s chest.

Zhan Yan disliked having people touch his hair. Living together in a university dormitory, incidental bumps and brushes were inevitable, but Zhan Yan either dodged them or spoke up directly. His hair had natural curls, and clueless classmates would occasionally joke about wanting to feel it; once, someone had failed to take a hint and tried to touch it anyway, only for Zhan Yan to tear into him so fiercely that the guy couldn’t save face.

Gu Jiancheng had touched Zhan Yan’s hair before. Well… during kisses and hugs, a stray touch might graze it, but he had never reached out to casually pet it. This had nothing to do with intimacy; Gu Jiancheng wasn’t the sort of person who lacked respect and insisted on making exceptions just to prove love.

Yet at the train station, he had witnessed Zhan Yan let his family pet his head without the slightest resistance. “Disliking having his hair touched” was not merely a personal preference; it was a clear boundary drawn inside Zhan Yan’s heart.

Gu Jiancheng used the dry towel to gently squeeze the moisture from his strands. Zhan Yan kept his head tilted slightly downward, exposing a clean stretch of the nape of his neck.

Had he been drawn into that inner circle as well?

When did it happen?

Gu Jiancheng felt a sensation that was both bittersweet and heavy, swelling until his palms grew warm and his chest burned hot. The churning shadows receded without him even noticing.

Once most of the dampness had been pressed out, Gu Jiancheng brushed his fingers through the strands. The damp, soft curls coiled around his fingertips and swept past his palm, leaving behind an indelible itch.

He let out a soft, inward sigh: “All dried.”

Zhan Yan looked up: “Then you…”

Catching the look in Gu Jiancheng’s eyes, he choked on his words, his face flushing crimson.

“What is it?” Gu Jiancheng set the towel aside and turned to glance at him.

“N-nothing,” Zhan Yan stammered.

He scrambled back onto his bed, burying himself under the covers with ears burning red.

No, no, no!

How could I get flustered by a single look?

Calm down, stay calm!

After trying to steady himself for a good while, Zhan Yan forced his attention toward figuring out the toggle for his golden finger.

Lately, he kept hearing animals talking. Occasionally, when his back was turned to them, he would mistakenly think someone was addressing him. During his lab class, he had turned around multiple times without thinking, prompting repeated glances from his professor.

If he didn’t resolve this issue, it would severely disrupt his normal campus life!

Unfortunately, the golden finger only came with an “on” state and no “off” switch; the system offered nothing more than a cheeky footnote:

Once you have learned a language, how would you go about making yourself incapable of understanding it?

Though it lacked an explicit explanation, Zhan Yan grasped the crux of the problem nonetheless.

He had acquired the “Animal Language,” much like how he had previously mastered Chinese and Spanish.

Upon hearing Chinese or Spanish, he naturally understood the speaker’s meaning. Barring complete memory loss of those languages, he could not revert to a state of incomprehension.

However, he was fully capable of distinguishing whether the spoken language was Chinese or Spanish.

The key to solving the issue did not lie in switching off the golden finger, but in training himself to distinguish whether what he heard was an animal’s cry or human speech.

Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but he had never undergone the process of actually “learning” the animal language. Those sounds bypassed the brain’s “language identification” filter entirely, translating directly into pure meaning.

Yet his ears and brain were inherently capable of recognizing the distinct vocalizations of different animals. What he needed to do now was bridge the two processes: “identifying the animal sound” and “comprehending the animal sound’s meaning.”

All it required was a bit of practice. Every time he heard an animal vocalization, he simply had to focus his attention on “identifying the sound.” It wouldn’t take long to iron the problem out.

Before turning in for the night, Zhan Yan logged into the chaofan forum for another look.

“I Just Saved the World!” had sent him a private message, once again inquiring about anomalies in Beiling City.

Zhan Yan still had a bit of daily melon-eating capacity left, so he figured he would burn through the rest before sleeping.

He ran a sweep of the area.

Good grief! Without realizing it, every single anomaly across Beiling City had been cleaned up by Deep Shadow!

Approaching Science: [There are none left.]

I Just Saved the World!: [What do you mean none left?]

Approaching Science: [Anomalies within Beiling City that I can currently detect.]

If there were none, then so be it. Gu Jiancheng’s mood was quite good right now, and he wasn’t particularly eager to go vent his frustration on anomalies anyway. Yet Approaching Science’s phrasing struck him as slightly off.

Gu Jiancheng stared at the line of text, chewing over its implications. Having collaborated with Approaching Science for quite some time, he felt he possessed a decent grasp of the person’s character.

Approaching Science had packed far too many qualifying conditions into that single sentence.

I Just Saved the World!:
[Are you implying that there is currently an anomaly inside Beiling City that you cannot find?]

He was aware that the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had been making moves in Beiling City lately, though he hadn’t paid close attention to the specifics.

Approaching Science was remarkably capable; an anomaly that even he couldn’t locate… It immediately reminded Gu Jiancheng of the incident back in Yunjin City.

Approaching Science: [Yes.]
[Interested?]
[Be careful not to run straight into the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.]

In high spirits, Gu Jiancheng merely scoffed internally.

I Just Saved the World!: [Notify me if you get any leads.]
[How is your mental state?]

Since Approaching Science couldn’t track this anomaly, it was highly probable that the entity possessed the ability to inflict spiritual pollution on him. Their collaboration had been quite pleasant, and he had no desire to see a solid partner go mad, forcing him to search for a replacement.

Approaching Science: [Heh.]

Gu Jiancheng slowly formed a question mark in his head. Just as he was about to fire back, he suddenly found this exchange oddly familiar.

Scrolling up the chat log:

Approaching Science: [The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau has also been active in Beiling City recently.]
[Don’t get caught.]

I Just Saved the World!: [Heh.]

Gu Jiancheng: …

Forget it.

Not going to waste breath on this petty, grudge-holding brat.

He logged off the chaofan forum.

The dormitory lights had long been switched off. In the darkness, he could hear the calm, rhythmic breathing above him. A faint scent of crisp green apples drifted through the air—the fragrance of Zhan Yan’s shampoo.

No headaches, no hallucinations, no dizziness. Gu Jiancheng closed his eyes.

He fell soundly asleep amidst the light, fruity fragrance.