GRMFBS CH52

Zhan Yan’s pupils trembled violently as he frantically refreshed the gossip feed.

“A hidden and unknown location”… that phrase was way too suggestive!

Had his brother gone off the deep end? Was he in danger and trying to send a cryptic cry for help? Did he have some shady little secret?

But none of these guesses held up—because the gossip feed stopped updating. Nothing new appeared.

Zhan Yan’s eyes went blank.

His brother had already been in that “hidden and unknown location” for several hours. He wasn’t picking up calls, and the only message he’d sent was a vague “I’m fine.” No new gossip updates either. It was like time froze the moment he stepped into that secret place.

This situation brought Zhan Yan right back to that night—when the gossip showed his brother entering a love hotel. There’d been no movement the entire night, and Zhan Yan had stayed up watching the feed till dawn, scared something had happened to him.

What the hell was his brother doing in there? Growing mushrooms?

What kind of bizarre, mysterious kink was this?

If he wasn’t that addicted, maybe it was time to change to a healthier hobby.

This was emotionally draining for the younger brother.

Gu Jiancheng glanced at Zhan Yan with concern.

Ever since Zhan Yan had gotten that phone call hours ago, he’d been like this.

Spaced out, distracted, looking like his soul wasn’t all there.

Did something bad happen to his brother? He could help if needed!

Zhan Yan cared a lot about his family. And Gu Jiancheng was perfectly happy to extend his protection to these normal humans, just because they were important to Zhan Yan.

If it was a rampaging anomaly or some misbehaving monster, he could beat it into the ground. If it was money problems, he could pay it off. If someone was bullying them, he had ways of making sure it never happened again. And if it turned out someone in the family was a scumbag… well, he had ways of handling that too.

But that last one seemed unlikely. With Zhan Yan’s personality, his loved ones probably weren’t terrible people.

Still, Zhan Yan wouldn’t say what was wrong.

And Zhan Yan wouldn’t say—because his brother wouldn’t say.

“He’s probably fine,” Zhan Yan said softly, coming back to his senses.

No gossip updates meant nothing new had happened. Let his brother sit there in that secret spot if he wanted.

Zhan Yan decided to continue investigating the Code-02 anomaly.

The fly anomaly’s gossip logs still weren’t making sense. He was working through the keywords found in its past gossip entries, following leads. It might take a while. But as he reviewed all of Code-02’s past movements, he noticed something:

The fly anomaly’s actions, while appearing chaotic, actually followed a pattern. It almost never appeared in the same place twice. When Zhan Yan mapped out its movements around Beiling City, he realized—it had already roamed through two-thirds of the city.

This didn’t come from gossip updates—it was something Zhan Yan deduced himself.

With a movement pattern like that, the anomaly was either setting something up city-wide, or it was looking for something.

Sweetwater Alley.

Bao Qingshan sat by the well, swatting mosquito bites and gnawing on a corn cob.

Even though Granny said she felt he was no longer useful, he still came by whenever he didn’t have class.

Granny scolded him: “Why’re you here again? Go back and study!”

Bao Qingshan looked pitiful. He’d already skipped so many classes—how could he just up and leave without knowing how it all ended?

At the very least, let him see the ending, right?

Besides…

“I don’t feel good leaving you here alone, Granny,” Bao Qingshan said. “How much longer do you think this’ll take?”

Their school of magic was very particular. Granny usually lived in seclusion, and even now that she was in the city, she hated having others nearby. She’d even driven off the personnel assigned by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, insisting on hiding in this remote corner.

Granny was still sitting cross-legged on the well’s edge, her rough fingers stroking the weather-worn stone. She glanced up at the dim sky and muttered, “I think… it’s close…”

A fly buzzed its way into Sweetwater Alley, drawn by the cool air, and landed on the rim of the well.

Granny casually waved her palm fan, swatting it cleanly away.

Before Bao Qingshan could even react, Granny suddenly shoved him with a force that belied her frail frame, pushing him all the way out of the alley.

The buzzing inside the alley grew deafening. The fly, which should’ve been dead, was back in the air. Its wings vibrated with a twisted, piercing whine.

Bao Qingshan’s face changed instantly. It was that anomaly!

He whipped out his phone and hit the emergency dial for the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Help! Both he and Granny were support types—they couldn’t fight this thing!!

Yunjin City, Black Market.

Zhan Suiru was in her workshop, wearing a snug tank top as she worked.

She’d been busy nonstop. After informing the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau that she could purify corruption, they immediately handed her a massive order.

Purifying anomalies was one thing, but the bigger task was crafting specialized tools to capture unnamed anomalies. For that, the Bureau had even delivered a wisp of one anomaly’s aura.

That wisp had Zhan Suiru deeply annoyed.

What the hell was she supposed to do with just a wisp of aura? There were all kinds of anomaly types. All she could deduce was that this one was extremely weird—anything more specific was guesswork at best.

What the Bureau had done was basically hand her a piece of meat and tell her to build a trap for “the animal it came from.”

Sure, she could tell it came from a fish—but was she supposed to catch a whale or a clownfish?

Still, Zhan Suiru did her best to complete the job.

Anyway, the Bureau would test and modify her tools later.

She didn’t mind. As long as she got paid.

She was the strongest all-around “Craftsman”, though not the best in every category. After all, her crafting power wasn’t something she was born with. If the Bureau could enhance her work, great—quicker they could wipe out those rampaging weirdos, the sooner she could sleep easy.

Now that today’s work was finally done, Zhan Suiru tossed the tool onto her workbench, then threw herself onto the couch.

Her doll butler dutifully brought her a damp towel.

“Master, Long jilan has sent you a message.”

Zhan Suiru didn’t even bother to open her eyes. “Read it to me.”

Long jilan was an interesting character. It was like he’d forgotten their deal was over—any time he came across something he thought might interest her, he would send it over, regardless of whether she replied or not.

The doll butler read Long jilan’s intel in a flat, expressionless tone.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau was reportedly pursuing another special anomaly in Beiling City.

Zhan Suiru shot up from the sofa.

Beiling City. Special anomaly. Damn it!

She threw on her trench coat, pulled up her hat, and dialed the Broker.

Long jilan’s info wasn’t always reliable—she needed confirmation.

The Broker picked up with voice only, but he could still see her end of the call. As always, the screen showed her ornate reception room, her face obscured by shadows—only the curve of her jaw and lips were visible, giving away nothing.

He clicked his tongue lightly and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Turn on your video.”

“Hm?”

His mind raced. Comms were for exchanging information—Zhan Suiru had never cared about using video before. Why the sudden change?

“I said turn on your video!”

This was the first time he’d seen the Craftsman so irritable. He raised his eyebrows in surprise but turned the video on.

“The Anomaly Affairs Bureau—is it true they’re chasing a special anomaly in Beiling?”

Ah, that. The Broker hadn’t thought it was important. While they did have an agreement to share information when relevant, he often skipped what he considered minor details.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you were busy lately. Besides, you usually only care about building stuff—you never get involved in the field.”

From under her wide-brimmed hat, a pair of icy eyes appeared.

“No next time,” Zhan Suiru warned coldly. “There will be no next time, Broker. I’m not stuck working with you.”

She ended the call.

The Broker bolted upright. “Wait—!”

The screen was already black.

He cursed aloud.

The Craftsman clearly cared about this intel more than usual. But why? The Bureau chasing a special anomaly wasn’t rare or new.

So it wasn’t about the intel itself. Was this just a power move because she was unhappy with their recent cooperation?

No. That wasn’t it either.

She made him turn on video—so she could observe his body language. But that was pointless. The Broker wore a mask, and he never moved while speaking.

She really did care.

So the key wasn’t what the Bureau was chasing—it was where.

Beiling City had something the Craftsman cared about?

But Beiling and Yunjin were close together. Anomalies didn’t care about human-defined city borders, and when the Bureau said “Beiling City,” they usually meant the surrounding region too. When anomalies were active in Yunjin before, the Craftsman hadn’t cared—why the sudden panic?

Of course! Because back then, Yan Yan was going home every day. If something happened, she could get there in time. But now he was living on campus—that was a whole different story!

Their parents were currently at home, and her brother had gone to Fengyu City to learn cake-making—which was a safe place. But Beiling City, where her little brother was, was the most dangerous—and she couldn’t reach him fast enough!

Zhan Suiru remembered that just a few days ago, Yan Yan had messaged her to ask if she was going to Old Master Luan’s birthday party.

Forget it! She wasn’t going! Let Zhan Yan go in her place! Right now!

——

Zhan Yan was currently opening the gossip system to remotely track the movements of Anomaly No. 2.

This time, he hadn’t found the guatiao feed on his own—the Domain had just provided it. For Anomaly No. 2, they always shared information in real-time.

The anomaly had possessed another fly. It really seemed to have a thing for flies.

If he’d known earlier, he would’ve organized a citywide pest extermination campaign.

The keyword he used this time was “Granny.” That was information the Domain had given him.

The fly Anomaly No. 2 was riding flew straight to Sweetwater Alley—only to be intercepted by Granny, who had been sitting there all along.

Zhan Yan watched the live feed while continuing to analyze what felt off in the guatiao logs. He didn’t have time yet to look into who or what “Granny” really was.

Something felt off.

Granny couldn’t beat Anomaly No. 2—but more importantly, she couldn’t stop it from escaping either.

From past experience, this anomaly was slippery as hell—especially good at running. The moment it sensed danger, it would leap away immediately. The Bureau had failed multiple times because of this exact pattern.

Anomaly No. 2 always tried to avoid direct conflict. If it wasn’t fleeing now, it meant what it was looking for was right there in Sweetwater Alley!

Zhan Yan stared intensely at the live guatiao feed.

During combat, guatiao entries refreshed at lightning speed—he had to concentrate fully to avoid missing anything.

[Bao Qingshan struggled to dodge the fly’s attacks. Face pale, he asked Granny, “When is the Bureau going to get here? I’m not gonna last much longer!”]

Huh? Bao Qingshan?!