GRMFBS CH54

Zhan Yan felt terribly guilty.

He hadn’t deliberately led Deep Shadow into a trap.

Yet it had already happened—he had led his wanted-criminal collaborator straight into the encirclement of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

To make up for his blunder, he began frantically racking his brains for ways to fish the man out.

Then, he saw the gossip logs refresh:

[“Who am I?” Deep Shadow sneered. “I’m the one patching up your snail-like speed.”]

[Deep Shadow sank into the shadows and departed.]

Zhan Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness. Deep Shadow was a wanted criminal across all three major factions, after all; with that caliber of skill, he wouldn’t be caught by two ordinary field agents from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

He sent a private message to “I Just Saved the World!”:

Approaching Science: [I’m sorry. The battle developed too fast on that end, and I didn’t have time to verify the situation thoroughly. There was an oversight in the intel I gave you.]
[It led to you getting cornered by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.]

Gu Jiancheng frowned deeply at the final line.

I Just Saved the World!: [Cornered by two pieces of dead weight]
[Who are you talking about?]

Zhan Yan: Deep Shadow’s wild arrogance is truly… love it, love it! This means he won’t hold the faulty intel against me, right!

Approaching Science: [Your strength was never in question, of course.]
[Still, the mistake was on my end.]
[Your next two intelligence requests will be free of charge as my apology.]

Gu Jiancheng’s irritation smoothed over.

Looking at the compensation package offered by Approaching Science, he was reasonably satisfied. Approaching Science had only stated the next two requests without imposing limitations, meaning whatever intelligence he asked for would be on the table. The price gap between different pieces of intel could be vast as heaven and earth. The offer was quite sincere.

I Just Saved the World!: [Suit yourself.]
[How did it wrap up on the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s end?]

Approaching Science:
[Captured.]

I Just Saved the World!:
[Decent. Not entirely useless.]

With Deep Shadow sorted out, Zhan Yan happily began collecting new keyword tags and conducting a detailed review.

Throughout the operation to capture Garbled Anomaly No. 2, he had snagged a wealth of new keywords, many of which he hadn’t yet searched or organized.

Garbled Anomaly No. 2 had come specifically for the Infinite Fragment buried beneath the sweet-water well. “Infinite” was a brand-new term. Dragging it into his data palette, Zhan Yan watched as it was sorted under the “Anomaly” tab—occupying the very apex of the category and completely suppressing the names of every other anomaly beneath it.

Immediately afterward, the energy bar above the “Anomaly” tab skyrocketed, topping out the meter in an instant and condensing into a glowing little star.

[What is this? You actually encountered a melon you couldn’t eat? The fuzzy search function has been unlocked for you! Don’t you dare say you can’t find a melon ever again!]

Zhan Yan’s eyes lit up.

He had coveted this feature for ages!

Time to refresh logs on Infinite right this second!

Hiss…

It wouldn’t refresh. A sudden jolt of pain pierced through his temples.

Could this be the information pollution they were talking about?

A keyword capable of overpowering every anomaly the moment it appeared and claiming the top spot on the leaderboard was indeed nothing simple!

He had consumed far too much anomaly-related intelligence lately, so it was best to pause for today and search this Infinite tomorrow.

Although he couldn’t search anomalies for now, looking into other things was still fair game. For instance: the Former Ghost King.

Confirmed: this fellow was none other than the missing Ghost King Lin Yuan!

Officially verified by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Zhan Yan brazenly tapped into the Bureau’s internal gossip.

[Nie Ling sighs while examining Garbled Anomaly No. 2: “Thank goodness for Ghost King Lin Yuan’s longevity blessing.”]

[Hearing Nie Ling’s sigh, Da Wuyue’s lips twitch as if nursing a toothache: “That was no blessing.”]

Mmm? Da Wuyue! This was a new entry, possessing only a codename and no real name—a big shot at first glance.

Zhan Yan dragged the keyword into his data palette and began searching his gossip logs.

Da Wuyue, Captain of the Third Squad of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, is stationed in the field year-round.

[Nie Yu is pleasantly surprised upon seeing Da Wuyue, asking why he has returned.]

[Da Wuyue’s lips curl into a smirk: “Didn’t the Deputy Chief order me back to hook a certain kid? What was his name again… Approaching Science?”]

Zhan Yan: ???

What does this have to do with me?!

Zhan Yan frantically flipped through the gossip logs, finally piecing together the cause and effect.

The Bureau had previously mistaken Approaching Science for a fan of the Chongming Demon King. To recruit him, they had summoned Da Wuyue—whose style resembled the Chongming Demon King’s—to see if they could turn the kid into his fan instead.

Deputy Chief Ning Xi’s original instructions had merely been to make contact; bringing Da Wuyue back was also because his field rotation happened to be up.

Understood: this was a senior expert who loved spouting flirty nonsense.

This smooth-talking senior appeared to have been burned by Ghost King Lin Yuan in the past, proceeding to break down what that so-called blessing actually entailed in painstaking detail.

It was no pure blessing, but a curse. As for the curse’s effect… it could best be understood as fortune and misfortune walking hand in hand…

Meanwhile, a post was gaining traction across the internet, steadily blowing up as shares multiplied.

[Thread: About that time I wished for immense wealth, got hit by a car, and walked away with a massive settlement payout]

OP:

This story begins a month ago.

A month ago, I had just lost my job. My trash boss was an absolute scumbag; before firing me, he tricked me into working a full month of overtime without paying a single cent of overtime pay!

I pulled all-nighters until the world spun, practically on the verge of sudden death, only for the bastard to fire me the second I handed over my finished work.

My mental state shattered right then and there, so my best friend took me out to clear my head. I sobbed as I walked, eventually passing a bakery.

The bakery was about to close, and the clerk at the counter didn’t want to let us in. But the aroma drifting out was simply too heavenly, so my friend and I begged him to let us buy just one.

Maybe seeing me cry so pitifully moved him, because the young clerk let the two of us inside.

He was very good-looking. He had already picked up the padlock, yet unlocked the door for us anyway.

Sorry, getting a bit sidetracked.

My friend bought two small cakes and told me to make a wish.

I made a wish that my friend and I would strike it rich together, and that my trash boss would lose a fortune.

Half a month later, the two of us were hit by my former boss’s car…

The boss was driving drunk and held entirely liable. Because I was a former employee currently going through labor arbitration with him, he had a clear motive for assault. Desperate to avoid criminal charges, he paid us a staggering sum in compensation.

Neither my friend nor I was seriously injured. Lying in the hospital bed every day with nothing to do, my mind drifted back, and I suddenly remembered the wish I made over that little rainbow cake half a month ago.

It looks like the wish came true, but the way it was fulfilled feels a little messed up…

2L:

Hahahahaha, that plot twist at the end.

3L:

Holy crap! The boss really did lose a fortune, and the two of you really did strike it rich.

6L:

I’m sorry, OP, but I can’t stop laughing hahahaha

How can you say this isn’t an answered prayer?

7L:

Just tell us whether the wish came true or not!

13L:

This bakery advertisement sure is creative.

OP:

It’s not an ad! Because the cake from that place was extraordinarily disgusting!

I have never eaten such a foul cake in my entire life!

16L:

The Cake: Aggrieved. I granted your wish; does the taste even matter?

17L:

A wish granted through vehicular manslaughter? [doge]

OP:

The clerk warned us back then that the owner had an abnormal palate and that the cake was overwhelmingly sweet. We didn’t take it seriously. Looking back now, it’s pure regret.

That cake was crafted with such exquisite beauty, looking stunning and smelling intensely fragrant and sweet.

Then, my friend and I each took a massive spoonful.

OP:

And then both of us were struck completely dumb.

I felt my throat being plastered shut.

Plastered shut by a massive glob of thick, cloying, sickeningly sweet syrup, freezing my tongue until it couldn’t move.

That was the day I learned that sweetness pushed to the absolute extreme produces a sensation of bitterness—and not a normal bitter taste, either.

A foul, bitter undertone emerging from an unfathomable wall of sugar, an experience beyond words.

OP:

Afterward, the two of us scrambled frantically for water, only recovering slightly after chugging a whole bottle each.

We ended up tossing those two cakes.

It wasn’t that we wanted to waste food; that stuff simply was not fit for human consumption!

OP:

The only reason we remembered making a wish over that cake after getting hit by the car was because the trauma of that cake was burned into our souls! We won’t forget it for the rest of our lives!

OP:

I have no idea how the baker pulled it off; eating raw granulated sugar or chugging straight honey doesn’t produce that near-fatal suffocation of pure sweetness.

33L:

Now I’m curious. I want to taste just how sweet this cake really is.

34L:

Hahahahaha, I want to make a wish over that cake too.

36L:

Is this the legendary Underworld blessing?

It was fulfilled, but something feels cursed about it.

39L:

Just tell us if it worked or not!

Boarding the train bound for Fengyu City, Zhan Jinli let out a slow, steady breath.

“Fortune and misfortune walking hand in hand” was his innate divine ability. Twenty-six years ago, he split off half of his divine abilities to undergo reincarnation, leaving his power unstable. While he could activate it intentionally, it was occasionally triggered passively: whenever he spoke to others, or when others spoke to him, if an utterance was accidentally registered as a wish or a blessing, the ability would automatically execute an Underworld blessing.

Over the years, however, he had discovered that his mother, Ji Yueming, appeared completely immune to the “Underworld” curse woven into his divine ability. Directed at his mother, the ability granted pure fortune without a single trace of misfortune!

It was wholesome enough to move him to tears!

Whenever he had free time, he would stroll through his mother’s company. Under his blessing, every decision the enterprise made was guaranteed to yield massive profits!

With this incident finally settled, the remaining cleanup could be dumped onto the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau while he resumed slacking off.

Zhan Jinli leaned back comfortably against the seat.

Mmm, now all he needed to do was go learn how to make fondant cakes.

Zhan Yan continued to pad his profile on Ghost King Lin Yuan while browsing the Bureau’s internal gossip.

Fortune and misfortune walking hand in hand—what a terrifying power!

Inside the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, staff were busy drafting post-mission reports.

[Fang Zhen sighs while writing his report: “Lin Yuan Ghost King is truly aloof and cool!”]

Zhan Yan felt like echoing that sentiment.

Stepping in forcefully at the critical hour to save lives, then vanishing into thin air with a slight nod once the threat was neutralized.

Pretty dashing!

Then he looked over at his troublesome older brother.

[Zhan Jinli stepped out of an undisclosed, hidden corner.]

Having crouched in an “undisclosed, dark corner” for several hours, his brother had finally emerged.

Zhan Yan let out a sigh.

He truly makes a person worry.