GRMFBS CH60

Ji Yueming’s birthday was moved to Saturday evening, as Zhan Yan would return to school on Sunday since he had classes on Monday.

As the birthday star, Ji Yueming didn’t have to lift a finger today.

She smiled as she watched Zhan Suiru and Zhan Yan busy themselves, and then obediently returned to her room for the sake of the “mysterious surprise,” stopping herself from peeking at their decorations.

The internal communication software of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau sent her a message. Ji Yueming clicked it open and saw it was Da Wule, Lingzhou Wendi.

Da Wule: [That kid who’s a fan of yours, how is he doing now?]

Approaching Science’s information protection was excellent, but every message he sent still revealed a little bit about himself—his personality, habits, and so on. According to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s profile, Approaching Science shouldn’t be very old.

Tianshi: [Are you bored?]

Tianshi: [Don’t mess with the kid.]

Ji Yueming accurately exposed his thoughts. Lingzhou Wendi had a restless personality; he had finished his handovers and reports in the few days since he returned, and with nothing else to do, he was starting to get antsy.

Da Wule: [Tsk, tsk, tsk. With this by-the-book approach of yours, when will you ever bring the person into the Bureau?]

Da Wule: [The kid might be polite on the surface, but deep down, they might feel a sense of distance from you.]

Ji Yueming pondered for a moment. She really couldn’t deny this. Approaching Science might actually be quite nervous around her. Last time she offered to guide Approaching Science, he only asked an inconsequential question about getting close to animals. Was he too nervous facing her to ask anything else?

Da Wule: [So, this kind of thing should be left to the professionals.]

Da Wule: [I’m off to hook up with the kid.]

Tianshi: [I do not recommend you go.]

Tianshi: [You will easily end up at a disadvantage.]

However, Da Wule never replied again. It was unknown if he even saw her last message. Lingzhou Wendi’s character was fine, but his personality was truly a bit unorthodox. Aside from when he was in front of a select few, his mouth was never well-behaved. If he annoyed the person, given Approaching Science’s ability, it wasn’t certain who would end up at a disadvantage.

……

Zhan Yan and Zhan Suiru were picking out a cake design. To give Zhan Jinli, who couldn’t make it back in time, a sense of participation, Zhan Suiru made a video call to him, leaving the video on while they chatted via text.

Meanwhile, Zhan Yan called Zhan Yunkai. He didn’t know how his father’s filming was going this time or if he could make it back. If he couldn’t, he’d just have to participate via video call.

On the other end, Zhan Yunkai had just finished catching a traitor. Holding his breath, he packed up the Corpse Flower Amorphophallus, threw it directly into Shennongjia, and handed it over to the other demons for interrogation. Then, he ran into the mountain’s hot spring pools and cold spring ponds, washing himself back and forth seven times.

With a stiff face and in a terrible mood, he found the Howling Moon Wolf Demon, Bai Po: “Take a sniff, do I still have a smell on me?”

Bai Po’s giant wolf head leaned in, his nose twitching as he asked: “I don’t smell anything. Where did the pollen get you?”

Zhan Yunkai extended his left wing: “The wingtips.”

Bai Po looked at his left wing, which was missing a patch of feathers, and his pupils trembled: “You plucked your feathers?!”

“Those few feather tips were covered in it,” Zhan Yunkai said unhappily.

“You plucked your feathers and still took seven baths?!” Bai Po asked.

“I just feel off. It’s like that stench is still there,” Zhan Yunkai said in disgust. He had burned those few feathers, but he still felt uncomfortable.

“The part that got covered is gone, so where would the smell come from?” Bai Po was speechless. “I think you’re just sick. What’s that new term humans use? Mysophobia. I think you have that mysophobia thing!”

Zhan Yunkai cast a disdainful sideways glance at him: “As if you aren’t the one discussing fur-care cream with me every day.”

Bai Po cared all day about whether his silver fur was smooth and flowing. He would spend half the day brushing his coat, then at night, he would pick a rock with the clearest view, stand on top of it, and howl at the full moon.

“That’s called image management! Do you understand image management? It’s different from your mysophobia.” Bai Po shook his thick, smooth long fur, very proud of himself.

Zhan Yunkai ignored him, looking down and repeatedly inspecting himself: “I should still take a few more baths and go back in a couple of days…”

Bai Po couldn’t stand him: “Enough, enough! Once we finish interrogating that traitor, I’ll dry him out and burn him as firewood to help you vent your anger, okay?”

Zhan Yunkai suddenly raised his head: “Do you want to make the entire Wan Yao Alliance smell unbearably foul?!”

Bai Po: …

It was his lack of consideration.

Zhan Yunkai was just pondering whether to switch to another pool for a few more baths when he suddenly heard his phone ring. A feather under his wing vibrated, and the ringtone sounded from within.

He flapped his wings, transforming back into human form, and answered the phone:

“Yan Yan ah… I might need a few more days. I still have some things to do, and I’m not sure when I’ll be done, but it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Your mom’s birthday is being celebrated early? I’ll be back soon.”

“It’s nothing! All minor matters!”

“I’ll hurry back soon!”

The phone leaked sound a bit. Zhan Yan hung up and turned his head, only to see his sister snickering. Although his brother in the video looked expressionless, based on Zhan Yan’s years of understanding him, he was holding back laughter!

On the other end, Zhan Yunkai hung up and started sniffing himself again.

Bai Po couldn’t take it anymore: “There’s no smell! Do you still not trust my nose?”

Zhan Yunkai frowned: “I’ll go buy a bottle of perfume later.”

After leaving the Wan Yao Alliance, Zhan Yunkai found a shopping mall and browsed through all the perfume counters, ultimately selecting a bottle with a warm, pleasant scent.

This bottle was good! The ingredients were high quality, he could smell it!

The perfume bottle couldn’t be twisted open. Zhan Yunkai first sprayed himself once around but still wasn’t satisfied, so he forcefully snapped the nozzle off and aimed it at his left shoulder.

Splash…

Pour!

……

After picking out the cake and decorating the room, Zhan Yan collapsed on the sofa in exhaustion.

Where did his sister find so many strange props! The thing was, it actually looked quite nice once set up. So why were the works in her art studio so ugly?

Zhan Yan was lost in thought, and wisely chose not to ask. Asking would easily earn him a beating from his sister.

“Yan Yan, your stamina is no good. You still need to keep training,” Zhan Suiru was glowing with energy.

Zhan Yan: “…I just sat in a car for several hours yesterday!”

What kind of stamina did his sister have…

“I’m going to rest a bit, ignore me.” Zhan Yan rolled himself into a ball and threw himself into the recliner.

While resting, Zhan Yan logged onto the chaofan forum, doing his daily clearing of backstage private messages and notifications, and suddenly realized many people were tagging him in a thread.

Zhan Yan had been too busy lately and hadn’t been to the forum’s water-cooler section. Looking at the crazy number of replies tagging him, it seemed he had been called out by a big shot, no wonder there were so many tags.

Zhan Yan clicked into the thread and found it was a half-compilation, half-tutorial post. The tutorial covered precautions for various types of rituals, and the compilation contained verifiable ritual recordings of various big shots to be used as supplementary teaching materials.

How did such a serious thread evolve into a frenzy of tagging him?

Zhan Yan continued reading down.

Rituals were an ability acquired through study and cultivation, relying on the ritual to communicate with the powers of heaven and earth. Da Wule was at the pinnacle in this regard; his rituals covered a wide area and were immensely powerful, practically able to form an absolute domain. Without a doubt, he became the most frequently used teaching material in the compilation.

The videos involving Da Wule in the thread were all very clear, being official basic instructional clips recorded by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

In the videos, Da Wule wore a magnificent and solemn ceremonial robe, his face outlined with colored patterns looking majestic and mysterious as he held a hand drum and danced barefoot.

Those who understood rituals marveled at the spirituality in his every movement, while those who didn’t still found it visually pleasing.

This big shot was also very active, occasionally popping up in the chaofan forum to chat in a thread or two, easily qualifying as the forum’s top-tier influencer.

Zhan Yan found the start of the derailment that led to his tags:

64L:

Wuwuwu I really want to be a civil or martial dancer for Da Wule.

Dancers were people who assisted the main officiant in multi-person rituals, divided into civil dancers and martial dancers. In addition to them, there were also musicians.

Most rituals could be performed by one person, or by multiple people. Those with insufficient ability could cooperate to complete it, and those with enough ability could receive a buff.

65L:

Me too!

67L:

Has Da Wule ever used dancers or musicians? I don’t think I’ve ever seen the big shot use others; he’s always officiated alone.

68L:

Truly never seen it.

72L:

How have you guys all seen Da Wule officiate?! Am I the only one who can only drool over the videos? I’m jealous!

73L:

It’s impossible that the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s annual suburban sacrifice is still performed by Da Wule alone, right?

76L:

I heard that many years ago Da Wule had coordinating partners, but they really haven’t been seen recently.

79L:

Seeking help! Can anyone explain in detail how to cultivate ritual chemistry? My partner and I have been breaking in for half a year, and every day is agonizing!

82L:

Reply to 79L

If it really doesn’t work out, just change partners.

86L Da Wule:

Reply to 79L

Using ritual practice to break in is naturally agonizing. Why don’t you guys play a game together first? Once you find chemistry in the game, you’ll basically have it in reality.

88L:

Ahhh I’m going crazy! The big shot replied to me!

90L:

What if you’ve tried all sorts of ways to break in but still can’t get it right? [Doge]

93L Da Wule:

Reply to 90L

If it’s gotten to this point and you still want to partner up? How about you guys just get married.

94L:

Hahahahaha

The thread’s popularity rapidly surged from here. Many people popped up to ask for advice, and Da Wule answered quite a few.

The thread was completely derailed by a few gossipers that followed:

132L:

@Da Wule big shot, are you currently recruiting partners?! If not partners, backup dancers are fine too!!!

134L Da Wule:

Reply to 132L

I’m considering whether to recruit a few little cuties of the information-type.

137L:

Ah??? Why does the big shot want to recruit information-types?

140L:

I know the answer to this!

If the main officiant’s ritual aligns well enough with heaven and earth, they’ll receive some information, but it’s all “encrypted,” similar to oracle bone divination. Without professional interpretation, no one can understand it.

141L:

They tried having information-types interpret it in the past, but it simply couldn’t be decoded. The big shot probably wants to try having information-types directly join the ritual process to see if it can be interpreted that way.

143L:

Asking since I don’t know. Has the information gained in past rituals always been undecipherable?

144L:

No, at the very beginning it could be decoded, but starting over twenty years ago, it became undecipherable.

Over twenty years ago. Zhan Yan quickly caught the keyword.

Infinite made contact with their world twenty-six years ago. Could this be related to Infinite?

Unfortunately, the poster of that reply didn’t know the reason either. After that, there was no more chatter about it.

Someone asked Da Wule what kind of backup dancer he wanted.

168L Da Wule:

First, the ability has to be sufficient. I want to try a rookie.

169L Da Wule:

Isn’t there a new information-type rookie recently with decent ability?

Is he called Approaching Science?

169L Da Wule:

I like pretty ones.

Zhan Yan: ???