GRMFBS CH65

Having just been treated to delicious tea pastries by someone, Zhan Yan really couldn’t bear to watch the old man get scammed out of thousands. Following the item description, he read out the problems with the thing, causing the stall owner to turn hostile:

“Get out, get out, get out! If you’re not buying, don’t show off your professional knowledge here!”

The old man was extremely surprised: “You’re a professional!”

Earlier at the tea shop, he listened to him brag so earnestly; he sure knew how to coax an old man into being happy!

“I just have a bit of understanding of fine arts,” Zhan Yan said modestly. “His drawing of that dragon and snake isn’t right; there is no such thing. One look and you can tell it’s modern people blindly innovating.”

“Are you from an art academy?”

Zhan Yan smiled in embarrassment: “I study veterinary medicine.”

The old man: ???

The old man asked him: “If you understand fine arts, have you ever seen a dragon head-to-tail?”

Zhan Yan shook his head: “The Ouroboros is quite common. Are you sure it’s a dragon?”

“It’s not a snake. It has claws,” the old man said.

Zhan Yan grew curious: “Where have you seen this kind of dragon?”

The old man waved his hand: “I haven’t seen it anywhere, it was just a dream I had.”

As the two strolled, the old man slowly recounted his dream.

“In recent years, I keep dreaming about the old days. In the dream, it’s still me, but the situation is wrong. In the dream, a very, very serious natural disaster occurred; half my body was buried in ruins, and I couldn’t catch my breath.

“My several children, some ran, some died, some were crying and digging beside me, wanting to dig me out.

“I lay in the ruins, looking up at the sky. I saw a mass of bright red light in the sky, and beside that light, a coiled dragon was illuminated.

“Its claws clutched the boundary between the sky and the earth. Its head held its own tail, and on its head, I only saw one eye…”

Zhan Yan suddenly stopped.

Head touching tail, and only one eye, wasn’t this the dragon suspected to be the “Candle Dragon” in his dream?

“What’s wrong?” the old man asked.

“Did that dragon also tie itself into a knot? Was a candle enclosed within the part where it was knotted?”

The old man also stopped: “You’ve seen it?”

“I dreamed of it. I also dreamed of many shooting stars, but I didn’t see myself,” Zhan Yan said.

The old man sized him up and asked: “How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” Zhan Yan said.

“So young.” The old man sighed emotionally. “Then it wouldn’t have you. When I dreamt of it, it was over twenty years ago.”

“Twenty-six years ago?” Zhan Yan tentatively asked.

The old man was shocked and grabbed his arm: “Come, come, come, I know a pretty good teahouse. Let’s chat!”

He had been having this dream for a long time, but he had never told anyone about the knot!

Mainly because telling others about the single eye and head-to-tail stuff didn’t affect the domineering air and solemn desolation in the dream, but if he added that this dragon tied itself into a knot, wouldn’t that be funny?

The more he looked at this young man, the more pleasing to the eye he found him. After so many years! He had finally encountered someone who “suffered from the same illness” as him!

The old man, running towards his bizarre dream, and Zhan Yan, running towards the “Candle Dragon” clues, hit it off instantly and went to the teahouse.

Before they reached the place, both of their phones rang at the same time.

“Hello? Dad…” This came from the old man’s receiver.

“Hello? Dad…” This was what Zhan Yan said into the phone.

“Dad, where did you secretly run off to alone again? At your age, not bringing someone along…”

“Yan Yan, the weather in Bince City has been bad recently, don’t go play by the sea.”

Bad weather? The weather forecast didn’t say so; didn’t it show continuous sunny days for the next few days?

Zhan Yan suddenly thought of the very irritable Dragon King statue in the Dragon King Temple. Hmm, the weather forecast really couldn’t accurately predict this one. His dad, as a demon king, probably got some insider news!

Then he wouldn’t go to the seaside for now.

“Boss Xia said she ran into you. If you need anything, ask her for help, don’t be embarrassed,” his dad continued to urge.

Zhan Yan thought to himself that it was a sure thing; Sister Xia must also be a demon. Otherwise, what obscure minor actor could trouble their own big boss so much?

Having a demon king dad is so nice!

After hanging up the phone, Zhan Yan and the old man walked into the teahouse. One pot of tea, two plates of pastries, three plates of fruit, sitting and killing an entire afternoon.

This whole afternoon, Zhan Yan merely chatted about dreams with the old man. After chatting, the harvest wasn’t very big. The only reliable thing about the old man was his dream; in the following years, he had been looking everywhere for the dragon he saw in his dream, including but not limited to ancient texts and literature, local legends, antiquities, and curios…

The old man was happy chatting, and asked: “Are you here for tourism? I’ll tell you where the fun spots are. Bince City has a lot of interesting places; it would take you half a month to walk through them all.”

“No, I came to attend someone else’s birthday banquet, and I have to go back in two days,” Zhan Yan said regretfully.

“Oh…” The old man nodded unfathomably.

As it grew late, the old man was picked up by his son, and Zhan Yan also returned to the hotel.

Not long after returning, the weather forecast started issuing an emergency gale warning, and a short while later, it started a rainstorm warning.

Zhan Yan opened the chaofan forum and the Gossip System to see what insider news his dad had gotten.

[The little black dragon Yuan Jing disguised himself as a normal person to play in Bince City and ran out of money. He took his friend to the Dragon King Temple to steal his dad’s incense money. His normal person friend was afraid of offending the Dragon King Lord and didn’t dare to steal, but Yuan Jing said: “It’s fine, I asked the Dragon King, he agreed. Look, he’s even giving me a thumbs-up.”]

[The Dragon King is currently beating his son; the coastal area of Bince City is filled with wind and clouds.]

Zhan Yan: …Pfft!

Ah hahahahaha!

Bratty kids really are regardless of race or age.

Logging into the forum, in the spam section, there were still some people going crazy over what he said before about Da Wule and the little demon. Among them, a fanfiction big shot had quietly appeared and started diligently writing fanfiction about Da Wule and the little demon.

“Just Gotta Ship CP!”, this naming style felt a little familiar.

Besides these, there was also an old thread that had been bumped up:

{Why Wouldn’t Artifact Refining Make One Go Crazy?! Why Wouldn’t Artifact Refining Make One Go Crazy?!}

Clicking into it, the poster was “Artisan”.

LZ:

Tell me, this artifact refining, why won’t it just, succeed?

Why can’t it fuse?! Ah?! Which connection went wrong?! Ah?! Why are the runes not taking effect?! Ah?!

(Turns into a monkey) (Smashes the artifact refining station) (Screams loudly) (Snatches your bananas) (Rushes into the forest)

…

This was Zhan Yan’s first time seeing this thread.

He looked at the thread starter’s account, then backed out and clicked into the points ranking, confirming the account hanging high at the top of the points leaderboard.

After repeatedly confirming a few times, it was indeed “Artisan”, not a high imitation.

Zhan Yan was shocked.

The mental state of the Artisan big shot was very worrying!

He scrolled down the contents of the thread.

This thread was posted many years ago. Every once in a while, it would be bumped up once, basically always by Artisan himself, and every reply content was him going crazy.

Interspersed among Artisan’s replies were replies from others:

124L:

Every time I see this thread getting bumped up again, I know Artisan has encountered problems refining artifacts again.

143L:

Hahahahaha! Why wouldn’t artifact refining make one go crazy! I’ll go crazy with Artisan!

Ahhh why won’t it just succeed!!!

218L:

Even a big shot like Artisan can get stuck on artifact refining, so why can’t I? Getting stuck is very normal! Making mistakes is very normal! Not taking effect is very normal! Smashing the artifact refining station is very normal!!!

…

Was artifact refining such a terrifying subject?

Zhan Yan couldn’t help but search it up.

[Year X, Month X, Day X, Artisan failed for the 16th time while researching the Seven Treasures Gourd, and began to go crazy.]

…

[Year X, Month X, Day X, Artisan failed for the 32nd time while researching the stealth flying motorcycle equipped with a miniaturized electromagnetic cannon, and smashed the artifact refining station out of anger.]

…

[Year X, Month X, Day X, Artisan failed for the 43rd time while researching Transformers, and began to go crazy.]

…

[Year X, Month X, Day X, Artisan failed for the 51st time while researching the Iron Man armor, and smashed the artifact refining station out of anger.]

…

[Year X, Month X, Day X, Artisan failed for the 568th time while researching the puppet butler, sighed, and silently packed up the parts.]

…

[Year X, Month X, Day X, Artisan failed for the 21st time while tuning the anomaly tracker, and began to go crazy.]

The things the big shot researched were a bit varied; what the heck were Transformers and Iron Man armor?

However, Zhan Yan still grasped the key point: the latest entry, which was also the reason why Artisan went crazy replying to the thread this time: Artisan failed for the 21st time while tuning the anomaly tracker.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau was cooperating with Artisan. Did something go wrong while they were using Garbled Anomaly No. 2 to track?

Before Zhan Yan could ask, he received a private message from Tianshi first.

Tianshi: [If it wasn’t a task issued to you by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, but a private matter of mine that I need your help with, would you accept it?]

Zhan Yan: !!!

Why would Tianshi need to go this far!

Approaching Science: [If you have something, I’ll definitely do it; I don’t even need points.]

Approaching Science: [I also accept the tasks from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau normally.]

Approaching Science: [That last task was because it involved a traitor from the Wan Yao Alliance.]

The Tianshi big shot was so— good to him, answering questions and resolving doubts, carefully guiding him, and even willing to give him Lightning Talismans for free!

The Tianshi big shot wasn’t tied to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau anyway. Hmm… he didn’t know if his dad and Tianshi had any conflict. Hopefully, their relationship wasn’t too bad…

The relationship between Tianshi and the Chongming Demon King…

The words “Overbearing Tianshi and her Stunning Demon King” suddenly surfaced in Zhan Yan’s mind.

Zhan Yan: …Dead memories are suddenly attacking me!

Ever since he learned that the Chongming Demon King was his dad, he couldn’t look straight at that fanfiction big shot ever again.

Banning it was right!!!

His dad and his mom were the true pair! Why ship the Chongming Demon King and Tianshi?! His dad and his mom were the best match!!!

No wonder his dad appeared back then to stop that person from posting fanfiction.

His dad loved so deeply!

Ji Yueming laughed when she saw Approaching Science’s reply. She knew this child was good; he wouldn’t run to the Wan Yao Alliance just because Da Wule teased him a bit.

People with her level of cultivation would more or less have some intuition, it just wasn’t as profound as the spiritual cultivation methods of Dead Pine Ravine.

Approaching Science always gave her a trustworthy and relaxed feeling; this was also why she was willing to take the initiative to get close, not just because of Approaching Science’s talent and abilities.

Tianshi: [Consider it my private task.]

Tianshi: [If someone wants to buy information on other Infinite fragments from you, I hope you won’t sell it.]

Zhan Yan was just about to agree, when he suddenly thought about how Tianshi had initially said this was a private matter she needed his help with. One could say she said that at first because she was afraid he wouldn’t accept tasks from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau anymore, so she took a roundabout approach. But after he indicated his willingness, Tianshi brought it up again as a private task.

Was Tianshi intentionally separating this task from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau?

Approaching Science: [Does the ‘someone’ you mentioned include the other people in the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau?]

Ji Yueming couldn’t help but laugh and sigh: “Truly sharp.”

Tianshi: [It includes everyone.]

After she replied, she paused for a while, waiting for Approaching Science’s reaction.

The captain of the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau did not intend to fully accept every single task from the Bureau.

Zhan Yan’s palms were sweating slightly.

Ah man, this problem of getting excited at the smell of a big secret…

He quickly associated it with Artisan’s melon strips—before this, he had always been paying attention to the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s progress on Garbled Anomaly No. 2. They had been using the instrument made by Artisan to track the trail of Garbled Anomaly No. 2, and it had always been very smooth.

Why was it suddenly stuck now?

Zhan Yan changed the keywords and searched again:

Garbled Anomaly No. 2 was created to find Infinite fragments. Within the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, some people hoped to use this ability of its to find all the other Infinite fragments in this world.

And the tuning task Artisan accepted was precisely this.

[The puppet butler Xiao Ran asked Artisan: “How many more times do you plan to pretend to fail?”]

Huh?

Artisan was acting?