GRMFBS CH69

The excessively pure darkness looked as if a piece of space had been abruptly eroded away.

The anomaly that fell into this shadow also seemed to suddenly drop into another dimension, disappearing completely without a sound.

Gu Jiancheng retracted the shadows expressionlessly.

It was a newly born anomaly. Besides the disgusting stench of Infinite, there was another annoying sensation.

Every Infinite player knew that all monsters were born from “Black Nests,” and there was at least one Black Nest in every instance. It was the nest that bred monsters, and also a deadly trap that meant certain death for players who entered.

But few players knew that the monsters born from each Black Nest carried the mark of their mother nest. If the mark could be found, one could reverse-track it back to the Black Nest where it was born.

This was a piece of useless trivia for most players.

A monster’s mark was not a clearly visible brand like a tattoo; it constantly changed. It might be the twisted lines of blood vessels, the refraction of light on an oil slick, or a string of crazed ravings.

Not many people could endure the pollution to kill a monster and still manage to find the mark in its corpse, let alone have the ability to reverse-track it using the mark.

So far, the third newly discovered, newly born anomaly had fallen into his shadow.

Gu Jiancheng couldn’t handle that kind of meticulous study, experimentation, and capturing; he only used the most simple and brutal method to find the mark.

He devoured and dismantled it, extracting it from layers of filthy power. Once he had completely devoured every other part of the monster, all that remained was its mark.

This process made him somewhat uncomfortable—an indescribable irritability that might or might not be a headache, and it was gradually intensifying. Perhaps it was because he was too far away from Zhan Yan, causing the aftereffects to clamor for attention, or maybe it was just a hallucination caused by psychological issues.

He had already escaped the Infinite world, yet he still seemed to be shrouded in its shadow, unable to find peace.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance and logged onto the chaofan forum.

Approaching Science‘s task efficiency was a bit low this time; he still hadn’t given him many names.

Just as he finished urging him, he saw Approaching Science‘s reply.

He had obtained his hidden wanted poster.

Gu Jiancheng raised an eyebrow.

I Just Saved the World!: [You filter the tasks related to anomalies in the hidden wanted posters, provide the information, and I’ll go solve them. We continue cooperating.]

I Just Saved the World!: [You decide how to split the points.]

Zhan Yan looked at this reply. Good heavens, truly worthy of being an anomaly-killing maniac! After learning he had unlocked the permissions for hidden wanted posters, his first reaction was actually to cooperate and grind the anomalies in them!

Having someone willing to put in the effort to clean up anomalies was naturally a good thing.

Approaching Science: [OK]

I Just Saved the World!: [Hurry up with the healing-type tasks.]

Zhan Yan: …

His attention had recently been captivated by the Candle Dragon matter, and he wasn’t lacking points right now either. He really didn’t want to do this difficult task from Deep Shadow.

He opened Deep Shadow‘s gossip thread.

[Deep Shadow saved a homeless man attacked by an anomaly, and was bitten on the calf by the homeless man’s dog.]

[Deep Shadow pacified the terrified large dog that wanted to protect its master.]

[Deep Shadow devoured the anomaly %￥Q>, and is currently enduring the troubles brought about by the aftereffects.]

Another garbled anomaly…

This person, Deep Shadow… Zhan Yan had seen his complete wanted poster. Generally speaking, besides the introduction of the wanted person’s information, a wanted poster would also include a description of the crimes they committed. But Deep Shadow‘s wanted poster lacked the latter.

He hadn’t committed any crimes; the reasons for him being wanted were “high risk” and “uncontrollable,” and the bounty only asked for information.

Zhan Yan now understood where his assessment came from. A supernatural power user who could devour anomalies, a supernatural power user with severe aftereffects.

Anomalies and pollution were inextricably linked, and Deep Shadow‘s aftereffects were probably tied to pollution as well.

Yet he loathed anomalies so much that, even after participating in the incident with Garbled Anomaly No. 2, he immediately went and found another undiscovered garbled anomaly without a moment’s rest.

With a setup like this, it was truly hard not to imagine a tragic, beautiful, and powerful big shot.

Was Deep Shadow looking for healing-type supernatural power users to solve his own aftereffects? Judging by his task requirements, ordinary healing-type supernatural power users probably had no effect on his aftereffects anymore.

Zhan Yan bumped this task, which he had previously deprioritized, back up to the front.

Approaching Science: [I will do it as soon as possible.]

Having momentarily gone soft-hearted, Zhan Yan spent half the night researching information on healing-type supernatural power users. He fell asleep in an exhausted daze, and only remembered after being woken up by his alarm clock the next day that he had to catch a flight back today!

Ah… really now. Why did he inexplicably get so invested in Deep Shadow‘s task? Even if it was “as soon as possible,” there was no need to pull an all-nighter over it.

He packed the things he needed to take with him. It actually wasn’t much; besides a few sets of clothes and daily necessities, the rest were the pastries Luan Jin had packed for him, along with that stone.

Zhan Yan lifted the packaging box containing the stone. His luggage was definitely overweight…

[This is a stone containing a trace of demonic energy. It has solidified with some candle tears dripped from the candle of Candle Dragon, and possesses a hint of the profound power of Candle Dragon. It might be able to trigger some drifting fragments in the river of time.]

There was no longer an “Analyzing…” at the end, meaning the item description for this stone stopped here.

Zhan Yan: …Just this little bit? What does “drifting fragments in the river of time” mean? Aren’t gossip system descriptions supposed to be concise and clear? Why are you playing the riddler now?

As if sensing his dissatisfaction, a “…” symbol appeared at the end of the item description and began updating in real-time:

[ …SiO2 content is 99.28%, Al2O3 content is 0.10%, Fe2O3 content is 0.097%, Ca…]

Zhan Yan: “Enough, enough!”

He asked it to explain the riddler terms, not to chemically analyze the composition. He was about to become a human testing agency!

The item description stubbornly finished displaying the rest of the chemical composition and began updating random data like hardness and toughness.

Zhan Yan closed the item description.

Last night, he was so focused on searching for healing-type supernatural power users for Deep Shadow that, in the heat of the moment, he hadn’t even looked much at the newly opened section on the forum.

Zhan Yan caught up on sleep on the plane. He was still sleeping soundly when the plane landed, and came out yawning after being woken up.

Gu Jiancheng came to the airport to pick him up. Seeing his half-asleep state, he took his luggage. “Didn’t sleep well last night?”

Zhan Yan rested his forehead on his shoulder, mumbling vaguely, “Mm… so sleepy, let me lean on you for a bit…”

It was fine when he just woke up in the morning without enough sleep, but being forcefully woken up halfway through his sleep on the plane was truly agonizing. He felt like his brain had turned into a pile of mush blowing yawning bubbles.

Gu Jiancheng‘s shoulders were solid, and his clothes carried a fresh soap scent. So reassuring…

Just as Zhan Yan felt like he was about to doze off, something icy suddenly pressed against his cheek.

Zhan Yan shuddered and woke up, seeing Gu Jiancheng holding a cup of iced drink against his face.

“You can’t sleep here. Hold on a little longer, you can sleep when we get back.” Gu Jiancheng unscrewed the drink and handed it to him.

Zhan Yan yawned again. “Did I fall asleep? How long were we standing here?”

His eyes were welling with sleepy tears, and his voice was soft and low.

Gu Jiancheng‘s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Not long.”

Only about 5 minutes and 42 seconds. Seeing that Zhan Yan would genuinely fall asleep if they stood there any longer, he woke him up.

The two took a taxi back to school. As they dragged the suitcase across the campus, the brick pavement clashed against the suitcase wheels, creating a series of clattering sounds. Zhan Yan held the now-warm drink in one hand, linking his other arm with Gu Jiancheng‘s. “Have you eaten? I brought a lot of pastries back.”

A snow-white, long-haired cat walked in front of them, squatted down, and looked up at them with its large golden eyes.

Zhan Yan looked at this familiar scene. “Ah…”

Gu Jiancheng: “What’s wrong?”

Zhan Yan: “Looks a bit familiar. I was blocked by a white cat just like this in my neighborhood before. The first time, it ate my cat food; the second time, it ate my chicken wings.”

But he didn’t think it was the same one. Yunjin City and Beiling City were separated by hundreds of kilometers; how could this little cat possibly have followed him here?

Perhaps this little guy was the third small animal that wasn’t afraid of him?

“Let’s go,” Zhan Yan said. “I didn’t bring anything to feed you.”

He and Gu Jiancheng walked around the little white cat.

The little white cat ran in front of them and squatted down again.

This sheer persistence… looked even more familiar!

“Is it you?” Zhan Yan crouched down, looked at the little white cat, and asked, “The persistent little kitty?”

The little white cat meowed.

“Want.”

[The extremely persistent, never-give-up little white cat with peculiar digestive functions thinks your eye for identifying cats is not very good. But it’s okay, humans are all like this. The little white cat generously forgives you.]

Zhan Yan: “…It really is you! How did you run all the way here?”

[The little white cat thinks the food you provided was very delicious, so it followed you to Northern Agricultural University.]

Zhan Yan was shocked. He now understood the weight of the phrase “extremely persistent” in the Gossip System. Traveling thousands of miles just for a bite to eat—what kind of foodie spirit was this!

The little white cat lowered its head and rubbed against him, then looked up and continued to “meow”.

“Want.” The little white cat continued to look at him with its golden eyes.

It had a very strong aura of “I’ve already paid the compensation in advance, how can you not give me food?”

“I didn’t bring cat food or chicken wings right now. I don’t have anything you can eat.” Zhan Yan tried to negotiate with it. “How about this, I’ll make you cat food tomorrow, okay?”

The little white cat stood up. Zhan Yan thought he had gotten through to it.

Just as he stood up, he saw the little white cat walk around to Gu Jiancheng‘s side and smack a paw onto the suitcase.

“Meow.”

“Want.”

Zhan Yan’s eyes widened. “You even smelled that?”

Gu Jiancheng lifted the suitcase and placed it between the two of them. The little white cat glanced up at him, then ran in front of the suitcase and squatted down again.

Gu Jiancheng couldn’t help but laugh. “Has it set its sights on the pastries you brought back?”

“Is it a male or female cat?”

“Has it been neutered?”

“Should we catch it and get it neutered while we’re at it?”

The little white cat cautiously backed up two steps and sat down, its butt pressed firmly against the ground.

[The little white cat thinks your boyfriend is also a pervert.]