GRMFBS CH76

Zhan Jinli had just finished class, powdered sugar still dusting his apron.

His bangs were clipped up and tucked under his chef’s hat. When he took off his mask, his whole face was revealed.

The instructor first photographed his cake, then turned and saw his handsome face—and immediately wanted to get a shot of the man and the cake together.

What a perfect recruitment ad!

Unfortunately, he refused.

The fondant teacher was quite regretful.

A strapping young man with looks and skill, but with one flaw: severe social anxiety. At the start, they even suspected he was deaf and mute. But he wasn’t quite like other socially anxious types. Aside from not speaking, everything else was normal; his eyes were deep and shadowed, the kind that made one instinctively respect him.

Zhan Jinli packed up, nodded to the others, and went back to the hotel.

The hotel was just a cover—he still needed to head out later.

This fondant training course was in Fengyu City. He chose it partly for that reason—Chaofu Mountain was in the suburbs of Fengyu.

While Wan Yan wasn’t around, he planned to slip back to Chaofu Mountain to retrieve something.

Before heading out, Zhan Jinli logged onto the Chaofan Forum to check Wan Yan’s movements—if he got caught in the act, there’d be quite a spectacle.

Then he saw Approaching_Science’s post.

“Salty Faction Hungry Ghost”—those four words immediately triggered Zhan Jinli’s memory.

That hungry ghost who barged into his shop under the influence of an unnamed anomaly—once it sobered up, the very first thing it shouted at him was: “I’ll never be a Sweet Faction again!”

He’d kept that hungry ghost by his side. This poster was implying they knew where he was!

Being found by Wan Yan was secondary—just more troublesome. The most important thing was his family. If anyone discovered them and tried to use them against him… Zhan Jinli’s vigilance spiked, almost off the charts.

Approaching_Science. Who was this person?

He searched the forum first.

An information-type Chaofan, recently rather famous. The most notable feats: tracking down “Youth’s Resentment”, getting Fang Pai to help publicize things, and guessing his admin account name.

Zhan Jinli didn’t believe it was a guess!!! Approaching_Science must have been watching him for a long time! This was premeditated!

His alertness maxed out.

Approaching_Science might already know his identity, his address, his family! His family was in danger!

He could barely restrain the urge to go home right now.

But no. He still had reason. Approaching_Science might not have pinpointed him. He couldn’t be sure how they gathered intel—what if going home now exposed information?

Also, he needed to know Approaching_Science’s goal.

Zhan Jinli replied in the thread. After Approaching_Science answered, he realized—he hadn’t opened private messages.

He enabled PMs from followed users, then followed Approaching_Science.

Admin_Will_Never_Keep_Cats: “What do you want to say?”

Approaching_Science dropped a bomb:

A group of people, suspected to be connected to Infinite, were doing bad things—and the power they were using was his divine art!

Setting aside whether to believe that, Zhan Jinli’s suspicion of Approaching_Science grew even more.

Admin_Will_Never_Keep_Cats: “What did you mean by that post?”

Zhan Yan saw the message and understood. His thread had apparently spooked the Lin Yuan Ghost King.

Understandable—after hiding from the Wan Yan Ghost King for over twenty years without incident, along comes someone hinting they know your location; who wouldn’t be on guard?

Zhan Yan sincerely explained that he’d only used that tactic because he couldn’t reach him; in fact, he didn’t know the hungry ghost’s location, he only knew—by chance—that the hungry ghost was in his hands.

The Lin Yuan Ghost King didn’t buy it.

With no choice, Zhan Yan pulled Luo Wang in to vouch for him.

Seeing Approaching_Science tell him to contact Luo Wang, Zhan Jinli finally reacted.

Right—he’d forgotten that!

He quickly reached Luo Wang.

Luo Wang happened to be investigating the chaos-stirrers; hearing from the Lin Yuan Ghost King, she immediately roped him in to help.

“Approaching_Science? Trustworthy, trustworthy!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve never sensed malice from him.”

“Even our Chongming Demon King is particularly fond of him.”

“Even if you don’t trust me, you can trust the Chongming Demon King, right?”

Zhan Jinli wanted to ask more, but Luo Wang stuffed a pile of tasks his way:

“These are suspicious lists from various communities. Go see who used your curse power. I’ll pair you with a network-type to cover you.”

Approaching_Science’s discovery was important. If the Lin Yuan Ghost King hadn’t shown up, Luo Wang had planned to commission Approaching_Science to investigate. But since the Lin Yuan Ghost King came forward, he was the best ghost for the job!

Zhan Jinli: …

Fine.

With both Luo Wang and the Chongming Demon King vouching, Approaching_Science could be grudgingly considered reliable.

But vigilance was still necessary!

Before starting, Zhan Jinli checked the forum again. Wan Yan was throwing a tantrum looking for him.

Heh! Not answering.

Zhan Yan handed off the tasks, fully trusting the big shots, and logged off.

Ah, it felt great having reliable big shots! He could just be a humble bystander eating melons!

After logging off, Zhan Yan happened to run into Qi Ye inviting him to game.

Qi Ye hadn’t played for a while. The game she’d been making with Wan Shitong had a preliminary build, and she’d been busy with it. With a bit of free time in the last two days, she planned to stream some gameplay. The moment she logged in, she found fans urging her:

[Big Coconut day 24 no stream, check-in]
[Big Coconut day 25 no stream, check-in]
[Big Coconut, you’re not even writing work logs. Are you just relying on the boss being busy and skipping the studio? I’ll report you to the boss!]
…

Qi Ye started streaming, and soon the barrage got cheeky:

[You’ve changed, Big Coconut—nearly a month with no stream! So arrogant! Mourning]
[No, after over half a month, you think you can just coast like this?]
[No way you’re getting away without a handstand gaming performance!]
[So dry! Swap her out! Get someone with a nice voice!]
[Where’s the little brother? Where’s my rainbow-flattery little brother—]
…

So Qi Ye messaged Zhan Yan.

As soon as Zhan Yan joined:

[Wow… that familiar noob aura!]
[Hahahaha—!]

Qi Ye got accidentally sabotaged by Zhan Yan. He apologized while lavishing ridiculous praise. The chat was rolling with laughter. Qi Ye felt her channel’s vibe was getting more and more comedic—everyone loved watching her get bamboozled in creative ways.

Zhan Yan, after trolling for a while, felt bad and asked about “White-Haired Most Handsome”—duo-queueing a second carry was easier than duoing solo.

Qi Ye: “He seems busy writing a thesis lately.”

As soon as she said it, her phone rang. She gestured to pause: “My boss.”

Zhan Suiru was calling to invite Qi Ye to game.

She’d been too busy lately. She’d glossed over the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s quest to find Infinite fragments, but a new task had arrived—related to her previous claim that she excelled at handling anomalous contamination.

This time, the task wasn’t from the Bureau—it was sent directly via forum DM by the Tianshi, with complex and difficult requirements.

But the Craftsman was very! very! excited!

Waaah, my idol sent me a commission!!!

There was no one on the forum who didn’t know the Craftsman was a diehard fan of the Tianshi. She’d even splurged points to hire people to flame the Tianshi’s haters; after both sides got banned, she opened alts to continue. Later, she fought with shippers over fanfics.

Some bored netizens counted—her alts once numbered up to 26. Talk about dedication.

Zhan Suiru was thrilled because the Tianshi promised to add a talisman stamped with his seal to her payment. What was this called? Exclusive merch!

But then things didn’t go smoothly… The pay was high, but so were the demands. Zhan Suiru slogged for days and got stuck yet again.

Flip the table! Slam the workbench! Go rant on the forum!

Still not enough to soothe her rage, she decided to game and stomp newbies.

But stomping total newbies felt like bullying. Her junior employee Qi Ye was perfect! Competent enough to last a while—not a complete curb-stomp—and thus more fun.

So Zhan Suiru called to set up a game.

Hearing on-stream that the boss was inviting Qi Ye to play, the chat exploded in laughter.

They wanted to watch Big Coconut get stomped by the boss—

Qi Ye: “I’m live. Is that okay?”

Zhan Suiru: “I’m fine with it. If it’s inconvenient for you, forget it.”

The chat immediately spammed [Convenient!][Absolutely convenient!]

Qi Ye muted: “I’m already playing with Zhan Yan.”

Zhan Suiru thought for a moment—and got suddenly excited!

She’d always spoiled her little brother. When playing with Zhan Yan, she pretended to be a noob—noobs pecking at each other. It was fun seeing him believe it. But being treated as a top-tier carry by him? That had to be delightful too!

No way she’d reveal herself—Zhan Yan didn’t know this game account.

“Come, come, come! I want in even more!”

“And don’t tell him I’m his sister.”

Qi Ye acknowledged.

She messaged Zhan Yan: “I’m pulling in a top dog.”

Zhan Yan: “Great!”

[‘Big Hammer Eighty’ has joined your party.]

Qi Ye unmuted, and amid chants of “stomp the noob,” she chuckled smugly: “How could I be the one getting stomped? My boss is on my team~ Next up, boss will carry me!”

Zhan Suiru went on a rampage in-game.

Chat:
[Whoa!!! Big Coconut’s boss is cracked?!]

Zhan Yan: Wow! Which god-tier player is this?!

Cue the flattery!

[Eh? Why did little brother call the boss a “top dog”? He doesn’t know that’s his sister?]
Qi Ye, in a small voice: “He doesn’t. When my boss plays with him, she always pretends to be noobish. He thinks she’s as bad as he is. This is her smurf.”

The chat lost it.

[Boss dotes on little brother so much!]
[Smurfing just to enjoy little brother’s compliments?]
[I’m dying laughing!]

Qi Ye: “Stop spamming. If you want future drama, keep it low-profile. If little brother figures it out, there’ll be nothing to watch!”

Luckily, Zhan Yan doesn’t care for streams. He’d already activated maximum praise mode for the top dog.

“Big Hammer Eighty” didn’t reply even once—just silently carried.

Zhan Yan concluded this was a cool and aloof gaming god.

After the match, Qi Ye DM’d him: how was “Big Hammer Eighty”?

Zhan Yan: “Too strong! Those mechanics are professional, right?”
“Never said a word—pretty aloof?”
“But very nice! Never showed impatience.”

On orders from her boss, Qi Ye relayed the intel.

Zhan Suiru read the forwarded chat and grinned.

Ahahaha—so in Yan Yan’s eyes, she was a super-strong, cool top dog!

Purely from a gameplay perspective, it wasn’t that satisfying. The random opponents were mediocre. Only Yan Yan’s endlessly creative noobery brought her a spark of novelty.

But buoyed by her little brother’s rainbow-flattery, her mood soared!

Now the frustration from the stuck project dissipated, and inspiration struck!

Humming, Zhan Suiru headed back to her station. Seeing the doll butler taking notes, she peeked over curiously: “Xiao Ran, what are you writing?”

The doll butler: “A reminder to have you put on a smurf and go play games with your brother next time you get stuck.”

Highly effective!