5: The "Golden Moment" of the Fake Young Master

On the edge of the No. 0 Forbidden Zone.

Gu Fan, who was walking while humming a little tune, suddenly paused.

He frowned slightly and picked at his ear.

【Ding! Detected top-tier hypocrisy and a vicious curse from 'Gu Yu'.】

【Malice Level: S-Rank.】

【Triggering Karmic Backlash! Calculating multiplier... Detected high-energy sweetness objects in the target's surrounding environment; randomly generating backlash effect: Sweet Burden.】

【Backlash initiated.】

Listening to the notification in his mind, Gu Fan's expression became playful.

“Gu Yu? That counterfeit product?”

Gu Fan curled his lip and casually flicked away a vampire mosquito trying to ambush him (the mosquito's belly exploded a second later from sucking too aggressively).

“Tsk tsk, still thinking about me late at night, you're really working hard.”

“Since you miss me so much, I'll give you a big surprise.”

“No need to thank me, just call me Lei Feng.”

...Gu Family Manor Great Hall.

Under the spotlight, Gu Yu was the focus of everyone's attention.

Holding a silver knife, he struck an extremely elegant and ritualistic pose, preparing to make the cut that symbolized "farewell to the past."

Everyone held their breath, waiting for this moment.

The reporters' flashes were already flickering frantically, ready to record this deeply moving scene.

Gu Zhan and Madam Li had gratified smiles on their faces.

Gu Qingluan nodded slightly, very satisfied with her younger brother's performance.

At this critical juncture.

A sudden change occurred.

The imported marble floor beneath Gu Yu's feet, which had been polished to a mirror shine and had excellent anti-slip properties, suddenly seemed to lose all friction.

It was as if it had been coated with a layer of invisible, high-grade lubricant.

No, it was a hundred times more slippery than lubricant.

Just as Gu Yu was about to shift his center of gravity forward, his feet suddenly slipped.

“Whoosh—”

At this moment, the laws of physics seemed to briefly fail him.

Instead of falling backward like a normal slip, Gu Yu's entire body defied common sense and shot forward straight and fast, like a cannonball fresh out of the barrel.

His upper body maintained a lunging posture, and the silver knife in his hand was still held high, like a warrior charging into battle.

Except, the target of his charge was not an enemy.

It was the giant cream cake in front of him, three meters high and two meters in diameter.

Everything happened too fast.

So fast that no one could react.

People only felt a blur before their eyes as a white shadow flashed past.

Immediately following.

“Squelch!!!”

A muffled thud.

It was the unique sound of flesh colliding with a massive amount of cream at high speed.

Thick, cloying, and carrying a hint of extremely stress-relieving moisture.

Gu Yu, like a precision missile, plunged headfirst into the very center of the cake.

The little chocolate "Gu Fan" figure that had been kneeling on top of the cake was smashed to pieces by Gu Yu's head.

But Gu Yu didn't stop.

The massive inertia made him like a drill bit, embedding him deeply into the interior of the cake.

Only his two legs remained outside, kicking helplessly at the air.

Then, an even more tragic sound came out.

“Crack!”

It was a tooth-aching, crisp snap.

Without any point of support, Gu Yu's body assumed a bizarrely folded angle.

His right leg, having twisted at the moment he flew out, finally reached its limit and snapped clean in two from the middle of the femur.

“Aaaarghh—!!!”

A shrill scream, after being filtered through thick layers of cream, turned into a dull and strange whimper.

It sounded like a pig being slaughtered while buried in a pile of cotton.

“Boom!”

The giant cake finally couldn't withstand the sudden impact and exploded from the inside out.

Cream, cake sponge, fruit chunks, and chocolate shards filled the air, spraying indiscriminately in all directions.

Gu Zhan and Madam Li, standing in the front row, bore the brunt of it.

Gu Zhan's handmade suit, worth hundreds of thousands, was instantly plastered into a yellow-and-white abstract painting.

Madam Li was even worse off; a large glob of blueberry jam hit her square in the face, dripping down her exquisite makeup, making her look like an extra in a zombie movie.

And Gu Qingluan, who was closest, although she reacted quickly and raised a Protective Qi Barrier.

But that cream seemed to have a 'sure-hit' attribute.

A clump of cream flying from who-knows-where traced a bizarre arc, accurately bypassing her defense and splattering right onto her cold, aloof face.

The entire hall fell instantly silent.

The music stopped.

The conversation stopped.

Everyone froze in their original positions, mouths agape, staring blankly at the mess in the center of the hall.

Looking at the figure still twitching in the cake ruins, with only two broken legs showing.

What was this?

Performance art?

Is this the unique way elite families celebrate?

Sacrificing oneself to the cake first?

“Yu... Xiao Yu?!”

Madam Li was the first to react.

Ignoring the jam on her face, she let out a sharp shriek and rushed forward, heedless of her image.

“Quick! Save him! What are you all standing there for! Can't you see something happened to the Young Master!”

Gu Zhan also came to his senses, his face ashen, and roared in a rage.

The servants finally snapped out of their daze and frantically crowded around, pulling Gu Yu out of the cake pile with all their might.

“Ouch, gently! Gently!”

“The leg! The leg is broken! Don't pull the leg!”

Accompanied by a series of shrill howls, Gu Yu finally saw the light of day again.

At this moment, where was there any trace of the elegant noble Young Master from just now?

His whole body was covered in multicolored cream, his hair was stuck to his scalp like a messy nest, and his white formal suit had turned into a rainbow color.

The worst part was his face.

Because he landed face-first, his nose had been crushed flat, and nosebleed mixed with cream was flowing into his mouth.

His right leg was bent at a terrifying ninety-degree angle, with bone fragments nearly piercing through his trouser leg.

“It hurts... it hurts so much... Mom... my leg...”

Gu Yu slumped on the ground, crying heart-wrenchingly; snot, tears, and cream were mixed together, looking as disgusting as could be.

The surrounding guests backed away one after another, covering their noses and mouths; their eyes no longer showed the previous admiration, but rather shock, disgust, and even a bit of suppressed laughter.

This is the so-called Genius? The perfect heir?

He managed to cripple himself just by cutting a cake?

This fall didn't just break his leg; it shattered the dignity the Gu Family had worked so hard to maintain into pieces.

“This... what on earth is going on?”

Gu Zhan looked at the strange gazes of the guests and felt as if his old face had been slapped hundreds of times.

It stung like fire.

Today, his reputation was completely dragged through the mud.

He had already thought of the headline for tomorrow's news: 【Gu Family Young Master's Cake Dive: Elite Celebration Turns into a Farce】.

“The floor was too slippery! It must have been too slippery!”

Madam Li held her son distressfully and turned to scream at the servants, “Who mopped this floor? Are you trying to kill Xiao Yu? Break that cleaner's legs and throw them out!”

However, everyone saw it clearly.

The floor was dry.

One could even say it was cleaner than Gu Zhan's face.

There were simply no water or oil stains at all.

This fall was completely nonsensical and incomprehensible.

It was as if an invisible force had given Gu Yu a hard shove from behind.

Gu Qingluan, who had been standing to the side, slowly wiped the cream off her face.

Her originally cold and glamorous face was now terrifyingly dark.

A cold Killing Intent emanated from her, making the surrounding air freeze.

She stared fixedly at the cake that had become a ruin, especially at the broken little "Gu Fan" figure.

For some reason, she suddenly felt a strange palpitation.

It was as if she were being watched by some terrifying Vicious Beast.

“Gu Fan...”

Gu Qingluan gritted her teeth, squeezing out those words one by one.

Although logic told her it couldn't be related to that trash who had already died in the forbidden zone.

But her intuition made her unable to stop thinking in that direction.

That trash only knew how to cause trouble when he was alive.

And even after death, he was still this unlucky!

He wouldn't even let people have a peaceful memorial service!

“Truly a jinx! Still causing trouble even when dead!”

An uncontrollable rage welled up in Gu Qingluan's heart.

She wanted to roar, to vent, to trample that trash's name under her feet and curse it ten thousand times.

“Gu Fan! You lingering piece of trash! I should have ground your bones to ashes so you couldn't even become a ghost!”

Gu Qingluan cursed maliciously in her heart, just as she was about to order the servants to clean up the scene.

Suddenly.

Deep in her throat, she felt an extremely subtle yet exceptionally sharp stinging pain.

It was like... an invisible saw was gently sawing at her vocal cords.

“Cough...”

She instinctively tried to clear her throat.

Only to find that this was just the beginning.