6: Iceberg Goddess, transforming into a frog online

"Cough..."

Gu Qingluan's brows furrowed tightly.

She originally wanted to use her signature cold voice to drive away the guests whose eyes were wandering around, and while she was at it, help up her useless younger brother, Gu Yu, who was still wailing on the ground.

After all, as the famous "Iceberg Goddess" of Tianqiong City, she had always remained unflappable.

Even if her younger brother had turned into a cream sandwich cookie, she had to maintain her elegance.

But when she opened her mouth, preparing to utter that authoritative "Scram"...

Something extremely surreal happened.

"Ribbit—"

The sound wasn't loud.

But it was extremely piercing.

It was a dry, hoarse voice with an inexplicable swampy scent.

It was like the first cry issued during mating season by an old frog that had lived in this world for five hundred years and seen through the Mortal World.

Gu Qingluan was stunned.

She subconsciously covered her throat, her eyes filled with shock.

The guests around her, who had been in chaos because Gu Yu broke his leg, stopped their movements once again.

Everyone's gaze moved in unison from the "Cream Man" Gu Yu on the ground to the high-and-mighty Eldest Young Miss of the Gu Family.

Their eyes were full of scrutiny.

What was that noise just now?

Who's keeping a frog in the banquet hall?

"Big Sister? What are you doing?"

Gu Yu, who was lying on the ground crying bitter tears, was also dazed.

He was originally waiting for his big sister to back him up and denounce the incompetent servants, but instead, his big sister suddenly performed this kind of talent show for him?

Gu Qingluan's cheeks instantly flushed red.

This was a disgrace.

This was a dimensionality reduction strike against the cold goddess image she had maintained for over twenty years.

She didn't believe in such nonsense.

It must be that her throat was too dry, or there was some strange allergen in that piece of cream that flew over just now.

She took a deep breath, mobilizing the Grandmaster-level Qi within her body, attempting to use Internal Energy to clear the discomfort in her throat.

She wanted to regain her dignity.

She wanted to tell everyone that what just happened was an accident, an auditory hallucination.

Gu Qingluan straightened her body again, her gaze sweeping across the room, trying to regain that overbearing aura of being in control of the overall situation.

She pointed at the few bodyguards who were still dazed, sank her Qi into her Dantian, and shouted angrily:

"What are you still standing there for! Hurry and carry the Young Master down!"

However.

Reality is cruel.

Reality is sometimes even more absurd than prank skits in short videos.

The moment her mouth opened and closed, that mysterious power once again took over her vocal cords.

"Ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit! Ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit!"

This string of coherent, rapid, and rhythmic frog croaks echoed through the micro-microphone she hadn't had time to turn off, amplified by the top-tier sound System, instantly reverberating over the entire Gu Family Manor.

There was even an echo.

"Ribbit ribbit... (ribbit ribbit)..."

The entire venue instantly fell into extreme embarrassment.

The atmosphere became stagnant for a moment.

Only those lingering frog croaks were still dancing wildly on people's eardrums.

This time, it wasn't an auditory hallucination.

It was set in stone.

The Eldest Young Miss of the Gu Family, Gu Qingluan, who was claimed to be the dream lover of countless young talents, publicly imitated a frog's croak at her brother's celebration banquet.

And the imitation was so lifelike, it was practically a reproduction of the original sound.

"Pfft..."

In the crowd, the tall, thin businessman who had been complaining earlier finally couldn't help himself.

He quickly covered his mouth, but laughter still leaked through his fingers.

This single laugh was like toppling the first domino.

The guests, who had been trying their best to hold back their laughter and maintain their high-society dignity, all began to have distorted expressions.

Some pinched their own thighs.

Some looked up at the ceiling to count light bulbs.

Some simply buried their heads in their wine glasses.

It was too hard.

They had never encountered such an unbearable scene in their lives.

Is this the depth of a wealthy family?

First, the Young Master performed "Human Cannonball Exploding Cake," then the Eldest Young Miss performed "Turning into a Frog Online."

Is this Gu Family putting on some large-scale immersive circus performance?

"Qingluan! What... what nonsense are you up to!"

Gu Zhan's Face was ashen.

He had just finished wiping most of the cream off his body and was preparing to forcibly salvage his dignity when his eldest daughter gave him another backstab.

He strode over and roared in a low voice: "Is this the kind of occasion where you can joke around! Shut your mouth!"

Gu Qingluan was so aggrieved that tears were welling up in her eyes.

She wanted to shut up.

But that desire to speak was like the surging waters of a river, continuous and unending.

And she was so furious inside.

Especially thinking that all of this might be related to that unlucky thing Gu Fan, she couldn't help but want to curse.

The essence of a human is a repeater.

The more she was told not to speak, the more she wanted to explain.

"Dad! I didn't! It's my throat..."

Gu Qingluan anxiously grabbed her father's sleeve, desperately trying to defend herself.

As a result, what came out of her mouth was:

"Ribbit! Ribbit ribbit! Ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit..."

This string of passionate croaks even seemed to have a bit of a rap rhythm.

Gu Zhan threw off her hand and backed away two steps as if avoiding a plague.

He was in despair.

He looked at the chaos in the room.

The son with a broken leg, the daughter croaking like a frog, the disfigured cake, and the guests holding back laughter.

Gu Zhan felt like his high blood pressure was about to act up.

Just let it all be destroyed; I'm tired.

Meanwhile.

At the edge of the No. 0 Forbidden Zone.

Gu Fan, who was walking calmly through the dense forest, suddenly stopped.

The mechanical voice in his mind rang out with a gleeful, schadenfreude tone.

【Ding! Detected extreme loathing and vicious curses from 'Gu Qingluan'.】

【Malice Rank: S-Rank.】

【Karma Backlash triggered! Calculating multiplier... Detected that the target thinks highly of herself and has a strong desire to express herself. Randomly generating backlash effect: Hearing a Field of Frogs.】

【Effect Description: During this period, all of the target's linguistic expressions will be forcibly converted into biologically meaningless croaks. Duration: Determined by the malice towards the host; will recover once the malice disappears.】

"Pffft, hahahaha..."

Gu Fan burst out laughing.

He leaned against a nearby crooked tree, laughing so hard he couldn't straighten his back.

"Hearing a Field of Frogs? System, you really know your literature."

"I thought you would make her mute, but I didn't expect you to play it so creatively."

"This is great. The Iceberg Goddess has become a countryside singer. This crossover is quite a leap."

Gu Fan imagined that scene.

His eldest sister, dressed in an evening gown and looking noble and cold, affectionately "ribbiting" at everyone under the spotlight.

The scene is too beautiful; I simply can't bear to look.

"Tsk tsk, Big Sister, oh Big Sister. I told you to talk less and do more, but you just wouldn't listen."

"Now look what happened. Whether you can speak or not depends on whether species isolation agrees."

Gu Fan wiped away the tears from laughing, feeling incredibly refreshed.

This feeling of being able to toy with his enemies from a distance without lifting a finger was simply addictive.

Is this the true value of a karmic law weapon?

Love it, love it.

"Since things are so lively at home, I can't let things get dull on my end."

Gu Fan straightened up and stretched.

He looked toward the even deeper part of the dense forest ahead.

The miasma there was several times thicker than at the periphery, and he could vaguely see several pairs of beast eyes flickering in the darkness.

Those were higher-level Vicious Beasts.

For ordinary people, that place was an absolute death zone.

But for the current Gu Fan.

It was practically a Michelin-starred buffet filled with delicacies and no queue.

"Come on, little darlings."

Gu Fan straightened his collar, even though it was just a tattered strip of cloth.

He swaggered into that darkness.

"Let's see who the next unlucky fellow is."

...Gu Family Manor.

The chaos was finally forcibly quelled ten minutes later.

The family doctor rushed over, drenched in sweat.

He first treated Gu Yu's wretched broken leg and applied a thick plaster cast.

Then he tremblingly approached Gu Qingluan.

At this moment, Gu Qingluan had been ordered not to make any sound.

She sat on the sofa, her Face pale and her eyes hollow, clutching a handkerchief tightly in her hand.

"Eldest Young Miss, please open your mouth and say 'Ah'."

The doctor said cautiously, holding a tongue depressor.

Gu Qingluan hesitated for a moment.

She didn't want to open her mouth.

She was afraid.

Afraid she would let out another frog croak.

But seeing her father's murderous gaze, she could only brace herself and open her mouth.

She desperately told herself in her heart: I am human, I am Gu Qingluan, I am not a frog.

"Ribbit."

This sound was very soft.

But to the doctor, it sounded like a thunderclap.

The doctor's hand shook, and the tongue depressor almost poked into Gu Qingluan's throat.

He had practiced medicine for thirty years.

He had seen aphasia, hysteria, and even people who barked like dogs due to mental stimulation.

But he had never seen a case where the vocal cord structure was completely normal, yet could produce such standard amphibian calls.

This isn't scientific.

This is very metaphysical.

"Mr... Mr. Gu."

The doctor wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and organized his words: "The Eldest Young Miss's vocal cords... look very healthy, without any signs of redness or congestion."

"Then why is she croaking like a frog!"

Gu Zhan's patience had run out. He pointed at his daughter, "Don't tell me she's practicing some special vocal technique!"

"This... this might be some kind of sudden neurosis."

The doctor began to spout professional jargon, "Commonly known as hysteria. It might be due to too much pressure recently, or some kind of stimulation, causing a temporary disorder in the brain's language center..."

"Stimulation? What kind of stimulation could she have received?"

Madam Li chimed in from the side. She still had an ice pack on her Face to reduce swelling, making her look ridiculous. "Didn't a useless younger brother just die? That's a happy event, how could she be stimulated?"

At the mention of the words "useless younger brother."

Gu Qingluan's body shuddered violently.

She remembered.

Just a second before her throat had issues, she was frantically cursing Gu Fan in her heart.

Could it be... an utterly absurd thought surfaced in her mind.

Could this be that dead ghost Gu Fan's revenge?

No.

Absolutely impossible.

When that trash was alive, he didn't even dare to let out a fart. Could he still turn the world upside down after dying?

This must be a coincidence.

It's because I was too impatient with my cultivation these past few days and suffered Qi Deviation.

Yes, it must be so.

Gu Qingluan forced herself to be comforted, trying to suppress that thought that terrified her.

But that cold feeling, like a maggot in the bone, simply wouldn't go away.

It was impossible for the banquet to continue.

The guests were politely asked to leave the scene.

Although everyone was saying things like "we understand" and "take care of yourself," the smiles they couldn't hide in their eyes and the way they couldn't wait to take out their phones to send voice messages as soon as they stepped out the door said it all.

After tonight.

In the high society of Tianqiong City, the Gu Family would definitely be top-tier.

Trending topic guaranteed.

#Gu Family Wealthy Night Banquet Turns into Zoo#

#Young Master Gu's Cake Escape#

#Eldest Young Miss Gu's Cross-Species Talent Show#

Gu Zhan slumped on the sofa, looking at the empty, messy hall, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

The Face he had painstakingly maintained for decades.

Tonight, it was lost so completely that not even his underwear remained.

"That rebellious son..."

Gu Zhan gritted his teeth, squeezing these few words out from between them.

Although there was no evidence to suggest any of this was related to Gu Fan.

But he just felt it was unlucky.

Ever since they brought that Jinx back, the house hadn't known a moment of peace.

Now that he's been sent away, things have become even more chaotic.

"Find a Great Master."

Madam Li suddenly screamed hysterically, "Go invite the Daoist priest from Qingyun Temple tomorrow! I think some dirty thing has entered the house! We must perform a ritual to properly get rid of the bad luck!"

The second sister, Gu Wanqing, who had been hiding in the corner without speaking, watched all of this silently.

She hugged her arms, feeling cold all over.

She thought of the moment Gu Yu flew out.

She thought of the moment her big sister let out that frog croak.

That sense of incongruity.

That feeling of fear, as if everything was being controlled by an invisible force.

Was it really just a coincidence?

What if... what if the person thrown into the forbidden zone didn't die?

What if he is watching us?

Gu Wanqing shuddered and quickly lowered her head, not daring to think any further.