My Demon Friends

"Are you from Meituan delivery? How can you feed so much?"

"And you still play mid? All you do is feed the enemy mid laner blue BUFF. What else can you do?"

"Even a chained dog would guard mid better than you!"

"Motherfucker!"

Suddenly, a rhythmic knocking sound came from the door. Lin Zhong quickly muted his phone, placed it on the table, and called softly towards the door—

"Come in."

A Bamboo Joint Demon walked in and bowed to him.

"Lord Lin Zhong."

"I hear things haven't gone smoothly?" Lin Zhong asked.

"Some unforeseen events occurred. The Local Government got involved, so we couldn't make a move. We also discovered another human Heavenly Master; it's probably him who's connected with the Local Government. Moreover, his Spiritual Power is very strong. We observed from a distance..."

The Bamboo Joint Demon detailed yesterday's events to Lin Zhong.

After listening, Lin Zhong fell into deep thought. A moment later, he smiled. "The Local Government has connected with humans so quickly. It seems we'll have to be much more careful in our actions from now on."

"The main concern is the other human. His existence poses a significant threat to us. It would be best if... before he fully develops..."

"Does he live in Chunming?"

"Chunming University Town."

"Isn't that right on Hong Ran's doorstep?"

"More or less."

"That'll be tricky to handle!"

"What do you think..."

"Don't be too eager to kill. Don't be rash..."

Lin Zhong looked at his phone screen; the person was still sending voice messages. He picked up the phone again. "You go on with your tasks. I'll think about it..."

"I take my leave."

"Oh yes, by the way, call Mengying for me."

"Understood."

The Bamboo Joint Demon turned and left.

Shortly after, the shadows in the room seemed to shift, and Lin Zhong turned the sound back on his phone.

The ally jungler's cursing hadn't stopped.

Judging by his expression, Lin Zhong didn't seem upset. He slowly typed a message to 'Li Bai,' telling him his name was Mengying, and that 'Li Bai' should curse *that name* specifically. Then, he lifted his phone towards the shadowy part of the room. "Have you played this game? It's quite interesting... It's hard to imagine; I wake up, and humans have already created so many incredible things."

No sound came in response.

Lin Zhong continued talking to himself, "They're becoming more and more terrifying... Do you sense the person cursing me? Go find him."

Still, there was only silence.

Lin Zhong glanced at his phone again—

He turned off the game, went AFK.

「…」

Zhou Li sat on the couch, silently staring ahead—

"PURR PURR..."

"MEOW PURR PURR..."

Tuanzi was burying her head in the bowl, gobbling up the royal special fish soup with rice that Zhou Li had brought back. Of course, Zhou Li had carefully picked out the bones beforehand to prevent Tuanzi from choking or immediately recognizing it as freshwater fish.

"Tastes good?"

"Good, MEOW..."

"Is it really that tasty?"

"HMM, MEOW..."

Tuanzi looked up at Zhou Li, her tiny pink tongue licking around her mouth. "It's just a tiny, tiny, tiny bit salty. Remember, Lord Dumpling can't eat food that's too salty; it's bad for cats."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I heard a human say it, but Lord Dumpling can't remember which human."

"But you're not a cat."

"Who said that?!" Tuanzi retorted seriously. "Lord Dumpling is a cat, a strong and frightening little cat!"

"Got it."

"What are you laughing at! Wait until Lord Dumpling grows up, grows bigger than a house, then you won't be able to laugh!"

"Eat up before it gets cold."

"It's better when it's cold."

"Alright, alright..."

"PURR PURR..."

Tuanzi finished the small bowl of fish soup with rice, even licking clean the traces of soup from the edges of the container. Only then did Zhou Li realize she truly found it delicious and wasn't just pretending because he had coaxed her.

Truly an exotic taste.

Zhou Li threw the takeout container into the trash, took out the garbage bag, placed it by the door, and then stretched before walking into the bedroom.

The bedroom had a balcony where bright, golden sunshine streamed in, yet the room remained very cool.

It was a perfect afternoon for a nap.

The coffee table and lounge chair Zhou Li had bought a few days ago had arrived and were now on the balcony. Their design had an artistic, literary touch, giving off an impression of lazy, leisurely flowing time the moment one laid eyes on them.

Zhou Li changed his mind.

He pulled out a book and sat down on the lounge chair.

There was also a fruit plate on the coffee table, with some scattered candies and small cookies, more for decoration.

Zhou Li opened the book.

He thought that spending the afternoon reading wasn't a bad idea.

Fifteen minutes later, Zhou Li was lying flat on the bed with a thin blanket over his stomach, breathing very evenly.

The alarm woke him. After greeting Tuanzi, Zhou Li went downstairs and rode his bicycle to school.

The sun was scorching, but the wind made it feel cool.

He locked his bike at the entrance of the sports field, checked the lock thoroughly, and then entered the field. He felt that the Athletes' March playing had a kind of Magic Power; his head had felt a little heavy after his nap, but he was instantly refreshed.

The sports field was crowded.

Many people were avoiding the sun, sitting and chatting on the shaded parts of the lawn, while some, undeterred by the scorching heat, ran all over the field.

There were also people playing soccer.

The scent of youth was charming.

As the loudspeaker started blaring announcements, students from other departments quickly dispersed, and the Life Sciences Institute's sports meet continued.

Zhou Li looked around. He didn't see the boy from the morning, but he did spot Brother Nan with his group of three others.

Baozi waved at him, calling him over.

But after he went over, they only chatted for a moment. Then Baozi shot him a quick glance and said to Mianmian and Qian Qian, "It's so hot! Let's go buy some ice cream over there."

Mianmian and Qian Qian pouted in annoyance.

From a distance, Zhou Li heard one of them say she wanted to look at handsome guys, and the other that she wanted to stay with Brother Nan, but neither managed to sway Baozi.

Meanwhile, Brother Nan was also staring blankly as the three of them walked away.

The two of them withdrew their gazes and exchanged a glance.

"Heh heh heh..."

"What are you laughing about?"

"No, nothing!" Brother Nan waved his hands. He imagined going home that evening and spanking his Little Cousin, while quickly trying to think of how to ease the awkwardness.

"Is Huai Xu with you now? Where is he? On your left? Right? Behind you?" Brother Nan looked left and right.

"He didn't come. He went to class."

"Eh?!"

"He has classes today," Zhou Li nodded affirmatively.

"Where? What class?" Brother Nan looked completely bewildered. "Why does he love studying so much?"

"In the Music Building. Voice class. He likes singing."

"Oh, oh."

"He doesn't just attend the class; he even takes notes!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it~~"

Brother Nan comforted himself. People who like singing attending music classes shouldn't be much different from her watching live-stream tutorials, right?

Then they heard an announcement from the loudspeaker: the men's 100-meter race was about to begin preparations. So Zhou Li did some warm-ups and walked with Brother Nan towards a stretch of the track in front of the rostrum.

"I have to run the 100-meters later too," Brother Nan said as they walked. "Qian Qian signed up for it, but she's not good enough."

"Are you going to break any records?"

"Nope. You?"

"Me neither."

As Zhou Li spoke, he caught a passerby staring at them with astonishment out of the corner of his eye and smoothly changed the topic. "It's really sunny in Chunming. Back home, the sun probably only gets this strong in the summer."

"Right!" Brother Nan nodded. "It reminds me of summers when I was a kid. The sunlight was dazzling, and we kids had endless energy. Every day at noon, the adults would close their doors and take naps, making the village super quiet. We'd sneak out and play hide-and-seek—

"We'd set a big boundary, it was wide open for hiding, sometimes it took half an hour to find anyone.

"I loved playing, but I preferred hiding; I didn't like being 'it'. If I was 'it', I'd wait for them to hide, then I'd go home, climb into bed, and nap until evening, ha ha ha...

"It's a shame we never played like that again after growing up."

"It's quite something that you could play with them until you all grew up without them abandoning you," Zhou Li said tactfully.

"Ha ha ha! I wasn't just tricking them; I was the one leading the games! They couldn't have played without me!" Brother Nan declared.

"You really knew how to play."

"Of course! Back in the day, yours truly, Old Li, was famous as the 'Pig-Riding Girl' for miles around!" Brother Nan said, lifting his chin.

"I never got to play like that," Zhou Li said, a hint of envy in his voice.

"Uh..." Brother Nan glanced at him. "But that was just fun back when we were kids. We didn't have much else to do for fun back then."

"Right."

Zhou Li still felt a pang of regret.

After thinking for a moment, Brother Nan said, "If you want to try it, I'll invite you all to my hometown for my birthday next year. I'll show you a good time! That's also the perfect season to dig sweet potatoes all over the mountains!"

Zhou Li casually replied, "Sure."

The men's 100-meter race was about to start.

Zhou Li was in the second heat, running in the second lane.

This afternoon, specifically for the race, he had put on a sports shirt and a pair of black running shorts. He hadn't worn shorts in a long time, and his long legs, usually covered, were pale. When he stepped onto the track, the girls watching certainly got an eyeful.

Their exclamations made him feel a little embarrassed.