My Demon Friends

What number game was this?

Thirteen?

Fourteen perhaps?

Or fifteen?

Lin Zhong didn't know what was going on, but he hadn't won a single game this morning, and the gameplay experience was terrible.

Before team battles began, he was already at low health without realizing it.

Once they started, he died from unidentified damage sources.

Just as he entered the brush, three burly men jumped out.

Wherever he was, the opponents were squatting there waiting for him.

After playing a dozen or so games and dying hundreds of times without picking up a single kill, could such a thing actually happen in real life?

Tuanzi sat obediently beside him, intently staring at his phone, but she didn't quite understand it and only said, "Huai Xu and Zhou Li often play this thing at home too."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!" Tuanzi nodded earnestly. "Huai Xu plays a lot, but he doesn't turn black and white like you do."

"...Got it."

Lin Zhong managed a smile. "Does Lord Dumpling know how to play?"

"Lord Dumpling doesn't have a mobile phone."

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Lin Zhong called out, "Come in," and the door was pushed open. The Bamboo Joint Demon stood at the doorway, looking at him.

"Your Highness, Lord Hong Ran is back."

"Oh?"

"She specifically asked for you to see her, and from her expression, she seems to want to deal with you harshly. Should I call the General?" the Bamboo Joint Demon asked with a bow.

"No need."

"But..."

"Having him there would be useless; we're in the wrong, and Hong Ran wouldn't go as far as to execute me. The General won't help me either." Lin Zhong glanced at the furious messages his teammates were sending him and decisively turned off his phone.

"You may go now," he said.

"Your Highness..." The Bamboo Joint Demon was worried.

"It's alright," Lin Zhong reassured him. "I still have to take the beating I deserve. Wasn't that something I should have foreseen long ago?"

"Yes."

The Bamboo Joint Demon left.

Lin Zhong reached out to touch Tuanzi's forehead, but Tuanzi deftly dodged with a shake of her head. He didn't mind and, chuckling, leaned close to Tuanzi and whispered, "I'm going to meet with Hong Ran now. I'm not sure if I can come back today. If I can't return, you can have Xuan Zhi take you back, or you can play here for a few days. Just tell Xuan Zhi to do anything you need."

"Hong Ran is going to punish you?" Tuanzi looked at him with bright eyes.

"Indeed."

"Haha, serves you right for causing trouble!" Tuanzi laughed twice before stopping. "Hong Ran is really fierce; she'll definitely beat you up bad!"

"Yeah."

"It's your fault for not voting for Lord Dumpling in the first place!" Tuanzi's gaze held a hint of blame. "Regretting it now, aren't you?"

"I had no choice~"

When voting for the Demon King's proxy, Tuanzi indeed was one of the candidates. There were the statutory five candidates plus her, making six, but she was not eligible for votes.

There were 131 voters.

Later, Hong Ran received 130 votes.

One person abstained.

And yes, Lin Zhong was one of the voters.

But he wasn't the one who abstained.

"If Lord Dumpling were in charge, you wouldn't have been punished by Hong Ran," Tuanzi continued to grumble unhappily.

"So I'd have been punished by Lord Dumpling instead?"

"Exactly."

"Would Lord Dumpling have shown any mercy?"

"Not at all. Lord Dumpling would punish you severely just like how Your Highness used to!" Tuanzi made a fierce face. "It's your own fault for bullying his friend even though you knew he was Lord Dumpling's friend!"

"Lord Dumpling is really scary!"

"MEOW! Scared you, didn't I?"

"I have to go now."

"MEOW~"

「...」

Zheng Zhilan wasn't an extroverted person.

Moreover, her eyesight was poor; ordinary people and objects appeared blurry to her, so taking her to Brother Nan for fun was not a good choice.

Thinking this, Zhou Li immediately stopped feeling guilty.

「Eleven o'clock.」

Zhou Li put on a long-sleeved shirt and said to Qinghe, "I guess you'll have to stay home a bit longer. Huai Xu will order takeout; just tell him what you'd like to eat, or he can take you out for a walk. We'll be back after lunch."

Qinghe nodded as he was already accustomed to this.

At this moment, Huai Xu also looked at him and, imitating Zhou Li's tone, said earnestly, "You'll have to stay at home a little longer. I'll order takeout. Just tell me what you want, and I'll come back to get it for you once it arrives. Or you could go out and take a walk. We'll come back after lunch."

Qinghe continued to nod.

Zhou Li then couldn't help but have a few black lines appear on his forehead. "You're going too?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"...How can you go?"

"Just say I'm her twin, and that'll be the end of it," Huai Xu looked at him perplexedly. "I've noticed you've been getting slower lately!"

"But there are no twins that look exactly alike!"

"It's true there are no perfectly identical twins, but to strangers, twins who look very similar appear exactly the same, right? You have to look closely, very closely, to tell the difference."

"What if someone does look closely?"

"Poke out their eyes!"

"..." Zhou Li was at a loss for words and had to switch tactics. "Can you not look like Zheng Zhilan, yet make expressions like those of a hooligan or hoodlum?"

"I could act like her, but you won't let me!"

"..."

Alright, I admit defeat.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zhou Li saw that a smile had begun to form on Zheng Zhilan's face. The smile was light and subtle, starkly different from the laughing fit Huai Xu had in the kitchen this morning, sounding like a tractor and then like a goose when he failed to hold it in.

And Qinghe stood to the side, occasionally glancing at the smiling yet silent Zheng Zhilan, and then at the 'Zheng Zhilan' who was matching wits with Zhou Li, leaving one to wonder what he was thinking.

Zhou Li sighed.

The group, consisting of two humans and one Demon, exited the elevator. Zhou Li walked in the middle, with Huai Xu and Zheng Zhilan on either side. They hadn't even left the residential complex before they attracted a high rate of second glances.

Purely in terms of looks, Zheng Zhilan obviously couldn't compare to Brother Nan, and she wasn't as tall either. Although Brother Nan was quite eye-catching, the fair and delicate Zheng Zhilan was also very good-looking upon closer inspection, and her beauty was enduring.

And two identical Zheng Zhilans standing together multiplied their eye-catching ability by hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

At the entrance of the complex, Zhou Li bought a baseball cap adorned with little deer antlers and put it on Huai Xu.

"Don't take it off!"

"OW!"

Zhou Li diverted his gaze, but after a moment, he couldn't help but sneak another look at Huai Xu, comparing him with the hat-free Zheng Zhilan—

You know, he actually looked quite handsome!

They called a cab and arrived at the restaurant.

Zhou Li helped Zheng Zhilan sit down to his left, poured her some tea, and whispered softly, "It's a bit hot."

"Thank you," Zheng Zhilan nodded.

"I want some too!" said Huai Xu.

"..."

After pouring tea for all three of them, Zhou Li took out his phone to contact Yin Le, but Yin Le didn't reply, apparently already on the way.

Zhou Li then engaged in sporadic small talk with Zheng Zhilan.

Before long, the roar of a motorcycle sounded outside, and a large red motorcycle stopped outside the restaurant. Yin Le walked in, scanned the place, and spotted Zhou Li's table.

"Twins?" He was confused as he approached.

"No, they're not."

Zhou Li quickly introduced, "This is Zheng Zhilan, this is Huai Xu transformed into Zheng Zhilan, and this is Yin Le."

"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you..." Yin Le nodded as if he somewhat understood.

"Nice to meet you," Zheng Zhilan also nodded.

"Let's order," Zhou Li suggested. He handed a menu to Yin Le and Huai Xu, then took another one for himself and started to browse it with Zheng Zhilan.

This was a Dai Flavor Restaurant.

While Zhou Li read the names of the dishes to Zheng Zhilan, he also explained the flavors of these dishes to her.

Zheng Zhilan just kept nodding, occasionally glancing at Yin Le.

After they ordered, she said softly to Yin Le, "I think I saw you yesterday."

"Did you?" Yin Le blinked in surprise.

"When was that?" Zhou Li also asked.

"Yesterday afternoon on the way back, in the car, I think I saw you walking in the opposite direction," Zheng Zhilan said, then turned to Zhou Li. "At that time, you were already asleep in the car."

"Must be someone who looks a lot like me?" Yin Le seemed slightly uncomfortable.

"My eyesight isn't very good. Normal people and objects are blurry to me, but I can see Heavenly Masters and Demons more clearly. Though it's also possible that I really got it wrong," Zheng Zhilan said.

"Did you go to Xinping yesterday afternoon?" Zhou Li asked.

"Ummm..."

"The person I saw was riding a motorcycle—it seemed to be red," Zheng Zhilan added, her tone slowing down.

Zhou Li looked at Yin Le.

Yin Le coughed twice, then said, "I didn't have class yesterday afternoon. Since I had nothing better to do, I went for a ride. I also wanted to see how you were handling things over there. Even if you didn't need my help, it's nice to watch the excitement."

"Thanks for that," Zhou Li remarked.

"Don't! I really was just bored and went for a ride!" Yin Le hurriedly picked up his cup and took a sip. "I just bought this motorcycle; every day I can't wait to ride it for a few hundred kilometers!"

"I see..."