My Demon Friends-Chapter 446 - 442 Lord Yin Le

The Tai Chi class began.

After the warm-up, the first task was to review the previous lesson. The teacher demonstrated at the front while the students followed below, all practicing simultaneously.

Thanks to the half-hour emergency tutoring session Brother Nan gave Zhou Li before class, Zhou Li successfully passed. Moreover, due to Mr. Li’s strict teaching methods, which included some rather unpleasant corporal punishment, Zhou Li might have learned more effectively than the other students present.

This had taken up Brother Nan’s precious "show-off" time.

Zhou Li didn’t know how to express his gratitude. His only recourse was to see if he’d have time to invite Brother Nan for a walk around some quiet campus corners in the evening to properly make it up to her.

This class lasted for over an hour and was almost the longest one on the entire sports field. Even Huai Xu’s aerobics class disbanded earlier. As a result, while Zhou Li practiced, he gained a spectator by his side who always loved to laugh at him.

「After class ended.」

The three of them didn’t rush off. Instead, they found a spot on the edge of the lawn to sit, drinking soda and eating ice cream.

Just past five o’clock was already late for autumn. By then, the sun was much mellower than at midday, its warmth gentle on the skin. Its color was shifting to a golden red. It was the perfect time to find a spot, sit down, and slowly savor the moment, watching as the edges of the clouds were also gilded with the same hue, making the afternoon feel particularly beautiful.

Some boys ran over to invite Brother Nan to play basketball, but Brother Nan declined.

The former class president, Zhong Xin, appeared out of nowhere, running over to ask Zhou Li for a game of badminton. Zhou Li declined as well.

Because it was simply wonderful just sitting there.

A few meters ahead lay the plastic track, where a constant stream of students ran past them. They were different from the night joggers, many of whom looked half-dead. The current runners, even the girls among them, looked very capable, evident from their posture and condition.

Inside the track was the green field, where a large group was playing football. They played poorly, and it all looked quite chaotic.

"Many of these runners are on the football team, and others are enrolled in the football class," Brother Nan, who was practically a walking encyclopedia of the school, explained while licking her "green tongue" ice cream and tilting her head towards Zhou Li. "Football class is the most exhausting. The first few lessons are all running, running, running. If it weren’t for the actual footballs, you’d think it was a long-distance running class. It’s even worse for the football team; they have to run every afternoon and climb stairs... Is Chang Xiaoxiang on the institute’s football team?"

"Is he?"

"Probably."

"I had no idea..."

"You know nothing about your roommate," Brother Nan stated confidently. "I saw him in his football kit once. He pulled his socks all the way up past his knees. If he pulled them any higher, he could make football socks look like thigh-highs."

"I’ve seen it too!" Huai Xu had already finished her "green tongue" ice cream and chimed in, waving the stick in front of them. "Look at my ice cream! BLEH!"

"Come to think of it..." Zhou Li mused. He also recalled Chang Xiaoxiang wearing football jerseys and shorts, though he hadn’t paid attention to the sock situation.

"That girl over there has a great figure," Brother Nan remarked, eyeing someone up ahead.

"Hmm."

"She’s pretty too. I’ve noticed the girls on the sports field are generally above average looking, and the ones still out here now are even a cut above that," Brother Nan said with some surprise, then turned to Zhou Li and Huai Xu for confirmation. "Don’t you guys think so?"

"I haven’t really paid attention," Zhou Li admitted.

"Sorry, I can’t see people who aren’t good-looking very well," Huai Xu said, still swinging her ice cream stick. "My eyes have always had this little quirk; I can only clearly see handsome men and beautiful women."

"This is seriously messed up..."

"Don’t swear."

"Then step aside! I shall eliminate her in the name of Little Zheng!"

"..."

"Haha, that guy just whiffed..."

They slowly whiled away the time. The ice cream was finished, the soda drunk. The colors of the sun and clouds grew richer, and even the foraging birds began to return to their nests.

Yawning, Huai Xu lazily looked ahead.

In her line of sight, a soccer ball bounced over, hopped once on the plastic track, and rolled leisurely towards them.

The boy who had been playing soccer stopped at the edge of the field. Seeing the ball roll in front of two pretty girls and another human, he stood with hands on hips and shouted, "Hey, classmate, give us a hand!"

"I’ve got it!"

Brother Nan made to get up.

However, Huai Xu was much faster. By the time Brother Nan had barely lifted her head, Huai Xu was already walking towards the soccer ball.

The other students nearby now had a perfectly good reason to openly stare at Huai Xu.

Everyone watched as she stopped in front of the soccer ball and looked up towards the opposite goal, as if aiming. Then, she drew her leg back slightly and, without a run-up, simply kicked.

WHUMP!

A soft, dull sound echoed.

The soccer ball shot out at incredible speed, tracing an arc that instantly crossed the plastic track and the entire green field. It gradually slowed, flying accurately into the far goal just as its momentum died.

The boy, hands still on his hips, had turned to watch the ball’s flight. He now stood with his back to Zhou Li’s group, the smile wiped from his face. His surprise had turned into stupor.

It took him a while to turn back around. He could only blurt out, "Damn!" to express his shock.

The issue was they were playing a half-field game, using only one half of the soccer pitch. Huai Xu had just kicked the ball clear to the *other* half-field. Now he’d have to go back and get the students on that side to kick it back.

Huai Xu, of course, paid him no mind and sat back down, raising an eyebrow at Zhou Li and Brother Nan.

"Impressive, huh?"

"Impressive."

"Impressive."

"Better than Brother Nan last time?"

"You’re more impressive."

"You’re more impressive..."

"Haha!"

Zhou Li was immediately struck by Huai Xu’s intense competitiveness.

The nearby students reluctantly averted their gazes. Now that Huai Xu’s ball-kicking display was over, they naturally felt too embarrassed to keep staring.

Before long, Huai Xu looked up at the sky again.

A large-headed paper airplane slowly spiraled down from above and, under her gaze, crashed right into Zhou Li’s head.

"Hmm?" Zhou Li was puzzled.

"That Young Heavenly Master, the one aiming to be a high official, is here for you," Huai Xu glanced at the paper airplane and sniffed.

"Yin Le?"

"Over there—" Huai Xu gestured with her chin towards the entrance of the sports field.

Turning his head, Zhou Li indeed saw Yin Le walking in at a leisurely pace, looking around as if searching for something.

"Over here."

Zhou Li waved at him.

As Yin Le approached, Zhou Li picked up the paper airplane and asked him, "How did you make this?"

"Want to learn?"

"Kind of."

"It’s pretty difficult."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"...It’s not that hard, you could give it a try," Yin Le said, momentarily speechless. "This is a spell developed during the Tang Dynasty. As you know, spells from that era were already quite optimized. However, they usually used simple paper slips, which flew very slowly and weren’t wind-resistant. For style points, they’d fold them into paper cranes, but those were even worse than the slips. I’ve improved its aerodynamic profile using modern principles—that’s what you’re seeing. If necessary, I can fold it into a dart-like plane that flies very fast, up to twenty yards. If you were to make one, it might go even faster, maybe even thirty yards."

"So, this ’aerodynamic improvement’ you mentioned..." Zhou Li turned the paper airplane over in his hand. "Is just folding it like this?"

"The proportions of each fold are meticulously calculated every time!" Yin Le frowned, speaking seriously. "Have you heard of the International Paper Airplane Contest?"

"The one where they see whose paper airplane flies farthest?" Huai Xu asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yes," Yin Le nodded.

"Sounds boring," Huai Xu said, blinking, "but it also sounds like it could be fun."

"There’s a lot of science to it," Yin Le retorted, annoyed by her skepticism. "Take this paper airplane, for instance. With the same spell and the same amount of spiritual power, this design flies steadier and farther... Agh, why am I explaining this to a demon who’s never had any formal education? Give the paper airplane back. I’ll need it again, and it takes several days to make one."

"I understand! I *have* been to school!"

"Okay—"

Zhou Li promptly interrupted their discussion about paper airplanes and asked Yin Le, "What are you doing here? Did you come looking for me specifically?"

"Yeah, to chat with you."

"About what?"

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No."

"Shouldn’t you have? It’s almost six o’clock."

"Want to try our cafeteria? I have an in; I can get you extra meat, though it only works at one specific service window," Zhou Li offered. "The food’s decent, but I’m not sure how it stacks up against your school’s."

"The cafeteria? Why would we eat that stuff!" Yin Le scoffed. "Come on, my treat. Let’s eat out."

"You can get us out of campus?"

"Of course!" Yin Le gave Zhou Li a strange look, baffled by such a foolish question. "How else do you think I got in?"

"I need to go back and get Lord Dumpling."

"Sure!"

「About twenty minutes later.」

Zhou Li, Brother Nan, and Tuanzi stood in a line, gazing up at the familiar, nearby wall, lost in thought.

There were more footprints on the wall than a few days ago.