My Demon Friends-Chapter 524 - 503: Courting Death is in One’s Nature
The group stopped at Zhihong Guan for a while, which counted as a rest.
Zhou Li could clearly discern a bit of unease and embarrassment on the elder of the observatory’s face, which made him feel a bit uneasy as well. He knew the reason.
The elder had lived alone his whole life and clearly wasn’t someone accustomed to receiving care from others. Zhihong Guan often had visitors who provided its main source of income. However, there was a difference between incense money and genuine concern for him, and the relatively naive Zhou Li was different from those visitors. In the elder’s eyes, Zhou Li was still a child.
This concern therefore felt heavy. While the elder accepted it, he couldn’t find anything to give back to Zhou Li, making it weigh even more on him.
As a result, the elder behaved a little unnaturally compared to usual. Zhou Li, meanwhile, picked up Tuanzi and kept kneading her tail. Both tried their best to act normally, chatting and talking.
Brother Nan and Huai Xu watched quietly from the side, exchanging glances occasionally.
After leaving Zhihong Guan, Brother Nan finally revealed a teasing smile and mockingly said to Zhou Li, "You’re really awkward."
"Oh."
Zhou Li nodded, paused, and then asked earnestly, "Did I do something wrong?"
"Whoa!"
Brother Nan looked surprisingly startled. She then immediately imitated Zhou Li’s serious demeanor and explained, "You did the right thing; it’s just that he’s not used to it. He is actually very happy, just not used to it. You should be able to understand these things quite well."
Will I be like this when I’m old too? Zhou Li pondered.
"No, you won’t," Brother Nan said.
"I think I will," Zhou Li said.
"No, you won’t. You just think that now, but haven’t you felt that the current you is very different from the you in high school?" Brother Nan said. "You don’t have to wait until you’re old. Give me a few years, and I’ll have you trained so your skin isn’t so thin."
"I see."
Zhou Li nodded and tried to imagine it.
As they made their way to the Yin Yang Temple, the elevation rose rapidly. They keenly felt the chill, which wasn’t just cold but icy, so much so that even Brother Nan zipped up her jacket again.
Having the old demon with them had its benefits. As long as they could make him happy, they didn’t need to carry their luggage. The car became their easily accessible storage, allowing them to travel light. So, even after climbing the mountain for two hours, Brother Nan was still full of energy, taking Tuanzi in her arms and hopping ahead.
Zhou Li, on the other hand, strolled leisurely at the back. He occasionally turned his head to examine the roadside plants, searching for subtle differences from those at the mountain’s base and pondering their growth habits and categories.
The side effects of learning botany, he thought.
The only downside was that he didn’t have a reliable person to discuss things with. Only the old demon walked beside him, and he was obviously unreliable. If Zhou Li said a plant was frost-resistant, the old demon would claim its root was sweet and tell him to dig it up and taste it. They just couldn’t have a proper discussion.
「The Pine Forest was just ahead; beyond it lay the Yin Yang Temple.」
"CAW! CAW! CAW!"
They heard the crow’s cawing again.
Zhou Li had an ominous feeling.
Sure enough—
As they approached the Pine Forest, they had barely walked a few steps when a withered pine cone struck him right on the head, thrown with precise accuracy.
This crow is incredibly obnoxious, Zhou Li thought.
He touched his head and glanced up, but the perpetrator had fled rather quickly; he hadn’t seen anything. It didn’t hurt much, though, so he didn’t mind and continued onward.
The next pine cone aimed for Huai Xu’s head, but he caught it just five centimeters away. He tossed the pine cone aside, furrowing his brows and saying, "One of these days, I’m going to catch this damn bird, pluck it bald, and roast it over a fire... I’ll even coat it in chili peppers!"
"It’s under the protection of an Evil God," Zhou Li reminded him.
"What’s an Evil God got to do with it!?" The old demon instantly bristled. "I’d beat up an Evil God just the same!"
A deafening ROAR suddenly came from the distance, reverberating ceaselessly, a prolonged echo. Whether it was a coincidence or something else, who could say?
Zhou Li pursed his lips and quietly looked at Huai Xu.
As the Great Devil King, Huai Xu valued his dignity above all else and couldn’t tolerate being looked down upon. So, he immediately rolled up his sleeves and declared, "I’ll go and battle him for three hundred rounds right now!"
Zhou Li remained silent.
Everyone knew the reality: it would actually be thirty rounds of fighting and two hundred and seventy rounds of running away. But he didn’t want to damage the old demon’s pride, nor did he want to offend him, especially since he still needed the old demon to fetch his toiletries from the car later that night.
Zhou Li offered a calm smile. "Why bother? We all know each other. Let’s not ruin the harmony."
"You’re right!"
"..."
He backed down quickly, Zhou Li thought.
Brother Nan’s voice came from ahead, "Hurry up!"
Then Tuanzi echoed, her clear voice tinged with a childlike sweetness, "Zhou Ni, hurry up~~ Keep up with Lord Dumpling!"
Zhou Li silently picked up his pace.
Tuanzi even complained, "Zhou Ni, you’re so slow~~"
Zhou Li remained silent.
Zheng Zhilan’s dog, Big Yellow, had already received word to meet them and was now standing in front of Brother Nan, keeping a certain distance while observing her.
Brother Nan, however, had stopped.
It was because she had discovered a small pond by the roadside. The weather on the mountain was genuinely cold, and the pond, situated in the shade of trees, had frozen over. At this moment, she was squatting beside the pond, extending her slender, pale fingers to poke at the ice, pressing down hard. Tuanzi stood beside her, imitating her by pressing her little paw on the ice.
"It’s frozen!" Brother Nan exclaimed to Zhou Li in surprise.
"It’s frozen!" the little repeater chirped, turning her head.
"Normal," Zhou Li said.
"It looks pretty thick. I wonder if I can stand on it," Brother Nan said, a hint of excitement in her voice.
"What are you thinking of doing?" Zhou Li’s expression suddenly turned stern.
"Lord Dumpling can stand on it!" Tuanzi had already stepped onto the ice. After speaking, she turned and took a few steps, then looked back at Brother Nan and added, "Lord Dumpling can even walk!"
"Be careful you don’t fall in! Come back here," Zhou Li warned, then looked seriously at Brother Nan. "Don’t you dare stand on it!"
"Emmm..."
Brother Nan’s eyes glittered.
Seeing this, Zhou Li’s expression became extremely grave.
That ominous feeling returned.
「Twenty minutes later.」
Zhou Li, led by Big Yellow, brought Brother Nan to the front of Zheng Zhilan’s yard. Zheng Zhilan was standing there waiting for them. Zhou Li walked up to her, his face calm, and said, "Do you have any dry pants? Could you get a pair for Brother Nan to wear? Hers are completely soaked."
Then he turned his head to Brother Nan. "Do you need shoes?"
Brother Nan was shivering with cold, curled up into a ball, her teeth chattering. "N-no, just find a pair of slippers. She has a heating cage here; I’ll just warm myself by the fire."
"Oh, oh..."
Miss Zheng immediately became flustered and hurried back into the house.
Brother Nan called out after her, "D-don’t rush, take your time. I can hold on..."
「Two minutes later.」
Brother Nan had gone upstairs to change her pants.
Miss Zheng stood beside Zhou Li, her face still lovely and delicate, now showing some distress and a hint of guilt. "Did she fall into the pond? The mountain path is very difficult, isn’t it..."
"No, it wasn’t that."
Zhou Li calmly recounted the whole story to her.
After hearing it, Miss Zheng was stunned for a moment, apparently not expecting an adult to do such a thing. Then she whispered, "Why didn’t you try to persuade her..."
"It would have been no use."
"Then you could have held her back..."
"That would have been no use either."
Zhou Li shook his head, already numb to it all. "She knew she might fall in—in fact, it was very likely. But that’s precisely why she wanted to stand on it and try. If it were a skating rink, where she definitely couldn’t fall in, I don’t think she’d be nearly as interested. It’s her nature; it can’t be changed. All I can do is pull her out after she falls into the water."
Miss Zheng nodded thoughtfully and, after a moment, spoke again.
"What is a skating rink?"
"It’s a place where the ground is ice, and people wear special shoes to glide on it," Zhou Li explained, then paused. "I’ve never been to one, nor can I skate."
"You can’t either?"
"Yes."
"What about Brother Nan?"
"She can’t either."
"Brother Nan can’t?"
"Probably not," Zhou Li said, a little puzzled. "Why are you so surprised?"
"I thought Brother Nan could do anything..." Miss Zheng said honestly, her voice, already soft, growing even quieter, as if she realized this perception was somewhat irrational.
"...Not everything," Zhou Li mused for a moment. "For example, she can’t cook many of the dishes you can. And then there are spells."
"Cooking can be learned with a little practice."
"While she’s not down yet, let me tell you some stories—about parachutes, superglue, banana peels, and many other things." Zhou Li glanced to the side, moved a nearby stool over, and sat down. "After you hear them, you’ll have a better understanding of Brother Nan’s daredevil antics. Come, sit..."
"Okay~"
Zheng Zhilan also sat down, adopting an attentive posture, like a well-behaved student.
