My Demon Friends-Chapter 547 - 526 Journey

It was ten o'clock at night.

They had eaten their fill and returned to the hotel.

Huai Xu lay on the bed, his feet raised high, occasionally wiggling his toes, smacking his lips as he reminisced about the taste of dinner.

That evening, they had tried the barbecue restaurant Brother Nan had mentioned, which was featured in a documentary. It was indeed a bit tastier than the skewered lamb from the noodle shop, but the difference was minimal. Anyway, Zhou Li couldn't tell the difference. He just felt that the portions were smaller—the noodle shop served four chunks of meat per skewer, while this place only had three. However, unlike the noodle shop, this restaurant's skewers were sold by weight. Ordering a pound would bring a large plate, making it seem very generous and more satisfying to eat.

In addition to the lamb skewers, they had ordered many other dishes, mostly lamb-based, such as lamb ribs, lamb bones, lamb kidneys, and various tendons. The Old Monster enjoyed himself immensely, while Zhou Li's favorite was the two yuan bowl of lamb soup—cheap and delicious.

They had also ordered fried bread with oil and roasted Baozi.

When the roasted Baozi were served, Zhou Li even took a photo and shared it with Little Cousin, but all he received was a string of ellipses—a failed sharing experience.

The hotel was booked in a bustling downtown district, with the sound of traffic flowing below.

Huai Xu hummed a song, raised his mobile phone, and looked at the message Brother Nan had sent him.

Then he glanced sideways at Zhou Li.

Zhou Li sat at the desk, an open laptop in front of him. From Huai Xu's angle, Zhou Li's body completely blocked the computer screen. What was he up to?

Tuanzi also stood on the desk, strutting boldly past Zhou Li, stepping on the laptop keyboard as if on a catwalk.

At such moments, Zhou Li would raise both hands to make way for her.

But the little creature was utterly ungrateful. Midway through her walk, she would sneak a glance at Zhou Li with the corner of her eye. After passing, she would look back again. Seeing no reaction from him, she would become very dejected and lie down to play with her tail or bat at the computer screen with her paws. Before long, she would get up and walk back across the keyboard, sometimes even lying down directly on it.

Of course, if she lay down, Zhou Li would pick her up and move her.

"What are you up to?" Huai Xu asked. "Brother Nan said the lamb skewers we had tonight were okay. They've roasted sweet potatoes tonight; do you want some? If you do, I'll go get them."

"No need," Zhou Li replied.

"What are you up to?"

"Give me your phone for a sec."

"What for? Are you trying to transfer money out of my Alipay?"

"Your Alipay is registered under my real name, thank you very much."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't need to understand. Just give it to me, quickly."

"Here..."

Huai Xu casually tossed his phone toward Zhou Li.

Zhou Li didn't look back but caught it with a swift backward grab.

THWACK.

He caught it firmly.

A smile couldn't help but touch his lips; he felt his action just now must have looked very cool. He turned his head to say, "Have I gotten stronger…"

His entire line of sight was blocked by Huai Xu's stomach.

Zhou Li tilted his head up to see Huai Xu standing right behind him, his eyes fixed intently on the computer screen, the light reflecting in them, making him appear very spirited.

"Ooooh..."

Huai Xu drew out the sound, then added, "You're admiring my handsome photos, aren't you? The fact that you're not embarrassed by your own inferiority just shows that you're actually quite magnanimous, at least a bit more than I previously thought."

Zhou Li frowned at these words, clearly displeased. "What nonsense are you talking about? Wasn't I magnanimous before?"

"Ehhh..."

Huai Xu gave him a look that said, 'You don't know this yourself?'

Zhou Li pursed his lips, decided to skip the topic, and explained with a stern face, "You misunderstood. I was not looking at your photos, nor do I have any interest in them."

"And now you've added a bit more hypocrisy."

"I'm planning to gather all your photos and make several backups. I just selected some on my phone, and now I'm selecting from yours!" Zhou Li slowed his speech to emphasize the facts. "This is so you don't lose them someday!"

"Why select? Isn't it better to take them all?"

"They need to be curated."

"Every single one of my photos looks great. How are you choosing them? Tell me, I'm very curious."

"You're distracting me."

"Hmm, go ahead then. I'll watch you choose."

"You'd better go lie down. I can't choose properly with you watching me."

"What a strange thing to say."

"Go on, off you go."

"Alright."

Huai Xu also took Tuanzi with him as he left.

Zhou Li sighed, plugged the data cable into the phone, rubbed his eyes, and continued selecting.

The Old Monster's photos were genuinely hard to choose. Every single one was different, and no matter the angle or expression, he was impossibly good-looking in all of them.

After switching to Huai Xu's phone, Zhou Li found he had an additional step: first, he had to delete the blurred photos, those with fingers visible in the frame, those with terrible composition, duplicates, and so on, before proceeding with the normal selection.

The main criterion for selection was commemorative significance.

This primarily involved group photos.

All kinds of group photos: with Zhou Li, with Brother Nan, with Tuanzi, with Miss Zheng, with certain landmark buildings, with a type of food they tried for the first time, with shared electric bikes, and even with a particular landscape, and so forth.

Essentially, they were all records. His eyes ached from the effort.

After midnight, Zhou Li finally shut down the computer, lay down on the bed under Tuanzi's eager gaze, and fell asleep holding her.

They had to continue their journey the next day.

Moving forward, they entered the Hexi Corridor, a strategic area contested by military forces since ancient times.

Zhou Li, as always, wandered around with Huai Xu. They visited scenic spots and also walked along rural roads. He was helping Huai Xu "revisit old haunts," hoping it might trigger some memories and fill the blanks in his recollection. At the same time, it was a sightseeing trip for Zhou Li himself. He took in the landscapes, learned about the local culture and cuisine, and enjoyed sharing his experiences with Brother Nan and Little Zheng.

The only change was that Zhou Li had become fonder of taking photos.

「January 18th, morning.」

The car drove smoothly along the national highway. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Zhou Li was driving.

They were no longer in a hurry; the expressway ran parallel to the national road, but they didn't take it.

"What's ahead?"

"Guazhou."

"I know this place; it's famous for its melons." Huai Xu sat in the passenger seat, turning his head to look out the window. "Surprisingly, its name hasn't been changed."

"It was renamed but then changed back," Zhou Li had checked. "It was only changed back about a dozen years ago."

"Is that so?!"

"Do we stop here for a day?"

"No, let's go directly to Dunhuang."

"Not even buying a melon?"

"The Hami Melons in Hamigua City are also tasty."

"Okay then."

Zhou Li didn't object.

After entering the Hexi Corridor, Huai Xu indeed felt more. This land was mostly composed of insurmountable mountain ranges, with only this one "mountain trench" leading to the Western Regions, forming a natural passageway. Thus, it was known as the Xihe Corridor. Even in modern times, the constructed roads basically followed this passage, and the mountains and waters on both sides were places Huai Xu had passed through before.

Even most of the place names had remained unchanged, but his impressions were limited.

Zhou Li guessed that Huai Xu had mostly just passed through and hadn't been stationed in these places for long periods.

For example, a few days ago at the Wucai Danxia Scenic Area, many demons resided there, and one demon even recognized Huai Xu. However, Huai Xu did not recognize them in return, as they were not familiar with each other.

After a short pause, Zhou Li added, "But we still have to find a place for lunch."

"You drive; I'll handle it."

"Sounds good."

Huai Xu started fiddling with his phone, presumably ordering takeout.

Soon, the car was filled with the aroma of food. Zhou Li thought the takeout had arrived, but when he looked back, he saw farmer's earthen bowls and enamel basins full of food, with generous portions, along with a rice cooker full of rice.

"Little Zheng made it," Huai Xu said. "Smells good, doesn't it?"

"...Yes, it smells delicious."

"Wait a bit longer. I'll grab a table and chairs. Find a spacious spot to stop, and we'll eat on the roadside."

"Okay."

A few minutes later.

They had set up a folding table and chairs by the roadside.

Huai Xu first took Zhou Li's bowl, scooping rice while saying, "Back when we used to pass through here, this is how we'd eat when it was mealtime—right on the roadside. Only, we didn't have such good conditions back then. We couldn't get hot meals; we mostly ate bread. We'd find a spot sheltered from the wind, sit down, and start eating. It was incredibly frustrating, but there was no choice. Otherwise, we'd starve. Sometimes, if we encountered wild animals, we could add to our meal..."

Zhou Li listened, nodding in agreement.

Huai Xu passed him the rice and then gestured with his chin towards the snow-covered mountains opposite them. "Sometimes we also traveled in winter. Normally, soldiers don't march in winter, but we were different—we had to go out even in winter. I'm telling you, it was freezing to death. Sometimes I was so furious, I really wanted to go back to the capital and slaughter that stupid Emperor..."

"Why didn't you do it then?"

"I didn't dare. I was foolish, thinking it was wrong to kill the Emperor, since the Emperor is the Son of Heaven."

"I see."

"You don't believe I could have slaughtered the Emperor, do you?"

"Not at all."

"Humph! I knew it!"

"Please continue."

"I haven't recalled the rest yet..."