My Demon Friends-Chapter 558 - 536 Hamigua City

Dong Town's Mutton Restaurant.

Zhou Li and Huai Xu sat facing each other, quietly waiting for their food to be served.

They were leaving tomorrow.

His phone displayed the results of the nucleic acid test from this morning, which might be needed in Qingjiang.

There was also the Communications Big Data Travel Card.

It was a program similar to a health code, showing the domestic cities or foreign countries and regions one had visited in the last fourteen days. High-risk areas would appear in red. The data was provided by several telecommunications operators, based on the location data from one's phone card.

In the past fourteen days, Zhou Li had already been to quite a few cities. A long list of city names was displayed on his card, but they were all normal.

Suddenly, he looked up at Huai Xu.

"Let me use your phone," he said.

"What for?"

"I want to check something."

"Why?"

Although the Old Monster kept expressing doubt, she still handed her phone to Zhou Li while asking questions. Then, she moved from her stool to stand behind Zhou Li, peering over his shoulder.

"What's this?"

"Big data."

"What big data?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Tsk!"

...

Half a minute later, Zhou Li stared at the long list of scarlet location names on Huai Xu's phone, lost in thought.

This Old Monster... she can really get around.

The Old Monster, unable to understand, furrowed her brow and asked, "What does this mean? Why is mine different from yours?"

"These are the places you've been to," Zhou Li said, pausing before adding, "And these are places where you've stayed for more than four hours. It shows how far you went while I was asleep."

"Then I won't stay out so long next time," Huai Xu mused. "If I just spend three hours at one place and then switch, it won't show up here, right?"

"I don't know," Zhou Li said, shaking his head and handing the phone back to her. He wasn't too worried about Huai Xu bringing back any viruses, as she had to enter the Old Land World during her spatial transitions, and that world would leave behind anything she didn't intentionally bring with her. "If you go abroad, remember not to bring anything back. Also, if you encounter an inspection, just turn invisible. Otherwise, your travel card will look like a super biochemical weapon."

"Why?"

"You ask too many questions."

"Curiosity drives progress."

"Because you might be carrying viruses."

"See? You could have just told me that," Huai Xu huffed. She walked back and sat down, carelessly placing one foot on the edge of her stool. Her outfit today allowed a glimpse of her jade-white ankle. "And it's your fault for sleeping so long. I was bored to death."

"The food's here."

"Ooh!"

Huai Xu instantly perked up, put on her disposable gloves, and waited with an obedient look.

In the past two days, they had eaten a fair amount of Dunhuang's traditional cuisine. However, whether it was donkey meat with yellow noodles or scrambled eggs with elm seeds, none had really suited Zhou Li's palate. In contrast, this Dong Town hand-pulled mutton, a specialty from the Western Xia region, was something Huai Xu had treated him to a year ago, and he still found it delicious. Ordering two or three pounds of it, along with a bowl of refreshing Jiangshui noodles, was very satisfying.

What followed was a performance of—

A fairy gnawing on meat.

「...」

「On the 21st, early morning.」

They drove out of Dunhuang.

To get from Dunhuang to Hamigua City, as outsiders, they could practically only take the expressway. According to Baidu Maps, the expressway route was 420 kilometers, while avoiding it meant a journey of over 1,300 kilometers. The latter was time-consuming and laborious, fully justifying Zhou Li's decision to wait until his probation period was over before entering Qingjiang.

The expressway also passed through the desert. In the early morning, the desert was covered in snow, resembling a vast, white, icy ocean. For a long distance, no signs of human habitation were visible on either side of the road.

Further on, checkpoints began to appear.

They checked nucleic acid test results and body temperatures, as well as the identities of the driver and passengers, and whether there were any contraband items in the vehicle.

The security was very strict.

However, Zhou Li clearly had the appearance of a mainlander and a Yi Province license plate. Judging by his looks and age, he didn't seem like a suspicious person, so he passed through the checkpoints quite quickly.

Huai Xu heeded Zhou Li and did not manifest her form. She sat in the passenger seat, staring unblinkingly at the security personnel, seemingly very curious.

"So, they even inspect you when you're passing the checkpoints now," Huai Xu remarked.

"Did they before?" Zhou Li asked.

"Always."

"Was it strict?"

"The inspections themselves definitely had to be thorough. Whether it was strict or not is hard to say," Huai Xu casually said. "It depended on the period and whether the on-duty soldiers were easy to talk to. Many soldiers were easygoing, especially if you came from the mainland. Lots of them were from the same hometown, so you could even chat for a bit or ask them to help pass on a message. Why would they give you trouble?"

"I see…" Zhou Li murmured.

"But some just wanted to make things difficult for you, asking for a bit of money. It wasn't much, since most who went out back then were business people."

"It's better now," Zhou Li said.

"That's right," Huai Xu agreed.

This trip was also fruitful for Zhou Li, not only in terms of travel experiences but also in large part due to his chats with Huai Xu. Through these conversations, he learned much about ancient times and shed many stereotypes about that world. It offered a perspective quite different from the highly summarized, macroscopic view found in history books. A perspective from an ordinary, living person. The ancients were people too, made of flesh and blood. Since they were people, they were complex. Thus, stereotypes, whether good or bad, were inappropriate.

"Whose heart is it~~"

"Left alone~~"

"I heard this song on TikTok before, but the lyrics weren't sung this way," Huai Xu said, glancing at the lyrics on the phone before turning to look out the window. "It's almost noon. Do you remember the snow on the ground when we left this morning? It's all melted now."

"The ground is all dry now," Zhou Li remarked, "as if it never snowed here at all."

"The snow in the Great Desert is like that," Huai Xu explained. "In the morning, it lies thickly, but by noon it disappears. The sandy soil absorbs all the water completely. On the surface, you can't see any trace of it. Only the snow in pits or places sheltered from the sun doesn't melt." She paused for a second, then added, "If you got lost in the Great Desert, this rapid temperature change would devour you quickly. If you were injured, wolves in the desert would start tracking you from far, far away, and could follow you for days."

"Sounds very scary," Zhou Li said.

"No need to be scared now; it's all expressways these days," Huai Xu replied.

"Some people still like venturing into uninhabited areas," Zhou Li mused.

"There were such people in the past too—many of them, and many were Heavenly Masters." Huai Xu continued staring out the window, offering Zhou Li only her stunning profile. "They loved to explore deep into the deserts, primeval forests, and those bottomless caves. Even if they died inside, they weren't afraid. Their only fear was not being able to go."

"Have you been?" Zhou Li asked.

"I wanted to go before but never did. After becoming a Demon, it seemed pointless," Huai Xu said, shaking her head. "I can go to the depths of the ocean, ten thousand meters deep, to mountain peaks thousands of meters high, to all the places ordinary people can't reach. At first, it felt very interesting, but soon it just felt ordinary."

"I see," Zhou Li nodded.

"Am I not very impressive?" Huai Xu asked, turning her head.

"If someone went with you, it would definitely be much more interesting," Zhou Li said after a moment's thought. "The scenery in those places must be very beautiful."

"Not necessarily as beautiful as steel jungles, not necessarily as pretty as a city's neon lights at night, nor as lovely as farmlands divided into grids and blooming with rapeseed flowers. It's just that you humans were born among them," Huai Xu said.

"We're about to arrive," Zhou Li noted.

"I'm getting a bit hungry. I know a place where the roasted whole lamb is delicious. I'll take you there tonight," Huai Xu said.

"Are there any Hami melons now?" Zhou Li asked.

"There weren't any in winter before," Huai Xu replied.

"What about now?"

"How would I know? I'm not a modern person," Huai Xu said, rolling her eyes at Zhou Li. If anyone else had seen it, they might have had their souls utterly captivated.

"I see," Zhou Li said, his heart as calm as still water.