My Demon Friends-Chapter 574 - 548 Shule City
"I ran into some minor trouble last night and need your help," Zhou Li said sincerely, handing over his ID. "First off, my car has disappeared, probably impounded by the traffic authorities. I'd appreciate it if you could help me get it back, the sooner the better, to prevent my parents from worrying."
"You're a Heavenly Master from the Southwest Region..." The young man looked at the ID. It was just like his own and didn't require verification, so he quickly handed it back to Zhou Li. "What's your leader's surname again?"
"Which one are you referring to? The one surnamed Yin?"
"Right, right, that one." The young man laughed. "I met him once a few months ago."
"Then we're almost acquaintances," Zhou Li said, seizing the opportunity.
"Absolutely... What's your license plate number?"
"Yi A*****."
"Yi A*****." The young man repeated. "I'll put in an expedited request for you and have them hold off on calling your parents for now. But we still have to follow procedure for the rest."
"Thank you."
"Just wait a moment."
"Sure."
The young man made a phone call.
A few minutes later, he hung up and said to Zhou Li, "They mentioned they wanted to call the car owner this morning but couldn't get through to the registered number. Luckily, otherwise your parents would've been worried sick. Now we don't need to rush. We can take our time making a record. Sigh..."
"We need to make a record?"
"Of course."
"I thought it wasn't necessary..."
"It's required."
"Okay..."
"Let me see your ID card."
"Here you go."
"January of '01?"
"There's an error in the registration."
"Oh, right, no wonder. That startled me..." The young man let out a sigh of relief. "You didn't come here on a mission, did you?"
"Just traveling."
"Traveling..." The young man looked down to write, a hint of envy in his expression. "Do you guys get vacations this early? And traveling all the way from Yi Province too."
"Yeah..."
"We have no idea when we'll get to go. We're swamped with work."
"It's like that for everyone..."
"Not necessarily. You're definitely not as busy as we are," the young man said. "Especially these past few days. We're understaffed as it is, and for some reason, we're getting several demon-related reports a day. It's mostly in this area, too. Everywhere else it's business as usual."
"It'll be all right in a few days."
"Huh?"
"Just a guess."
"Hopefully." The young man paused. "We need you to recount the events of last night in detail. As detailed as possible, or I'll get an earful."
"Does it have to be very detailed?" Zhou Li hesitated.
"It has to be detailed. This is very important. I shouldn't have to explain too much," the young man said seriously.
"Um..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Zhou Li took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Last night, I was driving my car when suddenly I felt a force pulling me, like it wanted to suck me up into the sky. In a panic, I pulled over to the side of the road, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself in a strange place. I stayed there the whole night and then suddenly returned to where I was before, only to discover that my car had vanished."
Having finished, he glanced nonchalantly at the young man.
Behind the young man, the old monster stood silently, grinning at him, seemingly mocking his clumsy explanation.
Zhou Li pretended not to notice.
The young man furrowed his brows, clearly not satisfied with such a bare-bones story. He didn't voice his dissatisfaction outright. Given their recent, almost-familiar interaction, it wouldn't be appropriate. So he asked, "What time was this?"
"Around eleven or twelve."
"What kind of strange place?"
"I can't name it." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
The young man fell silent for a moment. "Then what did you do all night?"
"I encountered some demons, but there was no conflict."
"What kind of demons? What did you do?"
Zhou Li remained silent.
The young man spread his hands, a helpless look on his face. "Come on, man, this isn't going to work. Even if you really don't know anything or didn't do anything, at least try to be as detailed as possible, okay? These past few days have been busy enough already, with people all over running into demons and encountering ghosts. We're all in the same line of work; please support our efforts..."
"Um..."
Zhou Li took a deep breath and decided to give up.
After pondering for a long time, he said, "Actually, I'm in a bit of a special situation. How about this: you call your supervisor and tell them my name is Zhou Li, and he'll know what it's about. Or I can call my supervisor..."
After speaking, he continued to gaze at the young man.
The young man tossed aside his pen, let out a long breath, and said with a sense of relief, "If you had special circumstances, you should have said so earlier! All this fuss... I could have played a round of King's Glory by now."
Zhou Li was also helpless. He was reluctant to use this 'privilege,' always feeling it was somewhat odd, and he hadn't previously known the Celestial Master Department's procedures.
「A few minutes later.」
Zhou Li walked out of the place with a special certificate in hand.
The sunlight was already dazzling.
Huai Xu appeared by his side, poking his head out and looking at the paper. "I told you before, you could have just made up some story to get by. Say you chased after a demon but couldn't catch up, got lost because there was no signal, and by the time you found your way back, your car was towed. But you wouldn't listen."
"The traffic police team..."
"I told you to just call Yin Le, but you wouldn't. And what happened in the end? If you don't listen to your elders, you'll suffer the consequences."
"You talk too much."
"I'm starving!"
"But in your current state..." Zhou Li glanced at Huai Xu's appearance, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "You can't enter a restaurant to eat. I'll get you a takeaway portion of pilaf, and you can take it back to eat. I'll just call a taxi to go to the traffic police station to get the car back, and then find a place to stay."
"What about you?"
"Lord Dumpling also wants to eat pilaf!"
"I see." Zhou Li patted Tuanzi's head. "Then Lord Dumpling and I will go to the restaurant to eat. How about we add an extra chunk of lamb for Lord Dumpling, okay?"
"MEOW!"
"TSK!"
「The afternoon sun was strong.」
It was already February, and in two days it would be the Start of Spring. Compared to the bitter winter, the temperature, boosted by consecutive sunny days, had clearly begun to warm. Wearing dark clothing and basking in the sun, Zhou Li even felt like he had arrived in late spring.
Today, Tuanzi unusually did not ask to be held but ran on the ground instead, trotting happily ahead with little steps, turning back every so often to make sure Zhou Li was following.
Huai Xu walked alongside Zhou Li, reminiscing and narrating, "Shule used to be really bustling, the most prosperous place in the Western Regions. It felt like people from the entire world would come here. Different nations gathered, bringing trade and prosperity, as well as culture, religion, and conflict. The religion those monks believe in originated from here."
There was a fork in the road ahead.
Tuanzi stopped at the intersection, turning back to look at them.
Zhou Li pointed ahead.
Tuanzi then continued a few steps further. A few people were already waiting at the crosswalk. She also went there and stood, waiting for the light to change with them.
Seeing this, Zhou Li felt quite relieved and went to stand with her. Only then did he turn to Huai Xu and say, "Let's wander around here for the next few days, and then we'll return to Yi Province. It won't be long until New Year's... Do you know of any fun places around here?"
"There are plenty of them."
"What about Lord Yue Yin..."
"Don't know about him."
"Oh..." Zhou Li nodded, and after a few seconds added, "That potion will be effective, right?"
"Who knows."
"Do we still need to roam around?"
"Why not? It's fun."
"If you say so..."
"Let's go have pigeon soup!"
"Alright."
Soon, people nearby noticed Tuanzi waiting for the traffic light. Their brief surprise turned into affection, and they crouched down to touch her, but Tuanzi skillfully dodged them. Then, she deftly made her way to Zhou Li's other side, using his leg as a shield from the person who tried to pet her, peeking out half her head to stealthily watch.
It appeared as though she was avoiding them, but in reality, she was enticing them.
Zhou Li smiled politely at the person without speaking, simply looking up at the lights and counting the seconds.
