My Demon Friends-Chapter 597 - 571 Qinghe God

The sun set behind West Mountain.

Ms. Ji took them for a very trendy Japanese meal that cost 1,980 per person. The taste was truly fantastic, but the portions were so-so.

The chef only served their table, and all the dishes were freshly made, served one after another. Each dish was pretty much gone in one or two bites, and they ate slowly. Zhou Li actually felt quite full. Baozi and the little girl even overate. However, Brother Nan could only say she was about seventy or eighty percent full, which wasn't much to her.

For Huai Xu, it was barely enough to fill a tooth gap.

Fortunately, Huai Xu was always satisfied, whether he ate much or little, and didn't mind being a bit hungry. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

After the meal, Zhou Li thought of Tuanzi at home. He shamelessly asked the chef for an extra portion of o-toro and Wagyu beef, which was quite an astonishing thing for his character.

Luckily, the chef was very kind and agreed without hesitation, even asking if it was enough.

The evening breeze outside was chillingly cold.

Zhou Li tied the takeout box to the handlebar of his bike.

Ms. Ji beside him, holding the car keys, smiled and asked, "When will you go over there? Aren't you going to check out the house I bought for you?"

There was a slight note of grievance in the second half of her sentence, like a little daughter's.

Zhou Li hesitated. "It's not convenient to go today since I'm on my bike... How about tomorrow?"

"Okay."

"Then Brother Nan and I will get going."

"Right, you two are biking, what about Huai Xu?"

"He'll take a taxi back; it's very close by."

"Should I give him a lift to the entrance of the residential complex?"

"That would be good."

"Then I'll take them back as well."

"Okay."

Zhou Li and Brother Nan mounted their bikes.

Ji Xuan, the little girl, stood by the roadside. Her mixed-race appearance attracted many passersby's attention. She eagerly watched Zhou Li, wishing he would invite her, Sister Baozi, or Mom to stay over at his place. Then she could say goodnight to Brother Huai Xu and greet him in the morning as well. How wonderful that would be.

Of course, that was impossible.

The little girl could only wave to Zhou Li, reluctantly saying, "Brother, I'll come to play with you another day."

"Oh..." Zhou Li mumbled an assent and rode off.

Brother Nan started later but rode faster, quickly overtaking Zhou Li. Then Zhou Li started to catch up, the reflector on the back of the bike flickering in the streetlight, quickly disappearing into the night.

Including traffic lights, they covered the nineteen-kilometer city distance in just over half an hour, which was incredibly fast.

Of course, Huai Xu arrived first, as driving allowed him to take the highway.

Waiting at the door for Zhou Li and Brother Nan, he grinned. "Is it cold riding the bike at night?"

"A bit chilly."

"That rice noodle shop still hasn't opened."

"I saw that too!" Brother Nan had also specifically checked out the rice noodle shop. As someone in the same line of business, she felt upset by the owner's seemingly lax attitude and was even somewhat annoyed. "What kind of shitty store still isn't open by now? It screwed up my chance to eat rice noodles!"

Hearing this, Zhou Li looked up, flicked the cowlick on her head gently, and put on a serious face. "How many times have I told you? You can't swear."

Brother Nan blinked, slightly stunned.

What's going on?

Zhou Li actually... actually did it? He touched her cowlick right in front of her, without any pretext, quite openly and unabashedly?

Brother Nan blinked again, her expression gradually moving from bewildered to resolute—

This behavior must not be encouraged!

"Capture Technique!"

Zhou Li's cries of pain echoed at the bottom of the residential complex.

He opened the door to his home with a feeble hand.

It was now dark outside, and the room was pitch black, but the sound-controlled lights in the hallway were on. As the door opened, light from outside shone into the room, casting a rectangular shadow on the floor. A little cat was squatting at the entrance, head bowed low as if asleep, its small shadow elongated by the light.

"Hmm..."

Zhou Li quickly handed the takeout box to Brother Nan. He took a step forward to scoop Tuanzi up and felt her slowly coming to in his arms. Then he said with concern, "Lord Dumpling, why are you sleeping here?"

"Mmm, you've returned..."

"I'm back."

"Lord Dumpling has been waiting for you guys to return..."

As Tuanzi spoke, she raised her little paw and rubbed her eyes. Then she sleepily looked at Zhou Li and complained, "Lord Dumpling woke up to find you all gone! I wanted to look for you, but I didn't know where you ran off to, and my phone was snatched away by you..."

"Who asked Lord Dumpling to not sleep at night, parkour around, and not get up during the day?" Zhou Li said. "We wanted to invite Lord Dumpling to go out and play this morning, but Lord Dumpling was sleeping so soundly."

"Meow?"

"Yes."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Li added, "Besides, Lord Dumpling doesn't even know how to use a phone. And we didn't snatch it either..."

"You did too!"

After vehemently rebutting Zhou Li, Tuanzi suddenly sniffed. "Lord Dumpling seems to smell food! Did you go off behind Lord Dumpling's back and eat something delicious? Lord Dumpling, a mere cat, didn't even have food at home. It's infuriating!"

"Hm? Didn't I ask Huai Xu to come back to... come back and offer Lord Dumpling fish soup with rice?"

"Lord Dumpling ate it all."

"Then how can you say there was no food?"

"Once it's eaten, it's gone."

"I see..." Zhou Li conceded.

Unable to argue with her and seeing her become more awake, he took the takeout box from Brother Nan with one hand. "I've packed some food for Lord Dumpling," he said. "All of it is the pinnacle of human cuisine, the taste of emperors. But Lord Dumpling, who has eaten fish soup with rice, probably wouldn't want any, right?"

"Meow... I can still try a little," Tuanzi responded.

"Alright."

Tuanzi started to eat her dinner, smacking her lips.

Zhou Li then took out his own carved tableware, preparing to bring it to Ms. Ji tomorrow—he had felt a bit embarrassed to reveal them at his uncle's home.

While thinking, he turned to ask, "Huai Xu, are you coming with us tomorrow?"

After saying this, he added, "Ji Xuan definitely wants to see you."

"I'd rather not go."

Huai Xu shook his head, then looked down at his current body with a disgusted expression. "I've been using this form for too many days; I'm tired of it," he said. "If it weren't for the need to play a role with you, I would have changed it long ago. I just saw a guy at the amusement park who looked alright. I'll use him tomorrow and just make a few adjustments."

"Switching to a new one again?" Zhou Li felt that the Old monster must have some quirkiness, probably something akin to what humans call a costume fetish, the ultimate version of it.

"He's good-looking," the Old monster said, spreading his hands.

"How good-looking?"

"I suppose not too far off from you."

"I see." Zhou Li nodded, somewhat understanding. "That would also be a pinnacle in this world. I didn't expect such a small place as Chunming to be full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

"PFFT!!"

Brother Nan threw her head back and laughed heartily.

Having nothing better to do that evening, Zhou Li played a few rounds of endless battles. He felt that the Old monster was too powerful. His team always had a huge lead, making it boring for him to sneak attacks on towers—it was too effortless. Often, the opponents didn't even try to stop him from destroying their towers sneakily. His team didn't need his sneak attacks to win either, so he lacked the pride of turning the tides of battle.

So he quit the game and picked up the little Qinghe statue from the bookshelf, starting to paint it.

He had said he would apply the Old monster's most hated color, purple. However, considering Qinghe's demon image and the need for publicity, he eventually gave up the idea, staying as close to Qinghe's original colors as possible.

Mainly scarlet with black accents.

A ferocious image of an evil demon.

After finishing the painting, without waiting for the paint to dry, he took a series of photos of little Qinghe under the light. He took photos of it placed on the table, on the bookshelf, and from different angles. He even captured an image of little Qinghe's eyes emitting a faint glow and finally recorded a short video of little Qinghe's head turning. He showcased the product from all angles and even adjusted the color using the simple photo-editing feature on his phone after taking the photos.

Gathering nine pictures, he posted them to his social media feed.

Visible only to the 'customer' group.

The accompanying text read: Qinghe God statues now available. Newest product with top-tier quality, endowed with demon recognition, automatic tracking, and voice control expulsion features. Limited stock, DM for inquiries (please do not share messages).

Brother Nan leaned her head on his shoulder, watching him tinker. After he posted, she said, "You ought to create a story for this thing. For example, claim this demon is some ancient deity from a bygone era, born in some place and worshiped by many, possessing such and such abilities—basically, hype it up. You'll sell it for a good price."

Zhou Li scratched his head; he wasn't adept at this.

But whether he hyped it or not made little difference; he quickly received three orders anyway. The business owners made brief inquiries and confirmed their purchases, and they were very generous with their offers.

The 'Qinghe God statues' indeed had much stronger appeal than his past offerings, not even in the same league.

The next few days would be busy.

Zhou Li scratched his head again—

Should he offer Qinghe a dividend?