My Demon Friends-Chapter 608 - 582 The First Day of Class

The new semester seemed to excite everyone. As Zhou Li walked down the hallway, each dorm room was buzzing with noise.

Zhou Li encountered several groups that greeted him: classmates he had shared classes with, those who had been in the same military training formations, and the Little Brothers that Brother Nan had taken under his wing. In reality, most just knew each other by sight and weren't actually close, but they all liked to greet each other with a smile when they met, so he felt embarrassed not to respond.

Suddenly, he had the illusion that he actually knew so many people.

Zhou Li couldn't help but smile.

It wasn't until he entered his own dorm room and closed the door behind him that it finally fell quiet.

On the way back, he had gone out with Brother Nan and the others. They bought a milk tea for a pitiable-looking Baozi, so Chang Xiaoxiang, Liu Zhengming, and Chen Yang had already returned to the dorm. By now, Chen Yang was already lying flat on his bed. Chang Xiaoxiang was chatting with his "sisters" online, occasionally exchanging a few words with Liu Zhengming.

Zhou Li handed them their milk teas. "Brought you guys milk tea, with ice."

"Wow, thank you!"

"Is it just for the two of us?"

"I figured he'd be dead to the world," Zhou Li said, glancing at Chen Yang's bed and then at Chang Xiaoxiang's rather pink QQ interface. "Our dorm isn't as lively as the others, huh?"

"How can it be lively with just the two of us?" Liu Zhengming took a sip of his milk tea and sighed. "Ah, that's good!"

"Our alcohol tolerance is too low. We can't even outdrink girls," Chang Xiaoxiang said, leaning back and then tilting his head up to look at him in a silly pose.

"It's *your* tolerance that's low," Zhou Li said. "I don't have *any* tolerance."

"So embarrassing."

"Boring."

"Aren't you going to make your bed, Dorm Head?"

"I'm about to."

"Need help?"

"No, thanks."

Zhou Li suddenly remembered he hadn't made his bed yet and abruptly felt very tired.

Procrastinating wouldn't work. If he didn't make the bed, he'd have nowhere to sleep later. So, he gulped down his milk tea in one go, got up, and climbed the ladder to sweep his bed.

What was this?

A slim figure lay on his bed, pressed against the wall, lying perfectly straight. She had a baozi-face and was holding a milk tea. She was even drinking it when Zhou Li saw her. From the lower bunk, she was perfectly hidden from view, and Chen Yang, facing the wall, was sleeping too soundly to notice.

Tuanzi was perched in the middle of the bed, looking at him with a wronged expression.

"Zhou Ni, Huai Xu squeezed Lord Dumpling all the way to the edge! And she's drinking milk tea and not sharing any with Lord Dumpling!"

What edge? The second part of that sentence is the real point, isn't it?

Zhou Li poked Huai Xu, but she just shook her head, seemingly indicating she had no plans to leave. This made Zhou Li quite uncomfortable.

From below, Chang Xiaoxiang's voice drifted up. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Zhou Li said calmly. "Just a cockroach on the bed, and a couple of mouse droppings."

"That's normal."

The baozi-faced Huai Xu put down her milk tea and grinned at Tuanzi. "He says we're a cockroach and mouse droppings. Which one are you?"

"You're the cockroach!"

"Then you're the mouse droppings."

"You are! You're both of them!"

In a very, very quiet voice, Zhou Li said, "Hurry up and get down. I need to make the bed."

Huai Xu took another sip of her milk tea, turned her head, and said, "Cousin, I'm so tired. Can I sleep here tonight, please?"

Zhou Li was speechless.

Only then did he notice that the milk tea in Huai Xu's hand was the same as the one they had bought that evening—a brown sugar small taro ball and grass jelly milk tea from Shuyi Tealicious.

This Old Monster's penchant for snooping... It's truly exasperating.

POOF!

Only Tuanzi was left on the bed.

Zhou Li picked up Tuanzi and only then began to make his bed.

But as he was making it, Tuanzi climbed back up the ladder. Her little paws gripped the edge of the bed to steady herself, and she peeked her upper body out to look at him. The draft from him spreading the mattress topper blew the short fur on her forehead left and right. In a clear, crisp voice, she asked, "Zhou Ni, should we team up and beat up Huai Xu?"

"Hmm?"

"Lord Dumpling can't beat her alone as just one cat."

"Tuanzi, get down quickly. It's dangerous up there."

"How about it, okay?"

Just then, Huai Xu's voice came from the side. "Even if you two team up, you still can't beat me."

"MEOW!"

With agile movements, Tuanzi leaped off and landed steadily. But then she felt she'd been too cowardly, losing face for a Great Demon. So, after putting some distance between them, she glared back at Huai Xu unwillingly. "Lord Dumpling is very powerful!"

Huai Xu couldn't be bothered with her and simply said, "I'll be on the rooftop. You two had better not badmouth me; I can hear everything."

Then, she disappeared again.

Tuanzi humphed and sat down with a THUMP.

Making the bed is so tiring.

It took Zhou Li over ten minutes to make his bed. Looking at his handiwork, the bed seemed very comfortable, and he felt a great sense of achievement.

Then, with another POOF!

Huai Xu reappeared on the bed. She was still lying flat against the wall and even turned her head to look around. "Hmm, this is much more comfortable than before. And it smells nice."

"..."

"You all went out to eat and didn't take me."

Zhou Li mouthed, You're from the school next door.

"Alright, I forgive you."

Huai Xu patted the other half of the bed—which was actually more than half. "You can sleep here."

"..."

This Old Monster is so infuriating.

Zhou Li would have been fine if she'd taken on her usual male form, or any other female form for that matter. He could even have accepted her looking like Dilinazha. But she just *had* to transform into the image of his Little Cousin. How was he supposed to lie down next to *that*?

Liu Zhengming's complaints came from behind him. "Are the leaders of our school nuts or something? We must be the only campus in the entire university town still on lockdown, right?"

"And they're super strict about it. I wonder if they'll still be this strict this semester," Chang Xiaoxiang chimed in. "Last semester, a lot of people climbed the wall to get out. They got caught by security, dragged to the security office to be registered, and even had to have their homeroom teacher come and get them."

Hearing this, Zhou Li ignored the Old Monster and climbed down the ladder, joining the conversation. "Even Spring Work next door isn't locked down anymore."

"A lot of them aren't locked down anymore."

"True."

The moment his feet touched the ground, he hesitated for a second, then climbed back up.

He reached out and pinched Huai Xu's cheek.

So soft...

Zhou Li's eyes lit up. It feels really good. Usually, only Brother Nan gets to pinch it.

The Old Monster squinted at him with her big eyes, chewing on the small taro balls from her milk tea. From the side, her face, all white, tender, and chubby, looked just like Crayon Shin-chan's as it bobbed up and down.

"Pervert."

POOF! She was gone.

Zhou Li looked disappointed. He got off the bed, picked up Tuanzi, and started petting her.

「The 8th, Monday.」

The first class was Biochemistry.

That once-a-semester surge of academic determination hit him again.

Zhou Li listened intently and took diligent notes. He swore that this semester he would study hard. He would be as composed as a Deity during exams: strolling into the exam hall right on time, picking a seat no one else wanted, and then, as soon as the papers were distributed, he'd start writing furiously. He'd be the first to finish and hand in his paper, leaving with an air of utter coolness.

However, the sight of a certain grass-topped head resting on the desk, fast asleep, was somewhat distracting.

The window was open, and the spring breeze wafted in, pushing the sprout of grass on her head first to the left, then to the right, as if constantly trying to sway his resolve.

Zhou Li took a deep breath, forcing himself not to look at it, and focused all his attention on the textbook.

It was a new book, carrying the strong scent of ink.

My 'determination to strive' is diminishing...

As soon as the bell ending class rang, he closed his book and quickly massaged his temples. It feels like I'm already out of sync with studying.

Brother Nan, beside him, also woke up. Her eyes were still bleary, but they held a hint of concern. "What's wrong?"

"My head feels a bit fuzzy."

"Not feeling well?"

"It's nothing..." Zhou Li shook his head. He watched her wipe drool from the corner of her mouth, looking like a complete fool. In stark contrast, he couldn't help but straighten his posture, his expression serious. "Perhaps it's because I absorbed too much knowledge just now. It feels like my brain's about to overflow."