My Demon Friends-Chapter 638 - 606: Being a Demon is Not Bad Either

During the days he had been boarding, the Old monster had indeed kept the house clean; the floors were spotless.

Oh, right. That was the work of the robotic vacuum cleaner.

Zhou Li went to the balcony to check on the flowers. The ones he planted hadn't bloomed much. Only the Old monster's water lilies were doing well, with a dozen or so Black Beauty water lilies blooming sporadically, looking like a miniature lotus pond in midsummer.

The Old monster brought out her computer, beaming as she yelled, "Come play games!"

"It's very late," Zhou Li shook his head.

"Since it's already this late, we might as well not sleep," the Old monster, who currently appeared as a young girl, opened the game. "Come on, come on! 'Why sleep so much while you're alive?'—what's the rest of that saying again?"

"I'm going to sleep."

"That's not it!"

"I'll play with you tomorrow."

After saying that, Zhou Li went back to his bedroom.

While he was away, the bedroom doors and windows had been sealed shut. Having been closed for a week, the air was slightly stuffy. He walked over and opened the window, letting the night breeze pour in. By the time he finished washing up, the air in the room had freshened, and he then fell into bed.

「The next morning.」

Zhou Li felt he hadn't slept enough the previous night, but he still got up according to his biological clock.

The Old monster clearly hadn't slept all night and had reverted to the appearance of Miss Chen from the day before. She was lying on the couch staring at the ceiling, her legs crossed and her feet dangling. Next to her, a double-layered washbasin was filled with bright red cherries, glistening with water droplets, perfectly within her reach.

Reclining in this posture, she casually popped cherries into her mouth, twisted her head to spit the pits into the nearby trash can. With each cherry she finished, her feet swayed more joyously.

Zhou Li, seeing this, couldn't help but reflect inwardly—

Isn't this just the life I want to live? What's the point of going to classes? Learning spells? Earning combat subsidies? Wouldn't it be nice just to lie around carefree like this Old monster?

"Sigh…"

Zhou Li sighed, walked over, and asked, "Where did you steal the cherries from?"

SWOOSH.

The Old monster suddenly turned her head, her eyes blazing, as if with an unspoken accusation.

Zhou Li shrugged. "Then where did they come from?"

"Little Zheng grew them."

"Oh."

"She mess మన early in the morning, and I ran over to pick them," the Old monster described the scene to him. "Several trees, all laden with fruit, bright red all over. But now there are quite a few more demons there. Although I picked several large basins full, after sharing them and sending some to Li Daimao, this is all we have left."

"That's still quite a lot," Zhou Li said, looking at the brimming basin of cherries. He estimated it contained at least five or six *jin* (several pounds), each one completely red, without a hint of yellow.

He picked one up; it was soft in his hand. He was careful not to squeeze too hard for fear of crushing it, and then couldn't help but worry if the cherries at the bottom were being squashed. "They're perfectly ripe," he murmured.

The Old monster nodded. "They are indeed. Perfectly ripe. In my opinion, they should have been picked much earlier. I couldn't be bothered to guard them. But Little Zheng refused, insisting on waiting until they were fully ripe before letting anyone pick. All day long, she sat under the tree with a noisemaker stick to scare away the birds. You wouldn't believe it, that fool Qinghe even made several scarecrows that didn't look realistic at all. He hung them from the trees, using bamboo shoot husks tied with string for hands. When the wind blew, the husks would swing... Hey, do you think those sparrows have no brains? They can't even tell such obvious fakes."

"They have brains, just a little smaller than yours."

"I can't be bothered to talk to you!"

The Old monster, pretending she didn't want to talk to him anymore, picked up a few more cherries and tossed them into her mouth. After chewing a couple of times and spitting out the pits, she continued, "But it couldn't fool that crow. Who knows how many it's stolen during this time? Even more than I managed to sneak! So annoying."

"Oh."

Zhou Li had also eaten a dozen or so by this time.

They really were ripe, so ripe there wasn't a trace of tartness, melting in the mouth with a burst of pure sweetness—far more delightful than the fruit some demons steal from elsewhere.

And it seemed that, possibly due to the Evil God's influence, the cherries from the small mountain village were a size larger than common local varieties.

"Someone is standing at the door."

The Old monster sat up a little straighter, staring at the door. Just as she finished speaking, there was a knock.

"I'll get the door!"

She immediately got up, excitedly rushing over.

It was a young man delivering a package. There was no mailing label on it, and he said it was for Mr. Zhou Li.

The Old monster loved receiving and opening packages, and this mysterious kind interested her even more. However, the deliveryman insisted that Mr. Zhou Li himself sign for it, which annoyed her a little.

After Zhou Li received the package, she took it and eagerly began to unpack.

Inside were two books, one thick and one thin.

It was worth noting that these weren't ancient tomes but modern printed books. Thus, they were much thinner, and the simplified characters made for easier reading.

They just hadn't been translated into modern vernacular yet.

The thinner one was *Red Light Technique*.

The thick one was *Town Boundary Art*.

"That's it?"

The Old monster looked disappointed.

Zhou Li picked up the books. While listening to the Old monster discuss the recent situation in the small mountain village, he started to peruse them.

The *Red Light Technique* looked more like a booklet, about twenty pages long. The font size was the same as in standard textbooks, and it included detailed illustrations.

Zhou Li flipped through a few pages. His initial impression was that it might be somewhat simpler than the earlier version of the Red Light Technique. It was largely similar; he had already mastered the early version, though not deeply, and had yet to form a solid casting memory. A slight modification should allow him to easily update to this new version.

*Town Boundary Art* was quite complex, at least one or two hundred pages long.

Zhou Li also flipped through it, thinking that most of it explained the principles of the spell. If he had a teacher to guide him, he could probably save a lot of time.

Unfortunately, the Old monster had been a junior celestial master who was adept only at fighting and knew little else. He could ask her simple questions and get explanations, but difficult ones would most likely displease her.

"'Yin Le is quite efficient,' Zhou Li said, putting down the books."

The diligence of others made him feel a bit ashamed. He decided not to dwell on it and focused on eating cherries instead.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

Yin Le: Did you get it?

Zhou Li: Yes

Yin Le: That's good

Yin Le: Three people got hurt last night, and we were already short-staffed, so it's even tighter now. I might need your help later.

Zhou Li: No problem

Zhou Li: How come you're up so early?

Yin Le: I didn't really sleep. I got up early to check out of the hotel. I just calmed Sister Chen down and sent her home. Now I still have to write a report and apply for combat allowances and commendations for bravery for you all.

Zhou Li: That sounds rough.

「Around noon.」

Zhou Li brought the books back to school and had lunch with Brother Nan. Baozi and Tuanzi were also there, and Baozi was paying.

Since he had been away last night and this morning, he heard that Brother Nan had taken Tuanzi to 'work' again. This made him quite heartbroken, as he feared it might exhaust Lord Dumpling.

He then heard from Baozi that, compared to yesterday, Lord Dumpling was noticeably slacking off today. She kept dozing off at her 'workstation,' which significantly affected the sales of Bubble Pistol units—only three were sold this morning. However, it didn't greatly impact the sales of postcards and photos, as even a dozing Tuanzi still possessed immense appeal.

"Don't wear out Lord Dumpling," Zhou Li said.

"Just keep spoiling her," Brother Nan remarked. Having recently gained the ability to understand demon speech, his understanding of Tuanzi's personality had deepened. "If you keep spoiling her like this, you'll end up having to feed her yourself."

"That won't happen," Zhou Li said, looking down at Tuanzi. He spoke to her in a tone one might use with a child, "Right, Lord Dumpling?"

Tuanzi, preoccupied with her play, didn't respond. She seemed to know Brother Nan was talking about her, so she feigned ignorance, acting like an ordinary little kitten.

She walked to the edge of a stool and looked around. Seeing no one was about to interfere, she lowered her head, seeming to measure the distance to another stool. After her 'measurement,' she cautiously backed up a few paces, then sprinted forward and leaped—only to crash headfirst into the other stool and fall to the ground.

"!"

Zhou Li quickly reached out to help her.

But before his hand could reach her, Tuanzi rolled over, got up, shook her little head, and declared to him, "Lord Dumpling is fine!"

Then she jumped up again, as resilient as ever.