Residence Of Monsters Volume 1 Chapter 8

Please accept this way-too-long and extremely overdue chapter. Bye gonna sleep now.

Originally posted on RBKTR Translations. 
Author: Lan Qi Zuo Ren (藍旗左衽).
Translated by: Yujuan

After school was finished, Feng Ping Lan went back to his dorm to collect his things after eating.

When he arrived at their room, Bai Li Rui was sorting his clothes.

"Li Rui, you're not going yet?"

"My car's coming to fetch me soon." Bai Li Rui replied while folding his freshly-dried clothing.

"You're so lucky!" Feng Ping Lan pa.s.sed by Bai Li Rui, spotting a blue-green scale on Bai Li Rui's desk, "Uh! That's…" The one that he'd put in Bai Li Rui's breast pocket, he'd forgotten to take it back out!

Bai Li Rui raised his head to glance at him, "I found it in my clothes. Who knows where it came from."

"Oh, I put it there." Feng Ping Lan admitted, easy-mannered.

"You?"

"I put it there while you were sleeping." Feng Ping Lan realized that Bai Li Rui was wearing a confused expression, hurriedly adding on, "This is a lucky charm my… my friend gave to me. I saw that you've been getting tired easily these past few days, so I put in on you to help you with your problem."

"I see. This thing's pretty effective, my condition's been pretty good lately. Thanks." Bai Li Rui paused for a moment, "But warn me next time you do this. I hope you don't put anything else on me while I sleep…"

"I know! Hahaha!"

Feng Ping Lan wrapped up his clothes and toiletries then left the dorm, striding over his bicycle to set off for the residence halfway up the mountain in a hurry.

When he arrived, the one to welcome him was Dongya.

"Um, because we damaged the dorm yesterday, I don't have anywhere to stay this weekend, so, sorry for intruding! Hahaha!" Feng Ping Lan laughed foolishly while he explained.

"I know, Conglong informed me. Welcome in." Dongya smiled gently, bringing Feng Ping Lan into the house. "Please come to the drawing room, I'll pour something to drink for you."

"Thank you!"

While pa.s.sing the hallway, he b.u.mped into Byriel. Byriel hadn't come to cla.s.s today either, his features exuding a very apparent tiredness.

"I heard about your actions yesterday, hehehe. It was really a large-scale havoc you caused."

"Aiya, because we ones we faced were pretty hard to deal with…" Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head embarra.s.sedly.

"Actually, you didn't need to go to such an extent." Byriel leaned on the wall, saying lazily, "You could just put on a boundary meant for lower-level demons, and set off fire after dispersing the humans. The succubi would immediately die inside and you wouldn't need to fight."

"That'd be too dangerous, and what if we had hurt other people?"

"Oh, that makes sense when you put it that way, hehehe. But at least you wouldn't hurt yourself." Byriel laughed lightly before turning around, muttering a little complaint, "Your actions have really put a hole in my plans…"

"What?"

"Nothing. You're moving back to the dorms on Sunday, six o'clock at night?"

"Mm, yeah."

"Mmhm." Byriel supported himself by the walls, continuing with his footsteps to go back to his room.

Looking at that weak figure, Feng Ping Lan couldn't help but open his mouth, "Byriel."

Byriel paused, lazily turning his head, "What?"

"Um, do you want to bind a contract with me?" Feng Ping Lan said embarra.s.sedly, "You look tired. If I can help you this way, I…"

Byriel twisted his mouth upwards, hooking his lips into a conceited and confident smile, "Don't be arrogant, human."

Not long after Byriel left, Dongya brought in a cup of newly-made hot tea.

"Please enjoy."

"Thank you!" Feng Ping Lan blew it a few times, his face full of sweat, and drank a few mouthfuls of tea.

"Please forgive me, there aren't any other drinks in the house, and giving you water would be too impolite of me. So…"

"It's okay! It tastes good!" Feng Ping Lan waved his hand, drinking another mouthful to indicate his extreme liking for it. "Where am I staying?"

"This house is pretty big, so the six of us have our own rooms. There are still quite a few rooms left, but there's only one on the second floor, and the rest aren't connected to bathrooms. You can stay wherever you want; do tell me when you've decided on it so I can prepare your bed."

"I want to stay on the third floor."

"The third floor…" Dongya paused for a moment, "Only Quetzal is staying on the third floor at the moment. Are you sure you want…"

"Mmmm, I know." It was because of this, that he wanted to stay on the third floor. "Can I?"

He hadn't seen Quetzal for quite a few days now. He kept on especially wanting to meet that majestic and handsome creature.

Who knew how he was doing? The last time he saw him, his face had looked incredibly pale. Who knew if that was the natural l.u.s.ter, or if it was because he was grown in poor health.

"Of course you can." Dongya smiled faintly, "But, he's been coming home late, so you might not meet him."

He brought Feng Ping Lan to the third floor. Feng Ping Lan recognized the room that he, Dongya and Morris had hid in, Quetzal's room. He chose the room next to it on purpose.

After putting down his things, Conglong and Simo came over.

"Why did you only come now? You're slow as heck!" Conglong started off with reproach, turning to look at Dongya, "He came just in time. He's a human, he understands. Get him to accompany us."

"He's a guest." Dongya gently said, "We can't bother guests."

"But you don't understand! When the time comes you'll buy the wrong things, or you'll buy a bunch of weird stuff that you won't use!"

"Conglong!" Dongya's tone became displeased.

"What? What?" Feng Ping Lan asked with expectation and excitement, "Where do you want to accompany you to? You want me to help? Alright! Is it to wipe out demons? Or is it to investigate news of the enemy?"

"It isn't! Don't think too highly of yourself, human." Conglong spoke snappily, "We're going shopping."

"Ah?"

"We don't come to the human world often, and we got sealed off before understanding the humans' livelihood and behavior. This world has also changed after twelve years. Although we've stayed here for five days, there are many things that we can't get used to." Conglong explained, "Like the lack of daily necessities, and this house cannot even be lived in the eyes of humans."

He raised the furniture advertis.e.m.e.nt in his hand. In the picture, in a bright Scandinavian-style room, there were harmoniously-hued furniture placed in it, two children sitting on the sofa watching television. The elongated table in a free-styled kitchen had a laptop on it, and a woman was looking at the recipe in it to cook. The wooden counter in the kitchen had an oven, a microwave, and other cooking utensils; the refrigerator was placed just right in the corner of an empty wall. The room looked just perfect.

Conglong pointed at the advertis.e.m.e.nt hard, "The things on here, we don't have here!"

"It won't hurt if we don't have these things." Dongya distinguished, "For example, I know there's a machine to wash clothes, but we don't need it because I personally wash them, and it hasn't been inconvenient to this day."

"Oh, really?" Conglong knitted his eyebrows, "I feel that Simo really doesn't want you to wash her underwear. Especially the ones filled with lace and those complicated-style garters, you washed them all loose. She was worried they'd fall while walking."

Suddenly being mentioned, Simo shook her head in panic, and then hung her head embarra.s.sedly.

"But—"

"Hey, what do you think?" Conglong pushed Feng Ping Lan, wanting him to say his opinion.

"Uh, I think we can buy a few utensils to make life easier, cleaning would be more effective this way." Indeed, although the house had a lot of furniture, they lacked any needed electronics. "Or else, let's roam around the marketplace! They sell everything there, so we can decide what to buy after looking through."

"This is a good suggestion, let's do it!"

"Alright, let's do it then." Dongya sighed helplessly, "Wait for me for a moment, I need to prepare."

Conglong nodded his head in satisfaction, "You're finally being useful."

"Haha, this isn't much." Feng Ping Lan glanced at Simo, forcing a laugh embarra.s.sedly, "Um, they sell underwear at the marketplace too, you can look around if you want…"

Simo's head couldn't be any lower, both hands covering her face. She wanted to cry.

Before long, the group of people gathered on the first floor. Besides Dongya, Conglong and Simo, Morris had also come.

"Morris wants to come along too?" Feng Ping Lan spoke.

"None of your business!"

"I asked him to come." Dongya smiled mildly, "Morris is a great helper."

"He’s basically a pack animal." Conglong rebuked snappily.

Morris glared at Conglong, "Don't forget who was so helpless he needed a pack animal to rescue him yesterday!"

"Humph!"

"The marketplace is quite a distance away from here, so let's use the public transport." Before they left, Feng Ping Lan suddenly thought of something really important, "Oh right, do you guys have money?" He saw that other than Dongya who brought along a bag, the others were empty-handed, looking pretty unreliable. It would be awkward if they couldn't pay for the things.

"Don't worry." Dongya patted the bag, having planned in advance, "The demon back then had collected a lot of precious stones and antiques, so we exchanged it for quite a sum of money. It's definitely enough."

After sitting on the bus for more or less fifteen minutes, just as Conglong was on the verge of creating a fountain of vomit, they arrived at their destination.

The moment they stepped into the marketplace, Conglong, Simo, Dongya and Morris were all rooted in their places, using amazed and novel expressions to observe the s.p.a.ce that was tall and s.p.a.cious and filled to the brim with goods.

"Uh, is it really that surprising?" Feng Ping Lan was curious, "I thought that you guys had already visited the shops in the human world in the past few days."

"We just inspected the shops on the streets that we pa.s.sed by. Excluding shops that were out in the open, such as grocery shops, restaurants and bookshops, we would never go into them." Dongya replied. "We didn't know what this huge building was for from the outside."

The group started to advance, and Feng Ping Lan suggested getting a trolley. In the end, the four demons saw the carts folded and attached to each other and became exhilarated, taking one each for themselves.

The four trolleys majestically advanced forth, looking menacingly imposing.

Conglong realized that there were kids sitting at the front of the trolley, getting greatly stirred up. He stubbornly wanted to climb into the trolley, pleading for Feng Ping Lan to push him.

"You can't sit in there! Come out right now!"

"Why!" Conglong was very discontented.

"Only children can sit in there. If adults sit in it, it'll be too heavy and break the trolley."

"How can this be! That kid's fat as a lump of preserved meat, if he can sit in it then why can't I?"

The parent that stood at the front heard this, turning her head glare furiously at Feng Ping Lan and the others.

"You really can't sit in it, if this continues on the staff here will kick us out…"

"For what reason? It's not even broken!"

"Get out when we tell you to get out, don't be pesky!" Morris grabbed a hold of Conglong's collar, pulling him out to throw him on the ground, "Who knows, you could even get sick in a trolley. I don't want to embarra.s.s myself here!"

Conglong grumbled resentfully for a while, but reluctantly compromised in the end.

Feng Ping Lan rejoiced that there weren't many customers on weekdays in the afternoon, or else these four people would be very eye-catching.

They pa.s.sed by the electronics area, and the brand new convenient tech opened up a whole new scope for the demons.

Especially for Dongya, who was over the moon with the double features of drying and soaking of vacuum cleaners in the cleaning appliances area, unwilling to part with each model. After much struggle in deciding, he chose an imported vacuum cleaner that had a powerful motor, a three-in-one suction and a medically-treated filter.

Next was the refrigerator. After the salesperson saw Dongya the vacuum cleaner that he had picked, wafting the aura of a huge customer, they pa.s.sionately came to receive him.

"This six-door refrigerator is currently on promotion; its shelf life is very good, and it saves a lot of electricity. There's also a smart touch pad, and it's incredibly convenient to control. The colors available are brown and silver, this is a particularly unique feature!"

"Mm…" Dongya propped his head up, not very interested, "This model looks like a coffin."

"Uh, then, how about this four-door frequency converting refrigerator, this is also a premium brand."

"The doors look like a niche."

The salesperson was speechless.

In the end, Dongya chose a normal refrigerator. The reason was that there would be a multi-featured mop series as a free gift after buying it.

"So, you've decided to buy this model?" The salesperson smiled while asking.

"Yes, this model."

"Alright, please fill out this order form—"

Not waiting for the salesperson to finish, Dongya instructed Morris, "I'll leave it to you, Morris."

Morris stepped forward, both hands grabbing and exerting strength to lift the two-meter refrigerator up, nimbly turning it around to lightly place it on his shoulder.

"Where do we go to next?" Dongya lowered his head to look at the catalog in his hands, planning on leaving.

"Wait! Customer! Customer! You can't do that!" The salesperson blocked Morris from the front in a panic, hurriedly curbing them, "You cannot take it away like this!"

"Aren't you selling it to me?"

"Yes! But you cannot take it away like this!" The salesperson was scared witless looking at Morris, extremely worried that the product would fall down unstably, "And this is just a display product, you need to fill out your details and we'll send a brand new product to your address…"

"Oh, that is just too considerate of you." Dongya smiled at the salesperson, turning his head, "Put it back then, Morris."

Morris shrugged his shoulders, bending his waist, supporting with one hand, he easily put the refrigerator back to its original place.

Although Feng Ping Lan stood at a corner sweating rivulets, he couldn't help but laugh.

He didn't know going shopping in the marketplace would be so fun.

Just as Dongya was choosing the microwave and the oven, Conglong was attracted by the blender.

"Hey!" Conglong pointed at the blender on the shelf, "What's this?"

"A blender, it's a machine that can turn fruits into juice."

"Oh?" Conglong knitted his eyebrows, extremely interested, "How do you use it?"

"You just put fruit into it and turn it on."

"Really?" Conglong was eager to give it a try, walking towards the testing area. "Let me try it!"

"Wait a minute!"

Before Feng Ping Lan could stop him, Conglong speedily took up the guava used for testing, throwing the whole fruit into the machine, and then he pressed the switch.

The blades in the machine started rotating, but before even spinning one round it was jammed by the huge object, unable to move. The motor gave out an ear-piercing sound, and the machine started to vibrate unstably.

"Why hasn't it turned into juice yet?" Conglong lowered his head to look, and Simo curiously stuck her head close.

Then, the guava that had been squeezed to its peak, under the rapid strength of the blades, slipped out and flew through the rim of the machine.

The two people standing by reacted quickly and speedily dodged it. The guava sliced through the air, and after flying quite a distance and over a few shelves, it dropped like a shooting star.

A faint commotion sounded from the back of the shelves.

"What an awesome weapon!" Conglong nodded his head in satisfaction. "I want to buy this one!"

Feng Ping Lan glanced towards the salesperson in the distance, rus.h.i.+ng towards Conglong at the same time to grab the blender in his hands, putting it back into its original position. "I think we should leave before the salesperson comes…"

And then, he quickly left the scene, with two people who did not know of the accident they had caused in tow.

As they pa.s.sed the 3C section, Conglong's eyes lit up once again.

"After a few days' worth of observations of the humans, I realized that they are really dependent on this thing called the Internet." Conglong said with a face full of wisdom, "So, I want to buy it."

"That is not a necessity." Dongya vetoed.

"Who says! That thing is really useful! The internet has tons of interesting things! You can play games, converse with people from other places, and you can even watch tons of weird films! I want it! I want it!"

It felt like a kid that was crying for a game from their parents.

"Um, getting the Internet isn't a bad idea, we can check for information and it'll even be convenient to buy things." Feng Ping Lan came to persuade, "We need to go to a telecommunications company to do it, though. We can't buy it here, so we'll have to handle it on the way back."

"Alright." Dongya took out a small notebook from his pocket, reluctantly jotting it down. "Can we go to the next section now?"

"I want a computer too!"

"No, we've already bought the Internet for you."

"We can't use the Internet without a computer!"

Dongya frowned, looking a bit displeased, "It's not even something we need, why is it so troublesome…"

Simo who had been accompanying them quietly all this while expressed that she wanted one too, and finally the two of them chose a laptop each for themselves.

"And a TV!" Conglong pointed towards a large liquid crystal screen. "That one! Choose that big one!"

"No need!"

"But—"

"Just because it's something that's commonly seen in a human's life, it's not really needed, isn't it?" Morris opened his mouth to support, glancing disapprovingly at those liquid crystal televisions, "Besides, with this kind of senseless object, there's absolutely no—"

The scene of the screens changed to the Animal Planet channel, and on the screen was a litter of kittens rolling around.

Morris' words cut short for a second, "Absolutely no reason not to buy it."

"What?" Dongya turned his head, thinking that he had heard wrong.

"It is an important means of learning the human world." Morris said seriously, "If we want to thoroughly integrate into human society, we need to completely mimic their daily patterns. So, the TV is a needed must."

Dongya looked disbelievingly at Morris, absolutely bewildered on why he had changed sides at the last moment. Finally, a fifty-inch liquid crystal television was added onto the order form.

The group of people roamed around. When he pa.s.sed by the cleaning products section, Dongya crazily swept through the dust filter and multi-purpose mop, as well as various 'powerfully effective' detergents. The detergents piled up into a mountain on the trolley, and Dongya had a face full of satisfaction.

As they went through the food section, there were a few additions of bread-flour and oatmeal, several cartons of milk, various different types of bottled wine, crystal sugar, white sugar, maple sugar, honeyed products and a few boxes of local vanilla ice-cream as well as a box of cherries in the trolley.

Who knew who ate which? Who knew how they ate them?

Who knew what Quetzal ate…

"Let's eat together at dinner." Dongya gently asked Feng Ping Lan, "Take what you want you to eat, and I'll help you take care of it."

"Really?" Feng Ping Lan was surprised and pleased, "Is it really okay?"

It had been so long since someone had cooked for him, and he thought about what to eat wholeheartedly.

What to eat? Rice or noodles? Chinese-style or Western-style? Stir-fried or broiled?

Just as Feng Ping Lan was happily picking out his ingredients, Conglong stealthily came closer.

"I suggest that you buy ready-made products…" Conglong lowered his voice to warn, "Dongya's cooking skills are at homicidal levels."

"Uh? Really?" Dongya who could do anything domestic-related seemed to be someone who would cook up really delicious food, "Isn't he responsible for your food?"

"Yes, but the food we demons eat are very simple, and they don't need any proper cooking skills to prepare, they just need to be put on a plate. Taking me as an example, you just need to open up a bottle of milk and stick a straw into it. But cooking is another matter."

"Is that so…" Feng Ping Lan half-doubted, taking a packet of frozen ingredients that would be prepared by just adding hot water.

Just as he put the packet of ingredients into the trolley, he saw Conglong put on a disagreeable expression.

Conglong shook his head, sighing lightly as if he was saying 'Ignorant…'.

Was it really that extreme? Feng Ping Lan gazed at Dongya who was choosing tea bags in the distance.

After roaming around the entire marketplace, the trolleys pushed by four of them had been filled into a mountain. The cas.h.i.+er took about five minutes just to swipe through each product.

"May I know if you would like to use credit?" Looking at that large sum of money, the cas.h.i.+er asked while smiling.

"No, no need." Dongya didn't even understand what credit was, but he still returned a smile, "I brought money." He then opened up the bag on his wrist, taking out thousand-dollar bills that had been folded into a bundle to place on the counter.

The cas.h.i.+er widened his eyes, disbelievingly taking the bundle of bills. He then counted bill by bill, piece by piece testing its authenticity, using about five minutes to count them all. And then, he also took five minutes to fit the products into huge plastic bags, which totaled to about six large bags.

"May I ask, would you like to have a home delivery?"

"No need." Dongya did not know what home delivery was, and he didn't want things to get troublesome, so he immediately rejected it, "Morris."

Morris stepped forwards, lifting all six of those huge bags. Some were wedged between his armpits, some carried over his shoulder, and some were lifted on his hand as if they did not weigh at all. The already st.u.r.dy body now looked like it was carrying a castle with the addition of those six bags. It was extremely eye-catching.

The group of people left majestically just like that.

Feng Ping Lan once again thanked the fact that it was an ordinary day in the afternoon and there weren't many people in the marketplace, or else it would definitely incite a commotion.

It was already the evening by the time they reached the residence. Feng Ping Lan, Conglong and Simo helped organize the six huge bags into the storeroom. Morris was responsible for moving the furniture into the living room, making s.p.a.ce for the big fifty-inch television. Dongya prepared dinner for everyone.

"I've finished preparing dinner, you can come to the dining room to eat after you're finished with putting them away." Dongya reminded gently, and the looked at Feng Ping Lan, "Um, you might need to wait a while more for yours."

"Alright! There's no problem!"

After Dongya left, Conglong gave him a disapproving expression, "You'll definitely regret it."

"It only needs a bit of hot water, there shouldn't be a problem."

The dining room was closely connected to the kitchen, and a huge round table was placed in that s.p.a.cious area. There were already a few bowls and plates on the table, filled with various types of food.

There was a plate of whole-wheat biscuits, a bowl of oatmeal, a bowl of white powder and a gla.s.s of water in front of Morris.  When he sat down, he shoved a piece of whole-wheat biscuit into his mouth, and then he took up the bowl of powder to sniff it, revealing a satisfied expression.

Feng Ping Lan widened his eyes, "Uh, sorry! May I ask, could it be that you're going to take a telephone card and a straw to take in that powder next?" Goodness! It looked like other than guarding against enemies of the demons, he would also need to worry about drug detectors coming to inspect them.

"The heck are you talking about!" Morris humphed, pouring the water and oatmeal into the bowl of powder, stirring it with a spoon before eating the pasty-shaped thing in the bowl.

This was unbelievable for Feng Ping Lan, "Is it okay to eat it like this?!"

"Morris likes wheat products, especially flour and whole-wheat biscuits. He'll choke if he eats the flour just like that, so he needs to add water." Conglong explained while drinking his local fresh milk.

"So it was just flour." Feng Ping Lan released a sigh of relief.

Simo's meal was much simpler, which was a whole bottle of Gaoliang wine and a pink mug. When she saw the bottle of alcohol on the table, she happily let out a little cheer, gracefully drinking it, but finished it after not even twenty seconds had pa.s.sed. The bottle was quickly emptied one cup after another.

"Simo likes alcohol."

"Won't she get drunk?" Feng Ping Lan saw this way of drinking, and couldn't help but to be left speechless.

"Of course she will." Conglong drank another mouthful of milk, "It's just very hard for it to happen."

The empty s.p.a.ce opposite Feng Ping Lan held a plate of sugar lumps and candy, as well as a bowl of honey and various amber-colored syrup. He guessed that it was Byriel's meal.

"Where's Byriel?"

"Who knows, that guy always does his own thing. n.o.body knows where he goes."

"It's fine if he doesn't come back, even the flour tastes bad when I have to share the same dinner table with him." Morris snorted in disdain.

"What about Quetzal?"

"Who knows, probably investigating."

"Aren't you guys curious?" Feng Ping Lan smiled foolishly, "He could have gone to a handshake event for an idol group! Haha!"

Conglong gave Feng Ping Lan a supercilious look, "It's not funny. Quetzal's not someone you can joke around with." An obvious reverement towards Quetzal leaked out from his words.

"Really…" Was it that scary?

Although he had only met him a few times, and they didn't really interact much, those few meetings only made him feel that Quetzal was a person that found it hard to express his emotions.

Not conveying those emotions did not mean that they did not exist.

The more he was treated coldly, the more he was ignored, the more he wanted to get closer and get a feel, get a feel of those emotions and feelings that were hidden underneath that icy-cold appearance…

"Your food is done." Dongya came from the entrance to the kitchen, wearing an ap.r.o.n and both hands empty, his expression a bit guilt-ridden, "Please forgive me, I'm not very sure if it's been heated up or not. It's currently in a blackened state, and it's giving off a not very refined odor…"

"What?" Feng Ping Lan froze.

Conglong gave him an expression that said 'I told you so'.

"You should come check it out for a moment, I'm not very understanding of the methods of cooking human food…"

Feng Ping Lan followed Dongya into the kitchen, and he stared blankly when he saw the circ.u.mstances inside it.

The smell of charred burning rubber hit his nose the moment he stepped into the kitchen, and the things that were on the gas stove were incredibly shocking as well.

A square-shaped iron net that looked like a sewer lid framed across the gas stove. There was something blackened on the iron net, and looking from the parts that were still glossy-looking, the blackened thing was made of plastic; the other parts had been reduced to scorched dry ash no matter what it had been before this.

"Wow, are you practicing alchemy? That's so awesome!" Feng Ping Lan glanced around, "Um, where are my noodles?"

Dongya indicated towards that thing on the gas stove in embarra.s.sment.

"Wahaha! How did it become like this? Is this a special method of cooking in the demon world? So cool!"

"I did everything according to the instructions on the packet…" Dongya explained awkwardly, "It said that I had to heat it separately from water, so I separated the soupy stuff into another bowl, and then I put the remaining stuff onto the fire to heat it up, and in the end it became like this."

"I-I see…" He didn't know that a simple method of cooking separately from water would have such a brand new way of interpretation, Chef Ah-Chi would probably concede defeat if he knew of this! "But this way of adding heat isn't very…"

"I'm sorry…" Dongya frowned in self-blame.

"It's okay! Haha, I'm not very hungry anyway, and I can still drink the soup. Just microwaving the soup would be fine."

"Oh, alright." Dongya gave him a thankful smile, picking up the iron bowl which held the soup before turning around, "I remember that the microwave oven—"

"You can't put metallic things into it!" Feng Ping Lan hurriedly went forth to take the bowl of soup, "Uh, I think it's better if I do it myself."

"Sorry, to trouble you even if you are a guest." Dongya apologized in embarra.s.sment, "Is just drinking soup enough? How about I give some of the others' food to you?"

Feng Ping Lan tilted his head to think for a moment, "Then I'd like to have some of those biscuits."

"Alright, no problem."

In the next moment, Donya had taken out the heated soup and a plate of biscuits to place in front of Feng Ping Lan.

Seeing the whole-wheat biscuits placed in front of Feng Ping Lan, Morris became displeased, "Why is he eating my biscuits again! This is already the second time!"

"Oh, then, to make it fair, you can have some of his food." Donya turned to enter the kitchen, and then he walked out, mittens on both hands, throwing the blackened thing in front of Morris. "Please enjoy."

"What the heck is this!" Morris disgustedly used two fingers to take the blackened piece, simply flicking it to throw it right into the bin.

"Treat this as your own home." Dongya sat in his seat, speaking gently. Incidentally, there was a bucket of vanilla ice-cream in front of him.  He used the scoop in his hands to put the ice-cream into his mouth, spoon after spoon.

Not long after dinnertime, the large TV they had bought this afternoon arrived. Conglong and Simo impatiently ran back to their rooms after receiving their laptops, closing their doors to do their own research.

Morris helped place the television and the refrigerator in their spots. He had originally wanted to sit down and watch television, but they hadn't installed a connection to the channels and the ones currently on did not catch his interest, so he could only resentfully return to his room.

Dongya did not know how to use most of the newly-bought electric appliances, so Feng Ping Lan taught Dongya how to use each one of them.

"You can control the wind-power here. This is the opening for changing the filter, you need to wash the filter at certain times." Feng Ping Lan pointed out the various b.u.t.tons on the vacuum cleaner.

"This is the detergent, here's the dryer. There are instructions for the amount of water and detergent to put in at the side. The model you bought is a huge-capacity was.h.i.+ng machine, so you should be able to put all your laundry in at once."

"As for the refrigerator, you can't put things that are too hot in there. You need to close the doors as soon as possible, or else it'll waste the electricity."

"This boiler has a heat-preservation system, just press the boil b.u.t.ton if you want the water to get hotter."

Feng Ping Lan was covered full of sweat after explaining all of the electronics. "That's all."

Dongya put down the notebook filled to the brim with notes, "I am just too grateful."

"It's really nothing, you can ask me anything later on as well." Feng Ping Lan wiped off his sweat, looking around for a while, suddenly realizing that they were missing something very important, "Ah, we forget to buy the air-conditioner! I'll get pretty hot before the Mid-Autumn Festival arrives."

"Air-conditioner?" Dongya thought for a while, "Is that the thing that gives out cold air?"

"Yes."

"If it's cool air to decrease the heat…" Dongya waved his finger, a ray of silver light flowing from his fingertips to circle beside Feng Ping Lan.

In that moment, he could feel something freshly cooling enveloping him, immediately decreasing the temperature by quite a lot.

"That's so convenient!" Feng Ping Lan praised, "Demons are really great! They can even control the natural elements!"

To have such strong creatures live quietly in the human world, not being discovered by the people was really unfathomable!

"The ones that are great are the humans." Dongya smiled lightly, "Humans are powerless, but they can control any attribute of the elements, and can summon demons as their servants. In comparison, the demons who seem great are just like insignificant laughingstock to them…"

Feng Ping Lan realized that Dongya seemed a bit desolate, hurriedly changing the subject, "How long are you guys planning to stay in the human world?" To buy these many appliances, it felt like they were going to stay for a long term…

"We're not sure. We basically have to find Prince Shuekan first, and we'll plan on what to do later. We might spend quite a lot of time here."

"Oh…" Feng Ping Lan nodded his head, "Is Prince Shuekan your superior?"

"Not just that. Prince Shuekan is our master, as well as the most important person to us."

"More important than your family?"

"We are Discarded Citizens, so we do not have family."

Feng Ping Lan froze, "Uh, um, when you say you have no family… Is it something to do with the way you guys reproduce? As in demons don't… mm, go through certain physical activities to exchange certain products to get pregnant, so they don't have anything considered as parents?"

"Discarded Citizens are levels of the lowest ranks, and the parents of Discarded Citizens do not usually take care of their children, because it is hard to survive even for themselves."

Dongya spoke pensively, "In the demon world, the Royal Clan are the rulers, and their standings are higher than any other clan. The other clans are then divided into three categories: the highest are of the n.o.bles; the Common People are next; with the Discarded Citizens at the lowest ranking. Discarded Citizens have been abandoned by their own clans, for many reasons such as committing a crime, regarded as taboo or losing a battle. Discarded Citizens do not have a place in the demon world, and are only left at the borders of the country to live without purpose.

"Various n.o.bles serve different princes, and the princes will choose their servants from these various families, to become the future aides to the fight for the throne."

Dongya paused for a moment, a look of reverence and gratefulness appearing on his face, "But Prince Shuekan did not just choose his servants from those n.o.ble families. He chose the lowly us amongst the Discarded Citizens, and let us who were on the brink of death to have the right to be worth living."

"I see…" Feng Ping Lan listened quietly, momentarily not knowing how to reply.

He had only seen the interesting and novel side of the demons, yet he did not know of the heavy past that they carried.

He suddenly felt that the manner in which he had treated Dongya and the others, was just too shallow.

He had originally wanted to ask if Dongya wanted to bind a contract with him, to let him be better off in the human world. He didn't know just how important the Twelfth Prince was to these demons.

He could feel the deep bonds between the prince and these six demons. This kind of bond, was something an outsider could never simply cut through or replace.

He was an outsider…

A feeling of loss and desolateness swept across his heart and caught him off guard.

"Mm! I hope you guys find him soon!" Feng Ping Lan forced a smile, "Or you might receive a taxes form if you guys stay too long, hahaha!"

Dongya returned a gentle smile.

After showering, Feng Ping Lan felt incredibly tired. He had been busy for practically the whole day, and it was until now that he could relax, so his tiredness and sleepiness came upon him, urging him to go to sleep.

On his way back to his room, he met Byriel in the hallway.

"Hi, good evening."

"You really do some unnecessary things." Although Byriel's expression was smiling, his tone revealed an intense resentment, "You look like you're scheming something, yet you don't look like it. Have you hidden your state of mind to extreme perfection, or is it that you're just simply an idiot?"

"Aiya, although I don't want to admit it, isn't the answer pretty obvious? Hahaha."

Byriel stared at Feng Ping Lan for a moment, "To be honest with you, I don't hate you."

"Thanks!"

Byriel smiled lightly, taking out a piece of paper from his pocket, putting it in front of Feng Ping Lan, "Here."

"What's this?" Feng Ping Lan took it, looking at it to see that it was a movie ticket for a show on Sunday, six o'clock till eight o'clock. "You're giving this to me? Why?"

"I don't need it. You keep it." Byriel said indifferently, not explaining the reason.

"Oh oh! Alright! Thanks!" Feng Ping Lan took the movie ticket happily, "I'll think of something to repay you!"

Byriel waved his hand elegantly, looking pretty disapproving, and turned to leave the hallway.

Back to his room. Feng Ping Lan straddled his bed, lying down.

His bed was covered in the newly-bought bed sheets they got today, with the newly-bought quilt and pillows. The bed sheets had been washed once while trying out the new was.h.i.+ng machine, and the washed bed sheets and quilt had been dried by Dongya's strong wind. On the soft bed sheets and quilt, was the fragrance of laundry detergent. He had chosen the type of laundry detergent, and it was the brand used by his old home.

The entire bed had the smell of the bedroom in his old home.

Feng Ping Lan closed his eyes.

He suddenly felt very at ease, a peacefulness that he hadn't had before. He hadn't felt like this for a very long time.

He suddenly felt as if he had come home.

But the difference was, he wasn't the only one in this house.

He seemed to be able to hear, that on another floor, the sound of Conglong and Simo conversing about the computer, the sound of Dongya doing housework, and the sound of the TV broadcast— he guessed that Morris had gone to watch it again. Byriel was very quiet, and who knew what he was doing. He glanced at the wall connecting to the next room.

Who knew when Quetzal was going to come home…

His spread-out fingers moved unconsciously.

He wanted to touch it again… That beautiful and powerful creature…

In the moonless night, the lights of the city glittered more brilliantly than those in the sky.

Zephaniah Academy's enormous school compound was covered in gloom, with only a few streetlamps s.h.i.+ning to vaguely outline the silhouette of the buildings. The dormitory buildings that were lit up after dark were also deadly silent in the darkness due to the students returning home.

Central administrative platform. The snow-white cross had been dyed by the darkness, and under the weak ray light of the stars, a fine and hazy shadow pulled over the ground.

A long and tall silhouette appeared abruptly from behind the cross' shadow, as if it had peeled off from the darkness.

Quetzal stood on the highest platform of the school, overlooking the entire compound.

He gazed at the distant horizon. The cryptic vortex of black clouds on the dorms had become less concentrated due to the elimination of s.e.xual demons yesterday, but the abnormalities caused the lower-level demons kept on expanding.

Quetzal looked apathetically at the roll of clouds, disapprovingly moving his gaze back towards the school compound.

Although the creepy clouds were very conspicuous, they were just caused by a few small fry, and were not the reason that he had appeared at this place at this exact moment.

The one that he cared about, was the school itself…

At first, he had thought of this school as a place protected by the Supreme G.o.d, but he had noticed something irrational when that cloud demon had appeared.

Although the reason why the lower-levels had gathered was unknown, the thing that astonished him was that even though there was already a variation in the environment, even though the sickly aura brought by the lower-levels had affected the students, it hadn't even contaminated the place by half. Just like water sprinkled on gla.s.s, although it caused the gla.s.s to become cloudy, it did not affect the gla.s.s itself.

Most importantly, every time he pa.s.sed through this place, he'd get a peculiar feeling.

As if he was being observed, a feeling of being watched by somebody.

A seemingly normal school, yet it gave him an unnatural feeling. Just like an orange oakleaf, with their brilliant camouflage abilities, but you could sense something out of sorts with the environment after staring at them for a longer period of time.

Conglong and Simo had bound a contract with a human, and that was their own choice. He could understand, but he couldn't allow himself to go onto that particular step.

His master would always be the one and only Prince Shuekan.

Quetzal breathed in deeply, and the shadow under his feet started to expand and grow like black tide, stretching out rapidly and silently to envelop the entire school compound.

When the shadow had covered every corner, he felt his solar plexus and throat cramp, a violent stifling feeling coming forth, and he almost sunk to his knees due to being unable to adapt to it.

Quetzal supported his body, striving to adjust to the pain caused by the environment's rejection. Other than pain, the one that he couldn't stand was the dryness in his throat, the constriction caused by extreme thirst…

The time and strength that he had were flowing away bit by bit.

Quetzal steadied himself, extending his left palm, and the black shadow of his fingertips concentrated into black water, dripping from the high area to incite a circling ripple above the shadow he had spread earlier.

Whatever secret it was hiding… Let him see it!

Before the ripples could return to Quetzal, a purple shadow blade cracked down from above, pa.s.sing through the entire school dormitory to snap the black shadowy surface in half.

The thick concentrated shadows instantaneously dispersed into two sides, returning to their original manifestations of secluded rays of light.

Quetzal was surprised, but was immediately on guard and readied himself for battle.

It was a demon's spell. There was another demon present here?!

To be able to break his barrier with just one attack was at least at the level of a brigadier general. Was it someone from the Royal Clan? The soldiers of other princes? Or was it—

A Demon Slayer?

Quetzal swept his eyes over his surroundings in alertness, withstanding all the areas that the attacks could come from, probing out any hints of a demon's existence.

But, the school compound was standing in silence, and he wasn't able to sense anything unusual with the peacefulness and serenity it exuded.

Quetzal frowned.

d.a.m.n it, his strength and power had been weakened by the environment, and even his senses had begun to slow down and degenerate…

He couldn't guarantee, that he could escape safely if the enemy used all his power to face him.

Shua!

Faint demonic power fluctuated, using extreme speed to charge towards where he was.

It had come!

From which direction? Front, back, left, right? No!

It was from above!

Met with imminent peril, Quetzal revolved his body to avoid the large sword that had split through the ground.

But he had overestimated his own remaining strength, and his speed had slowed by a thousandth of a second. Although he had not been directly pierced by that sword, the demonic power that was carried by the sword had brushed past his back, critically injuring his vitality. He heavily coughed out a mouthful of blood.

As the sword cut down, it pa.s.sed through the ground and through the building, without a trace to be seen.

In the next moment, it rose from the ground, stabbing out.

Quetzal gritted his teeth, leaping into the air. He furiously lifted his hand, flicking it as he descended.

Crack!

A flash of lightning fell from the sky, striking the large sword. The entire sword gave out an ear-piercing metallic clas.h.i.+ng sound, falling to the ground.

Taking advantage of this, Quetzal extended his hand once again, and the shadows present on the floor rose like a wave, enveloping him.

When the waves of shadows fell, Quetzal's silhouette had already vanished to nothing.

At one end of the school dormitories, a certain cla.s.sroom in the school building.

"Do we chase after him?" A sweet female voice asked.

"Enough. Let him go."

"…Why?" A weak male voice that had a bit of anger in it asked resentfully, "Those guys have been running amok in the school compound in these past few days. They even destroyed the girl dorms yesterday!"

"Oh, but I feel that they're pretty interesting. Don't you think that they're quite lively?"

"That's because they aren't under your jurisdiction! I'm the unlucky one that has to take responsibility! Do you know how many pages I have to write for the report! —Cough cough!"

"This is the Director's decision, you can go file a complaint with him if you're not satisfied." A deep male voice had a bit of impatience in it, the sound of ice crunching beneath his teeth coming from his mouth.

"What's the Director thinking?"

"Go ask him."

"Someone who can control more than three S-level demons is just a monster. A monster's way of thinking cannot be understood." The female voice said delicately, "But, it's pretty charming."

"Wait for another two days. The deadline the Director gave was a week. Another two days, and if the situation heads towards what we expect it to be…" The voice that was crunching on ice cubes paused for a moment, "If that happens, that's when we interfere and clean them up."

The residence up the mountain.

The shadows of the trees in the courtyard were spa.r.s.ely dispersed, but they suddenly swayed as if a strong wind had blown past the branches. But it was not caused by the wind, the leaves did not make a single move.

An arrow-like shadow shot towards the residence, changing direction to move up to the window on the third floor.

Static electricity sounded through the empty room, and then, a tall and long figure rose up from the floor.

Quetzal tumbled to kneel heavily on the ground, a hand supporting his body, another to tightly grip his throat.

He breathed heavily, but the air couldn't seem to enter his lungs. It wasn't because his throat was injured, but due to extreme hunger that his physical body was protesting against him.

The damage caused by the seal, the environment's consumption of his strength, and the attack he had suffered earlier. Quetzal now stood on a precipice, about to collapse at any time. His natural instincts were all constricting his willpower, urging him to satisfy his most desired thirst.

Quetzal growled, grasping his hand tightly, constraining himself.

He was hungry…

He needed to eat…

But what he consumed was different from other demons, and the reason why his clan had been marked as forbidden was due of what they ate, issued as Discarded Citizens by the Royal Clan ever since the olden times.

The violent hunger shuddered once more within the depths of his soul, Quetzal's heart constricting fiercely, the severe pain caused him to strike unbearably against the wall.

Thump!

On the other side of the wall, Feng Ping Lan who was deep asleep was roused awake, flipping his body over to tumble to the ground.

Feng Ping Lan blearily sat up, rubbing his eyes, looking around.

Ah… what happened? Was it a nightmare?

After sluggishly lapsing for a moment, he grabbed his head. He needed to pee… Toilet toilet.

He wore his shoes, walking out the door.

As he went past the room next door, a deeply smothered groan grabbed his attention.

Was someone there? Had Quetzal come back?

The door was closed slightly, and Feng Ping Lan pushed it open. Quetzal turned around in alert, both of those eyes s.h.i.+ning a demonic claret light, glaring at the intruder.

"Uh, hi! G-good evening?" Feng Ping Lan hadn't expected Quetzal to be in this position, and he was a bit not sure what to do. "You came back so late, did you go catch a rhinoceros beetle? Hahaha!"

"Why are you here!" d.a.m.n it, why was it at this particular moment—

"Uh, because I drank a few extra cups of water before sleeping so I need to use the toilet now, and the toilet is at the end of the hallway, so I coincidentally walked past—"

"I'm asking you why are you in this house! Ugh!" Quetzal groaned painfully.

The thirst in his body urged him to move, every single blood vessel in him clamoring, piercing his nerves.

Although they were more than two meters apart, although his senses were faltered, and right now he could still sense the smell on Feng Ping Lan's body, that live blood under the skin, flowing by the beating of the heart's movements.

He was thirsty…

His body was, his soul as well…

"Are you alright?" Feng Ping Lan walked towards Quetzal, asking worriedly.

As he came near, the smell became even more condensed, and it was as if his rationality was about to be drowned out, intoxicated by that concentrated blood. He wanted to let go of his instincts, but due to his strong willpower, he clung obstinately to his perimeters.

"Leave!" Quetzal roared.

Feng Ping Lan did not move back due to this, nearing further instead, "You don't feel well?"

"None of your business, human." Quetzal moved back a step, "Leave this place. Don't test my patience, killing someone is the one thing I don't mind doing right now…" His mouth said a few threatening things, but a shadow of dread rose in his eyes.

But Feng Ping Lan came closer even more, "You're sick?" He knew that sick patients were usually bad-tempered, and would even say some hurtful things. Because he had experienced it before.

Quetzal's lips were cracked dry, both eyes deeply melancholic. His face was paler than it had been before this, and his skin that used to be white as snow carried a sickly gray tint.

Ah… How did it become like this… It made him feel very unwilling to let go…

"I told you to lea—"

Feng Ping Lan extended a hand, placing it on Quetzal's face.

Quetzal froze. It had happened so fast, and he couldn't react quickly enough. It was just an instant, but it felt like a long while, as if his little moments very slowing down ten times than usual, every pore, every inch of flesh sensing Feng Ping Lan's touch.

The warm hand stuck to his face, so gentle it made him astonished, that this boorish and silly creature could make such tender movements.

The palm slowly caressed his cheek. He could feel the warmth of the hand, feel the beating of the pulse. He could hear the sound of the blood flowing underneath the skin, that dark red source of life that was the very thing he thirsted for the most at the moment!

Quetzal wanted to resist, wanted to tell Feng Ping Lan to get away, but as he tried to open his mouth, he realized that he couldn't make a sound.

His awareness was forced into submission at that very moment.

Right now, his mouth opened, not to speak, but to—

Consume.

"Quetzal?" Feng Ping Lan realized the change in his expression.

The cold and pale hand suddenly attacked, seizing Feng Ping Lan's shoulder. The dry and cracked mouth extended open to reveal a set of sharp teeth advancing towards Feng Ping Lan's neck, biting violently.

The instant the sharp teeth pierced the skin, Feng Ping Lan let out a smothered groan of pain.

It hurt a lot.

"Quetzal?" He called out lightly to test.

He felt a bit afraid, a bit confused, but he didn't cry out.

Feng Ping Lan remembered a time when a huge dog near his house had been hit by a car, and that heavily injured dog had huddled by the corner of the street, helplessly yet guardedly facing anyone who pa.s.sed by. He had brought food before it, wanting to touch that dog, but he had been ruthlessly bitten instead.

Just like the Quetzal right now, weak yet vicious. With the brutal eyes of cautiousness, full of helplessness, desperation, and deep solitariness.

Feng Ping Lan placed a hand on Quetzal who was drinking by his neck, lightly patting his head, and then sliding down through his spine to pat his back lightly.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Quetzal woke up as if from a dream as he heard this, regaining his consciousness. He jumped away from Feng Ping Lan as if he had been shocked by electricity, retreating to the window.

His mouth was stained with blood, both pairs of eyes suffused with purple light, looking extremely frightening. But Feng Ping Lan could see that Quetzal was now different from the weak disposition he had earlier, the ashen and sickly look on his face now gone, his complexion and vitality also with increased health.

"Wow." Feng Ping Lan couldn't help but sigh in admiration, "You look so much better, haha!"

Quetzal glared at Feng Ping Lan, not saying a word. He saw the bloodstains on Feng Ping Lan's neck, and let out a remorseful groan of pain, an expression of self-hatred and blame appearing on his face.

"Quetzal?"

"Don't come near me."

Quetzal took a step back, his figure quickly blending into the darkness, vanis.h.i.+ng without a trace.

Feng Ping Lan was fixed at his original position, completely unable to make sense of the situation. He just knew that his blood had been sucked out.

He extended a hand to touch his neck. It was a bit moist, but the wound had already completely healed by itself, with just two little needle-sized holes left behind.

Wow, that was really amazing…

He glanced towards the corner where Quetzal had disappeared.

What had happened? When he had entered the room, Quetzal had looked like he was in pain, so had he been injured? Had he been attacked by someone? Or was it caused by his weakening strength? Also, why did he suddenly suck out his blood? Could it be that Quetzal's source of food was human blood?

Countless questions circulated his brain, but the thing he cared about the most was—

With just that little amount of blood, was it enough? Was he alright?

After standing at his position for a while, he was pulled back into reality by his urge to pee.

"Toilet toilet…"

Stepping out of the room, he finished his business and went back to his room, lying once again on that comfortable bed.

He observed the silence of the room next to his, but right up till he went back to sleep, it was still quiet and soundless.

After that, Quetzal never appeared again, and Byriel was nowhere to be seen. In those two days of the weekend, Feng Ping Lan accompanied Conglong and the others in the house and thought them how to use the internet, as well as a.s.sisting Dongya in tidying the rooms.

In the afternoon, Feng Ping Lan and Dongya were in the kitchen preparing the food, with Dongya preparing the food for the demons while he prepared his own. After learning his lesson, he didn't dare to leave his food in Dongya's hands anymore.

Opening the refrigerator, Feng Ping Lan noticed a box of cherries that they had bought yesterday, that remained unopened ever since they had bought them.

"Who eats these cherries?"

Byriel ate sweets, Simo drank liquor, Conglong drank milk, Morris ate wheat flour, and Dongya's was ice cream. Then, for whom were the cherries for?

Could it be for Quetzal? If it was like this, why did he drink his blood last night?

"That's Quetzal's." As Dongya said this, Feng Ping Lan blinked, "He likes the fragrance of cherries. He doesn't want anybody to know about this."

"Oh." So was his blood cherry-flavored? Sounded like something out of a fantasy. "Then… why doesn't he eat it?"

Feng Ping Lan was originally going to ask about the blood-sucking thing, but his intuition told him that the matter about Quetzal sucking his blood was best kept a secret.

For that arrogant and majestic creature to reveal a wretched stance towards a human, he would probably feel very upset.

"Because that's not his main source of food. Cherries won't end Quetzal's hunger…" Dongya's expression became slightly helpless, "His type of food is different from other demons."

"Is it human blood?" Feng Ping Lan blurted out.

Dongya was astonished, "How did you know?"

Realizing that he'd said too much, Feng Ping Lan gave a hollow laugh, "Uh, I must be naturally gifted to be able to guess it, hahaha."

Dongya stared at Feng Ping Lan for a moment, very obviously not believing his words, but he didn't press it.

"Human blood is one of them." Dongya lowered his voice pensively, "The Feathered Serpent Clan consumes the blood of its own species. They mostly drink blood, but a small percentage of them eat the flesh and internal organs. They eat demons in the demon world, and they eat humans in the human world. Feathered Serpents only need to eat once in a while, and they only need to consume a little to maintain a very long period of strength. This sort of eating habit isn't actually harmful towards others, but eating your own species' blood and flesh is looked upon as a forbidden conduct in the demon world. Adding on to the fact that Feathered Serpents have a great amount of demonic power, they were feared by other clans, so they were annihilated and purged by the Royal Clan's army ever since the ancient times. The remaining survivors of the clan were thrown into the Discarded Citizens category…"

"Is that so…" Indeed, Quetzal had only taken a bit of his blood, and he hadn't even felt the slightest anemic. The nosebleed from before had actually caused him to lose more blood.

"You seem to care a lot about Quetzal."

"I think that he's very cool! He's handsome and cool and good-looking! I'd definitely buy his merch!" Feng Ping Lan said this without glossing over it, his tone almost like a child infatuated with Kamen Rider.

Dongya smiled lightly, "Indeed. Although Quetzal's stern demeanor makes him seem unapproachable, it is very charismatic. There were quite a lot of officers and soldiers under the Twelfth Prince who wors.h.i.+ped him before this. But Quetzal hates this sort of attention."

"It's cooler this way!"

At night, Feng Ping Lan purposely walked past Quetzal's room, glancing secretly into the room, but it was still empty as usual.

Getting on his bed, he lay down and faced the wall separating his room and the next, listening for the sound of activity in that room. But right until he slept, until he woke up, no one had come back to the room next door.

The weekend off leisurely came to an end. Although he hadn't done much, Feng Ping Lan felt like the time had pa.s.sed quickly, too quickly that he was unwilling to part with it.

At five-thirty in the evening, Feng Ping Lan packed his things, straddling over his bicycle and said goodbye to the people in the house.

"You're welcome to visit again," Dongya spoke while smiling.

"Mmmm! I will!"

"Hey hey! Wait!" Conglong hurriedly ran from the house, "My email's a bit weird, I just got sent a message from someone I don't know! How does he know my email, I don't even know him! Why did he send a bunch of long-winded information to me?"

"That's just an advertis.e.m.e.nt post. It's lying, and the email will have a virus, so don't ever open it."

"I've already opened it!" Conglong was shocked, revealing a grievous and lamenting expression, "I did no wrong to him, why does he want to harm me?!"

"Uh, this is pretty normal. There's an antivirus program anyway, so there should be no problem. Be careful next time."

"And and and—"

"Conglong, he needs to go back to his dorm. You'll have a chance to meet tomorrow." Dongya reminded gently.

Conglong reluctantly grumbled for a moment, and reminded before he went, "Remember to go online when you get back, I'll ask you then."

"Yesyesyes."

Feng Ping Lan waved at Conglong and Dongya, stepping on the pedals to slowly leave.

On the balcony of the second floor, a languid golden figure leaned on his hand, watching the distant silhouette of Feng Ping Lan and curling his lip.

Have fun.

As the silhouette gradually vanished on the path down the mountain, Byriel stood up.

Time to move…

He opened his mouth, preparing the spell for flight, but as he had just chanted a few words he started coughing heavily, unable to stop. His throat felt scorchingly painful, even reeking of blood.

There was not enough time, he needed to be quicker… As long as tonight was over…

Byriel breathed a few times, evening out his discomfort. He then launched the spell and summoned the golden mist, flying towards Zephaniah Academy's male dormitories.

Feng Ping Lan pa.s.sed through the city center on his bicycle, heading towards the cinema in the most bustling street area.

He took out the movie ticket Byriel had given him. It was twenty minutes before