My Demon Friends-Chapter 614 - 587 Noon Dusk

In the blink of an eye, it was already the end of March.

The temperature in Chunming was noticeably warmer. In recent days, it had stabilized at around 26 degrees Celsius. The direct afternoon sunlight made it feel even hotter, while classrooms felt cool and dim. Anyway, Zhou Li and Brother Nan were already wearing short sleeves when they went out. He genuinely didn't mind the cold, while she, Brother Nan, had a bit of a tough streak.

In contrast, Zhou Li's enthusiasm for studying had plummeted!

Now, in class, he found it very hard to summon any enthusiasm for listening. Most of the time, he was daydreaming or playing on his phone, increasingly resembling Brother Nan.

His passion for studying spells was still being maintained, albeit with great difficulty, truly great difficulty.

「Tuesday noon.」

Today's schedule wasn't very packed, with only morning classes. After eating lunch with Brother Nan, he returned to the dorm for a satisfying nap.

Waking up at two-thirty, after playing with his phone for a while, he sat at his desk and took out his books and pen.

Teacher Zhou had assigned homework last week.

However, compared to the homework, he found the ancient books more interesting.

Even though the script in the old books was scrawled and blurry, and the classical Chinese was obscure, at least he could slowly decipher it, gaining a sense of satisfaction in the process.

The homework was truly boring. He had been doing it for over a decade and couldn't believe he still had to do it in university; his whole being resisted the idea.

Zhou Li forced himself to look up a couple of questions on Baidu. He suddenly noticed his nails were a bit long, so he took out his nail clippers and trimmed them. After finishing, he saw Tuanzi watching nearby. Without a word, he pulled Tuanzi over and forcibly trimmed her nails too, only then returning to his Baidu search.

Suddenly, he heard Chen Yang's cellphone ringtone—Wu Bai's "Norwegian Forest." An old classic song. It was rare for this guy to have such good taste.

Unfortunately, he only heard a short segment.

But... who could refuse listening to an old song by Wu Bai on a lazy afternoon with headphones on?

After listening to "Norwegian Forest," wouldn't one naturally follow it up with "Sudden Self"?

Unbeknownst to him, it was already five in the afternoon. Zhou Li, listening to Lin Zhixuan's version of "Your Appearance" echoing in his earphones, had only solved a third of the homework. He startled, picked up his phone to check messages, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Brother Nan had texted that she wouldn't be eating dinner with him. As his top supporter, she was going to meet a minor streamer she had been following for half a month for a meal.

This minor streamer was also from Cai University, apparently a third-year dance major senior. She had a good figure but wasn't very popular. Brother Nan often watched the streamer in a tank top, swaying her slender waist, and found a strange amusement in the fact that they both attended the same university.

Now he could continue with his homework.

Zhou Li put down his phone. He had barely started on one problem when he gradually smelled the enticing aroma of food from behind.

His stomach rumbled with hunger.

Tuanzi also tilted her little head beside him and asked, "Why aren't we eating when everyone else is, meow?"

"Let's go now."

So Zhou Li picked up his bowl and, followed by a little kitten, went to get his meal.

While eating, how could he not watch an episode of a variety show?

Twenty minutes later, having finished his meal and washed his bowl, Zhou Li stared at the long remaining progress bar of the variety show, intending to see it through to the end.

"Zhou Li, oh Zhou Li, you can't keep slacking off like this. This won't do!"

Closing his laptop, Zhou Li resolved to do nothing and think of nothing else; he had to finish his homework because it was due the next day, and he still had books to read in the evening. Lately, many things were prodding him to become stronger.

It wasn't until eleven o'clock that he finally completed his study plan for the day.

Hmm, I even exceeded it a bit.

Turning his head, he saw the Old Monster standing right behind him, having appeared out of nowhere. It looked down at him, nodding in satisfaction.

"You've been working very hard lately. I saw you studying this afternoon, and you're still at it. Hmm, I take back what I said before."

"..."

「The last day of March.」

The car Brother Nan ordered had arrived at the dealership.

On the way to pick up the car, her steps were light as she swung her helmet around. Every so often, a basketball hoop only she could see would appear on the road. Then she would dribble an imaginary ball, make a dash for a lay-up, and pretend to shoot with the helmet as if it were a basketball.

Of course, she didn't dare to actually throw it. It was brand new, costing several thousand, and she treasured it.

After retracting her hand, she would turn to Zhou Li and ask:

"Cool or not?"

"Childish," Zhou Li would reply.

Then, she would immediately retort, "You're the childish one!"

And so they would call each other childish, back and forth for a long stretch of the road, until Brother Nan was huffing and no longer speaking.

A little while later, she would see another "basket." This time, right after her "shot," she would immediately turn and call Zhou Li childish, feeling smug for getting her word in first.

She only toned it down when more people appeared ahead.

Zhou Li took this opportunity to ask curiously, "How did it go with that streamer senior yesterday?"

"What about it? What could have happened?" Brother Nan turned back and asked him dubiously, not forgetting to add, "You childish one!"

"Did you have a pleasant meet-up?"

"Of course, it was! Why wouldn't it be?"

Brother Nan was a talkative and sociable person; it was rare for anyone to feel uncomfortable around her. That senior was also a cheerful person. It was just that after meeting Brother Nan in person and learning how many followers her main account had, she felt a bit insecure.

Zhou Li nodded, quite envious. He would never be able to do such things, not even if he had money.

Of course, he wouldn't dare to, either. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Two hours later, Brother Nan, the 'ghost fire' teen, got the first motorcycle of her life.

She had ridden a 125cc motorcycle back in junior high, just without a license. So, as soon as she got the bike, she took it for a spin outside. With an excited smile, she braked sharply in front of Zhou Li, patted the back seat, and said to him, "Mudguard, in position!"

Zhou Li silently got on, wrapping his arms around Brother Nan's waist.

Brother Nan's waist was so thin and firm.

Pressed against her back, he could smell a faint fragrance from her clothes and hair. Everything about the person you like smells wonderful.

That afternoon, Zhou Li was left stupefied by the wind.

「Evening.」

Having learned his lesson from yesterday, Zhou Li first forced himself into a 'state of purified senses' and completed his reading tasks for the day. Only after finishing did he lie on his bed, unhurriedly stroking Tuanzi while fiddling with his phone, feeling an inexplicable sense of achievement.

He opened TikTok, intending to see if Brother Nan had posted a video of her afternoon motorcycle ride. But as soon as he launched the app, he was greeted by an image of an extraordinarily beautiful landscape.

It was accompanied by a piece of music common on TikTok a few years ago.

The image depicted a blood-red sky, with clouds like feathers plucked from red ink—an unnatural, eerie red.

The colors were clearly oversaturated, no longer resembling a sunset but rather a deep, blood red. The entire sky was stained with this eerie hue; normally, only the clouds or a part of the horizon would be tinged with such a burning color.

Zhou Li's gaze drifted downward to the caption—

"Border town, it's noon, and the entire sky has turned this color. It's like this for tens of kilometers around. What's going on?"

A few hashtags were interspersed within the text.

Zhou Li's brow furrowed. He discreetly clicked the search icon.

The top trending topic: Tengchong Crimson Sky.

Zhou Li clicked to read more and found that there was more than one video on this topic, from various angles. The earliest posts were from noon, and the one he had just scrolled to had the most likes and engagement. Some official accounts of local media outlets had also reposted it.

But when he searched online for more detailed reports, he found nothing.

Baidu really is useless these days, he thought. If you want an answer to a question, you're better off searching TikTok or Zhihu.

After about twenty minutes of browsing, when Zhou Li checked again, the trending topic had vanished. He quickly went to his 'Liked' videos. The ones he had liked and saved were still there, but he guessed they probably wouldn't appear in his feed anymore.

At the same time, he received a message from Yin Le.

Yin Le: A celestial phenomenon, it came without warning.