My Demon Friends-Chapter 669 - 630 When Singing

It was nearing the end of the term again.

It was time to write papers again.

Zhou Li opened a notebook, spread a clean A4 paper over it, and fixed it in place. The horizontal lines faintly visible through the A4 paper meant he wouldn't have to worry about veering off as he wrote.

The female version of the Old Monster was on the upper bunk, poking her head out to stare at him, her hair hanging down, "The illiterate is going to copy homework again, huh?"

Zhou Li ignored her, merely taking out a fountain pen.

Just then, the Old Monster suddenly looked up towards the outside. "Has Her Highness been coming to look for you much these days?"

"Not much," Zhou Li answered.

"Really..." Huai Xu didn't quite believe it.

"What's up?" Zhou Li countered.

"She's here."

"Huh?" Zhou Li was a bit puzzled. "It's daytime."

"It's probably because... Li Daimao was up all night playing games with me last night," Huai Xu mused. "That scoundrel really got me good."

"Oh, so what excuse will the murderous Great Devil King use to hide this time?"

"What do you mean?" Huai Xu frowned, turned over, and withdrew her upper body from the edge of the bed as if she didn't want to see Zhou Li anymore. Only her voice carried, "I won't hide! Today I'll stay right here and see what she can do to me!"

"I see."

Zhou Li, while speaking leisurely, screwed the cap back onto his fountain pen and stood up to walk towards the balcony.

Glancing down—

A girl with a cowlick was standing on the ground below, tall and slender, with a backpack over her shoulders, looking up at him. The morning sun cast her shadow, which also bore a cowlick.

When their eyes met, she raised her hand and waved energetically.

Zhou Li turned and went downstairs.

A moment later, he was downstairs, sitting on the edge of a flower bed in the shade of a tree, about a foot away from His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, who looked like a high school student with her backpack.

Zhou Li softly asked, "You've been pretty busy lately?"

"Sort of..."

The Elm King said with a grin, "Why are you students so boring these days? Always reading some nonsensical books, all about flowers and animals and whatnot."

Zhou Li replied, "Because we're from the School of Life Sciences. We specifically study the creatures in this world, and we also have some elective courses. As for those ancient sage's books, we no longer read them now. Only students before university or in certain specific university majors study parts of them."

The Elm King didn't seem too interested either. She took off her backpack, pulled out a metal dice about the size of a pigeon's egg with regular facets on its surface, and tossed it to Zhou Li.

"Here you go!"

"What?"

Zhou Li was startled and quickly caught it.

It felt cool and weighty in his hand.

He looked down. It seemed indeed to be a dice.

This dice had many facets, surely more than ten. It seemed to be made primarily of copper, with gold and silver decorations, inlaid with gems and jade of different colors, making it very colorful—with at least gold, silver, yellow, white, red, green, and blue, among others. The many facets were engraved with numbers and text, bearing the marks of time.

Zhou Li examined it closely.

The text included words like wine, dance, and song.

The Elm King sat with her legs apart, hands propped on her knees, and spoke forthrightly, "I used to play with this, but now it's yours! I damaged your pen, so this is compensation. When I have time, I'll teach you how to play with this thing."

"It's not damaged, though."

"Damaged is damaged," the Elm King waved her hand dismissively. "I saw you flick your pen a few times. That pen of yours isn't cheap; I'm guessing it shouldn't behave like that."

"I can still write with it..."

"Don't be polite with me. Take it as it is. This isn't valuable to me."

"Oh."

Zhou Li paused for a moment. Since you're being so generous, "Actually, both pens are a bit..."

Having said it, he sneakily observed the girl next to him.

She looked as uncomfortable as if she had swallowed a fly, but still reached into her bag again and took out a small red leather crossbody bag.

"This is for you too!"

Zhou Li accepted it and casually glanced at it.

This small crossbody bag was about the same size as a modern ladies' bag, with a square design, simple yet clever and exquisite. It was hard to imagine it being a product from many years ago. Stamping an LV or Hermes logo on it wouldn't feel out of place at all. The aesthetics and craftsmanship of the ancients could sometimes cause a sense of temporal disorientation.

However, Zhou Li certainly wouldn't wear it out.

Obviously, it and the Eighteen-sided Dice he'd received earlier were both worth a fortune. It was best kept for collection.

Moreover, it was clear that His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, was quite fond of this bag. Judging by the Elm King's and Brother Nan's similar natures, if Zhou Li used it often, flaunting it in front of her, it might lead to her harboring feelings of discontent, which could erupt like thunder.

"Thank you, Your Highness. How many years old is this?"

"No, don't mention it!" His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, was quite gracious. "If I remember correctly, it should be from the Tang Dynasty."

"It's still like new."

"I kept it in the Old Land World; of course, it wouldn't rot."

"You went back to the Old Land World?"

"Yes, I just went back for a visit and summoned Lin Zhong," His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, sighed and became serious. "You can rest assured now. The matter has been resolved properly, and if nothing unexpected happens, the kind of disputes we had before won't occur again."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"What is the reason?"

"The reason..." The Elm King's expression calmed down, becoming strangely serene. "Actually, whether it's Lin Zhong or Ling'an, both are merely trying out different paths. My awakening already means that the major route Yu Country has been putting great effort into exploring is starting to see the light. This path is also the one Master Ming and we sought together, which he deduced using the Mirror Zone. Given this situation, it's natural that exploration of other routes should temporarily slow down so that all the energy of the Demons can be focused entirely on this path, unless it's proven to be impassable."

Zhou Li pondered over it several times before asking,

"Which path?"

"Migration."

"Migration?"

"Yes."

The Elm King nodded and continued, "Thanks to the power of humans in this era, with your help, we've found another planet similar to Earth, which doesn't have any animals yet. So, once other preparations were nearly complete, Master Ming passed away, and I awakened."

"I see..."

Zhou Li was startled, momentarily stunned.

He had seen this news.

He was also aware of Yu Country's Migration Plan.

He remembered when he first saw the news, Huai Xu had discussed with him the feasibility of Yu Country moving to that planet, which also mentioned the fall of Master Ming.

Huai Xu thought it was a conspiracy theory.

Zhou Li took all else seriously; the only exception was the conspiracy theory regarding the death of Master Ming.

But hearing what the Elm King said...

The Old Monster (Huai Xu) was surprisingly insightful!

Zhou Li pursed his lips and asked, "What do these two have to do with the Migration Plan?"

The Elm King glanced at a passing classmate, waited for him to walk by, and then replied, "Because in the Mirror Zone's thousands of deductions, there are only two difficult issues with this plan that even the collective power of our race struggles to solve.

"One is that the Old Land World already spent a huge price to come here, and another migration might suffer from energy constraints.

"Two, since the Old Land World arrived here, it has merged with the Will of your World. Or, to put it another way, it has been captured by your World's Will. It might see it as prey, or already consider it a part of this star field and this planet. Therefore, attempting another migration, a change, would mean facing resistance from your World's Will.

"Master Ming's passing as a Demon, not through natural decay but at the peak of his strength, will channel a large amount of energy back to the Old Land World, barely compensating for the deficiencies.

"Me, parasitizing within the Child of Destiny's body, can also resolve the problem with the World's Will resistance.

"This is the only method deduced by the Mirror Zone that allows the Demon race to continue without resorting to war. Otherwise, war would break out. Up to the present, deduced outcomes still show that we would win, but the cost is increasingly high, so some are becoming less and less willing to wait."

After listening, Zhou Li remained silent, deep in thought.

So that was it...

The Old Monster (Huai Xu) truly was exceptionally perceptive.

「A few minutes later—」

The Elm King turned to look at him. "Hey, are you going to talk or not? I don't have much time left, only a little over two hours. I've wasted most of it on the journey."

"Oh..."

Zhou Li came back to his senses, his expression growing solemn again. "But what if the Migration Plan fails? Will you resort to war?"

"That question..."

The Elm King looked at him with a teasing smile, then became serious again after a moment,

"My answer is...

"Yu Country would not agree, and neither would I."

Seeing Zhou Li's expression still solemn, she continued, "Worry a little less. When we had the highest chance of winning, we didn't do it. So what are you worried about now?

"Actually, humans are a very fragile species.

"Don't be upset; it's because you are still too young. So, even if you wield great destructive power, your hearts are still fragile.

"You have too much desire and ambition, too much selfishness, too much cruelty... If we wanted to destroy humanity, we wouldn't even need to resort to war. Do you know the Confusing God? Ha, we could make humans destroy themselves. Hmm, even without our intervention, you might achieve this feat on your own.

"But we are a species that came back from the brink of destruction ourselves. We know too well the taste of a race being obliterated.

"It sounds simple. It's just a word—just four characters in your language, right? But if you look closely, it's a fear and despair beyond words."

The Elm King spoke to herself, gazing into the distance. She was using Brother Nan's body and usually had a free-spirited and unrestrained personality, but at this moment, her eyes were exceptionally profound. "You can see old friends, known for most of a lifetime, their friendships ending here. You can see deeply affectionate lovers; they will have no more stories. You can see an innocent young child, who should have had a life of infinite possibilities and wonders, also gone. You can imagine many touching stories, but none of them will have an ending.

"Therefore, we don't want the efforts of our ancestors to be in vain. For this, we struggle desperately, but we also refuse to push another species to that brink for the continuation of our own."

After listening, Zhou Li didn't respond.

Honestly, he somewhat understood, yet also didn't. Perhaps this was the greatest difference between humans and Demons.

When he came back to his senses, he was alone.

Zhou Li held the Eighteen-sided Dice, with the small red deerskin pouch beside him. Before getting up to leave, he suddenly turned to the side and tossed the dice.

RATTLE-RATTLE...

The dice rolled on the uneven tile surface, quickly coming to a stop.

"Song, huh..."

Zhou Li picked up the dice and walked back to the dormitory.