My Demon Friends

Chapter 729 690: Zoo

"Your Highness, we are taking Lord Dumpling to the zoo today," Zhou Li quietly glanced at the tall girl in front of him, his eyes flickering slightly.

Unless he was mistaken, there were still hickeys he'd left on the girl, and in rather intimate places. Yet their current interaction wasn't nearly as close, which felt quite odd.

"I didn't expect you to actually do it," the girl said indifferently, "but from what I know of her, she'll forget it later anyway."

"I will persist," Zhou Li said.

"You're only human. Even if you persist for a lifetime, how long is that?" After saying this, the girl laughed and casually changed the subject. "Since we promised her, let's go. I need to get ready."

"Okay."

"By the way—"

The girl turned her head back to look at him, her eyes narrowed slightly, a bit frightening. "You don't need to keep peeking at me, do you?"

Zhou Li pursed his lips.

About half a minute later—

A short wand, trailing radiant light, flew from the sky, entering the room through the balcony and landing in the girl's outstretched hand.

Then the girl, holding the wand, touched the forehead of the Little Cat Girl who stood obediently before her. The Little Cat Girl murmured, blinked her eyes, but showed no other change.

"All set."

With a casual toss, the wand automatically flew back along the path it had come.

"Your Highness, what happened?" the Little Cat Girl asked, touching her forehead and staring at the girl with blinking eyes.

"Now, ordinary people can see you too."

"MEOW?"

"Just for one day."

"OH~~"

Zhou Li, watching from the side, couldn't help but note that Her Highness had been rather thoughtful.

If Lord Dumpling were in her cat form, ordinary people could certainly see her. However, she probably wouldn't be allowed into the zoo, and if she snuck in and got caught, she might even be fined. On the other hand, transforming into the Little Cat Girl posed a new problem: communication. You can't take a child to the zoo without talking at all, right? Lord Dumpling was a very talkative little cat. While people might find someone talking to a cat acceptable, talking to thin air would be far too strange.

"You two figure out the rest," the girl said to Zhou Li.

"Yes."

Zhou Li looked at the Little Cat Girl.

The Little Cat Girl, feeling his gaze, tilted her head to look back at him. One hand clutched the girl's leg, and she began to wiggle, a bit impatient.

The Little Cat Girl indeed differed somewhat from ordinary little girls—

The Little Cat Girl always wore a variety of pretty little dresses. Initially, they were mostly traditional in style, but as she spent more time in modern society, her wardrobe gradually shifted to modern attire. Occasionally, at someone's request, she would change outfits to match pictures she saw online, but no matter what, she disliked wearing shoes.

Apart from being prettier, she also had fluffy cat ears on her head. Her normal ear locations were hidden by her hair; in fact, she had no ears there.

A fluffy cat tail protruded from behind her, always restlessly moving about.

Her head was slightly larger than that of other children her height.

Her eyes were very big—large and bright.

Actually, most of her features didn't need much concealment: as long as the Little Cat Girl didn't wiggle her ears, people would naturally assume they were just a hairpin. Her princess dress today was also quite lavish, its fluffy skirt almost completely covering her tail. A slightly larger head wasn't a problem either. Only her eyes were too distinctive; their proportions were clearly not something a normal human would possess.

"Lord Dumpling is still just a little cat, after all."

"Lord Dumpling is a Great Demon, you know!"

"Is that so..."

"Zhou Ni, when are we going, MEOW?"

"Soon."

Zhou Li asked Huai Xu to borrow a pair of dark-colored children's sunglasses and a goose-yellow cap, the same style as Baozi's—Baozi's shoes and hats weren't much different from children's sizes anyway.

After putting the sunglasses and hat on the Little Cat Girl, Zhou Li looked her over and felt quite satisfied.

The only thing to avoid was the Little Cat Girl's excessive beauty and cuteness. This could strongly attract humans and would easily gather a crowd of onlookers, inevitably giving them away. In such moments, he greatly missed Sister Hong Ran's innate ability—breathtakingly beautiful, yet somehow causing people to automatically overlook her.

"Ready, MEOW?"

"Ready."

"Can we go now, MEOW?"

"Yes, we can. I'll take Lord Dumpling out."

"No! I want to hold Her Highness's hand!"

"..."

Such a clear-cut refusal.

Zhou Li ignored the teasing gaze Huai Xu threw his way, sighed, and headed out, saying, "Lord Dumpling, you must be careful. Now that you're the Little Cat Girl, once we're in the zoo, you can't go around attracting attention like before... I mean, don't draw too many eyes, or others will notice."

"Lord Dumpling understands!"

As a Great Demon, Lord Dumpling certainly had a good sense of propriety. Zhou Ni was treating Lord Dumpling like a child, which she obviously was not.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, holding her hand, followed behind Zhou Li, smiling without a word.

「An hour later.」

Shentong Mountain Zoo.

At the entrance was the Peacock Garden, dominated by blue peacocks, with the slightly rarer white peacocks. They were almost free-range and not at all fearful of humans.

The moment Tuanzi saw the peacocks, she rushed over, grabbed the railing, pointed at them, and turned her head to shout at Zhou Li, "Zhou Ni! Peacocks! Lots of peacocks! Let's catch them and make roasted peacock!"

But she didn't dare to actually try to catch any.

Zhou Li hurried over and said, "You can't do that. Peacocks are so beautiful; we must protect them."

"Roasted peacock!!"

"..."

Zhou Li turned to look at His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, just grinned.

Zhou Li, feeling helpless, turned back and continued, "Peacocks have mothers too. If we catch them, their mothers will be sad."

"HM?"

That comment had struck a chord with Lord Dumpling.

The Little Cat Girl hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Then I won't catch them..."

"That's right."

Zhou Li lifted the Little Cat Girl into his arms. "We come to the zoo to make friends with the animals, to see them and get to know them, not to harm them."

The Little Cat Girl stayed quiet in his embrace and did not make a sound.

Lord Dumpling had such a kind heart; she was just being corrupted by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, with all that talk of roasting peacocks and camels...

A white peacock unfurled its feathers before them.

It was very beautiful.

After watching for a while, Zhou Li carried the Little Cat Girl and continued walking. The unassuming Little Cat Girl still possessed an infinite charm, drawing the gaze of nearly everyone around. It seemed humans had no resistance to cute things. Whenever this happened, Zhou Li could only turn his body, showing that he didn't want them to look, to avoid giving anything away.

"Zhou Ni! There's a Brain Axe!"

"Yes, a tiger."

"Brain Tiger!" Tuanzi repeated, blinking her eyes and asking, "Can Lord Dumpling grow that big too someday?"

"Yes, you can."

"Lord Dumpling wants to be even bigger."

"That's possible too."

"When that time comes, will Lord Dumpling also be locked up?" Tuanzi looked at Zhou Li, puzzled. "Lord Dumpling can sense it; they are very unhappy."

"..."

Zhou Li was stunned for a moment and sank into thought, but he couldn't come up with an answer. He began to doubt whether bringing Lord Dumpling to the zoo had been a mistake. After a while, he said, "No, Lord Dumpling won't be locked up. They're unhappy only because they have no friends here and no one to play with them, so they're just a bit bored."

"Oh..."

Tuanzi quickly forgot about this and ran to another area, getting closer to the Lion Garden.

"The Brain Axe over there has such long fur..."

"That's a lion."

"Lion."

Tuanzi began to wiggle in his arms. "Zhou Ni, put Lord Dumpling down... Lord Dumpling wants to make friends with the lion!"

As soon as Zhou Li put her down, she dashed towards the Lion Garden, pressing her face against the glass and softly calling for the lions to come over. However, the lions ignored her, which made her very sad.

Things went a bit better when they reached the Monkey Garden.

The monkeys here lived in groups, and with ample space, they all seemed very happy, frolicking carefreely.

Zhou Li bent down and asked her, "What are those?"

Tuanzi, with an educating tone, said to him, "The ones with very long fur are monkeys, you know!"

"No, they're not."

"Yes, they are!"

"No, they're not."

"Then what is it, MEOW?"

"They're Huai Xu."

"Huai Xu?"

Lord Dumpling turned her head to look at Huai Xu, who was walking at the back with an ice cream, completely uninterested in the animals. Then she looked back at the monkeys in the enclosure, seeming a bit confused.

Huai Xu rolled his eyes. "Childish!"

「Two hours later.」

Zhou Li, Huai Xu, and His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, sat to one side, watching as Tuanzi, standing on tiptoe, reached out with bird feed to offer to the parrots. After a parrot finished eating, she grabbed a few more seeds from her other hand to feed it again. She performed this simple task with intense concentration, her expression meticulous.

Zhou Li took out his phone and recorded this moment.

It was rare to capture a photo of the Little Cat Girl.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, glanced at him and commented, "You're good with children."

Zhou Li felt a bit embarrassed.

Brother Nan often said the same.

After finishing feeding all the birdseed, Tuanzi ran back and plunged into the arms of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, but turned her head to look at Zhou Li. "Zhou Ni, why are they all locked up in cages?"

Zhou Li was prepared for this question and replied, "It's because some animals can no longer survive in the wild and are close to extinction, so they stay here to be protected. Also, animals in the zoo allow more kind-hearted and loving children, like Lord Dumpling, to learn about them and know they exist. That way, they'll actively want to protect them in the future."

"Why can't they survive outside?" The Little Cat Girl's curiosity resurfaced.

"Because the environment outside... the places where they live have gotten worse, and there are dangers too," Zhou Li answered.

"Why would the places they live get worse?" The Little Cat Girl continued, still curious. "Why do they need protection? Who would hurt them?"

"..." Zhou Li fell silent for a moment but knew he had to answer. "Because humans, for a time, made mistakes and harmed the natural environment. Also, some humans are bad and will hurt them."

"Some humans are very bad!" Tuanzi said to him. "But Zhou Ni is very good!"

"Most humans are still good," Zhou Li said with a smile. "Anyway, thank you, Lord Dumpling."

"You're welcome!"

"Shall we leave now?"

"Okay, MEOW!"

"I'm sorry for giving Lord Dumpling a bad experience today," Zhou Li said sincerely, holding the Little Cat Girl. "I hope that in the future, no one will hurt wild animals. I hope every little animal can have a home that suits them, and that everyone will learn to love and protect animals. That way, birds and all other creatures won't have to be kept in cages."

"It wasn't bad at all! It was very fun!"

"Really?"

"Yes, it was!"

The Little Cat Girl was light as a feather, and Zhou Li held her with ease. At that moment, in his eyes, the only difference between the Little Cat Girl and a little angel was a pair of wings.

But Lord Dumpling was cuter than any angel.