My Demon Friends

Chapter 731 692 Internship

I've been waiting for so long!

Zhou Li stretched his legs, idly playing with the fallen yellow leaves on the ground with the sole of his shoe. As he rubbed them, he suddenly realized this action was a bit like Brother Nan, so he retracted his feet.

A familiar voice drifted from not far away, chanting a nonsensical ditty:

"I'm awesome! I always score a hundred percent on tests! Even the black tea I brewed before the exam is still warm afterward..."

A tall girl approached with two cups of milk tea in hand, striding forward while swinging the milk teas. Her eyebrows were raised, her expression radiant and defiant; she was always so joyful and confident.

Passersby couldn't help but glance at her. Initially, it was because of her bizarre singing, but soon they were attracted by her looks and demeanor. She paid them no mind, continuing to stride forward while chanting her nonsensical song. And so, the passersby smiled too, their good mood for the day starting with this happy, beautiful girl.

"Easily become class president,

"The PE teacher kneels in praise,

"I'm already heading to the cafeteria, but my afterimage is still doing flips on the horizontal bar..."

The girl walked up to Zhou Li, her voice cutting off abruptly. She sat down next to him and extended the hand holding the milk tea. "Strawberry milk tofu or osmanthus-flavored tofu, which one do you want?"

Then she added, "You want the osmanthus-flavored tofu."

"I want the osmanthus-flavored tofu," Zhou Li said.

"Hmm... take it."

Brother Nan differentiated between the cups by looking at their bottoms. The osmanthus-flavored tofu had golden osmanthus settled at the bottom, while the strawberry milk tofu had red strawberry bits.

After receiving his drink, Zhou Li inserted a paper straw. "So what was the point of asking me what I wanted?"

Brother Nan was also poking the plastic seal with her paper straw, head down, responding without looking up, "Big Bro wants to drink the strawberry one, but Big Bro loves you. If you had said you wanted the strawberry flavor too, Big Bro would still have given it to you... This paper straw is so hard to poke through!"

"It's too soft, so it won't go through," Zhou Li said, already sipping through his straw. "Or maybe you're not using the right technique."

"PFFT! It's through..."

Brother Nan sipped her milk tea, still humming the tune of that ridiculous song from before.

Zhou Li couldn't help but say, "There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a long time."

"Speak!"

"Where do you find all these songs?"

"Shut up..." Brother Nan muttered. "I don't want to talk to you."

"I see."

"Do you know that we're going on our Internship in a few days?" Brother Nan licked her lips and asked. "Do you know where we're going?"

"I think someone said the Banna Botanical Garden," Zhou Li replied. He'd heard Chang Xiaoxiang mention it.

"Hehe..." Brother Nan giggled.

"For how long?"

"One week."

"I see," Zhou Li remarked. "I wonder what we'll have to do, and if it'll be hard."

"It's just about looking around the botanical garden, you know? Seeing how they research and protect the ecosystem, learning from them, and then making plans in groups." Brother Nan finished with a soft belch. "That's what I heard from the seniors in the year above us."

"I see."

Zhou Li's gaze flickered; he seemed to be pondering something.

Today, the wind blew in gusts, plucking the few remaining leaves from the trees. Once they fell to the ground, they would sometimes be blown to the left side of the path and then to the right.

Brother Nan raised a hand, shaping it like a gun. She aimed it at a fluttering yellow leaf in the air.

"BIUBIUBIU..."

Her usual teenage antics.

However, unlike her typical make-believe, this time when she said "BIU," actual invisible bullets shot out. Sometimes she missed, but when a shot landed, there would either be a faint POP as a small hole was punctured in the leaf, or a piece of the leaf would be blasted away.

Zhou Li stretched his legs out again. "Autumn's presence blankets the ground, yet no one sweeps..."

Brother Nan holstered her imaginary gun at her waist and casually retorted, "If no one sweeps, then no one sweeps!"

"Hm?"

Zhou Li tilted his head, straw in his mouth. How did she manage such a clever response? he wondered.

But Brother Nan paid him no mind, completely oblivious. She held her milk tea, continued to hum her silly songs, and joined in the group chat, sharing and discussing things with the Club Vice President. "Gastro says he can get tickets to their department's welcome party tonight. He's asking if we want to go. Vice President, do you want to go?"

"Which department is Chang Weiyan from?" Zhou Li paused. "And stop calling people by their nicknames."

"Huh? Stop calling people by their nicknames?"

"I'm sorry." Zhou Li quickly bowed his head in apology. "Please continue."

"The literature department."

"The Vice President defers to the Club President."

"I was actually quite interested in watching the welcome parties for those departments anyway. This is perfect; it saves me the trouble of getting tickets. We'll go to the literature department's. I originally planned to watch the one for the sports academy." Brother Nan typed her reply, agreeing and thanking Chang Weiyan. Then, sensing something was a little off, she turned to Zhou Li. "Have you noticed that those youngsters have been especially active and eager lately?"

"People always change when they get to university."

"That's true..."

That very evening, they went to the literature department's welcome party. Afterward, Brother Nan exclaimed that the sports academy's was still better.

「A few days later.」

Zhou Li sat on the bus arranged by their department, wearing headphones and turning his head to look out the window.

Brother Nan also wore headphones and had fallen asleep, her head tilted and resting on his shoulder. Her breathing was even, and her expression peaceful; she looked like a beautiful girl lost in a dream.

The vegetation outside the window was already becoming more tropical.

The temperature kept rising.

The classmates on the bus had started to take off their jackets one after another. Zhou Li wanted to do the same, but the sight of 'Brother Nan, the sleeping beauty' was so lovely that he really didn't want to disturb her, so he forced himself to endure the warmth.

"Umm..."

Brother Nan groggily opened her eyes, lifted her head from Zhou Li's shoulder, and began to take off her jacket.

Seeing this, Zhou Li hurriedly took his off as well.

"Where are we?"

Brother Nan's voice was also adorably groggy.

"On the highway."

"Which part of the highway?"

"I don't know."

"There are road signs..."

Brother Nan punched Zhou Li on the shoulder, blaming him for being so dense. Then she closed her eyes, leaned back against him, and went back to sleep.

Zhou Li looked utterly innocent.

Chen Yang, seated across the aisle, shot him a sympathetic glance.

Zhou Li clenched his fist and raised it.

Chen Yang quickly withdrew his gaze, looking straight ahead.

Ha! Noob! Zhou Li thought to himself and lowered his fist. After half a minute, he suddenly paused. Have Brother Nan and Huai Xu already corrupted me to this extent?

Sigh... He sighed inwardly.

The bus followed the vehicle in front, driving over a tall mountain covered with dense rainforest, giving it an air of impenetrability.

This Internship was a joint venture between two main class groups: the regular classes of Biological Science and Ecology, which had been combined after more detailed class divisions. Students from other majors and those in the specialized 'base classes' had different Internship locations. He'd heard they would be split into small groups upon arrival, and Zhou Li hoped to be in the same group as Brother Nan; that would make things much easier.

It felt like they were almost at Jinghong.

Suddenly—

Zhou Li furrowed his brows and casually glanced at the tall mountains flanking the road.

It seemed like many Demons were on the mountains, watching the highway that cut between them. He felt as though their gazes had brushed over him and lingered for a moment.

Zhou Li was somewhat astonished.

This area was significant for the distribution of Yu Country's research facilities. The Mirror Zone, crucial for the Migration Plan, was also located here. In these special times, one could not afford to be careless. What surprised him was that these Demons had recognized him at a glance. He wondered how they had managed that, what power or principle they were using.

After all, Demons in ancient times couldn't distinguish a Heavenly Master from an ordinary human unless the Heavenly Master revealed their power.

Zhou Li found it quite fascinating.