Chapter 36 : I will eat until I make you Poor!

“You promised to pick me up later.
Don’t forget!”

Bai Ling’s two thumbs flew across the screen like butterflies, the virtual keyboard clattering.

She was sitting on a discarded paint bucket, her two legs dangling from her denim hot pants.

The weasel professor she had rescued was cowering on the ground.
He was still shivering from Bai Ling’s demonic energy and hadn’t recovered yet.
There were even unmelted ice crystals on the tips of his fur.

This was a deserted warehouse in the port of Lin’an City.
Outside was the whistle of a cargo ship, and inside were mountains of old equipment.

While Bai Ling was happily chatting with Xu Zhi on her phone, a “dada” sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside.
It sounded like high heels tapping on the ground.

A moment later, Guan Qing appeared at the door.

“You’ve learned to control your demonic energy quite quickly.”

This woman, who was always wearing a moon-white cheongsam, was lazy as soon as she appeared.
She lifted Bai Ling’s chin with her pipe.
“Have you mastered the art of concealing your aura?”

“Of-of course!”

Bai Ling answered a little too quickly, and almost choked on her saliva.

It was no wonder she was so nervous as soon as she saw Guan Qing.
Saving this weasel professor today was, more or less, her phased test.

The way this woman was lifting her chin with her pipe now was exactly the same as a week ago!

A week ago, after the Skin-Painter incident at Lin’an University, Bai Ling had begged Guan Qing to teach her how to control her demonic energy.
This woman had indeed kept her word.

It was just that the specific situation was a little different from what Bai Ling had imagined.

That day, when Guan Qing had lifted her chin with her pipe, she had said a sentence: “If you want to see that kid, first learn to lock your demonic energy under your skin.”

So Bai Ling had been locked in the demon market by her for a week, learning various methods of controlling and applying demonic energy.
Although she would sneak back to school for classes in the middle, she really hadn’t seen Xu Zhi for a week.

Of course, Guan Qing had also said that teaching her was not free.
The condition this woman had given was for Bai Ling to help her manage the ancient demons in Lin’an City.

Rescuing the weasel professor today was her phased test passing.
This meant that her demonic energy application, if not perfect, was at least somewhat accomplished.

Of course, a more important point was that from now on, she could meet Xu Zhi without any scruples.

With her current level of demonic energy control, as long as she didn’t recklessly release her demonic energy or aura in front of the Demon Suppression Division, it would be very difficult to be discovered.

“I told you to be good!”

Guan Qing suddenly squatted down, her gaze level with the weasel professor.

“Boss, I…”

The weasel professor stammered, wanting to explain, but he himself knew that an explanation was pale and weak.

As a member of the demon market, his actions had almost implicated a large number of ancient demons living in Lin’an.

He had blatantly released his demonic energy, leading to his own exposure.
This behavior had even almost implicated other ancient demons.

“I don’t want to hear your explanation.
You know what the consequences are for breaking the rules.”

Guan Qing had no interest in hearing his excuses.
She stood up and walked out of the warehouse.
“Don’t let me see you in Lin’an again, Xiao Bai!”

“Ah? Oh, oh!”

Hearing this, Bai Ling, who had just been chatting with Xu Zhi on her phone, immediately jumped off the paint bucket and walked over.

“Let’s go!”

Bai Ling pulled up the professor, who was still in a daze, and led him out of the warehouse.

A fishing boat was moored at the small pier outside the warehouse.
Bai Ling stuffed the professor into the cabin without another word.

“Did I do something wrong…”

In the moldy cabin, the professor murmured to himself, looking at the waves outside the porthole.

He could never return to this city in this life, but his wife and children were still in this city.

Without him, what would they do?

Seeing him still in a daze, Bai Ling suddenly stuffed a waterproof crossbody bag full of daily necessities into his arms.
“Actually, she did this to protect you.”

She stood on her tiptoes and neatly stacked the compressed biscuits into the locker.
“If your true identity is discovered by the Demon Suppression Division, you definitely won’t be able to stay in Lin’an.”

“She’s just a tough on the outside, soft on the inside!”

“I just wanted to save that child…”

The weasel professor lowered his head, unconsciously fiddling with the zipper of the waterproof crossbody bag.

Two days ago, he had saved a child in a car accident.
It was that time that his demonic energy had been released due to stress and had been captured by the Demon Suppression Division, which had led to his current situation.

“When I saw that child’s eyes, I thought of my son.
My son’s eyes are as big as his.”

The weasel professor murmured to himself.

Hearing this, Bai Ling’s hand, which was organizing the life jackets, suddenly paused.

The atmosphere in the cabin suddenly fell into a strange silence.

“What’s your son’s name?”
After a long time, the girl finally broke the silence.
“I’ll go see him.”

The branches of the old sophora tree rustled in the twilight.
The scent of sophora flowers, wrapped in the hot wind, floated at the entrance of the old alley in the north of the city.

The old woman was sitting under the old sophora tree, enjoying the cool air as usual.
A black cat was curled up in her arms, yawning.

The weather was a bit gloomy.
It seemed like it was about to rain.

Bai Ling leaned against the blue brick wall at the entrance of the alley, the tip of her canvas shoe gently crushing a sophora flower petal in the crack of the bricks.

The lights of the night market opposite gradually lit up, but Bai Ling’s mouth was filled with a sour feeling.

The weasel professor had given her a hawthorn candy when he had left, and now it was in her mouth, exuding a sour taste.

He had clearly done nothing wrong, but he was forced to leave his hometown and never return.

A piercing sound of brakes suddenly sounded in her ears.
The girl looked up.
A black SUV with the Shanhe Group logo had stopped in front of her.

The car window was lowered, and Xu Zhi’s messy hair stuck out.

“What are you thinking about, standing there in a daze?”

His face still had the imprint of a tactical helmet.
The collar of his combat uniform was half-open, and he had a foolish grin on his face.

It seemed that this guy had come in a hurry after his mission was over and hadn’t even had time to change his clothes.

‘Hmm, I guess you do value me!’

The girl snorted lightly in her heart.
The sour taste in her mouth seemed to have been temporarily suppressed.

She jumped up and opened the passenger door, getting into the car.
“You have a car?”

This was the first time she had sat in the passenger seat of a friend’s car.
It was a strange feeling.

It was the kind of feeling where you’re in the car of a friend you’ve played with since you were a child, and you’re driving on a long journey together.
It’s only at this moment that you suddenly realize: you’ve grown up.

The eight-trigram charm hanging from the car’s air conditioning vent swayed gently.
The overflowing scent of cedarwood drilled into her nasal cavity.

The girl quite liked this smell.

“I just came back from a mission.
I’m using a public car for private use.”

Xu Zhi shifted gears and started the car, turning the steering wheel to make a U-turn at the entrance of the alley.

“Are you hurt?”

Even though she knew that Xu Zhi had only been frozen for a while in today’s mission, the girl still asked with concern.

“Mmm… I bit my tongue.”

Xu Zhi suddenly turned his head and stuck out his tongue at her, revealing a still-bleeding tooth mark.

That was the bite mark left when he had been frozen and had wanted to bite his tongue to activate that violent aura.

“Watch the road!”

As a result, the girl punched him in the waist.

The two of them were playing and fighting just like they did when they were children.

A muffled thunder suddenly sounded in the sky.
In less than a minute, the light rain had turned into a downpour.

“The weather really changes on a whim.
What have you been up to recently? I haven’t seen you for a week.”

The SUV drove out of the intersection of the old alley and into the evening rush hour.
The red light countdown was reflected on Xu Zhi’s side profile.

“I was in seclusion, cultivating.”
The girl rested her chin on her hand.
The neon lights in the distance were blurred into a hazy halo in the rain.
“My master said I couldn’t see anyone until I had practiced well.”

“What kind of peerless martial arts were you practicing in seclusion?”

Xu Zhi tapped the steering wheel with his fingertip and asked casually.

As for why the girl was involved in a demonic incident, why she had the ability to fight against demons, Xu Zhi had never asked.

That day, his master, Xiao Mochen, had said in his fortune telling that the girl was protected by a master.
He had naturally assumed that the girl had learned her skills from the master his master had mentioned, just as he had learned his demon-slaying skills from Xiao Mochen.

“Practicing how to resist the urge to beat you up.”

Bai Ling rested her chin on her hand and turned her head.
Seeing Xu Zhi staring at the windshield wipers, she couldn’t help but flick his side profile with her finger.

“Blind Xu, do you think demons can marry and have children like humans?”

she suddenly asked.

The windshield wipers scraped out two transparent fans on the windshield.
The sky in the distance was dyed a cyan color.

She couldn’t help but think of the weasel professor’s words.
He had lived in Lin’an for decades, had married a woman, and had children.

He had formed a not-so-perfect but very happy family just like a human.

But today, this family was destroyed.

“I don’t know.
Maybe?”
Xu Zhi stepped on the accelerator, and the car slowly moved forward in the congested traffic.
“But a demon is a demon.
Even if they marry and have children, they are just imitating humans.”

‘Then I’m also a snake demon!’

The girl pouted in dissatisfaction and muttered in her heart.

“What do you want to eat? It’s my treat!”
Perhaps seeing the girl’s slightly unhappy mood, Xu Zhi said.

Hearing this, the girl immediately took out her phone and started scrolling.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m picking an expensive place to eat you poor!”

The girl glared at him.