Chapter 9 First Order "Hi, do you accept custom orders? Price..."

When Hu You told him that "demons cannot cultivate," he retorted, but in reality, he was not as indifferent as he appeared.

When he was at the Bureau of Extraordinary Creatures, the spiritual energy was so thin that it was almost non-existent. However, when he was by Shu Qing's side, his demonic power recovered very quickly. For example, this afternoon, he felt that he was recovering significantly, especially after Shu Qing released this video.

Looking into the eyes of this naturally gifted being, one could see a shimmering, spiritual light emanating from Shu Qing and filling the entire room.

Even if he does nothing, as long as he is immersed in this spiritual light, his demonic power will gradually recover, not to mention that he can also use it to cultivate.

In her past life, she benefited the world with her own flesh and blood, a goddess chosen by countless mortals, and indeed received the "power of their wishes." The situation then was almost exactly the same as now. Could it be that she still retains this quality in this life?

But she was just an ordinary person in this life, never living among the masses and being admired by everyone...

If we have to talk about something that affects everyone, then this is probably the only one that can be considered to have that connection.

The ancient demon king found it utterly absurd. Within a small space, he could see all the people of the world, witnessing the ever-changing nature of this world.

Yet fate remains constant; unless one's soul and spirit are annihilated, can one not escape it even after experiencing life and death?

"Time to eat!" Shu Qing shoved a long strip of meat towards his mouth. "What are you thinking about that little head of yours that's so big for your fingernail?"

"..."

The little demon king glanced at her. Who was she calling brainless? She herself was the one who knew nothing.

Forget it, this isn't something that can be solved overnight. Let's eat first.

He opened his mouth and bit down, feeling that her cooking skills, like fate, were constant and stable—in both his previous and current lives, her cooking could only be described as barely edible.

Let's wait a little longer. Right now, the Supermarket Management Bureau is probably still keeping a close eye on them, and Wanli and Hu You haven't completely given up. Once they no longer remember his existence, he can see her in human form. All inventions in this era are based on the standard of "simple and easy to use," so it shouldn't be difficult to learn. Then it'll be his turn to cook…

...No, that's not right. He just wants to pay off his debts, and once he's done, they'll be strangers. Why would he need to meet with him in person?

The little snake demon was a ready-made pet mukbang streamer, its mouth moving modestly, a stark contrast to the starving humans eating like ghosts—Shu Qing had already finished a bowl of rice with a slurping sound, while the little snake was still coiled beside her, chewing slowly, its vertical pupils even revealing a hint of human-like disdain.

Shu Qing clicked her tongue, thinking to herself: This young master is hard to please.

She thought to herself, "Next time I'll film a mukbang video. It might not be anything particularly interesting, but it'll be good to watch while eating."

Through observation, she concluded that Xiaohong was a pure carnivore with a sweet tooth, loved seafood, and could even distinguish the quality of snake tongues. She would readily accept any fresh, high-quality shrimp she bought, and would also nibble on ordinary meat. She would deign to take a small bite of sweet fruit, but would absolutely refuse to touch vegetables.

Not bad, her taste is similar to mine, looks like we'll be able to eat together in the future.

Shu Qing opened the short video app, wanting to check the data again. Two hours had passed since the new video was posted, and the comment section was constantly refreshing—congratulations, people waiting for the new video, and even couple pairings—there was something for everyone.

There were still a bunch of private messages in the backend, and her attention was drawn to a somewhat familiar profile picture—when she went to the Superpower Management Bureau, there was a rich second-generation heir in the waiting room who had spent a lot of money to buy a supernatural creature. Although she was preoccupied at the time, the rich second-generation heir was so arrogant that he still left an impression on her.

This profile picture looks just like the superhuman creature that the rich kid was holding back then.

"Hi, do you take custom commissions? I'd like to ask you to film a video like this for my little monster."

"Price is not a problem, I can offer 100,000. If the results are good, I'll give you more money!"

...Oh ho?

"A fool wouldn't take the money," Shu Qing decisively decided.

“I accept custom orders, but please send me your pet’s information.” Shu Qing replied, “I need to design the product based on your pet’s actual characteristics. For example, taking pictures of furry reptiles would definitely not be appropriate.”

She left him her email address at the end. A short while later, he replied with a big thumbs-up, praising her as "professional!" and sending her a large package of materials.

Shu Qing's head was spinning.

As expected of a rich second-generation who firmly believes in genes and inheritance, this document includes the test reports of the supernatural organism itself, the test reports of its biological parents, and even the test reports of its grandparents and maternal grandparents. It's practically a complete household registration book for her.

She read through the "demon page of the household registration book" line by line, skipping over all the other family relationships, and then watched the video materials sent by the rich second generation at 0.5x speed. She scratched her head in frustration.

Her client was a cute little golden monkey with a curly tail, only about the size of a thumb, and you couldn't see any characteristics of a monster in the video.

Shu Qing originally wanted to get it a set of armor to cosplay as the Monkey King, the top monkey in the world, and even have her little snake make a cameo appearance as a python spirit. However, this monkey... does everything slowly and has a lukewarm temperament, which is completely out of character with the Monkey King. If she were to force a cosplay, it would probably only be able to cosplay as the Six-Eared Macaque.

The little snake demon crawled up her arm to her neck, stopped in the hollow of her shoulder, and stared at the computer screen with its beautiful red eyes.

Shu Qing was happy to have the little snake keep her company while she worked. She tapped the snake's head and asked it with a smile, "Do you know it?"

The little snake demon couldn't answer her, so she had to turn to the search engine.

"Search for me," Shu Qing instructed the search engine via voice while repeatedly watching the video, "What are the characteristics of this supernatural creature... uh, a golden monkey the size of a thumb?"

The search engine quickly retrieved a bunch of web pages for Shu Qing—some about how to determine if a monkey is a supernatural being, some about the abilities and evolutionary path of the Pokémon Chimchar, and others about how tourists visiting Mount Emei can prevent being attacked by monkeys.

Shu Qing covered her face in surprise, "What the hell!"

Helpless, she had no choice but to shamelessly click on "Jiusu" in her contact list again.

Jiu Su hasn't replied to her yet, so it seems she neither wants to invite her to dinner nor needs her thank-you gift.

“Hello, senior, I would like to ask you another question,” she said obediently. “I have a client who keeps a little monster, and now we want to understand what habits and characteristics this little monster has.”

She described the pygmy marmoset and its slow reaction time as accurately as possible, and then said, "I want to know, what does it like and what is it afraid of? Does it have any special abilities? And, it..."

Shu Qing, with her strong thirst for knowledge, listed a whole screen of questions and even picked out the most effective clips from the video, cut them into a 9-second short video, and sent it along with a cute and charming emoji at the end.

The little snake demon watched from the side, swishing its tail unhappily.

"Oh ho, is Little Red angry?" Shu Qing caught a glimpse of the little snake demon's reaction out of the corner of her eye, picked him up and teased him, "You think I'm ignoring you? I didn't realize you were so clingy."

She thought for a moment, then said, "That makes sense. The Supermarket Management Bureau said you're a male snake, and I've heard that male snakes are indeed more affectionate..."

The little snake demon made a fierce face again, hissing and flicking its tongue.

“I did that purely to earn money to support my family,” Shu Qing thought the little snake was jealous of the thumb monkey. She shut down the computer and coaxed, “The monkey’s owner offered me 100,000 yuan, which is almost half a year’s salary. If we can earn that much, we can move.”

She lay on her back on the bed. The soundproofing in the studio apartment was terrible; even with a wall in the middle, she could hear her neighbor making phone calls.

"...My neighbor's family keeps a snake," the neighbor's voice drifted over, "I heard it's a monster, it's terrifying, a creep! Moving? Sigh, I'd like to, but I still have my deposit on hand..."

Shu Qing rolled her eyes, wanting to yell back through the wall, but having received a moral education, she was still a reasonable young person and kept quiet.

It's human nature to be afraid of snakes. A beautiful and rare internet-famous snake spirit, even from a safe distance of thousands of miles, can attract a group of fans, but that doesn't mean no one is afraid of it.

Separated only by a wall that couldn't even block out sound, knowing that there was a cold-blooded monster with extremely strong attack power next door, she would also be terrified if she were in that situation. There was no reason to say that the other party was being unreasonable.

She decided to move. The utility bills in this apartment were high, and it wasn't convenient; she'd wanted to move out for a while.

Shu Qing glanced at her phone; Jiu Su hadn't replied yet. It was midnight, and she didn't want to bother her any longer.

She plugged in her phone, turned off the screen, and fell asleep with the hopeful wish of "making money and moving as soon as possible." Even in her dreams, she was still thinking about how to shoot a new video.

After a while, the little snake demon came closer and flicked its tongue.

Once he was sure she was asleep, he bypassed her, effortlessly transformed into human form, and unlocked her phone.

A note from the author:

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1. Six-Eared Macaque: The official knock-off version of Monkey King from "Journey to the West"

2. Pokémon Chimchar: From the Pokémon series of games.

3. The monster depicted by Party A is based on the pygmy marmoset, a small monkey only the size of a thumb. Its origin is referenced from the *Huainanzi*, specifically the description of the *xingxing* as "knowing the past but not the future."