Chapter 18
The following afternoon, the rescue helicopter finally located the two men and brought them to safety.
Yu Miaomiao forced herself to finish filming the last few shots, but afterwards she fell into a recurring low-grade fever.
Upon learning of this, Hu Li from the Department of Technology Development of the Monster Division acted as a courier, delivering the Moon Dew to Yu Miaomiao's door and also visiting her.
"Miaomiao, I've come to see you!"
"Meow".
The kitten listlessly jumped off the pillow and pressed down the handle to open the door.
Hu Li threw a bunch of messy things on the ground, took off her hat, picked up the cat, and looked it over from left to right.
"Miaomiao, what happened to you? You look so weak!"
Its fur was disheveled, its green eyes were half-open and dull, and when it was lifted up, it waved its paws in resistance, but with little force.
However, as a demon, Hu Li saw more than just that. In her perception, Yu Miaomiao's demonic power was also very weak, far below normal levels.
"Meow, meow~~"
"I don't know why, but the speed at which my body converts demonic energy has slowed down a lot."
As a demon without an inner core, Yu Miaomiao cannot absorb external spiritual energy by circulating her inner core like ordinary demons. Instead, she relies on her daily bodily activities to spontaneously absorb spiritual energy, which is many times slower than using an inner core. However, because she rarely uses her demonic power and is replenished by moon dew, it is barely enough.
But after returning from the mountain, the transformation of demonic power suddenly became extremely slow. Not only was it difficult to maintain human form, but even the fever took a very long time to heal.
"How could this happen? Let me give you a checkup."
Yu Miaomiao transformed into human form, and Hu Li pulled out a simple testing card and blood collection needle. She took a sample for testing, waited for a while, and then read out the results.
"The concentration of demonic energy has decreased by 60%, which is extremely low, and the rate of spiritual energy absorption has decreased by 90%. How can the data change so drastically!"
Hu Li was so shocked that the hairs on her red ears stood on end.
"Miaomiao, have you done anything special lately?"
"I used a little magic, nothing else."
She casually glossed over the reason for using the spell, pondered for a moment, and came up with a possible anomaly: "If I had to say, I consumed more than 50 Moon Dew pills in three days."
"It may be a side effect of the Moon Dew, which only occurs when taken in large doses in a short period of time."
Hu Li subconsciously picked up a pen, wanting to write down the symptom, but gave up as soon as she opened the notebook.
"Never mind, the lab has received confirmation that the Moon Dew project will cease operations next month."
She hesitated, then said, "I was planning to apply for some of the stock for you, but its side effects..."
"I don't care."
Yu Miaomiao shook her head. There were reasons for taking large doses of Moon Dew each time, and she didn't think she would encounter a similar situation again.
Besides, it would be a shame to give up such a useful medicine as Moon Dew just because of a few side effects.
Hu Li could tell what Yu Miaomiao was thinking just by looking at her expression.
He's so stubborn, he won't listen to any advice...
While she was inwardly grumbling, she said, "Okay, I'll apply for the maximum number for you."
She gave Yu Miaomiao a full check-up, put down this week's Moon Dew and some medications specifically for treating feline monster diseases, but instead of leaving, she took out another document.
He smiled and said, "Miaomiao, I have some good news to tell you. Can you guess what it is?"
"A new drug has been developed?"
"no."
"The Demon Supervisory Committee has opened a recruitment channel for computer professionals?"
Yu Miaomiao touched her phone.
"Oh no, no."
Hu Li pressed the button on her phone.
"What other good news is there?"
Yu Miaomiao frowned; apart from these two, she couldn't think of any other good news.
Hu Li prompted, "Do you remember when I told you that your bloodline information would be stored in the big data demon-hunting system?"
"When?" Yu Miaomiao rarely allocates bandwidth to things that don't concern her.
Hu Li wanted to shake this person whose only concern was getting a government job. "It was last week, for crying out loud! Is what I said so unworthy of your attention?!"
She immediately shared the good news: "We've found a demon with similar bloodlines to you!"
She excitedly said, "The Enforcement Division discovered a monster while investigating the monster ruins. They were in seclusion at the time, so they took a hair sample and sent it to the Development Division for testing. Unexpectedly, as soon as the bloodline information was stored in the database, they found a similar blood sample!"
Hu Li handed the document to the other person, saying, "Take a look."
Yu Miaomiao took the document and scanned the information on it.
Seeing that she remained silent for a long time, Hu Li thought she was too surprised, so she pointed out the key information above: "Breed: Chinese domestic cat, sex: male, golden yellow and green eyes, estimated age: between 380 and 480 years old, bloodline similarity: 60%".
He clapped his hands and exclaimed, "This resemblance in appearance and bloodline suggests they're very likely related! The age matches up too; they might even be your father's brother!"
Yu Miaomiao's expression was not the joy Hu Li had expected; her eyelashes drooped, and she was extremely indifferent.
"If the bloodline similarity meets the standard, is a meeting mandatory?"
"Not really," Hu Li scratched her big ears, "Your parents aren't here, so I think you might want to have a relative..."
"No."
Yu Miaomiao closed the test report and handed it back to Hu Li as if throwing away a piece of waste paper. "If possible, I request that the information be kept confidential and that you not disclose my information to other demons."
Hu Li looked extremely shocked, as if she couldn't understand why anyone would suggest such an outrageous person.
Monsters were already few in number, so when everyone learned that they had a distant relative they didn't recognize, they were all overjoyed to acknowledge them.
Few people refuse as decisively as Yu Miaomiao, leaving no room for negotiation.
"Miaomiao, I don't understand. Isn't it good to have a blood relative? Even if we take a step back, there are experimental proofs that shared demonic power helps in condensing the inner core."
But Yu Miaomiao's expression remained calm, indifferent, and even... disgusted.
"I don't need to rely on blood ties; they're fragile and meaningless. As for inner cores, they're not necessary for me either."
Hu Li was speechless. "Okay... I'll apply to the boss to have your information frozen."
She left dejectedly.
Yu Miaomiao picked up the lost information comparison certificate, tore it up, and threw it into the trash can.
Lying back in bed, the fever and depletion of demonic energy brought indescribable pain.
She reverted to her original form, buried herself in the pillow, and a sudden wave of dizziness shattered her thoughts.
From the age of 5 when she was sent to the monster orphanage until she left to go to university at the age of 17, she always thought she was an orphan.
The little monsters in the orphanage called her an "unwanted bastard monster," and she had no way to refute them.
But then her grandmother, whom she had never contacted before, called in such an intimate tone, demanding compensation for her mother's car accident.
Now, another relative of the father has appeared.
She seemed to have found a basis to refute the "orphan" claim.
But now she would rather be all alone and become a true orphan.
Yu Miaomiao is neither human nor demon.
She righteously hated human hypocrisy and greed, and despised the stupidity and barbarity of monsters.
She studies, writes code, and finishes papers on campus like a real human; yet she maintains a monster lifestyle, keeping her original form when alone, occasionally using a little magic, and taking medicine regularly.
She can never escape these two identities.
Yu Miaomiao is both a human and a demon.
It was curled up tightly, enveloped by a tremendous sense of absurdity.
-
A week later, Yu Miaomiao received a message from Xu Lan during a water conservation class, saying that the promotional video had been edited and inviting her to do voice-over the next day.
Li Zhi was very excited, "I didn't visit the set during filming, so I definitely have to go for the dubbing!"
Yu Miaomiao agreed.
The next day, the two arrived at the dubbing studio and found that Jiang Chengyi was already there.
He greeted them, "Good morning."
Yu Miaomiao gave a vague reply, her gaze fixed on the empty space behind Jiang Chengyi, maintaining her indifferent expression.
There was no way around it; whenever she saw Jiang Chengyi, she couldn't help but think of what happened in the cave.
"Old Jiang, why aren't you coming over yet?"
A deep, honest voice came from inside the door, followed by the appearance of a burly figure.
He was nearly two meters tall, wearing a sleeveless vest and with well-developed muscles. When he saw Yu Miaomiao and the other person, he waved and greeted them with a bright smile that showed eight teeth, "Hi, hello."
The tall man approached, saw Li Zhi, and his eyes widened.
Li Zhi was still talking to Yu Miaomiao when she felt a piercing gaze. She looked up and was startled.
The big guy's expression changed from stunned to joyful, "You're one of those D-site members, one of those members—Waaaaah!"
Li Zhi practically jumped up and covered his mouth.
Her voice tinged with shame as she hissed, "Don't say that here!"
The big guy nodded knowingly.
He introduced himself as Cheng Nuo, a sophomore majoring in sports training at University A, Jiang Chengyi's good friend, and someone who had come to see voice acting.
Yu Miaomiao subtly observed the man and realized that he was Cheng Nuo. His clear yet somewhat foolish smile didn't seem like that of Jiang Chengyi's good brother at all.
Shouldn't Jiang Chengyi's friends be like him—expressionless, cunning, and aloof?
Could it really have saved his life? Looking at Cheng Nuo's physique and height, it's not impossible...
What started as a subconscious analysis gradually veered off course.
There were quite a few people present for this dubbing session, including Yu Miaomiao, Jiang Chengyi, and others, as well as the director, dubbing director, assistants, and even the director of Cat Joy Hospital.
Before dubbing, Xu Lan showed the group the edited final cut.
Xu Lan waved to her, "Miaomiao, come sit down quickly, I've saved a seat for you."
That position was right in the middle, with Xu Lan and Jiang Chengyi on either side.
She originally wanted to sit on the very edge, preferably far away from Jiang Chengyi.
But that would be too deliberate, so she could only walk over slowly.
Xu Lan was very happy. "Miao Miao, I've seen the promotional video beforehand, it's very good."
Yu Miaomiao nodded perfunctorily, focusing all her attention on restraining her senses from being drawn to Jiang Chengyi beside her.
But it's really difficult.
The space was too narrow, giving her no chance to get away from Jiang Chengyi; the two were pressed tightly together from shoulder to thigh.
Jiang Chengyi was probably very healthy; a steady stream of heat emanated from their contact point, warming up her usually icy body.
The temperature and touch had a damnably familiar feel to them. It seemed she had gotten used to it after hours of physical contact.
She carefully moved her body, trying to separate the parts of the two people that were touching.
After doing all this, she looked up and down, and her gaze met Jiang Cheng's.
It was his usual cold and indifferent gaze. He nodded slightly, then looked up at the screen, as if it had just been an unintentional glance.
The things that happened on the mountain seemed perfectly ordinary, leaving no ripples in his heart.
It seems that Yu Miaomiao's distress and confusion these past few days were just making a mountain out of a molehill.
She took a deep breath, trying to relax, because she should feel relieved.
Music started playing, and the promotional video officially began.
Yu Miaomiao shifted her gaze and focused her attention on the promotional video.
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