Chapter 6 Contact Information You are our little demon king! ...
Finally, carrying a large bag of newly acquired study materials and with an exam pass rate even lower than that of a 985 university, Shu Qing returned to her apartment, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
The new housekeeper is incredibly efficient; the circuit is already fixed, which is perfect, as it won't interfere with her studying for her exams.
She slumped wearily onto the sofa. Minister Kim's aggressive and intimidating manner was simply too much; to avoid losing, she had maintained a defiant stance for the entire afternoon. For over three hours, she had been prepared to clash head-on, her CPU nearly smoking from overheating, and now it was completely dead.
The little snake demon was temporarily detained at the Super Management Bureau, surrounded by nothing but emptiness and the absence of any living creature.
As she left, she saw it being "followed procedure" and locked in a small cage specifically for imprisoning monsters, stubbornly staring outwards. When she reached the door and looked back at it, it was still motionless, its round, red eyes fixed on her without blinking.
Has it already gotten used to her presence? We've only known each other for two days.
She had grown accustomed to its presence, as if they had been together for a very, very long time in the past.
Now that it's gone, it feels like there's an empty space around her...
"They'll be back in a few days." She tore open another piece of candy, chewed it, and cheered herself up. "Just think of it as taking the college entrance exam before summer vacation. If someone has passed it before, it means I can pass it too!"
It's just study material, just memorize it!
Shu Qing quickly ate something to fill her stomach, and relying on the "golden touch" from yesterday's video update, she sat down in front of the computer.
Her computer screen was filled with various images and texts—the materials given to her by the Super Monster Management Bureau contained a large number of high-resolution images. In order to ensure that high-level monsters could not escape human supervision, this set of materials was almost a "complete manual for using monster control equipment," with pictures showing various hand gestures required to operate the equipment.
"This is even more complicated than scribbles," Shu Qing muttered.
She spent half an hour first memorizing the introductions to various equipment in the first part, writing them down from memory to make sure she remembered them, before she began to memorize those strange and wonderful patterns.
Various lines intertwined to form squares of different shapes, arranged haphazardly in front of her, like a row of QR codes that could only be read by electronic life forms.
Shu Qing desperately wanted to extract some pattern from it, but she wasn't even sure if there was any pattern at all. She stared at it for a long time without any clue, feeling like her eyes were about to go blind.
She put some eye drops in her eyes, resigned herself to her fate, and began to memorize the images by rote. After another hour, she had finally memorized half of the first image.
Shu Qing flipped the page—there were 128 more similar patterns on the back.
She let out a wail, leaned back, and slumped painfully against the back of the computer chair.
Looking up, the simple countdown on the sticky notes caught her eye—she had deliberately placed it in the most conspicuous spot on the wall to motivate herself. The first seven sheets were covered with simple drawings of cages, and if you removed all the cages, you could see the bottom picture of a cute, arrogant little snake, brought to life with just a few strokes.
"Come on," Shu Qing grinned as she looked back at the computer screen, trying to cheer herself up. "Little Red is waiting for you to retrieve it!"
"Little Red" showed no sign of eagerly hoping for her to come and save him; he was currently in a very elegantly decorated guest room.
He had already transformed into a human form, and even changed into a white shirt suitable for modern people. He was curled up on the sofa like a boneless person, holding a tablet computer, imitating the way Shu Qing looked in his memory, and tapping on the tablet.
The boy's learning speed was astonishing. In no time, he had mastered most of the smart technology product and even found the short video platform and Shu Qing's account without any instruction.
With a creak, veteran caretaker Hu You entered. His hands were now completely free of the marks of frostbite he had once suffered. He pushed in a cart laden with exquisitely crafted cakes, mousses, desserts, and drinks. Two specially made cocktails were placed on the top shelf and thoughtfully placed beside the boy.
The boy took a sip, found it sour and bitter, and didn't like it. Finally, he took pity on the boy, raised his eyes, looked around the cart, picked out a bowl of chocolate ice cream from the bottom, and scooped it out with a small spoon.
Hu You observed that his demeanor was relaxed and courteous, exactly as it had been a thousand years ago, and nodded with satisfaction, thinking to himself: So many years have passed, yet he still hasn't forgotten the old demon king's teachings...
The next moment, he heard the boy give the order: "Let me use your phone."
Hu You quickly handed over the phone with both hands—he wondered what the little demon king wanted to do with his phone, whether he wanted to contact those old friends in the countryside.
No, the Little Demon King registered a short video account using his phone number, followed a minor internet celebrity, and even set it to "follow secretly".
Hu You took a closer look and saw that the little internet celebrity's name was "Ashu and Xiaohong".
Hu You: "..."
So you're already indulging in the comforts of ice cream and short videos?
The boy tossed the phone back to him, picked up his second bowl of ice cream, and started scrolling through the little internet celebrity's posts from newest to oldest. The little internet celebrity didn't show her face; the videos only featured various small animals she filmed, occasionally accompanied by a short text message—sometimes sharing her life, sometimes complaining about her indescribable work demands.
After a while, he looked up in confusion and glanced at Hu You: "Why aren't you leaving yet?"
Even Hu You, who was usually impassive, was momentarily speechless at the blunt question, and chuckled dryly, saying, "It's been almost two thousand years since we last met..."
The young man gave a cold, indifferent laugh: "Let's skip this nonsense of reminiscing."
Hu You opened his mouth, but the rest of his words got stuck in his throat, leaving him in a dilemma.
"I know what you want to say," the young demon king's gaze remained fixed on Shu Qing's personal page. "You're unwilling to be tamed by a group of mortals, but you can no longer cultivate, and neither can your other kin. You're at your wits' end. And now, I've appeared again. You think I can break this deadlock, don't you?"
Hu You said in a low voice, "You are our little demon king."
The boy said nonchalantly, "It hasn't been like that for a long time."
He finally lifted his head from the tablet, his beautiful face resembling a work of art meticulously crafted by nature.
“Uncle You, I swore to my father that I would protect my people for the rest of my life,” the boy said calmly. “But that life is long gone.”
Hu You stared in astonishment. He had blocked the surveillance equipment and avoided his colleagues, and it had taken him a lot of effort to get a word in edgewise. He hadn't expected to hear such a blatantly contradictory answer, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond.
Could it be that after going through life and death, he still couldn't let go of that person?
“It has nothing to do with her,” the boy glanced at him and knew what he was thinking. “I just never thought I would owe her a debt again in this life. Now, I just want to settle things with her and then become an ordinary monster in the mountains.”
"Could it be that even..." Hu You asked, "...you don't want to care about Lian Wanli anymore?"
“He’s grown up. Seventeen hundred years have passed, and he’s doing just fine without me, hasn’t he?”
His words were almost cold-blooded and ruthless, and immediately, the sound of angry footsteps walking away could be heard outside the door.
Hu You's submissive expression finally cracked, and his tone became sharp and mocking: "Even so, you probably can't become any ordinary monster."
"You'll just be treated as a dangerous 'supernatural being,' and confined according to the labels and levels they assign you. Like here, everything looks perfect, but there are even talismans waiting to suppress you under your pillow." He pointed to the soft, fluffy bed. "Either you'll be well-fed and cared for, kept in captivity until you die; or you'll be like me and Wanli, at their beck and call, only then will you have a tiny bit of freedom—"
He asked sternly, "Are you planning to choose between 'being a pig' and 'being a dog'?"
The boy chuckled indifferently, lowered his head again, and began typing on the tablet.
Hu You looked closely and saw that the little internet celebrity had updated a text status a minute ago, and Little Demon King was actively leaving comments below.
"..."
At this moment, the middle-aged and elderly demons and the parents of internet-addicted teenagers across the world, separated by an insurmountable racial divide, miraculously found common ground.
There's absolutely no way to communicate!
The "internet-addicted teenager" angered his furious elders, stretched, put down his tablet, and transformed back into a small snake, crawling out of his clothes.
He exhaled a cloud of white, icy air that snaked upwards, transforming into a cold flame that completely obliterated the clothes, leaving no trace behind.
He then raised his head, his pupils flashing, dispelling the illusion that enveloped the entire room—the camera on the ceiling could block interference from level 8 supernatural beings, and Hu You's prior preparations were insufficient to prevent it; he had to use an illusion to conceal it.
Now, the camera footage only shows Hu You feeding the little snake demon and teaching it how to use human-powered smart devices, diligently fulfilling his duties as a caretaker.
Although the pace of guiding monsters to integrate into human society was a bit too advanced, not a single word that shouldn't have been said was uttered.
After cleaning up Hu You's mess, the little snake demon ate the rest of the ice cream with a clear conscience, crawled back to the tablet, and sent a comment with a single click.
In her latest post, Shu Qing said that memorizing those device startup patterns was "simply like memorizing QR codes," but it wasn't actually that difficult.
While undergoing testing, the little snake demon was also quietly studying the unfamiliar instruments. The examiners didn't think about preventing a little snake from learning their skills, so after a round, he had a pretty good grasp of everything.
It is no different from the creations of the immortals in the past, only the medium is different - fragile plants have become strong alloys, and imprecise handcrafts have been replaced by precise mechanical carving. It can be seen that the human race is really good at self-transcendence.
The "device command gestures" that Shu Qing mentioned are similar to the runes of the past, and they have their own set of combination principles.
Jin Wanli and Hu You were clearly being cautious; they didn't explain the principles to her, hoping she would "memorize the QR code" and give up.
But she would rather work so hard to memorize it than not want him to stay by her side. He... couldn't really be completely indifferent, could he?
The little snake demon offered Shu Qing free education in the comments section, feeling that she had taken another small step closer to her goal of paying off her debts.
After posting, he had nothing else to do, so he continued to look through the pet videos that Shu Qing had taken before.
He came across a picture of a two- or three-month-old puppy cuddling with Shu Qing off-camera, and thought to himself: "Fawning."
He then saw another little bird singing off-key in Shu Qing's palm, and thought to himself: Crude.
There was also a fluffy little rabbit eating lettuce leaves from Shu Qing's hand, which he thought was stupid.
After looking at them all, there wasn't a single good one.
The little snake demon turned off the video with little interest. At that moment, he was surprised to find that Shu Qing had sent him several private messages.
She said, "!!!!!!!!!!"
"Thank you so much, sir! You saved my life!!!"
"Excuse me, could you please share your contact information? I have a few other questions I'd like to ask, could we be friends?"
Little snake demon: "..."
He doesn't even have a cell phone, where is he supposed to find her a way to contact him?
The little snake demon extended a tip of its tail to type, replying with force that seemed to penetrate the paper: "No."
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