My Demon Friends-Chapter 660 - 622: See Who Has More Questions_2

"It wasn’t me," Brother Nan said, pausing. "Tell me everything she said and did after she appeared."

"Oh..."

Zhou Li started to relay the information, striving for accuracy in every word.

Brother Nan listened quietly, without interrupting or asking questions. After hearing everything, she only nodded, a grin spreading across her face. "I like this personality; she’s got my kind of swagger!"

Zhou Li didn’t respond to her because he noticed Tuanzi’s awakening—

The tender little tongue retracted, her limbs stretched as if yawning involuntarily, and her little paws spread open like a bloom. After opening her eyes, she still spaced out for a while before raising her head to look around, finally resting her gaze on Zhou Li, who was making eye contact with her.

"Good morning, Zhou Ni..."

"Good morning, Lord Dumpling."

"Wait, no, it seems Lord Dumpling already woke up once this morning!" Tuanzi struggled to stand up. "It seems Lord Dumpling fell back asleep again..."

"Yes, indeed."

"It seems Lord Dumpling had a dream..."

"What kind of dream?" Zhou Li asked patiently, giving her a concerned look.

"Lord Dumpling dreamed that Brother Lan turned into Your Highness!" As soon as Tuanzi finished speaking, she turned her head to look at Brother Nan closely, as if judging whether Brother Nan had transformed into Your Highness.

"I see..."

Zhou Li pondered for a moment, then made up his mind. "That wasn’t a dream. There’s a secret here, and I’m going to tell Lord Dumpling."

"Meow?"

Tuanzi stared with wide eyes, filled with stars and curiosity.

「Four o’clock in the morning.」

Brother Nan went through an agonizing phase of ’wanting to fall asleep early, but precisely because of that, being unable to,’ and finally dozed off.

Zhou Li sat beside her, not asleep.

About half an hour later, she opened her eyes again.

Zhou Li couldn’t help but wonder, would Brother Nan’s health be affected if this continued long-term? Hormonal imbalances, irregular periods, things like that...

Before he could dwell on it further, the Elm King had already turned to size him up. The first thing she said was, "You’re gentler than I imagined."

"Huh?"

Zhou Li was taken aback for a moment.

The Elm King, however, didn’t continue this topic. Instead, she looked up slightly at the ceiling and said, "She’s also much more formidable than I imagined, worthy of being the human I transformed into. It wasn’t in vain that Master Ming and I expended such great effort to link her with the Will of the World."

Her tone is so theatrical...

And what’s with that hint of pride?

This voice, sounding exactly like Brother Nan, with that familiar ’I’m the best in the world’ tone... could it really not be Brother Nan herself?

Zhou Li remained silent.

Until the Elm King spoke, interrupting his thoughts, "Why are you standing there in a daze? Get me a brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone. From now on, I shall communicate with her in this way."

"Actually..." Zhou Li hesitated. "I can relay messages for you."

"There will be times when you’re not around."

"Actually... excuse me for a moment."

Zhou Li carefully reached out, sliding his hand under her pillow. The gesture was somewhat intimate, and some contact was unavoidable; at the very least, he would touch her hair. What felt strange was that, while this was indeed his girlfriend’s body, he still needed to ask for permission from this other persona to touch his own girlfriend.

Finally, he pulled out a smartphone.

"I’ll teach you..."

"You can tap this. Wait, let me turn on the light."

"Look, you can see yourself on the screen just like this, then tap this to start recording video. Tap again to stop. The footage in between will be saved and can be replayed, like this..."

"Or you can tap this to start recording your voice."

The Elm King blinked, her expression somewhat dazed. But when Zhou Li looked at her, she quickly composed herself, feigning nonchalance as she nodded and said, "Hm... I do look rather good, don’t I! This device is quite interesting. Let me try it out... Interesting, interesting... Okay, I’ve got the hang of it now. But you should still get me a brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone. Using this feels a bit awkward."

"All right."

Zhou Li opened the nightstand and directly took out a pen and a notebook. To prevent her from not knowing how to use a modern pen, he even pulled off the cap and drew a line on the paper as a demonstration.

The Elm King took the paper and pen, examining them curiously for a moment before turning to him and saying, "Leave."

"I’m still going to see it tomorrow anyway."

"Just get out!"

"...You’d better not write in classical Chinese. Um, just write the way you normally speak; otherwise, she won’t understand."

"I know!"

Zhou Li couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off; this Demon King was too much like Brother Nan.

「A few minutes later.」

Zhou Li returned to the room.

Before he could even speak, this Demon King bombarded him with a machine-gun-like barrage of questions.

She first pointed at the mobile phone. "What is this?"

Then, she gestured to the ceiling light. "Why is this light so bright? There’s no fire inside it at all, so how does it light up?"

Next, she pointed at the computer on the desk. "And what’s this?"

Finally, she asked, "What dynasty is it now? What’s the Emperor’s surname? Why are the buildings built so high?"

Zhou Li patiently answered in order, "This is a cell phone. That’s an electric light; it lights up using electricity. That’s a computer. These are all technological products from our era. Explaining all these things would take a lot of time; you can learn about them slowly. Oh, and now Yu Country, under the leadership of Hong Ran, is also developing more technological products for you Demons. You should understand the word ’technology’; it’s the power that comes from knowledge and truth."

"Hong Ran is doing pretty well, huh..." The Elm King nodded, her cowlick bobbing. "We also use knowledge to create things, but we are lazy and easily satisfied, and then we stop making progress."

Zhou Li also nodded and continued, "Our country is now called the People’s Republic of China; we no longer have an Emperor. Thanks to advancements in construction technology and materials, and because of a population explosion, we’re able to build such tall buildings. It’s also the only way to make better use of the land."

"I see."

Her ability to grasp new concepts seemed exceptionally strong.

Seizing the opening, Zhou Li quickly posed his question, "What is the Will of the World?"

"The Will of the World..."

The Elm King paused, seemingly organizing her thoughts, before saying to him, "Do you know why weeds grow towards the light?"

This question is right up my alley.

Zhou Li quickly answered, "Because sunlight causes plants to produce auxin, and auxin inhibits plant growth. The side exposed to light has more auxin, so its growth is slower there. This makes the plant bend towards the light, resulting in phototropism."

"Erm..."

The Elm King faltered for a moment. Though she hadn’t understood, she reacted quickly, nodding. "It’s good that you can understand... That is the will of the weeds."

"Are you saying that will is a collection of response mechanisms?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Mm-hmm, that’s right..." The Elm King’s tone had become slightly perfunctory. "Anyway, everything in the world has a will—not just humans, not just animals, not even just living organisms. A blade of grass has its own will; even a stone or a speck of dust has its own will. If you place them in different environments, they will also exhibit different changes."

"So it’s not just about response mechanisms, but also their inherent properties?"

"Exactly, exactly! It’s just the difference between simple and complex." The Elm King nodded repeatedly. This child is teachable, she thought. "Animal and human responses are complex, while a weed’s is simple. But ultimately, there’s no essential difference in their underlying theory. The reason plants flower and bear fruit is based on the same principles as why humans can feel happiness and pleasure. More reactions, more complex reactions, can coalesce into a more complete will. Conversely, the will is more primitive, more simple."

"So, our world also has a series of response mechanisms, plus its inherent characteristics and physical rules, which together constitute the Will of the World?"

"It seems you’ve understood..." The Elm King said, forcing composure as she looked at Zhou Li.

But what she hadn’t considered was that the man in front of her was ’her’ boyfriend, intimately familiar with her expressions and reactions; she couldn’t hide anything from him.

It was just that Zhou Li, being kind-hearted, didn’t expose her.

The Elm King continued, "However, besides these, there are also some causes that ordinary humans and Demons find difficult to grasp. The Will of your world isn’t overly complex, but it’s certainly not simple either."

Zhou Li wasn’t listening attentively anymore.

It was clear that interfering with the Will of the World was mainly Master Ming’s responsibility and had little to do with this Demon King.

Then he asked again, "How long can you stay out each time?"

"If I’m not disturbed by her and she doesn’t wake up early, I can probably stay for about half a Shichen." After saying this, the Elm King didn’t give him another chance to ask questions. She held up the smartphone. "I saw you playing with this thing for most of the day. How do you play it?"

"I’ll teach you..."