Time passed like water.
Soon, two weeks had gone by.
"There's no need to worry too much," Liao Li had told Qiu Yunru. "Within the game, time should pass at the same rate among all realms."
How the hell do you know that? Qiu Yunru had thought at the time. However, in the end he'd brushed his own curiosity off with a sigh. After knowing Liao Li for some time, he'd come to realize that this man wasn't one to share where his knowledge came from. Asking a question to him was like speaking to a politician: there was no way to get a straight answer out of him!
In those two weeks, the two of them managed to make it to the outskirts of the largest city in the Demon Realm: Leng Mo City. A city known for illicit revelry and monetary corruption, this was a city chock-full of brothels, slimy demon merchants, and a few noble demon families who owned the land.
Though the city proper was a bustling hub of scarlet structures and golden pagodas, the outskirts of the city were far more humble. Here, a few villages were scattered, and the houses were built crudely from mud and straw. Qiu Yunru noticed that a lot of the huts seemed to be held together by some sort of sour-smelling, sticky red substance that he definitely didn't want to know anything more about.
It was in these dilapidated outskirts that Qiu Yunru and Liao Li set up camp. A good number of the huts were actually abandoned; apparently, a disease had recently swept through the area, leaving many of these impoverished demons dead. Thus, after testing an abandoned hut for remnants of disease, they were able to take up residence in one.
"Isn't this a little...disrespectful?" Qiu Yunru had suggested as they stepped inside one hut. The ceiling was so low that he had to bend his neck to stand inside.
Liao Li's face was grim. "Probably."
Nothing else was said; they began setting down their things and tidying up the place. They both had the same thought:
Even if it's disrespectful, what choice do we have?
It wasn't as if they could build their own tent in this area. It would be entirely too conspicuous to have a temporary residence that looked nothing like the others, which would only attract trouble. They could try constructing their own hut, but most of these huts had stood here for centuries, taken over by new demons when old demons died, or else pillaged and taken over again and again. It would draw too much attention to start new construction. Thus, this was their best choice by far.
After all, they were pretending to be demons. They had even managed to buy another demon mask for Liao Li, disguising themselves both fully. To avoid being discovered, it was best to lie low.
Qiu Yunru sat over a small pot he'd purchased, stirring the boiling water and poking the flames. he was deep in thought. They had settled into the hut last week, and since then, had been scoping out the area.
As he stared absently down into the swirling water, he tossed in a few sprinkles of crushed Black Lichen. He'd been brewing batches of Black Lichen tea every few days for him and Liao Li to drink. Since the plant was rich in Vitamin D, it helped energize them. The lack of sunlight in the Demon Realm had been rather depression, so a revitalizing tea was pertinent.
The Black Lichen dust swirled in the pot, dissolving. As it dissolved, the water darkened to a pale purple color. It bubbled and shone, smelling earthy.
Qiu Yunru felt a lump rise in his throat.
The color of the water was very similar to the color of the hairpin Li Chenyuan had once given him.
He had lost the hairpin somewhere in the Glitch Realm. Whether it was still stuck in that glitched area, never to be found again, or had been transported to somewhere in the Demon Realm, he might never know. The thought of that hairpin, and Li Chenyuan...
Made him feel incredibly sad.
It was an unfamiliar feeling to him. He remembered feeling it a few times in his life. For example, when he had moved from his childhood room in his parents' house to his dorm at Dalian University, he had felt a little like this. He'd also felt it when he'd spent a week in a health-monitoring program at the hospital as a kid. He'd gotten to know another sick kid there, but at the end of the week, he'd had to say goodbye, and had never seen that kid again.
It was the feeling of missing something.
He stirred the tea, puzzled by his own thoughts. Did he really miss Li Chenyuan so much? That kid...No, it wasn't proper to call him a kid anymore, was it? They were both in their twenties, and they weren't so far apart in age. Li Chenyuan had truly grown up a lot.
After considering his feeling for a while, he figured that he must miss Li Chenyuan's constant presence. Having him hovering behind his shoulder all the time, offering comments, smiling, and complaining, was something he had come to find comforting.
Perhaps there was more to it, but he couldn't bring himself to think about that at the moment. Thinking about Li Chenyuan for too long led to him thinking about what he might be up to, which caused him to remember that he had murdered two people at the tournament, which meant he might be imprisoned, or worse--
Qiu Yunru shook his head. Even if Li Chenyuan was in prison, he'd try to find a way to escape here quickly, search for evidence of his innocence, and have him released. After all, he'd been forced to commit those murders. Anyone withstanding the same amount of demonic qi would either be killed or begin to kill.