Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

"Last time we agreed, when will you come over again?" Zhou Hongyu typed and asked.

"What did we agree on?" Yan Yu asked.

"You're pretending to have forgotten, aren't you? Do you believe I can kill you!" The message from the other side came back quickly, "You still owe me a hair tie!"

"Oh!" Yan Yu quickly typed back, "How do you want me to repay it?"

"Come here, and we'll discuss it properly." Zhou Hongyu immediately replied.

This felt a bit scary. Honestly, if Hongyu had straightforwardly said, "You accompany me for a shopping trip" or "You join me for a trip to the Mysterious Realm," "this favor would be considered settled!" Yan Yu would, of course, be willing to accompany her. But her saying, "Come here, and we'll discuss," was very suspicious.

You know, during the last time in the Mysterious Realm of Kunlun Mansion, even while handling official matters, she didn't forget to sneak in a few bites; this time, without any official duties, rashly running to Shuzhong Prefecture, wouldn't she drag him to a hotel and devour him thoroughly?

"I'm not very free recently," Yan Yu typed back.

"What's keeping you so busy? Haha, it can't be because Chen Lingyun isn't here, and you're busy flirting with those girls in your team, right?"

Yan Yu stayed silent for a while, then countered:

"Are you jealous?"

"Yes." Zhou Hongyu didn't mince words, "I wish I could fly to Jinling Prefecture right now and burn all of you!"

"If you burn me to death, then the debt I owe you wouldn't need to be repaid," Yan Yu replied.

"I'll go through them one by one, and burn them right in front of you," the other side said, "to see if you beg for mercy!"

"Me beg for mercy? You're dreaming," Yan Yu replied blandly with a smile, hitting send.

"What are you smiling about, Yan Yu?" Su Yunjin noticed the corner of his mouth curling up.

"Nothing, just saw a funny joke." Yan Yu locked his phone screen and called out, "Why aren't you all eating? What are you waiting for, hoping to help Zhao sister lick the plates?"

"You seemed very busy, everyone was waiting for you!" Lin Ning said sourly, "Too busy chatting on your phone to eat."

As if to support her statement, the phone suddenly lit up again, with a new message from Tang Xiaolian.

Nonchalantly, Yan Yu turned his phone face down on the table, indicating he was ready to focus on his meal.

————————

After eating and drinking their fill, Yan Yu returned to his bedroom and placed the hair tie given by Zhou Hongyu into the cabinet.

At that moment, the cabinet already housed Chen Lingyun's jade pendant, Su Yunjin's book, along with Zhou Hongyu's hair tie. Of course, if he wanted to fill the remaining slots, asking others for items to collect would be easy, but Yan Yu was not interested in ordinary objects—if collecting, then those must be significant items, right? Don't try to please me with worn socks, I don't want to catch athlete's foot!

"What's this?" Ningning's voice suddenly rang out from the side.

"You don't knock?" Yan Yu turned his head to retort.

"The door was open, and I didn't know you were inside," Lin Ning pointed to the half-open door, "I came to ask if there was something wrong with my cooking today? You didn't seem very keen on eating."

"No, the taste was fine, just someone was looking for me." Yan Yu shook his head.

"Who was it?" Lin Ning sat down beside his bed, probing.

"Zhou Hongyu," Yan Yu said with a smile.

"Liar," Lin Ning pouted, "If you don't want to say, then forget it."

Zhou Hongyu of the Huofeng Team, known publicly for her icy goddess demeanor, not to mention her past troubles with the Zhenhai Team, losing several times in team battles. After each loss, the way she looked at Yan Yu was as if she wanted to devour him... And she was seeking you out? Even if there were official matters, typically she would contact Deputy Captain Zhang.

"Believe it or not," Yan Yu continued staring at the cabinet and suddenly said, "Ningning."

"What?" Lin Ning asked.

"Give me something."

"What kind of something?"

"Anything, but it must be something very important to you," Yan Yu said.

Lin Ning paused for a moment, then suddenly placed a hand over her heart, blushing and exclaiming:

"Pervert!"

"What pervert?" Yan Yu was momentarily speechless, then suddenly understood and laughed, "I'm not asking for your first kiss or anything! I just wanted a small object to put in this cabinet as a memento of our long friendship."

Lin Ning stood up, looking towards the cabinet:

"If it's for keeping a memento, wait until your next birthday, I'll gift you something then. Who asks for gifts like this... This book is whose?"

"Yun Jin's," Yan Yu replied.

"And the jade pendant?"

"Ling Yun's."

"The hair tie?"

"Hongyu's."

Lin Ning immediately showed a skeptical look, thinking how could Zhou Hongyu possibly give you a hair tie? If you don't want to tell me, just say so; I won't pester you for an answer.

"So will you give something?" Yan Yu smiled, "If not, that's fine too. I can't fit much in this cabinet anyway since space is limited."

"Hmph." Lin Ning huffed, standing up and quickly walking away.

A few minutes later, seeing that she hadn't returned, Yan Yu went to the door of Lin Ning's room and pushed the door open.

"Why don't you knock?" Lin Ning, sitting on the floor and rummaging through a small tin box, looked up to see Yan Yu and asked discontentedly.

"The door was ajar, I didn't know you were inside," Yan Yu responded cheerfully, "Looking for a keepsake to give me, right?"

Lin Ning wanted to say "not at all," but restrained herself and replied:

"I don't know what to give you, maybe you should pick something yourself?"

"Let me see," Yan Yu sat down beside her.

The tin box contained various knickknacks, such as hair clips, glass marbles, Sailor Moon collector cards, etc. Yan Yu picked up a small notebook, but before he could open it, Lin Ning snatched it away:

"Don't look!"

"What's inside?" Yan Yu asked.

"A diary I wrote in when I was a kid." Lin Ning started blushing again, attempting to look fierce.