Because summer is coming soon, the sun has not completely set at around six o'clock. The fiery clouds roll across the sky, making the whole world look like an old photo rendered in time, giving Xu Dongyou the illusion of being separated from this world.
Everything that happened in the past few days was too sudden and bizarre.
This seemingly ordinary world actually hides so many unknown secrets, evil spirits, monsters, and bureaucracy. There are even mysterious existences in this world that are only found in legends and myths.
And... he's not human anymore.
Xu Dongyou found that he accepted this quite well, except that he felt a little disappointed that his original form was a bird that looked very much like Tangyuan.
It was not until the taxi slowly stopped that Xu Dongyou came to his senses and looked towards the entrance of the community. He actually felt a little homesick.
After getting off the bus, Xu Dongyou stood at the entrance of the community against the light, and his reflection looked particularly lonely in the sunset.
When the owner of the neighborhood supermarket came out to pack up, he noticed Xu Dongyou and immediately greeted him warmly, "Dongyou, are you back?"
Xu Dongyou came to his senses, nodded, then felt that it was not a good time to leave, so he went into the supermarket and bought a box of milk.
The boss smiled even more enthusiastically. He had been running the business here for five or six years and had watched Xu Dongyou grow up. He mentioned Xu's mother and said, "Your mother has been very angry these days. You should comfort her when you get home."
Xu Dongyou was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "I understand, thank you Uncle Zhang."
The boss nodded with a smile.
Xu Dongyou walked all the way downstairs to his home. When he passed by the community fitness area, he was stopped by a familiar neighbor grandmother and a few aunts. After chatting for a few words, they showed concern for Xu Dongyou.
Xu Dongyou responded with good temper, without any impatience on his face, which made the elderly neighbor grandmothers and aunts very happy. Then they considerately made way for him and said, "Go home soon, your mother must miss you."
Xu Dongyou nodded, said goodbye to the neighbor grandmothers and aunts, and the feeling of homesickness seemed to disappear. Xu Dongyou quickened his pace and went straight to the fifth floor and knocked on the door.
Xu's mother's loud voice came from inside the house immediately, "Who is it?"
The footsteps approached, the door opened, and the slim woman with fashionable curly hair was immediately surprised when she saw Xu Dongyou: "I thought you were not going home this week."
As he spoke, he turned around and yelled into the house, "Dad, Dongyou is back!"
Then, a middle-aged man with a slightly fat body and a beer belly walked out of the master bedroom. He looked at Xu Dongyou, patted his thigh and said, "Damn, do you think Dongyou has lost weight?"
Xu Dongyou was stunned.
He is now quite sensitive to the word "fat". His human form is obviously tall and thin, but why is his demon form like a round dumpling
After hearing what Xu's father said, Xu's mother quickly looked at Xu Dongyou and gave him full affirmation, "Yes, you have lost weight! You must be tired from school."
Father Xu said, "Then I will quickly make something delicious for the child to nourish him."
Mother Xu pushed Father Xu and couldn't help complaining, "I told you to make the broth first yesterday, but you refused to listen. Now the kids have to wait for you to make it for several hours before they can drink it."
Xu Dongyou whispered to his mother, "Mom, I'm not hungry yet, and don't let Dad be busy. It's not good to drink soup so late."
Father Xu said again: "Then I'll wash some fruit."
After saying that, he went to the kitchen.
Mother Xu dragged Xu Dongyou to sit on the sofa and asked with concern: "Did something happen?"
The busy sounds in the kitchen came to an abrupt end, and Xu's father stood at the door listening to the noise in the living room.
Xu Dongyou shook his head, "It's okay."
Xu's mother became even more worried. "I raised you by myself. Don't I know your temper and personality?"
Xu Dongyou didn't want to worry his mother and father, so he could only make up another excuse, "Someone jumped off the building in the school, and many people in the school were affected."
Mother Xu couldn't help but groan, "What's going on?"
Xu Dongyou shook his head.
Mother Xu patted Xu Dongyou's arm gently, searching for words to comfort Xu Dongyou, and father Xu happened to come out with a fruit plate, eagerly asking Xu Dongyou to eat.
Both of them care about Xu Dongyou in their own way.
Xu Dongyou felt warm in his heart. This was the love his parents gave him, regardless of whether they were related by blood or not.
But this love is real.
"By the way, Mom, where is Yang Chen?" Xu Dongyou was a little surprised.
Logically speaking, at this point and time, the other party should have gone home long ago.
Mother Xu got angry when she talked about this. "Your brother has been addicted to games recently. How can this mobile game be fun? He plays it all day long."
Xu Dongyou's younger brother is Xu Yangchen, who is a freshman in college and also attends university in the same city. He goes home on Saturdays and Sundays. According to Xu's mother, Xu Yangchen became addicted to mobile games this month. He would play games all the time after returning home and would not go to bed until noon the next day.
"If he keeps staying up late like this, his health will be damaged sooner or later." That's why Xu's mother was so angry: "It's not that I don't let him play. There's nothing wrong with playing games moderately, but he can't always stay up late and indulge in them. As a result, he sees that I always scold him, so he doesn't plan to go home this week."
Xu Dongyou thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I was suppressed for too long during the college entrance examination. Let's wait and see the situation in half a month. If it's still the same, I'll go talk to Yang Chen."
Most importantly, Xu Dongyou felt that what made his mother angry was probably not the fact that his brother played games, but the fact that his brother didn't go home in order to avoid being nagged by his mother.
Xu's mother nodded, looked at the time and urged Xu Dongyou to go to bed. Xu Dongyou said good night to his parents and went back to his bedroom.
Xu's parents were not financially well off, and in order to conceal the fact that he was adopted, they even quit their jobs and moved to a new city.
Within a year, Xu's mother became pregnant, and the burden of supporting the family fell almost entirely on Xu's father. It was already very difficult to buy a small house after so many years.
So until now, he and his younger brother still live in the same house. Xu's father and mother feel very guilty about this, but Xu Dongyou doesn't mind, and his younger brother thinks so too.
When I returned to the bedroom, I could still hear the voices of Xu's mother and Xu's father chatting in the living room in low voices.
There are two beds in the second bedroom. Xu Dongyou's bed has better lighting. The reason is that Xu Yangchen has been very strong since he was a child, while Xu Dongyou looks pretty and slender, which makes his parents and younger brother subconsciously take better care of him.
The next day, Xu's mother came back from shopping and handed the food to Xu's father, who began to cook skillfully.
Breakfast was century egg and lean meat porridge, and pickled vegetables picked by Xu's father. It was refreshing and slightly spicy. Even Grandma Chen next door thought it was delicious. Every time Xu's father pickled a jar of vegetables, he would send her a plate of it.
After eating, Xu Dongyou started sending messages to his brother, asking whether he would come back today.
About an hour later, Xu Yangchen sent a long message.
I won’t go back, for fear of being scolded by my mom. It’s just as well that I can still stay in the dormitory and play games with a team. Now let’s not talk about it anymore. Brother, I have to go to the next dungeon.
Xu Dongyou reluctantly put away his phone and continued eating.
After dinner, Xu's father and Xu Dongyou began to wash the dishes and clean the house, while Xu's mother sat on the sofa watching TV.
Xu Dongyou tried his best to accompany his father and mother throughout the day, and only left for school in the evening.
During this period, Xu Dongyou would occasionally take time out to go to the processing bureau to learn how to draw talismans, and then on Saturdays and Sundays go to the top floor to learn the "water avoidance" spell from Jiuchao.
According to Jiuchao, water avoidance is the first spell that almost all monsters choose to learn. The reason is that most monsters are afraid of water, and having wet hair is very uncomfortable.
Once you learn how to avoid water, you will not get wet when you enter the water. If you have enough demonic power, you can even control the water in a simple way, so that you can dive to the bottom of the sea without breathing.
It’s a very practical ability.
That is, every time you use the "water avoidance" ability, you have to use the spell to activate it. Jiuchao suggested that Xu Dongyou should memorize this spell until it can be compressed to three seconds.
If something really happens, you might panic, and there is a high possibility that you won't be able to think of the incomplete mantra.
Xu Dongyou carefully implemented Jiuchao's words. Whenever he had free time, he would recite the spell in his mind. At the same time, he would try to control the spiritual energy and demonic energy to flow throughout his body.
As he was busy with his studies, Xu Dongyou did not go with Tian Ze to take the mission, because the mission Tian Ze took this time was in a small town, more than two hours away from the city.
During this period, Xu Dongyou also asked Mr. Chen about the pattern of Zhulong's awakening and sleeping time.
Old Chen said: "In the beginning, Zhulong would wake up only once every few hundred years, but recently the time it wakes up has become shorter and shorter. In the past ten years, it has woken up almost once every six months, and this year, it has become once a month."
Xu Dongyou was puzzled and asked Chen Lao in a low voice: "Why is this happening?"
As Chen poured tea, he said, "I don't know either. It may also be partly related to the gradual recovery of the power of the ancient Candle Dragon."
Xu Dongyou's eyelashes trembled.
If you wake up once a month.
So this month, Zhulong has woken up twice. The more Xu Dongyou thought about it, the more he felt that the reason why Zhulong woke up early might be related to him.
But this is just speculation.
In addition to running back and forth between the school and the processing bureau, Xu Dongyou occasionally begged Jiuchao to take him into the sealing formation.
Zhulong was still sleeping in the same position as when Xu Dongyou left last time, with no signs of waking up.
The processing bureau is also urging the factory to produce a giant version of the water dispenser specifically for Zhulong, which will be ready in a few days.
Immediately afterwards, the team leader contacted Xu Dongyou and asked him to learn how to operate a crane.
Because Zhulong is huge in size, and this is the first time trying to send something into the sealing formation.
No one knows whether Zhulong will go crazy when he sees these things. It will be even more troublesome if something is broken and the water overflows.
So to be on the safe side, the processing bureau built a giant water dispenser that was only five meters long and seven meters high, filled with nearly one thousand liters of water.
This is enough for Zhulong to take three big gulps.
Xu Dongyou felt that he seemed to be even busier and had no time to go home on Saturdays and Sundays, so he called his father and mother in advance to tell them that there were activities in the school club and he could not go home.
Xu's mother and father said they knew and told Xu Dongyou to study hard and not to worry about family.
After Xu Dongyou hung up the phone, he started to study new things.
In about two days, Xu Dongyou learned some simple driving skills, and then with the help of the staff of the processing bureau, he tied the water dispenser and hung it on the crane. In addition, there were three pieces of cooked beef, all of which were preserved using special methods.
You don’t need to worry about the beef going rotten within a month.
However, there are only two entrances to the sealing formation, neither of which can accommodate the huge crane, but this does not pose a problem for the people in the handling bureau.
They separated the crane in advance and reassembled it after entering the sealing formation. In the future, this thing can be placed here directly for Xu Dongyou to use at any time.
Xu Dongyou sat in the driver's seat of the crane, and under the watchful eyes of several people including Mr. Chen and the branch director, he slowly started the crane and carefully entered the sealing formation.