Demons Beside You

Translator: Larbre Studio  Editor: Larbre Studio

Chen Zhao took out a few more cans of beer. This time, nothing bizarre happened.

 However, Chen Zhao could not forget about it.

 After all, he was a senior wizard, and it was his house.

 However, something which he could not comprehend had happened.

 Chen Zhao was very much put on alert.

 After Fali went to sleep, Chen Zhao went to the living room.

 “AI, find the video record of the living room and kitchen from 12.05 to 12.10.”

 Very soon, the video was being played on the television.

 In the video, Chen Zhao entered the kitchen at 12.06.

 Then, he walked out with the beer. The entire process only took more than twenty seconds.

 Chen Zhao stared at the screen.

 Suddenly, something flashed in the video.

 Then, the beer disappeared.

 What was it?

 Chen Zhao frowned. What exactly had happened?

 There was nothing in the video, but the strange thing really did happen.

 Chen Zhao looked completely lost, just like him in the video.

 He stood up and walked to the location of the peculiar occurrence.

 Looking around, he searched for anything that might be suspicious.

 Eventually, Chen Zhao"s eyes locked onto the brush painting hung on the wall.

 He stared at the painting.

 It was an ordinary landscape painting with mountains and water.

 In the painting, the mountains towered into the clouds. It seemed rather unique.

 Since Chen Zhao received the painting, he had never discovered anything special about it.

 Was it because of the painting?

 Chen Zhao was unsure.

 However, in his immediate surroundings, the painting was the most suspicious item.

 Moreover, the painting had an unusual background.

 In Trede Pemton"s great collection, most items were extremely valuable.

 Even the nautical dairy, which was initially thought to be worthless, was proved useful.

 All in all, Chen Zhao was very suspicious about the painting"s origin.

 Suddenly, Chen Zhao seemed to notice something among the mountains and fog.

 Chen Zhao continued to stare at it…

 It moved…

 The thing moved! It was not a mountain.

 The next moment, Chen Zhao felt the entire world spin.

 Then, he realized that he was at the foot of a mountain covered in clouds.

 F**k, it"s actually the painting!

 He was in the painting.

 He was in the painting right now!

 Although Chen Zhao had never inspected the painting carefully, he could more or less recognize the scenery.

 Suddenly, the fog began to dissipate.

 Chen Zhao saw something as big as a mountain… A gargantuan beast!

 It was an enormous tortoise with a dozen mountain peaks on its back!

 The tortoise moved its head before Chen Zhao. Its neck was thin and long.

 No, it was actually a turtle…

 It was a super turtle!

 However, it only seemed to have three legs.

 Chen Zhao felt like something was stuck in his throat.

 He could not even shout.

 Chen Zhao did not know how powerful it was, but it was twenty or thirty times larger than Beelzebub Zofee"s true form.

 It was like the difference between Princess and Briar and Bramble.

 Anyway, it was simply very, extremely big.

 Chen Zhao thought that he was basically a monster among humans.

 But a punch from his right arm was at most five tons.

 It was surely insignificant to the super beast before him.

 “Uh… Who are you?” Chen Zhao asked in Chinese.

 It was probably a Chinese turtle?

 “I"m your f**king dad!”

 The turtle replied in English.

 “…” Chen Zhao was speechless. “You"re a Western monster?”

 “Monster? Your entire family are monsters! Looking at my size, you should at least call me ‘divine beast" right?”

 “How did you learn English?”

 “What do you think? I"ve been drifting in the West for a hundred years, hung on the wall every now and then. Everyone around me spoke English. Even a fool would have learned the language.”

 “Err… You can hear people outside speak?”

 “What? How would I learn it if I can"t hear them?”

 “Fine.”

 Chen Zhao was speechless. The turtle was a senior international student.

 “May I ask who are you?”

 “Notice my three legs? What does that remind you of?” The giant turtle stared at Chen Zhao in antic.i.p.ation.

 “Three-legged turtle?”

 “…” The turtle seemed upset. “I"m the Great Turtle.”

 “Uh… Let me read the Cla.s.sic of Mountains and Seas when I get back.”

 The three-legged turtle was even more disappointed. “Don"t you recall anything? Like G.o.ddess Nuwa?”

 “Oh… I know! Got it!” Chen Zhao clapped his hands.

 “Haha… I knew it! People still remember me!” The three-legged turtle was delighted.

 “You"re G.o.ddess Nuwa"s mount!”

 “F**k!” The three-legged turtle"s English was very fluent, even better than Chen Zhao"s.

 “Are you not?”

 “I"m the sky mender!!” the three-legged turtle roared. “G.o.ddess Nuwa cut off one of my legs to support the sky!”

 “Oh.”

 “Oh? Shouldn"t you be more excited?”

 “Ah… I"m so excited.”

 “That"s too fake.”

 “Why are you hiding in the painting?”

 “As a reward for my contribution, G.o.ddess Nuwa said that she would fulfill a wish of mine. I said I would like to live forever.”

 “And then?”

 “Then she sealed me in this River Map.”

 “Did G.o.ddess Nuwa misunderstand the meaning of ‘live forever"?”

 Chen Zhao could clearly see the turtle"s mouth twitch. “I think so.”

 This reminded Chen Zhao of a popular joke.

 Someone picked up the magic lamp, and the genie promised him a wish.

 He said he would like to know how to swim.

 Then the genie turned the person into a fish.

 Initially, Chen Zhao thought the turtle"s wish was great, but looking at the outcome, G.o.ddess Nuwa surely did not put in much effort.

 “Time flow in the River Map is thousands of times slower than the outside, so to be honest, G.o.ddess Nuwa did fulfill my wish. I"m basically going to live forever here.”

 “How optimistic is that,” Chen Zhao sighed.

 “Of course. If I"m not that optimistic, I would have lost my mind long ago.”

 “…”

 Never mind. I should stop talking about G.o.ddess Nuwa before I get any retributions.

 “Then why did you summon me in?”

 “Not me. You came here yourself.”

 “What? I came in here myself? Why do I not know that?”

 “This is the River Map. Apart from G.o.ddess Nuwa, n.o.body can enter or leave.”

 “How do I get out now?”

 “Dunno.”

 “Stop lying to me.”

 “I really don"t know. If I do, I would have gone out long ago,” the Old Turtle said.

 Chen Zhao was upset. What"s this?

 Someone, help!!!

 “Do you have alcohol with you?”

 “Oh, did you take the beer just now?” Chen Zhao s.h.i.+vered.

 “Yes, I can take things from outside, but I can"t bring any people inside,” the Old Turtle said. “Can you move the TV in your living room? I can"t see it from here. Or maybe hang the River Map in a different direction.”