Demons Beside You

Chen Zhao picked up the Shar Pei. “Apparently, a small minority of people will get auditory hallucinations after getting onto a plane. This is probably a hallucination, right?”

“Human, you are insulting a demon lord. Do you know what this means?”

“Do you know that Chinese people have more than a hundred ways to cook a dog?” Chen Zhao wasn’t intimidated at all—mostly because he hadn’t processed all this yet.

“Human, you can’t do this. You summoned me.”

“I summoned you? Did I?” Chen Zhao slowly put down this self-proclaimed demon lord Shar Pei. His mind was in a bit of a mess right now. No, more accurately, it was very messy.

“Yes, I am Beelzebub Vito, subordinate of the King of Gluttony.”

“How did I summon you?” Chen Zhao asked.

“How would I know?”

“Don’t you need some sort of sacrifice to summon a demon? Did I do some ritual just now?”

“I don’t know. I just felt your sign, so I descended.”

“Then what can you do for me?”

“You should tell me what you require me to do.”

Chen Zhao still hadn’t figured out how Beelzebub had appeared. However, the thing he wanted to figure out the most right now was what use this talking Shar Pei had.

“I need money. A lot of money.” Chen Zhao made an unsophisticated request.

“Please. I’m the subordinate of the King of Gluttony, not Mammon, the King of Greed. I don’t do such unsophisticated things.”

“Then how do I summon the subordinate of the King of Mammon?” Chen Zhao started getting excited about this.

“I don’t even know how you summoned me and yet you’re asking me how to summon other demon lord subordinates. Do you think I know?”

“Then how do I send you back?”

“Food. I want food. Fulfill my hunger.”

Chen Zhao called room service. “Ethan, get me some food.”

Soon, Ethan brought the food over. It was some handmade hamburgers. “Ten dollars. Thank you for your patronage.”

However, when Ethan saw the Shar Pei Beelzebub, he added, “My hotel doesn’t allow pets.”

“Wait until I find a place to bury it. Then I’ll call animal control and tell them that you killed a pet.”

“Okay, I was kidding.” Ethan was the type that bullied the weak but feared the strong.

…

“You should be nicer to me. I’m your summoned demon. We have a contract between us.”

“I’m suddenly thinking, if I kill you, I might be able to exchange you for a more useful demon, right?”

“You’ll be punished, you evil human.”

“Okay, eat your fill and then get back to Hell. Otherwise, I won’t be able to resist turning you into a dog meat hotpot.”

“Human food is the only thing I like about the human world.” Beelzebub ate a burger with one bite. “Unfortunately, my body is too small. Two is my limit.”

“A demon’s appetite is that small?”

“My projection can only appear in this state. D*mmit, can you please be stronger the next time you summon me? Let me have a bigger body.”

“This has something to do with me?”

“Of course. The stronger you are, the bigger I can be when summoned.”

“I’m glad I’m weak. Otherwise, my money won’t be able to satisfy your appetite.”

“Then I’ll see you next time.”

“No, I’m never seeing you again.” Chen Zhao didn’t even try to hide his disgust.

Beelzebub gradually disappeared from Chen Zhao’s eyes.

Chen Zhao also ate a bit. He was hungry too.

Suddenly, he remembered that before Beelzebub had appeared, he was looking at Ethan’s food and had grown hungry. Then Beelzebub appeared the next moment. Was that the reason?

“Hunger?” Chen Zhao looked at the hamburgers on the table, but he was imagining a full feast in his mind.

Plop—

That small familiar body appeared again. Beelzebub looked at Chen Zhao sadly.

“What was that about never meeting again? Why did you summon me again?”

“I was just testing. There are still hamburgers on the table. Eat them and get lost.”

“I can’t. I haven’t digested the one from earlier.”

“So annoying. I need to try summoning other demons right now.”

“If you allow me to use my abilities, I can speed up the digestion.”

“Use it, use it.”

Rumble—

Just then, Chen Zhao suddenly felt super hungry. Extremely hungry…this feeling was ten times stronger than before.

He immediately picked up a hamburger and devoured it.

“Still hungry… Strange. What’s going on?” Chen Zhao whipped his head toward Beelzebub. “You did this?”

“You agreed for me to use my abilities.” Beelzebub looked away, a bit afraid of Chen Zhao.

“This ability is so stupid.” Chen Zhao pursed his lips. “Completely useless.”

“If the projection you summon is strong enough, I can make someone die from overeating.”

“I’m a doctor, not a killer. My duty is to save people, not kill them… Plus…you’re only able to make me eat one extra hamburger right now.”

“You’re the one who’s too weak, you tragic human.”

“I feel like I can eat dog meat hotpot now!”

“Human, we have a contract.”

“So? What will happen if I eat you? Will I die? Or turn into a demon?”

“You…you will…” Beelzebub didn’t know how to reply. “When I get back, I’ll check the Demon Scriptures and then tell you.”

Clearly, this was a demon that didn’t do its homework.

“But you don’t know what will happen, so you won’t dare to kill me, human.” Beelzebub was very good at speculating about humanity.

“Similarly, you have to listen to my orders, right?”

“Don’t dream about me fulfilling some impossible wish for you.”

“Come, roll on the ground three times.”

“Human, are you challenging a demon lord’s dignity?”

“What kind of punishment will you get if you go against your summoner’s command?”

One circle, two, three…

“Good boy.”

“I’m not a dog. I’m a demon, you despicable human.”

“Three more rolls.”

One, two, three.

“How about a truce?”

“You’re giving up after two rounds? I thought demons would have a stronger will.”

“Actually, no,” Beelzebub said. “There essentially aren’t any differences between our thoughts and values. If we ignore the differences in species, our biggest difference is that we demons are more logical than you humans.”

“You know the concept of species?”

“Many humans are in Hell—most people, actually.”

“Does that mean that Hell is more advanced than the human world? After all, there are many geniuses in Hell and they won’t die a second time, right?”

“Actually, no. After their soul enters Hell, they’ll only have a portion of their memories. Plus, the longer they stay there, the fewer memories they have. We can only learn a general idea of the human world from them. If we want to use these human geniuses to develop Hell, it’s obviously impossible. Plus, we’re more interested in destruction than creation.”

“Are there many people in the world that can summon demons like me?”

“Actually, no. I am probably the only demon who can be summoned away from Hell in the past thousand years.”