Demons Beside You

“Wait…I think I got confused.”

“You can get the people confused?”

“No, it’s the script…”

“Get out.” Chen Zhao kicked Beelzebub off the bed.

Beelzebub and Raymond were used to sleeping next to Chen Zhao. Blackie was a nocturnal creature, but he was pretty active during the day too.

If he had work, then he would work. If not, he would come and chat with Chen Zhao.

Maybe it was because he kept arguing with Raymond and Beelzebub, but Chen Zhao felt like he was turning an experienced Grim Reaper into a lazy piece of trash.

Chen Zhao had two demons beside him, but he’d always slept well. He never had any nightmares.

In the morning, Beelzebub ran out of the room to find Ethan at the counter for breakfast. Ethan was used to it too. Beelzebub would run over for food every day at this time.

“Little demon, is Chen up?”

Woof—

“How come he’s up so early today? That’s strange. He usually sleeps until nine or ten. Is he up so early because he has a date?”

“Morning.” Chen Zhao came downstairs now and took out a carton of milk from the cabinet.

“Do you have plans today?”

“Exercise. I think I got fat recently,” Chen Zhao replied seriously because he really thought so.

He seemed to only have been consuming meat and soda these days, rarely eating vegetables. Chen Zhao discovered that his blood pressure had increased a bit while his fat had increased a lot.

“You actually care about your body shape?”

“I’m a doctor.”

“Fatties can be doctors too.”

“A fatty would seem untrustworthy to patients.” Chen Zhao scanned Ethan’s stocky figure. “Do you think a doctor who can’t control his own figure can control a patient’s sickness?”

“Stop speaking nonsense,” Ethan insisted. “Fat guys can be good doctors too.”

“Have you been suffering from insomnia, sweating, low energy and appetite?”

“Chen, am I sick?” Ethan knew that Chen Zhao was a skilled doctor, so when he heard Chen Zhao consult him so solemnly, his heart skipped a beat. It didn’t bode well.

“Those are symptoms of kidney failure. Fatty, take care of your health. After all, it’s pretty expensive to find a good doctor.” Chen Zhao patted Ethan’s shoulder and went out for his morning jog.

“B*stard, even if I go soft, I won’t ask you to help me!”

Beelzebub followed out with meat in his mouth. His hyperactivity seemed to be breaking out. The small room clearly didn’t satisfy his needs anymore.

The morning air tasted sweet. Chen Zhao felt all his cells coming to life.

“Morning.” A woman in tight-fitting workout clothes ran to Chen Zhao’s side. With her sexy body and practically flawless face, she was definitely the prettiest girl Chen Zhao had met here.

“Morning.”

“I haven’t seen you before.”

“I moved to America recently,” Chen Zhao replied.

“I’m Kelly.”

“Chen Zhao, but you can call me Chen.”

“Is that your dog?”

“Yes. His name is Beelzebub. You can also call him ‘little demon’.”

“How far are you going to run?”

“Probably three miles. If I run any more, I probably won’t be able to work today.”

“There’s a café on the street in front of us. It’s a few miles away. Whoever gets there last has to pay.”

“Sure,” Chen Zhao agreed easily.

However, this beauty was clearly better at exercising than Chen Zhao. She controlled her endurance and rhythm very well.

Kelly remained two steps before Chen Zhao the entire time. Chen Zhao wasn’t an athlete, but he worked out often back home too.

He knew that this was a long run instead of a sprint. It would require endurance and rhythm. He couldn’t just sprint blindly because then he would collapse halfway there.

If he tried to catch up to Kelly, he would disrupt his rhythm. That would then disrupt his breathing and exercise habits, which would make him consume more energy.

However, Kelly gradually slowed down and jogged shoulder to shoulder with Chen Zhao.

“Did I disappoint you?”

“I used to be a track runner,” Kelly replied with a smile. “Most people can’t beat me.”

“What about now?”

“Running for so long changed the shape of my thighs. I don’t like that, so now I’m a white-collar worker at an office.”

Kelly cared a lot about her figure. It was to the point that she would give up on her interests or even her career.

“It’s a pity. If you continued, you might’ve gone to the Olympics or even the Golden League.”

“Even if I reach the competition track, I won’t be able to win much. Track is ruled by black people. According to evolution, their endurance and explosive force is always the best. It’s related to their environment in Africa. On the other hand, you Asians focus more on technique. It’s the same as how China has absolute rule over ping pong.”

“So why are Asians better at technique?”

“It’s because in the past 2,000 years, Asian civilizations have always been in a complex environment. The requirements for physical abilities went down and were replaced by an adaption to civilizations. For example, the Tatars represented the nomads. They had to be skilled in bows and arrows during war. However, the countries known for agriculture have to focus on technique for farming. Even learning and writing uses technique. This means that for Asians, the usage of technique is in your genes and bones. Of the three main races, whites mostly live in warm and cold climates, so we’re probably the most complicated race. The colder the environment, the braver and more militant people are. The warmer the place, the more conservative and lazy people are.”

“So lazy people started the industrial era.” Chen Zhao laughed.

“Yes, that’s the truth.”

“Were you really a track runner? I feel like you’re a world historian.”

“Being a runner doesn’t mean I’m bad at other subjects.”

“I don’t agree with what you said about people from warmer regions being more conservative though. After all, the biggest war in the world was started by the Germans. Germany counts as a warm climate, right?”

“Warm climate” wasn’t about how cold the winters were. It snowed in Germany too. “Warm climate” meant that there was a difference between winter and summer.

“No, no, you’ve interpreted it incorrectly. Germany started two World Wars, but it was caused by the era, not the people. Germans started the wars, but you can’t say that Germans are cruel. We’re comparing entire races and peoples from different areas right now—not specific instances or exceptions from a certain era.”

“Historians always say that the differences between each race are actually quite small. What they acknowledge are geographical culture and geopolitics.”

“What do you mean?”

“Simply put, it’s the civilizations that develop from different geographical environments. The most basic example is that people who live near the sea and inland have different cultures and ways of thinking. Coastal people will think of danger when they sea water, while inland people think water represents vitality and survival. The two different types of thinking produce different governments, economies, and culture.”