"Does every place have a 'Shakespeare'?" I deliberately changed the subject.
How did Yao Yao know about my relationship with Shen Xingyue? I hadn't told her.
But this was still in its infancy, just one blind date, and one night spent in the same room.
That's all.
"Shakespeare's headquarters is in Jingcheng, called the General Bureau," Xiong Xiaomeng continued to explain. "It has comprehensive departments such as Logistics, Finance, Office, Equipment, and Liaison, as well as eight action teams, known as the 'Eight Great Teams' – this is a continuation of the Eight Banners system, also divided into Bordered Yellow, Pure Yellow, Pure White, Pure Red, Bordered White, Bordered Red, Pure Blue, and Bordered Blue. Each province also has branch bureaus, which then extend to all major cities. The organizational structure corresponds to the General Bureau, roughly the same, and they have many people."
"Why manage the demons in the human world?" I asked again, they weren't animals.
Xiong Xiaomeng didn't know how to answer the question and had to seek help from Yao Yao.
Yao Yao sat up lazily, put her legs down, and stretched her waist. All the bones in her body creaked, making me suspect that her internal structure was different from mine. Though both were human bodies, hers might be more precise.
"Do you know the difference between a demon, or more accurately, a demon that has taken human form, and a human?" Yao Yao asked me back.
I looked at Xiong Xiaomeng and after thinking for a moment, I said, "Are the demons' eye colors different?"
Her eyes, even in the well-lit hotel room, still emitted a yellow glow. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that her "whites" were a bright amber yellow, with a distinct glassy texture. The yellow light came from here. Her "eyeballs" were the same as humans', black, but her eyeballs were much smaller than humans', about the size of a soybean, making the proportions look extremely disproportionate.
"This is only one aspect, and moreover," Yao Yao nudged Xiong Xiaomeng's eye, looking at it intently, "she's like this because she hasn't been in human form for long. It's estimated that by tomorrow night or the morning after, she'll become indistinguishable from a human."
"I really can't see any other differences," I said. If I covered Xiong Xiaomeng's eyes, she'd look like a typical junior high school girl, albeit a precocious one, both cute and sexy.
"There are actually only two points. First," Yao Yao extended her middle finger, "demons eat different food from humans. Humans eat grains, poultry, fish, and meat, obtaining nutrients from food. But demons only eat the flesh and blood of living things."
"Carnivores? Wait a minute, I can understand tigers eating meat, bears eating meat, and foxes eating meat. But the second demon, a deer demon, she's an herbivore and used to eat grass. After taking human form, does she also have to eat meat?" I questioned, this didn't make sense.
"It's the same. Any demon that begins to cultivate must eat the fresh flesh and blood of living things. Only then can they maintain their physical strength and energy during cultivation – living things contain 'essence and energy,' and what demons are after is this very thing," Yao Yao further explained. "Demons can eat regular human food, but only to taste it; they cannot digest it, just like when you humans eat enoki mushrooms, see-you-tomorrow."
"...Raw meat?" I frowned.
Xiong Xiaomeng nodded and, sticking out her little tongue, looked at my arm and licked her upper lip.
"...You eat humans too?" I tentatively asked again.
"We try not to," Yao Yao smiled. "But not eating humans isn't because humans aren't on the demon's menu, but because of the moral constraints after demons take human form. Of course, some demons with poorer moral character still eat humans. What's more..."
Yao Yao paused, then like Xiong Xiaomeng, licked her lips and grinned mischievously at me, "What's more, on the demon's menu, humans are always ranked first. Do you remember what I asked you in your dream about the most exquisite ingredients in the world, and how did you answer?"
That was a long time ago, a question we discussed when we first met in dreams. I remembered my answer then: Italian white truffles, Iberian ham, Kobe beef, Breton blue lobster, Black Sea sturgeon roe, French foie gras, Apennine morels, Belon oysters, and so on.
In any case, I had never eaten any of them.
I repeated my answer, which made Xiong Xiaomeng drool.
"For demons, the flesh and blood of living humans is equivalent to a grand stew of all these delicacies," Yao Yao laughed.
But it seemed like then they wouldn't be able to eat it... Well, I could understand her meaning.
"Different diet, that's one point. What's the second difference?" I asked again.