Living Yin Messenger, Doomed Yin Messenger, sounds exciting!
It was still early. We group of streamers, weren't real streamers either. We let them out to shop in the morning, free to buy whatever they pleased. I especially advised them to buy more clothes and shoes, as transforming could be quite demanding on attire.
After last night's intimacy, Yaoyao had returned to her clingy state, as if afraid I would run off. She held my arm, inseparable. Accompanying us were Jingshen, who was there to experience life, and our local guide, Zheng Bingbing.
While we were browsing, we happened to pass by Bingbing's home.
"How long has it been since you've been home?" I asked.
"Not long, just a few days," Bingbing chuckled.
"Let's go, let's see your parents," I suggested.
It really hadn't been long. The last time I met Zheng Bingbing's father was at Jiuxian Cave, where he had been hunting for the sprites with a crossbow.
Their outdoor supplies store had just opened. The four of us went in, and Bingbing's parents greeted us with smiles. They were familiar faces, only Jingshen was new. I introduced them, saying this Russian girl was Diana. Zheng Bingbing's father already knew our identities and quietly asked, "What kind of demon is this?"
"A whale," I said.
"Toothed whale or baleen whale?"
"Baleen whale," I replied, surprised that Uncle Zheng was so knowledgeable.
"Please wait a moment, I'll go upstairs to find a gift for this little beauty," Zheng Bingbing said with a smile and went upstairs.
Bingbing's mother made us tea and chatted with Yaoyao, like a big sister.
Soon after, Bingbing's father came down, holding a tin box with Russian writing on it. I didn't recognize a single word.
"Miss Di... Diana, right? Please accept this as a token of our acquaintance. I hope you don't find it too shabby."
Jingshen took the tin box with a puzzled look. As I opened the lid, I immediately smelled a seafood aroma, very fragrant.
Jingshen reached in and pulled out some biscuits, stuffing them into her mouth all at once (truly a whale's gulp). She began to chew, nodding as she ate, exclaiming in Russian, "Delicious, delicious!"
"Kharosho!" Bingbing's father also gave a thumbs-up. "This is an outdoor biscuit a Russian friend I met during my Arctic expedition sent me not long ago. It's made from selected Arctic shrimp powder, with no other additives."
"Dad, you're so biased! You don't give me this good stuff!" Zheng Bingbing frowned. She grabbed half a biscuit and took a bite, but her frown deepened.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Try it..." Zheng Bingbing handed me the bitten biscuit.
I took a bite, and oh my, I couldn't stand it. It smelled incredibly fragrant, but the taste was overwhelmingly fishy. It felt like shrimp had been ground into powder, then dehydrated and compressed through some process, and molded into biscuits without cooking!
Yaoyao took a bite and said she couldn't handle such a wild flavor either. Only Diana ate it with relish.
Bingbing's father was pleased that someone appreciated it (I suspected he couldn't eat it himself). He went upstairs and brought down a whole box of biscuits, giving them to Diana.
"Oh, Dad, we still have shopping to do. How are we supposed to carry this?"
"Ask Uncle to take it to the hotel," I said. "Chen Ke is at the hotel. Call her."
After eating the "delicacy" and drinking tea for a while, I saw that it was about time. I bid farewell to Bingbing's parents and drove to the Fucheng Shakespeare Bureau to meet Lin Chi.
When we arrived at their unit entrance, the security guard wouldn't let us in. I called Lin Chi, and she reprimanded the guard, allowing us entry.
After getting out of the car, I first used my qi sensing technique to survey the five-story building, trying to gauge how many experts a municipal-level Shakespeare Bureau might have.
This survey surprised me. Not because there were many experts, but because...
"Why are there so many demons in this building?" I whispered to Yaoyao. With her qi sensing range, she had already known there were many demons, at least twenty. However, they weren't in the building itself, but rather in the basement. What I saw were only the demonic energies that had permeated from the basement to the first floor...