It would still be a while before the Whale God arrived. Having regrouped with Lin Xi, and being within the Whale God's territory, I felt somewhat more confident about the Mo He. I finally dared to turn on my phone. It was still filled with a mountain of missed calls and WeChat messages. I prioritized replying to the most important ones, mostly to report that I was safe. Yao Yao didn't need to be updated; she and the Eagle Demon maintained constant contact and knew my whereabouts.
Two new WeChat friends had added me and both sent me messages.
Meng Po, on behalf of His Highness the Young King of Hell, asked how I was. I replied: "Escaped Mo He's control, currently in Mei Hekou."
Meng Po didn't reply, perhaps she was at work.
The other was a little demon named "Ni Tai Mei." She sent me dozens of messages. Since I hadn't replied, some of her messages were like monologues. One of them mentioned she was in Mei Hekou. This was pure coincidence; she sent that message before I even reached Siping.
I replied: "I'm also in Mei Hekou. We could meet up if there's a chance."
New friends were always welcome. Nowadays, many people seemed to be tight-lipped with me, as if they were hiding something. This little pheasant demon seemed quite lively, even a bit admiring of me. Moreover, she didn't seem to belong to any faction, with no ideological baggage. Perhaps I could glean some useful intelligence from her. Ni Tai Mei replied very quickly, asking why I had taken so long to respond. Then, perhaps feeling it was inappropriate, she withdrew the message and asked for my specific location, saying she would come to find me.
"What are you busy with?" Lin Xi asked. She wasn't in the habit of playing with her phone and was fiddling with a small steel spoon.
"I have an online friend in this city," I said with a smile. "Can I meet her?"
"She's your friend, why ask me? Go ahead and meet her," Lin Xi replied.
"She's a demon, so I wanted to get guidance," I said, thinking that perhaps Sha Bi Ya was the department for managing demons.
"How old a demon?" Lin Xi asked.
"I'm not sure, probably not very old."
Lin Xi pondered for a moment and nodded. "You can, but it's best to meet at the hotel. If you go somewhere far, I'm afraid something might happen, and I wouldn't be able to assist you."
"What kind of things might happen?" I seized the opportunity to probe Lin Xi.
Lin Xi wasn't as sharp as her sister, Lin Chi, and let her guard down completely. She blurted out, "I'm worried she might be a demon from the Shan Hai clan."
"Shan Hai" again. The Young King of Hell had mentioned it once, saying he was worried I might be captured by "Shan Hai," and that Shan Hai was an ancient great demon aiming to rule Blue Star. I hadn't understood it very well.
Fearing I might alert Lin Xi, I didn't press further. I just nodded and said, "It's fine, no big deal."
I opened my map and sent Ni Tai Mei my location. She also sent me hers; it was only about five hundred meters away. She was staying in a residential complex called Shui Jun Hua Ting, which sounded quite high-end. Demons, if they wanted to make money, could do so quite easily, and were likely well-off. Even my eight dazed youths who had just taken human form could earn their first "life" pot of gold through live streaming, let alone these mature demons who frequented dark web forums and were familiar with human society.
She said she'd be there in a moment and asked for my room number. I said I was at the hotel entrance and even narcissistically sent a selfie.
"Wow, Mr. Wu is so handsome!"
Such fake flattery. I'm not handsome, really, just clean-looking.
"I'll be there in five minutes!"
Before Ni Tai Mei could arrive, the Whale Demon, after finishing breakfast, came over first. Lin Xi and I watched her smartwatch screen. It wasn't until the small dot and the large dot were about to overlap that I noticed a young woman in a mink coat, wearing high heels, trotting towards the hotel entrance. I activated my Qi sensing technique and sighed. This wasn't just "purple qi" anymore; it was completely "black qi," much deeper than Long Yue's complexion!
Unfortunately, due to the limited angle of the floor-to-ceiling window, I had only seen the side profile of the Beihai Whale God. Her face was as sharp as a knife, very refined. She wasn't of Yan Xia ethnicity, but Caucasian. She resembled Dilireba by about seventy percent, but her aristocratic aura could completely outshine Dilireba – she looked like a princess from an ancient European court.
"This big whale is quite good-looking!" I whispered, a sincere compliment!
"Tsk, don't talk!" Lin Xi chided.
Unfortunately, the Whale God heard me through the thick glass. She gracefully turned her head and even gave a slight nod of greeting to Lin Xi and me. Startled, Lin Xi's hand trembled, and the small steel spoon dropped to the floor. I quickly bent down to pick it up for her. When I looked up again, the Beihai Whale God had already entered the hotel and disappeared...