"This is your room, huh!" Huai Xu asked knowingly. He fixed his gaze on the lamp in front of Zhou Li, suppressing the urge to touch it. "This little streetlamp is quite unique. I've always wanted to know how it lights up!"
"The principle is... it lights up when you plug it in."
"...Oh!"
Huai Xu seemed to understand.
Then he turned to look at Zhou Li's bed. "This bed is also unique, but why would one person need a bunk bed? Do you have a maid or something?"
"This was bought when I was a child. Back then, my younger brother and I slept together, and he took the upper bunk. We stopped sleeping together as we grew older. This bed was moved to this room after I started middle school." Zhou Li turned to look at Huai Xu, whose gaze was darting around.
"So you can sleep on the top bunk if you want, and sleep on the bottom if you feel like it!"
"Pretty much."
"That's great!" Huai Xu exclaimed, then pointed to Zhou Li's densely packed bookshelf. "Have you read all these books?"
"Most of them are textbooks."
"Oh! I know about those!" Huai Xu nodded, his eyes continuing to wander.
Zhou Li realized some things might have been misunderstood. Huai Xu's gaze landed on the hyacinth on his desk, and just as he was about to ask another question, Zhou Li preempted him: "Do you often stay in that tree?"
"Not really." Huai Xu's eyes fixed on the hyacinth. "Why is that plant growing in water? There's no soil, and its roots are all soaked white."
"So, did you specially wait for me at that intersection tonight?"
"How did you know? I didn't. It was a coincidence. Seems we're really fated," Huai Xu replied.
"Then why were you in that tree again? You weren't there the past few days."
"Is that so? We must truly be fated then."
"...That's a hyacinth. It won't drown."
"Hyacinth," Huai Xu repeated.
"You said you just woke up. Did you sleep for a long time?"
"I guess so."
"How long was that?"
"I don't know. I don't have a watch like you all do. Anyway, it felt like a very long time. The world has completely changed."
"What was your world like before?" Zhou Li caught onto a point in Huai Xu's words.
"I don't remember, but it definitely wasn't like this."
"Does it feel strange to you? What else do you remember?"
"Hmm... I don't remember much. I can recall bits and pieces occasionally. It's probably like this for everyone who wakes up." Huai Xu's eyes showed a hint of confusion. His mind held only fragments he couldn't piece together; trying to do so was agonizing. To cope with this pain, he forced himself to stop remembering.
"Where do you sleep? Underground? In a coffin? In a cave?"
"In places you can't see."
"Are they all like that?"
"I guess so."
"So what exactly are you?" Zhou Li pressed his lips tightly as he asked this question. "Where do you come from?"
"Demon? Spirit? Deity? Monster?" Huai Xu's eyes looked puzzled as he answered, as if he were as unsure about these questions as Zhou Li. "Most people call us Demons, I think. There are also some very nasty curses. As for where we come from... I've heard other Demons say we might not be from this world, which is why you all dislike us."
"How long have you been awake?"
"A little over a year, I guess."
"Over a year, huh? I remember..." Zhou Li was doubtful. "Aren't there quite a few of your kind? And many who keep each other company. Why don't you find them?"
"They don't like me. The small ones hide from me, and the big ones won't let me stay in their territories. Maybe it's because I look human," Huai Xu said, sounding somewhat annoyed. "Actually, I think I'm easy to get along with."
"You just said you heard from other Demons that you might not be from this world."
"What about it?"
"If they don't want to associate with you, why would they tell you that?"
"I have special ways of... persuading them."
"Oh."
Zhou Li understood. This person, who just a moment ago had said, 'Ask away, I'll tell you everything I know,' was actually quite muddled himself and couldn't provide much useful information. Moreover, Zhou Li wasn't quite ready to believe these bits of information.
So he looked away, silently picked up his pen. The noisy rain outside made the early summer night seem especially peaceful.
"I'm going to work on my assignment now. You can just stay here."
"What's an assignment?"
"It's a set of problems. If I don't do it now, I'll have to stay up late. I need to submit it to the teacher first thing in the morning."
"Oh, go ahead." Huai Xu quieted down.
The faint sound of the fountain pen tip scratching against the paper was easily drowned out by the rain.
Zhou Li wrote for a while. When he turned his head, he saw Huai Xu still leaning against the ladder of the bunk bed, staring straight at him with wide eyes. His face was so exquisite, like the painstaking creation of a master artist where every minute detail was pushed to the extreme of perfection—a kind of beauty that didn't seem like it could occur naturally.
It looked a bit fake.
Huai Xu felt uneasy. "Keep writing!"
He hadn't disturbed him, had he?
Zhou Li looked away again, held his pen thoughtfully for a moment, then tried to make conversation. "How have you spent this past year? Were you around here before?"
"I came from a small town. Just kept walking and walking, and eventually ended up here. This place is good; there aren't as many Demons as outside the city. I've been in the city for over half a year now. Usually, I just wander around, go wherever I fancy. Sometimes I sneak into places humans like to hang out, though I have to be covert. Sometimes I even go to school." Huai Xu became cheerful as he spoke, his expression animated, and then he launched into a long spiel.
"You go to school?" Zhou Li was a bit surprised. "Where?"