Devil

Chapter 61:适应

[Adapt]

“Ah Jin, I’m sorry for using so much water …” When he got home, the first thing he did was to apologize to Ah Jin. Shortly after that, he thought about the weeds in the yard, although until now Ji Huan still didn’t know the value of those weeds, he still thought it was “weed”. However, knowing that it was so rare to see vegetables and plants outside, Ji Huan immediately realized how valuable these weeds were. 

“I wonder if these weeds will still be alive when replanted …” Ji Huan was a man of action so after he realized he might have made a mistake, he immediately ran out into the courtyard.

He tried to replant the uprooted grass back into the ground but this time he was destined to fail; after a noon of exposure to the sun, the roots of those grasses had long since lost their vitality. 

“Don’t bother about such problems! You’re doing very well. Just do it the way you tidied up that yard over there before, then later do it the same way how will you tidy up in here too. Now, the view is much better.” Sitting on a rocking chair in the corridor, Ah Jin was reading an old newspaper as he looked unconcerned about all that grass out there.

Without lifting his head for a moment, all of Ah Jin’s attention was focused on the letters (in the newspaper) in his hand.

He was now reading the newspaper they had bought on their way home. 

After buying what they needed to buy, on the way home, Ah Jin took Ji Huan on a roundabout road and entered into a small lane. In an unnoticeable house at the end of the alleyway, Ah Jin bought a thick stack of newspapers.

It was all old newspapers, but it was very expensive —— Ah Jin had paid as much as ten gold bars for it!

As soon as Ji Huan returned, he found a bookshelf for valuable things and put the importance on placing the newspapers on it. He especially told Grandpa, in normal times, that he must not touch the newspapers and to keep an eye on Hei Dan so he would not touch it!

But Ah Jin didn’t seem to care that much about these newspapers, he just looked through it slowly, page by page and conveniently threw the newspaper he had read on the floor. In the end, Ji Huan had to put a box on the floor next to the rocking chair especially for the already finished reading newspapers.    

At that time, Ji Huan only thought that the newspapers were very important or the contents of it were important, probably the political situation in the demon world and such but later, as he became more literate, able to read and understand the simple reports or news with some efforts, only then he realized that these newspapers were actually the weekly gossip magazines.

=-=

Oh well, that was the matter for later! The present Ji Huan still thought that Ah Jin was reading something important, so he went to do his own business gently and quietly. He tried his best not to let the movement on his side affect the other person.

He began to cook the meat of the magical beasts he had received today.

Not knowing even a single thing about cooking, Ah Jin didn’t give him any suggestion, only said that he should just do it and handle it himself. Therefore, Ji Huan decided to deal with it based on his past experience.

They bought a total of three magical beasts today: One is a large snail-like Karlterra, another one is a wolf-type beast called Barron and the last one is … uh, I don’t think it can be described as a “head”. It is the “rat” from the stall of the short and small magical creature that I had asked Ah Jin to buy.

Ah Jin said this kind of magical beast was called ‘Bone’, probably pronounced that way. Bones were the most common magical beast here. They ate everything. Their capability to breed was super strong, even though in the harsh desert circumstances, they live very well.They were the specialty of the surrounding area of that garbage mountains. Ah Jin also said that this kind magical beast was unpalatable, only the weakest of the demons would kill (in hunting) it.

“However, I suggest you eat the bones first.” Lastly, Ah Jin said it like this, his black and white clearly contrasted eyes ^[1]Figuratively, this could also mean unambiguous looking at him and when he looked at him like that, Ji Huan’s body all of sudden trembled slightly.

Ji Huan decided to eat the karlterra along with the bones first today.

Karlterra’s meat was quite tender, so Ji Huan decided to cook it in the same way as the fish. The whole karlterra was cut into cubes. Ji Huan made a total of three dishes out of it: one steamed in a clear soup, one braised in soy sauce and the last one fried with oil. 

He didn’t waste the water used for the steaming, but used that water to make a pot of soup with the “bones”.

There were two tomatoes and a potato left in the luggage so he used all of it in today’s cooking.

From tomorrow onwards, they could only use and eat the local ingredients.

The best part of the cooked dish was given to Ah Jin first habitually. Ji Huan and his whole family ate the rest. They did not eat together, probably because they had been eating separately to begin with, so until now they remained eating separately. 

“Grandpa, starting from today you can eat until you are (really) full.” Stuffing the chopsticks into the hands of Grandpa who was half lying on the bed, as Ji Huan said this, he also put a large piece of Karlterra’s meat into Grandpa’s bowl. 

“Xiao Hua …” In a daze, he looked at Ji Huan’s direction. Grandpa was suddenly a little anxious: “What about you? Can you eat … the food here? See, Grandpa’s brain only now thinking about this matter——”

Ji Huan shoved the meat into his mouth, Grandpa’s words came to an end spontaneously. 

Looking at the flustered Grandpa, Ji Huan smiled:

“I tasted it when I cooked the rice. It’s quite tasty. Besides, you can see that Da Bai ate the weeds in the yard last night, but isn’t he still fine and well right now? It’s okay! I’m alright with it.”

When he thought of Da Bai in the courtyard who was alive and strong, the goat-horned demon believed his grandson’s story. Biting down that piece of meat with all his might that his grandson had given to him. He took a big bite and ate it. 

An extremely wonderful sensation swept over him instantly!

It wasn’t that Ji Huan’s cooking was so delicious, for the demon creature, the appetite for good food wasn’t something that could be satisfied by the taste of the food itself, but more about the energy contained within it! In the case of the goat-horned demon, he had not eaten meat for fifteen years. In order to prevent his demonic outbursts, he did not even eat meat. Besides, the amount of energy he could consume from plants was close to zero. After a long period of self torment dieting behavior, this Callas has begun to wither away. This withering began in his gut, then spread to his every organ and finally to his blood vessels. The amount of energy Ji Huan’s blood can bring was simply a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood. ^[2]杯水车薪 : lit. a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood (idiom); fig. an utterly inadequate measure. If he continued the diet, there was only one thing awaiting for him in the end, that was death.

In the matter of saving his life, Ji Huan had undoubtedly made the right decision.

The food here contains a hundred times more energy than in their homeland. After swallowing just one piece of meat, the goat-horned demon immediately felt his run dry stomach pouch begin to heat up slightly!

Energy!

After all these years, he finally felt the energy came from eating food again!

The ecstasy of eating swept over him and the goat-horned demon’s full attention was focused on the food within his reach. With the present speed of eating now was not enough to satisfy him so the goat-horned demon turned into his original form in an instant. Taking the chunks of meat from the large bowl in his hands into his mouth in one go so he began to chew furiously.

The meat on the bowl was quickly consumed.

Not enough! Still not enough!

Not satisfied! He wanted more … He wanted to eat more!

With his mouth wide open while the sticky saliva dripped down from his teeth, the very skinny goat-horned demon leapt up from the bed, jumped up suddenly and landed on the dining table.

The chopsticks in his hands had long since disappeared, nowhere to be found and with two claws outstretched, he began to use the claw to take the food on the table and eat it.

Not knowing since when his eyes had turned red and the sharp claws he had been hiding popped out, leaving five deep scratches on the table with a single strike.

The goat-horned creature looked extremely terrifying, he looked like a full-blown demon! As if he really was a demon that had lost its mind and had only food on its mind!

Ji Huan’s pupils shrink.

It was at this moment, the Callas who was perched on the table, suddenly turned his head to look in the direction of Ji Huan. His uncontrollable saliva gushed out again. He opened his mouth and his two rows of meat-filled teeth snapped down in the direction of Ji Huan——

“Rooaarr!!!!!”

(Xiao Hua er, this meat is very delicious. You eat it quickly too!)

It was obviously the roar of a demonic creature that he couldn’t understand, however Ji Huan suddenly understood it.

This was the roar of Grandpa calling him to eat together.

When he understood the roar, Ji Huan’s pounding heart suddenly returned to its original beat.

After picking up the chopsticks he himself had dropped on the floor and casually wiping it, Ji Huan then took the small bowl from under the goat-horned demon’s grasp.

The goat-horned demon then allowed him to take away the food from under his eyes at the moment. 

Two chewing sounds came from the room, one sound made people who heard it tremble with fear while the other sound was so soft that it was almost inaudible.

While he sipped the “bone” soup, Ji Huan slipped the baby bottle he had prepared into the small paws of Hei Dan who was tied to his chest. Hei Dan immediately ‘gu lu gu lu’ and sucked it up. Now, the sound of eating in the room became three.

With the simultaneous burp, Ji Huan and his family ended their first official meal in this other world.

This night, Grandpa had a rare good night’s sleep, not the heavy sleep but the fast one as he slept soundly. On the other hand, Ji Huan did not sleep well. Suddenly suffering from a nosebleed in the middle of the night and then a high fever, as he lay drowsily on his pillow, looking out of the window at the purple moon. Ji Huan clung tightly to Hei Dan, knowing that the time had come for him to test whether he could live here.

Unlike the more simple-minded Grandpa, he had long thought about the question of whether he would be able to adapt to the food here once he came over. That was why he had brought so much food with him. He had imagined all the difficulties he might encounter. Every task was difficult yet, he was still determined to come.

Hei Dan’s body was a little bit cool and very comfortable to hold in his embrace. 

The sound of Grandpa snoring was also very nice to listen to…

Looking dazedly at the purple moon, Ji Huan slowly closed his eyes.

When he woke up the next day, he knew he had passed through the food problem here. 

This morning, he cooked that Barron as the breakfast for Grandpa and Ah Jin while he ate the other half of the leftover bone soup he had especially kept from last night.

This time he had no fever, only a little nosebleed, which he wiped and it did not continue to bleed. 

The second day after the whole family started eating the local food, Ji Huan was a bit weak. Grandpa was much more energetic and Hei Dan… He was still drinking milk powder and eating eggs, so Ji Huan thought Hei Dan didn’t have this kind of problem yet but he soon found out that Hei Dan was also reacting. 

Hei Dan finally pooped.

Unlike the time in his hometown when he had to desperately  with all his might to make ‘Xu Xu’ sound and pour water into him to make him pee, this was the first time Hei Dan pooped.

The disposable diaper which had been only as an ornament for so long, finally came in handy. 

Looking at Hei Dan, who was a bit suffocated by his own bad smell, Ji Huan touched very briefly on what was probably the small nose: “I forgot the water for your formula is from here, looks like Hei Dan is trying hard to adapt to the environment as well.”

His white ring eyes flattened, Hei Dan reached out his little paw and lifted the newly changed disposable diaper.

The meat of the magical beasts practically could not be preserved and had to be eaten within two days, so from this day onwards, Ji Huan began the life of regularly going to the market every day at the time when the light radiation was the strongest to buy food.

Gradually, Ji Huan learnt to recognise all the magical beasts that appeared in the market. He knew the average price of the meat of each magical beast. In addition to that, he could tell at a glance which stall had the freshest magical beast meat!

The magical beast he most often bought was still the Karlterra which he bought on the first day —— Ah Jin likes to eat it. Then there was Barron which was Grandpa’s favourite food —— Grandpa was indeed more easy to nourish. 

However, he didn’t know if it left a very deep impression on him because It was his first visit to the otherworld but every time he went to the market, Ji Huan would always subconsciously look for that short magical creature’s figure. 

That demon really did come to set up its stall often, always in the most inconspicuous place in the crowd, casually drawing a circle on the ground with its claws. The candy only appeared once. When Ji Huan went over later, there were only one or two small prey items in his stall. Most of the time the only prey items in the stall were “bone”.

Like the prey of other demons, the short demon’s prey was also dirty, but the “bones” he caught all had only one cut on it so it were clean and easy to handle when it were bought back, unlike the “bones” sold by the others which were tattered and sometimes had teeth marks on it.  

At the present stage, Ji Huan’s main food was still this kind of the most primary magical beast. Realizing this, Ji Huan often went to his stall to buy. He only went to the others’ stalls when the short and small demon was not coming.

Between them, they had never talked to each other, the little magical creature was not talkative and only held out his three dirty fingers when they first compared prices. Ah Jin did not bargain with him, nor did Ji Huan. Every time he bought a “bone” in the future, he would pay the same amount if it was about the same size as before. However, if it was bigger, he would give him one or two more. As time passed on, the little demon probably thought that doing business with Ji Huan and Ah Jin was much better, so one time when Ji Huan was shopping, his cloak was pulled from behind. Just when he thought he probably encountered trouble, he turned around and realized that it was the short little demon who was pulling his cloak around his legs, one dirty paw was tugging at his cloak and the other one was lifting up the “bone”.

Ji Huan then became the VIP buyer of this little creature.

The author has something to say: 

White ringed eyes flattened as Hei Dan reached out his little paw and pulled the newly changed diaper : From now on, where will I hide my balls?

-Hei Dan is a little bit distressed –

All those years of Hei Dan being robbed… —— the origin of the egg-defying King. 

by丨何小鱻丨2by2ing

Finally, regarding the thoughts on the damage of the antique by Ji Huan fellow student that were raised in the previous chapter:

First of all, thank you for letting me know how you all feel. Therein lies the benefit of writing a novel where you could always see the comments whenever necessary or maybe one of the benefits of writing a story is exactly the same: unintentional actions that may be disliked or offensive to others. 

Thank you all for letting me know. 

Secondly, let’s say a few words about how to process and the reasons for it. Fundamentally, it is because of the background of Ji Huan’s life: He was still under the age of eighteen, not yet graduated from high school, and he was also raised by a magical creature grandfather with no common sense. The point is that as a child that grew up in the countryside, precisely as one of the readers said, he lived in an isolated place where there were no computers, no internet and has never been to a big city. Ji Huan is a standard little local teenager.

He didn’t know anything about antiques.He was just cleaning the place according to the same standard as he had helped Ah Jin clean the room before. The only two things that the other person had asked of him to clean Ah Jin’s room before were:  clean + quiet. 

He was able to achieve it before but he overdid it here.

Of course he did do something wrong but he didn’t know it when he did it. Ah Jin also didn’t say anything about it. However he would know about it sooner or later

He would know and make it up for it. 

In the end, Ah Jin didn’t blame him not because he was gentle but because he thought it didn’t matter. 

Presumably, he was not lacking in money, that’s all.

Ji Huan was considered to be lucky to have met such a person when he first entered the other world