The Demon Lord’s Taunt and a Fiery Pursuit

By the time lunch concluded, it was barely past eleven o’clock.

Stepping out of the restaurant, the trio began to discuss their individual plans.

“…Hey, are you truly fine going alone?” Li Yue inquired.

Mo Linyu, however, responded with an amused expression, which, owing to her superior height, seemed to carry a hint of mockery.

“Hero, wasn’t it you who insisted we maintain a distance, and implored me not to monopolize too much of your time? What brings about this sudden offer to ‘work overtime’?”

Li Yue retorted, her voice tinged with indignation, “I’m not doing it for your sake! We’re merely in a cooperative phase, and should anything befall my partner, I’d find myself exceedingly vexed, alright!”

Mo Linyu remained silent, her gaze fixed on Li Yue, eyes blinking slowly, as a faint smile played upon her lips.

After a considerable pause, she finally managed to utter a single phrase.

“Hmm, are you being a tsundere?”

At that terse remark, Li Yue’s golden mane instantly bristled.

“Hah?”

She vehemently retorted, “What, what are you even thinking? You’re the sole radar I possess; how am I to locate anyone else without you?”

“So…you find me indispensable, don’t you?”

“There you go again, with that suggestive phrasing.”

As the strikingly beautiful duo bickered loudly at the restaurant’s entrance, curious passersby naturally gravitated their attention towards them.

Confronted by the stares, Li Yue and Mo Linyu exhibited entirely divergent reactions.

Li Yue would instinctively hunch her shoulders, while Mo Linyu, conversely, would proudly thrust out her chest.

Mo Linyu already stood half a head taller than Li Yue, a disparity that now forced Li Yue to crane her neck and roll her eyes upward merely to glimpse Mo Linyu’s face.

Of course, she could always opt to gaze at the radar…or rather, the dialogue box floating before it.

[It seems I’ve emerged victorious, Hero.]

‘Huh? What exactly was she competing against?’

“You needn’t worry about me,” Mo Linyu declared, pulling out her phone. “After you both depart, I’ll reach out to Xia Xi and have her accompany me in my search.”

“Xia Xi…ah, the rather boisterous maid,” Li Yue mused, a memory surfacing. “So, you intend to inform her of the reincarnation?”

“How could I possibly? Tell them I’m the Demon Lord reborn? Would they ever believe such a tale? They’d more likely conclude I’ve simply played too many video games.”

[I certainly haven’t played few games recently…especially during my streams…]

Li Yue’s lips twitched, and she averted her gaze from the floating dialogue box.

Mo Linyu continued, “I won’t disclose my true purpose of searching for others; I’ll simply drag her along for some casual shopping.”

Feeling somewhat more reassured by the prospect of Mo Linyu having company, Li Yue offered a slight nod.

“However, are you not going to look for Han Xiaoyu?”

“There’s no need. I won’t trouble her on such a sweltering day.”

“Furthermore, if some nefarious individual truly has me in their sights, bringing Xiaoyu along would merely be a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer for them, wouldn’t it? Do you honestly believe that girl could offer any assistance?”

It appeared, then, that Xia Xi was at least more capable in a fight than the student council president.

Mo Linyu added, “This afternoon, you should find a way to repair the living room window first, or else I’ll undoubtedly perish from the heat when I start my live stream tonight.”

“…You’re still planning to come tonight?”

Mo Linyu adopted an air of haughty arrogance.

“Of course~ Hero, wasn’t that already unequivocally proven last night?”

This time, the mockery was undeniably genuine.

“I am far more suited for live streaming than you.”

“Truly.”

****

“I’m utterly livid!” (TL Note: A playful Chinese internet slang expressing extreme anger or frustration.) On their journey home, Li Yue continued to seethe, muttering, “She actually intends to completely usurp my live stream channel! That person is indeed the Demon Lord; they always find a way to irk me…”

To unleash the fury festering within her, Li Yue was vigorously swinging a golden baseball bat.

“Moon, please refrain from brandishing the Holy Sword in public; it poses a significant danger.”

Alezno intervened, attempting to placate her. “Don’t dwell too much on the live stream channel matter,” she advised gently. “True affections aren’t forged over mere days of interaction…the bond you share with your audience won’t be so easily snatched away by another.”

“…No, you simply don’t comprehend. The speed at which those people defect can far exceed your wildest imagination.”

Li Yue waved a dismissive hand, then pressed her fingers to her forehead, emitting another protracted sigh.

“Ah, let’s abandon talk of the live stream channel; perhaps we should shift to a different topic.”

By now, the two had emerged from the subway, proceeding along the sidewalk toward Quanxin Jiayuan, Li Yue’s residence.

Beneath the relentless glare of the scorching sun, the asphalt road shimmered as if on the verge of melting, releasing a peculiar, tar-like aroma into the air.

They would, however, need to make a detour to a shop specializing in aluminum alloy window repairs. Li Yue recalled a such establishment situated beside the hardware store near her residential complex, believing that inviting a technician from there to inspect her home would enable them to custom-order and install a new floor-to-ceiling window.

“Oh, by the way! Alei, were you male in your previous life?”

Yet, Li Yue’s abrupt new topic caused Alezno to momentarily freeze.

“…Hmm, why do you find it necessary to repeatedly confirm such a detail?”

“It’s simply that…there’s something I feel it’s high time I told you. It’s something I…couldn’t bring myself to utter back then, before your demise…”

Before she could complete her sentence, however, the Holy Sword clutched in her hand began to vibrate, much like a demon hunter’s activated emblem.

“Eh? What’s happening? A new feature?”

This particular vibration was entirely unfamiliar; placed upon a shoulder, it seemed it could even serve as a massage.

Just then, a police cruiser approached from behind them, pulling to a halt on the road directly beside them.

The car window glided down, revealing a female police officer in sunglasses who promptly shouted at the pair:

“Hey! You two! Stop right there!”

Alezno, however, bolted the instant she heard the voice, not even sparing a glance backward.

“Eh? Wait for me!”

Li Yue, of course, had no choice but to sprint wildly after her. Even amidst the scorching heat, concerns of heatstroke were cast aside, for she was an undocumented individual (TL Note: A person without official identification or legal residence status).

Still, a flicker of curiosity regarding the officer’s identity gnawed at her, for the voice carried a peculiar familiarity, as though she had heard it somewhere before…

“Hey! Didn’t you hear me tell you to stop…Tsk, what in the world is that girl up to?”

The female officer, clearly agitated, started her vehicle, pressing the accelerator and giving chase.

“Alei! Why are you running?” Li Yue called out.

“I don’t know!” Alezno screamed back. “But I feel an overwhelming compulsion not to stop!”

Though her voice was laced with palpable fear, her body appeared to be reacting with an almost automatic reflex.

What Alezno remained unaware of was that this was her body’s primal instinct…it was Su Luoli’s instinct taking over.

‘Was she afraid of the police?’

‘No, she was afraid of *that specific* female officer.’

This was the only conclusion Li Yue could surmise.

Yet, the speed of their legs stood no chance against a police cruiser; in a mere blink, they were overtaken, as the two were, after all, simply running on foot.

“Su Luoli! You little brat, stop at once!” the female officer bellowed, her voice cutting through the air.

This time, she had used her full name.

Typically, when a parent utters your full name, it signifies a state of profound displeasure.

“Apologies! Officer, you’ve mistaken her identity! She isn’t Su Luoli!”

This was the unvarnished truth, yet it proved utterly ineffectual.

The female officer roared, “Don’t you dare! I’d recognize that girl even if she were reduced to ashes!”

Alezno let out a pained wail.

“Sh-she wants to burn me to ashes!”

“That’s a metaphor!”

Alezno pushed off with her feet, abruptly turning and plunging into a narrow alleyway nestled between the bustling shopfronts. Bollards guarded the entrance, rendering it impassable for the police cruiser.

As for Li Yue, she harbored no intention of remaining behind as Su Luoli’s unwitting scapegoat.

“Damn it!”

The police cruiser screeched to an abrupt halt at the alley’s mouth. The determined female officer, unwilling to concede, yanked open her door and exited the vehicle, but in that fleeting moment, both Li Yue and Su Luoli had already vanished from sight.

It was a squalid, disheveled alley, and the noxious odors emanating from within caused the female officer to wrinkle her nose, compelling her to abandon further pursuit.

However, another thought suddenly struck her.

“Tsk, that girl…wait, the one with the golden hair…I remember…”

Such golden hair was a rarity, and the traffic police department seemed to have…