Where Demons Bond

A clink of glasses signified the start of another adventurous night. 'Adventurous' reserved to the meaning that Lai Mingjie wouldn't know where he would be finding himself in the morning. The demon king had always loved the taste of wine and beer—even though his weak body couldn't take it in this lifetime. He's not being on his own after all; someone was taking care of him.

In a world where the demons were forced to hide, there were places where the demons gather every night. The Crimson City was a catch basin for humans, once-demons, and concealed immortals. It naturally had a place for Emodao's kind to party. In these halls, the bloodlust was quenched by a single fruit bestowed to them by the Goddess Nuwa: the bloodvein. It was a kind of a root crop that resembled a potato, but it had red veins all over its body. The redder the vein, the stronger was the taste of blood.

The once-demons were not allowed to start a fight or a slaughter against the humankind. The immortals had all kinds of avenues to hunt them down freely so only a few fought back. For those who had quietly accepted their fate, they only enjoyed the taste of blood from all the food laced with bloodvein. The Bloodvein Café was a pool of these foods, and the owner was the biggest grower of bloodvein.

Bloodvein Café sounded like a rather grotesque-themed coffee shop. In fact, it was... for it was a den of demons day in, day out. Lai Mingjie had always ordered his morning coffee from this place as well as all the cakes he loved dearly. Better yet, underneath this café was a humongous club. It was the pleasure place of the demons who hunted for lust and blood in the age of human progress. In short, the Bloodvein Café was where all the demons in the city bond.

Loud music and laser lights plagued the club. Some demons were 'dancing' all over the drinking area while the others would drown at the sight of dancing women. Of course, these were also demons. Lai Mingjie had concealed himself behind a simple disguise to get here and even dragged another demon with him after work hours. Who would have thought... that even this Director Cheng of the Human Resources department was also a demon?

Then again, he was a wise demon sought for his wisdom instead. He could gaze deep inside the purest desires of the humans, which made him effective in managing his people. None of the newly-hired people in JT were innately greedy, but that didn't mean they were safe from his prying eyes. Those who would dare hide money from them were all pushed by their newfound conscience—in Director Cheng—to admit their crimes. Sometimes, they were forgiven and only dismissed; sometimes, they were sent to jail. With the all-knowing demon sitting on the director's chair, JT was safe from those who tried to play their money off of the company's hands.

For some reason, he was the only demon that Emodao trusted among this crowd. He knew almost everyone in the club, but none of them were given opportunities to have a better life under his carefree life. If anything, everyone here resented him for a lot of reasons. Emodao was a demon king, but that didn't mean he treated all demons with respect. It was quite the opposite. He went where he wanted, pillaged anything on his path, and killed anyone whether it was immortal or demon.

Emodao was a great demon king... and also a much-abhorred one.

"Senior, you do realize we have to meet three clients tomorrow morning." Director Cheng cried inside as he held back his alcohol intake. It would be a bad day to have a hangover tomorrow, and yet his boss was in front of him getting red and disoriented. If things went out of control, Emodao might start picking fights again. This old man couldn't punch properly anymore, and he was so scared to get beaten up. For old times' sake, he was a revered demon of his village.

"You already talked to that new guy?" Lai Mingjie swirled his wine inside his cup, but the contents kept on spilling. He was already having trouble keeping himself steady. They only finished one jar, and he was already like this. The only good thing about him was that he never puked. It would be a big waste of such high-quality bloodvein wine.

"New guy? Xu Rouguang?" Director Cheng remembered meeting such a charismatic man earlier. He was everything Lai Mingjie wouldn't care about, and so it was hard to imagine that Lai Mingjie would be so interested in a character such as him. He had received gossips from Auntie Qiu, and she was willing to share her workload with that man. Perhaps she was the one charmed... not Lai Mingjie. "What about him?"

"You could look straight into people's hearts, am I right? What do you think?"

"...? Why would you be... interested, Senior?" Director Cheng chuckled. He was already taking advantage of Lai Mingjie's disorientation. If he was thinking straight, he would have sent Director Cheng to the floor with his glacial gaze. However, Lai Mingjie was already drunk—the cunning old man suddenly felt like reverting to his deceiving self. "Perhaps, you wished to know if he was... also interested in you?"

"Stupid. Why did he come here? Was he sent by Nuwa?" Lai Mingjie cared too little about the old man's hidden message. He gulped down another cup before dropping his hand heavily against the table. "No tricks whatsoever?"

"Sent by Nuwa?" Director Cheng frowned. He then hummed and shook his head. "Senior, that was a human. Why would he be sent by Nuwa to you? Did you ask Nuwa for a bed warmer?"

"...Louyan! I can get any kind of woman I want! I don't need one, too! Why would I ask for an immortal general to sit on my lap?!" He repeatedly hit the table in rage, somewhat cracking the cup in his hand. The others heard the noises, but they didn't care. Emodao was known to be very impatient, and he could still be a terrible opponent even at his shrimp state in this lifetime.

Louyan's eyes squinted. Perhaps he was the only one who heard the words that came out of his mouth. His eyes flickered in disbelief before looking at Lai Mingjie again. His vision was clearly showing a rather rage-stricken man who had no ways of sending his enemy to hell. He murmured 'immortal general' several times before it dawned upon him.

He then reached out to hold down Lai Mingjie's hand. "Senior, are you saying that... that gentleman was the cursed deathless general? The head-hunting commander of the first battalion? G-General Xu?"

Lai Mingjie made a toothy grin as if he was happy to see that horrified expression on Louyan's face. "Little Louyan, did you turn him down?"

Louyan shivered as he felt the raging gaze of his senior at him. That indescribable glacial gaze that stuck with Emodao in every life he had... was enough to even make other demons pee in their pants a little. He lifted his gaze to meet his senior's eyes.

"Senior, let me explain. He was definitely human, I swear! I... I was too enthralled by Auntie Qiu... I... I gave in. He's starting as your second secretary next week."