Chapter 232: Exchange

Chapter 232: Exchange

Wen Ying's phone received numerous messages of gratitude from his classmates. As he scanned through them, the corners of his lips lifted involuntarily.

The pill that restrained demons' desire to feed on anger was something Wen Ying decided to make after witnessing Lu Qingtao and their predicament. After Aruda taught him an abundance of potion knowledge, Wen Ying, with her assistance, attempted to create his first original potion – a pill that was sour enough to sting the soul. He jokingly referred to it as a weight-loss pill.

Although he initially made this pill to help Lu Qingtao and the other human teachers, the time it took to create it was too long. By the time it was ready, the human teachers who had been in the demon world had already become accustomed to life at Lucifer Academy. With the magic cards Wen Ying provided, they felt quite secure.

In reality, this pill was still a semi-finished product. Wen Ying believed that curbing one's appetite required a counterpoison, so he added many acidic ingredients, resulting in it being overly sour. Demons who consumed it not only lost their desire for anger but also their appetite for regular meals.

Wen Ying had tried it himself once before, and for two entire days, he had no desire to eat, experiencing firsthand what it was like to have anorexia.

After arriving in the human world, without a laboratory to conduct research, Wen Ying didn't continue improving the "weight-loss pill." Thus, the pill remained stored away, only to unexpectedly come in handy today.

"So, being kind does have its benefits..." Wen Ying murmured.

Beros, overhearing this, found it difficult to express his thoughts. "..."

He believed that the word 'kind' had nothing to do with Wen Ying. Any demon who had interacted with him for a prolonged period would likely share this sentiment.

The once-raging appetite was now obliterated by a sourness that bordered on nausea; not even the scent of life emanating from that person in the arena could stir them. The demons were indifferent.

Their heads seemed to throb with acidity. What on earth had Wen Ying added?

At least they no longer suffered from the torturous restraint of wanting to feed on human life but being unable to.

Their contorted expressions were misconstrued by some covert observers as a sign of them struggling to suppress an impulse to attack humans, much to their secret satisfaction with the plan's progress.

The fourth match concluded near noon, with the morning's results being a loss, win, loss, and another loss - one victory against three defeats. Asaafa's team held the lead.

There are still three matches in the afternoon. If the Flower Planting Nation's academies wish to triumph, they must secure victories in all of them, which imposes tremendous psychological pressure on them.

The team leader from Asaph's group chuckled. "Initially, we thought it was just an ordinary competition, but on the day itself, you all pulled out such a grand spectacle. Thanks to you, I suppose our academy will have more new students enrolling next semester."

The underlying implication was a mocking jab at the Exorcist Academy of Huaxia Nation, whose embarrassing antics had become known worldwide.

The morning's outcome had truly brought shame to the Exorcist Academy.

The students were all rather frustrated. Entering the gymnasium, they were filled with enthusiasm, but when they left, their spirits were dampened, and they looked at each other in silence.

It was truly humiliating that they had lost three out of four matches. In one of those losses, the gap in strength between the two teams hadn't been significant; they might have won if they had played again.

In the other two matches, it was clear to anyone with eyes that their opponents had found the contests effortless.

Seated, Lu Qingyuan also felt a lump in his throat. He forced himself to ask the demon beside him, "Do you guys eat?"

Wen Ying's gaze remained fixed on the nearby Asura, and he replied, "I do feel hungry, but the others might not want to eat for the next two days."

Lu Qingyuan: "Huh?"

Muershi patted Lu Qingyuan's shoulder. "He's right. I don't feel like eating anything right now."

Koroy said, "I'm going back to the dormitory first. Wen... Mirror, just come straight to my room later."

"Alright."

Koroy left with a displeased expression, followed by Muershi and Wei Er.

Most of the demons present were similarly dispirited. Before departing, quite a few of them made a point to approach Wen Ying to comment on his absurd pills.

Wen Ying noticed Lan Jiaying approaching with an aura that suggested something was amiss, so he asked, "Are you here to complain or scold me as well?"

Lan Jiaying was taken aback, his brows furrowing slightly. "It's not about trivial matters." In truth, they weren't insignificant.

"Come on, let's head back to my dorm. I have something to discuss with you," Lan Jiaying said, turning around and walking out.

As Lan Jiaying turned to leave, Wen Ying found himself locking eyes with Wu Shaluo behind him.

"You're coming too?"

Wu Shaluo's expression darkened, his tone terse. "Hurry up."

Wen Ying chuckled; Wu Shaluo still hadn't fully recovered from the effects of his weight-loss pills.

Addressing Belos, Wen Ying said, "Shall we go?"

Belos nodded in response.

Wen Ying followed Lan Jiaying to his dormitory. After Lan Jiaying opened the door, Wen Ying stepped in, looking around curiously.

In truth, Wen Ying was quite curious about the arrangement of Lan Jiaying's bedroom. When he saw the photo of Lan Jiaying and the Demon King placed on the bedside table, his expression turned odd for a moment.

It was a reasonable and unsurprising thing, but it still felt surreal to Wen Ying.

Boros also caught sight of the picture and scoffed softly.

Lan Jiaying didn't spare Boros a glance. After sitting down on a single-seater sofa, he set up a soundproof barrier in the room and got straight to business.

"No beating around the bush," Lan Jiaying said. "I just discovered that there might be a problem with the human Wu Shaluo chose for the contract."

Wen Ying dug through his memory and recalled a figure. "I think his name was Yang Bofeng?"

With his arms crossed, Wu Shaluo leaned against the wall, looking rather disgruntled. "Yeah."

"Were they using their phone to send a message?" Wen Ying guessed.

Lan Jiaying replied, "You're not far off. I saw them holding their phone and texting someone. They were clearly startled when I approached them, like they had something to hide."

"Even in their fear, they instinctively closed the chat app before their phone dropped."

Wen Ying mused, "Perhaps he's reporting our situation to whoever was behind the incident this morning."

They knew their own affairs. The mastermind probably still believed that the demons were suffering from unbearable hunger, whereas in reality, their expressions were a result of being corroded by diet pills.

Lan Jiaying asked, "Did you have any plans in mind?"

Wen Ying raised an eyebrow. "Are you considering collaborating with me?" He clicked his tongue and said in a drawn-out, teasing tone, "That doesn't sound like you. You should be too disdainful to..."

Lan Jiaying interrupted him expressionlessly, "Do you really think I want to work with you? It's the Devil King's instruction."

Wen Ying's smile froze as he enunciated each word, "The Devil King's instruction?"

He always felt that there was something off about the Devil King. No decision-maker would assign a bunch of critical tasks related to the demonic realm to an ordinary student.

Unless the Devil King had a twisted sense of humor or some sort of mental issue, it could only be...

An image flashed through Wen Ying's mind of when he sought Koroy to predict the future. For a moment, Wen Ying was lost in deep contemplation, overwhelmed by confusion and the hope that it wouldn't be so.

The two conversing fell silent. Wu Shaluo and Beros, standing nearby, exchanged a glance before averting their eyes.

After a moment, Lan Jiaying reluctantly said, "So, do you have any thoughts now? The person behind the scenes will likely continue their morning strategy and might take further actions this afternoon."

Wen Ying twirled a lock of his hair with his fingers. "Koroy saw a furious expression on your face in the crystal ball. They're targeting you, so be cautious this afternoon."

Wu Shaluo was puzzled. "What could make Lan Jiaying show an angry expression..."

Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly looked at Wen Ying with a strange expression. "Could it be that he was angry at you?"

Both Wen Ying and Perseus were taken aback, and Lan Jiaying himself couldn't deny it outright. For a moment, the room fell into an awkward silence.

After a while, Wen Ying said uncertainly, "I don't think so."

"I wouldn't lose my composure in front of humans."

Lan Jiaying was confident, his gaze piercing at Wen Ying, implying that Wu Shaluo's speculation had some probability of being true.

Wen Ying himself was unsure, and he said awkwardly, "Just be careful anyway."

"I'll share the information I have," Wen Ying said seriously. "I've asked the demons from the Judgment Bureau to investigate the passengers who disembarked and the cruise ship. So far, no traces of other demons besides ourselves have been found."

As for the low and intermediate demons born in the Human Realm? That was a joke. Which demon from the Human Realm would be foolish enough to establish a nest around the base of exorcists? There wasn't a single trace of their presence in this area.

"Wasting words, the suspects are likely those from Asaph. The foreigners had the strongest aura of life, suggesting they might have eaten something tampered with on the ship."

"Given the commotion this morning, the academy or the Calamity Department should have seized the opportunity to send people to investigate the ship. Yet, there hasn't been any news so far, implying that they didn't find anything significant."

Wen Ying paused before continuing, "I met Hai Lige. From his words, I inferred that they want us to leave for another country. So my first assumption is that the Asaphans intend to use the Blissful Fruit to reveal our bloodthirsty and savage nature before everyone, instilling fear in the Huaxia citizens. By manipulating public opinion, they can make us feel disgusted with the people of this country and force us to leave."

Wen Ying raised two fingers, "If we go abroad, the Extremists will have the chance to pin their actions on us, muddying the waters and making all the countries in the Human Realm see us as equally malevolent."

"You mean…" Lan Jiaying furrowed her brows slightly, "My subordinates haven't found any connection between them and the Extremists yet."

"There's another possibility," Wen Ying spoke in a somber tone, "They might want us to reveal our violent side and then directly eliminate one of us, like you, for instance."

Wu Shaluo reacted emotionally, "Impossible!" After instinctively dismissing the idea with a superior mindset, he regained his composure and said, "Even if our powers are suppressed by the laws in the Human Realm, those people wouldn't stand a chance to kill any of us."

Lan Jiaying remained composed, "We are demons, Wen Ying, and not weak ones."

Wen Ying shrugged. "That's why I'll go find Koroy later to predict whether they will use enchanted artifacts from the war era."

Beros interjected, "Wen Ying, are your expectations of humans too high?"

Wen Ying felt a headache coming on. These demons all viewed humans as if they were kittens or puppies. He couldn't help but retort, "In the war thousands of years ago, the demons lost."

"That was due to the intervention of the laws," Wu Shaluo said matter-of-factly, finding Wen Ying's perspective strange. "Without the laws, angels who were not created by them could not have been reborn as humans, so they had no chance of winning."

Lan Jiaying added, "The Demon King didn't use military aggression precisely to prevent the laws from allowing angelic reincarnations once more. Without war, there would be no angelic reincarnations."

Upon hearing Lan Jiaying's words, Wen Ying's ears rang, and a vague idea flashed through his mind.

War, laws, angels, the Church of the Archangel, the extremist faction... Connecting these keywords together, Wen Ying suddenly arrived at an answer he had never considered before. It was such an absurd conclusion that he couldn't help cursing under his breath.

The Church of the Archangel seemed to want angels to descend upon the human world once more.

This explained why there were few connections between the extremist faction and the Association of Exorcists, while the Church of the Archangel had numerous holes like a sieve.

However, the reason for wanting to elevate the status of the Church and the exorcists in a war wasn't very convincing. After all, if the demons were to wage war on the human realm, the disparity in power would result in significant casualties on their side.

Fools might exist, but it was impossible for an entire church to be composed of them.

If the reason for the church's upper echelons going mad was to bring angels back to the human world, that would be entirely understandable.

The radicals craved war, and the church desired it too. Only through war could the laws facilitate the angels' return to the human realm.

As for what benefits the church members sought after the angels' descent, Wen Ying wasn't aware. But he knew that Angel Reincarnates could resist demons.

Wen Ying shared his thoughts, plunging the room into another silence.

"War cannot happen," Lan Jiaying said with a grave expression. "Absolutely not! I won't let my father suffer the same defeat as the Demon King from thousands of years ago!"

Wu Shaluo: "…"

Perseus: "…"

Wen Ying burst out laughing. "It seems you've let your true feelings slip."

Lan Jiaying realized her mistake and wore a displeased look. She emphasized her point. "Do any of you want to experience the humiliation of being a defeated dog?"

Wen Ying wholeheartedly agreed with the notion of avoiding war. He ceased teasing Lan Jiaying, his playful expression fading as he said, "We've strayed from the topic. Let's improvise this afternoon. Inform everyone that someone might deliberately provoke us or incite our appetite in the coming days. Don't fall for their tricks."

Wu Shaluo crossed his arms and grumbled, "All this talk amounts to nothing constructive." In truth, he had high expectations for Wen Ying, given how much more cunning the latter was than an extreme malevolent bird.

"We're not in the Demon Realm," Wen Ying remarked. "That's all for now. Lan Jiaying, should I tell the Devil King about my theory, or would you like to?"

Lan Jiaying didn't respond immediately. Emotionally, he wished to speak to the Devil King himself, but rationally, he feared Wen Ying's mockery.

Wen Ying's smile held a hint of sarcasm. "Go ahead. Call the Devil King right now and ask for his esteemed opinion."

Lan Jiaying whispered, "Why don't you call...?"

Wen Ying chuckled. "I'm going to find Koroy to see if they have any hidden cards up their sleeves."

Lan Jiaying's lips thinned, his gaze lowering.

Wu Shaluo sensed something off, though he couldn't quite pinpoint it.

Perseus reached out to grab Wen Ying's wrist. "Come on, it's half past one."

"Yes." If they didn't leave soon, Lan Jiaying might lose his temper out of embarrassment.

There was a certain delight in teasing the conceited, underage dragon baby and then soothing him back to contentment. Wen Ying's lips curved up naturally, his eyes sparkling with amusement. He had just witnessed Lan Jiaying's tail tip swaying in delight!

Lost in his joy, Wen Ying failed to notice the subtle signs of distress on Poros' face.

Wen Ying soon noticed, because the grip of Beros on his wrist was gradually increasing to a point that couldn't be ignored.