Intern Incubus Chapter 21: “Fall in love? It seems good to try.”

Chapter 21: “Fall in love? It seems good to try.”

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Kiramekineko

 

It was another crisp autumn day. When Qiao Xi went out, it was already afternoon. The autumn afternoon sun was warm and inviting, pouring over the blooming azaleas. Qiao Xi looked at the flowers, and what came to his mind was Han Tian standing quietly in front of the flowers, smiling and talking to him on the phone.

He shook his head and decided to shake Han Tian’s figure out, while taking out his cell phone to take a few photos. After swiping back and forth to filter them, he chose the best one and sent it to Han Tian. However, he knew that Han Tian would not reply to him for a while.

Han Tian sent him a total of two voice messages today, both of which came at 7:00 a.m.

One was to tell him that breakfast had been delivered. The other was “How to cook dumplings”.

In fact, Qiao Xi never felt “hungry” when he was alone at home, and had no need for such food. However, he still ate Han Tian’s early morning toast and tried to cook 10 dumplings for himself at noon.

He felt the novel taste of noodles, vegetables, and meat all mixed in one bite, while thinking about the conclusion given by the Guidebook last night.

[There is nothing abnormal about your body, your occasional hunger, sleepiness, or other conditions are just normal reactions after spending some time in the earth realm.]

[The capture operation is going very well, the reason why the prey is behaving differently is because the prey is trusting you more and more and getting closer and closer to you.]

[As for breaking the rules, the judges decided that this is a normal step in the capture process and there will be no punishment.]

So, it was normal to be dizzy and blushing, to have a fast heartbeat and to be weak? In addition, that was clearly a violation, but it turned out to be a “break in the rules”?

When did the judges of the Demon Academy become so reasonable and kind-hearted?

He remembered very clearly that there was once an intern demon that showed its original form in the earthly realm and attracted the attention of the heavenly realm—this demon, after returning to the Demon World, was immediately punished to the lowest level of hell and could only appear in the image of a minotaur from then on.

According to his own understanding, his little violation, although he would not be forced to repatriate, but more or less, would be reflected in the overall performance points—but from these responses, the judges seem to be quite encouraged to do so?

But, on second thought, Qiao Xi was relieved; after all, the Demon Academy’s biggest motto was “to do whatever it takes to get there”. And after yesterday’s trip, Capture Value increased by another 12 points to 38 points!

In terms of time, it had only been 10 days since I met Han Tian, and in just 10 days, I had already achieved such a result, so I was probably the best student in the history of the Demon Academy, right?

So, for such an outstanding student, even if he breaks the rules a little, what is wrong with that?

With this in mind, Qiao Xi finished the rest of the dumplings and washed the dishes, just like Han Tian did. He didn’t plan to go out, but remembering Han Tian’s phone call last night about the large handfuls of blooming azaleas, he changed into a shirt and pants and strolled around the neighborhood.

Han Tian did not reply to his message.

After Qiao Xi took a picture of the flowers and plants, he stretched his back and decided to go to a cafe to have a look.

Anyway, he was bored, so he went to the cafe and had a delicious cupcake and chatted with Sang Sang.

The cafe really didn’t have many customers.

Only, unlike before, Sang Sang was sitting on the barstool, looking into her phone and snickering.

“Huh? Is there something funny?” Qiao Xi was a little curious.

Sang Sang looked up, her round face was cascading red. “Ah, you’re here—nothing, I’m just talking to my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend?” Qiao Xi was more curious.

“Yes, the guy I had a date with earlier. After our date yesterday, he confessed his love to me.” Sang Sang’s face turned even redder, her voice a little shy, but more than that, she couldn’t hide her happiness.

“Ah, he sent another message, so I’ll stop talking to you for now.” After saying that, Sang Sang did not speak to Qiao Xi and sat down like she did before, but continued to lower her head and stare at the screen with a smile, flipping her fingers up and down.

“Wow…” Such a scene made Qiao Xi slightly surprised.

He had learned from textbooks that for humans, “falling in love” was a very important activity, and “love” was an emotion that was widely praised by humans.

It is said that this kind of feeling is very wonderful, enough to make people forget about life and death, and even give up everything.

However, after coming to the earth realm, he conducted several experiments and easily proved that for some people, as long as they have enough money, turning their backs on “love” was their inevitable choice.

These experimental data, he wrote down in the original paper, became a very good argument.

However, it was the first time he saw that people who had just entered into “love” behaved in such a way, such a shy smile, such a distant soul.

Qiao Xi sighed in his heart and took a cupcake from the counter and a bottle of milk.

After a while, a rare customer came to the store.

Qiao Xi followed Han Tian’s example of making tea: he boiled water, put tea leaves, and sent black tea to the customer.

He thought that the brewing was very serious, but the customer frowned while drinking, and finally opened the review software and chose a “bad” rating.

Qiao Xi scratched his head, not understanding which step he did not do well.

Not knowing if it was because of the “bad review”, the whole afternoon passed and no one else came in.

When it was time to close the store, Sang Sang rushed out the door and came back for a peek. “Qiao Xi, my boyfriend is here to pick me up, do you want to meet him?”

Qiao Xi said yes, of course, and followed Sang Sang out the door.

Sang Sang was not tall, but her boyfriend was extremely tall and strong. Even under the dim streetlight, Qiao Xi could see the shape of the man’s bulging muscles under his leather jacket.

“This is my boyfriend. This is my colleague, Qiao Xi,” Sang Sang said in a sweet voice as she held her boyfriend’s hand.

The tall, strong man stood there like a wall. He looked Qiao Xi up and down before he said, “Hello, my name is Zheng Tong.”

Was it an illusion? In this low voice, Qiao Xi heard a vague hostility.

He squeezed out a smile and returned the greeting, while extending his hand in a gesture of friendship in accordance with human etiquette.

Zheng Tong glanced at Qiao Xi’s slightly skinny wrist, and with a hint of contempt crossing the corner of his eyes, extended his hand for a shake, and then stopped paying attention to Qiao Xi, but turned to Sang Sang beside him and said, “Let’s go now, the reservation is at 8:30.”

Sang Sang waved happily at Qiao Xi and jumped into a dark blue Buick.

Qiao Xi stood alone under the streetlight, touching his right hand, feeling a little uncomfortable—he smelled a very peculiar smell in that short contact just now.

Not that kind of rotten smell, but with a little fishy smell, like the kind of smell the supermarket seafood counter emitted.

The [Guidebook] only says that the stench of decay represents the soul’s depravity, and the sweet aroma represents the soul’s purity, so what does this strange fishy smell represent?

Qiao Xi decided to go back and ask about it.

Unfortunately, I was not sure if it was because I floated out too many words in one breath yesterday, but Qiao Xi wrote down his question completely, and [Guidebook] started to play dead, not answering anything.

Qiao Xi shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t really care.

It was Saturday.

As last Saturday, he and Han Tian took two big boxes of desserts and prepared to go to the White Star Orphanage.

When the two of them got into the car, Han Tian naturally put out his hand. “Car keys?”

Qiao Xi put the keys in his hand without even thinking about it.

Only when Han Tian got into the driver’s seat did Qiao Xi realize that, today, Han Tian was driving again?

He bent down and stared at Han Tian’s face, blinking. “Why are you driving again? I just finished the lunch you prepared, so I won’t have low blood sugar.”

Han Tian smiled sideways. “You’re in the passenger seat, just sit and don’t exert yourself, look at the scenery and listen to songs, isn’t it good?”

Qiao Xi thought about it, and Han Tian seemed to be happy to drive, so let’s fulfill the prey’s small wish and let him be the driver.

With this in mind, Qiao Xi said nothing more and obediently got into the passenger seat.

As soon as he sat down, Han Tian leaned over and fastened his seat belt.

This was a small, ordinary gesture, but Qiao Xi still blushed.

Luckily, Han Tian had already started the car and didn’t even look this way.

“By the way, have you met Sang Sang’s boyfriend?” Qiao Xi flipped a bottle of pure water out, drank two sips, and started chatting about one thing or another.

“Hmm? No.” Han Tian glanced at Qiao Xi. “Why did you think of asking this?”

“It’s nothing special. It’s just—it seems like it’s the first time I’ve seen someone fall in love.” Qiao Xi was going to say that he felt that the person was a bit strange, but then he thought that he had no evidence, so he would look even stranger if he said so.

“Oh? You have not seen people in love?” Han Tian appeared to have some interest in this topic.

“… Ah, of course I’ve seen it—it’s just that, in reality… Uh, haven’t paid much attention to it.” This month, Qiao Xi still read a lot of “teaching materials”.

“So, can I assume that you yourself have never been in love?” Han Tian almost smiled as he asked this question.

“…” Qiao Xi was stuck.

For demons without souls, they could not produce the emotion of “love”, and “falling in love” became an incomprehensible and impracticable act.

But as a 20-year-old adult, if you have not fallen in love, isn’t it a bit strange?

Qiao Xi was a little uncertain.

He sneaked a glance at Han Tian’s side face and decided to throw the question back, “Ahem, why ask me? What about yourself? You—you’re good looking, and you’re from Medical College, you should have, right?”

Han Tian’s eyes curved and he said with a smile, “I… I never have before, I thought it was boring. Now, I think, maybe it’s good to try?”