In the living room.
Long Yue and Lin Fan sat quietly across from each other in the living room. The silence made the air feel especially heavy.
Setting aside how they could return to the Immortal-Demon Continent for now, even figuring out how to survive in this world might become a problem.
If the two greatest supremes of the immortal and demon realms starved to death on Blue Star, it would truly become the joke of the century...
Lin Fan looked at the green messaging app on his phone. After hesitating for a moment, he tapped it open and logged into his account.
The moment he logged in, the chat list was flooded with 99+ unread messages.
He had been an orphan since childhood, with no parents, so most of the messages were greetings and worried inquiries from friends.
During the year he had been missing, most people had sent one or two messages asking whether he was safe. Only one person had sent him a full 99+ messages over that year.
When he opened the chat window, messages with clearly marked timestamps appeared before his eyes one after another.
Starting from the day he disappeared, that person had kept sending him messages at intervals—sometimes just a few minutes apart, sometimes a week or two apart.
Lin Fan, what are you doing? Why aren't you replying?
It's been a day. Are you that busy? You don't even have time to read a message?
Cut it out. If you see this, remember to reply. If you dare mess with me, I won't let you off!
Hey! Dead or alive, at least let me know!
I went to your place. No one's home. Where the hell did you go?
Lin Fan, don't do anything stupid. No hurdle in life is impossible to get past. Come back, and I'll take you out for a foot massage.
Even the police couldn't find you. Where the hell did you go?
Lin Fan, I admit it, I was the one who stole your calcium milk in our college dorm. Just come back, and I'll make it up to you!
Sigh, she's not worth it! Why couldn't you let it go? What were you thinking?!
Brother, rest in peace. In the next world, make sure you live happily.
Brother, I burned you tens of billions, several houses, and a few cars. If it isn't enough, come back and find me. I'll burn you more.
Looking at the messages on his phone, Lin Fan could not help curling his lips into a pleased smile. He replied:
I'm back.
The instant the message was sent, he immediately received a barrage of replies the next second.
???
Holy shit! You really came back to find me?!
Are you alive or dead?
"Would a dead person message you?" Lin Fan typed back with an exasperated smile.
Damn it! You disappeared for a whole year without a single word and had me worried sick.
Hurry up and tell me, where the hell did you run off to? Why didn't you take me with you?!
Forget it. I'll just go to your place and confront you in person. You're home right now, aren't you?
Lin Fan looked at the message in his hand, then turned to glance at Long Yue, who was sitting beside him in a daze. After hesitating for a moment, he replied:
Perfect. I have something to discuss with you too. Let's meet outside. I'll send you the address.
Alright, I'll be there in two minutes!
"Empress, this Venerable is heading out."
After arranging a meeting place, Lin Fan put away his phone and opened the door.
"Where are you going?" Long Yue asked nervously.
"To meet a friend."
Lin Fan gave a simple reply, then shut the door with a bang.
Watching Lin Fan leave, Long Yue pouted in dissatisfaction.
That guy was just leaving her home alone like this...
Inside a milk tea shop.
A man dressed in trendy clothes, with side-swept bangs, sat by the window. His eyes were fixed on the crowds entering and leaving outside, as if he were searching for someone.
Lin Fan pushed open the shop door, immediately spotted the man by the window in the corner, and walked straight over to him.
"Long time no see, Yanzi."
Zhou Yan, his best friend from high school all the way until now.
The two of them had gone to and from school together, shared the same dorm room, and eaten together in the cafeteria. They were inseparable and told each other everything. It would not have been an exaggeration to say they only lacked wearing the same pair of pants.
From high school to college and even after graduation, the two of them had often arranged to hang out together.
Zhou Yan raised his head and looked at Lin Fan before him, his expression filled with both surprise and shock.
"You... are Lin Fan?"
The face before him was undoubtedly that of his familiar best friend, Lin Fan, but the aura he gave off was completely different from before, as though he had become another person.
In Zhou Yan's impression, Lin Fan had been rather slender and usually quiet, the kind of person who would not stand out at all in a crowd. But the person before him gave him an entirely different feeling. He was much more muscular now, and he somehow carried the air of a gangster boss!
"Who else could I be? We haven't seen each other for just a year, and you don't recognize me anymore?"
Lin Fan pulled out a chair and dropped into the seat across from Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan repeatedly examined Lin Fan before him, unable to stop himself from blurting out:
"Lin Fan, did you join the mob?"
Lin Fan: "..."
"Why would you ask that?" Lin Fan asked speechlessly.
"Um... You somehow look like a mob enforcer now, especially your aura. You really do...!"
"...No. How could I possibly join the mob?"
Lin Fan fell silent awkwardly for a moment before denying it.
"That's true. An honest guy like you, who doesn't even dare kill a fish, how could you possibly get involved with the mob? Hahaha."
Zhou Yan was amused by his own naive thought and laughed heartily, while Lin Fan sat quietly beside him.
Getting involved in the demon realm probably didn't count as getting involved with the mob, right...
"Ahem, Lin Fan, you really weren't being a good friend. You vanished for a whole year and didn't reply even once."
"You should at least tell me where you went, right?"
Remembering that he had come today to demand an explanation, Zhou Yan hurriedly wiped the smile from his face and glared at Lin Fan irritably, his stomach full of resentment.
Lin Fan had disappeared for an entire year. Even after reporting it to the police, they could not find him. The police had guessed that he had most likely been murdered or committed suicide, and told Zhou Yan to prepare himself mentally.
It had made a grown man like him hide under the covers in the middle of the night and shed tears...
"Sorry. I went somewhere very far away. It happened suddenly, and I didn't have time to let you know," Lin Fan said apologetically.
After you went missing, having a good brother who kept thinking about and worrying over you—what more was there to say?
"You went somewhere far away? Did you go abroad?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.
"Mm... you could say that."
Lin Fan gave an awkward smile and simply went along with it.
There was no way he could tell Zhou Yan that he had actually traveled to another world...
Even if he really told him, Zhou Yan probably would not believe it.
"So you went abroad. That's good too. Traveling overseas and changing your mood isn't bad."
Zhou Yan did not doubt him in the slightest. Instead, he looked Lin Fan up and down curiously and demanded:
"Lin Fan, did you secretly work out behind my back while you were abroad this past year? How did you get in such good shape?!"
"I worked out a little..." Lin Fan lowered his head and looked at himself.
When he had first fallen into the demon realm, he had constantly fled in every direction and begun surviving in the wilderness. To stay alive, he ate whatever he found, even consuming demonic beast flesh and using demon blood to temper his body. Combined with his constant battles against all kinds of powerful enemies, he had unknowingly been reforged and built this physique.
"Holy shit! You're solid! The real deal!"
"They say working out can change your aura. Looks like it's true...!"
Zhou Yan reached out and felt Lin Fan's firm chest, his face full of envy, then immediately swore:
"Damn it, starting tomorrow, I'm working out too!"
"Lin Fan, you can be my training partner. When the two of us take off our shirts and stand on the street, won't we drive all the girls crazy? Hahaha."
As he spoke, Zhou Yan could not help letting out a lascivious laugh himself.
Lin Fan could not help laughing along with him.
To Lin Fan, it felt as though hundreds of years had already passed, yet only one year had gone by here. His old friend had not changed at all.
No matter how you looked at it, that was truly something worth being grateful for...
Before you continue