The Demon Lord's Best Friend

In the living room

Long Yue and Lin Fan sat quietly in the living room, the silence making the air feel exceptionally heavy.

Setting aside how to find a way back to the Immortal-Demon Continent, surviving in this world was becoming a problem.

If the two supreme beings of the Immortal and Demon realms starved to death on Blue Star, it would be a colossal joke…

Lin Fan looked at a certain green chat app on his phone. After hesitating for a moment, he tapped it and logged into his account.

As soon as he logged in, his chat window was flooded with over 99+ messages.

He had been an orphan since childhood, with no parents. Therefore, most of his chat messages were greetings and worries from friends.

During the year he was missing, most of his friends had sent one or two messages asking if he was safe. Only one person had sent him over 99+ messages throughout the year.

He opened the chat window, and messages with clear timestamps popped up before his eyes.

From the day he disappeared, he had consistently sent messages at intervals, ranging from a few minutes to a week or two.

[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 check messages?]

[Stop messing around. Reply when you see this. If you dare to mess with me, I won't let you off!]

[Hey! Alive or dead, at least let me know!]

[I went to your place, but no one was home. Where the hell did you go?]

[Lin Fan, don't do anything rash. There's no hurdle in life that can't be overcome. Come back quickly, bro will take you for a foot massage.]

[The police couldn't find you either. Where did you go?]

[Lin Fan, I admit I stole your milk calcium from the university dorm. Come back, I'll compensate you!]

[Sigh, it's not worth it for that woman! How could you be so foolish! You're muddled!]

[Brother, rest in peace. I hope you're happy in the afterlife.]

[Brother, I've burned billions for you, several houses, and a few cars. If it's not enough, come back and find me, I'll burn more.]

[…]

Looking at the messages on his phone, Lin Fan's lips curved into a gentle smile. He replied with a message:

[I'm back.]

The moment the message was sent, he received a barrage of replies in the next second.

[???]

[Holy crap! You actually came back to find me!]

[Are you alive or dead?]

"Would a dead person send you a message?" Lin Fan replied, speechless, with a smile as he typed.

[Damn it! No news for a year, making me worry for so long.]

[Quick, tell me where you've been hanging out, and why didn't you take me along!]

[Forget it, I'll just go to your place to confront you. Are you home now?]

Lin Fan glanced at the messages in his hand, then turned to look at Long Yue, who was spacing out beside him. After a moment's hesitation, he replied:

[Actually, I need to see you too. Let's meet outside, I'll send you the address.]

[Okay, I'll be there in two minutes!]

"Empress, I'm going out for a bit."

After arranging the meeting place, Lin Fan put away his phone and opened the door.

"Where are you going?" Long Yue asked nervously.

"To see a friend."

Lin Fan replied simply and then closed the door with a bang.

Watching Lin Fan leave, Long Yue pouted in dissatisfaction.

This guy was just leaving her alone at home…

In a milk tea shop

A man dressed in trendy attire, with slanted bangs, sat by the window, his gaze fixed on the people entering and exiting the shop, as if searching for someone.

Lin Fan pushed open the door and immediately spotted the man sitting by the corner window. He walked straight towards him.

"Long time no see, Yan Zi."

Zhou Yan, his best friend from high school until now.

The two of them went to school together, lived in the same dorm, ate in the same cafeteria, inseparable and could talk about anything. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were practically joined at the hip.

From high school to university, and even after graduation, they often met up.

Zhou Yan looked up at Lin Fan standing in front of him, his expression a mixture of surprise and shock.

"You... are Lin Fan?"

The face of the person before him was undoubtedly his good brother, Lin Fan, whom he was familiar with, but the aura he exuded was completely different from when they last met, as if he had become a different person.

In his memory, Lin Fan was rather slender and didn't talk much, the kind of person who wouldn't stand out in a crowd. But the man in front of him gave him a completely different impression. He was much more muscular, and inexplicably carried the aura of a triad boss!

"Who else could it be? Haven't seen me for just a year, and you don't recognize me anymore?"

Lin Fan pulled out a chair and plopped down in front of Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan repeatedly scrutinized Lin Fan, unable to help blurting out, "Lin Fan, did you join the triads?"

Lin Fan: "..."

"Why do you ask that?" Lin Fan asked speechlessly.

"Well... I just feel like you look like a triad enforcer now, especially your aura, it's very similar...!"

"...No, how could I possibly join the triads."

Lin Fan remained in an awkward silence for a moment before denying it.

"That's right, an honest person like you, who's too scared to even kill a fish, how could you possibly get involved with the triads, hahaha."

Zhou Yan was amused by his own naive thought and burst into laughter, while Lin Fan sat silently beside him.

Going to the Demon Realm shouldn't count as joining the triads, right...

"Ahem, Lin Fan, you're really not being a good friend. You disappeared for a year and didn't even reply to a single message."

"At least tell me where you went?"

Remembering that he was here to demand an explanation, Zhou Yan quickly put away his smile and glared at Lin Fan, his belly full of grievances.

Lin Fan had been missing for a whole year. They reported him to the police, but he couldn't be found. The police speculated that he had likely been murdered or committed suicide and told them to prepare for the worst.

This had made him, a grown man, hide under his covers and shed tears in the middle of the night...

"Sorry, I went to a very distant place. It was sudden, and I didn't have time to tell you," Lin Fan said apologetically.

After you disappeared, having a good brother who constantly worried about you, what more could one ask for?

"Went to a very distant place? Abroad?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.

"Um... you could say that."

Lin Fan gave a sheepish smile and went along with it.

There was no way he could tell him that he had actually transmigrated to another world...

Even if he did, he probably wouldn't believe him.

"So you went abroad. That's good, traveling abroad and changing your mood is also a good thing."

Zhou Yan didn't suspect anything. Instead, his eyes curiously scanned him up and down, and he questioned, "Lin Fan, did you secretly work out abroad this past year? How did you get so muscular!"

"I've trained a little bit..." Lin Fan looked down at himself.

When he first landed in the Demon Realm, he was constantly on the run, surviving in the wild. To stay alive, he ate whatever he could find, even consuming the flesh of demonic beasts and tempering his body with their blood. Coupled with constant battles against various powerful enemies, he had unknowingly undergone a transformation and forged this physique.

"Holy crap! It's hard! The real deal!"

"They say fitness can change your aura, and it looks like it's true...!"

Zhou Yan reached out and touched Lin Fan's firm chest, his face full of envy. He immediately vowed, "Damn it, starting tomorrow, I'm going to start working out too!"

"Lin Fan, you be my training partner. When we're both shirtless on the street, we'll drive all the girls crazy, hahaha."

As he spoke, Zhou Yan couldn't help but let out a lecherous laugh.

Lin Fan couldn't help but laugh along.

In his perception, hundreds of years had passed, but only one year had gone by here. His old friend had still not changed at all.

It must be said, this was truly something worth celebrating