The Demoness's Phone

The Demoness's Phone

Although buying a phone wasn't cheap, it was only a one-time expense.

The moment she heard that Li Bai was going to buy her a phone, the Demoness could no longer stay home. She clung tightly to Li Bai's wrist and refused to let go.

Once this thing wrapped itself around someone, it was definitely sturdier than the handcuffs at the Public Security Bureau. Fortunately, it wasn't a pair, or Great Demon Li would have cried himself to death.

The Demoness had already taken a fancy to a phone online—a foreign big-name brand, costing over ten thousand yuan apiece.

That was, of course, impossible!

The DELL laptop Li Bai had bought for himself had cost only a little over six thousand yuan. Why should buying a phone—especially one meant to be the Demoness's toy—cost more than ten thousand? She could dream on!

After making full use of his silver tongue, he finally managed to trick the Demoness into entering a direct-operated store for a domestic smartphone brand at the end of the street.

This brand had smartphones in two tiers, high and low. Li Bai made a circuit of the store, then stopped in front of several low-end models. He planned to buy Qingyao one costing around a thousand yuan. It could handle calls, texts, internet access, and WeChat, and run basic applications smoothly. Compared with the foreign phone the Demoness had taken a fancy to earlier, its value for money was worlds better.

But Qingyao Demoness wasn't having it. She wormed her way beneath his collar and kept muttering nonstop.

"Give me the latest Snapdragon processor, 6G of RAM, 128G of storage, a full-screen display, and dual cameras..."

When he took another look at the low-end models, not one met her requirements. It was obvious that the Demoness had come straight for the high-end products. She had done her homework thoroughly, and her objective was crystal clear.

What a spendthrift monster!

Li Bai was so angry that his nose nearly twisted sideways. This creature had merely evolved from a green snake into a jiao, yet she wanted a Snapdragon processor. A jiao was a jiao—what did she need a dragon for? She really had some nerve dreaming.

"L-Li Bai!"

Just as the man and the demon were deadlocked, a woman's voice came from behind him.

Li Bai turned around and saw a short-haired, modern urban beauty in a plaid dress smiling and waving at him.

"What a coincidence, Miss Dong!"

It was Dong Keyan, the future German immigrant and carnivorous beauty anchor who had once gone on a date with Li Bai, only for it to end without a result.

"You're here to buy a phone too?"

The beauty anchor walked over. She didn't have a bad impression of Li Bai; unfortunately, he hadn't been willing to accompany her to settle in Germany.

"Yeah, just taking a look. What about you?"

Li Bai shrugged. The Demoness, who had been hiding inside his collar, secretly concealed herself, then wrapped herself around his wrist again and tightened her grip especially hard.

"My phone was stolen yesterday. I had no choice but to buy another one."

Dong Keyan looked thoroughly gloomy. Clearly, that unscrupulous thief had caused her a considerable loss.

"Wasn't your old phone an iPhone? What made you decide to buy a domestic one?"

Li Bai remembered that this beauty anchor had been using the exact model Qingyao Demoness had taken a fancy to—the foreign flagship phone priced at over ten thousand yuan.

"It was too expensive! One costs twelve thousand. If it got stolen again, I really couldn't bear it, so I had to buy a domestic phone instead. Even if it gets stolen, it won't hurt as much."

Dong Keyan spread her hands, looking helpless. She did want to use the best, but thieves were running rampant.

She glanced at the display models in the cabinet beside Li Bai and said, "The few models beside you are all low-end. Their workmanship and stability are quite a bit worse. If you're buying one, you might as well go all the way and get a high-end model, so it won't fall behind when the system and software are upgraded later."

Li Bai clearly knew far less about phones than Dong Keyan. He humbly sought her advice. "Really? What do you recommend?"

Dong Keyan pointed at the store's largest billboard. "Just choose that one. Top-of-the-line configuration, the latest Snapdragon processor, 6G of RAM, 128G of storage, a full-screen display, and dual cameras."

Li Bai's eyes widened further and further. Could it be that regardless of whether they were human or demon, all women had the same taste in shopping? If they were buying something, they had to buy the best. Even if they dropped down one tier, it still had to be the best within that tier.

I should've kept my mouth shut.

As if she had met a kindred spirit, the Demoness wrapped around Li Bai's wrist grew wildly excited. If she hadn't been warned again and again, she might have revealed her true form right then and there, and then... There would be no "then." A hotpot formation would already be set up beside the slicer!

"So the one most suitable for you is the top-of-the-line NOTE model, while I'll choose the standard flagship model."

Seeing that Li Bai still hadn't come back to his senses and was staring blankly at her, Dong Keyan lowered her eyes with flushed cheeks and said shyly, "Don't look at me like that. You're making me embarrassed. As a streamer, I sometimes take on advertising and product-promotion jobs."

"How much can you make in a month as a streamer?"

Li Bai suddenly felt that he might have underestimated Dong Keyan. She was, after all, a girl determined to immigrate to Germany.

"Not much. Just a little over a hundred thousand!"

Dong Keyan had no intention of hiding it. She openly held out both hands, her ten fingers as tender as scallions, her face filled with pride.

"Gasp!"

Li Bai sucked in a cold breath. It wasn't just her high income that shocked him. The Demoness had suddenly and without warning tightened viciously around his wrist.

Fortunately, it was him. If it had been someone else, their entire hand would probably have been twisted off.

Qingyao's intense reaction was probably because she received only three hundred yuan in pocket money each month, while Dong Keyan brought in a hundred thousand. Compared with each other, it was practically a country bumpkin from a remote, impoverished mountain village meeting a rich and beautiful city girl from Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou.

"It's not much. Buying my old phone would only give me enough money to have it stolen ten times at most."

Dong Keyan might not have been so candid about her income with anyone else, but this young psychiatrist made her feel that he was not only trustworthy, but could also become a close friend with whom she could discuss anything.

The only small regret was that he wasn't willing to develop his future in Germany with her, limiting their relationship to this and nothing more.

With a monthly income of over a hundred thousand and an annual income in the millions, this beauty anchor's earnings were truly astonishing. Li Bai looked at her with admiration. "No wonder you want to go to Germany. With an income like that, you should be able to live very comfortably there."

Compared with her, he was merely a struggling psychiatrist, earning no more than four thousand a month. Comparing people really could kill you!

Unable to withstand Dong Keyan's eloquent sales pitch and the Demoness's constant tightening around his wrist, Li Bai could only endure the pain and swipe his card, buying the newest top-of-the-line NOTE phone—one that cost nearly a month's salary.

There was nothing else to say. He would have to live on air this month.

He could only sigh inwardly. He had guarded against the Demoness's obvious attack, yet failed to evade Dong Keyan's covert strike in cooperation from within.

Li Bai could only pretend to be satisfied. In reality, his heart was full of suffering, but he couldn't say a word.

As she watched the store clerk set up a new mobile number for Li Bai and replace her SIM card, Dong Keyan suddenly said, "Doctor Li, I heard you've recently gotten into it with the Daoist Masters of Qingliang Temple. Is that true?"

"How did you know?"

Li Bai was startled. He hadn't mentioned it to her just now.

"I'm an online streamer, so of course I browse the news. It's already spread all over the '17th Floor' forum."

Holding the phone she had just bought, Dong Keyan used the phone store's Wi-Fi to connect to the "17th Floor" forum.

Li Bai took a close look. Sure enough, the forum had been flooded with posts about it again.

He said as if nothing had happened, "It's nothing. We're just going through the motions. It's not like they can beat me up, right?"

I am Li Bai, a psychiatrist at the Seventh People's Hospital Psychiatry Department. If you're unhappy, come beat me up!

Seven or eight burly men had already tried to clear the dungeon and been wiped out. Why would he be afraid of Qingliang Temple?

Li Bai wasn't afraid of those ox-nosed stinking Daoists in the slightest.

"Could it be that you really know magic?"

The beauty anchor instinctively wanted to ride the wave of attention. She made her living mainly from her looks and talents; the higher her popularity, the more money she could earn. Otherwise, how could she be called an internet celebrity?

"What do you think?"

Li Bai countered.

This kind of feudal-superstitious thinking was unacceptable.

"I think... pfft!"

Dong Keyan had just been about to continue when her expression suddenly turned strange, and she couldn't help laughing.

She had thought of the words, "Congratulations, fellow Daoist, on achieving the Golden Core Great Accomplishment." If that counted as magic, wasn't it a scam?

"I'm glad you understand. All that stuff is fake. How could magic exist in this world? Just watch me expose them."

Li Bai was ready to vent the deep grudge of having his bank card assaulted by the two women onto Qingliang Temple.

Those Daoists had merely used ether to fool people. At most, they were only that capable and posed no threat.

"Do your best! I'll cheer you on."

Dong Keyan raised her little fist. She was determined to ride this wave of attention.