Demons Beside You
chapter-54

Robio carried Walter while looking at Chen Zhao.

“I hope I can go see Walter whenever I want. If he dies, please notify me.”

“Of course.” Chen Zhao nodded.

“Walter, come here.” Chen Zhao clapped his hands and went to hold Walter.

Walter was very weak. These few months of illness had made living more painful than dying for him.

“However, without my permission, you can’t disclose where Walter went or any information about me, okay?”

“Okay.” Robio nodded. “I’ll tell Faur that I killed Walter.”

Chen Zhao carried Walter to the car. Walter lay in Chen Zhao’s lap and drifted to sleep.

At home, Chen Zhao mixed some perfect crystal powder in water and gave it to Walter. The effect was nice, but he needed to rest more.

Woof, woof, woof—

Only one person would appear by sticking his head out of the wall: Blackie. Walter barked crazily at him, clearly thinking Blackie was an intruder.

“Hey, Blackie!” Chen Zhao said, surprised. “He can see you.”

“Not every dog can see me, but some human pets are special,” Blackie said in defense. “They can see things that humans can’t.” He glanced at Walter. “Chen, where did you get him from? I can sense the deathly aura from him.”

“You can sense his death?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a gravely sick dog. However, I just gave it some perfect crystal. Is it ineffective?”

“Seems like it. It will die in six hours. Right now is just a reflection of its life.”

Chen Zhao furrowed his brows. “Why is it not working? Are demonic crystals ineffective on dogs?”

“I don’t know. After all, no one has used such precious demonic crystals on a dog before.”

Chen Zhao’s expression darkened. “Are there no other solutions?”

“You’re the doctor. You know more about saving people. On the other hand, I’m a Soulbringer. I know more about death than you.”

“I need to go to your home.”

“You’re welcome any time,” Blackie said.

Chen Zhao brought Walter into Blackie’s territory. Walter was clearly unsettled and kept looking around.

Just then, a huge figure emerged from the mist.

Woof, woof, woof—

Little One, Little Two, and Little Three had appeared.

Woof, woof, woof—

“Walter, calm down,” Chen Zhao comforted it. “They’re not enemies.”

Walter looked suspiciously at the three. He seemed very troubled. Little One, Little Two, and Little Three also looked at Walter suspiciously. Then Walter went forward and licked Little Two’s head.

The hellhound lowered onto the ground and put their heads together. They felt that Walter was the same as them, just much smaller. Maybe it was a child?

With their intelligence, they couldn’t comprehend how they were different. By nature, they were still dogs.

Walter also couldn’t understand. It had seen many dogs before and its slightly-less-advanced brain just assumed that these guys were also dogs.

“Little One, Little Two, Little Three, you guys play with Walter, okay?”

The three heads licked Chen Zhao and he patted them all, one by one. He had to treat them all equally. Anyone who didn’t attention would throw a tantrum.

Dogs were all like this. They could coexist peacefully with humans, but they had attitudes too.

…

Chen Zhao walked into the research lab and impatiently rushed to the lower level. He had to find out why Walter couldn’t absorb the demonic crystal.

This process didn’t take too much time. He soon found relevant content. It said:

I’ve done many experiments on animals, humans, and demons. Many experiments use demonic crystals. These crystals have “demonic” in the name, but they aren’t unique to Hell.

There are demonic crystals in the human world too. They are just much rarer.

Demons have the highest absorption rate. They can absorb 90% of one year’s worth demonic crystals and directly extend their lives.

Humans are next. They can absorb around one-fourth of what a demon can. Humans can’t take large amounts though. This is due to the structure of their body. They’re too fragile.

Animals are the worst at absorbing demonic crystals. This is because their intelligence is too low, so their souls are more fragile too.

The demonic crystal doesn’t only affect the physical body. It also affects the soul.

The main purpose is to lengthen lives. To do so, one must strengthen one’s body and soul. Demons are the strongest in these two aspects, so the demonic crystal is also the most effective for them.

Humans have strong souls, but their bodies are weak, so the effect is a bit weaker. Animals have the weakest souls and their bodies aren’t much stronger than humans.

Here, Chen Zhao realized why Walter couldn’t absorb the demonic crystal. No, it wasn’t that Walter couldn’t absorb it at all. The effect was just very bad.

Chen Zhao continued reading what was written.

I thought of a way for humans to have bodies as strong as demons, or at least close. I’ve started modifying humans. The modified humans indeed have higher rates of absorption.

However, the modified humans aren’t humans anymore.

Later, I started modifying animals. Different from the complicated modifications of the human body, I mostly modify an animal’s soul. I demonify them.

I gave a dog a hatching fruit and its soul turned into a demon’s soul. I failed the first time because the dog’s physical body was too weak to withstand a demon’s soul.

I made some changes and strengthened the body of the second experiment. I poured water from the Blood Sea and demonic blood into the experiment, transforming it into a hybrid demon. Both its soul and body had been changed, but its nature hadn’t changed. My experiment was successful.

Compared to human experiments, experimenting on animals is obviously much easier.

After this, I tried many more experiments, all on animals. Some succeeded. Others failed.

Here, Chen Zhao was a bit hesitant. Should he modify Walter? Would it still be Walter after being modified?

After pondering, Chen Zhao still decided to modify Walter.

After all, it would be unfortunate if his first pet died the first day it got here. Plus, Walter should get this kind of treatment. Other than being his first pet, he was qualified to be deemed a hero.