Demon King – Chapter 611 – Forced to Play Hide-and-Seek

Eiru was gone…

The first person to notice something was wrong was Yuki. He waited all the way until nightfall and still did not see her come back, and very quickly realized that something was off.

Sure, it was possible that Eiru had stayed over to take care of her little sister, got too tired, and fell asleep at home without telling him. But the unease in his chest made it impossible for him to keep sitting calmly in the dorm and waiting.

Yuki was not the kind of person who felt the need to meddle in everything. He had always believed in giving Eiru as much freedom as possible. For an outing that had been reported in advance like this, he really should not have needed to worry.

But this time, for reasons he could not explain, ever since the moment she left, his heart had been shrouded in a constant sense of unease that refused to settle. Even when he temporarily distracted himself with the dorm’s stupid chaotic atmosphere, the moment things quieted down, that anxiety would uncontrollably surge back up to his chest.

Driven by that feeling, Yuki tried calling her several times to confirm her situation, but all he got was the automated message that the phone was powered off. So he ran out of the school…

Even if he was just being overly worried, he had to at least confirm her current situation. Otherwise, there was no way this hanging anxiety would ever ease.

There was no one in the rented apartment. He took a taxi to Eiru’s house and found that there was not a single person there either. After confirming by phone that a certain girl had indeed not returned to the dorm, Yuki panicked…

Someone might say she was probably staying at the hospital to look after her sister, but Yuki knew that was impossible. Eiru’s special circumstances did not allow her to stay overnight in a place as complicated as a hospital. That left only one answer, she was missing.

At the same time, somewhere else had also fallen into a state of relative chaos. A man sat at his desk frantically making phone calls, dealing with inquiries from all sides. If this unexpected situation was not handled properly, a punishment for dereliction of duty would be waiting for him.

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“Don’t panic. We’ve already sent everyone out, mobilized everyone we can… As long as she’s still in Huanghai City, we can dig her out. Maybe she’s just messing around and will show up on her own after a while?”

A perfectly fine person had just vanished, and even those responsible for watching over her were completely dumbfounded. None of the places she usually went to had any sign of her. On top of that, the girl could turn invisible and fly, making the difficulty of searching sky-high.

If Eiru left their surveillance range for more than two hours, they had to immediately mobilize manpower to find her. That silly girl usually did not hide on purpose, and under normal circumstances she would be found within one or two hours… but now it was already nighttime. Anyone could tell something was wrong.

“Send a few people to the hospital to ask what happened there. Her last appearance was at the hospital, right? The brothers in the lobby and corridors didn’t see her, so she probably flew off through a window.”

Everyone nervously searched for the missing girl, but after twenty-four hours passed, there was still no real progress.

“No, I asked. My parents said her family also found that Lu Brat is missing, but they don’t know exactly what happened either.”

Hanging up the phone, Jiaqi still could not provide Yuki with any useful information.

The two of them had been searching all day. After hearing about Eiru’s disappearance, Jiaqi skipped class and ran around outside like a madman together with Yuki, searching everywhere.

Thankfully, the two brothers in the dorm were reliable enough to quickly make up excuses and help them get leave. Otherwise, the two of them would definitely have paid dearly afterward.

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But the situation still showed no improvement at all. Yuki and Jiaqi were worried sick. One was her best friend and boyfriend, the other her childhood friend. They were clearly the two people who knew her best, the ones with the highest chance of finding her. Yet now, forget knowing where she was, they did not even have the slightest lead.

“Lu Brat’s family also found out she was missing today and are searching too… Have you tried your dad? With the police helping, it should be easier to find her, right?”

“I did. I went to my dad the very first moment last night. They’ve been searching all day…”

Yuki shifted his gaze to Hulu, who was sprawled on the table, hoping to find some clues through its connection with Eiru. But Hulu, understanding the expectation in his eyes, shook its head to indicate that it was powerless as well.

“You haven’t slept all night. Get some rest…”

Jiaqi tried to persuade the sleepless Yuki.

“Jixian and the others already helped us ask for leave. If you keep this up and your body collapses, even if you find her, you won’t be able to do anything.”

“Alright, I’ll sleep for a bit…”

Yuki rubbed his temples and accepted the suggestion.

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“Help me keep an eye on Hulu. The moment it falls asleep, wake me up immediately.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s mentally synchronized with Lu. As long as it falls asleep, that means Lu has fallen asleep too… When she’s asleep, it’s easier for us to find her.”

Ever since they were little, whenever everyone played hide-and-seek or ghost-catching games, Eiru had never lost. Yuki knew this very well. With her current abilities involving hallucinations and invisibility, if she truly wanted to hide from them, it would be completely impossible to find her.

“When she’s asleep, most of her abilities should be disabled… At the very least, once she’s asleep, she can’t stay invisible. Otherwise, if we ran outside to search now, we might pass right by her and still not see her.”

“I thought you’d be a total mess from anxiety… Didn’t expect you to still be this rational?”

Under these circumstances, Yuki’s ability to remain relatively calm and think things through genuinely surprised Jiaqi. He knew exactly how anxious Yuki was inside.

“I can’t afford to be irrational. That’s Lu Brat… Have we ever won against her in hide-and-seek since we were kids? If I panic, then we really won’t find her at all…”

Yuki gave a bitter smile. At a time like this, he almost wished Eiru did not understand him so well. That girl’s absurd calculation and deduction abilities were just too troublesome.

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Every time they played hide-and-seek, she could easily calculate the blind spots in everyone’s awareness and hide there. If someone knew her well enough, she could even turn that knowledge against them, guiding them toward the wrong locations…

Try to reverse-think the places she would be “impossible” to go, and you would end up realizing that you had been completely played again. In short, when it came to hide-and-seek, Eiru always thought several steps ahead of everyone else, sometimes even dozens of steps ahead. It was pure dimensionality reduction bullying.

From childhood to now, they had played dozens, even hundreds of games like that, and not once had anyone successfully found Eiru. So now, on top of their worry, Yuki and Jiaqi were also filled with a sense of frustration.

‘Why are you hiding from me? What happened that you can’t tell me…’

With a heavy heart, Yuki climbed into bed. He really did not want to participate in this strange hide-and-seek game at all.

He just wanted to sit down face-to-face with her, speak from the heart, and talk openly and honestly. Not like this, where everyone was being avoided by her, and no one knew what she was thinking…

‘Lu Brat, where are you, exactly…’