On a certain day in 2022, I was bored surfing the internet, waiting for my takeout to call me.
"Hello, stop looking."
I heard someone talking to me, but there was clearly only me in the house.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person, well, to be precise, I'm not that bad among bad people."
As he spoke, a child emerged from the shadows.
"I am a demon, you should be able to tell."
I was speechless because apart from the red fork he was holding, yes, the kind you would associate with a demon, he didn't look like a demon at all.
Oh, and this little brat was even wearing open-crotch pants.
"You're a demon? Your parents must be something. I don't care how you got in, just go home."
The child in open-crotch pants paused for a moment and angrily said, "Don't you believe me?"
"I believe you're just a little brat." I got up and went to the door to get my takeout.
Open-crotch pants picked up his red fork and waved it at me. I saw a beam of light enter my body and immediately disappear.
"What did you do?" I looked fierce, ready to beat him up.
Open-crotch pants stepped back, "Nothing, it's a new mind-reading technique I learned. I wanted you to try it so you wouldn't doubt me."
"Thanks." I picked up open-crotch pants, ready to throw him out. I opened the door and the delivery guy looked at me, holding a child, with a surprised expression.
I was about to explain when a voice suddenly rang in my head, "...Damn, this guy isn't a domestic abuser, is he?"
"No, I'm not a domestic abuser, this kid ran into my house by himself." I instinctively said.
The delivery guy was even more surprised and left the food before running away.
I looked at his back and then at open-crotch pants in my hand.
"So, you really are a demon?"
...
Open-crotch pants sat on the bed as I looked at him.
"Who are you?"
"I said I'm a demon." Open-crotch pants said disdainfully, but seeing me clenching my fist, he quickly changed his tone.
"Don't be angry, I came this time to complete a test. We demons want to become good, so we have to do something bad in the human world."
"So, I'm the unlucky one?"
"Don't put it that way, it's a win-win situation."
"How is it a win-win situation?"
"It's simple, I can give you some superpowers, but the price is that when the superpowers disappear, someone in this world will die. What do you think?"
"I don't want it, I still have my principles as a human being, and what if it's me or someone I know who dies?"
"Oh, don't be so stubborn, I promise it won't be someone you know or yourself. Just consider it, look at you, you're a failure, you don't even have a girlfriend at this age..."
I gave him a glare and open-crotch pants immediately shut up.
"Fine, I agree, but don't deceive me."
"Don't worry, we demons always keep our word."
So, in front of the yellow braised chicken on the table, I made a deal with this demon child in open-crotch pants.
The first superpower open-crotch pants gave me was mind-reading. But his mind-reading was even more powerful, I could even know what people were thinking online. If I wanted to, I could even see what items were in someone's shopping cart while browsing Taobao. I've seen underage people buying e-cigarettes, male college students buying sex toys, middle-aged men buying aphrodisiacs, and even young girls buying birth control rings. Honestly, I used to think these things were only available in hospitals.
Of course, there were also abnormal things, like used underwear and stockings, self-made videos, and even drugs packaged like Oreos. I couldn't say for sure, but I kindly reminded them that the underwear and stockings were being sold by men. The videos were readily available online. And if they bought the Oreos, they would end up in the bathroom. But they called me an idiot, and I couldn't do anything about it.
Later on, I became curious about what the people I knew were thinking, and that was even more interesting. For example, a couple I knew who were already engaged, the man was secretly gay. The boss who always emphasized anti-corruption and integrity, had actually embezzled a lot of money. My senior sister from university had thought about putting potassium cyanide in her mentor's water cup more than once. The most surprising thing was that my good buddy turned out to be a masochist. I had known him for over ten years, and he had always been a sloppy guy, not showering after playing basketball, sleeping with his socks stuffed in his shoes. I would never have believed it. Just to tease him, I changed my phone number and sent him a text message. The content was basically about knowing his preferences and asking if he wanted to play together. I even downloaded a few pictures from his cloud storage and sent them to him.
After doing this wicked thing, I secretly enjoyed it for a long time.
...
After a few days, I found open-crotch pants again.
"I want to change my ability, preferably something that allows me to have control over others. Do you have that?"
"Aren't you bored of mind-reading?"
"Not really, it's just that I know too much, it's boring."
Open-crotch pants smiled.
"Then think about it, changing superpowers will cost lives."
I felt a wave of unease in my heart, but thinking that the deaths had nothing to do with me, I gritted my teeth and agreed. So I gained a new superpower.
I have to say, this new superpower was quite useful. If I were to join a pyramid scheme, I would definitely be bigger than Quanjian. But as a lazy unemployed person who stayed at home, I had forgotten what it was like to work. So I set my sights on the internet, whether it was Weibo or Douyin, as long as I commented, I would have a wave of followers. If I liked a certain internet celebrity, they would become popular. If I didn't like a certain celebrity, my fans would dig up dirt on them and send legal letters. How should I put it, this feeling was even more addictive than Oreos. Although most of the time the people I didn't like had some dirt on them, there were times when I made mistakes, like one time I wanted to mess with an expert I disliked. I couldn't stand him always giving his opinions online, so I posted a Weibo saying he had fabricated his research. This was normal in academic circles, there were always some shady things, of course, I wouldn't do the work of finding evidence myself, my fans would help me with that.
At this point, some people started to say that I was spreading rumors and causing trouble. If it were just celebrities, it would be fine, but even ordinary people were pointing fingers at me. This made me very unhappy, so I complained in my fan group. Soon, those people were doxxed by my fans.
Later on, these pieces of information were accidentally leaked.
But that had nothing to do with me.
"Do you have any other superpowers? I'm bored again."
"Let me think, I can turn you into a popular person, are you interested?"
"What do you mean?"
"Simply put, any girl who meets you, as long as she doesn't have any grudges against you, will be infatuated with you."
I thought about it, and since I was usually honest, I didn't have any enemies, so I agreed to open-crotch pants.
"Have you decided? Remember, it will cost lives."
"Don't waste time."
So I became a heartthrob.
...
If you ask me how it feels, I can only tell you that it's fucking awesome. Girls flock to me, eager to date me. I even discussed polygamy with them, but it seemed that my superpower couldn't do that, so I had to manage my time better. I would have dinner with A on Mondays and Wednesdays, book a hotel with B on Tuesdays and Thursdays, let C spend money on me on Saturdays, take Fridays off, and find new girls to warm my bed on social media. With the superpower, these girls were so easy to seduce, I just needed to say the same things to all of them and they would be mesmerized. At most, it would take a day to win them over, and if I wasn't satisfied, I would find an excuse to brush them off. These silly girls would cry and say they weren't good enough or pretty enough. Although sometimes I felt sorry for them, since they were willing, I didn't feel too guilty.
But honestly, it was fun but tiring, and a few times I was lucky to cover my tracks, otherwise, I would have been exposed.
I played like this for a long time until I met a girl who wasn't as easily captivated as the others. She was reserved and modest, and what's more, her behavior and style were exactly what I liked. This made me want to conquer her, so I stopped contacting the other girls and focused on pursuing her. I even made a bet with open-crotch pants that I would bring her home within three days.
But I lost. She was indeed difficult to handle, and even with my superpower, it took me half a month to sleep with her. I lay on the bed, completely naked, wearing the blindfold she prepared, with my hands tied to the headboard. I have to say, she really knew how to play.
"Do you know me?" she asked.
"Of course, you're the woman of my dreams."
She suddenly laughed.
"Think carefully, do you really know me?"
I found it strange and was about to say something when a knife was plunged into my throat.
She took off my blindfold and said coldly, "My boyfriend, or should I say, your good buddy, was driven to suicide by you. I bet you didn't know he had depression, did you?"
"And me, my photos, address, ID number, you posted them online without missing a single detail, and I'm being cyberbullied every day. And thanks to you, I was raped, I don't know why a clean woman like me would be slandered as a slut."
"You must be surprised how I know your preferences," she took out her phone and showed it to me, "I know all the girls you played with and discarded."
"It's time for you to atone, I hope you don't die too quickly."
I struggled, blood spraying from my mouth. I screamed in my mind for that little demon, but he didn't appear.
After a long time, the door to the room opened, and a child in open-crotch pants walked in, jumped onto the bed, and looked at my miserable state with a mocking expression.
"You're really stupid, how could you believe a demon's words."