High School of Demon Hunting

Friday’s pedestrian street already had a bit of a weekend atmosphere.

Especially now, as it was the most comfortable time in the semester—the mid-term exams had ended, and the final exams hadn’t arrived yet. Late spring and early summer, the weather was exceptionally pleasant—so, although it was just Friday noon, the young wizards out shopping weren’t much fewer than those on a weekend.

Zheng Qing, with an Armor Horse charm on his leg, quickly arrived at Ninety-Nine Shop on the pedestrian street.

Also known as San You Bookstore on Buji Island.

If anyone in this world could catch that ’Little Snake,’ it could only be the shop’s owner.

That being said.

He held little hope and was even prepared to see the thick dust accumulating in the tightly closed showcase. But sometimes, people like doing things they know won’t yield any results.

Passing by Ninety-Seven Shop on the pedestrian street—the store with the sign D&K—he glanced inside, realizing that due to Ears Brother attending classes at Edge Academy, the store was slightly understaffed. Hank, who originally was only responsible for accounting, had to step out from behind the counter and start greeting customers.

When Zheng Qing looked, Hank had his back to the entrance, seemingly introducing something to a customer. A fluffy big tail was carelessly tied around his waist, with the tip of the tail hanging weakly in the sunlight, somewhat dried and forked, completely lacking the ’Qingqiu style’ it had when Zheng Qing first saw it.

The warlock couldn’t help but silently chuckle, retracting his gaze and looking towards the shop two doors down.

Then, the smile on his face abruptly stopped.

Because at San You Bookstore’s entrance, he saw a not too unfamiliar figure.

Yellow Flowered Cat.

The last time he saw this Flower Cat was on his birthday—exactly ten days ago—not quite ’unfamiliar,’ but that day the Yellow Flowered Cat had come to see him voluntarily. If counting by the times he had seen the cat in the bookstore, it had been quite a while since they last met.

"Why are you dazing out there?"

The Flower Cat’s temperament was as stinky as ever, throwing a glance at the guy stunned not far away, boringly yawning: "I’m just here to deliver a message! The answers are ’yes,’ ’know,’ ’don’t need.’"

After saying that, it swished its tail, seemingly about to turn and leave.

"Wait!" The guy hastily shouted: "You know what I’m going to ask?"

As soon as he spoke, he realized he had asked a silly question, but he had to say something at that moment to keep the cat there.

As expected, hearing the guy’s question, the Flower Cat happily rolled its eyes.

"How refreshing!"

It stopped, squatted on the ground, elegantly shook its whiskers, its tail gracefully circling its front paws: "--After all, I also used to be a legend, here’s a reminder: Don’t use your meager brain to fathom realms above legend. Your perspectives are not on the same dimension! Like that sun overhead, to you, it’s a sun, but to a legend, it’s ’a’ sun... for those in higher realms, they might see countless suns, or even an ocean of light or endless darkness. In short, you only need to know that before your words come out, some already know."

"So, the big green snake living in my ear became a snake egg, and then this morning while I was sleeping, it broke shell and ran away?" Zheng Qing didn’t care about the disdain from the Yellow Flowered Cat, and hurriedly, himself, reorganized his questions.

To avoid any ambiguity, he deliberately described it very rigidly and in detail.

"Yes!" The Flower Cat flicked its ears, revealing a trace of displeasure on its face: "I said that from the beginning."

"Do you know the identity of the big green snake?"

Zheng Qing’s tone carried some caution, seemingly worried that the cat didn’t understand the importance of this matter—while secretly fretting, if it truly didn’t know, should he hint to it that the big green snake living in his ear was the snake that startled the whole Buji Island during the Forbidden Magic Festival.

"Don’t know."

The Yellow Flowered Cat raised its paw, scratched its ear, revealing a malicious expression as it sneered: "--Isn’t it just the lingering obsession left after Xiangliu devoured Cthulhu? Hmm, what’s it called now... R’lyeh, right!"

Its face showed a sour expression.

As if someone had taken away the dried fish it held in its arms.

Zheng Qing opened his mouth, then shut it again—since this cat knew the origin of that snake, the rest would be easier.

"Do I need to worry about it running around?" He swiftly threw out his third question.

"No! No! No!"

The Yellow Flowered Cat finally realized the tenacity of this sticky ’gum,’ sighed, and spoke with some irritation: "It’s not a child, why would it need you to worry? Since you know its identity, you should also know R’lyeh would never allow any blemish in its progression. Before its obsession is completely worn away, even if the ’old man’ doesn’t care, it’ll wake from its slumber to bring it back to you."

The young wizard’s face scrunched up.

While concerned about causing trouble by ’losing’ that big green snake, he also disliked the idea of it coming back as his ear ’tenant’—especially since the egg’s emergence was unclear, leaving him uneasy in his heart.

"Then..." He, muddled, still wanted to say something.

The Flower Cat lifted its paw again, signaling the guy to shut up.

"Honestly, I’ve never agreed with you having any ties with that snake. That snake is too big for you to handle."

Saying this, the Yellow Flowered Cat squinted its eyes, the hairs at the corner of its mouth drooping: "--But the ’old man’ said, you two need each other now, and it’s a very safe relationship, click, why does this sound so strange! Anyway, when it doesn’t need you anymore, you should have already grown to a point where it can’t do anything to you... So, stop overthinking, just focus on graduating from school before worrying about anything else!"

"How did that egg come to be?" Zheng Qing finally asked this question.

The Yellow Flowered Cat blinked.

"You don’t know?" It seemed quite surprised: "--According to the old man, it was you who suggested this escape method to R’lyeh!"

"Me? No way..."

Zheng Qing, just about to deny, a bolt of lightning flashed through his mind, recalling the few dialogues he had with the big green snake in his Sea of Consciousness after being taken away by Thomas days ago, especially the somewhat agitated words from the big green snake towards the end, instantly resurfaced:

--Every time I shed my skin, I go through unbearable pain, and no one gives me anesthesia! My future is destined to be obliterated, have you cared? No, you haven’t. You only care about whether you’re in pain now! If losing a piece of flesh would allow me to exist in the future, I’d be willing to carve the flesh off my whole body! Hmm, wait, carve flesh off bone? Hmm... let me think...