High School of Demon Hunting

It’s not just Professor Montreya who seems off.

Ever since last weekend’s news broke out about the green dragon incident in Silent Forest, Zheng Qing’s been paying close attention to reactions both inside and outside the school. But to his exasperation, the whole matter seems to just live in that report in the "Beta Town Post," while other newspapers like "Daily Horn" and "Ganges Daily," which usually chase rumors everywhere like flies to a stink, have all gone silent on this issue, as if unaware of the bloody case in the forest.

Even discussions about this event in Wandering Bar and various corners of the school are scarce. While it’s somewhat understandable that students would be slow to react to a green dragon’s death in Silent Forest, why are the black wizards in Wandering Bar keeping silent?

This is very abnormal.

Connecting this to the school’s quick and perfunctory handling of raven-related cases, it’s hard not to overthink and get paranoid.

Zheng Qing has a vague feeling that the longer he pursues, the thicker the fog in front of him becomes, leaving him at a loss. The clues about the raven are numerous, he could almost weave them into a robe, but he’s missing those few key buttons, so the robe remains incomplete.

"... Haven’t your devil friends been inquiring about this lately?"

Thursday afternoon in the self-study room, Xiao Xiao was finally too irritated by Zheng Qing’s nagging, and couldn’t help but retort: "If even the devils aren’t concerned about that green dragon, you really shouldn’t be wasting so much effort on it. You’ve got your finals in two weeks! You should be more concerned about the nearly thirty courses you’ll be tested on! And your graduation thesis!"

Thursday afternoon was originally scheduled for Edge Academy’s courses.

But due to the nearing of finals, combined with Edge Academy’s busy preparations for the establishment ceremony, and the unexpected impact of the ’Giant God Soldier’ project experiment accident, Zheng Qing’s class was canceled. Along with him, the young wizards from Astronomy Class 08-1 who were participating in ’volunteer service’ with him also had no tasks.

Thus, everyone gained an afternoon of ’leisure.’

There was no way a break would be granted, it wouldn’t make sense for the rest of the academy to be attending classes while a single class gets a break. But with finals approaching, arranging other volunteer services was unnecessary. So, Old Yao simply let everyone self-study.

This was good news for everyone.

"It’s not like I’m spending too much effort on this matter."

Hearing the retort from the PhD student, Zheng Qing sighed heavily, feeling quite drained: "There’s a saying ’like a fish bone in one’s throat,’ you know? A fish bone stuck in the throat makes even swallowing uncomfortable... but who can endure several weeks without swallowing? As for those devils, probably due to the nearing finals, they’re all being quite low-key, with no one organizing any meetings."

"You could drink some vinegar, it can soften the fish bone." Xin Fat Man, while reviewing campus newspaper submissions, gave his suggestion without lifting his head: "Or with your physical fitness, you could directly cut open your throat to remove the fish bone, and it wouldn’t make much difference."

"What he needs is not vinegar, but ginger-colored cat fruit."

On the other side, Zhang Ji Xin confidently repeated his brother’s experience: "My brother says students nearing graduation tend to have these symptoms—agitation, absent-mindedness, mental weakness, etc.—ginger cat fruit is prepared for this time."

The cat fruit here isn’t from Zheng Qing’s cat fruit tree, but rather the active ingredient used in many soothing agents. Ginger color signifies its ripeness. The soothing agent widely used by students can calm agitation and help wizards focus.

Of course, the key point is that this magic potion is not like Fox Seducer Dry Feces Powder, which is a prohibited substance—especially for fourth-year students, as long as they mention feeling ’agitated’ or ’can’t sleep’ at the campus hospital, they can receive a satisfying dose.

Listening to these unreliable suggestions, Zheng Qing knew he couldn’t rely much on his companions.

He sighed again, bowed his head, and started re-checking his Magic Universe Study assignments—In dimension theory, the Thomson Atomic Model is used to interpret possible shapes of the universe. Which name is this model also known as: A, Fruitcake Model; B, Plum Pudding Model; C, Raisin Pudding Model; D, Concentric Rings Model?

Zheng Qing adeptly marked the options ’A, B, C.’

He’s particularly impressed by this universe model because it seems like the only model in Magic Universe Study that uses various foods to describe the universe’s shape, making him suspicious whether the wizard who named this model was a dessert enthusiast.

Xiao Xiao nudged his arm.

"... When you mentioned ’not right,’ it reminded me." The PhD adjusted his glasses, looking curious: "The day before yesterday you said you wanted to divinate some things about Professor Montreya, what’s the result of your calculations?"

Xin Fat Man and Zhang Ji Xin simultaneously lifted their heads, looking at Zheng Qing.

For these young people, daring to ’challenge’ a Big Wizard, regardless of the outcome, is worthy of admiration. This entertainment is much more interesting than boring assignments or articles.

Zheng Qing slumped his shoulders, grumpily replied: "Since I’m still sitting here all energetic, naturally there’s no result... can you believe I calculated three times in a row that Professor Montreya is a deceased?"

The other three immediately burst into chuckles.

Everyone reckons the only probable cause for this absurd conclusion is that Zheng Qing must have bumped into the Big Wizard’s confusion spell while divinating.

Xiao Xiao still wanted to say something, when suddenly there was commotion in the self-study room.

Several people all simultaneously looked toward the direction of the commotion.

It was at the entrance of the self-study room.

A stranger witch was standing at the entrance, peering around. She was wearing a black robe, tall and slim, with a silver strand of hair at her forehead, exuding an aura very out of place with First University.

Zheng Qing’s heart skipped a beat, suddenly feeling a sense of foreboding.

Perhaps she noticed those curious gazes in the room.

The witch simply stepped forward, entering the self-study room, politely speaking: "—I’m looking for Zheng Qing."

The crisp and melodious voice echoed in the small self-study room, completely shattering Zheng Qing’s last shred of hope. His classmates adeptly looked up, turning their heads, smiling, towards a corner of the room.

Zheng Qing felt this scene was particularly familiar, as if he hadn’t experienced this for the first time—and indeed, it was so—as this thought flashed through his mind, the classmate sitting by the door promptly echoed the unfamiliar witch’s request: "Zheng Qing? Zheng Qing! Someone’s looking for you!"

The boy cautiously glanced toward Jiang Yu’s seat. Thank heavens, she didn’t follow the others in turning her head, and she also stopped Li Meng from joining in the commotion.

But Zheng Qing was somewhat uncertain whether this was truly a good thing or not.