High School of Demon Hunting

"No?"

The Big Fox glanced at the White Jade Cat’s paws, a tail deftly extending from behind and brushing over the Black Gem Cat’s back, while drawing out his voice: "—You might not be well-informed at school. Tonight, or rather not long ago, another blood case happened in Silent Forest. However, this time it was a Green Dragon that suffered, which already falls under the realm of evil, so the school took some action and together with Trident Sword, suppressed the news."

Huff.

Huff.

The furry sensation from his back made the Black Gem Cat purr twice involuntarily, and then he quickly noticed two icy gazes shooting from the side, holding his breath to stifle the rest of the purring.

"Crazy, all crazy!"

He muttered, shaking his head, stealthily inching backward to avoid the tail tip and white cat paw, striving to make everyone think he was commenting on the forest blood case: "—What I mean is, not only the school’s crazy, but that Black Wizard is also crazy! Knowing there’s a major security risk outside the school, the fact that the school doesn’t give any risk warning to the students — if that’s not crazy, what is? And that crow, it’s still hunting recklessly despite the school’s extensive search... Truly lawless, utterly lawless!"

The White Jade Cat maintained a stern face, showing no friendliness to the Black Gem Cat.

The green Big Fox, however, cheerfully shared his view: "—When both prey and predators in the hunting ground make seemingly insane choices, it means the bottleneck has appeared, and the final moment is about to arrive."

...

...

The ’final moment’ referred to by the Big Fox was quite vague to the Black Gem Cat.

But Zheng Qing was different.

The last day of May was a Monday.

Early in the morning, when Zheng Qing woke up, he found the Black Gem Cat already asleep on the desk. Before putting his toothbrush into his mouth, he casually lifted the Art of Body Transformation, and instantly regretted it.

He should have brushed his teeth first before lifting it.

A string of terrible memories from the Black Gem Cat assaulted the young male wizard who had just woken up, worsening his mood. Especially the ’reason why the graduation thesis defense isn’t public’, which the Black Gem Cat couldn’t figure out — he grasped Su Shijun’s implied meaning in a second — the defense candidates were so unqualified the school couldn’t afford the embarrassment.

If the memories related to the defense were private, only souring Zheng Qing’s mood, then the forest blood case involving that Green Dragon was entirely a public matter.

"The crow and the school have gone mad!"

Xiao Xiao had a similar reaction when he heard the news to Zheng Qing.

"Don’t look at me, I’m not the editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper yet."

Xin Fat Man said with a mouth full of pancakes, making his voice a bit muffled: "Moreover, even if I were the editor-in-chief, if the school doesn’t allow news to be published, we couldn’t publish it either..."

He struggled to shrug his shoulders, giving everyone a knowing look.

Thump thump thump thump!

Zhang Ji Xin burst into the classroom like a gust of wind from outside, his heavy footsteps making the classroom buzz and drawing complaints from many people, but he paid no mind, going straight to the corner and erecting a sound insulation barrier.

"Did you hear?"

He was panting, his sauce-red face shimmering under the sunlight: "—Last night, something happened again! In Silent Forest, a nest of Green Dragons was slaughtered, and the spilled Dragon Blood drove a small section of the Silent River’s fish crazy, creating chaos in Beta Town, and the Northern District Wizard sent several patrol teams to clean up the mess over there..."

The other three exchanged glances.

The now calmer red-faced male wizard also came to his senses, looking puzzled: "You all don’t seem surprised at all... Has this news already spread?"

Zheng Qing shook his head, tossing the feather pen in his hand onto the desk.

"I have no idea what the school is thinking."

He frowned, rubbing his fingers along the spine of his copperplate book: "How can the school suppress such big news? It’s only been one night, and already..."

His fingers pointed at each of his companions, including Matthew Karen and Tang Dun who were whispering not far away: "...more than one student already knows!"

"Not surprising." Xin Fat Man played with the feather pen in his hand, slightly lowering his voice: "Many students at First University have intricate connections with influential figures within both the school and the Alliance..."

He gave Zheng Qing an inexplicable glance and continued: "...And for these young wizards, if one person knows, it means the entire school knows."

"The worst part isn’t being known, but the distortion of information during its spread." The diviner of the Yuzui Hunting Team adjusted his glasses, with a nod of his chin he indicated: "Like the Elders, by the time the news reached them, a single Green Dragon had become a whole nest... If someone tells me after class that Ysera was the one who died, I wouldn’t be surprised either..."

Ysera was a legendary Green Dragon, purportedly living in the depths of Silent Forest, known as the ’Green Dragon Queen’, although the last wizard to have seen her lived hundreds of years ago.

Knock knock!

Knock knock knock!

A red paper crane anxiously tapped against the window outside.

Zhang Ji Xin, sitting by the window, got up to let it in, and the paper crane zipped to Zheng Qing’s face, circling him briefly before unfurling itself.

Xiao Xiao noticed the boy’s eyebrows gradually relaxed.

"Good news?" He exhibited a hint of curiosity.

Zheng Qing nodded reservedly: "Uh, nothing major... just that the results for yesterday’s shape-shifting wizard exam have been released. Though the scores aren’t high, I’ve passed the threshold with a seventy-one, which isn’t bad."

His tone barely hid his pride.

In fact, the score was a bit unexpected—he scored full marks of sixty on the practical part, with eleven on the written exam, either of which exceeded his expectations.

"...Still, the Doctor guessed correctly." Zheng Qing’s smile was becoming hard to contain, shaking the letter in his hand: "The final major question, about ’Gentleman Leopard’s Transformation’, they actually gave me a point!"

"Congratulations, congratulations!" Zhang Ji Xin earnestly offered a clasped fist gesture.

Xin Fat Man just rolled his eyes: "If there’s not something shady involved in this..."

"Ahem," Zheng Qing cleared his throat, interrupting: "Actually, I didn’t have a chance to tell you yesterday, during the practical test, my transformed cat received applause from the whole audience..."

"Was it because they saw your six-pack?" the Fat Wizard asked in a ghostly tone: "I guess there were a lot of witches among the examiners, right? If I remember correctly, you were naked when the transformation ended..."

"Bullshit! The examiners were all men!"

"Eww! That’s even worse..."