High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 88: Chapter 12: Professor’s Lounge_1

Humming a tune and swinging his pipe, Old Yao approached a dark red wooden door with a merry tread.

Sitting cross-legged atop the door, Shen Tu Yu Lei lifted his eyelids, glanced at the gleaming shaved head before returning his attention to the cards in his hand.

”Three Kings, you can’t beat that!”

”Who says I can’t? Three Aces!”

”Damn it, Double Jack Bomb!” Shen Tu cursed, throwing down two jacks. ”Let’s see you beat that!”

Yu Lei, the Door God, who had been beaten at his own game, pulled a face, straightened his black robe, stood up, and called out to Old Yao in a loud voice, ”You lot finished class so quickly today! Are you neglecting our pupils?”

The golden-eyed white tiger at his feet lifted its head at his voice, yawned indolently, showing two sharp pointed fangs.

”It’s the first day of the year, the first lesson. It’s all the same old nonsense.” Old Yao took a deep puff of his pipe, conjuring a thick cloud of smoke that obscured the white tiger, before asking, ”Have they all finished class?”

Yu Lei kicked aside the tiger sprawled on the floor and squatted next to the door lock, nodding, ”They’ve all arrived.”

The white tiger got up, sounding dissatisfied, gave a shake of its white, lustrous fur, and walked away leisurely in long, relaxed strides, leaving the picture.

God Tu called for attention with his cards on his right, shouting, ”Hurry up, hurry! I’ve played! A lowly three!”

”The big cat is gone, no more playing cards!” Old Yao squinted his eyes, knocked the door ring beast with his pipe, and chuckled, ”You can just let this little fellow watch the door on regular days. You don’t need to always stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!”

The door ring beast rolled its bronze eyes and bit the black door ring in its mouth noisily.

”It’s the rules!” Yu Lei lifted his head, turned the door lock and shrugged at Old Yao, grumbling, ”You old wizards wouldn’t understand!”

The dark red wooden door creaked ajar.

Old Yao bit on his pipe, didn’t engage in any verbal jousting with the Door God any further, and pushed the wooden door wide open and walked in.

A spacious room lay behind the door.

The interior was strangely decorated.

The floor was covered with a black woolen carpet, decorated with large patches of heavy color, but without any specific design.

The four walls were adorned with wide tapestries, each one colored red, white, yellow, and blue; the tapestries bore complex images and designs, and were dizzying to behold.

Between the red and white tapestries was an enormous bay window.

Two silver-gray curtains were half-drawn, almost entirely blocking the brilliant sunshine outside.

This made the room quite dimly lit.

A chandelier, like a crimson candelabra hung from the ceiling, made up for the lack of light, throwing necessary colour about the room.

In the middle of the room was a small round table, surrounded by a few sets of black leather backrest sofas.

These sofas sat silently on the black carpet and had a peculiar camouflage effect.

Several black-robed Professors were leaning back in the sofas, each of them holding a cup of steaming tea, whispering and talking amongst themselves.

Little elves moved quietly around the room, pouring tea and water for the teachers with nary a sound.

Hearing the opening of the door, the black-robed figures all lifted their heads in unison to see.

Old Yao stood at the door, handing over his lecture notes to a service elf.

”What’s got you so merry?” A lean, pale-faced professor asked in a soft voice, ”I heard you got some promising newcomers in your class. How do you feel about that?”

”Surprising!” Old Yao exaggeratedly wiggled his eyebrows, accepts the tea that an elf slipped to him.

”Surprisingly good or surprisingly bad?” A rotund, ruddy-cheeked teacher with a large bulbous nose roared with laughter, ”Or perhaps, surprisingly troublesome?”

The professors sitting around let out knowing chuckles, instantly filling the gloomy lounge with a lively atmosphere.

”Good news never leaves home, while bad news spreads far and wide,” Old Yao also laughed, placing his teacup on the low table, comfortably sprawling on the black leather sofa, lamenting with a shake of his head, ”The world is going downhill, people’s hearts have changed!”

”News has already spread throughout the school. Several rookies from Jiuyou Academy started a fight on the pedestrian street in Beta Town, and they beat a bunch of veterans from Alpha to a pulp.” A short, chubby, black curly-haired female professor rolled her eyes, harrumphing, ”Judging from the rumors, it seems as though Jiuyou Academy is now firmly on top of Alpha!”

”It’s not that people’s hearts have changed, it’s just that they are unfathomable.” The slender professor shook his head, changing the subject, ”What about those two class representatives I recommended?”

”Indeed, they are not bad.” Old Yao gave a thumbs up, praising, ”Professor An also mentioned the male student to me this morning. He performed quite well on the first square. He’s a good seed.”

”Isn’t your academy being a bit too aggressive this time by putting so many top students in one class? Will other classes stand a chance?” The ruddy-cheeked tall and fat male professor took a sip of his tea and raised his head to ask, ”If this happens, it’ll be hard for the other classes to come out on top.”

”We are all from one academy, it doesn’t matter who shines.” Old Yao responded casually with a laughter.

The black-haired female professor snorted loudly.

”Speaking of coming out on top, Trident Sword is indeed quite active in this plane incident.” The ruddy-cheeked male professor held a giant wine glass, shaking his head thoughtfully, ”This time, they forcibly prised into the investigative team.”

”That’s only because the Trident Sword’s noodle has a pair of good chopsticks to pick it up.” The black-haired female professor mocked, ”Didn’t you all see that our great Acting Principal, Lady Shi Hui, almost immediately agreed to Trident Sword’s proposal?”

She emphasized the word ’acting’ very clearly, as if worrying that others might overlook it.

However, this comment evidently left the other professors feeling awkward.

The lounge fell silent for a while.

”Yes, the new boss of Trident Sword is her disciple, but we cannot accuse her of favoritism. ”Old Yao chuckled bitterly, attempting to ease the tension, ”We all know of her intense hatred for dark deeds. I think the fact that the airline belongs to the Under the Moon Council is the key.”

”Also, Robert is now the new director of Trident Sword, let’s not keep calling him a noodle. It doesn’t look good to others.”

The female professor kept a straight face, snorted, and said nothing.

”Has Principal Shi often been absent from her office recently? Did she go to the Black Prison?” The tall, fat, red-nosed professor stared at Old Yao and asked loudly.

”Silence!” A few other teachers immediately hushed him.

”Haw, haw, haw, haw!” The tall, red-nosed professor roared with laughter, loudly proclaiming, ”What’s there to be nervous about! It doesn’t matter... Does anyone eavesdrop on our conversations?”

”Haha, it doesn’t matter!” Old Yao laughed heartily, ”There’s no need to be too tense. I haven’t seen her recently either. I’m not sure about the specifics, but it’s definitely a troublesome matter!”

”She has transferred too many people recently.” The slender professor shook his head worriedly, ”Just like on this special plane, if it hadn’t been for the children’s desperate efforts, the consequences would have been unimaginable.”

”The consequences are already unthinkable.” The short and fat female professor pulled a face, grumbling, ”How could the guards make such a huge mistake! They actually let a small demon slip into the cabin!”

”Maybe it had something to do with the special plane?” An adjacent professor guessed, ”When we used the Cloud Connecting Boat before, this never happened — the Cloud Connecting Boat had as many as 81 layers of enchantments!”

”The guard team was distracted, that’s why they left an opening.” Old Yao still had a smile on his face, but it looked particularly icy now.

...

Soon, Old Yao, holding the law book in his hand, strode out of the lounge and vanished through a round door beside the wall.

Shortly after, the other professors also left one by one.

The lounge regained its tranquility.

For a long time.

In a corner behind the office door.

A black shadow crawled out from a gap in a broom, transforming into a black butterfly and disappearing into the dark corridor.

On the small tea table.

The pile of cigarette ashes left by the professors rose without wind, swirling around in the dimly lit lounge, forming a cluster of sparks, and instantly disappeared.