High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 809: Chapter 157: Three Plans

Although he had fooled Li Meng and the others with half-truths and half-lies, Zheng Qing did not believe he could rest easy from then on. It was like the stories in novels where every character who thought this way ended up dying a terrible death.

Therefore, he ultimately made up his mind that he absolutely could not go to the Greenhill Mansion with Li Meng, Xiao Xiao, and the others after class on Friday.

If he didn’t go, he would still have the space to buy time for a turnaround. If he went, there was a high likelihood he would be exposed because of acquaintances like Su Ya from the Greenhill Mansion and ultimately fall into the terrifying Shura Field.

The mere thought made it hard to breathe.

Thus, he had to find a suitable escape plan before Friday—a plan that must satisfy two conditions. First, it had to keep him away from the Greenhill Mansion, or rather, prevent him from appearing there with others; second, the plan must be ”smooth and gentle,” absolutely not leaving anyone with an impression of being ”forced and rigid,” nor letting them detect his deliberate avoidance of the Greenhill Mansion.

After all, what he was trying to stay away from was the residence of the number one beauty in the wizard world in Beta Town, and according to reliable information circulated by the First University, Su Shi Jun was currently deepening her studies there. This meant that the young wizards visiting the Greenhill Mansion stood a very good chance of coming into close contact with the beauty. During such times, if Zheng Qing tried to forcefully stay away from that mansion, he would only leave others with one of two impressions:

Either his orientation was questionable, or he had something to hide and did not dare to meet Su Daxu.

Whichever possibility, for a young public student, it would be as bad as it could possibly get.

Luckily, time was still on his side. From Monday to Friday, he had more than four days to buffer and ponder over the appropriate escape plan.

After several days of hard thinking, Zheng Qing finally settled on three plans that seemed somewhat reliable. And to ensure nothing went wrong, he decided to implement all three plans simultaneously.

The first plan was to seek ”external assistance”—such as Old Yao.

As the dean of Jiuyou Academy, if Professor Yao spoke out and requested Zheng Qing to visit his office after class on Friday, then the young public student could muster a ”bitter” smile and bid his companions farewell as they headed to the Greenhill Mansion, while he ”helplessly” followed the instructions of the academy’s highest authority and went to the administrative building.

This plan had many benefits. For instance, the blame for Zheng Qing’s inability to keep the appointment could be thrown onto Old Yao. The reason was ”strong” and would not arouse the suspicions of his companions. He might even gain their sympathy and receive some gifts as compensation, and so on.

Better yet, Zheng Qing had a perfect reason that could very likely persuade Professor Yao to issue that notice—his eyes.

Ever since the day of the Big Snow, when he was stimulated, Zheng Qing’s eyes had simultaneously shown symptoms of suspected bruises and redness. Although multiple checks at the campus infirmary had found no adverse symptoms, Professor Yao had still talked to him more than once about his eyes, urging the young wizard to get in touch with him immediately for a reexamination if he felt anything abnormal with his eyes.

Zheng Qing believed that all he needed to do was to send a Paper Crane, subtly hinting in the letter to Professor Yao about recent discomforts like swelling and pain in his eyes. Then it was very likely that the professor would summon him to the office to discuss the matter in detail.

The only factor that would limit the effectiveness of this plan was the ”timing” of Zheng Qing’s contact with Professor Yao.

If he made contact too early, it might not last until after the practice class on Friday, and the young public student would be summoned into the office by Old Yao, failing to achieve the expected effect. However, if he contacted too late, Zheng Qing might be forced to accompany everyone to the Greenhill Mansion before Old Yao’s Paper Crane arrived.

After much deliberation, he finally decided to fly the Paper Crane to the Professor after lunch on Friday.

And Zheng Qing’s second plan also precisely required implementation on Friday.

Unlike the first plan, the second plan was based on ’self.’

Astronomy Class 08-1 had a practice class on Friday afternoon, which was held together with Alpha Academy, and the instructor was Assistant Hilda.

The main purpose of the practice class was to guide the young wizards in school to master various magic skills and to apply them flexibly in demon hunting activities, so that the students wouldn’t focus too heavily on theory and become bookworms.

Since it involved actual magic practice, it was natural that injuries would occur during the process—for this reason, First University specially arranged for professional medical staff to supervise the class, to prevent any accidents from happening—this practice also provided solid evidence for a widely circulated saying within the school.

That was, the school scheduled practice classes on Friday afternoons to give students ample time to recover from injuries over the weekend.

Of course, this claim had never been officially confirmed by First University.

However, this unofficial saying provided Zheng Qing with a very good idea for his second plan.

He planned to ’overexert’ himself a bit during Friday afternoon’s practice class—according to the school hospital’s customs, any patient with magic injuries had to stay in the school hospital for over six hours to ensure that there were no hidden sequelae from the magic injuries.

Six hours were enough for Zheng Qing to avoid the arrangements made by the Qingqiu Club and would not affect the grand opening plan of D&K the next day.

Apart from suffering a little flesh wound, this plan was practically perfect.

However, there are always exceptions.

The more perfect the plan seemed, the more likely it would fail during implementation because of some seemingly insignificant variables.

Like now.

”The practice class is canceled?!!”

Zheng Qing was holding a meat bun that had been bitten into, completely disregarding the grease dripping from his mouth, he just stared fixedly at Class President Tang Dun, who had come to deliver the news, and exclaimed—in just a few minutes before, he was still pondering whom to pair up with in the afternoon practice class to have a minor incident without leaving any trace.

And before he could come up with anything, his plan was declared dead on arrival.

It was Friday noon, right at lunchtime. Even in the bustling cafeteria, the voice of the young cost student still stood out markedly, attracting many curious gazes.

”Yeah, not only is this week’s canceled, but the practice classes for next week and the week after are too,” Tang Dun scratched his head, a hint of helplessness in his hands spread open: ”According to Assistant Hilda’s reasoning, because the end of the term is approaching, it looks like this semester’s practice class hours will be taken up by other more important subjects... everyone should be prepared for this.”

”Nooo... I was looking forward to catching a break during this afternoon’s practice class!” Xin Fat Man wailed, lifting his steamed bun and taking a big bite, an expression of despair on his face: ”The other subjects have exams, isn’t the practice class examined, too? How can they do this! Isn’t this a mandatory class for the whole school?”