High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 870: Chapter 128: A Few Small Details

”Because the Underground Rat Clan is dealing with you young wizards for the first time, they don’t know where the ’safe distance’ is, so they created this chart, hoping it could guide future interactions.”

”Hmm, according to official rhetoric, you should consider the bigger picture... that way, both sides can leave a good impression.”

Considering the bigger picture implied another meaning: awarding fake scores.

Zheng Qing, although not adept at pondering these cunning strategies, easily grasped the underlying message in Old Yao’s response. Old Yao meant to suggest that everyone should be more generous when grading the Christmas Mice, avoiding giving too low scores.

This greatly displeased him.

Earlier, the old man had lectured him about not telling lies, nagging him for the better part of the day. Not even a week had passed, and the old man now shamelessly stood on the podium, coaxing everyone to give fake scores!

”It’s the classic case of ’officials may set fires, but the common people can’t even light a lamp!’” the young state-funded student muttered under his breath.

”What’s that?” Zhang Ji Xin cocked his head and glanced at him.

”Nothing, nothing, just choked on my spit,” the state-funded student quickly waved off.

”I’ve decided to give them full marks!” Duan Xiao Jian, sitting in front of the fat man, turned around, looking at the warlocks from Absolution with a serious expression, ”Full marks for everyone... It’s for the sake of the bigger picture.”

”Since they gave me too few gifts, I’ve decided to give them just a passing score,” Xin Fat Man lazily said as he scratched his chin with a feather pen, ”Let’s see... I can dock a few more points for their attire, appearance, and etiquette. You don’t know, one of the Christmas Mice even stole something while delivering gifts yesterday!”

”It stole Brother Qing’s feather pen, not yours,” Zhang Ji Xin retorted.

Unlike the fervent discussion upfront about how to score, Zheng Qing stared at that little slip of paper for a long time, his mind suddenly drifting to another thought.

”Speaking of which, isn’t it a bit abrupt for the Rat Immortal to have these talking mice appear en masse in the surface world?” Zheng Qing slowly lifted the slip of paper, holding it mid-air as if he wanted to see through the thin sheet to some underlying truth:

”I remember the campus newspaper published some sensational news a while back about talking mice... and now, they’re all over the campus.”

”That’s right, that’s right, I even wrote a report about it back then!” Xin Fat Man nodded repeatedly.

”Does this mean the school now doesn’t mind these talking mice greeting everyone?” The young state-funded student twiddled with the slip of paper, deep in thought, ”What does this imply? There must be some reason behind it...”

”Nothing more than a trade of interests, the big shots playing chess,” Doctor Xiao stuffed an opened notebook roughly under Zheng Qing’s nose, interrupting the state-funded student’s attempts at playing Holmes, ”Instead of focusing on those trivial matters, better analyze the preparations needed for tomorrow’s Winter Hunt... Here’s the prep list, see if anything is missing.”

Zheng Qing sighed, dropped the slip of paper, and took the notebook handed over by the Doctor.

The notebook was meticulously organized with the preparation tasks for Absolution Hunting Team — including but not limited to the talismans, potions, amulets, spare law books, and the catalogue of spells that each hunter should copy onto their law books. It also listed the meeting point previously announced by the Student Council, as well as the magic materials checklist entrusted by the School Works Committee for collection by the students, among other things.

Just listing the details simply filled over a dozen pages.

Zheng Qing looked at the dense words on the notebook with a headache.

”For this kind of thing, just take care of it yourself.” He quickly flipped through the notes and then looked at Xiao Xiao with a pleasing gaze, ”When you handle things, everyone feels assured!”

Xiao Xiao’s mouth twitched, looking like he wanted to punch Zheng Qing right in the nose.

The young cost student involuntarily shrank back, carefully touching the tip of his nose.

”Relax, relax... Keep cool,” he gently persuaded Xiao Xiao, ”It’s just a small-scale Winter Hunt... we are the team that won the freshman championship in the school cup! You have to have confidence in yourself!”

”Do you have no idea what’s between A and C in your heart?!” Xiao Xiao finally couldn’t hold back, and roared in a low voice, ”We’re going to the Silent Forest this time! The Silent Forest! Not some small world arranged by the school! And you don’t have a second shadow to help you kill the prey either!”

That comment was a bit hurtful.

”I should always be a bit better than my own shadow.” He muttered.

”Hard to say.” Xin Fat Man unceremoniously poured a handful of pepper on the cost student’s wounds, ”Just like some male peacocks might think it’s their soul that’s beautiful and not their feathers... In reality, without those beautiful feathers, not a single female peacock would give them a second glance.”

Before Zheng Qing could figure out whether it was appropriate for Fat Man to compare his own shadow to ’peacock feathers,’ Elder Zhang Da beside him found another topic of conversation.

”Oh, speaking of female peacocks... Brother Qing, are you going to bring Elena on the external Winter Hunt?” Zhang Ji Xin poked Zheng Qing with a pen, smiling ambiguously, ”I remember her comprehensive credits ranking is a bit low... If you take her outside this time, you can gain some affection points and earn some credits, and even show off a little. Maybe you can even play hero and save the beauty, how delightful would that be.”

”Absolutely!” Fat Man punched his own palm, ”Leave the safety to us! Even if we get beaten up by the Star Apes, Aluba, I’ll stand firmly in front of you two!”

”Hey, hey, what’s with this sudden abnormal burst of teenage angst?!” Zheng Qing looked at the duo with a crumbling expression, ”You’re university students, can you act a little more mature!”

”If they could mature, they wouldn’t be into lolis,” Xiao Xiao mercilessly pierced through the duo’s most secret thoughts, angering both Fat Man and the elder—if it weren’t for Old Yao’s imposing presence in the classroom, they would surely rush up and give the blabbermouth doctor a sound thrashing.

Luckily for them, Zheng Qing sat in the middle of both parties, acting as a buffer.

”Mm, it’s impossible with Elena. I’ve asked her before; during the Winter Hunt, she will only stay on campus, participating in the simplest Winter Hunt activities,” Zheng Qing, obviously realizing that gossip was the only thing that could divert their attention, sacrificed himself to protect the peace of the corner, ”Besides, she used to be a member of Matthew’s Hunting Team, and even if she were to participate in an official Winter Hunt, she wouldn’t just jump teams so casually.”

”What about Jiang Yu? She didn’t join a hunting team before, you could invite her, right?” Fat Man suddenly mentioned.

”Jiang Yu is a student union officer, in charge of organizing the internal Winter Hunt,” Xiao Xiao negated Fat Man’s idea, and then once again stabbed at Fat Man’s tender heart, ”Moreover, even if Brother Qing invited Jiang Yu, Li Meng wouldn’t follow her out... She’s a Spirit Witch, neither the Li family nor the school would allow her to be exposed to certain foolish dangers.”