High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 907: Chapter 255 Tick Tock

”A pocket watch? I’ve got it!”

Zheng Qing was stunned for a second before immediately catching on. Mr. Wu was probably referring to the birthday gift given to him a long time ago, a silver-case watch with a brass hand that ticked away time.

Zheng Qing had been using the watch for six years, and it had always been as precise as when it was new, never missing a minute. Moreover, since he had taken good care of it, the case showed no traces of rust, and it always looked like a new watch.

But it was only like a new watch—aside from the precise timing and the shiny new case, there wasn’t a single aspect of this pocket watch that made it stand out from any other—the watch didn’t even possess a personified face on the dial that would report the time and remind the owner of appointments all the time like Dylan’s watch did.

Even though that one had a bad temper, worse than Dylan’s talking mirror.

In fact, Zheng Qing had on more than one occasion tested the limits of this pocket watch, especially after he had gotten his admission notice from the First University. For some unspoken reasons, he had used detection magic on it multiple times.

The result was a mixture of joy and disappointment.

What was joyful was that, apart from its precise timing and shiny new case, the watch indeed had other extraordinary qualities.

For example, Zheng Qing had discovered another feature: it was immune to detection magic. Whether it was the low-tier Aparecium or the high-tier Detective Spells ’Jinjin Qi Ming,’ they all failed to cause any ripple when used on this pocket watch. If the watch hadn’t been so meaningful, Zheng Qing would have wanted to test the Curse of Karma on it, perform the Big Disintegration Technique, or even soak it in aqua regia.

However, what was disappointing was that, through various methods of testing—including asking Lin Guo to use professional alchemy tools for examination—aside from being immune to detection magic, Zheng Qing hadn’t found any other traces of magic on the pocket watch.

Which meant, the watch could pretty much only be considered an ordinary timepiece.

Therefore, when Mr. Wu asked about the watch, Zheng Qing’s first reaction was that Mr. Wu was inquiring about the time.

”The time is now 5:48:36 PM, now 37 seconds,” Zheng Qing skillfully took out the pocket watch from the gray cloth bag, ’clicked’ it open and accurately reported the current time.

”Do I need you to tell me that?” Mr. Wu glanced at the young scholarship student and took the pocket watch from him. Then, he curved a thin finger and directly touched the transparent glass surface of the watch.

Zheng Qing’s eyes involuntarily widened a bit.

Mr. Wu’s finger seemed to pass through it as if it were a layer of illusion, unfazed by the glass barrier—Zheng Qing could swear on Lin Guo’s box of alchemy tools that they had tested the glass of the pocket watch more than once. Whether it was chemical, magical, or alchemical testing, they had all clearly proven that the glass was indeed silicon dioxide, just a touch purer than what you might find on a classroom windowpane.

Zheng Qing blinked hard.

After Mr. Wu’s finger entered, he pressed down on the thin minute hand and then nudged it backwards slightly. One tick, two ticks, five ticks, ten ticks.

With each tick backward, the pocket watch emitted a loud click.

And with the minute hand moving backward, the surroundings of the two began to rewind as if in slow motion—the black hole reappeared, ’grew’ six fingers, the Yellow Flowered Cat confronted Six Fingers, Su the Beauty swallowed back a mouthful of blood and then punched a finger back into place, her three fox tails reemerged, Bull Head forcefully stuffed his horns back into his head, the Assistant Team and the mutated Tree Men fought each other, Su Shi Jun floated toward the moon in the mid-air, and finally disappeared into the temporal portal that had just emerged at the edge of the moon.

The rewind stopped there abruptly.

”Hmm, that should do it,” the wizard nodded, ”The losses are within a controlled range, and those who needed to learn a lesson have learned it...”

Zheng Qing lowered his head to glance at the watch face, where the minute hand had been turned back almost twenty notches, equivalent to twenty minutes.

The pocket watch seemed to catch its breath as its second hand swung back and forth between the ticks, as if it were adjusting to the new time. Meanwhile, the surrounding scenes flickered and trembled with the second hand’s movements, resembling a damp videotape that stuttered in its playback.

After a brief pause, the second hand resumed its ’tick-tock tick-tock’ motion.

The surrounding scenes also returned to normal.

In mid-air, next to the full moon, the temporary passage was once again opened up—without any surprises, within a few seconds, the figure in red would emerge from the passage.

”Very good,” Mr. Wu nodded in satisfaction, closing the lid of the pocket watch with a ’click’. He then put the watch back into Zheng Qing’s pocket.

The scenery around them solidified once again with the ’click’.

”Time... just a slight rewind is enough,” Mr. Wu looked down at his disciple and lectured in his usual way, ”As I’ve mentioned to you before, time is one of the most powerful forces in this world. The more powerful it is, the more stubborn it becomes... and the forces at work are mutual. So, if you don’t want to be reduced to scum by an even more powerful Force of Time, don’t fiddle with your watch dial just because... Achoo!”

The master sneezed violently.

He took a handkerchief from his pocket, blew his nose, and shook his head: ”Old age, old age... in the past, even if I turned the hour hand back ten or eight turns, I wouldn’t sneeze.”

Zheng Qing stood beside his master, silently witnessing the familiar scene of the Bull Head furiously uprooting trees in the distance.

If only he could use the power of this pocket watch during an exam!

Perhaps due to the relief that the danger had passed, such a thought suddenly sprang to Zheng Qing’s mind.

If he could wield the watch’s power, he would first read through the test paper several times, memorize the more difficult points, and then turn back the hour hand a full rotation or just a few notches—even if the hour hand wouldn’t budge, turning back the minute hand a turn or two would be enough—so he could ’cram’ right before the exam.

A weapon honed in such a way would surely dazzle everyone.

With that thought, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but squint his eyes with laughter, and the grip on the pocket watch in his hand unconsciously tightened.

Perhaps sensing the young warlock’s sneaky idea.

Mr. Wu raised his hand and smacked the back of his head, chiding, ”With your little magic power, you can’t even turn the second hand... With that effort, you’d be better off honestly completing two sets of ’Five Three’.”

”When you graduate from school, then you can consider using that watch for functions other than telling time.”

Having his thoughts exposed by his master, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but rub his eyes, chuckling with a sheepish grin.

It seems like his eyes caught wind from the slap he had just received from his master, feeling somewhat sore.