High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 958: Chapter 20 Notice Board in the Academy

The bulletin board is a facility used for posting official documents, announcements, advertisements, and other such content.

At First University, there were many such facilities. They could be seen in various places including the cafeteria, in front of academic buildings, at dorm entrances, the library, corridors, lawns, and even on pedestrian streets, each topped with a triangular canopy.

Different locations featured bulletins with various focal points.

The bulletin board in front of the academic building usually displayed documents and notices from the student council and the professors’ joint meetings—such as temporary holidays, open class schedules, etc.

The bulletin board by the Lakeside of Bell Lake mostly contained posts by the School Works Committee, such as the overpopulation of Sand Time Worms last semester when they would post bright red risk warnings; or the end-of-semester extermination of pests, where they would also post about the main hiding areas of these pests and the methods to exchange them.

The bulletin board at the dorm entrance often had posts about a student’s missing pet, someone needing volunteers for experiments, or lacking experimental materials but finding the school’s prices too steep, hence requesting help in gathering them; additionally, some club activities, party invitations, and even private flea market trades also appeared on these boards.

Most bulletin board content was public and transparent.

But as the saying goes, where there is sunlight, there will also be shadows. Where things are public, there will be secrets and backroom dealings. Alongside public bulletin boards, naturally, there were some meant for ”specific audiences.”

Xiao Xiao brought Zheng Qing and Xin Fat Man to one such bulletin board.

This particular board was in a very secluded location, nestled between the trees on the side of the library, far from the shady paths frequented by students. Several large pines blocked its front, and unless one deliberately ventured closer, they would never discover such a hidden facility tucked away beneath the shadows of the building and trees.

Of course, there were hardly ever any people around this bulletin board.

The few small animals that passed by would also swiftly scamper away as soon as they detected the approach of strangers.

Unlike its counterparts standing beside the building on the roadside, this bulletin board hidden in the shadows looked somewhat shabby. The wooden barriers were crisscrossed with scars, and the triangular canopy was also badly damaged, displaying the wear and tear of the years.

Standing in front of the bulletin board, Xiao Xiao stretched out his hand and measured a span from the bottom left to top right, then peeled off several notices to reveal an old piece of parchment.

Zheng Qing looked curiously at the paper, remaining silent.

The parchment had an intricate drawing of a Speaker Flower in its top right corner, colorless except for the black ink that outlined its elaborate details.

Xiao Xiao then took out a small vial from inside his robes, filled with a pale purple solution. He uncapped the vial, dipped the little brush attached to the cap in the solution, and carefully dabbed it onto the petals of the Speaker Flower.

”Very few people know about this bulletin board,” Xiao Xiao said with a touch of pride, adjusting his glasses, and putting away the small bottle, nodding his head, ”because the tasks posted here are compensated with credits!”

”Cool!” Xin Fat Man opened his mouth wide, expressing his astonishment.

Credits were an unequivocally hard currency at First University. Their importance lay in the fact they were the sole means for students to advance, obtain textbooks, and even negate certain penalties imposed by the university. And since there were so few ways to earn credits, each credit was immensely valuable to any student.

As far as Zheng Qing knew, compensation for tasks on other bulletin boards was typically in Silver Horns, with only a scant amount of tasks rewarding Gold Beans. Once posted, those tasks would promptly incite frantic competition, not to mention tasks that offered credits.

”Can I post a tofu block in the campus newspaper? The curiosity column hasn’t had interesting content for a long time.” After sighing, Xin Fat Man immediately came up with a plan that maximized the benefits.

Without a doubt, his plan was decisively vetoed by Xiao Xiao, ”If you want to use this bulletin board next time, don’t do such foolish things... Pay more attention during this trip to the Silent River, you might just find some new material.”

Xin Fat Man sighed regretfully, but did not insist on his opinion.

He knew his request was inappropriate, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

”Why don’t many people know about this place? If there really were credits to be earned, this place should be very popular!” Zheng Qing watched as Xiao Xiao swiftly wrote words like ’freshman,’ ’North Beita Town,’ and ’three people’ on the parchment and asked confusedly.

After putting the brush away and standing up, Xiao Xiao stretched out his magic wand, tapped on a Speaker Flower, and sighed:

”Those who discover this bulletin board naturally have the right to earn credits through it; those who find out about this bulletin board through others also have the ability to complete the tasks listed on it.”

Narrowing his eyes as the Speaker Flower spit out a string of characters, Xiao Xiao swiftly recorded them with his brush, speaking clearly but seriously, ”As for those who don’t know about it, would you be willing to tell others about this shortcut to earning credits?”

Zheng Qing was rendered speechless.

Indeed.

Just like a person who finds a hen that lays a golden egg every day, he definitely wouldn’t foolishly tell everyone about it, but would quietly come by daily to take the golden egg.

”What about those who lack both the capability and the background, who don’t even have the right to know?” Zheng Qing asked with a somewhat self-deprecating laugh.

”Information is the most valuable thing in any world. And the means to access effective information has always been kept advanced.” Xiao Xiao clapped his hands, watching the characters gradually fade and disappear, then turned around very seriously to emphasize to the two, ”From ancient times to the present, from the lowest to the extraordinary, without exception.”

”So much nonsense! What kind of task did you actually pick up?” Xin Fat Man, quite bored watching the two bicker, yawned, ”We still need to catch the boat.”

Xiao Xiao spread open his notebook, and the three gathered around.

”Assist the owner of Gini Cottage with a magic ritual, the reward is three credits,” Xiao Xiao articulated slowly.

”Where is Gini Cottage?” Xin Fat Man asked a somewhat foolish question.

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes, mocking, ”Didn’t you see the prerequisite conditions the Doctor searched before... Naturally, it’s in North Beita Town.”

”Isn’t the North District all Tricksters? What sort of magic ritual do they want to perform?” Fat Man was somewhat unconvinced.

Different from Fat Man, Zheng Qing was more concerned about another matter, ”I’m more curious about where these Tricksters got the credits from to pay us.”

”Anyone capable of posting a notice here naturally has the corresponding strength, just like how the Wandering Wizard would give you one, rather than just any random person at the Wandering Bar’s gold card,” Xiao Xiao put away his notebook, looked up at the sky, and urged, ”It’s about time, let’s move faster... If you have any questions, it’s not too late to investigate them once we reach the North District.”