High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 972: Chapter 34 Escape

An obvious fact is that when you discuss a topic you enjoy with someone else, time always flies by; but when you delve into less pleasant subjects, time can feel excruciatingly slow.

Just like Einstein once said, ”If a man sits with a beautiful woman for an hour, he’ll feel as if only a minute had passed; but if you make him sit on a hot stove for a minute, he’d feel as though more than an hour had gone by.”

Whether Ms. Pulitzer could be considered a beauty, Zheng Qing felt was up for debate, but he was certain he felt as though he was sitting on a stove right now.

He pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at the time; since he had entered the cafe, only half an hour had passed.

He hadn’t even finished a cup of coffee yet.

But he felt as if he had been chatting with the lady from the ”Beta Town Post” for an entire day—the sweat on his back had soaked him and dried repeatedly, giving him a sticky and uncomfortable feeling.

He now urgently needed a sturdy rope to drag him out of this slippery mire.

Just then, to his immense surprise, two figures charged into the coffee shop—his wish had come so swiftly that he began to doubt that what he’d been holding was not a coffee cup but an Aladdin’s lamp.

”I’ve finally found you!” Xiao Xiao burst into the cafe, seemingly oblivious as he broke through Ms. Pulitzer’s Quiet Barrier, interrupting the interview at the table, and called out to Zheng Qing with an anxious face, ”Did you forget our mission? We’re going to be late! Let’s go!”

Ms. Pulitzer looked at the abruptly intruding young wizard in surprise but did not speak.

Zheng Qing sneakily glanced at her and was certain that Ms. Pulitzer had just glanced at the little arch on the table, where the small bell hanging beneath it was as quiet as before. This meant Xiao Xiao was not lying.

Of course, the reason Ms. Pulitzer did not interrupt Xiao Xiao could also be due to the greasy fat man who approached her.

”Oh, Ms. Pulitzer?!” The fat man, Xin Fat Man, followed Xiao Xiao to the coffee table, leaned in with a sleazy expression, ”Ms. Pulitzer! Ms. Pulitzer! It’s such an honor to meet you! I’m Sinn Bana Schmidt-Bayer, a reporter from the First University Campus Newspaper, and I’m thrilled to meet you outside of the newspapers... Could you sign my notebook?”

With that, without further ado, he thrust a bulging notebook right under the journalist’s nose.

Zheng Qing blinked, feeling the situation getting somewhat chaotic.

”You’re Xiao Xiao, right?! I’m Louwei Pulitzer, a journalist with the Beta Town Post. As a special intake student from the 2008 cohort of Jiuyou Academy, would you be interested in an interview with us?” The journalist brushed aside the fat man before her, eagerly looking at Xiao Xiao, showing a strong interest: ”You can sit next to Zheng Qing. Our interview is almost finished.”

”Sorry, we have other tasks to complete in Beta Town,” Xiao Xiao said, pushing Zheng Qing toward the coffee shop’s door while politely but firmly declining Ms. Pulitzer’s invitation: ”Very sorry! We can get in touch another time if possible.”

This phrase was a widely used polite expression, meaning that there was a high probability of no further contact.

Meanwhile, the fat man who had been brushed aside by the journalist was still persistently pushing his notebook at her: ”Ms. Pulitzer, the article you published recently in the ’Beta Town Post’ about the ’Jiuyou Style Hunting Team’, where you made a profound and striking comparison and analysis between the hunting teams of Jiuyou Academy and those of Alpha, was eye-opening and refreshing!”

Finally, the fat man managed to stop Ms. Pulitzer in her tracks.

And Zheng Qing, finally seizing this opportunity, escaped from the coffee shop with Xiao Xiao’s help.

Even as he walked down the main street, he still felt confused and disoriented by what had just happened.

”Why the rush? Is there a time requirement for that task?” Thinking back to what Xiao Xiao had just said, Zheng Qing felt he should be more friendly, ”Also, thank you so much. That journalist had me sweating bullets...”

”Are you really that dumb?!” Xiao Xiao gave him a sidelong glance and interrupted, ”Everyone knows there are three things at First University you should never touch—experiments that violate ethics, conflicts between societies, and interviews with the Beta Town Post.”

”I didn’t want to either.” Zheng Qing tried to distance himself from any blame.

”That’s always the first thought of all criminals,” Xiao Xiao sneered. ”Wait a few days for Pulitzer’s article to come out, and you’ll experience what all criminals feel next—regret.”

”Your comparison isn’t appropriate; I’m not a criminal,” Zheng Qing coughed dryly, trying to change the subject, ”So, what are we doing now? Are we going to look for that Gini Cottage right now?”

He vividly remembered the reward task he had taken that morning from some secret bulletin board.

”Could we ensure that we’d finish by six o’clock if we found it?” Xiao Xiao roared at him, ”Hotel! We need to find a hotel to settle down in now!!”

Zheng Qing recoiled slightly, dodging the salivary spray from the doctor’s outburst.

”I remember there’s a ’portal’ in North Beta Town that goes directly to First University,” he muttered, ”Why can’t we just go back through there after we’re done with the job?”

For a brief moment, the image of an embarrassing and revealing pink card flashed through his mind.

It was said that in the hotels of North Beta Town, the flesh trade represented by such pink cards was quite prevalent, with many female tricksters of weak magical abilities relying on this means to make a living. Zheng Qing was very suspicious of whether Doctor Xiao had some ulterior pink motives for wanting to stay at a hotel.

But soon, he dismissed the thought.

”Because it’s the school vacation,” a breathless voice sounded from behind the two, clearing up Zheng Qing’s confusion, ”During school vacations, only some of the portals to First University are open, and their opening times are limited—if I remember correctly, after five in the evening, all the gates back to campus are closed—unless you have a special pass issued by a professor.”

As he talked, Xin Fat Man had caught up with his two companions.

He wiped his forehead, where there was no sweat, glanced at Zheng Qing, ”You don’t have that kind of pass, do you?”

Zheng Qing nodded honestly.

”You got out so quickly?” He expressed a bit of curiosity about the fat man’s speed, joking, ”Given how enthusiastic you sounded just now, I thought you would invite Miss Pulitzer for lunch.”

”Well, that would require her to accept my invitation,” Xin Fat Man spat in a corner near the sidewalk, wiped his mouth, and huffed, ”If I hadn’t been a little enthusiastic, would you have been rescued by the doctor so smoothly?”

Zheng Qing immediately shut his mouth.

At times like these, silence is golden.