High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1028: Chapter 90: Beyond the Reports

After reading the entire article, Zheng Qing’s face turned somewhat pale.

He felt like he couldn’t catch his breath.

”I didn’t yearn for the credit reward... And, I don’t remember saying that last sentence!” he stared intently at the last sentence at the end of the article, muttering, ”This qualifies as malicious speculation, right... Have journalists become so flighty in their writing now?”

In the photo on the side of the column, Zheng Qing’s profile remained silently holding a coffee cup, motionless. At this moment, Zheng Qing wished that the photo was a magical one that could move, allowing him in the picture to shake his fist and viciously smash it in the face of that Pulitzer lady opposite.

Then, his eyes caught another sentence in the report that made him even more enraged, ”Also, when she asked about that damn ’Forbidden Experiment’, the only reason I was silent was that I genuinely didn’t know about such a thing! What does ’unusually silent’ mean?! She knows nothing!! Can’t I keep my mouth shut about things I’m not aware of?!”

”Take deep breaths, deep breaths, don’t get worked up,” Xin Fat Man comforted, patting Zheng Qing’s back and timely pulling out a small dish of candy, placing it under Zheng Qing’s nose, ”Have a mint, it’ll smooth things over.”

Zheng Qing wasn’t sure if the mint candy had any soothing effect, just like he didn’t know why some wizards would feel warmer after eating a piece of chocolate when suffering from magic damage.

But that didn’t stop him from accepting Xin’s goodwill. After all, candy could always bring a sense of pleasure.

The young state-funded student picked a green candy from the dish, threw it into his mouth, and sucked on it fiercely.

The cool mint flavor burst upon his taste buds, surged into his nasal passages, slid down into his lungs, and made him feel as though he had been soaked in icy water, instantly refreshing his spirit.

Just then, a familiar voice of indignation suddenly sounded beside him, startling Zheng Qing, ”Keeping silent is useless, she will imagine a scenario and write it into the story... just like in the report, I never cried in despair in front of her!”

Turning his head, Nicholas, who usually sat in another corner of the classroom, had somehow approached the group of warlocks, looking at the report in Zheng Qing’s hand with an annoyed expression.

Noticing the surprised looks of several warlocks, Nicholas snorted, ”I saw this report a few minutes before you guys and felt that Zheng Qing would have some thoughts after reading it, so I came over to ask... do you guys think we should beat her up?”

”Hmm... you’re the only veteran in Jiuyou Academy who has repeated two years, right?” Zhang Ji Xin stroked his chin, reading the article carefully, contemplatively, ”Anyone with a little bit of information would know this... That Pulitzer lady is really unethical. What’s the difference between ’preferring to remain anonymous’ and plastering someone’s name on a headline in big letters?”

”Plus, I don’t remember you having a family either,” Xin Fat Man chimed in.

Nicholas looked grim, staring at Zheng Qing, repeating his earlier suggestion, ”So... do you feel like beating her up?”

After popping a mint, Zheng Qing felt his spirits lift somewhat. Plus, with Nicholas, this fellow in adversity, the suffocating feeling in his heart unconsciously dissipated a bit, and rational thinking once again took the high ground.

”Let’s not talk about whether we can defeat a registered wizard... Even if we succeed in ambushing, are you prepared to spend some time in Danghag if the school catches us?” Zheng Qing posed a tough question to Nicholas first, then muttered to himself, ”No, you can’t. You still have a sister to look after; you must finish college safely.”

Nicholas’s complexion grew even uglier, his brown eyes habitually trembled, and now, fueled by rage, the trembling intensified, clearly conveying his emotional turmoil.

”Calm down, calm down. A gentleman’s revenge is not too late even after ten years.” Zheng Qing grabbed Nicholas’s arm, trying to soothe him, ”Like me, on any normal day, there’s no shortage of people bad-mouthing me behind my back. Am I supposed to pull each one out for a beating? People’s mouths are their own; as long as there’s no slander, just ignore her...”

This kind of composure was something Zheng Qing had gradually built up after multiple ordeals last semester, from the storm that followed Jiuyou Academy’s victory in the hunting party to the noise after receiving the Great Arcana ’World’, he had grown accustomed to such idle chatter.

As he had just said, with a stronger psyche, the outside gossip was like flies buzzing around the ears. Just whack a couple dead on a whim. With so many flies, you’ll never kill them all.

After consoling Nicholas, Zheng Qing picked up the report again, now in the mood to comment on other sections of the article.

”Wow, ’stereotyped educational methods, dangerous teaching materials, harsh examination system’, plus ’suppressing nature and freedom’ and ’cultivating young wizards who are indifferent to life’... Ms. Pulitzer sure dared to write this?!”

Using a feather pen, Zheng Qing sketched circles around the frightening terms on the newspaper, then pointed them out and asked Xin Fat Man:

”Isn’t she afraid of Jiuyou Academy causing her trouble by writing this? Isn’t she worried that Old Yao would smash the Beta Town Post? This doesn’t quite fit with that ’harmonious and stable’ reporting principle you mentioned before.”

Fat Man shrugged laboriously, his face full of helplessness: ”The ’Beta Town Post’ is not a school publication, and Ms. Pulitzer isn’t a little-known journalist like me; she has the freedom to write such reports... Moreover, she stands in Beta Town, backed by Alpha City Castle. Even if Jiuyou Academy is temperamental, what can they do? Jiuyou won’t make real trouble with Alpha over such trivialities.”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Qing put two and two together with the current situation at school and suddenly realized:

”Oh, you mean, this article was published at the behest of Alpha Academy by Ms. Pulitzer?”

”Not necessarily at their behest,” Xiao Xiao, who had been quietly analyzing the report’s content, suddenly spoke up softly, ”But anticipating their desires is very likely... Just like the ’Death of Lineage’ speech a few days ago at the small square in front of the library, it’s of the same nature as this article by Ms. Pulitzer. It’s implausible that Jiuyou Academy’s professor or student council would have prompted that warlock to make that speech in front of the library.”

”The battleground of public opinion is something both Jiuyou and Alpha want to conquer. It’s about who plays a smarter hand and who can win over the hearts of more young wizards.”

”If last week’s ’Death of Lineage’ was a punch by Jiuyou Academy’s public opinion to Alpha, then today’s newspaper is Alpha slapping Jiuyou across the face... both sides are even, neither gaining much advantage.”