High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1043: Chapter 105: The Second Weekend

The experience at Montreya Laboratory for Zheng Qing was slightly turbulent, yet when compared to the school hunting competitions and winter hunts, it wasn’t particularly extraordinary.

The only frustration for Zheng Qing was that he had to spend every Saturday afternoon tidying up in the laboratory this semester—he had originally thought that with Su Shijun’s letter of introduction and having found Professor Montreya, he could immediately undergo a comprehensive bloodline examination and treatment, just like grabbing a specialist’s appointment at the hospital.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Professor Montreya wasn’t planning to give Zheng Qing this backdoor privilege and made him work in the laboratory like the other assistants in exchange for the opportunity to have his bloodline checked.

Zheng Qing privately speculated that perhaps Professor Montreya was not competent enough to solve his problem in a short time, and thus he chose this aboveboard method of delay.

However, these speculations were only made in low voices with his roommates, and he definitely wouldn’t dare mention them in the lab.

Saturday afternoons working at the Montreya Laboratory; Saturday nights doing homework; Sunday mornings making talismans for the Wandering Bar; visiting the little shop ’D&K’ on Pedestrian Street at noon, giving a word of encouragement to the hardworking ’Cat Three, Mouse Four, Fox Five’; and spending the afternoon having tea with Elena.

The second weekend of the semester thus ended in such trivial busyness.

It wasn’t until Sunday evening, just before the class meeting, that Zheng Qing suddenly remembered he hadn’t written his weekly journal yet. He racked his brains amidst the noisy confusion and set to work diligently.

But sometimes, the more you seek peace, the more likely troubles find you.

While Zheng Qing was deep in thought, jotting down itemized lists in his notebook; over there, a din of loud and rowdy voices started spreading across the classroom, disrupting everyone’s peace.

Aggravated, Zheng Qing dropped his feather pen, looked up, and prepared to complain. That’s when he realized, somewhat surprised, that his classmates had already gathered at the front of the classroom, surrounding Tang Dun and Jiang Yu. Xiao Xiao, Xin Fat Man, and others were also among them.

Tang Dun was holding a piece of white paper high, seemingly explaining something to the person beside him. Jiang Yu, standing by his side, was blankly staring out the window, seemingly lost in thought.

Perhaps noticing the gaze from the corner, the witch suddenly turned around, looked at Zheng Qing, and caught the young cost student’s baffled face.

She paused, then smiled warmly and raised her hand, waving at Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing felt his ears grow hot and instinctively looked towards another corner of the classroom. He then remembered that Elena had a Gypsy Witch Coven gathering that evening and hadn’t attended the class meeting.

Realizing this, he felt increasingly embarrassed, but he maintained a composed expression, nodded at Jiang Yu, and walked towards the crowd at the front of the classroom. However, he did not go into the cluster of witches to find Jiang Yu but instead found his own companions.

”What are you all doing?” he asked, poking Xin Fat Man’s thick waist with his finger.

The finger sank an inch without any resistance, which astonished Zheng Qing.

Xin Fat Man seemed to have sensed something. He turned his head and saw the young scholarship student, surprised, he said, ”Have you finished your weekly journal?”

”Can’t I take a break if I don’t finish?” Zheng Qing rolled his eyes and responded irritably, ”Do I really have to wait for each of you to sneak away, leave me alone in the classroom, and focus solely on writing that thing?”

”It’s not that serious.” Zhang Ji Xin, who was also standing nearby, turned back to Zheng Qing and explained, ”The Monitor was just informing us about the spring outing... We didn’t think it was anything urgent, and seeing how seriously you were writing, we didn’t intentionally disturb you.”

”Spring outing?” Zheng Qing perked up upon hearing this, ”Where to? Silent Forest or outside Buji Island?”

”We’re still discussing that.” Xin Fat Man, struggling to cross his arms, frowned and analyzed seriously, ”I think going outside the island is unlikely, as activating the Protection Array isn’t easy; Silent Forest has been somewhat restless recently, so that might be a little unlikely too... It could be one of those less commonly used Hunting Grounds in the school.”

”The Hunting Ground is unlikely, very unlikely,” Zhang Ji Xin immediately waved his hand, refuting Fat Man’s guess, ”I was following my brother in Hunting Team Training this afternoon. He said that due to the conflict between Blood Comrades and Sacred Will, all the school’s hunting teams are putting extra effort into training. They hope to make a splash at this year’s school hunting competition, so all the available Hunting Grounds have been booked.”

Hearing this, Zheng Qing couldn’t help interrupting their idle talk, surprised, he said, ”School hunting competition? Isn’t it only starting in October? Has it been moved forward? Why haven’t I heard about it?”

”It’s still in October,” Zhang Ji Xin pouted and solemnly said to Zheng Qing, ”As the saying goes, a minute on the stage takes ten years of work off stage. Which impressive hunting team hasn’t succeeded through months and years of hard training? If you ask me, our Hunting Team should also start preparing for the school hunting competition later this year... Based on our current points, we can apply to become an officially registered Hunting Team during the summer break.”

Just thinking about the complicated procedures and frustrating process of applying for an official Hunting Team gave Zheng Qing a headache. He quickly diverted the conversation back to the spring outing.

”How long is the spring outing? Is it mandatory?” He rubbed his temples in distress, playing with his cowlick to form all sorts of shapes while listlessly humming, ”I have work at Professor Montreya’s laboratory on Saturday... I also have errands at Wandering Bar and D&K, plus homework to write... and my eyes aren’t too good either. I always feel like there’s not enough time.”

Xin Fat Man and Zhang Ji Xin simultaneously rolled their eyes, giving him a disdainful look.

This made the young warlock feel quite embarrassed.

”Excuses are like the water in a sponge, squeeze a bit, and there’s always some. Time is the same,” Xiao Xiao’s rather faint voice came from behind him, ”You just need to drink a few fewer Transformation Potions, stop playing with those cats, and you could squeeze out the time for both your homework and your talisman drawing. We’re still young, it’s unreasonable to be short on time.”

”Besides, the spring outing is an annual social event for first-year students at Jiuyou Academy, linked with on-the-spot credits for practice classes. If you don’t want those credits, you’re free not to go.”

If the preaching before sounded uninteresting, this last reason hit Zheng Qing where it hurt.

Given his barely satisfactory grades from last semester’s final exams, Zheng Qing definitely couldn’t afford to slack off in class this semester. This meant he absolutely had to participate in the spring outing.

”Did Tang Dun mention when the spring outing will take place? I’d like to prepare in advance,” he asked, rallying his spirits.

”On the day of the Anti-Magic Festival,” Xiao Xiao answered briefly.