High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1053: Chapter 115: A Task That is Beneficial Without Costing Anything

Based on the laziness gene buried deep in their blood, humans often tend to simplify the logic when thinking about complex issues and opt for the most straightforward and brute force method to arrive at their answers.

For example, poor academic performance is definitely due to a lack of effort in studying, or lack of proficiency in the subject matter;

Or, if a witch gives you a bottle of water, she must want to have your babies;

Or, if a pet goes missing at the school, it must have been captured by some demon, and so on.

While these conclusions cannot be said to be wrong, a closer investigation would reveal that they are not sufficiently comprehensive and fair.

Similar to failing an exam, the cause might be related to one’s mood or physical health; if a witch gives you a bottle of water, it’s more likely that she’s trying to express her gratitude subtly, rather than something as dramatic as wanting to have babies; and if a pet disappears from campus, it’s not necessarily abducted by a demon, it might also have been lured away by its mate.

After listening to Dr. Xiao’s such complex and convoluted analysis with patience, Zheng Qing finally couldn’t resist interrupting him with a clear and concise statement:

”So, what you are saying is, Little Dragon’s disappearance is because he was lured away by a female snake that had awoken from hibernation?”

”I’ve already suggested that possibility!” Xin Fat Man immediately raised his hand to express his opinion.

Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses, looking at them helplessly, then sighed and said, ”No, I just want to remind you that pursuing conclusions is a complex process and not to do any investigation with preconceived premises.”

This answer was still puzzling—and Zheng Qing privately thought it rather pointless—but Dr. Xiao always liked to speak such bizarre things that nobody understood or wanted to understand, so Zheng Qing just shrugged and muttered, ’Hmm, makes sense, indeed,’ and turned his attention back to Nicholas and the others:

”You haven’t said yet, how did the School Works Committee respond to you?”

Before Nicholas could speak, Liu Fei Fei hurriedly answered, ”The School Works Committee people said that for pet disappearances that do not exceed thirteen days, they cannot initiate an official investigation; or, if parts of the missing pets’ remains have been found, the school might start an investigation early...”

”If the remains have been found, then what is there to investigate?” Zhang Ji Xin’s quick temper immediately flared up.

Xin Fat Man, who rarely didn’t retort at the Red-faced Male Wizard, also shook his head in disapproval at the School Works Committee’s response: ”Exactly, exactly, while it cannot be said that they’re shirking their duties, such a rigid system is really too much.”

Nicholas looked at Zheng Qing with solemn gravity.

”The Absolution Hunting Team won the freshman competition’s trophy last semester, and your individual hunting score was much higher than the total of all other Hunters combined... you’re the most formidable hunting team I could find,” the Veteran, who had been in the first year for more than two years, said to Zheng Qing with a very serious expression: ”Although I’ve spent a bit more time at the school than you, I’m well aware of my limitations, and such a task requires professionals like you to handle it.”

Such genuine compliments, without any pretense, made Zheng Qing feel as if he were floating on air—he hadn’t expected his little hunting team to be perceived as so powerful by his peers!

Still, he had the sense to know that he wasn’t as formidable as Nicholas was making him out to be.

Like in that freshman hunt, to this day, he’s still clueless why he captured so many demons. Although there were various guesses, they were just that, guesses. This was also why he became an assistant in the Montreya Laboratory this semester.

”I must warn you, according to the ’Guillotine Graph’ I made for the Absolution Hunting Team, it can be surmised that our team’s fortune won’t be very good recently,” Zheng Qing said to Nicholas in a tactful manner: ”Also, we’ve been searching for another prey in the school recently, and haven’t found it after a long time, so...”

He wasn’t making this up.

Ever since Professor Yi taught them the method of creating ’Guillotine Graphs,’ after merely a few days, everyone came up with a bunch of wild ideas. For instance, drawing the ’Mood Guillotine Graph’ based on daily mood changes, the ’Credit Guillotine Graph’ based on changes in academic credits, and the ’Love Guillotine Graph’ based on the development of romantic relationships, to name just a few.

Zheng Qing also followed the trend and drew a ’Hunting Team Guillotine Graph,’ targeting the Absolution Hunting Team. Based on the team’s experiences since its establishment, he created a simple trend chart.

According to the trend, he could clearly see that since its establishment, the Absolution Hunting Team’s achievements soared, with only a few brief crosses settling flat, with virtually no sign of a pullback, which can be called ’a situation that is very optimistic.’

But as the saying goes, ’calamity is the test of fortune,’ and everyone knows that there are no endlessly successful trends, especially such continuously rising ones. The textbook ”Fundamentals of Yi Studies” specifically warned to watch for signs of prosperity leading to decline.

Particularly a few days ago, when searching for the Faceless Monster, the Absolution Hunting Team kept coming up empty, which made Zheng Qing even more concerned.

So, in front of others, he had to inject a precautionary disclaimer beforehand, lest he makes grand promises now and fails to find the big snake later, which would be embarrassing.

Although the other members of the hunting team didn’t know the reasons behind Zheng Qing’s words, since he was the captain, no one would interject and pick faults at this time.

Upon hearing Zheng Qing’s caution, Nicolas breathed a sigh of relief, a hint of ease appearing on his face.

”Here’s the reward for the service.” He took out a shiny jade coin that had been polished from his pocket and placed it in Zheng Qing’s hand, smiling genially, ”Little Dragon is in your hands... If you had confidently agreed outright, I would have actually been a bit worried. But since you’re so prudent, now I am truly reassured.”

Zheng Qing, holding the jade coin, was dumbfounded.

There was such an operation? In all fairness, what he had just said were all honest words!

The young cost student mechanically turned his head, looking at his teammates, hoping they would speak up to remind Nicholas, who seemed to have fallen into a ’magic barrier.’ However, what he saw were the admiring thumbs-ups from Zhang Ji Xin and Xin Fat Man, and the enlightened expression of Doctor Xiao—Zheng Qing vaguely understood he meant ’you’re playing hard to get.’

This made him chuckle bitterly.

Well, the task was now confirmed. The hunting team already had an unfinished mission to catch the Faceless Monster, and now, a new mission was added to find the missing giant snake.

Fortunately, the new task was effortless and didn’t conflict with the original one. The Absolution Hunting Team could conveniently search for the big snake while hunting for the Faceless Monster.