High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1097: Chapter 159 A Different Scenery

”Have you heard? Have you heard?”

”There’s been a new conflict between the Horseman Tribe camp outside Alpha Fortress and the Beta Town Management Committee. A few young colts kicked and injured the security officers from the committee, and then, the Alpha patrol team that had been watching from the sidelines surged forward and arrested both sides, taking them directly back inside Alpha Fortress!”

”The one leading the arrest operation was none other than Sir Friedman of Alpha Academy!”

”It has been said that the Alpha Academy’s patrol team will handle the incident according to the First University Management Regulations and the related security regulations of Beta Town... The Horsemen are very upset, the tribe has already begun to rally!”

Xin Fat Man, waving a copy of the Beta Town Post as though he had caught the biggest news in the world, burst into the dormitory with excitement on his face. However, there wasn’t a trace of worry about the potential chaos the rallying Horseman Tribe might bring—his happiness stemmed entirely from the prospect of newsworthy events.

Zheng Qing, with droopy eyelids and a weary face, glanced at him.

Many wizards just don’t get it, lacking any sense of main character consciousness and the concept of ”worrying about the world’s troubles before joys”. Of course, Zheng Qing himself was not of such a lofty mindset either.

He was now preoccupied with various troubles, wanting only to ”keep his own nose clean” and completely disinterested in stories of Horsemen kicking wizards. A certain Faceless Monster that had escaped was still at large; the suspicion regarding Xiao Bai, that someone’s little white cat, was also troubling him; and as the end of the school year drew nearer, academic pressure was mounting. Not to mention the contract he had made with Sister Korma in the Silent Forest not so long ago.

Any one of these issues was cause for a headache.

Therefore, regarding other conflicts happening at the school, including but not limited to Fishmen coming ashore, Horsemen causing trouble, and fights between clubs, Zheng Qing didn’t want to get involved at all.

”That’s old news,” Dylan’s head popped out from behind the curtain, speaking slowly to the fat man, ”Yesterday, some young colts from the Horseman Tribe marched through Beta Town with banners in a demonstration, and as a result, they were arrested by the Beta Town Security Bureau... It seems they were sentenced to detention for a week on the same night. There was no suspension of sentence although the colts were underage.”

”That’s the root cause of the conflict today.” Xin Fat Man’s face couldn’t hide his smile, as the newspaper in his hand rustled, ”But that’s not what I’m focused on... My focus is on the reports published by the Beta Town Post for two consecutive days! Don’t you think the Beta Town Post is contradicting itself?”

Noticing Zheng Qing’s somewhat puzzled gaze, Xin Fat Man added in frustration, ”I mean, just a few days ago, the Beta Town Post was promoting theories like ’It’s not wrong to act for justice’ and ’Errors made for the sake of freedom should be absolved.’ Look at what they wrote today...”

”’... These half-naked hooligans lift their iron hooves that shimmer with a cold glint under the sunlight, and innocent passersby are knocked to the ground by the iron hooves, their faces covered with blood... The brave patrol officers of Alpha Fortress confronted the brutish behavior head-on, facing oozing blood...’”

”And this line, and this line, ’Acts of justice for the sake of justice are unacceptable, past experience tells us that justice is not in the outcome but in the process’ Hahaha, it’s hilariously absurd!”

Zheng Qing’s mind was occupied with other matters and he wasn’t really listening to Xin Fat Man’s babbling.

But even as it went in one ear and out the other, he caught a few keywords, such as ’justice is not in the outcome but in the process’, which immediately made him realize that the topic had extended to the debate over ’consequentialist justice vs. procedural justice’.

This is an unsolvable debate, not worth wasting time on.

So, the young sponsored student immediately spoke up, interrupting Xin Fat Man’s ramble, and raised his voice slightly, ”Haven’t I said to stay out of this messy business? The situation is already chaotic, better to stay still than to stir... as the saying goes, eloquence is silver, silence is gold. The reason we escaped last time was precisely because we talked less than that fool, wasn’t it?”

The fool Zheng Qing referred to was Alpha Academy’s Arthur Ness. Because of the rash shop closure and search last time, Alpha found themselves on the defensive in the subsequent investigations, particularly since both Zheng Qing and Fox Five could be considered to have some ’status’ and ’influence’, it was almost impossible for Alpha to smooth things over.

Therefore, the Alpha patrol team had no choice but to satisfy the demands for compensation put forward by Zheng Qing and others. However, regarding the public apology demanded by Absolution and Greenhill Mansion, they kept stalling, never directly addressing the matter.

It was said that Sir Friedman was furious about this incident, and that poor Mr. Ness was stripped of all his duties by the Blood Comrades and banished to obscurity due to repeated work blunders.

Assume, if Arthur Ness had talked less before taking action and had sealed Zheng Qing’s shop without a word once he arrived, Fox Five would not have had the chance to tamper, and Alpha would not have ended up on the back foot.

Zheng Qing’s cold water did not extinguish the Fat Man’s enthusiasm.

He rolled up his sleeves, ready to take on a great endeavor, spread papers on the desk, drew out a small bundle of feather pens, set out ink bottles, and then bellowedly with gusto, ”The battleground of public opinion, if you don’t seize it, if I don’t seize it, then others will. This is a do-or-die struggle! There are no victors! Only the chance to kick a man while he’s down!”

Only then did Zheng Qing remember the Fat Man’s identity as a campus newspaper journalist, thinking that amidst the debates between the two academies, the pressures they as ’pen-pushers’ faced must certainly be different from those of other students.

The sponsored student shrugged his shoulders, turning his gaze to Xiao Xiao who had been quietly flipping through a notebook in the corner, ”Doctor, your opinion?”

Since the tensions between the academies had escalated, Doctor Xiao had become much more cautious than his loquacious self of the previous semester. Even his few comments were only mentioned in private, rarely ’lecturing’ everyone as before.

Hearing Zheng Qing’s request, Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses and glanced at the group:

”All cognition bias stems from a narrow field of view.”

”You believe your world is correct simply because your perspective is too narrow. The biggest issue is the inability to view matters comprehensively, dialectically. There’s a saying, ’a frog in a well knows nothing of the great ocean.’ It’s very apt for this situation.”

”If you try to look up on your way to class, at a place you often pass by, you’ll discover a world dramatically different from the usual.”

”Which is true, which is false? In fact, they’re all true.”

”So, I’m not saying you’re wrong, nor am I saying the Beta Town Post or Alpha’s statements are right... What I’m saying is everyone present is wrong.”