High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1115: Chapter 177 Xin·Holmes·Smile

Zheng Qing had already forgotten how he had left the ”Coffee Cat” cafe.

He couldn’t even remember if he had petted any of the cats in that cafe. On a normal day, he could stroke seventeen or eighteen cats there without repeating, and he would give each and every one of them a resounding name.

But today, drained by the conversation between the two witches, he couldn’t recall petting cats at all.

”Terrifying, truly terrifying.”

More than half an hour after returning to the dorm, he was still muttering to himself incessantly.

Doctor Xiao, who had been diligently previewing his lessons, could no longer restrain himself. He looked up at his roommate and said, ”What are you mumbling about by yourself again? Did you have a staring contest with Cthulhu, or did you see the moon getting pierced by a sword again today?”

The last time Satoguya’s eye was punctured by a streak of light, most of the school had no memory of the incident, but Zheng Qing had quietly discussed it with Xiao Xiao many times. That’s why Xiao Xiao teased him with this joke now.

Zheng Qing stared seriously at the drawing spread out on his desk, holding a feather pen and drawing tools in his hands, pondering without responding to the Doctor.

Xin Fat Man, who had been struggling with ”Standard Potion · Sophomore,” laboriously climbed out of bed and approached the young public expense student, peeking over curiously.

”He’s looking at a line drawing,” Xin Fat Man reported to Xiao Xiao, then squinted and analyzed, ”The overall trend of the lines seems to be in a bottoming process, standing above the half-moon line, consolidating for many days, the foundation seems very solid, like it could rebound at any time... However, there’s a five-day line suppression above, so it might not break through in the short term.”

After the analysis, Xin Fat Man turned his head to look at Zheng Qing, full of curiosity, ”Didn’t Professor Yi say we only need to check the line drawings at the class meeting next Sunday... why are you staring at it now?”

”Because before the line drawing is a homework assignment, it is first and foremost a divination tool,” Zheng Qing said with a dark expression, dipped his feather pen in a bit of ink, and added a long lower shadow line to today’s line drawing.

He felt that today’s experience had caused a great trauma to his soul, which could not be represented without a long lower shadow line.

Xin Fat Man clicked his tongue, took out a small jar of candied fruit from his watch, and held it under Zheng Qing’s nose, ”Don’t be sad... Sweet food when you’re feeling downhearted is definitely the right choice. It will make you feel a lot better.”

Zheng Qing’s nostrils flared slightly, and he smelled the sour and sweet scent wafting from the jar, which indeed improved his mood a little.

He summoned a sprite to use a toothpick to pick a dark red piece of candied fruit and put it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. The intense sourness stimulated his taste buds, flooding his mouth with saliva.

Across the desk, Xiao Xiao also stuffed one into his mouth and chewed it with relish.

”Having said that, what’s bothering you now?” Doctor Xiao, whose mood had slightly improved as well, decided to play the understanding big brother and give some advice to his team captain, ”I remember you took the sprites for a check-up this afternoon... is there a relapse in their condition?”

Zheng Qing shook his head, ”No, these little ones are very healthy.”

A sprite tugged at his earlobe and sat on his shoulder, singing sweetly. He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but Zheng Qing felt that the sprites he raised seemed to have become more expressive in their pronunciation and intonation.

”He was saying ’terrifying’ and looking at divination earlier, he must have encountered something bad,” Xin Fat Man also disagreed with Xiao Xiao’s assumption, though his remark was somewhat unhelpful.

”You’re going to have to tell us what happened,” Xiao Xiao said somewhat helplessly.

Zheng Qing rubbed his fingers over the line drawing he held, feeling the various depths of marks etched into the paper by the feather pen, his expression grave. The afternoon conversation with the witches involved too many secrets, and he couldn’t fully recount it.

After a long pause, he slowly asked, ”What do you guys think... if several people are drinking coffee and chatting together, and someone asks a stupid question, what should be done?”

”A few people sitting together?” Xiao Xiao raised his eyebrows.

”Having coffee?” Fatso squinted his eyes too.

”He’s not the type to invite guys for coffee,” Xiao Xiao nodded and glanced at Fatso.

”I haven’t heard anyone say they went out and sat with him this afternoon either,” Fatso said, equally thoughtful as he looked at Xiao Xiao.

”So that means,” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses, the answer nearly at the tip of his tongue.

”It’s a witch,” Fatso slammed his fist into his palm, certain.

”Definitely Elena.”

”He said a few people... does that mean Jiang Yu too? Li Meng? Liu Fei Fei?”

”What’s he doing drinking coffee and chatting with so many witches?”

”Isn’t Liu Fei Fei Nicolas’s girlfriend? He’s into that now?”

Watching the conversation drift toward an indescribable abyss, Zheng Qing exploded in anger, ”What nonsense are you spouting! Don’t change the subject... I’m not asking about those messy things! And besides, there was no Li Meng or Liu Fei Fei!”

The somewhat intense tone and agitated gestures startled the sprite sitting on Zheng Qing’s shoulder, causing it to flutter its wings and whoosh into the air. After drifting for a few seconds, it decided to leave the ’unstable’ individual temporarily, crowding with the other sprites on the belly of Fatty Cat Tuan Tuan.

”Oh, so it was just Elena and Jiang Yu!” Xiao Xiao concluded.

”Tch,” Fatso’s face showed a hint of pity, ”No wonder he said it was scary... Indeed, it does sound terrifying. A complete Shura Field with no chance of salvation. Hopeless, just wait for death, I bid farewell.”

With that, he actually picked up his textbook and flopped back onto his bed.

Zheng Qing suppressed the urge to take out a little Remington cannon and fire at Fatso, knowing from the start not to expect any logical answers from him.

”What I want to know is, what kind of stupid question did you ask?” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses, his eyes gleaming slightly.

Fatso also rolled out of bed again, ears perked up – he had somehow prepared a little notebook and feather pen, looking like he planned to do some kind of news investigation.

”Um... just this and that sort of question,” Zheng Qing mumbled, still unsure what should and shouldn’t be said: ”Just a few stupid questions in general.”

”Typical stupidity,” Fatso expressed his dissatisfaction with Zheng Qing’s evasiveness.

Zheng Qing ignored him.

”So, you’re saying you want me to do a qualitative analysis... not deal with the specifics, but a general analysis?” Xiao Xiao, failing to tease out any interesting details, finally asked in a somewhat perfunctory manner.

Zheng Qing nodded his head vigorously, agreeing repeatedly.