High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1118: Chapter 180: The Cat, the Fox, and the Witch

After Hemingway had arranged today’s patrol plans, Zheng Qing took over the task of patrolling the long corridor near the eastern shore of Lin Zhong Lake, trailing behind with Lin Guo, looking downcast as he headed to his workplace.

He really didn’t want to stay by the lake anymore, listening to the old school worker’s endless chatter about the ”Cheating Hunting Team,” ”young wizards these days,” and how ”each generation is worse than the last.”

”Unreliable rumors, he doesn’t get it even at his old age,” the young cost student muttered to himself in succession, his magic wand trailing along the grass, making a swishing sound. The magic lantern at the top of the wand swayed left and right, carving a path through the night.

Lin Guo ran along the whole way, following the young cost student.

”What’s the training subject for today? Is everyone here?” Zheng Qing walked ahead, asking in a low, direct voice without turning back.

”According to the schedule, we’re supposed to train in Kariel Tactics today... Dylan isn’t here; he has a Philosophy of Magic class and can’t find the time,” Lin Guo answered, stumbling over his words as he clutched the notepad.

Because Dylan’s schedule was the reverse of everyone else’s, when everyone else was resting, it was time for his classes. More than once, other members of the team had complained to Zheng Qing about this issue—they couldn’t keep up with training because they were always short on personnel.

But discussing time differences with a vampire was as delicate as discussing the purity of wizardry with a wizard of alien bloodline, both extremely sensitive topics. For this reason, Zheng Qing had never discussed the matter directly with Dylan.

But it couldn’t go on like this.

”Sigh,” the young cost student set aside his gloominess and sighed, ”I’ll talk to him tomorrow morning... At the very least, he has to submit his schedule a week in advance. It will make it easier for everyone to train.”

Lin Guo nodded again and again, but his head involuntarily turned towards the vast lake beside him.

In the late spring season, under the pale moonlight, the tranquil night made Lin Zhong Lake as still as an Ancient Well Without Waves, like a smooth mirror. The water of the lake, which had been muddied by the young fishmen of the Fishman Tribe a few days ago, had cleared up a lot with the passing of time. Only in the mud by the shore, where fish feces once piled up, there lingered a nauseating smell.

”They made too much fuss; even the kappas have decreased a lot,” the Little Witch muttered softly.

Zheng Qing pulled at the corner of his mouth.

Kappas, as common pests in Lin Zhong Lake, were universally loathed by the students of the academy. Usually seen, students would cast spells to roll them up and toss them far into the depths of the lake; or the braver ones would like to grab bamboo poles, randomly beating those hard-shelled creatures without rhyme or reason.

But as the saying goes, habit becomes nature. Now that the fishmen had ravaged Lin Zhong Lake and the kappas had become scarce, the students living at the academy found themselves unaccustomed, feeling like something was missing each time they passed by the lake.

”Kappas, huh? I guess they’ve been hiding in the lake bays and streams with the Fish Wives... In a few months, when the weather warms up, they’ll surely start popping up again,” Zheng Qing explained soothingly to Lin Guo, then paused, recalling something, ”Have you adjusted your timeline yet?”

When Zheng Qing first interacted with Lin Guo, he was aware of the Little Wizard’s peculiar timeline—in contrast to normal people, Lin Guo’s timeline was intermittent, automatically resetting based on the importance of the events experienced. The more important the person or event, the older it seemed on Lin Guo’s timeline, unconsciously hidden away in the deepest recesses.

Indeed, such a change can, to some extent, protect the Little wizard’s soul, which had been shocked and unsettled, but it wasn’t of much benefit to his future path as a wizard. Before becoming a Big Wizard, the less young wizards are exposed to high-end concepts such as time and causality, the better. Too much exposure can easily lead to Cognitive Obstructions, becoming a barrier to their advancement.

Therefore, after learning of the anomaly in Lin Guo’s timeline, Zheng Qing and the other members of Absolution Hunting Team discussed repeatedly, and after much persuasion, finally convinced Lin Guo to seek help from the school to adjust his timeline.

This matter involved personal privacy and was somewhat sensitive, and it was rarely mentioned in everyday life.

Today, as the two walked in the quiet of the night, Zheng Qing thought of the old times when he had patrolled the night with Lin Guo, and felt the timing was just right, so he brought it up.

Lin Guo wasn’t as overly sensitive and suspicious as imagined and cheerfully responded, ”It’s almost fixed, Professor Yi’s method is very effective... At the very least, I don’t need a special procedure chart to remind me of the correct operation process when I do alchemy experiments now. The Professor said that in at most one year, this trouble will be resolved.”

Zheng Qing heard this and smiled in relief.

Indeed, for Lin Guo, whose timeline was in disarray, the biggest trouble wasn’t the occasional confusion in his interactions, but the ease with which he could reverse ’the importance of a certain operation step’ and ’the sequence of operation steps’ during magical experiments.

The latter point, in particular, the reversal of sequence in magic experiments, can be particularly devastating—the famous Brisbane Alchemy Laboratory was leveled for ten miles around, leaving not a blade of grass, during an experiment to synthetically create the Philosopher’s Stone because the operators added the catalyst before the stabilizer. Many alchemists were killed or seriously injured.

This case was told to Zheng Qing by Doctor Du Zemu the first time they met. The Doctor’s intention was to tell Zheng Qing that the Philosopher’s Stone was not easy to come by and using it to save Sprites was too wasteful. Whereas Zheng Qing thought of Lin Guo’s timeline and thus was firm in his decision to persuade Lin Guo to adjust his timeline.

When they arrived under the long corridor on the east side of the lake, the other members of Absolution Hunting Team had already been waiting for a long time.

But aside from Xiao Xiao and others, there were two uninvited guests, causing Zheng Qing’s eyelid to twitch.

”How did you two get here?” the captain of Absolution Hunting Team frowned, eyeing the two Little Witches hiding at the tail end of the Hunting Team and feeling a bit of a headache, ”Does your cousin know you’re out wandering around late at night? And you, did you check in with Sister Su Man when you left? How did you even bring Poseidon along!”

In front of him were Li Meng and Su Ya.

Li Meng was holding a small white cat, while Su Ya held the Little Fox, Poseidon.

”My cousin knows I’m out! She supports me,” Li Meng said, holding the little white cat that Zheng Qing recognized very well, with her chin lifted high. She wore little leather boots, and behind her draped a pink fine velvet cloak that sporadically sparkled with golden Runes and traces of silver Spells, looking both warm and safe.

Zheng Qing squinted, took a few looks at the little white cat, then turned his gaze to Su Ya.

”Poseidon wanted to come,” Su Ya said confidently, looking at Zheng Qing, lifting the Little Fox in her arms high, ”It said you promised many times to take it out for a night patrol with you...”

The Little Fox then hid its head under its big tail, looking a bit embarrassed.