High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1257: Chapter 4 Discussion at the Dinner Table

During the meal break, Xin Fat Man briefly introduced to Zheng Qing the accident that had occurred at the Lakeside of Bell Lake yesterday.

Although he tried to maintain a neutral point of view in his description, Zheng Qing still discerned the undercurrent of anger in Fat Man’s choice of words.

”Even you have this attitude, what about the others at the Academy?” Zheng Qing, holding a fried frog leg, said uneasily.

Xin Fat Man, being a part-time Journalist for the Campus Newspaper, always prided himself on objectivity and fairness. Whenever there was a conflict at the academy, he would analyze it by weighing both sides of the argument.

But today, at the dining table, from start to finish, Fat Man added insult to injury when speaking about the conduct of the students from Alpha Academy. He even used such nasty terms as ”Beelzebub’s maggots” and ”Mephisto’s lackeys.”

It was quite an appetite suppressant.

”Because of this, Lei Zhe has already had a fight with Augustus. It happened less than half an hour after Nicholas was sent to the hospital... The aftermath of the two men’s battle destroyed half a street in Beta Town,” Xiao Xiao, stirring the sour sheep milk in front of her with a teaspoon, tried to push the emerald green raisins and the fiery red goji berries underneath the milk skin. When she heard Zheng Qing’s question, she replied indifferently,

”Besides that, from last night until this morning, the number of people from both academies who have been admitted to the school’s hospital has risen to eighteen... nine on each side. That doesn’t include the many students who fought privately, received minor injuries, and didn’t go to the hospital.”

”How do you know all this in such detail? I haven’t even started my investigation! Haven’t you been staying in the dorm all along?” Xin Fat Man was obviously shocked by the Doctor’s words, even forgetting to spread ketchup on his chicken leg burger.

”Staying in the dorm doesn’t affect my ability to watch the Crystal Ball.” Doctor Xiao continued to patiently stir his sour milk. Clearly, his interest in eating far exceeded that of chatting.

Apart from Divination, the Crystal Ball can also monitor certain abnormal activities within a range. Of course, at First University, special permission is required to do so.

And Doctor Xiao’s means of obtaining permission were undoubtedly through Teacher Sima Yangyun.

”I finally understand your malicious intent,” Xin Fat Man said, sipping on his sour plum drink, speaking sourly, ”Entering a relationship with ulterior motives for gain... this is unfair competition!”

As an excellent Journalist, he was just upset that Xiao Xiao was getting the news faster than him.

Xiao Xiao lifted her head and looked at the Fat Man through her nostrils, her tone brimming with contempt,

”Someone who doesn’t even have a girlfriend... has no right to comment on others’ relationships.”

The Fat Man flew into a rage.

”But speaking of which, what were you doing yesterday? How could you not know about such a big incident?” Xiao Xiao swiftly changed the subject, directing the conflict toward Zheng Qing.

The Fat Man was like a dog; someone threw him a bone, and he eagerly looked over, completely forgetting that seconds ago, he had been mocked for not having a girlfriend.

Zheng Qing, who was seriously dealing with a frog meat dumpling, heard Xiao Xiao’s words, and with too much force on his chopsticks, ”snap,” burst the dumpling open, and a stream of broth filled with the fragrance of scallions trickled slowly out through the thin dumpling skin.

”Yesterday?” He slowly raised his head and saw two pairs of curious eyes.

”You weren’t in the library yesterday,” Xiao Xiao confirmed with a nod.

”He’s not in the self-study room either,” Xin Fat Man chimed in, reminding, ”We’ve also looked in Professor Montreya’s laboratory, the D&K store, and even the Qingqiu Club... we couldn’t find you.”

Hearing this, Zheng Qing’s mouth, which had only just begun to open, immediately snapped shut.

His prepared excuse had been that he was helping out in Su Shi Jun’s laboratory, but since his companions had already searched for him at the Qingqiu Club, there was a good chance that excuse would have holes.

His brain whirred for a few seconds.

In the end, he chose to ’tell it like it is.’

”I was in the Silent Forest.” The young cost student grabbed a roasted frog, viciously tore off its hind leg, dipped it in some sauce, and stuffed it into his mouth, answering somewhat indistinctly, ”...doing some research for Sister Korma. You know, she has a little Magic Club in the North District... always has various tasks. Mmm, the frog legs fried in the cafeteria today are really tender...”

During the winter break, Xiao Xiao had once taken Zheng Qing and Xin Fat Man to collect tasks published by the Gini Cottage through the school’s bulletin board system. So his explanation sounded very plausible.

”The Silent Forest?” Xiao Xiao murmured thoughtfully with a nod, ”So, you’re saying you blew up the forest this time?”

Zheng Qing coughed violently.

”Nonsense!” The young cost student’s eyes widened with a trace of panic, ”One must have evidence when making accusations... how can you besmirch someone’s good name out of thin air!”

”Innocent?” Xiao Xiao scoffed, ”The entire school witnessed the light from that explosion deep in the forest... didn’t you notice that the oak tree downstairs has fewer leaves? They fell off due to the shaking yesterday!”

”So... what does that have to do with me...” Zheng Qing weakly protested, firmly refusing to admit any connection to the incident in the Silent Forest, ”My Charm Gun has already been confiscated by the school!”

”But you did go to the Silent Forest,” the Doctor replied eerily.

Zheng Qing, holding a half-eaten frog leg, was at a loss for words.

Xin Fat Man finished his chicken leg burger in no time, casually wiped his hands on his robe, then bent over with some effort amidst the disdainful gazes of his two companions and pulled out a thick stack of newspapers from his bag, gave them a shake.

”Let me read it to you,” he glanced at Zheng Qing, cleared his throat, turned to a page toward the back of the newspaper, and began to read:

”Beta Town Post, May 2nd, News Report (Journalist Wen Ren Niao) – First University’s relevant departments conducted a small-scale special magic experiment at a certain location in the Silent Forest. This experiment was not directed at any organization or individual, and the experimental results fully validated the department’s hypotheses regarding the related magic theories. All actions were in compliance with the Mage Alliance’s regulations for magic experiments.”

After reading, Fat Man patted the newspaper in his hand.

”That’s it?” Zheng Qing raised his eyebrows, his face short of literally spelling out ’pleased to hear it.’

”That’s it,” Fat Man replied gruffly, ”If you’re willing to give me some more valuable news, I can get you a good informant fee from the editorial department... We’ll absolutely not reveal the informant’s identity, that’s a journalist’s integrity!”

”I don’t know more than you guys,” Zheng Qing spread his hands, showing a helpless expression. Seeing Fat Man looking somewhat disappointed, he consolingly pushed the plate of fried frogs in front of himself towards Fat Man, ”...have some fried frog legs, they’re really tender today, taste good...”

”Since when did you start liking frog legs?” Fat Man tore off a golden-fried frog leg, glanced skeptically at the food in front of Zheng Qing, ”...did you undergo a Fishman bloodline transformation yesterday?”