High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1288: Chapter 35: Birthday

When Zheng Qing’s consciousness regained clarity, he realized he was not sitting in a classroom but standing amidst a vast expanse of fog.

From experience, it was easy for him to judge that he was still in a dream.

He looked around.

The fog around him wasn’t very thick, just slightly above his ankles, flowing like a babbling creek beneath his feet, cool and smooth. Stepping on it felt like stepping on a rubber track, soft and not abrasive to the feet.

The dream seemed to have sensed the young man’s thoughts.

Just as he thought of the words ”rubber track,” the fog in front of him rolled away, revealing a dark red rubber track. In the middle of the track stood a black cat, twisting its head and staring at him with its pair of amber eyes.

”Meow~”

The black cat let out a soft cry and turned its head, promptly running forward briskly.

A strong sense of déjà vu gave the young man a great sense of security, and without much hesitation, he lifted his feet and followed the black cat. The familiar run, the familiar black cat, the familiar rubber track.

Running with this familiar feeling, another familiar figure appeared in the young man’s vision.

It was Mr. Wu!

The black cat scurried to the feet of Mr. Wu, reluctantly sauntering over and hooking Mr. Wu’s ankle with its tail.

”Oh? You’re here?” Mr. Wu glanced down at the black cat and then turned to look at the young cost student, raising his hand to wave, ”Since you’re here, come stand with me for a while.”

With that, he turned and quietly looked into the distance.

Zheng Qing hastened a few steps to Mr. Wu’s side and followed his gaze. Still, all he could see was an expanse of fog, with no scenery to appreciate.

Perhaps hidden within this fog were some astonishing secrets?

The young man stood behind Mr. Wu, hands crossed, earnestly observing the fog, as if trying to discern a flower from it.

”What are you looking at?” Mr. Wu’s voice suddenly rang in his ear.

”What are you looking at?” — Zheng Qing almost asked this question in response, but fortunately, his rationality controlled his mouth at the last moment, changing the retort to a more witty response: ”I am looking in the same direction as Mr. Wu.”

This stance was quite interesting.

Mr. Wu couldn’t help but chuckle, lifting his hand to point at the young man before shaking his head, ”You, you... Merely relying on that forbidden curse on you isn’t enough to break through the fog of destiny. You still need to learn more at school.”

Zheng Qing obediently nodded in agreement.

”I came today to bring you some things.” Mr. Wu turned back to gaze at the fog.

But Zheng Qing felt a sudden weight in his hands.

He looked down to find that his hands, unbeknownst to him, were holding a wooden box filled with various colorfully wrapped gifts and greeting cards, over a dozen in total.

”Today is May 4th, your birthday.” Mr. Wu’s voice echoed by his ear: ”Your grandfather, your parents, and your old friends, they all have gifts for you... Following the normal procedures, it would probably take ten days or half a month before these items could pass inspection and get to you. Fortunately, I had some time, so I brought them to you.”

Zheng Qing flipped through the greeting card on top with a pretty girl’s picture, inside was the familiar handwriting of an old best friend: ”Happy Bday!”

Two characters, vigorous and bold, concise and to the point, absolutely that guy’s usual style.

Below that was a card from his father, and the content was very serious— ”Happy 19th birthday, son! After today, you’ve grown another year older and are no longer the timid little boy. You should become a brave man...”

Zheng Qing looked at those words and felt a bit of toothache, quickly closing the card.

There were only about ten greeting cards in total, which didn’t take much time to go through. As for the gifts, he had plenty of time to open them back at the dorm; Zheng Qing didn’t plan on unwrapping everything here.

”This is my gift,” Mr. Wu handed over a blue card.

Zheng Qing suddenly felt exhilarated, a smile that he couldn’t suppress appeared on his face—just think, a gift from a being who surpassed those ancient wizards, what kind of gift would it be!

Was it a transfer contract for some Mage tower? Or a powerful magic spell? Perhaps a precious magic potion recipe? It could even possibly be the password to a wizard’s bank vault!

Those imaginations froze at the deepest part of his mind after seeing the contents on the blue card.

The card detailed a class schedule.

”A few days ago when you exploded, I mentioned to you about taking some private lessons,” Mr. Wu spoke as always slowly and steadily, like a simmered broth that had been stewing for ages:

”...These past two days, I have compiled a list of lessons you need to make up, planning to start this week.”

Zheng Qing twitched the corner of his mouth—giving a class schedule as a present was indeed Mr. Wu’s usual style. He couldn’t help recalling the first time he visited the Hui Zi Ji long ago when Mr. Wu said he would give him a birthday present.

He had always been obsessed with the idea of raising a small mermaid in a bathtub.

”This week... When exactly?” Zheng Qing flipped the card back and forth—it only listed the study topics and outline, with no specific time allocation.

”When I have time,” Mr. Wu answered simply.

”So...”

”Hmm, let me see, Tuesday... The Central Continent Hunting Group ruined half the world while hunting, I have to sort out the laws, or that world won’t fetch a good price. You know, the school has a profit-sharing agreement with those hunting groups.”

No, I didn’t know—the boy narrated sarcastically in his heart.

”...Then, Wednesday, also a business trip, sigh, the ’Xianqin’ and ’Holy Tang’ super hunting teams are mobilizing forces again, planning to merge... I have to play the mediator. Can’t let them fight it out, or the bonds will all be destroyed.”

”Thursday, I have to entertain some old friends from Deeps of Starry Sky.”

”Friday, I need to write my memoirs.”

”Saturday... Well, Saturday’s event could probably be postponed? There are so many people at the school, one more or one less of me won’t make a difference... That Flower Cat keeps drawing me into messes,” Mr. Wu muttered, touching his sleeve and tilting his head.

Hearing those dreadful terms, Zheng Qing shrank his neck a bit in awe.

But he still bravely raised his objection.

”I have to go to Professor Montreya’s lab on Saturday afternoon; I’ve already missed it three times,” the boy whispered defensively, ”and at night, there’s the night patrol task at Lin Zhong Lake...”

Mr. Wu lowered his eyelids and glanced at him.

”You are the most troublesome student I have ever taught,” he evaluated thus, but instead of interfering with the school’s punishment as the boy hoped, he adjusted the time: ”...Let’s make it Sunday, Sunday noon, come find me at San You Bookstore on Pedestrian Street. The Flower Cat will show you the way.”