High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1333: Chapter 80: Three Paper Cranes

The night Quanke came back to school from the fair, three paper cranes flew out of Dormitory 403 of Jiuyou Academy.

One flew to the Alpha Fortress and landed on Lin Guo’s bedside. Zheng Qing told the little warlock some clues about black sheep. Of course, he did not mention Xiao Xiao’s speculation to the little warlock, nor did he say anything about the Outer God. He merely conveyed Professor Garcia’s message, mentioning that longevity tortoises on the east shore of Linzhong Lake had seen a black sheep fighting with a cat.

Because Lin Guo was also the manager of the Absolution Hunting Team, Zheng Qing simultaneously instructed him to convene all members of the hunting team and hold a meeting the next day in Dormitory 403 to discuss the matter.

The second paper crane flew to the Beta Town Pedestrian Street, searching for traces of the Yellow Flowered Cat. Zheng Qing planned to inform the Flower Cat about his intention to explore the Tortoise Habitat on the east side of Linzhong Lake. However, the crane circled areas such as San You Bookstore, Wandering Bar, and North Beta Town all night but couldn’t locate the Flower Cat’s trace. Ultimately with a mournful cry, it disintegrated into a flash of fire in mid-air.

By the time this paper crane turned into a ball of fire, Zheng Qing had already fallen into a deep sleep. He wasn’t roused from sleep by this event. It wasn’t until he got up the next morning that he noticed something from the magic feedback.

Zheng Qing suspected the Yellow Flowered Cat did it on purpose—it might think it was rather shameful that a group of wizards were making a fuss over a Little Faceless Demon or were interested in a stinky mud pond.

As for the third paper crane, it flew toward the School Works Committee’s office building.

Originally, Zheng Qing planned to send the third paper crane to Professor Yao, but while writing the letter, he suddenly realized that Professor Yao had rarely been in the office lately and even taught the Curse Course and Philosophy of Magic via projection.

Professor Emma, who was in charge of the school’s recent specific affairs in place of Professor Yao, was known for her strict attitude towards students, and being a professor from the Alpha Academy, the young publicly-funded students inherently had a lot of fear towards her.

After much consideration, he eventually chose to report the news to the School Works Committee.

Acting according to the standard response expected of ordinary students encountering such situations.

But, as with all standard procedures that needed to be faced, the crane sent to School Works Committee stayed outside their office all night in a nest until someone finally unfolded it. And after three full days, the school remained tranquil.

The scene that Zheng Qing imagined, where the patrol team would be mobilized on a large scale to conduct a dragnet search of the mud pond on the east side of Linzhong Lake, did not occur.

Nor did the scene where the School Works Committee summoned him to their office for questioning.

It was as if after the paper crane was unfolded, the words on the letter had been pecked clean by the crane.

Unable to make sense of it, the young publicly-funded student took Lin Guo with him once more to the School Works Committee’s office, intending to inquire about the specifics.

The one who received them was the same slightly chubby gray-robed school worker as last time.

”A report letter from Zheng Qing of Astronomy Class 08-1?” the worker repeated, lengthening his voice as he poked at a mailbox rack next to him with a feather pen: ”...let me look for it.”

”Oh, there is indeed one.” After a while, the worker finally spoke up, confirming it while explaining with a tone devoid of apology: ”You need to understand, we receive ’earnest report letters’ every day. If not a hundred, then fifty, most of which are more serious than the situation you described.”

”For instance, this student from Alpha Academy claims that on the upcoming night of the full moon, he will use an explosion charm to destroy the walls of Jiuyou Academy and offer all the students of Jiuyou a bright and free world...”

”For example, this student from Starry Sky Academy claimed that when he went hunting in the Silent Forest last weekend, he stumbled upon a small team of Black Wizards conducting an evil magic ritual... a Blood Sacrifice Ritual. It is said that an entire Horseman Tribe was sacrificed at that ritual... God knows how many horsemen there are in the Silent Forest altogether.”

”And there’s this... Atlas Academy recently discovered a handful of cultists who had inverted and smeared all of the infinity symbols in the academy. If you have a bit of common sense, you should remember that the last person to invert infinity symbols was that evil Soul Magician from Vienna over fifty years ago. The carnage he caused was beyond words.”

”... All these are far more serious than a ’possible’ Faceless Demon hiding in a mud pond.”

”Especially now when the school is understaffed.”

”But rest assured, the school won’t ignore any risk, and the School Works Committee will deal with this matter as quickly as possible.”

Zheng Qing didn’t wait to hear the end and left in a huff, pulling Lin Guo with him. He had long known that he shouldn’t have too much confidence in the efficiency of the School Works Committee, but he still overestimated the impact of his letter and underestimated the Committee’s sensitivity to risks.

”We’ll have to resolve this ourselves in the end,” the young scholarship student said to his classmate Lin Guo as they left the building of the School Works Committee.

Three days had passed since the Quankela Fair, and the night before last, the Absolution Hunting Team had already held a full meeting. This included Monk Shi Yuan, who was often absent, and Elder Zhang Da, who had been very busy recently, both of whom attended without fail.

The meeting approved the joint suggestion of Zheng Qing and Xiao Xiao—to focus the Absolution Hunting Team’s training for the next month on ’searching’ and ’anti-demon’ activities, and it was also decided to hold the training on the East Side of Linzhong Lake, outside the Lakefront Corridor.

There was an open scrubland area and it was close to the Tortoise Habitat on the East Shore of the lake.

Today was Sunday, and the training at the lakeshore had already been ongoing for two days, but without any results. The tortoises in the mud pond paid no heed to the clamorous young wizards ashore. It was lucky Xiao Xiao had prepared a bunch of Copper Coins, occasionally throwing some to entice the tortoises; otherwise, the hunters of Absolution might spend an entire afternoon without seeing a single tortoise bubble rise.

Especially now as summer was gradually approaching and the weather was getting hot, those creatures clad in clumsy thick shells always preferred to hide in the cool depths of the mud and were reluctant to surface and feel the heat waves of summer.

When Zheng Qing and Lin Guo arrived at today’s training ground, the other members of the hunting team were already there.

From a distance, he heard Xin Fat Man complaining about the tortoises’ habits:

”...Think about it, they hibernate in winter, lying motionless under the mud pond; in summer they need to cool off, still lying motionless under the mud pond. Does this world ever see them move?”

The young scholarship student couldn’t help but laugh.

”That’s why Doctor planned the training for the afternoon,” he replied loudly. ”The sun isn’t as harsh then, and many tortoises choose to surface around that time...”

The circle of hunters turned their heads, looking towards the newcomers.

”What did the School Works Committee say?” Xiao Xiao was the first to ask.

The mention of that brought a surge of anger in Zheng Qing.

”They just said they would deal with it as soon as possible,” Zheng Qing cursed softly, then said indignantly, ”It seems that the complaint we filed with the student union after your goat milk report last time had no effect... perhaps next time we should complain to the Professor Joint Meeting.”