High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1449: Chapter 193: The Target, The Museum

”Your husband?”

Xin Fat Man leaned forward, his face revealing a hint of interest: ”Your husband came to the school? When did he come? I’ve always heard you have a husband... When will you introduce us?”

”If I could find him,” Zheng Qing spread his hands with a somewhat helpless tone, ”other than at the bookstore, he always finds me, and I don’t know where he is right now.”

”Mirror Pavilion, Mirror Pavilion.”

Xiao Xiao murmured the name, flipping through his black-shelled notebook with a rustling sound, his voice filled with confusion: ”I must have heard this name somewhere... but where?”

”There’s something Doctor Xiao can’t remember?” Xin Fat Man teased.

Xiao Xiao ignored him, patiently going through his notes and without raising his head, he inquired of Zheng Qing: ”You say the mirror has no name... but what does it look like, you should be able to describe that.”

That wasn’t difficult, Zheng Qing nodded.

”About three feet wide, and as for the height... it’s taller than me by two heads, must be about two meters.” He raised his hands, gesturing his own height while trying hard to recall the appearance of the mirror:

”The base is made of obsidian, a whole block of obsidian, it looks very heavy. The stone is covered with bas-reliefs of little figures holding up their hands, all of them with heads raised, looking frenzied... They should be supporting the mirror.”

”To the left and right of the mirror are Roman Relief Columns, dates-red in color, probably made of sandalwood. The left column is suppressing a devil, the kind with goat horns and bat wings, and on the right a pair of male and female witches... At the top of the columns are two half-busts of witches, both wearing pointy hats, holding Magic Wands, I don’t recognize them, but they’re holding up a piece of lintel with a line of words carved on it...”

”Light like a sheet of water, shadow reflects on both sides of the people?” Xiao Xiao interrupted Zheng Qing’s description, his face showing a flash of realization.

”Yes, yes, yes,” Zheng Qing nodded in surprise and admiration: ”You really do know this mirror!”

On the side, Xin Fat Man muttered something under his breath that no one heard clearly.

”No, I don’t know it,” Xiao Xiao shook his head, denying Zheng Qing’s guess, and explained: ”I just happened to see it a few days ago.”

”A few days ago?” This time, even Jiang Yu was a bit curious: ”Where did you see it? Did you go to that Mirror Pavilion?”

”At the museum.”

”The museum? Which museum?”

”Does the school have many museums?” Xiao Xiao closed his notebook, pushing up his glasses: ”The one I’m talking about is the Magic History Museum... although it’s called a history museum, many of its collections aren’t just for depicting history. You should know, every exhibit has its history.”

Zheng Qing silently sighed in his heart.

Doctor always likes to preach some profound truths during conversations, regardless of whether those truths hold any truth or not.

”Which exhibition hall in the museum did you see that mirror in?”

”With exams coming up, why do you still have time to go to the museum?”

”Why would the school move that mirror to the museum?”

”Can we go in there?”

Everyone bombarded Xiao Xiao with a barrage of questions, leaving him speechless, unsure of which question to answer first, only to raise his hand, making a pause gesture to everyone.

”One by one, come one by one!” He sat up somewhat awkwardly but seriously, looking around: ”My trip to the museum is a temporary transfer... Both the library and the museum are managed under the School Works Committee, and the museum has been quite busy recently, so we loaned some work-study students from the library...”

”The school’s work-study program hasn’t stopped yet?” Zheng Qing looked at the Doctor with a sympathetic gaze: ”My night patrol task at Lin Zhong Lake has been suspended recently... They said it was to avoid affecting the final exams.”

”The night patrol of Lin Zhong Lake is the responsibility of Jiuyou Academy, so the patrol schedule follows Jiuyou’s longstanding traditions.” Xin Fat Man explained on behalf of Xiao Xiao: ”Whereas work-study jobs like those at the museum and library are arranged by First University, other colleges do not place as much importance on final exams as we do.”

Xiao Xiao nodded and continued to answer other questions: ”...I saw that mirror in the museum when the velvet cloth covering it fell to the floor, revealing its appearance. The Wizards in black robes who were moving the mirror seemed unfamiliar, either researchers from a certain laboratory or teaching assistants I don’t know.”

”They moved that mirror to the back of the museum, to a temporarily vacated exhibition hall. The hall was filled with magic items collected from various corners of the school... At that time, I thought the holidays were approaching, so the school temporarily moved the magical tools placed around the campus indoors for storage, but now that I think about it, things are not that simple. Remember the Big Wei at the entrance of Hunting Ground No. 5? It’s also been moved into the museum.”

The Big Wei Xiao Xiao mentioned is a sculpture of a Greek male warrior over three meters tall, with a leather bag over his shoulder filled with stones, always poised as if tossing pebbles, and if a Hunting team accidentally drove their prey near the entrance of the Hunting Ground, it would take out stones from the bag and knock the prey out.

”In previous graduation seasons, there has never been such an operation.” As someone who has been at First University for two graduation seasons, Nicholas had the most authority on this matter: ”The School Guardian Array can block all unsafe factors, and there has never been a report of moving Big Wei into the museum for the reason of the holidays following the final exams.”

The group of young Wizards standing around exchanged glances with meaningful looks in their eyes.

Clearly, the school was preparing for some possible chaos — a chaos that might even breach the School Guardian Array and affect the interior of the campus. This also matched everyone’s previous speculations.

Li Meng sat on the floor, looking up at the male and female Witches exchanging glances, quite displeased.

”Can’t you just talk? What’s with all the looking back and forth?!” As she spoke, she also twisted the plush bear’s ear forcefully, twisting it until the plush bear’s eyes swam with tears yet it didn’t dare to cry out in pain.

Xiao Xiao cleared his throat lightly, continuing to respond to the previous questions: ”Although the exhibition hall acting as a temporary warehouse is not strictly guarded, because it is located in the depths of the museum, it would be difficult for us to sneak in without alarming the guards... If you really plan to look for that mirror, I suggest taking action at night.”

Everyone turned their eyes to Zheng Qing in unison.

Zheng Qing shrugged:

”Do we have any other choice?”

Everyone shook their heads in unison again.

The discussion came to a pause at this point. Although there was an operation planned for the evening, it was still only early afternoon, with half a day left, leaving no time to waste.

The study room soon fell into the atmosphere of reviewing lessons.

Until the sun gradually set behind the mountains.

Pedestrians outside the window became scarce.

Only then did the Doctor signal everyone to head back to the dorm early and prepare for tonight’s ’little operation’.

Before leaving, Zheng Qing looked up at the Old Almanac hanging on the wall.

June 5th.

Gengwu Month, Xinsi Day.

Auspicious for commencing work, erecting beams, decoration, marriage.

Inauspicious for traveling.