High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1519: Chapter 263 Decision (Part 2)

Zheng Qing had exploded once before.

In the magical sense.

That time, his self-destruction wiped out a small world and blew up two projections descending from the deeps of the starry sky. The power was immense. After returning from Mr. Wu’s little teapot, Zheng Qing had secretly attempted multiple times to search for the feeling of that ”self-destruction.”

Of course, he wasn’t pessimistic or suicidal, desperately seeking death just because he was marked by a forbidden curse.

He just wanted to be prepared.

In case some Outer God ignored the rules of combat, bullying the weak, and suddenly appeared before him; in case the Radical Group of the Dark Council or Moon Council abducted him, intending to slice him up for research; in case he was confronted by an unbeatable enemy.

Like now.

Then, if he mastered the method of ”self-destruction,” at least he wouldn’t be utterly powerless to resist.

But no matter how much effort he put in—face flushed purple, using every ounce of strength—the magic power within him boiled like water, and he still couldn’t find that same feeling he had in the small world.

It was like the key you look for before heading out. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t find it when you need it most. But when you’ve almost given up entirely, it inexplicably appears before your eyes.

Right now, Zheng Qing saw that very ”key.”

The ”self-destruction” feeling he’d sought many times suddenly arrived unexpectedly. Nikita’s two heavy punches on his body seemed like a catalyst, giving him an intense sensation that he might explode at any moment, and the impulse to do so.

Headaches and abdominal pain squeezed him from above and below, leaving the young wizard clutching his head and curling up on the ground, wishing he could bury himself in the soil. Yet, his peripheral vision still caught sight of the female demon cautiously retreating.

Zheng Qing couldn’t help but laugh.

It was the kind of unsettling laughter people burst into after crying their hearts out—when pushed to the extremes of emotion. Despite his body writhing in extreme agony, he felt a sense of exhilarating relief deep inside, and he couldn’t refrain from laughing.

He struggled to lift his head, a twisted smile on his face, and raised the back of his hand to wipe the blood at the corner of his mouth. His eyes flickered with crimson light as he stared at Nikita.

”You... seem... a bit scared, ha, haha, hiss...” Zheng Qing hissed through clenched teeth, his face contorted as he glared at the female demon, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Nikita watched him warily, her fingers rapidly moving to perform divination, silently calculating the source of the crisis.

The divination result was far from optimistic.

According to it, if she continued to strike the warlock with heavy blows, her next attack would be her moment of death. Even if she vanished from his sight immediately, she would still suffer irreversible damage.

The prediction was somewhat hazy, but the witch could discern that a powerful magic was connected to it.

Nothing was worse than a magic she couldn’t defend against.

”There seems to be some misunderstanding between us.” Nikita ceased her calculations, paused briefly in silence, then revealed a charming smile. She lifted the hem of her robe, sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the warlock, and spoke with genuine sincerity: ”Just now, I acted impulsively, which made me a bit aggressive... You know, girls can’t always control their hands when they’re angry...”

As she spoke, she made a show of patting the back of her own hand, feigning exasperation with herself.

A glimpse of her smooth, fair skin flashed under the robe’s hem. Nikita even tugged at her collar to reveal a tantalizing view of her neckline. No warlock could resist hesitating for a few seconds under such an allure.

Zheng Qing was no exception.

Just moments earlier, he had made up his mind to fight the female demon to the death, but her sudden change caught him off guard. Still, his astonishment lasted only briefly; Zheng Qing already decided he wouldn’t let her leave.

Worst case, he’d spend some time in the Land of Void again, and let Mr. Wu cook him up once more.

The tension in the Conscious Sea tightened increasingly.

Nikita’s smile became more forced. The footsteps of death drew ever closer, and she could even smell the suffocating scent of annihilation wrapping around her neck like a tightening noose.

Her intuition screamed wildly in her mind, urging her to act quickly.

”I surrender!”

She raised her hands swiftly, her words tumbling out: ”I can go back to your school with you! Go to Danghag! Even go to the Black Prison! Isn’t the school’s reward higher for capturing demons alive?! I have an arrest warrant! I’m more valuable alive!”

Zheng Qing hesitated for half a second, then shook his head with effort.

He wasn’t confident he could escort such a cunning demon safely back to school.

”Thomas!” Nikita stammered in panic, grasping for any straw, her words becoming nonsensical: ”You know Thomas, don’t you?! He’ll help me! I still have the scarf he gave me! He’s at the First University too!”

Zheng Qing’s breathing hitched slightly.

In his mind, whispers of campus rumors surfaced—such as the one about Teaching Assistant Thomas remaining single because his lover suffered a tragic accident, yet he believed a fallen soul could be saved.

So the fallen soul... had been Nikita.

Thomas, who had guided Zheng Qing into the Wizard World, had supported him greatly at school. For Thomas’s former lover, Zheng Qing wouldn’t mind lending a hand where he could.

But it wouldn’t involve letting her go.

The warlock offered a regretful smile. ”You have about a minute left.”

Nikita looked at him in despair.

She was out of options.

Years of desperate survival had honed her ability to ”read people” to near perfection. She could easily grasp a professor’s subtle hints in class or perceive the unspoken depths of the Mist Captain’s words. So Zheng Qing’s expressions and gaze were almost defenseless against her.

And precisely because of this, she saw within the young wizard’s eyes an unshakable certainty, calmness, and resolve.

A resolve that could not be swayed by words.

”I always knew this day would come, but I never thought it would be so soon.” Nikita finally relinquished her struggle, her smile fading and her gaze complex as she looked at Zheng Qing. She sighed softly: ”If I hadn’t taken that flight back then... would we be able to coexist peacefully now?”

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes, refusing to answer.

He could feel the immense power surging upward from the depths of his Conscious Sea, rising swiftly and about to engulf him entirely.

Even though he’d died once before, he still didn’t like the drowning sensation that came with it.

Right now, he wasn’t in the mood to entertain Nikita.

”Fate, that goddamn bitch,” the female demon muttered under her breath, cursing quietly: ”She deserves to be hunted down and drowned in a pig cage...”

”Eh? What are you two doing here?”

A sudden voice interrupted their tense standoff.

Zheng Qing turned his head to see a little girl riding a small purple spider, emerging from behind a massive oak tree.

The familiar face rattled the warlock’s heart.

It was Zhu Si.

But he quickly realized—it was the Faceless Demon in Zhu Zhu’s form, not the Little Witch.

He raised an eyebrow and suddenly felt the urge to sing:

”Oh, truly... Heaven has a path you refuse to walk, Hell has no gate, yet you choose to enter, yi-ya, yi-ya-ya...”