High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1529: Chapter 273: A Cautious Meeting

Furry Bean stood confused and wary in front of the warlock.

Its pinkish nose twitched as a rumbling noise came from its throat, sounding both like a cat’s purring and a dog’s warning growl. Zheng Qing found it hard to read Gouzi’s current mood.

The only thing he was certain of was that Furry Bean couldn’t confirm his identity.

This drove him slightly mad.

”Have you caught a cold? What’s wrong with your nose? Can’t recognize me anymore?” He widened his eyes at the hesitant Gouzi and began pondering whether to mix a quick potion for treating nasal inflammation or simply pour bellyfuls of Baffi’s Brain Awakening Potion into Furry Bean—he had just consumed some not long ago and was thoroughly impressed by its stimulating and rejuvenating effects.

Furry Bean nodded obediently, wagged its tail cheerfully, then meowed and took off running.

While sprinting, it let out a series of pitiful screams, as though a fire-breathing wild dragon were chasing it.

Zheng Qing stared dumbfounded at Gouzi’s retreating figure.

”Why are you running?! You’ve been fired!” he roared, the charm gun in his hand emitting unsettling creaks.

Nikita shrank even smaller, desperately trying to reduce her presence. The Faceless Demon curled up beside her. Only Zhu Si, seemingly aware that Zheng Qing was in trouble, sympathetically patted his arm.

This gesture made Zheng Qing even more frustrated.

”It’s really me! Why don’t any of you believe me?”

With difficulty, Zheng Qing managed to stand up, shouting into the distance, yet he kept the gun barrel trained on Nikita: ”They’re prisoners, MY prisoners! This is Zhu Si... Do none of you know Zhu Si? I brought her back! And the Faceless Demon, disguised as Liu Fei Fei’s pet snake—the Faceless Demon—I brought that back too!”

”It wasn’t a disguise.” Zhuzhu’s head shrank further into her robe as she muttered softly, ”Back then, I really was a snake, no doubt about it. Just like now, I’m truly a little witch.”

Zheng Qing’s gun barrel swung threateningly in her direction.

The muttering immediately fell silent on the spider’s back.

...

Compared to Zheng Qing’s initial optimism, the young hunters of the Absolution Hunting Team were understandably more cautious—when the vast ghostly army was still hundreds of meters from the team’s battle formation, Zhang Ji Xin had already stopped their advance and sent Mr. Maudou as a representative to start initial negotiations.

So far, the results of the negotiations had been far from satisfying.

After Furry Bean bolted back to the Absolution Hunting Team’s battle formation, it seemed to have gained a little more courage. With a woeful whimper, it turned back to wag its tail at Zheng Qing.

”It definitely recognized me!” Zheng Qing pointed at the cheerfully wagging dog tail, raising his voice: ”Otherwise, it wouldn’t wag its tail at me!”

”It wags its tail at everyone.” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses and refuted, ”If it recognized you, why run back terrified?”

Zheng Qing was at a loss for words.

He had plenty of guesses—perhaps Gouzi had sniffed out the Forbidden Spell aura, or the King in Yellow’s scent, or the remnants of the Big Sea Monster’s presence on Nikita and Zhuzhu; all of these could scare it.

But guesses, by nature, are hard to make universally convincing.

”Therefore, we have reason to doubt your identity.”

The Blue Giant, sitting at the rear of the Absolution Hunting Team’s formation, responded in a rumbling voice: ”Even your own dog doesn’t recognize you... How do you prove you’re really you?”

Appearance, obviously!

Zheng Qing had just been about to respond, but the words got stuck in his throat. For wizards, appearances, voices, and even official legal documents could all be forged using magic.

He was, after all, sitting beside two versions of ’Zhu Si’—a pretty conclusive demonstration.

As for aura—Zheng Qing glanced again at the distant Furry Bean wagging its tail at him and sighed heavily in his heart. Perhaps due to the King in Yellow’s blessing or the growth of the Forbidden Curse sapling deep in his soul, Zheng Qing’s aura or soul had undergone certain changes.

As the Blue Giant pointed out, if even his own dog couldn’t recognize him, how could he expect others to drop their guard? After all, this wasn’t school—it was Dreamland, a domain teeming with illusions and deceit, where Outer Gods whispered constantly in your ears.

The irritation in his heart merged with the surge deep within his soul, and Zheng Qing felt himself on the brink of losing control over the ”big bomb” once again.

He instinctively raised the charm gun and fired a shot into the sky.

”Bang!”

The azure fu bullet carried a distinct trajectory as it surged from the barrel, disappearing into the empty expanse within the blink of an eye. Moments later, a distant rumble of thunder echoed, and faint traces of spatial fissures could be seen torn apart by the bullet’s path.

Everyone, including the monsters, stared in awe at the shot’s power.

It was the most convincing and simultaneously least convincing piece of evidence.

With that shot.

The warlock’s aura weakened further, but his eyes grew sharper, the red tint in his pupils suffused with a faint trace of violet. As his gaze flicked, it took on an increasingly oppressive quality.

”I have no means of proving myself.” After firing the shot, Zheng Qing felt the weight ”carried” by his soul lighten considerably. His thoughts also cleared somewhat—there were indeed many things he couldn’t openly explain to his companions. He shifted his attention toward Jiang Yu:

”But you should be able to verify my identity... crossing the Abyss, declaring war against eternity—you are my battle flag.”

This was the final line in the magic contract he and Jiang Yu signed under their mentor’s witness. As the binding from the magical contract resonated with the utterance of that incantation, it tugged at the hearts of both young wizards.

The witch exhaled deeply, nodded firmly, and a smile appeared on her face: ”It is indeed him.”

”That didn’t sound reassuring.” Zhang Ji Xin started whispering quietly with Xiao Xiao.

The slightly shorter warlock solemnly nodded.

Jiang Yu turned back, her sensitivity picking up on their murmur: ”What are you two discussing? I can assure you it’s definitely your captain standing opposite.”

Both warlocks straightened up simultaneously.

”We’re just noticing how strange his eye color looks,” Xiao Xiao, quick to respond even in tense situations, turned toward Zheng Qing and called out, ”Why are your eyes red?”

”Invigorated.” Zheng Qing answered weakly—truth be told, it was true. The leakage of Forbidden Spell aura kept his mental state excessively active, a primary cause of the ”red-eye disease.”

”Why did they turn black then?” Zhang Ji Xin interjected.

”That’s purple, thank you!” The young public-funded wizard snapped irritably at Zhang Ji Xin: ”When your face is flushed red, isn’t it purple?”

The red-faced warlock’s complexion did indeed turn slightly purple, and from a distance, he really did appear as if his face had darkened.

Jiang Yu refrained from joining in the peculiar banter between the warlocks.

She took out a Jade Talisman, fastened it to Furry Bean’s back, then scratched its ears and murmured a few words. The dog shot off again, racing toward Zheng Qing.