High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1890: Chapter 111: Rising from Humble Origins

”How pitiful.”

Zheng Qing immediately felt a surge of sympathy, wondering if he had been too harsh toward an orphan with his previous poor attitude. But then, he realized something was off: ”Wait... was his family wealthy before?”

Xiao Xiao shook his head: ”Going back three hundred years, the entire Qingcheng Lin’s family hasn’t produced a single registered wizard.”

”Then is his mother from a prominent family, with a rich dowry?” Zheng Qing continued to frown.

”No, she wasn’t.”

The doctor seemed to know what he wanted to ask and answered briskly: ”His mother’s family’s situation is similar to his father’s side. Traditional wizards place great importance on family status, and intermarriage between large and small families is quite rare unless gifted with extraordinary talent... As far as I know, his mother’s family’s situation was even worse than his father’s, seemingly already extinct. His grandfather wasn’t good at business, only tended to a few mu of ancestral spiritual land to grow some herbs, exchanging them for talisman paper and cinnabar, barely scraping by.”

”Then he...”

Zheng Qing had just opened his mouth when Xiao Xiao interrupted him: ”He didn’t fall off a cliff, nor did he discover treasure hidden by a great mage in the ravine, nor did he go out and find a watermelon-sized gold nugget or was taken under the wing of a legendary wizard... The seventy jade coins he dared to ask for from you, he earned them all by himself.”

”Earned by himself?!” Zheng Qing was instantly dumbfounded, nearly crumpling the paper crane he planned to send back to Zhang Ji Xin.

Luckily, Xiao Xiao had quick reflexes and tapped the young cost student on the wrist with a pen, saving the paper crane from returning to the pile of scraps. The poor little thing skittered out of the boy’s fist, not daring to look back, took a few steps on the desk to gain momentum, and flapped awkwardly into the air, fleeing the room with a sense of panic, heading askew toward the library exit.

Zheng Qing watched it leave apologetically, but the disappointment in his heart couldn’t follow the little bird away.

”Hmm.”

Doctor Xiao’s voice was flat, as if discussing a mundane matter: ”Student Lin is an excellent pharmacist. Last year, he developed a new type of corpse poison potion, using poison to counteract poison. It can greatly alleviate the stiffness and sluggishness of zombie blood, allowing zombies to better harness their internal magic power. As a result, the Gongsun Family from the Moon Council bought the formula at a high price. It’s said the buyout fee exceeded five hundred jade coins... So according to this, pulling out seventy jade coins wouldn’t be hard for him.”

Listening to Xiao Xiao’s explanation, Zheng Qing was momentarily at a loss for what expression to make—envy? Jealousy? Or both?—Reflecting on his own situation, constantly painting talismans, going on ’hunts’ everywhere, and running a little shop so miserably, he hadn’t managed to accumulate fifty jade coins over an entire academic year. Meanwhile, his classmate Lin Yan easily earned five hundred jade coins from concocting a magic potion.

The disparity was so significant that he felt enveloped in a lemony bitterness.

He looked down, hastily signing off a few ’Read’ marks, and then sent out a few more paper cranes of varying sizes, finally regaining some composure and feeling the courage to speak again.

”Then why does he suddenly want to buy our Atonement?” The young cost student engaged the few brain cells he had left, thinking hard: ”Don’t tell me he just likes the name... Children from poor families wouldn’t waste money like this.”

He himself was from a humble background, quite accurate in grasping the mindset of ordinary wizards, considering certain wealthy families within the Atonement Hunting Team as reference.

”With a humble background, extraordinary talent, ambitious, and also a cost student of Alpha... what do you deduce from these conditions?” Xiao Xiao didn’t directly answer, but earnestly looked at Zheng Qing.

The captain of the Atonement Hunting Team remained silent for a few seconds.

”Sepulano?” He had the vague feeling that he had grasped something.

”Mike Gold Cypress Plano.”

Xiao Xiao repeated the full name of the fat wizard, sighing: ”This Blood Comrades’ newly appointed Augustus is in his junior year, while Lin Yan is a freshman... If luck favors him, when Sepulano leaves the school, Lin Yan should have the chance to contend for the next Augustus title.”

”Sepulano, who ultimately defeated Sir Friedman to become the new Augustus, owes much of his success to the Xiang Qi Club and the Xiang Qi Hunting Team he established. I suppose Lin Yan has seen this and aims to replicate Sepulano’s path.”

”But he could just start a hunting team from scratch!” Zheng Qing frowned, still somewhat perturbed by the newcomer’s choice: ”A self-established hunting team should be more credible than a bought one, right?”

”Unless the purchased hunting team could bring him more benefits.”

The doctor snapped his fingers silently, raising a finger: ”Firstly, although the Atonement Hunting Team is a school-wide hunting team, it’s commonly recognized as a Jiuyou Academy team because most of its members are Jiuyou People. If this team is bought by someone from Alpha, for whatever reason, it would allow the buyer to significantly enhance his prestige at Alpha Fortress.”

”Secondly!”

Xiao Xiao slightly intensified his tone, pushing his glasses with the raised finger and then extending another: ”The feud between you and Sepulano is no secret. Not mentioning the initial incident with his younger brother, just last semester, you severely injured him with a single shot, causing quite a stir between the two academies, leading to a hearing. That alone would generate enough animosity from Sepulano towards you.”

”Of course, now he’s the Augustus of the Blood Comrades, and you’re no small fry either, so he probably wouldn’t take direct action against you. But if some wizards wanting to curry favor with him were to ’privately’ embarrass you, he would be quite pleased.”

”Finally, compared to starting a new hunting team from scratch, the Atonement Hunting Team has another advantage...”

”The ability to participate in the official school hunting competitions?” Zheng Qing looked at a pale blue piece of letter paper in front of him, a strange expression crossing his face.

Xiao Xiao glanced at him in surprise: ”You actually thought of that?”

”No, it wasn’t me who thought of it.”

Zheng Qing shook the letter paper in his hand, explaining: ”It was Jiang Yu, she mentioned it in this letter that a newly established apprentice hunting team less than a year old can only participate in the freshman competition, not the Campus Cup. The honor, wealth, and influence gained from the official hunting competition far surpass that of the freshman competition... so she thinks this is Lin Yan’s main reason for wanting to buy Atonement... Of course, her thoughts weren’t as complex as yours.”

”Besides you, no one else would complicate such a small matter to this extent.”

Xiao Xiao had more to say, but he quietly shut his mouth without a sound and subtly gestured to Zheng Qing. Zheng Qing lowered his head and immediately noticed the heavy shadow cast on the desk.