High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1987: Chapter 208: Crossdressing Doll

The selection of mentors lasted only a short time before being declared as fruitless.

The young hunters of the Absolution Hunting Team each had their own opinions, which all sounded reasonable — for instance, those supporting Old Yao believed receiving guidance from a legendary wizard would surely be rewarding; those supporting Professor Yi thought having a master of divination to guide them would help easily avoid difficulties in the competition; and those supporting Zhu Si did so simply because she was the easiest teacher for the Absolution Hunting Team to invite.

The argument became so severe that Zhang Ji Xin started pulling at his gloves.

In this situation, Zheng Qing decisively halted the discussion process to prevent the ongoing futile meeting from impacting the team’s unity.

Of course, as the captain of Absolution, the young student on scholarship claimed he would carefully consider and weigh every suggestion put forward by the team.

The next day was Saturday.

Though he already knew the requirements for the first selection task of the school’s hunting competition, since getting up in the morning, Zheng Qing hadn’t focused much on finding a mentor.

On one hand, with the weekend approaching, office buildings are closed, making it quite difficult to locate the professors Zheng Qing prioritizes in his mind. He also wonders if Old Yao has even been around in school lately.

Not knowing if the small tower in the lake’s center can still communicate with the Black Prison World, this thought flickered in Zheng Qing’s mind as he glimpsed the shadow of Lake Heart Tower passing by Lin Zhong Lake at noon before heading into the library.

On the other hand, the young scholarship student doesn’t think this selection task will be particularly difficult— including Xiao Xiao, the young hunters of the Absolution Hunting Team argue more over who to invite as their mentor, never considering the situation of failing to secure anyone.

This mindset certainly stems from the close relationships Absolution’s hunters have with the professors over time, but one can’t ignore the youthful arrogance, believing their hunting team is exceptional, like fine wine that doesn’t fear a deep alley.

Honestly speaking, throughout the First University, not counting the twenty-eight hunting teams that have consistently held places on the rankings year after year, Absolution considers itself the twenty-ninth team, with little dispute over this standing.

According to Xiao Xiao’s statistics, there should be about one hundred eighty-six faculty meeting the selection requirements, including deans, professors, assistant professors, lecturers, and so forth—the ’around’ is due to some on maternity leave or special conditions making them unable to serve as mentors.

Based on estimates, the number of hunting teams registered for the preliminary matches is just over two hundred, so as long as the ranking doesn’t fall to the bottom twenty or so, they should secure a mentor no matter what.

Taking a step back, even if the professors the young hunters wish to invite aren’t available, and Zhu Si is bedridden and unable to serve as a mentor, Zheng Qing also knows a Fishman professor at Lin Zhong Lake, who taught him Fishman Language last semester, could barely make do as Absolution’s guide.

Of course, these assumptions fall under extreme conditions, the pressure test wouldn’t set such parameters.

The Absolution Hunting Team wouldn’t fall to such depths no matter what.

Thus, although it’s already October and the preliminary selection for the school’s hunting competition has commenced, on this Saturday, Zheng Qing still woke up for morning exercises routinely, ate breakfast leisurely, then went to the library to complete assignments given by the professors.

From his observations, most students at Jiuyou Academy are similar, with the library being even more crowded due to the weekend.

This made him increasingly relaxed.

Monotonous daily life, besides dull homework, doesn’t lack for interesting events.

For instance, lately, a magic prank known as ’gender-swapping dolls’ became popular in the school, originally developed by Shepherdess as rapid-change costume dolls. They appear as palm-sized cloth dolls wearing dresses either splendid or trendy. The spell cast on the doll allows a witch trying on clothes to wear the dress of the doll the next second by simply taking it in hand.

Originally, this function was very proper.

At most, couples of wizards flaunting their love might let a witch don a splendid princess dress amid the public, evoking cheerful squeals to fulfill their small pink dreams.

Yet once, when a warlock accidentally first touched the doll while gifting it, mysteriously ending up dressed in women’s clothes, the tone slowly twisted.

Apple Pavilion quickly identified this business opportunity, developing a new product based on the Pandora Magic Box series, the gender-swapping dolls, focusing on enticing warlocks in women’s clothing. For this, they deliberately embedded shrinking spells to reduce the dolls from palm-sized to finger-sized, facilitating pranksters to deliver tricks.

Imagine a typically stoic warlock suddenly donning a dress full of lace or a gorgeous Crinoline Skirt in broad daylight after unsuspectingly receiving a small doll—it’s a delightful sight.

Thus, gender-swapping dolls quickly gained popularity at the First University, especially recently, as Zheng Qing intermittently saw warlocks, face in hands, dashing in splendid lace dresses across the public eye, surrounded by a cheerful atmosphere.

Soon, however, the warlocks at First University learned a lesson, becoming very wary of any handkerchief offered to them, in case it concealed a gender-swapping doll.

As for Zheng Qing, he had early on taken Xiao Xiao’s advice to tuck a magic mask with a grim Zhang Fei’s face into the grey cloth bag, ensuring that if falling for the trap, he could simply cover his face, avoiding fleeing in disgrace within the school, and instead leave gracefully as though nothing was amiss.

”Is this a warm-up for the school hunting party?”

Upon leaving the library in the evening, Zheng Qing once again saw a tall figure clad in a Luoxian Skirt sprinting past, looking at those exposed furry arms, he couldn’t help but complain to Xiao Xiao: ”The hunting party hasn’t officially started, yet the school feels quite festive... Besides, don’t you think that Luoxian Skirt was a bit short?”

Xiao Xiao raised his head, adjusting his glasses, taking a glance at that increasingly distant, embarrassed figure.

”Short?”

He snorted coldly with no expression: ”At this level, it’s considered very mild... The development of spear and shield progresses spirally... In other words, the game has upgraded.”

Zheng Qing was long accustomed to Xiao Xiao’s quirk of not speaking human words when answering questions.

Nonetheless, he still couldn’t understand this answer.

”Spear and shield?”

The young scholarship student blinked, trying to keep up with the Doctor’s leap in thought: ”Uh... what do you mean the game has upgraded?”