High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2174: Chapter 395: Three Paper Cranes

The noisy disturbances within the academy didn’t cause much fluctuation in Zheng Qing’s state of mind.

His mind was preoccupied with the meeting under the cat fruit tree in the evening and the risk of being dragged into Old Yao’s office at any moment. As a result, he couldn’t remember at all what he had for dinner.

Six thirty in the evening.

Less than an hour remained before his scheduled meeting with Su Ya, and it was already quite dark outside, even darker than the sky he saw in Old Yao’s office in his dream—this was a good omen, but it wasn’t enough to completely ease Zheng Qing’s worries. His dream experience hung over his head like the Sword of Damocles poised to fall and slice him half to death at any moment.

”You’re really not going to the library?” Xiao Xiao confirmed before leaving.

”Not going.”

The young cost student forced a smile, mumbling, ”For me, the library is a bit noisy... you know that... there’s no harm in keeping a low profile.”

This reason was barely acceptable.

But in reality, Zheng Qing had already made up his mind. He planned to turn into a cat and, with the invisibility talisman on, quietly sneak out of the dormitory after Xiao Xiao left, find a big tree with no one around, and nestle up there where no one could find him. This should maximize the chances of avoiding being caught by Old Yao.

”Suit yourself.” The short wizard shrugged, carefully tucked the bamboo slip law book into his chest, and then adjusted his glasses, ”I just wanted to remind you that studying alone in the dormitory is highly inefficient and the chances of you falling asleep at the desk are very high, and this has theoretical backing... huh? Whose paper crane is that?”

He looked outside the window in surprise.

A palm-sized grey paper crane was flapping its wings vigorously, hovering outside dormitory 403’s window, tapping at the window to remind the two young wizards inside to open it.

Zheng Qing hurried to the balcony and brought the paper crane inside.

Maybe because it pecked too hard, its beak twisted, like a towel wrung dry. But at this moment, the attention of the two boys wasn’t on its beak but rather on the small leather pouch hanging from its back.

The paper crane circled the two wizards a few times before attempting to land on Zheng Qing. The young cost student quickly pulled out a feather pen to keep it a meter away, then swiftly drew out three yellow talismans from his grey cloth bag—a warding one, a detection one, and a detoxification one—and cautiously tossed them onto the paper crane.

The three talisman papers drifted down onto the paper crane and the leather pouch, and a faint magical fluctuation passed over them without any anomalies appearing. This meant it wasn’t a ’prank’.

”Divination indicates there’s no danger.” Xiao Xiao put away the crystal ball in his hand and nodded subtly.

Only then did Zheng Qing pinch the tip of the paper crane’s wing and unfold it.

The letter was from the editorial department of the Beta Town Post. The content was very simple—expressing gratitude to the ’anonymous informant’ for supplying material, hoping to establish a long-term cooperative relationship, with payment for the material enclosed. At the end, it emphasized in bold that this paper crane was a special one developed by the First University Institute of Applied Magic for the post to contact anonymous informants, available for multiple uses, capable of shielding against high-tier tracking magic, and absolutely safe.

Without a second thought, Zheng Qing rubbed a small fireball between his fingers and burned the letter paper clean in mid-air. Then he picked up the small leather pouch and weighed it in his hand.

The crisp sound of jade coins clinking against each other was clearly audible.

”Four or five,” Doctor Xiao decisively judged, curiously scrutinizing Zheng Qing, ”What have you sold again?”

”What do you mean ’again’!” the young cost student retorted indignantly, ”Can’t it be that I’ve developed a new spell or earned a bonus for a good deed?”

The doctor pursed his lips, refraining from engaging in this silly argument.

Then, the flutter and rustle of paper crane wings was heard once more. Following the sound, the two of them watched as a blue paper crane flew inside through a narrow window gap, directly landing on Zheng Qing’s shoulder and brushing against his earlobe with a long neck.

A familiar aura wafted over.

Zheng Qing didn’t waste any talisman paper, directly unfolding the paper crane. As expected, the signature of the Qingqiu Su Family’s spinning nine tails was imprinted at the end of the letter. Sensing the wizard’s aura, the signature began to spin clockwise, and after a moment, a line of short text gradually appeared on the once-blank paper, deepening from light to dark:

”There is a change in the plan. Dong Dong hasn’t finished her homework; pick her up at nine tonight. There’s another matter to discuss. No worries. Junzi.”

Brief and to the point, with words cherished to the utmost.

Zheng Qing understood all of this line’s content, but that phrase ’another matter to discuss’, faintly gave him an uneasy feeling. Anything serious enough for a Big Wizard to discuss in person couldn’t be a trivial matter.

The young wizard sighed deeply, put away the letter, and looked up to find the dormitory empty. Xiao Xiao had left without him noticing. The Fat Cat was comfortably curled atop Xin Fat Man’s pillow, its body covered with lazily lounging sprites.

From Dylan’s coffin came the sound of rustling, as if grinding teeth or gnawing at the coffin board. Zheng Qing checked the time; it seemed to be about Mister Wolfman’s time to get up.

Bang!

A loud crash interrupted the wizard’s sigh.

Outside the window, a tiny red paper crane, seemingly blind to the narrow slit in the window, crashed solidly against the clear glass window.

A sense of foreboding rose in Zheng Qing’s heart.

The next second, he realized the paper crane wasn’t truly blind but was doing it on purpose. After being blocked by the glass window, the little red paper crane retreated slightly, raised its neck high, then leaned forcefully forward, wings flapping like an arrow launched from a bow, crashing heavily against window 403.

The glass window, capable of withstanding various disaster weather spells, shattered with a bang. The clattering sound reminded Zheng Qing of the glass window he had accidentally smashed a long time ago.

”What’s happened? What’s going on?” Mister Wolfman, lifting the coffin lid, groggily looked around, ”Whose bottle broke?”

In contrast, Fatty Cat merely twitched its ears and didn’t even bother to open its eyes. But the sprites, as though they had received a starting gun signal, frantically rose from the cat’s body to begin tidying up the shattered glass scattered across the balcony.

The red paper crane darted into the dormitory, giving Zheng Qing no chance to use a talisman. It burst into flames of its own accord, transforming in mid-air into a fireball. Then the fireball stretched left and right, and in a moment morphed into an ordinary hand, whistling and smacking towards the wizard’s head.

Zheng Qing let out a startled cry, taking a step back.

But unexpectedly, the red hand didn’t strike his head but instead drew an arc through the air, grabbed his ear, opened a large mouth in its palm, and roared:

”Only this once, never again!”

The thunderous voice almost deafened the young wizard.

And then the fiery red hand vanished, leaving only the stunned wizard clutching his burning ear, his whole head buzzing.