High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2291: Chapter 512: A Similar Question

When that familiar feeling of dizziness hit, Zheng Qing had a strong sense of deja vu.

After steadying himself, he shook his head vigorously, trying to focus quickly. A slightly pungent smoke made him sneeze twice, speeding up the process of waking up.

Coming back to his senses, he found himself standing in front of a giant redwood bookcase. Behind the tall glass windows, neat rows of thick magic books were displayed, and a parade of shriveled demon skulls the size of baby fists lined up in front of the magic books, as if waiting for inspection.

Their menacing expressions deeply attracted the young wizard—happy faces are all similar, but each menacing face is different—this phrase suddenly emerged in his heart.

”Those are trophies from the Black Prison; if you’re interested, you can take one or two.” A slightly deep voice came from behind, from the dean of Jiuyou Academy.

Zheng Qing quickly turned around.

”Good evening, Professor. You caught... called me here for something?” He politely greeted, but inwardly, he criticized, guessing this old man had too simple and crude means. Why couldn’t he wait until after exams to ask?

”Can’t I just chat with you without anything special?”

Behind the desk, the professor, grading papers, chuckled and half-jokingly reminded: ”By the way, the next time you curse someone in your heart, remember to add a few more foggy soul locks... not every legendary wizard has my good temperament. Like Lady Shi Hui, once, someone called her a little girl in front of her and was directly chopped into pieces... uh, perhaps because that guy was a Fallen Wizard.”

The young scholarship student quietly swallowed.

”You can hear my inner voice?” He weakly chuckled.

”That’s hardly new.”

The dean of Jiuyou Academy lifted his eyelids, glanced at him, and the pipe by his mouth twitched twice: ”For legends, many things are about whether you want to or not, not whether you can or cannot. You can’t always rely on others following the rules... Of course, as a general rule, I abide by them, but you’re too close to me; the thoughts bouncing in your mind are as clear as the fish swimming in Lin Zhong Lake.”

Zheng Qing said nothing, but silently cast a series of soul-defense magic in his heart.

The professor nodded approvingly and put down the feather pen in his hand.

”By the way... why did you just think of a raven?” He leaned back in the high-backed chair, fingers intertwined and resting on his chest, leisurely looking at the young scholarship student, with eyes carrying the perfect touch of curiosity.

Zheng Qing touched his nose and honestly replied: ”Because we were just discussing ravens in our dorm, and then I got caught by you... During the afternoon’s Potion Making exam, wasn’t there a lot of commotion outside the school? I heard it was an accident at an illegal laboratory... supposedly connected to ravens.”

”Heard, allegedly, hey, rumors are always the fastest in school.” The professor clicked his tongue, seemingly expressing dissatisfaction with the school’s messy rumor environment.

He had reason for dissatisfaction.

”Are you also here to catch the ravens, Professor!” Zheng Qing felt slightly excited. From the school hunting competition to the winter hunt, those guys wearing raven masks were like a thorn stuck in his throat, making him restless.

”Ravens?”

Old Yao raised his eyebrows, snapped his pipe, then showed a hint of realization, aware that his attitude had caused some misunderstanding for the boy: ”No, um, that matter is handled by Vice Principal Ruoyu, it’s not convenient for me to intervene casually...”

Zheng Qing nodded with disappointment—indeed, the dismantling of illegal laboratories, involving off-campus elements, certainly falls under the school works committee’s domain.

”Then you...” He was uncertain about the reason why Old Yao brought him.

”Oh, I just happened to review your paper and suddenly remembered something.” Old Yao patted the pile of tests beside him, pretended not to see the boy’s longing gaze, and shifted the topic: ”...have you considered graduating early?”

Graduating early?

Zheng Qing withdrew his gaze from the paper, instinctively touched the back of his head.

This semester, he seemed to hear the term a bit too often—from Linda Barnes intending to graduate early to a witch suggesting it at the Moonlight Ball, ever since entering second grade, he seemed to be driven by the entire world to sprint towards the concept of maturity.

Of course, when Su Shijun mentioned ’graduating early,’ her thoughts were very ’pure,’ just wanting him to leave school sooner and then get married, giving Poseidon an appropriate status.

But when faced with this old monster, there is absolutely no intention of marriage.

”My credits... seem to be quite lacking.” He wasn’t quite sure what specifically the professor wanted to ask, so he answered vaguely: ”I think Xiao Xiao has better chances of accumulating enough credits with more exams...”

”The exams aren’t the issue.”

The professor behind the desk casually interrupted the young scholarship student’s mumbling, his gaze sweeping over the pile of tests on the desk: ”Calculating it, you’ve been at school for a year and a half now; everyone has seen your potential... Besides, after the second year ends, the comprehensive and basic courses are complete, leaving two years with courses focused on specialized and practical subjects. For the specialized ones, given you’ve mastered all the basic runes, it’s not difficult to achieve enough credits to graduate; and for practical scores, based on my view of all First University enrollees, no one has more practical experience than you.”

This praise was straightforward and remarkably reasonable.

Plus, coming from the dean of Jiuyou Academy and a legendary wizard, this reasoning was filled with persuasion.

Zheng Qing felt a rare tinge of blush.

”But, but...” He stammered, attempting to find a more reasonable excuse.

”Councilor Su should also want you to graduate sooner, right?” Old Yao pinched a clump of tobacco, stuffed it into the pipe, glanced at the boy who was full of internal conflict, with a smile containing a hint of playfulness: ”Or maybe you don’t want to graduate because of some other person in school?”

If this old man mentioned a certain name, Zheng Qing absolutely wouldn’t be surprised.

Very abruptly, his mind became extraordinarily clear at this moment.

Zheng Qing took a deep breath, did not try to defend his reason for wanting to stay at school, but directly asked: ”Why do you hope I graduate early?”

He absolutely did not believe it was just because he ’could’ graduate early that the professor wanted him to. Just like the example he gave, theoretically, Xiao Xiao qualified to graduate early in his first year, his magic knowledge reserve even surpassed many teaching assistants and lecturers at the school.

So, there must be some other reason why Old Yao hopes he graduates early.