High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2465: Chapter 686: If the Heart Is Not Guarded, the Wood Cannot Remain Intact

Timetables, hair, blood, tracking, indirect methods, purchasing, approaching.

In total, seven tasks, seven notes.

Among them, the ’tracking’ task involves sending someone to follow Zheng Qing, to confirm his daily activities and movements—this is a requirement clearly specified by Alpha; while the ’approaching’ method suggests sending a pretty young woman to approach and seduce Zheng Qing, as proposed by the Persian Cat before, both as a backup plan for collecting blood and hair and also as a way to scrutinize on behalf of Su Councilor.

The Black Cat felt that several Devils in the conference room seriously suggesting scrutiny for the Upper House Member of the Moon Council was something incredibly ironic.

Yet such things were indeed happening.

Then there were the ’indirect methods’ and ’purchasing’ tasks. The former involves sending someone to get close to Zheng Qing’s friends, to learn about the target’s hobbies and habits through indirect means and provide intelligence support for other task actions; the latter involves the task recipient buying biological information related to Zheng Qing through other third-party channels, such as Wandering Bar, school task bulletin, flea markets, etc. This counts as the third backup plan for the Devils.

Lucifer made an apt analogy: ”A normal person’s eyes are all on the front, so it’s easy for everyone to notice an attack coming from the front. This is our opportunity. Because when your attention is focused on the front, there’s a high chance you will overlook what’s behind you.”

”You also mentioned that this move is meant for normal people.” Belfinger lazily clicked his beak, expressing doubt towards the Blood Bat’s analogy: ”But Zheng Qing, that guy, appears to be anything but normal...”

”Whether normal or not, buying information is much easier than investigating in person.” The black-and-white piglet snorted, its face scrunched up: ”Merlin Above, please don’t let me draw ’blood’ and ’hair’... I have no idea how to start! Am I supposed to go to their class between lessons and punch him in the nose?”

”You’re a Devil, don’t Pray to Merlin here!” Samael barked irritably.

”But that sounds like a good idea!”

The Persian Cat’s eyes sparkled, its tail perked up with joy: ”You don’t have to do it yourself, you can spend some gold to hire someone to do it, there are plenty of people at school who want to punch that guy’s face, no one will think you’re just trying to get his nose blood...”

”Maybe someone will even be willing to pay to execute this task.” The sleek Black Mountain Goat contributed leisurely.

”I know Astronomy Class 08-1 has some fervent followers of Su Councilor, they would surely be willing to provide us a bit of convenience for this matter.” The Persian Cat raised a paw and added, ”If anyone plans to do this, they can post a small task on the bulletin board in front of the teaching building...”

The Black Cat did not participate in the heated discussion at the meeting table.

At the moment, it was huddled in the shadow of a wilting potted plant, taking out its small notebook, frantically recording various sinister plans and schemes of the Devils, while cold sweat streamed down its back, feeling fortunate for the first time in its life to have joined this peculiar Seven Sins club.

It felt that it had never been this serious in taking notes even during class.

”Sin Bearer?”

”Lord Kannai?”

”Black Cat!!”

A furry paw suddenly struck from the side, knocking the small polished Duck Egg mask slightly askew off Black Cat’s face, and it was only then that it noticed everyone else staring straight at it.

”What?” Black Cat calmly closed its notebook and tucked it securely under its belly.

”Why are you still wearing that thing? Look around, aside from you, who else is wearing a mask in here?” The Persian Cat—or Lady Leviathan—first teased the Black Cat for the futile mask it wore, and then pushed a box containing seven notes in front of Black Cat: ”Here... It’s your turn to supervise and ensure the fairness of the drawing process. You’re probably only good for this.”

Black Cat was accustomed to the Persian Cat’s sarcasm and was completely unfazed.

It was just relieved that the lady didn’t notice its notebook.

”To wear a mask or not, might seem merely a necessity or not from your point of view.”

Black Cat steadied itself and then lifted a paw to straighten the small mask on its face, speaking with righteous conviction: ”But to me, this is a rule I’ve adhered to since I joined the Seven Sins. Without rules, nothing can be accomplished; a thousand mile dam can crumble from an ant hole... I do not believe that our predecessors were unaware of the effects of transformation, yet they still chose these masks, they must have their reasons.”

This speech left the Persian Cat quiet, along with the other Devils falling into deep thought.

Taking advantage of this, it first stowed away the small notebook hidden beneath its belly, then took the box, reached in with its paw, stirred it around, thoroughly disrupting the order inside.

Originally, it also wanted to seize this opportunity to do some sleight of hand to know who got which task. But the agility derived from a cat made it instantly aware that at the moment its paw reached into the box, the previously contemplative Devils snapped out of their reverie and began to gaze intensely at the box, leaving it no room for any tricks.

”A person should guard their heart, a tree should guard its branches, matters should be insured, always think thrice before acting to avoid regret!”

The Black Cat murmured words of caution, showing faint disappointment under its mask, then embraced the box and walked along the edge of the conference table: ”Once taken, there’s no turning back, out of the box without regrets!”

In less than a minute, seven notes were distributed.

The Devils were either beaming, gritting their teeth, worried eyebrows, or expressionless. The Black Cat carefully noted their expressions, trying to deduce based on their reactions who received which task.

But even after returning to the dormitory, it still had no clue.

It felt all the Devils were deceiving it.

”How’d the meeting go?” Xiao Xiao was the first to notice the Black Cat stealthily enter the room through the window. He was leaning on the headboard, fiddling with the Crystal Ball in his hand: ”...before you returned, I did a divination for you. The results are somewhat subtle, seemingly excellent but also somewhat awful.”

”Your Divination Skills have improved again.” The Black Cat heavily sighed, spread its limbs, collapsed listlessly on the desk, and casually threw out its notebook that recorded the night’s events, briefly and succinctly recounting what happened.

This sparked immense curiosity from a certain news worker.

”Bravo! Bravo!”

The Fat Wizard reviewed the Black Cat’s recorded plans one by one, praising incessantly: ”Indeed a formidable organization. If it weren’t for you being the mole, they’d have bought even your underwear within a day... Especially sending a pretty Witch to seduce you, that’s simply genius! Absolutely killer! It’s evident that your scoundrel image has spread far and wide.”

The Black Cat glared, grinding its claws fiercely.