High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2488: Chapter 709: Are You a Groundhog?

Monday, the next day.

It happened to be the first day of March.

There were five days left until the Awakening of Insects, yet the weather had unexpectedly turned cold, in stark contrast to the warmth before the Ghost Festival, as if a large gathering of ghostly apparitions had really returned from the underworld at night to visit their descendants, bringing with them the chill of the netherworld.

Yesterday evening, Zheng Qing, who ’accidentally’ passed by the door of San You Bookstore, neither heard the conversation between the Yellow Flowered Cat and Mister inside the window display nor saw the Vice Dean of Edge Academy whom he visited after leaving the Abnormal Life Research Institute to see Doctor Du Zemu, and after reminding Hank to remember to strike the tuning forks every day, he returned to school in a daze.

It wasn’t until he received the Paper Crane from Greenhill Mansion that he remembered the Little White Cat left behind in the fox’s den.

There were too many things to worry about, and Su Shijun always gave the impression of being very reliable, so it shouldn’t count as a terrible oversight, right? The boy comforted himself in his heart, while guiltily digging out in advance a bottle of Energy Potion he bought a few days ago from his Grey Cloth Bag and shoved it into his pocket.

Compared to the two above-mentioned accidents, there was another small incident that day.

When he got up in the morning for his early lesson, Zheng Qing was surprised to see that Dylan’s big black Coffin had somehow appeared on his bed again. The lid of the Coffin was tightly shut, and separated by thick wooden boards, Zheng Qing wasn’t sure whether the Blood Werewolf Mister, whose blood temperature varied, was really lying inside.

”He came back to school this early?”

As he left the dormitory, a chill hit him head-on, making Zheng Qing involuntarily shiver and instinctively wrap his robe tighter around him, muttering: ”This damn weather... Spring is almost here, and it’s still this cold!”

”Invisibility Talisman,” Xiao Xiao reminded him from behind.

Zheng Qing immediately remembered he was still being ’chased’ by a group of devils and reluctantly activated a Yellow Talisman, hanging it on his belt. Maybe it was the effect of the talisman paper, but the chill lessened a bit.

”Between the Awakening of Insects and the Spring Equinox, there should be one or two more cold snaps,” Xiao Xiao said, hands tucked away, slowly walking in front of Zheng Qing, as if talking to himself: ”I heard from a friend at the Weather monitor that they used too many Sun balls last winter and have accumulated a lot of cold balls that haven’t been used yet. Considering expiration issues, they’ll probably use them all up in a hurry before the Spring Equinox, relying on the old tradition of ’Three Cold Days and Four Warm Days’.”

The ’Three Cold Days and Four Warm Days’ means that towards the end of winter and start of spring, if it’s cold continuously for three days, then there will be four days of warm weather. If this phenomenon continues for a while, spring will truly arrive. Assuming it was cold for three days before the start of the semester and warm for the first week, today indeed would be about the time for a new round of ’three cold days’.

However, compared to these weather regulation matters, which are full of bureaucratic atmosphere and red tape, Zheng Qing was more concerned about his roommate— or rather, he was more concerned about the gossip regarding his roommate.

”Dylan is willing to marry a Zombie Bride?” He approached Doctor Xiao, hesitantly asking: ”I remember O’Brien and the Tabbot Family were trying to catch him back for a blind date?”

”They can’t catch him at school, though.”

The doctor adjusted his glasses, looking disdainfully at the air beside him: ”He just needed to run a bit farther during winter break to throw off his family... Even if he hid on the moon for a week, he should have come down by now.”

The air gave no reaction.

But on the other side, a chuckle from Zheng Qing could be heard—By the time the doctor turned his head, Zheng Qing had stealthily moved to the other side of the doctor so that Xiao Xiao’s disdainful remarks had been directed at the air.

Xiao Xiao turned his head without expression, continuing to taunt: ”But like I mentioned before, his birth might have resulted from a serendipitous meeting between a Werewolf and a Vampire, but the fact that he’s grown up indicates the existence of certain will from the upper echelons of both families, and with their background, they naturally don’t have much freedom of choice...”

Zheng Qing’s voice came again from the other side of the doctor: ”That’s not what you said before, I distinctly remember you saying that his very birth indicated...”

Xiao Xiao took a deep breath, not bothering to turn his head, and let out a furious low roar at the front: ”Are you a groundhog?!”

The implication was for him to stop circling around him.

Zheng Qing was unlikely to mind his roar; instead, two passing first-year Witches, startled by the short Warlock’s sudden outburst, clasped hands and hurriedly ran away. Their departing glance appeared as if they’d seen a madman having a magic backlash.

A few more chuckles could be heard in the air.

The doctor chuckled coldly, fished out an Invisibility Talisman, slapped it on himself, and disappeared without a trace as Zheng Qing watched in astonishment.

This time, it was Zheng Qing’s turn to be at a loss.

Because the moment Xiao Xiao vanished, he remembered another pressing matter that needed the doctor’s assistance. After discussing his graduation thesis with Doctor Du Zemu yesterday, he’s in desperate need of a knowledgeable, honest, and reliable expert to help him finalize the direction of his thesis topic.

But as the saying goes, ’Every swallow and drink is predetermined,’ and the consequence of angering the doctor was that Zheng Qing couldn’t find the doctor’s trace from the start of the early lessons until he was ready to enter the teaching building for class.

Monday morning offered a Curse Course.

And a ’Ancient Magic Arts Study’ course after a Time Conversion.

The first class was held in the East 601 classroom of the teaching building, the next class in the West 202.

When Zheng Qing climbed to the second floor, he suddenly felt a bit curious about his state at this time and couldn’t help but detour to West 202, peeking through the window—a clear distinction between the four robe colors in the classroom, each forming their own little clique. If he had to divide it by proximity, perhaps the Blue-robed Stellarians sat closer to the Red-robed Jiuyou People, whereas the White-robed Alpha stayed near the Yellow-robed Atlas.

Zheng Qing noticed that beside his seat, Jiang Hua, wearing a Blue Robe, was turning his head sideways speaking to the air, with a black ribbon tied around his arm.

The other Blue Robes next to him all had black ribbons tied around their arms too.

Zheng Qing frowned, pondering on the significance of the black ribbons, when suddenly he felt two gazes fall upon him, instinctively crouching down, hiding under the windowsill.

Then he realized that he was invisible, and theoretically, no one could see him now.

Standing back up, the two gazes had long vanished without a trace, and the classroom appeared as serene as before. Glancing at the time, Zheng Qing chose not to waste any more time there and rushed towards the sixth floor.

Only when he sprinted to the broken-off corridor of the sixth floor did he suddenly recall something, stopping in his tracks and murmuring softly: ”Oh! It’s for the dead!”

Wearing a black ribbon around the arm is an ancient tradition of wizards to commemorate the deceased.

”Who’re you calling dead?! Say it one more time and see what happens!”

In a frame on the nearby wall, a bearded dwarf waved an axe about, glancing around furiously, jumping back and forth with a demeanor as though he was ready to chop someone to bits.

Giving Zheng Qing quite a fright.