High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2732: Chapter 953: I Need Your Help

Before dinner, I even played a little bondage play.

For Zheng Qing, it was indeed a brand new experience.

This experience even helped him eat a few more bowls of rice.

During the entire dinner, he kept his head down, focusing on eating and saying nothing. He seemed oblivious to Poseidon’s incessant chatter and the babble of Zheng Su 123 in his ears, and the sneaky figure of Furry Bean in the distance, he ignored as well.

Just focused on eating.

Even when Su Shijun mentioned the relevant assessment plans for ’registering as a talisman illustrator’ and ’authorized talisman bullet maker,’ it went in one ear and out the other, leaving no trace in his mind.

Just focused on eating.

After leaving Greenhill Mansion, before the evening class, Zheng Qing habitually went to D&K.

He was probably overstuffed, walking the entire pedestrian street without digesting the food. There were dogs barking on the street, and he absentmindedly barked along, drawing strange looks from passersby.

This further confirmed a conclusion — being on cloud nine and being downcast are synonymous, describing a similar mental state where the soul drifts away uncontrollably: only, a soul on cloud nine floats up like a helium balloon, while a downcast soul sinks like an iron ball to the seafloor.

Zheng Qing felt like his soul was somewhere in between, like a dandelion swaying in the wind.

It wasn’t until Xiao Xiao asked him before bed about what gift he had prepared to apologize to Jiang Yu, and how well-prepared it was, that the young public cost student remembered his big trouble.

”Gift?”

He murmured, lifting his empty palms in front of his eyes, realizing as if waking from a dream.

”You forgot such an important thing?”

Xiao Xiao took off his glasses, roughly wiping the lenses with his sleeve, looking incredulous: ”I told you before, the form of an apology doesn’t matter, ’sincerity’ is what matters... and ’forgetting’ is the epitome of insincerity!”

”He went to Greenhill Mansion for dinner.”

Xin Fat Man deftly twirled a peanut between his plump fingers, speaking with a hint of dissatisfaction: ”No warlock sitting next to Su Councilor could think of other witches.”

These words were quite absolute.

Zheng Qing wanted to retort but didn’t have the slightest confidence.

After a long while.

Stuttering, he mentioned the gift idea he came up with after entering the mansion’s small garden: ”... What do you think of a four-leaf clover? It can be wrapped in a piece of jade.”

Xiao Xiao rubbed his chin, noncommittal.

The Fat Wizard flicked the peanut with his finger, catching it in his mouth.

”A single four-leaf clover is not enough for you, a handful might work.”

Chewing on the peanut, lounging against the headboard with an unfinished manuscript on his knees, his expression was mocking: ”— I think you need a lot of ’luck’ for anyone to accept your apology without sincerity.”

”Alright, alright, I’m wrong... I know, I’m wrong.” The young teaching assistant vigorously rubbed his face, letting out a deep sigh.

”— Where did you go wrong?” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses.

Zheng Qing stared at the nearly withered sunflower on the table, eyes unfocused, and after a long silence, gave an answer neither resigned nor deeply reflective: ”— I was wrong from the moment I was born.”

...

...

The next day, Wednesday.

The first class in the morning was the History of Magic.

With cautious maneuvering by Xiao Xiao, Sima agreed to conduct a group discussion in this class on ’the impact of the rise of the Monotheist Church on the dominance of Wizards,’ with group members ’randomly’ assigned by the teacher.

”— Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu, you two are in a group.”

The young teacher on the podium smiled as she looked at the witch in the first row, then at the warlock in the last row, adding: ”As for Li Meng, you’ll be with Tang Dun.”

She ultimately found a reliable enough teammate for the little witch.

Jiang Yu quietly gathered her books and walked toward the back of the classroom; Li Meng seemed unaware of anything unusual, full of joy — for her, as long as she could stay away from her cousin, grouping with anyone was good.

The three warlocks beside Zheng Qing had long tactfully avoided this vortex.

Given Xiao Xiao’s rich knowledge base, he was given the ’teaching assistant’ title for this class by the History of Magic teacher, responsible for overseeing other students’ discussions; Xin Fat Man paired up with Zhang Ji Xin, this otherwise normal pairing elsewhere in today’s classroom seemed atypical.

Jiang Yu put down her textbook, sitting expressionlessly across from Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing’s hands were sweating under the table, he couldn’t help rubbing them on his knees. Oftentimes, an expressionless face is more frightening than a stern face or angry outburst.

”I need...”

He cleared his throat, having said just three words.

”Then I’ll go first.”

The witch seemed to mistake his need for preparation, opened her notebook self-indulgently, and began reading: ”For a long history, magic and religion were seen as complementary, not mutually exclusive. It was difficult to draw a clear line between them... Before the concepts of angels and devils deeply rooted in people’s minds, the gods of Greece and Rome were entities people could contact and trade with.”

Zheng Qing licked his dry lips, intertwining his fingers, placing them on the table.

”I need your help.”

He murmured, requesting softly.

”— The transcendent power of the One God... hmm?” The witch belatedly realized what the warlock was saying, slightly furrowing her brows, finally showing a hint of confusion.

Having an expression is a good sign.

Zheng Qing immediately felt a surge of new courage from his heart, releasing his intertwined fingers to reveal the glass bottle hidden in his palm: ”... This is an infant spirit I found on my shoulder yesterday, indeed an undead, but I don’t know when it got on me... You might know from the other day...”

At that, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but cautiously glance around.

Although the school did not require him to sign a silence contract concerning Thomas’s matter, for safety, he heeded the School Works Committee’s advice not to publicize it.

”... After returning from Thomas’s lab, I underwent very strict black magic examinations and health checks at the school hospital. There were no indications of unclean things on me. You know, the school hospital has highly professional healers who wouldn’t overlook a spirit clinging to a patient.”

He rambled about the causes and effects, and after a long time, Jiang Yu finally understood his request.

”— You mean,” she received the glass bottle, her expression finally softened, though worried: ”you suspect this infant spirit is still related to the crow? Didn’t you report to the school?”

Zheng Qing met the witch’s eyes, a flash of shame crossing his heart.

”I don’t trust them.”

His gaze was sincere, tone firm: ”Gan Ning and Thomas are both from the school... I can’t trust them anymore. In the whole school, there’s no one else capable whom I can trust, except you.”