High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2748: Chapter 969: Such a ”Goat Clash

Andrew’s newly bought wine naturally didn’t taste sour.

Zheng Qing was just teasing.

The Trident Sword Commissioner suddenly pulled a long face and pushed the young assistant professor out of the office somewhat roughly. However, as they reached the door, he dutifully reminded, ”—The money should be credited by noon. As usual, just take the transaction slip to Sam’s Pass to collect the cash.”

Seven hundred and fifty jade coins is a big deal, a half-day accounting period is totally acceptable.

Zheng Qing gleefully kissed the red transaction slip, folded it into three, carefully tucked it into the depths of a grey cloth bag, and then happily walked towards the school, pondering what to have for breakfast.

With big money in hand, he thought he could indulge a bit this morning. Not only should there be a layer of caviar in the omelette, but also truffles and lobster, paired with sweet and sour sea buckthorn juice, just the thought made his mouth water.

Just as Zheng Qing swallowed a mouthful of saliva and turned the corner, a shadow collided head-on with him. Caught off guard, the warlock had just enough time to dodge forcefully to the side and landed on his backside.

Then he watched wide-eyed as the shadow scampered away with a clatter.

If he didn’t see wrong, it was a goat.

A black mountain goat.

Realizing he had been knocked over by a goat, Zheng Qing’s first thought wasn’t to pull out the law book to bind the offender, but his mind instinctively flashed back to the superstitions he’d seen in Old Huang’s calendar this morning.

—Avoid Goat Collision, To the East.

Is this the kind of ’collision’?

He looked up at the direction; the black goat had run from a somewhat eastward direction which barely counted as ’to the east’?

The young assistant professor scratched his head, utterly baffled, feeling like a thousand alpacas were galloping through his mind—if he wasn’t sure he hadn’t been drinking just now, he would almost think he was drunk.

The gem cat that had nestled in his hood not long had also been flung out when the boy fell. It returned with its tail tucked between its legs, grumbling all the way, clearly too flustered to speak coherently—

”Wawoo! Wawoo!”

”Whoa oh! Whoa oh! Erhei, slow down! Slow down!—Sorry, sorry!”

Almost simultaneously, another somewhat familiar voice started yelling in the distance; the apology also reached Zheng Qing’s ears. Unsurprisingly, it should be the owner of that black mountain goat.

Then Zheng Qing turned around and saw Lin Guo running towards him, breathless.

The little warlock wore a black robe—which was very unusual. You see, he was still a student, and even Zheng Qing, being an assistant professor, didn’t have the privilege to wear black robes—perhaps due to the robe’s rather long hem, he was running somewhat clumsily.

”—Sorry, Captain!”

Lin Guo gasped, resting his hands on his knees in front of Zheng Qing, sweat shimmering across his forehead. Although apologizing verbally, his eyes darted around, clearly searching for the whereabouts of the black mountain goat.

The Trident Office was located at the crossroads of three streets, with a small square in front. Zheng Qing had just reached the edge of the square, but the black mountain goat had dashed across the squares and vanished into an alley.

Realizing he lost track of the black goat, Lin Guo looked at Zheng Qing with expectant eyes.

”Don’t worry, take a breath, someone kind will probably bring it back to you soon.” Zheng Qing reassured Lin Guo, turned, and returned to the Trident Sword Office, grabbing a bottle of juice from Andrew’s desk in his surprised gaze and handed it to the little warlock.

His words weren’t merely for comforting Lin Guo.

If his guess was correct, the black mountain goat that had bumped into him had already been captured by the guards for a thorough check, and as long as everything checked out, it would likely be returned.

”Is there any breakfast left?” Zheng Qing turned to the office’s host.

Considering the current situation, his fancy breakfast with caviar, truffles, and lobster was likely out of the picture. But he still needed to stuff something in his stomach to last through the coming six-hour classes.

”This ain’t the school cafeteria!”

Andrew muttered complaints but didn’t reject the request, fetching two crispy brown bacon sandwiches and handed them to Zheng Qing and Lin Guo: ”—There’s only one bottle of juice, would you like a touch of Amarone?”

He hadn’t given up trying to get Zheng Qing to drink.

”No, thanks... I’ll have plain water.” Zheng Qing’s attitude was firm.

The short, fat wizard shrugged, casually grabbed a ball of water from the air, tossed it into the wine glass the gem cat had been using, and pushed it in front of Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing was unsure whether he was trying to avoid washing an extra glass or still hadn’t given up getting him to taste a morning drink. But at the moment, he couldn’t bear to snub the host’s courtesy.

”My goat...” a small mumble came from Lin Guo’s side.

”No worries, someone kind will bring it back!”

Zheng Qing reiterated, holding a water glass in one hand and a bacon sandwich in the other, took a fierce bite, and sighed almost indistinctly: ”By the way, it’s been a while since we last met, hasn’t it...”

”Sixty-three days.”

The once time-confused little warlock was now particularly sensitive to time, giving Zheng Qing an extremely precise number: ”—To be exact, the last time we met was the first Sunday of the first week of the term.”

Zheng Qing felt choked by the bacon sandwich in his hand.

Hurriedly took a sip of water.

”—Phew.”

He exhaled a long breath, awkwardly smiling: ”Is that so? Only two months? It feels like we haven’t met for a year! Sometimes it feels like time flies, but other times it feels like it’s crawling...”

As he spoke, he recalled his last meeting with Lin Guo.

The first weekend of the term coincided with the Lantern Festival. At that time, Zheng Qing went to visit Doctor Du Zemu because the sprites had inexplicably fallen asleep. Outside the Abnormal Life Research Institute, he bumped into Lin Guo.

Lin Guo was effectively recommended by him to Doctor Du Zemu as an assistant.

And afterward, there hadn’t been another chance to meet.

First University wasn’t big, with only two thousand or so students and staff; but it wasn’t small either, if schedules clashed and interests differed, students from the four colleges could hardly bump into each other even once during a semester.

Especially as Zheng Qing was extraordinarily busy this term. His main interactions with Lin Guo through the Yuzui Hunting Team were lost due to his consecutive absences from Hunting Team training.

However, even if he attended Yuzui’s training, he wouldn’t necessarily encounter Lin Guo.

According to Xiao Xiao, Lin Guo seemed very busy this term too—the school-organized Spring Hunting, he didn’t participate due to age, which was understandable; but he only went twice for the private hunting race organized by Starry Sky Hunting Team, which was quite curious.

To know, with Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu’s absence, Xiao Xiao temporarily placed Lin Guo on the hunting team substitute list. In the past, the little warlock would have been thrilled, but in reality, he attended twice with a rather hurried manner that puzzled his teammates.

Now, looking at Lin Guo wearing the black robe, Zheng Qing faintly guessed something.