High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 164: Chapter 88 Reading List_1

”So, I didn’t get lost.” Zheng Qing looked at his companion across from him, declaring seriously: ”I just spent a little longer in the bookshelf maze and ran a bit deeper. Even without the octopus, I could have found my own way out... Is it possible to trigger an alarm just by looking for a book for a bit longer?”

After leaving the bookshelf maze, Zheng Qing returned to the self-study desk on the second floor to seek an opinion from Xiao Xiao.

”Besides, the paths in the library are too random.” He complained, kicking his companion across from him, ”Did you hear me?”

”Randomness isn’t the nature of the world. Randomness happens due to lack of information. The more information you observe about an object, the more it becomes certain. But limited by the means of observation (or theoretical limits), the observed information is always limited. So, the more difficult the observation, the stronger the randomness. This should’ve been mentioned by Professor Yi in divination class.” Xiao Xiao, with his head lowered, wrote and doodled in his notebook, spouting a stream of incomprehensible words from his mouth.

Zheng Qing was taken aback for a moment and decisively changed the subject.

”What is most infuriating is that the octopus actually hits people!” He complained indignantly, rubbing his forehead: ”And it even dragged me along the ground... It must be given some form of punishment to uphold justice, as the saying goes, ’there are gods watching over us’!”

”You want to get back at a great wizard?” Hearing his theatrical complaint, Xiao Xiao finally looked up, with an astonished expression: ”Did the octopus punch knock you silly... Or are you saying, you don’t want to come to the library again?”

”I mean to fill in the complaint form.” Upon seeing his head finally raised, Zheng Qing’s spirit was lifted. He looked around and whispered: ”I heard that campus workers who get complained about will have their bonuses deducted by the school. Since I can’t beat him, I should at least make him feel bad.”

”That’s why I advise you to read more.” Xiao Xiao snorted, rummaged in his backpack and tossed Zheng Qing a book.

Zheng Qing picked it up to see that it was ”Entering First University”.

”I have this book too.” Zheng Qing emphasized: ”And I’ve basically finished it.”

”Then you should know that Professor Zhang, who administers the bookshelf maze, is a volunteer and earns one jade coin per year.” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses and calmly looked at him: ”How much of his salary do you intend to have the school deduct?”

”So I’m supposed to just take the beating?” Zheng Qing huffed angrily, his voice raised slightly: ”Is there no law?”

”Voice!” Xiao Xiao swept a disapproving look around.

Zheng Qing immediately realized they were still in the library, so he lowered his voice and argued: ”After complaining, the school should give me an explanation, or at least give some sort of punishment to that damned octopus.”

”Naive.” Xiao Xiao sighed, gave up on his notebook, sat up straight, and started to seriously analyze: ”First, there is no law in the wizarding world, only the ’Wizard’s Codex’. The professor simply brushed against you, which doesn’t count as corporal punishment and won’t hold up in court.”

”I wasn’t thinking about going to court.” Zheng Qing gritted his teeth.

”Secondly!” Xiao Xiao emphasized: ”What if he is punished by the school? A great wizard bearing this kind of negligible punishment is meaningless. At most, it will provide you with some mental consolation.”

”I want that mental consolation.” Zheng Qing stuck his neck out, not backing down.

”Since Professor Zhang transformed his life form, he has been famously whimsical, or—in a more diplomatic way—’retaining a childlike innocence.’ If you wish for him to carry a punishment, just wait to be punched again next time you enter the maze.”

”I can read the books on the outside bookshelf!” Zheng Qing slapped the hardwood bookshelf next to the desk, stubbornly insisting.

Although most of the books in the Book Mountain Library are located in the bookshelf maze, many commonly used books have been placed on the shelves next to the self-study desks for the students’ convenience.

”Lastly,” Xiao Xiao, with his arms crossed suspiciously, gazed at Zheng Qing, ”what were you doing running so deep into the maze with a few books?”

”Huh?” Zheng Qing was caught off guard and couldn’t immediately respond to Xiao Xiao’s question.

”Looking for books!” After hesitating for a few seconds, he replied with a subtle gaze to Watermelon Head: ”Apart from looking for books, what else do you do in the depths of the bookshelf maze?”

”I was asking why you went so deep!” Xiao Xiao impatiently tapped on her notebook.

”The path of knowledge is long and winding, I need to venture deep into it.” Zheng Qing struggled for a moment to find the most appropriate response.

”You’re talking nonsense.” Xiao Xiao snorted and changed her question: ”So, what books are you looking for deep in the bookshelf maze?”

Zheng Qing immediately jumped up excitedly, spreading out the large pile of books from his feet onto the table.

”These!” He said with a slight regret: ”There were actually a few more, but they were lost halfway... all because that octopus flew too fast.”

Recalling the octopus’s atrocities, he gnashed his teeth in anger.

Xiao Xiao frowned and glanced over the dazzling book titles: ”A History of Hogwarts”, ”Hunter’s Diary”, ”Master 100 Spells in 3 Minutes”, ”Days Dancing with Dragons”, ”University Students’ Sexual Health”, ”Professor’s Secret Lectures”, ”Credit Acquisition Guide”, ”Werewolves and Bloodties in the Moonlit Parliament”, and so on.

”What a mess... don’t you have your own booklist?”

”What booklist?” Zheng Qing was puzzled.

”It’s a list telling you what books to read.” Xiao Xiao asked in surprise: ”Didn’t we all get a booklist when we entered the library?”

”Oh, that.” Zheng Qing pulled out a hard piece of paper tucked between the pages of a book, rubbing his head blankly: ”I thought it was a bookmark.”

The paper listed just five books: Strauss’s ”Easy History of Magic Philosophy”, Man Kun’s ”Principles of Rune Construction”, Zhang Balian’s ”Spells, Magical Power Changes and Magical Potency”, Wizard Education Publishing House’s ”New World Popular Reads” and ”First University Press’s ”Old Institutions”.

”What are these books!” Seeing the terms like philosophy and principles, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but exclaim: ”They don’t look like they would be interesting to read.”

”These are the books you should be looking for in the bookshelf maze... not the random books you’ve picked out. Learning is a step-by-step process.” Xiao Xiao shook her head as she checked the books Zheng Qing had brought back one by one: ”The booklist is tailor-made for you by the Book Mountain Library according to your abilities and needs, selecting the most suitable books for you... you should appreciate the privilege, you know, outside the school, there are countless registered wizards who long to visit the Book Mountain Library, to explore their knowledge gaps.”

”So what do I do with these books!” Zheng Qing looked at the pile of books on the table, somewhat dumbfounded.

”Put them back.” Xiao Xiao waved her hand dismissively: ”Return them to where you got them... If you want to quickly familiarize yourself with the Wizarding World and travel further on the wizarding path, then honestly follow the booklist, one book at a time. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

”I’ve just been registered, can I still go in?” Holding onto a glimmer of hope, Zheng Qing tried to curry favor with Xiao Xiao: ”Or can you help me return them?”

”Since you weren’t kicked out of the Book Mountain Library, you’re still allowed to go in.” Xiao Xiao continued to shuffle through the pile of miscellaneous books: ”You should take advantage of the fresh memory of your lesson and return them yourself, it will deepen the impression.”

Zheng Qing glanced at the pile of books and thought of encountering the eight-legged octopus again, his heart was filled with a stampede of ten thousand alpacas.

”Oh, this one.” Xiao Xiao stretched out two fingers, picked out the book about university students’ health from the pile, weighed it in her hand, and said satisfied: ”This book isn’t about magical knowledge, it’s okay, it doesn’t need to be returned.”

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes, picked up the pile of miscellaneous books with a dejected look, and headed back into the bookshelf maze to look for the books listed on the booklist.