High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 165: Chapter 89 Learning Ghost_1

After Zheng Qing returned to his desk with a reselected book, he didn’t complain about the temperamental octopus deep within the bookshelf maze, instead he brought up a topic he didn’t want to discuss.

”Guess who I just saw!” he asked enthusiastically, in a low voice, holding up Man Kun’s ”Principles of Rune Construction” to his mouth and looking around.

”The Lone Wanderer?” Xiao Xiao casually answered, skimming through his newly compiled stack of books, appearing quite interested in Zhang Balian’s ”Curses, Magic Power Changes, and Magic Strength”.

The Lone Wanderer is a legend of the first university.

It was said to be an undead who once studied at the first university, a dedicated student who believed in self-improvement through hard work.

It studied day and night, using its energy as lamp oil, its spirit as the wick, and exhausting its finite life in the endless academic journey. Finally, due to exhaustion, it died weakly at the desk in the study room. Since its assignments were not finished, the obsession lingered, and it ultimately became a lone ghost student.

Born a ghost student, lonely and introverted, without friends and not fond of talking, it was always appearing out of nowhere in quiet corners, endlessly tackling the assigned tasks left by its professor. However, every time it finished a page of its assignment book, an invisible eraser would erase every word it wrote, making its efforts futile and preventing it from ever completing its assignments.

It was as if the heavens were playing a cruel joke on it.

As more students reported encountering the ghost student on campus, the story gradually became accepted as true. Out of discretion, the students quietly gave an informal name to this ghost student — the Lone Wanderer.

Of course, the versions of this story slightly differ among various academies.

In Alpha Academy, the Lone Wanderer often appears in empty study rooms, occasionally filling the otherwise clean blackboard with derivations of magic spells. In Atlas College, it consistently kneels under the statue of the gods, praying silently. The Lone Wanderer in Starry Sky Academy occasionally lingers in the disinfected scent of the school infirmary. Most of the time, Jiuyou Academy students can only spot this lonely ghost student in the maze-like bookshelves of the Book Mountain Library.

Some say, encountering the ghost student in the bookshelf maze is a good omen, and unexpected surprises may occur during exams.

Others suggest that those who encounter the ghost student should immediately leave the library, indulge themselves for a day, and not repeat the fate of the ghost student.

Regardless, when you see a young man in a tattered robe, slender, back facing you, kneeling on the ground doing homework deep in the bookshelf maze, you should not greet him. Bow from a distance and leave.

”If you talked to him, you better rinse your mouth with saline water from the cafeteria as soon as possible.” Xiao Xiao, looking at Zheng Qing, frowned, ”You do look a bit off.”

”Pish posh, words of a child bear no harm!” Zheng Qing turned around, spat on the floor a few times, clasped his hands in prayer, repeating, ”Words of a child bear no harm ... Did your mind get nibbled by bookworms? How could you casually mention it in the library?”

Zheng Qing lifted his head, glaring at Xiao Xiao.

”All right then!” The young man with a watermelon-shaped head raised his arms in surrender, ”So who did you see? Don’t tell me it was the dean of our school...Someone once mentioned seeing the dean deep in the bookshelf maze, could that be true?”

”What nonsense.” Zheng Qing sighed, subtly pointing behind him, ”Over there, at the desk by the window, those two people, take a look!”

He emphasized the last two words.

Xiao Xiao slightly lifted his eyelids for a quick glance.

”Ah... Nicolas and Fifi.” The short youth casually withdrew his gaze, reopened his notebook, licked his brush, and snorted, ”I’ve known about them for a while, no surprise there.”

”You’re destined to turn into a ghost student.” Zheng Qing cursed menacingly but couldn’t help drop a hint, ”Shouldn’t you think more about it? Like, what they’re doing!”

”Who knows...they’re not like you, they come to the library every day.” Xiao Xiao dismissively shook his head: ”What else can one do in the library? Of course, they’re studying.”

”A destined lonely life.” Zheng Qing sighed repeatedly.

”Are you saying they’re in a relationship?” Xiao Xiao looked at him from the corners of his eyes.

”Ha!” Zheng Qing finally heard the answer he wanted. Thrilled, he clenched his fist, ”I knew that there’s something going on between them, Duan Xiao Jian told me about it in the Wandering Bar a few days ago!”

”So,” Xiao Xiao sat up straight, looking him in the eyes, ”what does this have to do with you? Instead of concerning yourself with others’ gossip, you should worry about your pile of problems.”

”What problems do I have.” Zheng Qing looked baffled.

”Mike Gold Serplas, Arthur Ness, Lin Zhong Lake night-sweeping on the weekend,” Xiao Xiao counted on his fingers, bluntly pointing out, ”plus the survival issue of your little elves next week, and the contract issue between Xin Fat Man and Zhang Ji Xin... You think you have no problems? You bring trouble on yourself!”

”Oh...” Zheng Qing looked innocent, ”is it my fault?”

”It might actually have something to do with you.” Xiao Xiao squinted thoughtfully, ”There are precedents for this kind of trouble-magnet behavior.”

”I’m a genuine Jiuyou Academy student.” Zheng Qing hurriedly explained, ”Don’t use those mumble-jumble theories from Atlas on me.”

”I don’t consider you to be a real Jiuyou person,” Xiao Xiao rebutted habitually: ”A real Jiuyou person would never cause so much trouble...I think you might be more suited to the environment of Starry Sky Academy.”

”That place where fights break out every day?” Zheng Qing had a pleading expression on his face: ”I’d rather go to Alpha Academy.”

”Then you’ll die even faster.” Xiao Xiao taunted him: ”Have you forgotten the fact that you’ve offended almost all the big shots at Alpha Academy?”

”Well...there must be a way out,” Zheng Qing ground his teeth, glanced at the two people clinging to each other by the window, and hinted with a suggestive eyebrow wag: ”Love deepens with time.”

Xiao Xiao ignored his gestures and changed the subject.

”Didn’t you say before that the professor’s treatment wasn’t thorough?... In other words, your little elves are now just temporarily awake?”

Xiao Xiao hid himself behind the large desk, revealing just his head and two arms.

He lazily flipped through a large reference book, not lifting his head as he summarized: ”So, you’re using twelve gold beans a week to hang onto the lives of a group of little elves... if they’re lucky to live half a year, the gold they consume will probably outweigh them.”

”Actually, Doctor Du Zemu said that the ’residual elements’ medicine has a strong resistance, and estimated that after two or three doses, it would no longer be effective in prolonging their lives.” Zheng Qing scratched his head in distress, sighing, ”I still need to find other ways for them to prolong their lives.”

”Retribution.” Xiao Xiao sneered, looking up at his roommate across from him: ”For a wizard, even if it’s not a decree becomes law, it’s still somehow restricted... Can you just spout anything when making a vow?”

”I have no regrets in saving them.” Zheng Qing stared stubbornly at Watermelon Head, emphasizing: ”I’m just worried about what to do next.”

Xiao Xiao avoided his gaze, lowered his head again, and after a while, started speaking again: ”So far the most likely thing you can acquire is Doctor Du Zemu’s ’Philosopher’s Stone’.”

”That’s what I originally came to discuss with you today.” Zheng Qing tugged at his hair nervously: ”I have no clue whatsoever. It wouldn’t be right to keep bothering Jiang Yu.”

”Take Lin Guo to his house and try it.” Xiao Xiao quickly made notes, casually suggested, ”Maybe a common language in alchemy can better harmonize the atmosphere.”

Zheng Qing’s eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.

”You two!”

A voice rose nearby, interrupting the small seminar behind the desk.

The two young men discussing how to please Doctor Du Zemu looked up blankly to see an old wizard, stern-faced, holding a note-board.

”What are you guys doing in the library?!” The old wizard’s face was unchanged.

”Reading books.” Zheng Qing looked blankly at the old wizard, scratching his head, looked at Xiao Xiao, and added: ”What else can you do in the library.”

”I remember you!” The old wizard waved his note-board angrily, causing the few feathered pens dancing on the board to float in mid-air, caught off guard.

”Half an hour ago, I just fished you out of the bookshelf labyrinth, can’t you just quietly read for a while? This is a library, not a meeting room!” The old wizard stared at the two young men and reprimanded in a low voice: ”Go down to the first floor to discuss issues, or go outside the library! Don’t disturb other people’s studies!”

Xiao Xiao nodded quietly, not uttering a word.

”We didn’t disturb anyone,” Zheng Qing protested repeatedly, ”There are only two tables in this corner...those are our classmates over there, they can testify.”

Zheng Qing turned his head to look at the table by the floor-to-ceiling window.

By the window, Nicholas was cheerfully waving at him.

There was a sense of foreboding in Zheng Qing’s heart.

”A student complained that your discussion was disturbing his reading. I just stood beside you for five minutes and I can confirm this complaint is not false.” The administrator’s face was stern as he issued an expulsion order: ”Now, today, I need to ask you both to leave.”

Zheng Qing gnashed his teeth in frustration.

Only God knows when the old wizard began standing behind them.

”Him?” Zheng Qing pointed at Nicholas indignantly: ”He’s dating in the library!”

”They’re learning.” The administrator spoke with an unquestionable tone: ”Now, leave immediately! Otherwise, I will record your student cards.”

The two young wizards grabbed their books and left in disgrace under the expulsion of the administrator.