High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 230: Chapter 154 Kappa is not dead_1

Most of the time, fireworks appear in the night sky as decorations for festive celebrations.

People express their inner joy and happiness with these flickering flames and brilliant colors.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, the fireworks released for celebration will not be a single lonely burst. Instead, for vivacity and joy, fireworks blooming across the sky are the proper annotation.

But now, the firework hanging in the distant night sky is a solitary one.

It’s still a firework, but it has a different flavor.

With its fleeting beauty to the utmost, it illuminates the sky across Lin Zhong Lake, bringing life to the gradually setting moon.

”Boom!”

The muffled sound echoes in the sky above the lake.

It awakens many creatures from their dreams.

The Tree Elves blink in confusion, making unsatisfied chirping noises. For them, Lin Zhong Lake has been a bit too noisy tonight.

The Kappas behave much more orderly. They catch fat bugs, bite off their heads, suck the last few bites of sweets before dawn, while chattering with their companions about something.

The Old Fishman just returned to the bottom of the lake looks through the cloudy water with murky eyes at the red firework hanging halfway in the sky, shakes his head, prevents his people from acting on their curiosity, but asks them to push those boats on the lake to move forward quicker.

Over a dozen Ze Meng boats swiftly glide across the water, heading straight for the scene of the incident.

They were originally the third patrol team tonight, mainly responsible for the patrol from four o’clock in the morning to six o’clock.

But now, because of the summon of this firework, they have entered work status ahead of schedule.

When the old man Ferna, along with Zheng Qing and Lin Guo, arrived right under the firework, many figures cloaked in black and gray gowns had already gathered here.

”Why the warning!” The old man held his cane, striding forward, speaking in a very serious tone.

May’s low growl rings out among the crowd.

The spectators silently make way for the old man.

Zheng Qing pulls Lin Guo to follow behind.

In the crowd, he sees many familiar faces.

Professor Yi of the divination class, Assistant Hilda of the practice class, his interviewer Thomas, some Guard Team Members who had appeared in the special plane before, and many gray-robed janitors often seen around campus.

Everyone is silent, with serious expressions on their faces, as if the demon army will invade the campus in the next moment.

This makes the young scholarship student feel a little uneasy.

”It’s different from the situation last week.” Professor Yi’s voice slowly becomes quieter, almost inaudible, but his lips are still moving quickly, obviously saying something.

Zheng Qing does not strain to guess the professor’s lip language.

He realizes his limitations. If these adults don’t want you to know something, it’s very hard for you to uncover anything right under their noses.

Moving through the crowd, there are a few figures in front of him, kneeling on the ground and busily working, with their backs to him.

Zheng Qing stands on his tiptoes and looks over these broad backs, the scene before him causing his stomach to churn.

Then he quickly reaches out to cover the eyes of the little wizard beside him.

”Don’t block, I’m not a kid!” Lin Guo muffles a struggle.

Zheng Qing hesitates for a moment, sees Professor Yi nodding from not far away, then removes his hand from in front of Lin Guo’s eyes, allowing the little wizard to squeeze forward.

”Wow.” Lin Guo doesn’t show a hint of fear, but rather makes a sound of excitement.

This made Zheng Qing feel a little embarrassed.

At the first glance of the scene amongst the crowd, he nearly threw up.

...

A small figure was lying on the lawn, arms spread out, breathing its last breath.

It was a Kappa.

To be precise, it was a dried-up Kappa.

Its skin seemed to have dried out in a desert for thousands of years, shrunken and taut, and appeared devoid of all moisture.

The essence within the jade dish on its head was almost completely consumed, and only due to the particularly abundant moonlight that evening was its dish not entirely dried out. This was the only reason it was still barely hanging on to life.

But what was truly shocking was that below the chest and abdomen of the Kappa, it appeared as if something had gnawed away at it, leaving nothing but bare bone and, the dark, discolored internal organs.

”I heard this is the missing Kappa...”

”Luckily it hasn’t died yet, the school has hundreds of ways to find the culprit.”

”Unlucky, encountering this kind of thing during the patrol, will certainly have to submit a 3000-word patrol report next week!”

A few patrol team students at the side were whispering to each other, sighing repeatedly.

Zheng Qing pricked his ears, scraping up information from his surroundings while suppressing the discomfort in his heart, taking a careful look at the dried-up Kappa. He felt an odd sense of familiarity with the Kappa’s gnawed-clean bones.

”Is it a result of a magic nitration process?” asked the old man Ferna in a low voice.

”If it was a certain special ritual, the method shouldn’t be this crude.” Professor Yi shook his head, used a pair of tweezers to lightly prod the Kappa’s parched body, whispering, ”Do you have any ideas?”

”The bones are smooth and void of any excess tissue, very clean... their brittleness indicates that this should be the bone of a Kappa in its old age... very strange.” The old man Ferna’s rough finger slid over the Kappa’s femur, murmuring, ”But looking at its face, this is clearly a juvenile less than ten years old.”

The dying Kappa let out a soft moan, making the pitch-dark night even more chilling.

”Is there any difference with a magic nitrated corpse?” Zheng Qing gently nudged Thomas at his side, asking humbly.

Thomas turned his head to look at him, blinking, seemingly contemplating how to answer this question.

”As my well-behaved student, shouldn’t you be asking your own teacher first when you encounter a problem?” Assistant Hilda popped up from behind the two of them, draped her arm over the shoulders of both Zheng Qing and Thomas, and chided in a low voice, ”Turn your head.”

Zheng Qing obediently turned his head the other way and was almost scared out of his wits, nearly letting out a scream.

There was an unassuming pendant hanging from Hilda’s hand, draped over his shoulder.

It was a withered skull.

”This is a magic nitrated corpse... a part of it.” Hilda’s slick voice echoed softly in his ears. It sounded like a demon’s whisper, making his hairs stand on end, ”Delicate and diminutive, devoid of any bloody feeling, instead, it’s full of artistic and exotic culture... the little Kappa lying on the lawn, is more like a poor creature that had half of its body gnawed by piranhas.”

”The bones after being gnawed by piranhas would not be this clean.” Thomas noted in a low voice, ”Besides, I’ve never heard of piranhas attacking a Kappa.”

Zheng Qing wasn’t listening to what Thomas said.

All his attention was focused on the magic-nitrated skull in Hilda’s hand in front of his right shoulder.

Probably due to the magic treatment, this skull had shrunken to the size of a walnut. Its purple skin was wrinkled and nearly covered all its features.

The white, long hair was neatly combed and tied up tightly with a silver strip.

The end of the hair was looped and hung on Hilda’s wrist.

Face to face, eye to eye, forehead to forehead.

This withered head stared blankly at Zheng Qing, making the young scholarship student break into a cold sweat.