High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 358: Chapter 27 The Storm in the Conference Room_1

”Investigate!”

”Investigate thoroughly, from head to toe! Through and through! Investigate thoroughly!”

”A wild demon actually sneaked into our academy without a sound!”

”Are the people from the school labor committee all dead?!”

”Hmm?!”

Old Yao paced back and forth on the podium, like an angry lion.

He waved his pipe, allowing the bluish-white smoke to condense in the cold air, leaving traces of twisting and swirling, eventually accumulating in this dimly lit conference room.

The elf sweepers huddled together, shivering in a paper bin behind the door.

The portraits hanging on the walls around them had long since fled, leaving only empty black frames and multi-colored background boards.

Beneath the podium, the black-robed professors, assistants, and gray-robed school workers were clearly split on both sides, leaving a narrow aisle in the middle, just wide enough for a person to sidle through.

It seemed that Old Yao’s words had provoked a young gray-robed wizard, who took a deep breath and tried to stand up to refute, but was quickly grabbed by a middle-aged wizard with brown hair beside him.

But these movements were extremely conspicuous in this silent room.

”You have any objections?” Old Yao twisted his neck, widened his eyes, and his voice seemed to be about to bring the roof down: ”Did I say anything excessive?”

”Just a quiet ebbing tide ahead of time! The school’s protection formation is like a sieve, all kinds of rubbish can sneak in!”

”Red Chain Snakes are in, you say they are low-risk creatures, alright, I’ll let the seniors do more work in their practice classes, catching snakes for you.”

”Sand Hour bugs are in, you say they are just some endangered bugs, high value in medicine... understandable!”

”Now what?”

”A wild demon!”

”It’s not one of those experimental subjects from our labs that have lost their teeth! Nor one of the prey that escaped from our hunting grounds!”

”A bona fide wild demon, less than twenty-four hours since its transformation!”

”A living, breathing demon!”

”Did the people who manage the formations feed on shit?! What excuse are you going to give me this time?!”

Old Yao slammed the table, his expression agitated, his small black eyes radiated astonishing light.

The ray swept through the gray-robed school workers, everyone lowered their heads and did not retort a word.

This made a few young assistants from the other side showed a smirk on their faces, as if they were gloating.

”Still have the nerve to smile!” Old Yao picked up a newspaper next to him and lashed out: ”Look at what the headlines of the newspapers outside are saying?! Will you only be happy if I take responsibility and resign, eh!”

A few young assistants stood up in fear and hung their heads, not daring to let out a breath.

”Where’s Zhang Yu? Get up!” Old Yao held his pipe, knocking it hard on the podium, paying no heed to the small pits knocked out on the podium.

Finally, a small elf could not suppress the inner call of her duty and crawled out of the waste bin, trembling as she flew towards the podium.

Her antennae drooped down, tightly against her cheek; her wings seemed to wind up, twitching as if she would crash to the ground at any moment.

”He...he...” she cried in fright, but her body seemed to disobey her, she climbed onto the podium with her hands and feet.

Old Yao lowered his eyes, two thick puffs of smoke sprayed out of his nose, quickly engulfing the mahogany podium.

”Cough, cough!” The little elf coughed loudly, but still fumbled and stretched out her little hand, stroking the small, bean-sized pits on the podium.

A faint light flashed, and the small pits were smoothed one by one.

Old Yao’s anger seemed to dissipate with each shimmer of light.

”You’re all less useful than even a tiny elf!” he raised his hand, pointing out at a black-robed teaching assistant standing in the corner of the room, he exclaimed bitterly: ”Even the elves know their duty, but what about you?”

Zhang Yu was quietly standing in the corner, calmly looking at Old Yao.

He didn’t lower his head, his gaze was as gentle as ever.

The anger of the Dean of Jiuyou Academy gradually faded. He dragged a chair from behind him, sat down, and stretched his legs. He leaned his head back as far as possible, and his body seemed to be sloping on the chair.

The dark pipe was soon back in his mouth.

Scanning the room with critical eyes, smoke rolled continuously from between his lips, and soon his entire head was shrouded in thick smoke.

After a while, he began to speak again: ”Zhang Yu!”

”Yes!” The young teaching assistant standing in the corner straightened up.

”Has the academy’s Guardian Array been checked according to the rules and regulations? Who is in charge? Give me the list... Before the start of the school year, the Protection Array must undergo a stress test as per the requirements. I want to see a complete report of the test from the teams responsible for this within an hour, are there any issues?”

”Some professors involved in the test are not in school now.” The young teaching assistant responded, somewhat uneasy.

”Are they wizards?” Old Yao snickered.

”No more issues.” The assistant quickly bypassed the topic.

”Then sit down.” Old Yao waved his hand, dispersed the smoke in front of him, his gaze swept over the wizards in black robes, he said: ”Assistant team, led by Zhang Yu, choose a few people to specifically investigate this matter...when you need the school’s help, find me for a slip.”

”And also the maintenance committee.” After sighing deeply, Old Yao turned his head towards the wizards in grey robes, his voice seemed a bit cold: ”Normally, I should not interfere in chores that Vice Principal Ruoyu should handle... but since you’re in my academy, you must accept the responsibility you should bear.”

”From the incident that happened yesterday to this moment, it has been almost twenty hours.”

”About the origin of that beast... do you have any conclusions?”

Several wizards in the front row exchanged glances, and finally, a middle-aged man in a grey robe with a high forehead and deep blue eyes stood up, he said: ”As per your judgment just now, the Kappa monster is not an experimental subject from the school’s laboratory nor a prey from the Hunting Ground.”

”But based on some elements left at the scene, our maintenance committee’s diviner found some traces of creatures from Under the Moon...”

”The Under the Moon Council?” Old Yao interrupted the middle-aged man abruptly, he asked repeatedly: ”Have the calculation results come out yet? Are the divining elements complete? Who verified it? Has cross-verification been done? With five high-ranking races and hundreds of different kinds of races in the Under the Moon Council, are you sure which clan made the move?”

A barrage of questions evidently caught the middle-aged man off guard.

”Don’t make assumptions if you’re not certain!” Old Yao seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, he gestured for the middle-aged man to sit down: ”Accusations are a very serious matter... especially when you’re not 100% sure.”

The wizards in grey robes stayed quiet, not uttering a word.

Old Yao still seemed uneasy, he grabbed a newspaper from the podium, shaking it in the air: ”Before the authoritative conclusion is released, I don’t want to see any more nonsense in these newspapers!... Especially those unproven accusations!”

”Did you hear clearly?”

The wizards in grey and black robes exchanged glances, creating a subtle tension in the meeting room.

”Send a copy of the maintenance committee’s investigation report to the Dean’s office later. I will directly discuss this matter with Vice Principal Ruoyu.” Old Yao finally summarized: ”The reflection on this incident is not over. Apart from the student patrol team, every department involved must submit their investigation report and self-inspection report within a week...Does the Professors’ Standing Committee of the Joint Conference have any objections?”

As he spoke, Old Yao’s eyes fell on a few black-robed wizards sitting in the first row.

”Someone must be held directly responsible for this accident.” Professor Montreya said sternly, his voice cold. Pressing his hands on the table, he looked straight ahead with a very serious tone:

”According to the current investigation, maintenance staff Ferna, who was in charge of the night patrol task at Lin Zhong Lake, has deviated from the norms due to alcohol, tardiness, and neglect of duty...According to the opinion of the Professors’ Standing Committee of the Joint Conference... it is proposed that said maintenance staff be suspended for review and undergo isolation examination...during the review, his responsibilities will be taken over by other personnel appointed by the maintenance committee...further measures will be taken depending on the results of the investigation.”

The meeting room was silent for a few minutes.

Then an uproar ensued.