High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 529: Chapter 198: The 8th Week’s Weekend_1

During the remaining days of the eighth week, Zheng Qing felt as if he were living in a dream, floating rather aimlessly when he walked—-not in a carefree way, but in an uncertain and unrestrained manner.

He couldn’t share the secret in his heart with his companions, but he also couldn’t completely ignore this heavy burden.

Whenever he closed his eyes, lying in his tent, sleep tugging at him, Su Shijun’s incredibly beautiful face would unintentionally surface in his mind, whispering softly something in his ear.

He is Poseidon, and now, Neptune’s father.

Theoretically, he is also Su Shijun’s husband! —— Heaven help him, deep down, our cost student still thinks he is a boy, not a man!

”...Will she ask me for child support? Do you need a marriage certificate in the wizarding world? Do I need to send a letter home asking for my hukou book? What to do about the girl I already like? Will it make me seem like a scumbag if I leave Elena now? What if she goes public with this? How would others introduce me —’This is Zheng Qing, a member of the Under the Moon Council, and the beloved of the great wizard Su Shijun?!”

This picture is too beautiful, it’s hard to imagine.

Every time he thinks about these issues, the young student feels as if he’s having a heart attack, with chest tightness and palpitations, and he struggles to catch his breath, even occasionally experiencing blurred consciousness and memory lapses.

However, as soon as he calms down, these issues involuntarily creep back into Zheng Qing’s mind, as if there are many little people in there holding a meeting, shouting loudly, creating an unbearable ruckus.

At times, Zheng Qing seriously wonders if these symptoms are serious complications caused by the theft of his shadow. He’s considering whether or not to go to the school hospital for a comprehensive physical examination.

Of course, every downside has its upside.

With such a heavy burden pressing on his heart, all other troubles and trivia in Zheng Qing’s life seem quite dull and simple.

For example, the complicated training issues of the hunting team, the ever-increasing academic workload from the professors as midterms approach, and, of course, the matter of Elena joining Matthew’s hunting team.

Zheng Qing discovered that as time passed, the buried anger from this incident had unknowingly dissipated a lot. It was as if the rocky beach and surging waves had been submerged under the rising tide, all the unevenness gone beneath the water.

Now, he just wants to know why- why did Elena agree to Matthew.

”Because you never invited her to join your hunting team!”

In dormitory 403, the Xin Fat Man is petting a cat while rushing to finish an article, his tone full of schadenfreude, ”...This is really easy to understand! She is a Gypsy witch, not your pet sprite, does she need to report to you for everything she does?”

Zheng Qing, lying in his tent, looking sideways at the tarot card by his pillow that had completely lost its lustre, sighed gloomily.

The sprites, upon being named by the fat man, lay lazily in groups on top of the tent, their light breaths barely visible, looking utterly peaceful, like discarded items.

”... Speaking of sprites, are your sprites completely trouble-free now?” Xiao Xiao, who was buried in his notebook, suddenly looked up at Zheng Qing, ”I mean, their lifespan... Has the potion problem been completely resolved?”

”Not yet.” Zheng Qing lifted his eyes slightly, looking at their curled up, half-transparent wings, his voice sounding listless: ”It’s just that their condition is relatively stable... Dr. Du Zemu said that the Sand Hour monarch juice I provided worked very well, there should be no need to worry about their condition before the end of the last academic term.”

”Good news.” Xiao Xiao pushed up his glasses and buried his head back in the notebook, adding casually, ”In that case, it shouldn’t be a problem to have them as your helpers in the freshman hunting competition...”

”That’s not possible.” Zheng Qing instinctively rejected this idea.

”We’re not planning to have them wrapped in explosion charms or thunder curses and charge into a herd of wild demons, just to assist you in scouting around the environment.” Dylan’s voice came from his coffin, ”Maybe they would be very happy to do so...”

”It’s impossible.” Zheng Qing repeated his position, forcing a smile: ”You all know how timid these little green sprites are, how can you expect them to bravely scout in a hunting ground full of murderous intentions?”

Xiao Xiao sighed softly.

”You can’t take care of them forever.” he explained in a patronizing tone: ”And you can’t deprive them of their significance as sprites... If they don’t do this, and don’t do that, won’t they become princesses? As I recall, you wanted these little guys to get real identities in the ’Wizard’s Code’, but if they’re not helpful in this world, it’s impossible...”

”Oh... oh,” Zheng Qing got up, looking at the doctor in surprise: ”When did you start harboring such decadent thoughts? Does existence only have meaning for those who are useful? That’s not very friendly... not friendly at all.”

”I stand with Brother Qing this time.” Xin Fat Man raised his quill, reiterating his old tune: ”Just like the tricksters in the North District of Beta Town... we can’t kidnap ’meaning’ with ’function’.”

Zheng Qing nodded with satisfaction.

Xiao Xiao shrugged, adjusted his glasses, and chose not to continue.

”That being said, when are you going to discuss Ms. Su’s situation with me?” Xin Fat Man turned his attention to the public expense student who had emerged from the tent, habitually grumbling: ”It’s almost a week since the incident, and the next issue of the campus newspaper will be published soon... Can you bear to see me in the embarrassment of not being able to submit an article?”

It was now the weekend of the eighth week, and five days had passed since Zheng Qing lost his shadow.

Though he had endless assignments and never-ending hunting team practices every day, Xin Fat Man would nag at Zheng Qing to ask about what happened on Tuesday afternoon, whenever he could spare a moment.

Zheng Qing was, of course, always evasive.

”You don’t need to vie for the front-page for every article,” he advised earnestly: ”Besides, I really don’t have anything more to say ...”

The fat man seemed nonchalant.

”I remember, in the first lesson, you told me that as long as I could help you block Li Meng, you could help me arrange the meeting with Su Shijun,” Xin the great journalist stroked his chin contemplatively: ”I originally thought you were just talking nonsense... but now it seems there might be a deeper implication.”

It took Zheng Qing a while to recall this incident.

After the identity of the public expense student was exposed in the first lesson of magic curses, Li Meng planned to chase after Zheng Qing when class was over - though, of course, this impulsive act was ultimately stopped by a combined effort from Jiang Yu and Xin Fat Man.

The price for Xin Fat Man’s involvement at the time was for Zheng Qing to introduce him to Su Shijun.

However, Zheng Qing didn’t even have a clear idea of who Su Shijun was back then. That was just a random excuse he came up with on the spot!

But apparently, Su Daxu seems to hold an inexplicable favor for the public expense student - she singled him out for a question during the meetup, then called him to the lab the next day. Though this ultimately led to Zheng Qing losing his shadow, compared with other students with whom she’s had no interaction, these actions already say a lot.

”...and, I remember you seem to know that little fox lady named Su Ya quite early on,” the fat man recalled, stating this with certainty.

This kind of messy connection made the already chaotic situation more complicated.

”Like I said, I really was just talking nonsense.” Zheng Qing forced a smile, stating what appeared to be an unbelievable truth to the other party.

”Hercule Poirot once said, ’No matter what people have said, it’s either right or wrong; there can’t be a middle (gray) ground’,” Xiao Xiao held his notebook, stood up, looked at the other few wizards in the dormitory: ”I always thought this statement was somewhat biased...just like our public expense student, what he just said is neither right nor wrong.”

”What do you mean?” Xin Fat Man was a little confused.

In fact, not just him, Zheng Qing also seemed a bit puzzled.

”It means that he said what he thought were true words, but in fact, they were false words.” Xiao Xiao sighed, pushed open the dormitory door: ”In other words, he himself doesn’t know the truth... It’s already one o’clock. When are you guys planning on leaving?”

”It’s already one o’clock?” Zheng Qing pulled out his pocket watch and exclaimed.

”Immediately!” Xin Fat Man agilely jumped up from his bed, casually covering up the fat cat nested on his pillow with a blanket.

”I’m also going...” A rustling sound of turning around came from the coffin.

Due to jet lag, Dylan sounded a bit tired, but the sound of him scratching the lid of his coffin was really invigorating.