High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 553: Chapter 222: The 9th Monday_1

When Zheng Qing woke up on Monday morning, he was still pondering over what had happened in the hunting ground yesterday afternoon.

If he went by historical experience, he felt it would be normal if he walked out of the dormitory only to see groups of stern-faced wizards in black robes, with trident pins on their chests, roaming around the campus, conducting inquiries with all the young wizards who were involved in the brawl in the hunting ground yesterday.

But even after he finished his morning lessons, dawdled through breakfast, and headed to Room 601 on the east side of the teaching building to prepare for class, he did not detect any unfamiliar faces in the academy - although the atmosphere among the students was rather somber, as everyone seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation of the pending punishment.

This contrast greatly surprised him.

Even when he sat in the classroom, flipping open his copy of ”Standard Spells: College Freshman,” the young scholarship student was still unable to figure out the reason for this contrast.

The first lesson on Monday morning was Professor Old Yao’s magic spell class.

Zheng Qing wasn’t sure whether this usually congenial middle-aged wizard would explode in anger during today’s class. Expectant of the unexpected, he had mentally prepared himself thoroughly.

”So this is your version of ’being fully prepared’?” Zhang Ji Xin picked up a long piece of parchment from Zheng Qing’s table, his eyebrows raised high in disbelief: ”A self-criticism review?”

”And a proposal for improvement.” Zheng Qing massaged his swollen face, sighing deeply. ”A whole eight thousand words indeed, and I’d been writing till midnight last night... I’ve even gone as far as to use parchment and Pine Mountain Ink in order to be formal. Every single word was written by me personally, neatly and without using any magic!”

”I fail to see how this piece of parchment could be of any use.” The wizard with a red face sneered, releasing his grip and letting the parchment fall slowly back onto Zheng Qing’s desk.

”Whether it’s useful or not depends on luck; however, to write or not is a matter of attitude,” Xin Fat Man’s unhurried voice echoed from the desk in front of him. ”Perhaps, with this self-criticism review, our previously inevitable destiny of expulsion might deviate slightly, giving us an opportunity to earn our diplomas from the school...”

What the Fat Man had said was quite to the point.

Others who were initially in a stupor, leaning on their desks, seemed to have grasped this idea and began nodding in agreement.

This annoyed Zhang Ji Xin greatly.

”So, you’ve written yours too?” Elder Zhang Da turned around, casting a scornful look at the fat man. ”I seriously doubt you can write anything meaningful...”

Xin Fat Man, leaning against the wall, lifted his eyelids. His eyes moved away from the newspaper in his hand and he simply hummed, ”Of course, self-criticism should be deep... that’s why I wrote a bit more than ten thousand words. But then again, for a man who aspires to be a gold medal journalist, a ten-thousand-word piece is just a basic skill...”

Zhang Ji Xin’s usually red face almost turned purple instantly.

His look towards the fat man was akin to the one he had when he encountered the Fence Fairy yesterday—an urge to put a bag over his head.

”In any case, writing a self-criticism review won’t make our situation any worse... This is a good initiative, I suggest you also write one. Let Tang Dun collect them all after class and hand them to Old Yao,” Zheng Qing advised Elder Zhang Da. Then he kicked the fat man under the table: ”Let me have a look at the newspaper... Did it stir any controversy? How did the newspapers comment on what happened yesterday? Have any of the school’s senior wizards released any new statements?”

The Fat Man frowned and handed the ”Beta Town Post” on his desk to Zheng Qing.

His tone was equally confused.

”This is exactly what I find strange,” the campus newspaper reporter scratched his head, looking puzzled. ”There’s no news... there’s no report about the group incident between Jiuyou Academy and Alpha Academy in any of the off-campus newspapers or magazines... Only the ’Buji Island Times’ mentioned in an article calling for the wizarding world to thoroughly eliminate magical pests, saying something like ’minor chaos occurred at Hunting Ground No.1 of the First University yesterday afternoon due to a fence fairy, forcing the audience to leave early’... but that’s a big difference from what actually happened!”

Zheng Qing grabbed the thick newspaper and quickly flipped through it.

There were no articles about yesterday’s incident on the first page or in the news section; there was nothing about the fight between the two academies. There was a brief review of the final round-robin match of the school hunting party in the hunting news section, but the content was mostly discussions about tactics and hunters, with no mention of the spectators.

If this had been before yesterday, as the captain of the Absolution hunting team, the young scholarship student might have patiently read these competition reviews and even made some notes.

But not today, he wasn’t in the mood for it.

Zheng Qing didn’t even check the final score of yesterday’s match, he quickly flipped to the next page.

The commentary article was about whether the qualification to purchase law books should be reviewed; Zheng Qing also checked the recruitment advertisements and advertisements on the last few pages—apart from seeing models in short robes posing in the picture frames, the young scholarship student didn’t see anything more noteworthy.

Next to him, Xin Fat Man was still incessantly voicing his thoughts, ”Logically speaking, when something this big happens, if ’Beta Town Post’ doesn’t provide a featured commentary article on the front page, the boss should immediately fire the editor-in-chief...”

”What about the school newspaper?” Zheng Qing impatiently raised his head and asked the Fat Man. ”You just said there were no reports in the off-campus newspapers... what about on-campus ones? Did the campus newspaper cover the incident?”

”Of course!” Upon hearing Zheng Qing’s question, Xin Fat Man held his head high, pulling out the campus newspaper that was just distributed that morning, from his drawer: ”I worked overtime until ten last night just to proofread the papers... otherwise, I would have finished that review a long time ago.”

Zheng Qing took the campus newspaper and immediately opened it.

Below the header, a large photo occupied more than half of the front page.

The photo was of rows of magic shields lighting up one after another in the grandstand of Jiuyou Academy, with spells soaring into the sky. This photo, perhaps because it was taken from the podium, had a very good angle under the sunlight, and the decisive and rapid attacks of the students of Jiuyou Academy were vividly depicted.

”I was the one who chose this photo.” Xin Fat Man moved forward, pointing at some details in the photo, adding quite smugly, ”The editor originally planned to use a piece of material provided by Alpha Academy, but their photo was underexposed and seemed a bit dark... And the photo provided by the Atlas side was out of focus, blurred, you can’t see any faces clearly...”

Zheng Qing ignored the Fat Man’s boasting, instead, he quickly skimmed through all the reports about yesterday’s incident on the newspaper, including the news on the front page, the commentator’s article on the second page, and the interviews with students from the four academies by the campus newspaper reporters after the incident.

He felt that he needed to sort out his thoughts properly.