High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 589: Chapter 258 Puppet_1

Less than two hours before the start of the freshman competition, the hunters of the Absolution hunting team finally left dormitory 403, heading for the rally point provided by the Hunting Committee.

Of course, they didn’t forget to place the sleeping Zheng Qing on a soft flying carpet.

The carpet floated more than a meter above the ground, its surface was fine lambswool, which looked very comfortable -- this made the young state-funded student’s ’consciousness’ feel a bit satisfied.

”I borrowed this carpet from Balash·Sasan,” Xin Fat Man proudly showed off his connections to his companions: ”He is an ethics review committee member of the school newspaper department, a sophomore in Atlas, and believes in Zoroastrianism... I remember that you guys call this teaching Pagerism?”

”Zhenxianism, the word is pronounced ’xian’.” Xiao Xiao glanced at the fat man and quietly added, ”You can also use the names Pyrolatry and Manichaeism; for most people, there’s no discerning the minute differences.”

Lin Guo laughed so hard at this that he couldn’t straighten up.

Xin obviously wasn’t too pleased with the doctor’s pointers, so he grumpily dragged the flying carpet and walked at the front of the group. Therefore, when he saw the divination professor standing under a tree on the shady path, he had to be the first one to stop and bow in greeting.

”Good afternoon, Professor,” the fat man nodded awkwardly.

”Oh? Oh, hello, hello.” Professor Yi appeared to be somewhat lost in thought and only reacted after a while, his eyes glazed over as he scanned the young wizards: ”Are you going to watch the hunting competition? Yes, yes, there will be an exciting match today...”

”We are participating in the competition as a hunting team.” Zhang Ji Xin had to step forward to maintain the reputation of their hunting team -- although their brand new team didn’t have any reputation to speak of in the first place.

Professor Yi gave a vague response and continued to loiter around the tree next to him.

”What are you looking for, Professor?” Xiao Xiao was clearly interested in Professor Yi’s actions.

”Inspiration.” The professor stopped, pointed a finger at his temple, and said quietly: ”It’s those sounds in your head that go ’buling, buling’. As a diviner, there’s nothing more important than following your inspiration.”

”Have you found it?” Lin Guo also asked curiously.

The professor didn’t directly answer, instead, he lowered his head, furrowed his brows, and adopted the posture of deep thought: ”In the morning when I woke up, the rooster that was crowing told me that I would have an unexpected gain at this time, in this place...”

”An unexpected gain?”

”It might be the notebook I lost when I was in college, or just a bunch of lilacs, or a piece of blue cheese, of course, it could also be a new teaching stick.” Professor Yi murmured speculation.

The young wizards shivered collectively.

Whether it was due to the odd food item or the chilling rod was unknown.

”If that’s the case, we won’t disturb you.” Zhang Ji Xin chuckled awkwardly, pushing the floating carpet in front of him carefully forward, ”We have to go for the pre-match check... you carry on, we won’t disturb you.”

The others lined up, quietly following behind the lead hunter, stealthily sneaking off.

”Keep up... you can’t get too far from your body.” Mr. Wu nudged the lost-in-thought Zheng Qing and reminded, ”Even the main consciousness can easily be scattered by the wind if it gets too far from the body. You’re not a disembodied spirit.”

Zheng Qing suddenly woke up, floating dreamily behind the hunters of Absolution for a while before suddenly reacting and turning his head to look at Mr.Wu.

”They can’t see you, can they? Sir.” He finally realized a very key problem: ”Professor Yi can’t see you either, can he?”

”It’s a little trick,” Mr. Wu withdrew his gaze from Professor Yi and smiled at Zheng Qing, ”It always helps you win when playing hide and seek... well, you can understand me as being in the same state as you are now.”

”So it’s astral projection.” Zheng Qing mumbled.

”More accurately, it’s ’consciousness’ projection.” Mr. Wu corrected him, ”This is a more subtle state than astral projection... I used that phrase earlier to make it easier for you to understand the meaning.”

If consciousness had a nose, Zheng Qing would definitely not be able to resist touching his nose now.

”How did you come to be present at the school then? I recall that the Protection Array of the campus should prevent all entities that don’t belong to the school from entering, including souls, curses, and so on. Surely, consciousness falls under the same category?”

”If one is invited, then naturally they can enter... everyone knows about this rule of the school.” The gentleman floated lightly in front of Zheng Qing, hands clasped behind his back, speaking unhurriedly: ”Being a gentleman, I do have a few old friends... plus, it’s now the Month of Hunting, getting an invitation to the school isn’t that difficult.”

This explanation was reasonable and understandable.

Even the subsidized student who was fond of wild thoughts couldn’t find a counter-question to this.

It wasn’t until they arrived at Hunting Ground Number One, and were about to enter the small hall next to it for their pre-game check-in, did this happen.

Mr. Wu’s figure halted in mid-float.

”Since you know what’s going on, I guess I won’t continue prattling on...” Mr.Wu halted his steps, spoke humorously: ”I didn’t lock up when I left, and there was no one looking after the bookstore, just that dead cat. How could anyone be at ease... If the cat drew a few whiskers on my face, that wouldn’t be a good look.”

Zheng Qing thought about the scene in which the Yellow Flowered Cat in the store, while the gentleman was away, sneaked little fish from the cabinet and couldn’t help but chuckle, then promptly stopped.

”Are you leaving right now?” Although he knew the gentleman would leave, a sense of reluctance welled up in Zheng Qing’s heart.

In the two months of being in school, although he seemed indifferent, he was actually somewhat uneasy. He couldn’t quite define whether it was a feeling of fear, or longing, or something else.

”I’m leaving now.” Mr. Wu nodded and raised his eyes to scan the ceiling of the small hall, adding: ”Although things happened a bit hastily, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, and there shouldn’t be too much of an impact...”

The sound of his voice got lower and lower, fading to almost inaudible.

”What?” Zheng Qing listened as the latter words turned more and more vague, and couldn’t help but ask, ”What kind of impact?”

Mr. Wu suppressed his voice, paused for a few seconds, stretched out his hand, and pointed at the ceiling of the small hall.

”You should go in now.” He said at last: ”There are some uninvited guests here. You should hurry back into your body and try to inform the professors at the school... If it can’t be helped, then think hard about how to save your own life. Remember, no matter what happens, staying alive is the most important thing.”

With that, he pushed out with his hand.

Before Zheng Qing had the chance to ask who these uninvited guests were, he felt his feet slipping and plunged into the pitch-black, bottomless abyss beside him.

When he opened his eyes again, the pre-game check had already started a few minutes ago.

The fragrance that Elena brought when she approached just now invigorated him like a stimulant, making him quickly recall the words the gentleman had warned him earlier.

He leaned on the magic carpet, slightly squinting his eyes.

In his line of sight, were the concerned eyes of his partners, the dark empty ceiling of the small hall, the tiny clusters of light darting around like fireflies, and the puppet hidden among the light clusters.

...

Puppet?

Zheng Qing squinted his eyes hard.

As if sensing his gaze, the previously motionless puppet inside the cluster of light jerkishly opened its mouth wide, revealing a big, wicked grin.

”Danger!” The young subsidized student struggled, trying to rise.

”Pop!”

All the light clusters in the small hall went out at once.