High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 652: Chapter 321 41_1

The orange-red sun was perched on a distant ridge, revealing only half of its rusty face.

There were no clouds in the sky, only a few streaks reminiscent of flying Bai on the dark blue background. A gentle breeze stirred, raising the hunting flags in the air, rustling in the wind.

The sound of these hunting flags fluttering was the only movement on the hunting field at this moment.

Old Yao’s array of coaxing and persuading arguments had thoroughly deterred some students who had originally planned to heckle — even though some were still not satisfied, they had all shut their mouths in the face of the great wizard on the podium in such a public occasion, obediently sitting in their seats, no longer causing a ruckus.

This is, after all, a world where power belongs to oneself, and the ’persuasion’ of the superior has always been persuasive.

To Zheng Qing’s gaze, perhaps only the puppet man sitting on the podium with him was not so convinced by Old Yao, showing a somewhat irritated and frustrated expression — of course, it also did not stare blankly and go toe-to-toe with Old Yao, but was shouting loudly, shattering the solemn atmosphere previously created by Old Yao.

”Etiquette!!”

”Where is the etiquette of the awards ceremony?!”

”Etiquette! Hurry up and bring the medals! Let’s end this damned, time-wasting program as soon as possible!”

The puppet’s round head was spinning on its slender neck, its two pitch-black eyes were round, and the civilization staff in its hand was spinning loudly, constantly searching for and summoning the figure of etiquette.

”Coming, coming! Don’t rush!”

”Why didn’t anyone tell me that the medals were so heavy!!”

A sharp and hoarse voice suddenly came from mid-air, startling the young wizards who were originally looking around.

Raising his head, Zheng Qing’s eyes twitched a few times.

A green parrot was hanging over everyone’s heads, its claws holding a string of golden medals, struggling to flap its wings in mid-air — although the voice sounded familiar, the young salaried student was not sure if this parrot was the same bird he knew.

After all, in his eyes, all parrots looked more or less the same.

”Is this our etiquette?” The young wizard muttered softly, subtly moving a small step away from the parrot, dodging directly below it, lest suddenly some ’lucky droppings’ fall on his head.

”Who should I give the medal to?”

”Who’s first? Speak up! If you don’t speak, the bird will go back!!”

The sharp voice of the parrot rang out again, it lowered its head, its mung bean-sized little eyes darting about, sweeping back and forth over several young wizards.

Before Zheng Qing could decide whether or not to step forward, the puppet man interrupted the parrot’s call.

”Ahem, thank you, Little Bird Etiquette.”

The puppet coughed a few times feigningly, stretched out its hand, hooked its fingers, and called out very politely: ”I am the guest host of this hunting competition... you can just give me the medal.”

”No way, definitely not!” The parrot clicked its beak, shook its little head definitively: ”The old ancestor said, don’t trust guys who don’t have brains... As a wooden man, do you have a brain?”

The puppet was taken aback, not having time to get angry, the parrot folded its wings, landed on Old Yao’s shoulder, who was standing quietly nearby.

Then it cocked its head, stretched its neck, and yelled at Old Yao: ”You said you’d promote the bird earlier. Is this the hard labour you meant? Are you tricking the bird?”

”The bird won’t do it! The bird wants to go back to the laboratory building and continue operating the console!”

”Alright, alright.” Old Yao nodded with a grin, showing none of the majesty of a great wizard, seeming quite amiable: ”Let me adjust your level back for you. It’s pretty easy... Tonight, you can go back to the lab with the little foxes and start operating the console again.”

The parrot, satisfied, nodded its head eagerly, loosened its claws, and dropped the string of medals into Old Yao’s hands.

”Next is the award ceremony!”

Seeing that the medals had been taken care of, the puppet man immediately made a face, resuming his duties: ”The first-place hunting team of the 2008 Freshman Cup is...”

...

After the ’Parrot Etiquette Incident’, the remaining segments proceeded very smoothly.

Zheng Qing followed the puppet’s instructions to go on stage, receive the award, and give a speech step by step. His heart, however, was not filled with much excitement, but rather, many jumbled thoughts sprouted.

He thought about the ’bet slips’ he had bought from the Lǜèyǎnér at the beginning of the Moon Hunt, betting on his team’s victory in the Freshman Cup competition, but he didn’t know how much he had won in the end; thinking about this victory, he couldn’t help but recall the boos that had come from the stands not long ago, making him feel even more depressed.

The only thing that comforted him was the gold medal for first place, a weighty piece of gold that was about half a pound. It was engraved with a slew of mysterious runes, which made it look quite valuable and gave a palpable sense of reassurance when touched.

Before leaving the stage, Old Yao suddenly pulled the last member of the Absolution Hunting team, Zheng Qing, aside and hurriedly advised, ”Don’t wander off after we leave. Wait for me in the rest area... There are some miscellaneous matters that need your confirmation.”

A perplexed Zheng Qing nodded his head, unsure of what matter would possibly require the help of a first-year student like him.

However, as soon as he walked into the rest room, he immediately understood what Old Yao had referred to as ’miscellaneous matters’.

Inside the originally empty rest room, two figures were seated across from each other. One was the giant black cat, which seemed to be the ’shadow’ incarnation of Zheng Qing, and the other was a young wizard in a blue robe.

The unfamiliar young wizard had pale skin and wore a pair of frameless glasses. Although sitting cross-legged on the floor, he held his back straight, completely absorbed and serious as he stared at the big cat across him.

The big black cat didn’t seem to mind being gawked at, continuing to lounge leisurely on the ground, its thick tail swishing idly, stirring up dust.

Hearing footsteps, the young wizard and big black cat simultaneously rotated their heads, looking at Zheng Qing. The black cat’s eyes were glowing red, while the young wizard’s gaze was as placid as an ancient well, appearing somewhat aloof.

With some trepidation, Zheng Qing raised his hand and was about to greet them. However, abruptly, both the man and the cat across him retracted their gazes and resumed staring at each other. The atmosphere instantly plunged into an awkward silence.

Fortunately, the awkwardness didn’t last long.

As the curtain fluttered open, Old Yao strode in. The young wizard immediately stood up and respectfully greeted, ”Hello, Professor Yao.”

Big Black also sprang up from the ground, shook its ears, and warily glanced at the powerful wizard who had just entered.

”Where is Baoyangzi?” Old Yao asked straight away.

”After the incident a few days ago, we collected a lot of ’material’. Master Baoyangzi is currently dealing with the aftermath...” the young wizard vaguely replied.

”So, you are planning to create another new spell?” Old Yao chuckled, but he did not pursue further.

The young wizard adjusted his glasses and forced a stiff smile, ”Without the dean’s permission, we definitely cannot proceed with further work... You know this.”

”No need to be formal, we are all on the same side. Relax,” Old Yao waved his hand and pointed at Zheng Qing, introducing him to the young wizard, ”This is the boy I mentioned to you before... You must obtain his consent for this matter.”

Then he turned to Zheng Qing and introduced the young wizard, ”This is an investigator from the school’s ’relevant department’, you can call him...”

Old Yao suddenly stumbled over his words and looked back at the young wizard.

”Forty One,” the young wizard inclines his head slightly, his tone still flat, ”You can call me ’Forty One’.”

Forty One? Zheng Qing wondered why such a strange name existed. Was there a surname ’Si’ (Four) in the wizarding world?

As if he guessed what Zheng Qing was thinking, Old Yao patted Zheng Qing’s shoulders, explaining, ”Forty One works in a high-security organization where they use codenames, not names.”

”He is here to discuss with you the ’settlement’ plan for this ’Big Black Cat’.”

Upon hearing the word ’settlement’, Zheng Qing’s heart clenched.

Standing on the side, Forty One quickly added, ”Considering the ’interdimensional creature’s’ current state and threat level, relevant institutions believe that it needs to be settled in safer locations for related safety training... to ensure that some uncontrollable accidents do not occur.”

Big Black swished its fluffy tail, snorted disdainfully standing beside.

The wizard named Forty-One glanced at it and methodically added, ”Relevant agencies can provide a letter of guarantee, to ensure the safeguarded’s safety and health.”

Hearing words like ’safety’, ’threat’ etc., Zheng Qing couldn’t help but recall the bloody slaughterhouse inside the Hunting Ground and his initial intention to argue faded away.

”If it agrees, I don’t mind.” The young cost student ultimately meekly agreed.

All three sets of eyes turned to look at Big Black.

Big Black furrowed its brow, revealing a thoughtful expression.

”Okay,” it finally said, its voice a bit husky, ”I’m actually quite interested in your organisation.”

”Damn! You can talk?!” Zheng Qing stumbled backwards, nearly falling over in shock and dismay.

”Idiot.” The black cat gave the young public-funded student a sidelong glance, licked its lips, and muttered, ”How could I have such a dim-witted entity!”