High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 732: Chapter 80 Ding Dong Ear_1

Upon hearing the little mouse’s refusal to take them for a visit, Zheng Qing didn’t find it strange--this was the normal reaction of a mouse in the face of a combination of a cat and a wizard.

If the little mouse had agreed without hesitation, happily leading them to the rat hole, the young scholarship student would have grown suspicious. He might even start speculating about the mouse’s intentions with the worst kind of malice.

Shaking his ears, the black cat pulled up the corners of his mouth to produce a tolerant smile, ”That’s alright, no worries. If we can’t go this time, maybe we’ll have the chance next time. The more we interact, the more we get to know each other... If it’s not convenient for you to take us to your home, you can come and hang out at our dorm.”

”Our dorm is on the mountain behind Lin Zhong Lake... You know where Lin Zhong Lake is, right? It’s that big lake next to the grove of trees where we just were... Oh, right, almost forgot...”

With that, the black cat lifted its paw, indicating for the big cat holding the mouse to let go.

”Meow!” The big cat made a low meow and obediently let go of the little mouse’s collar from its mouth. The little mouse, who had been hanging mid-air, dropped to the ground with a ’thud’ due to gravity. It was sprawled out in all directions from the impact.

The black cat, squinting at the little mouse that had landed, was evaluating its reaction and gauging its abilities. It showed no sign of wings, no tail twisting like a helicopter rotor, and no casting spells to float in mid-air.

So far, apart from wearing clothes, talking, and showing some level of intellect, he couldn’t find any unusual abilities in the little mouse.

”How rude of them... They’re just cats without manners causing you trouble.” The smile on the black cat’s face grew even warmer. ”Nice to meet you, I’m Andrew Taylor from Jiuyou Academy of First University. These guys here are part of my Hunting team.”

The black cat’s tail gave a wiggle, sweeping across his teammates.

”Andrew?!” Just as Lin Guo’s surprised voice rose, it abruptly stopped. Xin Fat Man swiftly stuffed a peeled tangerine segment into the young wizard’s mouth, muffling his protests.

”Quiet!” Blue Bird gently pat Lin Guo’s shoulder, whispering a cautionary advice.

Lin Guo wasn’t dumb— in fact, he was the youngest entrant to First University in decades due to his high IQ. He quickly understood why the black cat was lying, closed his mouth obediently, and continued sucking the sweet and sour juice of the tangerine.

”Damn cat!” Muttering to himself, the little mouse dusted himself off, adjusted his whiskers calmly, and gave the black cat a polite greeting, ”I apologize for my earlier mess, honorable Cat Leader. Feel free to refer to me as ’Ding Dong Ear’.”

The black cat’s mouth twitched, not sure whether to comment on the little mouse’s totally cheesy title of ’Cat Leader’ or the mouse’s ’name’-- technically, even though the name he gave was fake, it was at least a name. And it met all the standard rules; it had a family name, a given name, and could be found in the Oxford dictionary.

Whereas the little mouse’s self-given ’Ding Dong Ear’, did not seem like a real name from any angle.

”Ding Dong Ear, yeah?” The black cat managed to repeat the mouse’s name, chuckling awkwardly. ”Interesting name, pretty uncommon... Is your family name Ding Dong, or Ear?”

”What’s a family name?” The little mouse looked curiously at the black cat. ”Everyone calls me ’Ding Dong Ear’... isn’t that my name?”

Why on earth would anyone give you such a strange name!

The black cat roared inside his heart, taking a deep breath. A flurry of concepts and terms popped into his mind, like patriarchy, bloodline, family, etc. He was about to give the little mouse a thorough explanation. But then he realized he was dealing with just a mouse, and the conversation suddenly seemed pointless.

After a pause, Zheng Qing finally decided not to dwell on this issue.

The black cat tilted his head and glanced at the fat man.

Xin Fat Man quickly got the hint. He took out a small packet of dried squid from his watch and held it under the little mouse’s nose: ”Hey, first time meeting, this is just a small token... Sorry for scaring you just now. Consider this as my compensation.”

The little mouse’s nose twitched, eyes widening, its tiny paws involuntarily reaching out to grab the little packet from the fat man. ”Oh, how could I... so embarrassed... Actually, we all made mistakes just now. But I, Ding Dong Ear, am forgiving, so I will let you off.”

He mumbled incomprehensibly as he tore open the packet and pulled out a golden strip of dried squid. He shoved it into his mouth in a few bites, chewing blissfully.

Xin Fat Man rolled his eyes, stifling a groan.

Seeing the atmosphere becoming more lively, the black cat finally started asking some sensitive questions: ”You said earlier that you were out searching for mice with spiritual energy... so how were you ’brought back’ by my subordinates?”

With that, he pointed at a forest cat in the distance.

The forest cat, who no longer had to lead the way, was lazing under a large tree, enjoying the attention it was getting from a few other cats grooming its fur. Seeing the black cat raise its paw at it, it jumped up immediately, shaking its tail in a show of pleasing gesture.

Ding Dong Ear chewed on his dried squid, glanced at the big cat shaking its tail, and grumbled, ”Because the elderly ancestor told us that if we encounter cats outside, we shouldn’t run, but play dead... Cats at school don’t eat corpses.”

”At that time, I was tracking a group of big mice. Their recently born mouse pups appeared to be quite spiritual, so I was waiting at the hole to get a few to take back. And that’s when I ran into that big cat of yours at the hole.”

”I was very obedient. When I saw a cat blocking me, I immediately played dead.”

”But your subordinate cat has no respect... Even though I was lying there stiff, he still carried me off.”

At this point, Ding Dong Ear sighed with a deep sense of regret, shaking his head, then nodding, raising a paw to stroke his whiskers, adding: ”Come to think of it, you guys aren’t as fierce as the books say...”

The wizards all exchanged glances, their expressions complicated.

”You read books?” Xin Fat Man finally couldn’t help but ask bluntly: ”What kind of books? Where did you get the books? Who taught you to read? Do all the mice in your house... like you, read books?”