High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1055: Chapter 117: Lofty Strategy

Zheng Qing didn’t hold a grudge against Xin Fat Man because of his tactless mouth.

If such trifles were enough to anger him, Zheng Qing would spend every day in a rage instead of doing anything else. Compared to that, discussing the recent unrest at Lin Zhong Lake with his companions was far more engaging for Zheng Qing.

Although it was called unrest, as of now, the situation was still limited to verbal disputes and slogan chanting. Zheng Qing had heard that students from Alpha Academy were calling for the Fishman Tribe and Alpha students to march together on campus, protesting the Danghag Circuit Court’s interference with the legal affairs of the Fishman Tribe and protesting the unfair treatment of Alpha by Jiuyou Academy.

But these ”heard rumors” were just that—heard, not seen by Zheng Qing in reality.

Upon reflection, the unrest at Lin Zhong Lake was intricately linked with Zheng Qing, Nicholas, and others.

At the start of the last semester, while Nicholas led the new students on a tour of the academy, Liu Fei Fei’s backpack fell into Lin Zhong Lake, which had sparked a conflict between the students and the Fishman. Fortunately, the students had the advantage of numbers, and the offending Fishman, being out of water, eventually backed down, preventing a major incident.

Latterly, during a nighttime patrol near Lin Zhong Lake, Zheng Qing and Lin Guo, following old Ferna through the woods, stumbled upon a Fishman engaging in a clandestine transaction with a wizard cloaked in a black robe—this Fishman was Iseni from their hunting team, and the cloaked wizard was Mike Gold Cypress Plano from Alpha Academy.

The second incident ultimately fizzled due to the unusual death of a kappa near the lake’s shore.

Both incidents, upon investigation, carried the seeds of today’s unrest.

Unlike Xin Fat Man, Xiao Xiao had a different opinion on the so-called ”unified stance” that Zheng Qing mentioned.

”What’s unified is not our stance, but our backsides.”

With a rather crude but straightforward response, Xiao Xiao addressed Zheng Qing, ”Because we’re all wizards, and we’re all from Jiuyou Academy... as they say, our position is determined by our seat. If Dylan were here, or if you asked this question to Matthew Karen or Andrew Taylor, you’d probably get a different answer.”

The reasoning was rough but accurate.

All the students currently in the infirmary were unequivocally siding with the patrol team, mostly because they were students of Jiuyou Academy. They had even held a meeting about similar issues regarding their stance a few days earlier.

At this point, the Fat Man suddenly looked around, then lowered his voice and whispered to his companions, ”I heard that the academy is planning to sign a new legal treaty with the Fishman Tribe, specifying the judicial scope of the tribe and adding extradition clauses for crimes committed by Fishman... but I’m not sure if it’s true.”

”How would you know about such a thing?” Zheng Qing looked at him skeptically: ”Sounds like a rumor to me.”

”It’s absolutely not a rumor!” Fat Man’s tone suddenly rose, then, as if startled, quickly lowered again: ”A couple of days ago, the editorial department of the campus newspaper had a meeting to disclose this matter, asking everyone to write some articles to test the waters of public opinion.”

Zhang Ji Xin pursed his lips, his face full of disdain.

”You shrink back at such a trivial matter, truly a degeneration from one generation to another,” he said as he rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular arms. ”Back when Principal Nameless was around, if we encountered a problem, we just issued a notice and no one dared to breathe aloud. Unlike now, where a crime issue with the Fishman Tribe has to be spearheaded by that damned campus newspaper... Truly, a generation worse than the last!”

”Who exactly are you referring to when you say ’generation’?” Sin Fat Man couldn’t stand others criticizing his circle. Rolling his eyes, he said sarcastically, ”Oh, is this another ’my brother told me’ story?”

Noticing the two were about to start a ruckus again, Zheng Qing felt a headache coming on and quickly intervened.

”Enough, enough!” he raised his voice slightly, using his authority as the Hunting Team Leader to end this discussion, ”In short, if we look to the essence through the appearance, the main conflict of this disturbance is actually between Jiuyou Academy and Alpha Academy. The Fishman Tribe is a secondary aspect of the conflict, with a short-term possibility of becoming a primary issue... but overall, it should be inconsequential, right?”

Thanks to three years of basic philosophy in high school, his summary felt somewhat profound, which saved him from embarrassing himself in front of Doctor Xiao.

Then he changed the subject,

”Speaking of which, if something really happens at Alpha, is there a chance our spring outing will be canceled?” he looked at Xiao Xiao hopefully, wishing the doctor could provide a definite answer—considering the recent hectic and busy times, Zheng Qing really didn’t want to waste an entire day outside the school, viewing those uninspiring sights.

With that time, he would rather stay in Professor Montreya’s lab, or lead the Hunting Team to explore more corners of the academy. Perhaps, he might solve his problem of having red eyes or catch that Faceless Monster.

At worst, helping classmate Liu Fei Fei find her escaped Little Snake would also be a meritorious deed.

”It will not,” Xiao Xiao shook his head, ruthlessly shattering Zheng Qing’s fantasy. ”The spring outing during the Festival of Banning Magic is a tradition of Jiuyou Academy, which has not ceased even during the Witch Demon Wars—let alone some naive children shouting slogans.”

”Ah,” Zheng Qing sighed deeply, ”it seems that if I don’t want to join this damned spring outing, the only hope lies with Professor Montreya.”

He thought that if Professor Montreya could issue a dispatch letter, it might indeed enable him to stay in the lab all day.

Suddenly, Sin Fat Man pulled out a large grid paper from his watch, spread it out, and muttered:

”According to the line chart, my luck peaked in the last few days of winter vacation, and the overall trend is currently in a downward channel, with no signs of bottoming yet... The seven-day and thirteen-day averages are also broken... There’s still some distance from the previous period’s support level of good fortune...”

”What are you talking about?!” Zheng Qing stared at the line chart drawn on the grid paper, puzzled.

”Oh,” Sin Fat Man quickly said seriously, ”I mean, my luck has been pretty bad recently, not suitable for traveling. Could you help me get a fake note from Professor Montreya’s lab too, so I won’t have to join the Festival’s spring outing... I still have several articles unfinished.”

The young scholarship student smirked coldly at his roommate,

”Bad luck means you need to walk more, adjust your fortune.” he straightforwardly rejected Fat Man’s request, ”You know what Professor Montreya is like, her temper isn’t much better than Lady Emma’s. Getting a dispatch letter would be miraculous enough... and you still want to forge documents? You must be dreaming!”