High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1089: Chapter 151: Fire Breaks Out

”Sigh, who knows how all this mess will end up.”

After mocking Xin Fat Man’s ’stinky pride theory,’ Zheng Qing turned the conversation with a sigh, expressing a pessimistic attitude toward the school’s future, ”I always feel like the Fishman Tribe is going to cause some major trouble.”

”Major trouble? From them?” Dylan sneered, his head hanging over the edge of a coffin, looking like a hanged ghost, which added an eerie tone to his voice, ”A tribe whose courage has been shattered to pieces, what kind of splash can they make... And even if they do muster up the determination to ’shatter the jade,’ like wanting to relocate the tribe or stir up other mischief, it still needs the consent from Jiuyou’s side. But to us at the academy, those gutless Fishman don’t have the courage.”

Dylan attended Starry Sky Academy, which is known for its rash and fierce ethos.

Zheng Qing found Dylan’s comments unsurprising. To the students of Starry Sky, any conflict should be met head-on. If you go all in and lose, you’re still a hero worthy of praise. But if you compromise during conflict, it’s absolutely considered gutless.

For example, with the recent entanglements between Jiuyou Academy and the Fishman Tribe, Dylan had more than once suggested wild ideas like ’drain Lake Bell dry to expose the Fishman,’ ’block their water entry and exit, and the Fishman will fall apart on their own,’ and ’cut off all trade with the Fishman Tribe, let them eat mud.’

Zheng Qing had always kept his distance from such reckless and impulsive attitudes.

Compared to that, he was more concerned with Doctor Xiao’s opinions. After all, relative to Dylan, Xiao Xiao had read more and had deeper insights into matters. Even if they did not always understand what he was talking about, they knew it must be impressive.

”How else can it end?” Although Xiao Xiao did not remain silent on Zheng Qing’s question, he seemed to share Dylan’s view and did not place much faith in the Fishman Tribe: ”Just let it be. The academy can leave that filth and murky water there. One day, two days, a week, a month, a term... Eventually, the murky water will clear up again, and the stench of the filth will dissipate. The Fishman rising to the surface and sinking back down is just a cycle... Time, time can smooth out all unevenness and annihilate all that is unquenchable.”

Indeed, that was Doctor Xiao talking. His words, which sounded profound, left people feeling like they half-understood.

”No wonder wizards consider time the standard to measure everything; there indeed is an intrinsic truth to it. Worthy of being a doctor; your words are on another level,” Zheng Qing nodded in agreement, praising Xiao Xiao, and couldn’t help but tease Mister Wolfman, ”An ancient saying goes, having an elder in the family is like possessing a treasure. Thinking about it, that ’treasure’ might also imply a ’living treasure.’

Dylan often bragged about being over a thousand years old in daily conversations, calling himself an ’old man.’

Zheng Qing’s last sentence was not without a sense of jest.

Upon hearing this, Dylan remained silent, only throwing a screaming chicken toy out of the coffin, which hit the young state-funded student on the head. This was in line with the typical behavior of a student from Starry Sky Academy — act first, talk later.

...

Unlike the peaceful discussions among the young wizards in room 403, a notable divergence had arisen in public opinion on the Lake Bell Fishman unrest throughout Buji Island, or more precisely between Jiuyou Academy and Alpha Academy.

Jiuyou Academy, or rather most people in Jiuyou Academy, believed that the Fishman Tribe’s actions bordered on rebellion, as they were a serious transgression of the rules related to the Fishman’s residence area and were illegal.

However, many views within Alpha Academy held that the rights of the Fishman Tribe within Lin Zhong Lake should be protected by relevant rules, and there should be no arbitrary interference just because their exercise of power affected the wizards on shore—in the words of some white-robed wizards, if today Jiuyou Academy interfered with the Fishman’s activities due to their feces affecting the environment onshore, would Jiuyou Academy tomorrow interfere with Alpha’s affairs if Alpha closing certain passageways affected the academy?

In light of this, the Club Union of Alpha Academy swiftly passed a ”Fishman Tribe Rights Protection Notice,” demanding that at every monthly meeting of the Club Union, a review should be conducted to ensure the rights of the Fishman Tribe were intact. If the review failed to pass, the Club Union had the responsibility to submit a certification request to the relevant school authorities as a third party.

The contents of the certification included whether Jiuyou Academy had fully fulfilled the obligations of relevant regulations, and whether there was consideration to reduce the importance of some credit projects at Jiuyou Academy—such as the weighting of the morality component.

Because the Club Union of Alpha Academy consisted of many ancient and powerful clubs, the Notice they passed often had a greater impact than the announcements from Alpha Academy’s Student Union.

Therefore, the Notice caused an uproar at Jiuyou Academy.

In Zhang Ji Xin’s words—he was quoting his brother—Alpha had completely discarded all shame, sparing no effort in pulling Jiuyou Academy’s leg whenever possible.

Although the actions of Alpha Academy’s Club Union were already very close to Jiuyou Academy’s bottom line, they had not crossed it, and Jiuyou Academy did not deem it appropriate to stoop to confront a mere student organization. Consequently, as the representative of Jiuyou Academy’s student self-government, the Sacred Will club opened a new front in the battle.

The Sacred Will club called upon all the hunting teams in Jiuyou to, during their spare time training, blockade any illegal trade by the Fishman Tribe centered around Lin Zhong Lake, not letting a single thread reach the shore.

Subjectively, this behavior was entirely permissible, completely in accordance with school rules.

But objectively, this move by Sacred Will was equivalent to revoking the trade rights that Alpha’s clubs held over the Fishman Tribe. Admittedly, these rights were in a gray area, but breaking the common practices was seen as a brutal, faithless act by many clubs in Alpha Academy.

On the other hand, after extended coordination and negotiations, The First University’s School Works Committee and the Fishman Tribe Elder Council issued a joint statement condemning all violent acts and illegal conduct. Concurrently, both sides announced their readiness to sign the ’Supplementary Provisions on Fishman Aquatic Crime’ and ’Supplementary Opinions on the Management of Shore-dwelling Fishman by Jiuyou Academy’s Regulations’ agreements.

The provisions and opinions clearly stated that Fishman committing crimes on shore should be subject to punishment by Jiuyou Academy. The rights of the Fishman Tribe in Lin Zhong Lake were subject to the supervision and restrictions of Jiuyou Academy.

Once the news was released, Jiuyou Academy’s reaction was fairly normal, but there was an uproar in Alpha Academy and within Lake Bell.

Combining the two pieces of news, Zheng Qing felt as if he saw a fierce fire blazing up from the bottom of the lake, spreading along the winding Silent River, and truly connecting Alpha Academy, which sat in a different direction on the island.