High School of Demon Hunting

”Squeak, squeak, I told you, there are mice here!”

A little mouse in a yellow vest was tugging at another slightly smaller mouse in a yellow vest, excitedly squeezing out of a tree hole and pointing at the black and white cats sprawled on the bench, squealing in a frenzy.

The black cat shook its tail in surprise.

He recognized these clothed mice—his store employed two mice in green vests. However, as far as Zheng Qing knew, these mice in yellow vests were rat tribe cubs and were not allowed to go out.

He had no idea why there were two of them in front of him now.

Little White Cat seemed to hear the chatter next to her, twitched her ears, but didn’t budge.

The black cat took a careful glance at her before turning his head back to the uninvited guests.

”Squeak! Really, it’s true!” The smaller yellow-vested mouse was flipping frantically through a crudely bound storybook with poor-quality illustrations, occasionally looking up at the two cats on the bench with surprise in his tone,

”This is a cat! Just like the ones drawn in the book!”

The black cat glanced at the illustration in the storybook and noticed the drawn cat, with a square head, big ears, and a round body, whereas its tail was as thin as a thread, bearing no resemblance to a real cat, looking more like a mutated Yeti from the Himalayas.

This discovery irked the black cat.

He had seen timid mice, silly mice, but never such a blind one. Could it be that living underground for so long had caused their eyes to degenerate to this extent? How did that illustration even slightly resemble him or Little White Cat? How on Earth had these blind little mice managed to associate him with that thing in the drawing?!

Although irritated, the black cat had no intention of teaching these little ones a lesson.

He remembered Dangdang Ears saying that mice under one year old would wear yellow vests and weren’t allowed to exit the Underground World. Their daily tasks were things like taking care of insects and attending school regularly.

Just like these two in front of him, not only were they blind, but they also couldn’t speak clearly. Every utterance was accompanied by several mouse squeaks, reminiscent of the uncivilized Fishmen from Lin Zhong Lake.

To stoop to the level of such little creatures would be beneath his dignity.

Of course, the more important reason was that it was daylight, and young wizards bustled along the shaded path, with many eyes watching. If someone saw a cat bullying clothed mice and reported it to the School Works Committee, he would surely end up with a reproach. Just last week, one of the black cat’s subordinate ragdoll cats had been dragged to the Professor Si Ma’s office for toying with two fat rabbits and had to squat over a globe for a day.

In the end, every time that ragdoll cat saw a globe, it would hide.

Thinking of this, the black cat sniffed and decided to pretend he hadn’t seen the two small mice gesturing under the bench, continuing to enjoy the warmth of the late spring sun.

But the two little mice in yellow vests had no intention of giving up just like that.

”Squeak, squeak! Should we greet it?” the larger yellow-vested mouse couldn’t contain the curiosity welling up inside.

”Squeak!” The little yellow-vested mouse frantically flipped through the storybook in his hands, shrieking, ”The book says cats are ferocious creatures that live by eating mice... Aren’t we mice?!”

”Squeak, squeak, we’re not mice, we’re from the Mouse Clan,” corrected the larger mouse after fixing his companion’s slip-up, and with a brave face, he stepped in front of the bench, adding, ”...The book also says you can get choked by drinking water too fast, should we stop drinking water too?... Hey there, hello, White Cat!”

Little White Cat lifted a paw, covering her ears, blocking out the noise around her.

The larger yellow-vested mouse paused, eventually realizing that Little White Cat was ignoring them, and with some unease, shook its tail and turned to its companion: ”Squeak, squeak... White Cat’s ignoring us... Should we try Black Cat?”

The Black Cat’s face contorted as if he were constipated.

”Squeak! You can’t greet someone like that, you’ll get eaten!” The small Yellow Vest grabbed his companion’s Tail in a panic, his voice high and shrill, ”Look, it’s baring its teeth!”

Hearing this, the Black Cat couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

What’s wrong with baring teeth? In broad daylight, under the vast sky, can’t a cat yawn? Besides, I’m a Wizard, for heaven’s sake, nobody wants to eat you scrawny raw things.

Not even if you were cooked.

”Squeak squeak! So what should we do?” The larger Mouse seemed to be getting nervous too.

”Squeak, the book says not to look into the Flower Cat’s eyes!” The smaller Mouse flipped through the book in his hands noisily, ”You must bow, ninety degrees, eyes looking at the ground... and you must recite the Cat’s title... or its true name!”

”How would we know its true name?!” The large Yellow Vest was getting frantic.

”No, we don’t,” the smaller one replied, stuffing the fairy tale book into his companion’s chest and twisting the whiskers at the corners of his mouth, ”but we can recite its title... there’s a standard inscription in the book.”

The big Yellow Vest took the book and nodded repeatedly at the text his companion pointed to.

”Very well.”

The small Mouse straightened his blood-stained, crooked Yellow Vest, then coiled his Tail around his waist, tightened it, straightened up, and took tiny steps towards the Black Cat. He bowed deeply, then straightened up and squeaked out a loud greeting, ”Son of Jin Biao and the White Tiger, King of the Dark Night, Master of Humans and Hounds, Ruler of the Sofa, Proud and Tsundere Lucifer, Majestic Flower Cat Your Majesty! Please accept the respects of the Rat tribe messenger! Your humble servant brings greetings from the Rat Immortal!”

Zheng Qing shivered his whiskers, barely holding back a sneeze from hitting the Black Mouse.

Running into neurotic Mice is quite a hassle.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Little White Cat’s shoulders shaking violently, as if she was about to laugh herself into a fit.

”Wrong, wrong!” the other Mouse whispered urgently from behind, ”It’s not the Flower Cat, there’s a Black Cat and a White Cat!”

As the small Mouse was about to recite the embarrassingly long list of titles for the second time, the Black Cat could no longer hold back and puffed up his body.

”What on Earth are you doing?” he demanded with a fierce expression.

”Squeak... Wow!” The eyes of the small Mouse bulged, terrified by the sudden increase in size of the Black Cat. He didn’t get a chance to catch his breath and fainted.

The other Mouse still had some courage. He didn’t abandon his companion. Instead, he grabbed his head and the small Mouse’s Tail and bolted toward the tree hole, tears and snot flowing as he ran:

”We dare not, we won’t dare again... Wah...”

In the blink of an eye, the two noisy little creatures squeezed into the dark tree hole, which then expanded and contracted, disappearing instantly.

The Black Cat stared dumbfounded at the direction in which the two Mice had vanished, feeling like a herd of alpacas was stampeding through his mind.

What in the world just happened.

The Little White Cat on the side was rolling around, laughing so hard she fell off the bench onto the ground.