High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1362: Chapter 109 Above and Below the Tree

Xiao Xiao was clearly aware of the little witch’s unreliability.

He tactfully refused, ”That cat already has a name, it’s called Tuan Tuan... Because it’s an Orange Cat, it looks like a ball of yarn from a distance... Do you like cats? Did you come to the Cat Fruit Tree specifically to see cats today?”

Xiao Xiao’s attempt at changing the subject was not very clever.

But Li Meng was easily diverted, forgetting that she had wanted to name a certain Spiritual Cat.

”Cat Fruit Tree?” Li Meng’s eyes widened, and then she realized what Xiao Xiao meant: ”You mean that big locust tree covered in cats? Oh, this name is quite fitting.”

As they talked, the two had arrived under the Cat Fruit Tree.

Li Meng was wearing a pink-edged Pointed wizard hat that matched well with her red academy robes. Xiao Xiao, as always, dressed like a studious little scholar, even the bright red robes from Jiuyou Academy looked muted with a dull luster on him.

Of course, that could also be because of the dim light in the woods.

”If you like cats, you can apply to the school to adopt one.” Xiao Xiao looked up, searching for traces of the Black Cat—a difficult task under the dim lighting—while suggesting to Li Meng: ”...like here, where you can always find a lot of stray cats. They must like a stable life.”

”I’m not particularly fond of cats... I like rabbits more.” Li Meng also looked around as if searching for something.

”But your pet is a pigeon, right?”

”Because no one uses rabbits to deliver letters... besides, they’re too frail.”

”Why do you like rabbits?”

”Ah, I forgot which rabbit said it, ’If only I were a blanket, then I’d either be lying on a bed or basking in the sun.’ I really like that sentence.” Li Meng, trying to sound like an old soul, said with hands behind her back and in a pretentiously weather-beaten tone: ”Perhaps, that’s what life is all about.”

”Then you should like blankets, right?”

”Of course, I like blankets. But no one keeps blankets as pets... So I had to settle for the next best thing, and choose to like rabbits instead.”

”That kind of life philosophy is a bit too salted fish, isn’t it?”

”What’s wrong with being a salted fish?”

”No, nothing at all.” Xiao Xiao wisely did not argue with the little witch on this conclusion but still summarized in a humorous manner: ”...it’s just that most salted fish are either lying in a pot or in a bowl. In the end, they still get eaten by someone.”

The Black Cat in the tree couldn’t help but snicker with a hissing laugh.

Xiao Xiao immediately spotted his location, gesturing to him that there was something he needed to talk about.

Li Meng also noticed the Black Cat.

Then she saw the Little White Cat next to the Black Cat, her face lit with joy, and she raised her hand excitedly to wave: ”Ah, I command... you! Why are you climbing so high?! Meow meow!”

The moment the words left her mouth, she realized there were other people around, so the greeting she had sent to Jiang Yu turned into an awkward phrase.

Xiao Xiao gave her a sideways glance.

”Do you know that Black Cat?” He thought Li Meng was greeting the Black Cat.

”Black Cat? Is there a Black Cat here?” The little witch glanced a few more times with wide eyes, only then noticing the sleek Black Cat beside the White Cat, and immediately turned away, spitting disdainfully twice: ”Ptui ptui... how unlucky.”

To many Old-school wizards, black cats and ravens are not considered good omens. Encountering them is only slightly better than encountering symbols like Night Qi or black dogs.

Although Li Meng was not an old-fashioned witch, she came from an ancient family of Wizard Families and could not avoid being influenced by this belief.

Zheng Qing listened to the little witch’s spitting sounds, his face full of black lines. The Little White Cat beside him giggled. She glanced at the Black Cat, flicked her Tail, and gracefully jumped down from the Cat Fruit Tree, quietly disappearing into the depths of the woods amidst Li Meng’s shouting and chasing.

Most of the ’Cat Fruits’ in the tree simply lazily watched the commotion below.

”Is there anything you need?” the Black Cat stuck its head out and asked.

”Just verifying if you’re still among the living,” Xiao Xiao shrugged his shoulders, noticing the confusion on the black cat’s face and explained: ”The Beta Town Post and some other newspapers and magazines were all discussing matters about Outer Gods a few days ago, weren’t they?”

Upon hearing the words ’Outer Gods’, Black Cat couldn’t help but shiver violently. Accidentally exerting too much force, he poked a transparent hole in the parchment with his feather pen.

He glared at the little hole, annoyed.

”What’s so fresh about it?” Black Cat grumbled.

”For us, indeed it’s nothing new,” Xiao Xiao tilted his head back and continued: ”But for other students in the academy, concepts like Outer Gods, their kin, Starry Sky, and so on, all seem distant and exotic... We had training yesterday, weekend, so we paid no attention... Today after classes, all sorts of rumors started spreading around the class...”

”Rumors?”

”Some say the Northern District Wizards have slain too many frogs, so Satoguya is planning on descending divine punishment upon North Beta Town to annihilate a quarter of Beta Town... Others are saying that the Three-pillar God and the academy have reached an agreement to cultivate a new batch of wizard kin, among other things.”

Black Cat was utterly baffled.

”What does that have to do with me?” He poked his head forward, revealing his entire cat head: ”Stupid rumors circulate around the school every day... Someone even said that Old Yao was imprisoned by Danghag for illegal spellcasting! Are we supposed to care about every little thing?”

”Of course not,” Xiao Xiao lifted his arms, pinching his sore neck before taking a breath and then continuing: ”...It’s just that you didn’t come to classes today, and amid all these terrifying rumors, some speculated whether you were attacked by an Outer God and are now staying in the school hospital.”

Zheng Qing smacked his lips, deeply admiring the vigorous energy and rampant imaginations of the young wizards.

From a bunch of incorrect premises, they actually deduced half the correct answer—Zheng Qing was indeed attacked by an Outer God, but he was not hospitalized, and that was not the reason for his leave.

”Don’t tell me you believed it,” Black Cat gave the Doctor a look.

”A repeated lie becomes the truth,” Xiao Xiao massaged his neck again: ”At noon, I sent a Paper Crane to Professor Montreya’s lab, and they said you hadn’t asked for leave to participate in experiments today... Everyone was asking me where you went, whether you were really admitted to the school hospital...”

Black Cat retracted his head a bit.

”It was another lab...” he murmured, his tail swishing nervously: ”Didn’t I tell you that if you have something, you could find me at the Cat Fruit Tree?”

”So here I am,” Xiao Xiao flexed his shoulder blades, cocking his head, and finally couldn’t help but shout: ”Excuse me, can you come down and chat? My neck’s about to break!”

”I’m doing homework,” Black Cat replied from the tree, grabbing the feather pen and parchment to indicate he was telling the truth.

”The library can’t contain you, or is the self-study room chair uncomfortable?” A voice of disbelief from Doctor Xiao came from below the tree: ”Is there a hole in your head? To choose to become a cat and do homework on a tree!”

Originally, I hadn’t planned to do homework, Black Cat thought, watching the feather pen dancing on the parchment with a touch of helplessness.

Ps, [The Abandoned Little Theater]

”The fat Orange Cat in our dorm, what do you plan to name it?”

”How about Chicken Leg? I heard it loves chicken legs.”

”Indeed not bad,” Xiao Xiao reluctantly offered a compliment.

”Right?... I’ve named all the cats on that tree... That one’s called Hedgehog, that one’s Pagoda Moon, that one’s Baize, and that one there is called Mist...” Li Meng pointed at each cat perched on the tree, counting them off one by one.

Xiao Xiao noticed that the one named ’Mist’ was precisely a Norwegian Forest Cat.

”Why did you name it ’Mist’?”

”Because it meows like ’wow-woo’... and the first time I saw it, it was squatting in a mist-covered hollow,” Li Meng answered as such.

”This is the first time I’ve learned Baize is actually a cat,” Xiao Xiao said, nodding his head solemnly as he examined another shorthaired cat: ”...You know most of them have identities, meaning they have their own real names.”

”What does it matter,” Li Meng lifted his head, holding up the box filled with chicken strips: ”Meow-meow... come on, time for afternoon tea!”

Aside from a few strays, the majority of the ’fruits’ on the Cat Fruit Tree didn’t budge at all.

Black Cat lowered his head, looking at Li Meng with an expression one reserves for the intellectually challenged.