High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1497: Chapter 241 Attracting Guests

Zheng Qing first met Nikita on the charter flight to the school.

At that time, the female demon was under orders to conceal her identity, but was attracted by an inexplicable and enticing scent emanating from Zheng Qing, exposing herself. This made a deep impression on Nikita.

”It’s like in the storybooks, children’s flesh is sweet while adults’ flesh stinks... No, no, it hasn’t been that long since we last met.”

”Perhaps the air is so foul at First University now that it has completely erased your fragrance?”

”Or did you eat something strange at school?”

Nikita, with her arms crossed and fingers curled, tapped and speculated: ”.... Although I don’t mean to brag, as a top registered wizard, it’s very rare for an aroma to unsettle me, and it’s even rarer for something to make that scent disappear or persist.”

Zheng Qing kept a straight face, fearlessly staring into the female demon’s blood-red eyes, not showing the slightest sign of backing down.

After the last explosion, in The Land of Void, the teacher had already explained to him the origin of the scent on his body that attracted demons or black wizards.

It was a byproduct of the forbidden curse seed.

Before entering school, the forbidden curse seed deep within Zheng Qing’s soul was sealed by his teacher. However, an unexpected night encounter with Su Shijun had caused the forbidden curse seed to sprout, piercing the seal and releasing a whiff of aroma – including his recurring headaches and the occasional outbreak of ’Red Eye Disease’, all the work of that scent stirring trouble.

At the time, because the teacher was not at the bookstore, no one noticed the scent leak.

Then Zheng Qing embarked on his journey to First University. It was on that charter flight that Nikita detected the enticing scent that ’transcended the rules,’ and lost control, killing a flight attendant.

But now, with a new vessel, the teacher had imposed a new seal on him, and the sprouted forbidden curse seed had once again been concealed; naturally, Nikita couldn’t detect the scent she’d been obsessing over.

”... That day, because you disrupted my mission, I lost the chance to infiltrate First University and the trust of the Mist Captain,” Nikita let down her arms and placed them behind her back, tilting her head to look at the little female demon beside her: ”And this little one here, has won the favor of four big sea monsters.”

Zhuzhu, who was originally squatting on the chair, suddenly felt the hair on her back stand up, and her blood-red eyes flashed violently.

Her hand pressed against her rib, stiffened and didn’t dare to move.

Only when Nikita’s gaze shifted did the little female demon weakly exhale a breath, her demeanor no longer arrogant and provocative, becoming more submissive and much more docile.

Zheng Qing slightly narrowed his eyes; he vaguely sensed that the relationship between Nikita and the Faceless Demon wasn’t as close or secure as he had imagined.

”... Losing trust, I’m just a cook at the bottom of the Mist Ship.” The female demon’s voice was somewhat disheartened and helpless: ”I ran away from Silent Forest, fled from Sahara, escaped from the Land of Desolation, and finally fled to the Mist Ship. Although it was to survive, it wasn’t to live scrapping by every day as a cook for a few cans of blood plasma.”

”To live is to have dreams, and living without dreams, what’s the difference from a salted fish?”

”I don’t want to be a salted fish.”

”So, after the captain took me ashore this time, I set a small goal for myself—to live more grandly. What counts as grandly? It means to do more than what the captain has asked of me.”

”For instance, the Captain had me lure magical creatures in the Silent Forest, preparing to use their surge to attack the First University when they strike the Black Prison. This meant I couldn’t just prepare in the Silent Forest—I had to go even farther, such as the Silent Riverbed or the Dreamland. You know what? When I found a passage to Dreamland deep in Silent Forest, I had only one thought in mind: Heaven helps those who help themselves...”

The female demon prattled on about her experiences.

The faces of the young Hunters from the Absolution Hunting Team grew paler and paler—they were beginning to realize that they might have heard about some terrifying plans.

Schemes like the Big sea monsters secretly wreaking havoc in the school, sabotaging the First University.

For example, the Mist Captain once boarded Buji Island and also planned to incite a beast tide using the magical creatures in Silent Forest.

Or the demons trying to attack Black Prison.

Any one of these speculations, if reported to the school or the Mage Alliance, would bring a slew of investigations and attention, thereby stopping the sea demons’ conspiracy. Yet, the female demon spoke carelessly in front of several young wizards.

The only explanation is that she wasn’t afraid of them reporting her.

There are two possibilities for not being afraid: one is that the sea demons’ plan is about to begin, and reporting it by the young wizards will make no difference; the other is that the young wizards, even if they know, can’t report—at least not in any way. There are many ways this could happen: for example, they could all die in battle right here, or they could be captured by demons, or they could fall into depravity under the demons’ influence, and so on.

No matter which possibility, it’s terrible.

”...Heaven helps those who help themselves; this feeling has become even stronger after meeting you,” Nikita finally stopped beating around the bush and stretched out her hand, her gaze intense as she looked at Zheng Qing: ”What do you think, consider it, become my partner! What First University can teach you, the Mist Ship, or I, can teach you... What First University can’t teach you, we can also teach you.”

”You don’t need to be bound by an invisible rope in your age of blooming fantasies.”

”Nor do you need to stay in a narrow and uninteresting campus, looking up and getting lost in the grey sky.”

”You deserve a much bigger world.”

A bright ray of light shone through the large hole broken in the roof of Minis Tavern.

Nikita’s hand extended forward, with the palm spread open exactly in this beam of light, her fair and slender fingers slightly shining in the light, looking very enchanting.

Zheng Qing stared at her beautiful hand for a long time.

Long enough that his companions from the Absolution Hunting Team turned back anxiously to look at him a few times.

”Bind,” after a long time, the young wizard on a government scholarship finally muttered this word. He looked up at Nikita, his voice tinged with a hint of mockery: ”The antonym of bind is freedom, right... Freedom is the Alpha rule, but I belong to Jiuyou Academy. You’re using Alpha’s recruitment principles to tempt a student from Jiuyou Academy; have you been at Alpha so long that your brain has gone bad?”

Nikita’s expression stiffened.

She indeed came from Alpha Academy, so when she was attempting to recruit Zheng Qing, she subconsciously used the most tempting rhetoric for Alpha People, but she forgot the meaning of the red robes on these young wizards.

”Hey, that’s probably what they call ’can’t see what’s right under your nose’,” Zhang Ji Xin’s mocking voice rang out in the midst of battle. He had shaken off the dizziness from the recent impact and regained the domineering presence of a main Hunter: ”... Living well as a wizard, why should we follow you to eat human flesh and drink human blood? Isn’t braised shrimp delicious?”