High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1520: Chapter 264: Choice (End)

When Zheng Qing hummed and sang opera tunes.

A sudden glimmer of hope flashed in Nikita’s eyes. She clearly saw the shocked expression on the warlock’s face just now and easily deduced the reason for his astonishment.

It’s that little witch!

She’s my only hope right now!

”She’s about to die!” The female demon sat up straight, anxiously turning to Zheng Qing: ”You have to find a way to take her out of here, bring her back to the school, or she won’t survive! If she stays here, she’ll die very soon!”

Zheng Qing withdrew his gaze from the ’No Face’.

”Who? Who’s about to die?” he asked instinctively.

But deep down, he already knew the answer to that question.

”That little witch.” Nikita watched every subtle change in the warlock’s expression closely, her fingers rapidly calculating under the sleeve of her robe: ”Round face, seven or eight years old, wearing a tattered black robe, holding a small mirror in her hands... Zhuzhu is the one I sent to find her!”

”She’s been in Dreamland for too long, her vitality has been completely worn down by the endless illusions. If it weren’t for a lingering obsession sustaining her, she would’ve disappeared long ago.”

”If you take her back now, there’s still hope... The school will surely save her!”

The demon’s words came quickly but were crystal clear.

Zheng Qing rubbed his temple, feeling slightly dizzy.

He tried hard to suppress the uncontrollable impulse within his heart—a daunting task, like a seven- or eight-year-old child trying to rein in a wild galloping steed. Zheng Qing knew clearly that if he let this horse run rampant, he’d soon return to ’The Land of Void.’

As the warlock began attempting to halt self-destruction, Nikita distinctly felt a faint light pierce through the oppressive darkness weighing on her heart.

At the final moment before plunging into the abyss, she struggled once more, grasping that fleeting glimmer of hope.

”Where is she?” Zheng Qing pinched the bridge of his nose, clenching his teeth and striving to keep his mind clear. He turned to look at the small female demon perched on the purple spider’s back.

The small female demon bit her finger, peering curiously at the warlock’s bloodshot eyes: ”Were you transformed too? But the scent on you feels a bit odd, like a wizard...”

”Answer him!” Nikita growled in a low voice, glaring fiercely at the small demon.

Zhuzhu was obviously startled.

”I didn’t catch her!” She froze for barely a second before snapping back and quickly responding, ”Just barely missed. A group of passing demon ghouls chased after her, seemingly trying to drag her back to the cavern... I only have Little Purple, couldn’t fight them, so I came back first...”

The ’Little Purple’ she mentioned was likely the petite purple spider beneath her.

As for demon ghouls, Zheng Qing knew a thing or two about them as well. They were magical creatures, as large as small horses yet inherently defiled, dwelling in Dreamland’s underground lairs, succumbing to illness and death under sunlight. They had cannibalistic tendencies and would hunt other creatures as prey—human-shaped beings being their favorite targets due to their resemblance to humans.

Evil, filthy, and depraved.

Zheng Qing’s heart sank lower and lower, an uncontrollable urge swelling in his mind.

Nikita watched the flickering light in his eyes dim and felt that faint glimmer in the darkness fading rapidly.

”We can help you rescue her,” she implored, her tone earnest and desperate. ”I have Enchanting Mice—those Zu Ge, their tracking ability is incredible; I also have Ancient Leather Giants, Shatake bird flocks, packs of ghouls... They can easily tear apart any demon ghoul! Just give me a little time.”

Zheng Qing pinched the bridge of his nose and took shallow breaths, slowly and softly.

It was like carrying a bowl filled to the brim with scorching hot porridge, walking on a tightrope, and he was sick.

”I’d love to give you some time,” his voice was faint, ”but it’s not up to me to decide... I’m just a small dam, about to face a thousand-foot torrent. No matter how hard I try, I can’t hold.”

”You can divert it if you can’t block it!” Nikita shouted desperately, ”Why try to hold back all that water? Let some go—it’ll buy us some more time!”

Zheng Qing slowly closed his eyes.

Block or divert, now he had two choices.

Just like killing Nikita or saving Zhu Si, he could only choose one.

When a train rushes over tracks and reaches a fork, one side lying a single person and the other a hundred people, if Zheng Qing were to choose, he might not know what to do.

But when the choice at the fork became saving a good person on one path or killing an evil person on the other, Zheng Qing would unquestionably choose to save the good person.

After all, once a good person dies, they’re truly gone.

...

In the Conscious Sea, the usually serene sea surface was now stirred into a towering tempest under raging winds.

A pale blue vortex hovered in mid-air.

At first, the vortex was small, only the size of a fist, but it pulsed like a heart, slowly contracting and expanding. With each movement, wisps of faint breezes erupted from the surroundings, landing on the vortex, causing its size to swell slightly with each pulse.

Specks of yellow symbols, resembling windmills, floated and sank upon its surface. If Zheng Qing could see those symbols, he’d immediately recognize them as markings of the King in Yellow.

Again and again.

In mere moments, the vortex had grown colossal, nearly filling the entire Conscious Sea—the sea’s surface was compressed flat, forced into a downward curve; the sky above was stretched into a web of cracks, with a slow, heavy sound of fracturing reverberating throughout.

Once the vortex ruptures the Conscious Sea, the Forbidden Curse will ignite.

Originally, Zheng Qing had allowed everything to unfold naturally.

But now he had changed his mind.

He entered Dreamland to bring Zhu Si home, not to watch her perish here.

The fervent wish deep in his soul, combined with the commanding desire as the master of the Conscious Sea, gradually slowed the vortex’s pulsing. But this wasn’t enough.

A thin blue tube formed of runes descended from the outer edge of the Conscious Sea, plunging into the vortex, frantically siphoning energy from its pale blue core.

The pale blue energy flowed through the tube like water.

Compressed along the way, concentrated along the way.

Finally, it was injected into a glowing red Fu Bullet.

...

The Enchanting Forest.

Before Nikita and Zhuzhu.

A young public-funded student materialized a double-barreled shotgun in his hand.

Even through the dark blue magazine, the female demons could still ’see’ an extraordinarily dazzling red light swirling and brewing within, mingled with many fragmented yellow runes.

Nikita gazed at the Charm Gun, tears streaming down her face.

Though this Charm Gun had become even more dangerous than the one in Kitty’s Tavern, the boundless darkness that had enveloped her heart was now gradually receding.

The light of survival shone ever brighter.