High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1555: Chapter 299: Scooping Beans

For a long time.

Or perhaps just a brief moment later.

A faint rustling sound reached Zheng Qing’s ears, accompanied by a subtle charred smell.

He looked toward the sound and saw Xiao Xiao’s feather pen firmly scraping against the black cauldron. The vibrant green feathers had already been singed yellow and curled by the scorching ceramic wall.

”This pen is damaged due to official business; I’ll claim reimbursement from Fox Five.” Noticing Zheng Qing’s gaze, the Atonement Hunting Team’s diviner adjusted his glasses and smoothly switched between two unrelated topics: ”...For now, both sides seem to still be honoring the agreement. We can consider fishing out that bean now.”

”That’s certainly good news.” The young scholarship student muttered under his breath, putting away his slightly overheated charm gun and reloading it with the Evil-repelling blood talisman bullet he had previously removed.

Within the Conscious Sea, the thin tube reconnected the pathway between the talisman bullet and the ”bomb.” The boiling magic power roared once again, surging through the slender tube into the talisman bullet.

Zheng Qing let out a soft breath, casting a worried glance at the charm gun in his hand.

He wasn’t sure how long this talisman bullet could hold up.

The last thing he wanted upon returning to school was to accidentally fire at the golden Protection Array—he would unquestionably be expelled.

Jiang Yu warily glanced at the silent house and the looming, mute mountain behind it. Her voice carried a tinge of anxiety: ”Are we really okay staying here... I mean, about the shot...”

She cast a meaningful glance at Zheng Qing.

The young scholarship student cleared his throat, feeling the need to provide some clarification.

”The shot was, um, rather rushed.” He carefully chose the neutral word ”rushed” and then explained, ”Normally, like the shot I fired in the Enchanted Forest, it would be a fully ’charged’ shot... But the talisman bullet just now didn’t take much time from being prepared to fired. It won’t destroy this house.”

Moreover, this house shouldn’t be so easily destroyed. Zheng Qing had clearly seen that behind the house’s door wasn’t a regular hall or living room but an expansive world. Perhaps it was the perspective, but the others didn’t see it as clearly—and Zheng Qing didn’t intend to elaborate further, as it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

”If it wasn’t fully charged, was the power sufficient?” The witch’s focus swiftly shifted from one extreme to another. One moment, she was worried the shot might destroy Kela Mountain; the next, she fretted that the shot lacked the power to complete the deal with Engla.

”If the power had been sufficient, the owner of this house might not have even dared to face the shot.” Jiang Yu’s question brought Zheng Qing back to his thoughts. He rubbed the charm gun in his hand and mused, ”...I suspect that what he’s ’borrowing’ isn’t the power of the shot itself but some rule attached to the talisman bullet.”

”Rules?” Xiao Xiao, who had been crouching by the cauldron, raised his head and gave Zheng Qing a deep look.

Zheng Qing realized he might have said too much.

He immediately clutched his charm gun and walked over to Nikita and Zhuzhu—following that shot, the blurred face hidden behind the door and the tendrils binding the two female demons had slithered back into the house. The two female demons, however, seemed oblivious, still lying on the damp, cold grass with their eyes tightly shut, unconscious.

”Get up! Stop playing dead!” The young scholarship student brandished his charm gun and barked loudly, nudging the two female demons on the ground with his toe.

The female demons remained motionless, as though still trapped in a comatose state.

”You’ve got one second to wake up,” Zheng Qing leisurely raised a finger and threatened, ”or I’ll throw you into that house with a Binding Spell to explore it for us.”

Nikita remained lifeless on the ground.

Zhuzhu, however, couldn’t help herself—she tentatively lifted her eyelid. Then she caught Zheng Qing’s faintly smiling gaze. The little demon had no choice but to sit up dejectedly.

”Has anyone ever told you not to talk down to ladies from above?” She grumbled with a disgruntled tone: ”The harsh lighting from below and side angles make you look like some vile Skeleton King.”

”You have insights into photography?” The warlock raised an eyebrow while pondering how to get Nikita to stop pretending to be dead.

The little demon immediately brightened up: ”A Painted Skin must excel in everything! The captain said that to play a role convincingly, you have to embody it fully, only then can you be called a true Painted Skin! I not only know photography but also singing, dancing, playing instruments, perfumery, cooking, laundry...”

”Even if you mastered everything, he wouldn’t keep you by his side as a maid.” Nikita, who had been pretending to be dead, finally couldn’t endure Zheng Qing’s unwavering stare. Begrudgingly opening her eyes, she cast a disdainful glance toward the little demon listing her skills, sneering coldly: ”You’re a demon... The only thing he’ll give you is a ticket to the Black Prison!”

The once eager little witch instantly wilted again.

This made Zheng Qing feel like a villainous overlord, prompting him to silently recite the Heart Sutra several times to recalibrate his moral compass. At the same time, he raised his guard against the two female demons once more—he suddenly understood why some hunting teams resorted to severing a captured demon’s limbs and sealing them in jars for transport.

Although barbaric and contrary to some wizards’ ethics, it was undeniably safe.

Meanwhile, Xiao Xiao was vigorously using a wooden ladle to try fishing out the gold bean from the mushroom soup. But no matter how hard he rattled the cauldron, he could only scoop out ladlefuls of clear soup, unable to retrieve even a single mushroom slice, let alone the bean.

”You should use chopsticks.” Xin Fat Man mocked the doctor, pulled out a pair of wooden chopsticks from his watch, and extended them into the cauldron. When he encountered a slice of mushroom, he attempted to grab it.

The mushroom slice floated like a mirage at the tip of Xin’s chopsticks. When he lifted the chopsticks, only a few droplets of soup came along, even less effective than Xiao Xiao’s wooden ladle.

The young wizards gathered around the cauldron immediately adopted grave expressions.

By the time Zheng Qing herded the two female demons toward the cauldron with the gun barrel, Xiao Xiao had tried countless methods—it was certain that any utensil could only pull out soup but not mushrooms or the elusive bean.

”Think the Black Wizard is cheating!” Zhang Ji Xin tightened the gloves on his hands, glancing anxiously at the silent house in the distance.

This was also the suspicion shared by all the young wizards of the Atonement Hunting Team.

Then Zheng Qing caught Nikita’s mocking gaze.

”What’s your opinion?” He waved his gun barrel and asked bluntly.

”Opinion?” The female demon sneered, her smile full of malice: ”What opinion could I possibly have? It’s simple—drink the entire pot of mushroom soup, and the bean stuck at the bottom of the pot will surely surface... Classic old-school wizard antics. But who knows what that Black Wizard added to the soup.”

Zheng Qing furrowed his brow.

The owner of the old house did indeed call himself an old-school wizard.