High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1986: Chapter 207: Simple Selection Task

”A very clever approach.”

At a later meeting of the Absolution Hunting Team, Xiao Xiao analyzed the student council’s idea: ”Because the school hunting competition rules have changed this year, allowing students without any experience to organize hunting teams to compete. On one hand, this breaks the situation where teams are solidified under the ’seniority points’ system. On the other hand, it also livens up the atmosphere of the Campus Cup, making it align more with its ’youthful’ vibe.”

Zheng Qing nodded in agreement.

According to what he knew, the hunting teams participating in previous years’ Campus Cup were almost always the same ones—aside from the school hunting team and the four academy teams, there were teams like Judgment, Hemophilia, 3A, You Yao Qi, Destiny, YPO, and others with long histories and long-established organizations.

And making it to the finals to win the ’Campus Cup,’ eight out of ten times it’s the school hunting team, with the remaining occasions switching between the Jiuyou Academy Hunting Team and the Alpha Academy Hunting Team.

This greatly reduced the viewership appeal of the whole hunting competition. Students attending the school hunting party were more focused on peripheral events like the hunting dance, hunting art exhibition, or even the hunting taste-sharing event, among others.

”...Meanwhile, increasing the activity level of the hunting party is bound to bring about a mix of good and bad.”

Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses and continued to expound his view unhurriedly: ”...As far as I know, just in our class, there are no fewer than five hunting teams planning to participate... a simple calculation shows that only in the second year, the four academies have seventy to eighty hunting teams... and this doesn’t even count the eager first-year freshmen, as well as the third and fourth-year veterans trying to add some highlights to their resumes. A rough estimate suggests that the number of hunting teams participating in the preliminaries could exceed two hundred.”

”This number is almost double that of previous years.”

Zhang Ji Xin timely supplemented with the data he got from his brother: ”In previous years, there were only about a hundred teams qualified to participate in the school hunting party, including freshman teams... Of the teams that participated last year, only twenty-seven made it through the round robin to advance to the main hunting party.”

Xin Fat Man bit the tip of his feather pen and pondered: ”I remember there are over two thousand students across the four grades... hmm... this means almost half the students signed up this year! Finally, it feels like the youthful spirit of the ’Campus Cup.’

”I am surprised that even half didn’t sign up,” said Dylan, who turned upside down in the tree and joined the discussion with a face of surprise: ”Anyway, almost all the Starry Sky Academy students I know tried to organize a hunting team... they didn’t have a chance in previous years, but now that they do, they definitely want to seize it.”

”Whether they advance is one thing, but not seizing the opportunity provided is another,” the fat wizard agreed, nodding vigorously.

”There are more Starry Sky teams, fewer Atlas teams, and Jiuyou and Alpha are about fifty-fifty,” Xiao Xiao tried hard to bring the topic back to his analysis: ”This situation is related to the particular characteristics of the students each academy recruits... but that’s not what I want to emphasize... I want to say that given the number of teams signing up this year, trying to follow the usual process of going through round robin selections is far from enough for the one-month hunting party timeframe. I roughly estimated that it would require the Hunting Committee to start organizing the competitions from the beginning of the year, and by October, there might be a chance to select the teams for the main hunting event.”

”So using the old methods isn’t feasible.” Xin Fat Man summarized for the professor: ”The student council’s move to lower the hunting team selection mechanism, returning the initiative to the teams might be considered a very wise decision.”

While his companions were discussing the selection scheme thrown out by the student council, Zheng Qing noticed that Jiang Yu seemed a bit uneasy, glancing at her pocket watch from time to time.

”Is something wrong?” The young cost student moved beside the witch, lowered his voice, and asked softly.

The witch seemed startled by his question but kept a calm expression.

”It’s Li Meng.” She came back to her senses and shook her head slightly: ”She didn’t come today, and I forgot to assign her more homework... I’m a little worried she’ll sneak out with that Zhu Si girl tonight when I’m not around.”

Li Meng?

Zheng Qing looked around and then realized what felt missing during today’s hunting team meeting—three noisy little witches and an active little fox were absent.

”I remember during practice class she strained herself while practicing the ’Wind Spell,’ didn’t she?” Zheng Qing still clearly remembered the little witch’s painful rolling on the floor during the afternoon practice class.

It had frightened Hilda terribly.

”It was just a strain.”

Jiang Yu seemed slightly embarrassed, turned her head to the side, and added softly: ”After being sent to the school hospital, Lady Bella sorted her breath out in less than ten seconds... it’s just that she insists her stomach is uncomfortable... and I happened to get several paper cranes from the student council, I was so busy that I completely forgot to assign her homework.”

”Rest assured.”

Zheng Qing comforted: ”Zhu Si is at least a school teacher. Even if she takes Li Meng out for a walk, she won’t cause any trouble... she’s been in the Dreamland for so long. I’d bet she’s better at wilderness survival than most fourth-year veterans... and Li Meng isn’t a child. You shouldn’t always keep such a tight rein on her... balancing tightness and relaxation is the best way of education.”

”I’ve never doubted her learning ability, just worried about her ability to cause trouble.” Jiang Yu sighed softly, then quickly changed the topic, no longer entangled in her cousin’s private matters, but instead reminded Zheng Qing of the main agenda of today’s meeting: ”...Speaking of Zhu Si, what do you think about having her as our guidance teacher?”

”Having Zhu Si as the guidance teacher?” Zheng Qing unconsciously raised his voice.

The others immediately heard this remark.

”Huh? Good idea!” Xin Fat Man’s face blossomed with excitement as he clapped his hands: ”How could I not think of something so simple... I bet we’ll be the first team among the contestants to complete the selection task.”

”Zhu Si is a lecturer, which indeed meets the minimum requirement for a guidance teacher.” Zhang Ji Xin commented nonchalantly.

”Not good.”

Xiao Xiao expressed his opposition clearly: ”The selection task is only the first stage, and no one knows if the second stage will require a guidance teacher to help the team complete new tasks... I think we should try to find a more reliable guidance teacher within our capabilities.”

”Like Old Yao?” Zheng Qing verbalized the second thought that surfaced in his mind.

”Or Professor Li from the pharmacy department, Professor Yi from the Divination class.” Xiao Xiao nodded, then shook his head: ”As for Old Yao, I think not many teams would dare to invite him as a guidance teacher.”

Zheng Qing immediately recalled the recent rumors about Old Yao being a ’demon.’