High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2380: Chapter 601: After Gan Ning Escaped

Zheng Qing always believed there were teachers or students from the school among the ravens.

But even after pondering hard, he never imagined his magical zoology teacher was one of them.

This fact seemed like an anchor in his memory that suddenly tightened, pulling up a net of fragmented memories submerged deep in his conscious sea.

Most of these recollections were meaningless, mainly focused on Gan Ning’s lectures. But a few fragments caught his attention.

One was last semester, during a period when he suffered minor transformation aftereffects due to frequent use of transformation spells. When consulting Professor Montreya about treatment methods, the magical zoology teacher stood by with a playful smile, offering him many suggestions.

Another fragment was during the school’s hunting competition, when Zheng Qing struggled to understand the significance of the ’Compass’ clue he obtained. In a magical zoology class, Gan Ning perhaps intentionally or unintentionally lectured about ’Compass representing some principle that wizards adhere to in practice.’ Although he quickly dismissed it with an excuse about a mistaken lecture note, in hindsight, Zheng Qing had a hard time believing it wasn’t deliberate.

Another moment was during Winter Hunting, when the Fringe Hunting Team faced peril from simultaneous attacks by ravens and the Ogre Tribe, Gan Ning suddenly appeared, saving Zhu Si at the critical moment. His excuse then was ’performing official duties.’

”...Arresting Gan Ning on the spot would naturally be easy, but it wouldn’t maximize safety... The school and the bureau hoped to use him to track down other ’raven,’ untapped members.”

At this point, the Milly Wizard paused briefly, adding meaningfully: ”Theoretically, after the founding leader of the ravens was killed, the organization had declared disbandment... The wizards responsible for surveillance are elite agents from the bureau. Post-review showed no exposed traces. As for these few days’ surveillance results...”

He took out another file folder, withdrew a few sheets of paper, placing them on the coffee table: ”...For these past few days, Gan Ning’s behavior had been very normal but also quite abnormal. Normally, he maintained a standard routine of work, study, and experiments, in line with the information obtained via divination; atrociously speaking, these days he’s been entirely solitary, having no special interactions with any person, animal, or plant... Not even speaking much... And then, this morning, three and a half hours ago, he disappeared from his apartment.”

Zheng Qing glanced up at the clock on the living room wall; it was eight forty-three in the morning. This meant Gan Ning chose to flee at five thirteen in the morning.

That period was indeed a good time to vanish since most people were still asleep.

”How did he vanish? Didn’t you notice at the time?” Su Shijun folded her arms, standing behind the sofa where Zheng Qing sat, though sometime before she had changed into a more solemnly styled plain dress.

”We suspect he used some powerful causal magic, or an invisibility spell,” the Milly Wizard’s face showed slight embarrassment, offering some ambiguous answers: ”Or he may have cast a wide-range confusion spell near his residence, fleeing days earlier...”

”So, what you’re saying is you still don’t know how he escaped, right.” The witch flatly summarized, but anyone could sense the veiled sarcasm in her tone.

Zheng Qing coughed dryly, taking a small sip from his teacup.

The tea had already grown cold.

”I’m still not quite understanding,” he interrupted, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere in the room: ”You’re sure he’s a raven, proving what I said before was correct... Then he escaped... Why didn’t you just capture him? Why come to me?”

The Milly Wizard reached into his robe once more.

Zheng Qing was curious about what else he might pull out next.

This time, he pulled out a photo. Against the black background, the photo showed only a slip of paper— for a moment, staring at the motionless photo, Zheng Qing almost thought he returned to his original world— but quickly, his attention was drawn to the two words on the photo.

”Zheng Qing.”

He read aloud those two words aloud. The slip had no signature, but the author was evident. Encircling this name were deeply etched, repetitive oval lines. Zheng Qing could almost envision a wizard seated under a lamp, holding a feather pen, drawing circle after circle around it, whispering the name softly.

Curiously, even through the photo, Zheng Qing could discern very complex emotions from that slip of paper.

”Was he drawing circles to curse me?” The young cost student chuckled dryly.

The Milly Wizard shook his head, his face devoid of any humor: ”Currently, we haven’t found any traces of curses or Black Magic on the slip... We’re more inclined to believe he’s repeatedly studying information related to you. According to the Divination Group’s guess, Gan Ning hadn’t expected you to identify the source of the copper bean, so you left a very deep impression on him...”

”Where is the slip?” Su Shijun interrupted the black-robed wizard.

”It has been sent to the headquarters’ inspection department.” The Milly Wizard answered without hesitation: ”We conducted a simple check before. We need to further examine it for magic potions, memetics, Black Magic, curses, pollution among others...”

”Could I take a look once you’re done examining?” Zheng Qing tentatively asked.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but right after he spoke, the Milly Wizard’s lips seemed to show a faint glimmer of a smile, gone in a blink.

”I’m sorry,” the black-robed wizard politely refused: ”You are just a regular student, and theoretically, even these pieces of information need to be kept confidential from you... Not to mention a key piece of evidence in the case.”

”He’s not a regular student.” Su Shijun squinted, interrupting: ”As a member of the Great Wizard Conference and the Moon Council’s Upper House Member’s Dao Companion, he has the same level of confidentiality access as I do.”

This response clearly surprised the Milly Wizard, causing a moment’s hesitation.

Immediately, Andrew, standing by, added courteously: ”But according to the Alliance’s internal files, you and Mr. Zheng Qing haven’t formally become Dao Companions.”

Then the short, stout wizard turned to Zheng Qing, quickly supplementing: ”Of course, if Mr. Zheng Qing formally joins our Magic Association Investigation Bureau, there wouldn’t be these restrictions.”