High School of Demon Hunting

"Can you stop it or not! Can you stop it!"

"Day after day... endless!"

In the bookstore window, the Yellow Flowered Cat, whose conversation was interrupted, stood upright with its two paws gripping the wooden fence on the window, like a prisoner confined in jail, glaring at the Fox keeper outside tapping the tuning fork. It couldn’t help but bang its round head against the glass window, muttering, "...Life is unlivable!"

Completely forgetting the situation on Lantern Festival night when it praised ’youth is wonderful.’

But no matter how it smashed the window with clanging noises, the passersby outside turned a blind eye, and no one inside the room echoed its performance.

So, after hitting the window for a while, the Flower Cat turned away in dismay, sat down at the window with its fluffy long legs spread wide open, maliciously exposing two fluffy balls towards the direction of the small heater.

Its beautiful long tail looked like a venomous snake with half of its bones removed, drooping its neck, swaying left and right between its legs, looking as if it had lost control of its cat brain.

The lousy attitude finally caught the attention of the bookstore owner.

"If you want to be more comfortable this season, I can help, free of charge." Mr. Wu lifted his eyelids, glanced at the cat sitting improperly, and made a chopping gesture in mid-air with his right hand.

The Yellow Flowered Cat immediately crossed its legs to cover the two balls.

Then it was righteously indignant, pointing to the Fox keeper just walking away: "Either you send the little sapling on the bookshelf to Zheng, let him knock on the wooden fish at home every day, or you close the window tightly, don’t let in a sound... How can this be... Neither letting a cat out to play nor stopping the five hundred hertz noise every day, it disturbs people’s sweet dreams!"

"It’s five hundred twenty-eight hertz, not five hundred hertz." The bookstore owner corrected the Flower Cat’s misuse of words seriously: "...By the way, you’re a cat, not a human."

"At least a cat won’t leave its servants and run away." The Yellow Flowered Cat squinted at the bookstore owner, full of grievances: "You’re human, I’m a cat, this reminds me of what the wizard named Abraham said to the rich man—between you and me, there is an abyss!"

Crack!

A clear sound of thunder came from outside, seemingly boosting the cat’s rebellion.

...

...

Rumbling.

The gentle spring thunder roared far away outside, awakening Zheng Qing from a deep sleep.

With eyes closed he felt for a few Nightmare Dolls under his pillow, finding one decapitated, he instantly felt it was a good omen, and opened his eyes with relief.

The sun hadn’t risen yet, the sky was only faintly bright. Vaguely, Zheng Qing could see Xiao Xiao getting up in the dark.

"Going today?" Xiao Xiao, obviously noticing Zheng Qing getting up, asked in a low voice. He was asking if Zheng Qing wanted to join him for morning class.

Since attending the Seven Sins meeting, Zheng Qing decided to minimize risk exposure, so his morning class was moved to the balcony. Although the school dormitory balcony was a bit narrow, moving slightly slower didn’t hinder Zheng Qing from completing his morning class—as he used to do at home every day.

"Not going." The young cost student replied vaguely yet firmly, casually grabbing the decapitated Nightmare Doll and tossing it into the trash.

Xiao Xiao put on his polished glasses, straightened his belt: "Then I’ll go to the library directly after morning class, breakfast..."

"No need to worry, I’ve arranged with Greenhill Mansion, they’ll deliver my meals these days." Zheng Qing accepted a hot towel from a sprite and applied it to his face, instantly feeling refreshed: "By the way, today’s meeting codeword is ’long life without decline,’ I say ’long life,’ you have to respond ’without decline’!"

"Day after day, always something new." Xiao Xiao waved his hand indicating he got it, looking speechless.

The measure regarding ’meeting codewords’ was a precaution Zheng Qing thought of yesterday. To prevent the devils of the Seven Sins from impersonating acquaintances to approach him, Zheng Qing and several companions agreed to use codewords for identity confirmation when meeting. For this simple and crude safety measure derived from the Mortal World, Xin Fat Man and Dylan found it very amusing, while Xiao Xiao found it rather boring.

As for asking Greenhill Mansion to deliver meals, it was a promise made by the owner of Greenhill Mansion when meeting Su Shijun yesterday. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It wasn’t long after Xiao Xiao left.

Zheng Qing, in loosely fitting pajamas, came to the balcony—the other benefit of doing morning class in the dorm, is the high degree of freedom, not needing to dress formally.

After Jingzhe, all things revived, Spring finally secured its throne.

As if overnight, the earth sprouted a lush green coat, tiny life forms emerged from corners, crevices, and under trees, greedily absorbing the vitality between heaven and earth.

While Zheng Qing was practicing ’Unarmed’ and lost in the scenery of spring, a blue paper crane fluttered over and landed outside the balcony of dormitory 403, tapped on the windowpane before Zheng Qing, then tilted its head looking into Zheng Qing’s eyes.

It was the school’s official paper crane.

Zheng Qing easily deciphered the message transmitted by the paper crane, quizzingly letting it into the room.

After circling the room a few times, the paper crane steadily landed on Zheng Qing’s shoulder, pecked at his earlobe, and obediently spread itself into a sheet of paper—

"Meeting Notice: To all members of the First University Assistant Corps, a ’First Assistant Corps Meeting on Special Projects Concerning Edge Academy’ (classified) is scheduled for March 14, 2010, from 9 am to 3 pm at the First University Assistant Corps main conference room. Please confirm participation by noon on March 8, or participation will be assumed absent reply. Sent by the First University Assistant Corps Executive Office, Seal."

Looking at the bright red seal at the end of the letter, Zheng Qing subconsciously scratched his head.

He initially thought assisting as a teaching assistant wouldn’t involve such troublesome matters. Looking at the notified time, he calculated in his mind, today is March 7th, meaning if he doesn’t attend, he needs to reply before noon tomorrow.

Suppressing the urge to refuse right away, he first sent letters to Su Shijun, Thomas, and Old Yao, briefly describing the notice he received.

Before breakfast arrived, three replies appeared on his desk.

Thomas merely told Zheng Qing that rejecting this task wouldn’t affect his work as a teaching assistant; Su Shijun replied with two words, ’Attend’; whereas Old Yao was somewhat ambiguous, suggesting more participation in academy activities could increase knowledge, and specially reminded the young teaching assistant not to use the Time Converter outside of studies.