Zheng Qing wasn’t surprised at Professor Montreya’s response.

In fact, he had other intentions when consulting the professor before this action.

Receiving the parchment roll from his companion and weighing it, he felt the faint bloody glow emanating from it. A satisfied smile appeared on Zheng Qing’s face, but he still ignored his companion’s main question and replied to himself, "The Black Magic Forbidden Festival in the North District is more lively than in other areas of Beta Town because there was no need for such a festival for people in the North before... In this Magic Wa Land, the vast majority of residents are Tricksters, spending most of their lives in Black Magic Forbidden festivals... So, one day, when they find they too need such a festival, the joy that comes from their hearts is hard for others to understand... Using Mr. Alfred Adler’s theory, this liveliness is probably due to some kind of compensation psychology..."

"What are you trying to say?"

The companion frowned, his expression somewhat impatient. Only his face seemed carved from granite; whether frowning or impatient, it all appeared very unnatural.

"I still prefer you with the mask on; your facial concealment magic is really terrible." Zheng Qing smirked, tucking the slender parchment roll into his arms, shrugged, and turned around, yanking open the somewhat narrow window of the loft, shouting outside, "Wuhu! Everyone! Happy Black Magic Forbidden Festival! May I be happy and smooth all day today!"

Outside the window, a chorus of noisy cheers and responses immediately arose on the street.

The companion was stunned for a moment, then rushed forward, pulling the warlock standing by the window behind him, glancing outside warily, and only when he confirmed no one was looking up did he turn around, face filled with annoyance.

"In broad daylight! In full view of everyone! Are you trying to attract the Trident Sword’s people here with your true face? Don’t you value your life! If you don’t value your life, it’s fine, but can you bear the responsibility of ruining the professor’s plan!" He growled in a low voice, his otherwise ordinary face wrinkling in a strange fashion, showing a difficult expression of anger.

"Calm down, calm down, don’t be so tense."

Zheng Qing plastered on a smiling face, reached into his companion’s arms, and fished out a Raven Mask marked ’Nine’, snapping it onto his companion’s face. "I still prefer talking to you with the mask on..."

Crow No.9 pulled off the mask, his anger unabated.

Zheng Qing patted his nose, maintaining a relaxed demeanor. "The professor once told me, the greatest illusion in life is that strangers care about you... In reality, we all live in our own worlds, and if you don’t usually pay that much attention to the fleeting passersby, you don’t have to worry about them caring about your fleeting clumsiness... But don’t worry, I wasn’t that careless; my face was hidden in the window’s shadow the whole time, people below definitely couldn’t see clearly."

His tone carried a hint of smugness.

"Don’t touch your nose, it’s not a good sign."

Crow No.9 interrupted Zheng Qing’s somewhat tedious explanation, actively placing the mask back on his face, his voice instantly growing deeper. "...as for your reasons, you can tell them to those old folks in Danghag’s court, no need to explain to me."

Zheng Qing took out his own Crow No.3 mask and placed it on his face.

"It’s not as if this is our first mission, don’t be so cautious."

Perhaps to bolster his companion’s confidence, this time he broke the rule to analyze the outside situation in more depth, "Due to that accident with the Northern District Wizard Hunting team, the Assistant Team and School Works Committee have people scattered all around the Silent Forest these days, and even the School Guardian Array is focused over there, relaxing their surveillance on the town, which works to our advantage...As for those in the Trident Sword in Beta Town, because they couldn’t figure out what the Assistant Team was up to, they’ve been tailing them quietly these past couple of days, leaving the town with just the North District Wizard Patrol Team hired by the management committee, and most of them are attending the ceremony at Gini Cottage because of today’s Black Magic Forbidden Festival... As long as we block the entrance of Gu Diao Street, holding them off for a few minutes, the area around our target will temporarily be in a protection vacuum, making it the perfect opportunity to execute the plan..."

"Can we really hold off the North District Grand-Wizard?" Crow No.9’s tone carried a hint of doubt.

Zheng Qing raised his hand and waved; that slender parchment roll appeared in his hand once again, happily rolling between his fingers, "Why do you think the professor so easily agreed to let us take this risk during the day? Or rather, why do you think I asked you to seek out the professor? What I need is the professor’s support, not his opinion... These two words have very different meanings."

...

...

At this moment, Zheng Qing, sipping on apple juice at the Sakura Pub, had no idea that at the Yang Panier Hotel on the outskirts of the North District, an acquaintance of his was eyeing him watchfully.

He was engaged in a difficult conversation with Korma.

This time, he visited Gu Diao Street, ostensibly hoping to use Korma to reveal the ’news’ of the accident in the Northern District Wizard squad to Fatty Xin, making it easier to utilize the Campus Newspaper’s investigative power to track down the whereabouts of any potential ’Ravens’; in reality, he also wanted to learn more about the squad through Korma, or to try selling the idea to Korma that the incident was related to the ’Ravens’.

However, his plan stumbled at the first stage.

Though the North District Grand-Wizard mentioned the topic of the ’Reverse Tower’ immediately upon meeting, giving Zheng Qing a good opener, it went no further. In the following conversation, he tried every trick to steer the chat towards the accident involving the Northern District Wizard Hunting team, but the owner of the Sakura Pub just wouldn’t take the bait.

When he talked about ’the Fringe Hunting Team’s excellent performance during last year’s Winter Hunting and asked how the Northern District Wizards’ other hunting teams fared in the Silent Forest’, Korma launched into a thorough discussion about ’the organizational structure and mentoring mode of the Northern District Hunting team’, and joined Fatty Xin in criticizing the school’s restrictions on private hunting events. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

When he mentioned ’the Black Tide being weaker this year compared to previous years, and asked if the Northern District had organized hunters to cash in on the Silent Forest’, Korma began analyzing the public’s suppression of the Northern District Wizards, complaining about the restrictive development in the North District, where every small move would draw notice and comment from other wizard groups in the vicinity.

In the end, Zheng Qing almost had to bluntly ask ’Have there been any recent deaths in the Northern District Wizards?’ which would have been a very impolite question.

Initially, Fatty Xin felt today’s chat with the North District Great Sage was immensely beneficial, hearing a lot of firsthand statements about the Northern District, which felt like an exclusive interview. But as Zheng Qing grew increasingly anxious, and topic shifts became more abrupt, he slowly realized he’d missed something and gradually fell silent.

But Xiao Xiao, unfettered by KPI restrictions, quickly realized each of Zheng Qing’s questions had a direction, and soon closed his black-shelled notebook, falling silent.