High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 2263 - 484: Christmas Morning

Zheng Qing invited Linda Barnes to join the investigation of the ’Ravens,’ not entirely on a whim. He had had this idea long ago, but never a very good opportunity.

Indeed, because of Xin Fat Man, the blonde witch had been sporadically helping, but those were ’friendship-based’ helps and not to her full extent. As a former deputy editor of the campus newspaper, Zheng Qing had reason to believe that Linda had more extensive sources of information and broader means of gathering data, most of which he believed would not be open to ’friendship projects.’

So this time, with both parties finalizing a collaboration to meet respective needs, it constitutes a factual win-win situation for all involved.

In conclusion, Zheng Qing managed to get through Christmas Eve of 2009 in a safe manner amid bumps and bruises.

The next day, Friday, was Christmas Day.

This day holds different meanings for the different colleges at First University. For Jiuyou Academy, Christmas is just one of the many ordinary days among the year’s three hundred plus days, and the academy’s teaching schedule did not allocate a specific public holiday for this day, so young wizards still needed to attend classes as usual.

Friday morning was an Alchemy class.

Early in the morning, Zheng Qing hurried to the classroom, eagerly snatching the freshly printed "Beta Town Post" from Xin Fat Man’s desk, nervously searching for news about last night’s Moonlit Ball.

Last night while sleeping, he was repeatedly awakened by nightmares and found, unsurprisingly in the morning, a row of headless Nightmare Dolls beside his pillow, which made him lose his appetite during breakfast, his mind filled with wild speculations, guessing what tone the outside newspapers might use to describe the three dances he had with the three witches at the Moonlit Ball last night.

"By the way, who is going to the Pedestrian Street this afternoon? Buy me a few dozen Nightmare Dolls from Green’s Grocery Store," the young student on scholarship casually asked his companions while leafing through the newspaper.

The Fat Wizard chuckled, "You came back late last night and haven’t told us what the Moonlit Ball was like... Tell us, was there anything interesting at the ball?"

"If he’s buying Nightmare Dolls in bulk again, you should know how lively last night was," Zhang Ji Xin, unusually perceptive this time, calmly analyzed, "I mean, I think you’re supporting almost half of the sales of Nightmare Dolls at Green’s Grocery Store this year... They should give you a medal for being a gold customer."

"I don’t want any medals, it would be nice if they gave me some discounts," muttered Zheng Qing, flipping through the newspaper with his hands becoming increasingly puzzled.

"If you want to know what happened last night, you should ask Dylan, not Mr. Zha," reminded Xiao Xiao, who was busy doing homework, without even looking up.

"Oh right," the Fat Wizard smacked his palm with his fist, suddenly realizing as a puzzled look appeared on his face, "Speaking of which, why hasn’t Dylan returned yet? Did some enthusiastic fairy drag him away last night?"

The suggestion carried a hint of envy.

Zheng Qing didn’t know if Dylan was dragged away by a fairy, but he knew that Dylan, being of both O’Brien and Tabbot bloodlines, must have been very busy last night, and might still have to attend several dinners this morning.

Compared with this trivial matter, another issue concerned the young student on scholarship far more.

"Why is there no news report on the Moonlit Ball? Is it too early, hasn’t the report come out yet?" Shaking the stack of "Beta Town Post" in his hand, he looked towards Xin Fat Man. The thick pile of paper clashed against each other in his hands, making a dull rustling noise.

"There is." The Fat Wizard rubbed his fingers together, quickly flipping through the newspaper, and then slapped a sheet down in front of Zheng Qing, "Here it is."

Zheng Qing’s face crumpled up.

The Fat Wizard presented a piece of small news on the current affairs section of the Post, titled ’First University Christmas Eve Moonlit Ball Successfully Held; Moon Council Councilman Su Shi Jun Attended as a Guest’.

The title was long, but the content was pitifully short, totaling only seven or eight lines and roughly over a hundred words. The sentence most relevant to Zheng Qing described—’...Lady Su Shi Jun from the Moon Council attended the ball with a dance partner, delivering a passionate speech, expressing her expectations to the young Moonlight Wizards and bestowing upon them the traditional Moonlight blessing...’

The words ’dance partner’ comprised all reference to Zheng Qing in the article.

This was entirely different from his imagination of ’spicy satire’, ’outright criticism’, and ’sarcasm’, so much so that the warlock subconsciously flipped back to the first page, glanced at the newspaper’s header, and doubted whether he was reading not the "Beta Town Post" but some other more serious newspaper.

"Is this it?"

Zheng Qing shook the newspaper, his face full of disbelief, even doubting whether he was still in a dream. He quietly pulled out a Yellow Talisman paper and swiftly slapped it in the center of the Fat Wizard’s forehead.

The Fat Wizard pursed his lips, blew upwards, making the Yellow Talisman float lightly upwards.

"Do you think you are dreaming?" he took the chance to mock the young student on scholarship as the talisman paper fell.

Zheng Qing coughed lightly, lowered his eyelids, once again observed the report, and didn’t hide the confusion in his tone, "How strange... since when did the Beta Town Post become so easygoing? It didn’t say any idle gossip... What about the campus newspaper? Did today’s campus newspaper come out? Did Linda Barnes write anything odd after attending the ball yesterday?"

Even though he had reached a cooperation agreement with the blonde witch, he knew well enough that a report full of topics and heat was evidently more attractive—more importantly, publishing a report related to the Moonlit Ball wouldn’t affect her collaboration with Zheng Qing.

"Linda also attended the Moonlit Ball? Why didn’t I know!" The Fat Wizard immediately changed his face, tearing the Yellow Talisman from his forehead and tugging at Zheng Qing’s sleeve.

Zheng Qing flipped through the newspaper, trying to find another report related to the Moonlit Ball, while absentmindedly replying, "How should I know why you don’t know... you can ask Dylan tonight, I remember he chatted with Linda for a while at the ball, maybe he knows something... Doctor, do you know what happened? Why did the Post change its tone?"

He turned his head to look at Xiao Xiao, still absorbed in the workbook.

Xiao Xiao still did not lift his head but clearly knew what Zheng Qing was asking. He dragged out his words, "Have you heard about last year’s Moonlit Ball?"

Zheng Qing hesitated for a few seconds, then shook his head, "I usually don’t pay much attention to such matters... besides, you know, during last Christmas, I hadn’t been in the Wizard World for long, I probably wouldn’t even know what to pay attention to."