High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 2339 - 560: The Cost of Growth

"Where’s the information from?"

"Trident Sword’s... well, to be exact, it’s news the school notified Trident Sword about."

"What does it say?"

"A school hunting team discovered a new illegal laboratory in the Silent Forest, related to the Raven." Zheng Qing succinctly conveyed the recently received intelligence to his companions. Noticing Dylan’s hesitant expression, he gestured for calm and added, "...this isn’t some half-baked information we received; the school’s information is very reliable. Investigators have confirmed that a wizard wearing a Raven Mask has been seen entering and exiting that laboratory in recent days."

The last sentence made his companions’ eyes light up.

In an instant, the aura on the wasteland became much more pleasant, even the scorching sun overhead seemed warm and welcoming.

Rumble.

A huge blue figure appeared at the horizon of the distant wasteland, resembling a small mountain, running towards them, its heavy footsteps causing the ground to hum, small stones jumping around. As it got closer, the figure became smaller until it was close at hand, appearing no different from an average person.

"Finished?"

Xin Fat Man hugged a wide-mouth glass bottle in his arms, filled with plump Peruvian Red Scorpions, waving their large pincers, crowding and clinging together. Even through the glass, Zheng Qing could almost hear the scurrying noises of these creatures.

"A bountiful harvest indeed." Mister Wolfman seemed to drift over like a mist to the Fat Wizard’s side, sticking his head in for a look, "How do you plan to eat them?"

"Deep frying is naturally the best, but not too much, as that way we eat them too fast. I prefer one-third deep frying, one-third grilling, and the last third soaking in wine... soaping them in Green Bee, that taste, tsk tsk," Xin Fat Man described animatedly, only to change the subject: "Moreover, the Doctor was right. When catching scorpions, I checked once, and within a radius of several dozen miles, these scorpions sit at the top of the food chain. There are no signs of predators larger than them."

Zheng Qing thoughtfully touched the charm gun hanging at his waist.

"So, either these scorpions are fierce enough to rule this wasteland," he glanced at the small grave he’d kicked up earlier, shaking his head, "or that Fallen Wizard is still hidden in this area..."

"So what now? Do we leave it and head back to school?" Xiao Xiao frowned, looking back at the salt mine ruins they’d just investigated, not far behind them.

On the other side, Dylan was already quietly and quickly explaining the situation to the Fat Wizard.

"We can’t leave." Blue Bird, who usually spoke very little, unexpectedly voiced his own stance, staring firmly at Zheng Qing, shaking his head slightly.

"Indeed, we can’t leave!"

Having understood the situation, the Fat Wizard also loudly shouted: "Even though the Doctor burned those corpses bitten by Demons, if we leave now, before the Trident Sword sends another team, who knows how many more murders that Fallen Wizard could commit... I do enjoy red scorpions, but I don’t want only this one insect remaining on this wasteland!"

"But we’re out of time."

Zheng Qing sighed, pulling out a silver knife, cutting a small incision on his finger, sprinkling some drops around, then quickly bandaging up, applying a strong-scented ointment to the wound.

The red scorpions in the wide-mouth bottle were acting drunkenly, waving their pincers wildly, making loud noises against the bottle walls. Outside the wide-mouth bottle, under the stones and gravel on the wasteland, one by one, crimson shadows were overcoming the trembling from the depths of their souls, greedily looking in the same direction.

"If you want to eat, catch more," Zheng Qing calmly looked at Xin Fat Man, extending his finger towards the grey cloth bag, "They’re all yours, you can eat half and soak half."

The Fat Wizard looked at his captain in surprise.

"Oh, look at this young Hunter, last year, no, the year before last, when he came to school, his eyes were as innocent and bewildered as a newborn Bambi (fawn), but now, tsk tsk," he exaggeratedly waved his arms, "now his eyes are as cold and merciless as an eagle’s."

As the Fat Wizard waved his arms, long vines stretched out like tentacles, emerging from the void, gathering up the red scorpions emerging from cracks in the wasteland, retracting swiftly.

"Why ’Bambi,’ and not Bonny, Katie, or Papi?" Zheng Qing tilted his head, his tone carrying a hint of curiosity, pulling out a small wooden box from the grey cloth bag, opening it to reveal neatly arranged fu bullets, their surface displaying a faint but noticeable red glow under the brilliant sunlight.

"First off, I like dogs, so you can’t be Papi; secondly, Katie’s a girl, and you don’t want to be a female cat, right? Lastly, out of kindness, I spared you from being a bunny," the Fat Wizard earnestly replied, tossing the first scorpion-filled wide-mouth bottle into his watch while pulling out a larger bottle.

Zheng Qing chuckled softly.

"I thought you preferred Tuan Tuan over Furry Bean," his fingertips slid over the fu bullets in the box one by one, eventually selecting the one with the dimmest glow, inserting it into the charm gun.

Hoo!

Hoo hoo!

A tall figure cloaked in tattered cloth slowly emerged from the wasteland not far from the young wizards. It hunched, the hood shadowing eyes glinting with frenzied red, staring intently in Zheng Qing’s direction, its heavy breathing like a giant bellows, causing pervasive pressure in all directions.

Bang!

The raised charm gun’s muzzle flashed with dazzling red light, a crack like thunder echoing in the void. Even before fully forming, the towering shadow rising from the alkali land crumbled under the blood-red fu bullet, dispersing into a cloud of ashes mid-air.

"Time is tight."

The Absolution Hunting Team’s captain, seemingly influenced by Student Bluebird, became stingy with words: "Capture, transfer, cleanup, it all requires significant time and effort... There’s no saving it, might as well destroy it outright."

Xiao Xiao shrugged, not expressing a stance.

Dylan gave an approving thumbs-up, pausing, then adding a second thumb: "In this moment, you look more like a student of Starry Sky Academy than I do."

Zheng Qing silently put away the charm gun, hanging it back on his waist.

Although this winter hunt lasted only a short half-month, it enhanced his understanding of the Wizard World deeply. The more he saw, the colder his heart grew. Zheng Qing realized he could no longer sympathize with those Fallen Wizards like he once did at the beginning.

Compassion and empathy seemed to be the only two things regressing during his rapid growth.

Perhaps this is the price of growing up.