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High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 360 - 29 A Big Orange_1
Chapter 360: Chapter 29 A Big Orange_1
When Zheng Qing dashed out of the school hospital—well, more accurately, when this young wizard was chased out by Mrs. Bella wielding a broom from the school hospital, it was still a good half hour before class.
Originally, he hadn’t planned to leave the warm cafeteria so early.
Fat Cat didn’t want to leave either.
But when the little elves sweeping in the cafeteria saw a feline creature appear on the cafeteria counter, and then set off a sharply piercing alarm, Zheng Qing was forced to grab his ’goods’ and flee.
"If I had the authority to deduct points, I’d bet you’d have to repeat your first year!" Mrs. Bella said with an irate expression on her face as she discharged Zheng Qing from the hospital: "Allowing that cat to stay in the infirmary overnight was already extremely lenient... to actually bring it into the hospital cafeteria, do you feel that the hospital hasn’t received enough complaints about the cafeteria?"
Zheng Qing managed a smile, grabbed Orange Cat by the scruff of its neck, and ended his second stint as a hospital patient in embarrassment.
The air on Monday mornings is always a mix of vitality and lethargy. People who have been lazy all weekend find it hard to muster their spirits on such a day, but the role that nature has endowed the morning with naturally invigorates many people.
After Zheng Qing left the school hospital with the Fat Cat, he didn’t head directly for the teaching building but made a detour through a small hidden grove.
By the time he emerged from the grove, the Fat Cat was nowhere to be seen, but ’Xin Fat Man’ was marching step by step behind him.
Though he appeared no different from the everyday gluttonous guy, this ’Xin Fat Man’ also held a fat chicken leg in his hand and gnawed leisurely on it. However, people familiar with him would easily spot some discrepancies in subtle details.
For example, his look, his expression, and the color of his hair.
The ’Xin Fat Man’ following Zheng Qing had ginger-colored hair, and the robe he was wearing was also a different color from the authentic Jiuyou red, as if it had been washed many times and the color had faded to a pale orange.
Perhaps due to a lingering hangover, ’Xin Fat Man’ had slightly swollen eyelids that made his already small eyes seem even more slit-like, significantly weakening his demeanor.
In stark contrast to his demeanor, were his movements.
’Xin Fat Man’ seemed to have been under a light body spell, moving with light and agile steps during walking. He looked from afar just like a giant rolling orange.
This giant orange did not attract any strange stares among the pedestrians on campus.
On the contrary, Zheng Qing, who was walking in front of the giant orange, attracted most of the attention of passers-by.
Compared with the survey report from the publicity department that was long overdue, rumors in the newspapers seemed to always ferment at the fastest speed in the closed environment of the campus, brewing low-quality products with a sour stench.
On his way to the teaching building, Zheng Qing felt this firsthand.
As a state-funded student at Jiuyou Academy who’d also recently won the Merlin Medal at the opening ceremony, he was somewhat of a minor celebrity among the newbies at the academy.
In the past, be it first-year students who had just enrolled, or second or third-year students, many students would smile and greet him when they saw him on the road, often pulling him in for a selfie or an autograph, whether they knew him or not.
But today, although these people still greeted him politely and inquired about his situation, there seemed to be hidden undercurrents of fear in their expressions.
This became especially clear when they stole glances at Zheng Qing’s noticeable red right eye.
Translated into language from the textbook, it was ’courteous but distant friendly exchanges’.
However, everything should be viewed dialectically.
With more people paying attention to his eye, naturally fewer people paid attention to the fat man behind him. Especially when facing students who knew them both.
When Zheng Qing walked into Room 601 of the East Teaching Building, this difference in treatment became even more evident.
The little paper man behind the door let out its usual piercing greeting, and the small elves lined up on the ledge of the blackboard were neatly lined up, ready to rush down to tidy up the classroom destroyed by the students.
Only very few students noticed Xin Fat Man’s abnormally colored hair and debilitated spirits. But the majority only lightly teased about his hair dye or late-night work, such as, "Banna, have you dyed your hair?" or "Fat man, did you work late last night? I heard that there are a few beautiful girls in the newspaper editorial department..."
The gaze of a great many students followed the steps of the young scholarship student, slowly but firmly moving.
From the entrance to the hallway, and then to the back row of the classroom.
Many people were gossiping and whispering, frequently pointing at something, especially at Zheng Qing’s eye, seemingly unnoticed by Zheng Qing, despite the growing anger visible on his face.
Some people also brought small gifts, and accompanied by their friends, walked up to Zheng Qing, simply wished him well, inquired into his situation.
But whether they were familiar or not familiar with him, when talking to Zheng Qing, everyone involuntarily displayed caution. As if the young scholarship student would be unable to suppress the demonic energy deep within his blood in the next moment, grow sharp fangs and claws, and pounce with blood-red eyes.
This considerably worsened Zheng Qing’s mood.
"I’m not going to pounce on them and bite." Zheng Qing replied indignantly from the corner of the classroom.
"You couldn’t possibly catch AIDS by touching someone with the disease, but who would dare casually touch them?" Xiao Xiao had just opened a large brown paper envelope and pulled out a long letter.
"You know about AIDS!" Zheng Qing exclaimed, unable to conceal his surprise.
"I’m not the obstinate type of wizard... With such advancements in the world below, why shouldn’t I pay more attention to it?" Xiao Xiao scoffed and lowered his head to examine the letter in his hand.
"The world below." Zheng Qing gave a non-committal reply, shook his head and decided not to pursue the subject further.
"This fat man is a terrible imposter!" Zhang Ji Xin turned around from the front row with a worried look on his face. "Look at his hair and his robe... Can he even write?"
"Why does he need to write!" Zheng Qing pulled out his Law book and slammed it on the desk," he complained with an unhappy face, "He just has to sit and daydream in the classroom... If any of you sponsor a shape-shifting potion, I can ensure he is the spitting image of that Fat Man!"
"What if the teacher calls him to answer a question?"
"If he can’t talk, can’t he just keep quiet?" Zheng Qing raised an eyebrow.
"Roar!" Xin Fat Man agreed with a sound, casually wiping the oily remains from his fingers onto the underside of the desk.
Zhang Ji Xin smiled sheepishly.
"By the way, don’t sleep at midday, we have a meeting in our dormitory." Xiao Xiao suddenly lifted his head and reminded, "I have obtained the application form for the establishment of the club from the Club Union, according to our plans it should be handed back this afternoon, so we need to clarify the club’s name, members, purpose, etc., as soon as possible."
As he was talking, he flicked that red-lettered form.
"There are many things to be filled in here," he emphasized.