CHAPTER 1803: CHAPTER 24: LIN GUO’S NEW PET

Hearing Fatty’s response, Zheng Qing clapped his hands and wiped off the sugar frost from his fingers.

"Let’s go."

He straightened his robe and shook off a few strands of dog hair clinging to it: "Let’s see what the Doctor is busy with... Just as well, I need to pop by the shop. I heard those two little mice turned into humans, and I haven’t seen what they look like now. I’m really curious... By the way, will the initiation trials start tomorrow? Is everyone from the hunting team here?"

"Blue Bird and Dylan might arrive tonight. The Elder went with his brother to visit other clubs’ lodgings. Lin Guo is pushing his little cart on the Pedestrian Street, selling things, and he’s still as popular as ever among the witches."

Fatty counted on his fingers, calculating one by one, while shaking his head: "This year’s initiation trials are the first held after the school’s reform. There’s no historical reference for the process, standards, or goals. There’s no point in arriving too early."

"I thought it was just a change in timing." Zheng Qing picked up the last bean, popped it into his mouth, chewed it up, and let out a small sigh.

Prior to Level 08, the freshman initiation trials were held before first-year enrollment, aiming to help freshmen better adapt to university life. However, due to the mixed quality of qualifications and study progress among newly enrolled students, the trials often resulted in many first-year students getting injured or even killed each year.

As the wizarding world developed, society’s tolerance for the casualties among young wizards decreased, so the school ultimately decided to reform the annual freshman trials, moving them from before first-year enrollment to before second-year enrollment. The one-year interval allows freshmen to master certain spells and the school to familiarize itself with the students’ levels, enabling the drafting of a safer trial plan.

During his one year at university, Zheng Qing had heard veterans mention the freshman initiation trials multiple times, often with a tone suggesting criticism of the new freshmen of Level 08, exuding a sense of "we’ve endured hardships you haven’t," like the saying "back in my day."

Before last year’s Hunting Competition, when the Absolution Hunting Team received pointers from veterans, whenever they encountered setbacks, veterans would remark, "If you had participated in the freshman trials, you wouldn’t be making such basic mistakes." Such comments were truly infuriating.

Upon hearing Zheng Qing’s words, Fatty scoffed twice: "You’re joking. It’s tough to reform an old system, so how could it be just a time change... you’re oversimplifying the world too much."

When it came to topics involving reform, old systems, and the truths of the world, Zheng Qing suddenly lost the interest to delve deeper. Having worked a year at the campus newspaper, Fatty talked about these matters like a keyboard politician after a drink, capable of rambling on for hours.

Zheng Qing had other matters he wanted to learn about and had no desire to waste words on this subject.

So, he decisively switched the topic: "You just mentioned Lin Guo’s cart is back in business... Has he found a new cart-pulling goat?"

In the past, Lin Guo had that Black Mountain Goat to pull his heavy little cart around town. However, after the Battle of the Black Prison, Zheng Qing was already aware of the Black Mountain Goat’s fate and naturally didn’t think it still had the opportunity to pull carts for the little warlock.

Fatty sighed, removed the Fat Cat from his head, pacified it with a piece of jerky, and after glancing around to ensure no one else was in the room, he lowered his voice and said, "Of course not... If your Little Fox encountered that kind of situation, would you buy a new Little Fox?"

"Ptoo ptoo." Zheng Qing spat to the side while knocking on the wooden desk with curled fingers, glaring at Fatty.

"Just a comparison." Fatty immediately raised both hands.

Zheng Qing curled his lips; it was a truly awful comparison, and he couldn’t even imagine what reaction Greenhill Mansion would have if something happened to the Little Fox. Nevertheless, he understood the point Fatty was trying to make more clearly.

In the wizarding world, pets are no longer just pets; they also contain spiritual sustenance.

Zheng Qing had no intention of entangling further on Fatty’s inappropriate example; after knocking on the desk, he pressed on, "So, Lin Guo’s cart..."

"Did you forget what his major is?"

Since Fatty was planning to head out with Zheng Qing, he wouldn’t be slovenly, quickly ducking into the washroom to clean the cat hair off his head, while tidying his robe, not missing the chance for idle chat with Zheng Qing: "Lin Guo is Alpha’s alchemy genius... Over the summer, he created an Alchemical Sheep Doll for his cart, much stronger and more obedient than the bad-tempered Black Mountain Goat."

Zheng Qing grew more eager to get to the Pedestrian Street to see friends gone for a summer.

"Didn’t you know about this? I thought you were all on the island. You should know these things better than I do." By the time he spoke, Fatty emerged from the washroom, his face refreshed, hair slightly damp like clusters of rice seedlings after rain.

"The school’s custom is to close over the summer, and I was in the hospital, not on vacation."

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes: "Especially with what happened at the end of last term... Throughout the summer, apart from a few staying students and the staff, the most active ones were the fishmen of Lin Zhong Lake."

Fatty showed a few moments of realization.

During their conversation, the two of them had already walked out of the dormitory. Before leaving, Fatty worriedly looked back as if concerned about the Fat Cat’s discomfort in his absence.

But in sight, Tuan Tuan lay peacefully on the desk, unconcerned with the departure of the two warlocks, not even bothering to lift an eyelid. Compared to the Furry Bean happily circling at Zheng Qing’s feet, Fatty’s face grew a bit more dejected.

"Wild cats are untrainable." Once outside, Zheng Qing whispered to comfort Fatty.

Fatty pursed his lips: "The cats on your Cat Fruit Tree seem well-trained to me."

"That’s because the cats on the Cat Fruit Tree aren’t wild." Mentioning the Cat Fruit Tree, Zheng Qing suddenly remembered something he had almost forgotten to ask, and after a pause, he asked in as casual a tone as possible:

"Speaking of which, although I don’t handle the roster, I remember there are others in the hunting team, right... Have the others arrived at school too?"

Fatty glanced sideways at him.

"Are there?" he recalled in an annoyingly provoking tone, then showed a flash of realization: "You mean Monk Shi Yuan, right... Atlas’s trial isn’t the same as ours, and he’s only a nominal member of the team, so he doesn’t count."

Zheng Qing gritted his teeth but said nothing.

Not until they’d left the dormitory and walked a while in silence through the college did Fatty suddenly have a light-bulb moment, slapping his head as if just remembering: "Oh, right, and there’s Jiang Da Headmaster... She’d just joined us before the break, almost forgot about her."

Zheng Qing promptly looked over, just in time to see Fatty’s mischievous smile.

This filled him with a sense of embarrassment and irritation.

"Say it if you want!"

The captain of the Absolution Hunting Team angrily kicked a pebble, which flew through the air in a pretty arc, accurately hitting a low-flying Two-headed Bird.

The bird screeched from one head and squawked from the other, instantly splitting into two halves, one left and one right, plummeting into a nearby shrub. The two warlocks exchanged glances, swiftly lowered their heads, and quickened their pace, fleeing the scene.