Chapter 1984: Chapter 205: Wall-Hanging Curse

The aftermath of that “Beta Town Post” report did not simply end.

The next day, Zheng Qing heard that Lecturer Zhu Si used a wall-hanging spell on an Alpha student who questioned her illegal dealings with the Northern District Wizard, hanging him upside down from the ceiling for most of the class.

It was said that by the end of the class, the poor kid’s head was swollen like a pig’s, and he was immediately sent to the school hospital—Lin Guo told Zheng Qing that even now, the kid still had some speech issues and occasional short-term spasms as aftereffects.

That afternoon, the Alpha Fortress and the Professor Joint Meeting at the First University received a strongly-worded protest letter from the student’s parents and a brief inquiry from Danghag.

Soon after, Lecturer Zhu Si, who had been in her position for less than a month, was gloriously suspended. The school issued an urgent notice about the incident, emphasizing that teaching should focus on guidance and education, and any form of corporal punishment of students was prohibited.

This small incident, intertwined with the upcoming school hunting competition, made the campus atmosphere increasingly chaotic. It was like an open-air vegetable market with everyone shouting, but no one could hear people far away, focusing only on the stall in front of them.

Like Zheng Qing.

Amidst the pressure of studies, hunting competition training, the Seven Sins trial, and Zhu Si’s disciplinary action, he quickly learned to focus on the nearest task at hand—paying full attention in class, focusing on eating during meals, pretending the Seven Sins didn’t exist when the Masked people didn’t come knocking, and training with the hunting team if he had time at night.

So, when the Absolution Hunting Team had its Thursday night training, and he saw Zhu Si, who had turned back into the Little Witch, at the edge of the Hunting Ground, he wasn’t surprised at all, naturally going up to express his concern.

“I thought you’d still be in the office writing a self-critique.” The young cost student interrupted the chatting Little Witches with a smile while putting elbow pads on his arm.

Tonight, Su Ya and Li Meng were also beside him, comforting the sullen young lecturer.

Before Zhu Si could speak, Li Meng raised her eyelids and glared at the warlock.

“The one who hanged someone was the greater Zhu Si, what does it have to do with my little Zhu Si?” she argued decisively, “Everyone should carry their own burden, and the greater Zhu Si should write her self-critique!”

Zheng Qing felt this made sense and was about to agree when the little fox lady expressed a different opinion.

“That may be true,”

Su Ya bit her finger, the fluffy ears in her hair trembling cautiously: “But like when a wizard turns into a tomcat and makes a she-cat pregnant… the wizard still has responsibility, right…”

A violent coughing sound came from the side.

Zheng Qing didn’t need to look back to know where the cough came from—besides Jiang Yu, in that direction, there was only Blue Bird, and he didn’t think Blue Bird would cough so violently—similarly, he felt his face heat up a bit, but since it was quite dark, others probably wouldn’t notice this detail.

Of course, neither Jiang Yu’s cough nor Zheng Qing’s blush meant that the two cats had really done anything, it was just that the example given by the little fox lady was a bit special, making them both sensitive.

The warlock licked his lips, feeling his tongue stiffen.

Between discussing with Su Ya about whether a tomcat should be held accountable or discussing with Li Meng who should write the self-critique, he chose a third option, which was to directly comfort the person involved.

“It’s not your fault.” The young cost student awkwardly comforted: “Everyone knows Alpha Fortress is full of bastards… just hanging him from the ceiling, what’s the big deal!”

“It’s not completely…” a weak voice came from the other side.

Zheng Qing turned around and saw Lin Guo’s disapproving expression, realizing he had just used an inappropriate phrase, and quickly made a remedy: “…of course, excluding Lin Guo, he’s one of the good kids in Alpha Fortress.”

The young warlock looked perplexed, feeling that Zheng Qing’s words still didn’t seem appropriate, but couldn’t pinpoint the issue for the time being.

Apart from this small hiccup, Zheng Qing’s way of changing the topic was overall successful.

After hearing his comfort, Su Ya immediately forgot the example she had just given, busying herself to continue comforting the melancholy Zhu Si: “Yes, indeed, what’s the big deal, the school won’t do anything to you… our lady said, your father is a Legendary Wizard, even for his sake, the school will show enough leniency…”

The reasoning was sound, but saying it so bluntly made it sound like abuse of power, leaving an unpleasant aftertaste.

Zhu Si became even more dejected.

“So, if you had stayed at the school and didn’t go to the Sakura Pub, you wouldn’t have received this disciplinary action.” Zheng Qing felt his rigid smile soften a lot, and so he tried to get back to his original line of thinking: “…moreover, the school isn’t Dreamland, teachers can’t simply sacrifice students to Ancient Gods.”

He was mocking the little witch with the horrifying rumors in Dreamland.

The initially dejected Zhu Si was immediately incited.

“I’m a teacher!”

The little witch raised her brows, waving her fist at the warlock: “If a student embarrasses you in class, shouldn’t a teacher have the right to punish them?”

“He’s just a student, it’s not necessary to hang him from the ceiling…”

“But he’s a Half-Giant, he’s three times my size! Besides hanging him from the ceiling, I couldn’t think of another solution.”

Zheng Qing glanced at the little witch, who was no taller than his chest, his expression somewhat subtle.

Zhu Si felt that gaze was full of offense.

“You could punish him by making him copy the notes.” The young cost student offered a new suggestion before she could erupt, kindly reminding: “…like Li Meng, in school, every student is bigger than her, but she doesn’t casually hang people from the ceiling for that reason.”

“What’s that got to do with me!”

Li Meng expressed that she was unjustly dragged into the conversation, feeling indignant: “Height doesn’t mean anything! A Mountain Giant’s baby is bigger than most adult wizards, do wizards fear them?”

Zheng Qing felt that the discussion with the little witches was becoming chaotic and had long deviated from the direction he had set.

Thus, he tried another angle to reason: “The fact is, there are many people sleeping in your classes, right?”

But immediately, Lecturer Zhu Si confronted him: “I teach ‘Dream Analysis’! If they don’t sleep in class, how can they experience the truest dreams!”

“You’re a teacher, you can’t take out your anger on other Alpha students just because an Alpha student accepted an interview with the Beta Town Post.”

With that, the warlock quickly took out a pocket watch, pretended to check the time, then immediately looked around, calling out: “Is everyone here? Hurry up, we need to seize the time to train…”