Chapter 2000: Chapter 221: Thursday Afternoon

Hearing the news that Zhu Si was ‘intercepted’, Zheng Qing was surprisingly unsurprised.

Or rather, after the recent harsh beatings by reality, he had already developed an immunity to things that seemed certain but resulted unexpectedly.

It always felt like destiny was playing some malicious joke on him.

“So Zhu Si, PASS.”

The captain of the Absolution Hunting Team picked up a feather pen and drew a line on the parchment in front of him to strike out Zhu Si’s name, with a calm attitude and a peaceful tone: “Then, the next one…”

The next report was from Zhang Ji Xin, who was responsible for persuading Teacher An from Jiuyou Academy’s Office of Academic Affairs and the Professor of the Elective Course “Mysticism Notebook”.

Teacher An, due to a conflict of duties, regretfully expressed his inability to offer guidance for the hunting competition to the Absolution team—more accurately, a large part of the Office of Academic Affairs’ work involved organizing and managing the hunting competition, and for the sake of fairness, teachers from the Office would consciously avoid projects related to the competition. His situation was similar to Sima Yangyun, except Sima was seconded to an external organization, while Teacher An was seconded internally.

The Professor of the Mysticism Notebook, on the other hand, lived up to the name of a professor of mysticism. He was so mysterious that no one could capture his whereabouts. He always silently came to class right before it started and left quietly right after.

When Zhang Ji Xin finished copying the notes left on the blackboard on Thursday afternoon—rumored to contain midterm exam questions—and chased out of the classroom afterward, the Professor had already vanished without a trace.

The red-faced male wizard looked around, seeing only hurried footsteps and miserable lives.

And it was already Thursday afternoon, with less than forty hours until the final deadline. There was no time to scour the campus for that mysterious teacher anymore.

“So, Teacher An and the Professor of the Mysticism Notebook, PASS.” After Zhang Ji Xin rambled on with a long explanation, Zheng Qing finally nodded, picked up the pen, and drew two more slashes.

“I think it’s really a pity about Teacher An,” perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed, the red-faced male wizard tried to justify his failure: “It was clear he really wanted to serve as a hunting guide…but due to work reasons…sigh.”

“Every reason for refusal is legitimate and sufficient.” Zheng Qing looked up, emotionless, and glanced at him: “We don’t need to focus on why they refused, we just need to find the one who won’t refuse.”

This remark deepened Zhang Ji Xin’s complexion slightly.

“And then,” Zheng Qing lowered his head, scratching at the next name on the parchment, then looked around and finally confirmed Doctor Xiao’s position: “Hmm…by your expression, I already know the result…what’s the reason for their refusal?”

Xiao Xiao was responsible for the Professor of Magic Universe Study.

“Old Yao.”

The diviner of the Absolution team silently lowered his eyelids, carefully observing the crystal ball in front of him, and answered without lifting his head: “You should know, Old Yao’s new project is related to the resurrection of that Black Prison World from the Ruins…this is a very valuable topic for Magic Universe Study. He serves as Old Yao’s assistant, so besides classes, he spends most of his time over there.”

Zheng Qing rubbed his forehead and slowly crossed off the last name on the list.

“What about the Magic Zoology teacher you were responsible for?” Xin Fat Man seemed to remember something, his eyes wandering between Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu, confidently stating: “He also refused, right!”

“Such speculations don’t even require divination.” Xiao Xiao retorted with a cold joke.

Unfortunately, Zheng Qing did not laugh.

It was Jiang Yu who rounded things out, providing a simple explanation.

The Magic Zoology teacher had to care for a group of pregnant unicorns. These rare magical creatures were particularly fragile during pregnancy, so the Professor needed to devote full attention to their care, leaving him truly no time.

“This season is the peak period for magical creature births, and beyond that, many magical creatures injured in the hunting competition are ultimately handed over to the Professor’s team for treatment…the Professor said they were incredibly busy lately, constantly filing reports to request more people, making it impossible to spare key personnel at this critical moment.”

After Jiang Yu’s explanation, Zheng Qing added a bit of detail: “When we tried to persuade the Professor, we nearly got convinced to join his team to help treat those magical creatures.”

“But the credits the Professor offers are really high!” Jiang Yu showed a rare moment of regret.

“This isn’t a matter of high or low credits.” Zheng Qing frowned.

“What a disastrous day.” Xin Fat Man murmured, looking up at the fiery clouds outside the window: “This scene, this feeling, this result…feels like we’re in Hell.”

“Speaking of Hell,” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses, a hint of reminiscence on his face: “My old dad is an Okang Faction wizard, one of those who believes ‘magic doesn’t exist in philosophy’ and ‘rationality can’t prove magic’…he once said, Hell is a very good concept, but also a very bad one.”

“The good part is, Hell is merely a product of the pathological imagination of wizards, and before the birth of wizard consciousness, no real Hell existed.”

“The bad part is, the birth of Hell proves that anything a wizard can imagine, they can generally create.”

“Like our current situation?” Zhang Ji Xin eagerly interjected.

“Like our current situation.” The Doctor shrugged, making a helpless gesture: “You might feel like this ordeal is Hell…but I can only say, our situation can get better or worse. It depends on what we do next.”

“Such wise words, listening to them is like listening to wise words.”

Xin Fat Man finally couldn’t help himself, complaining: “No wonder Senior Linda says not to chat with diviners, ‘they’ll turn a simple statement into an essay with different intonations’!”

The last sentence was delivered by the Fat Wizard imitating the voice of the campus newspaper’s editor-in-chief, pinching his throat. The impression was so vivid that Zheng Qing couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

This laughter finally dispelled the heavy atmosphere surrounding them, but it also drew a conclusion to the impromptu meeting of the day.

“There’s still over thirty hours left, everyone, don’t give up.”

Before leaving, Zheng Qing encouraged everyone: “If even such an excellent hunting team as ours can’t find a guiding teacher, then it’s definitely not our fault, but the student union organizing this year’s hunting competition…keep me posted on any developments, don’t worry about disturbing me late.”

With that, the young hunters of the Absolution Hunting Team scattered once more to every corner of the school, continuing their efforts to find a qualified guiding teacher.

Zheng Qing did not stay on campus like the others.

He didn’t go to the library, the Hundred Herb Gardens, or the lab building and research institute, but went straight to the Beta Town Pedestrian Street.

He intended to try his luck at the San You Bookstore.

See if the gentleman there could serve as their guiding teacher.