High School of Demon Hunting

Doctor Du Zemu did not keep his guests waiting long.

Zheng Qing had not yet finished his first cup of tea when the doctor pulled out a thick blanket from the side, covering the documents on the table. He then got up, walked to the display case against the wall behind the desk, and took out a small emerald-green bottle.

Then he took a measuring cup, added some clear water, and dripped in two drops of a pale yellow viscous liquid.

The glass rod clinked crisply against the cup’s wall, and when the sound ceased, the doctor expertly lifted his own eyelids, plucked out his eyeballs, and tossed them into the freshly prepared eyewash.

Zheng Qing was now able to watch this scene calmly.

Even when the doctor ’looked’ at him with his hollow eye sockets, he managed to seize the moment to drink another sip of tea—the salty bacon sandwich he ate on the way had made him a bit thirsty.

"Good evening, Teaching Assistant,"

This newfound star in the Alchemist’s World, having changed from the aloofness of their first meeting, bypassed the desk, took the young warlock’s hand first, shook it, and ’examined’ him carefully: "I always thought you had a close relationship with Miss Jiang, so I might have misunderstood you before... I’m sorry, I mean, I didn’t know about your relationship with Su Councilor before, and it’s hard to imagine Su Councilor making such a choice... Of course, I’m not saying her choice was bad... but now that First University allows me to set up my laboratory again, and you’re also an employee of the school, we’re colleagues now! I read in the newspaper that you’re the youngest teaching assistant at First University in hundreds of years, truly an astonishing achievement!"

While those words were nice.

They had a somewhat peculiar undertone.

Zheng Qing believed he was not alone; the witch beside him certainly had a similar feeling. But such thoughts quickly vanished from his mind.

Compared to being treated differently, he was more concerned with the purpose of his visit tonight.

"Good evening, Doctor." Zheng Qing bowed slightly, similarly sparing no praise: "You were also the youngest specially appointed researcher at First University, had your own named laboratory in the school, and your rank was equivalent to a professor, much higher than mine!"

Everyone likes flattering complements.

Especially when the flattery comes from someone of note. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Doctor Du Zemu broke into a broad smile, and for a moment, the hollow eye sockets seemed much softer, as he turned to look at the other witch in the room.

"...Nice to see you again, Miss Jiang."

In Zheng Qing’s ear came the sound of Doctor Du Zemu greeting the witch again. But unlike before, this time, the doctor seemed as reserved as the witch when they met today, without the initial exaggerated flattery, and there was a touch of distance within the familiarity.

"Good evening, Doctor." The witch replied politely.

"So, you’ve come today..." The hollow eye sockets roamed between the two young wizards, and the tone carried a perfectly timed touch of curiosity.

Zheng Qing noticed a few drops of dark red plasma slowly seeping from the doctor’s eye sockets, like a blob of melting honey, inexplicably giving an intricate, viscous feeling.

He lowered his eyelids and tried hard to put aside these thoughts.

"It’s because of those sprites, Doctor."

The young cost student quickly stepped forward, succinctly describing the unique situation of the sprites, emphasizing that they seemed very healthy, and ’suspected’ to be in the midst of evolution, but even after searching the school’s library, there was no information on sprite evolution.

"...These materials were from Doctor," Pausing here, Zheng Qing quickly corrected himself, realizing a genuine doctor stood before him, then resumed, "I mean, my companion, these are some details he observed and summarized about the sprites’ specific situation, including some details he added after searching the library..."

Doctor Du Zemu took the thick stack of parchment from Zheng Qing’s hand, flipping through it page by page, skimming the observation records and simple tests for different hypotheses.

"Very good, very good, very good."

Doctor Du Zemu repeatedly praised with these three words, and Zheng Qing felt as if light was emitting from those hollow eye sockets: "Your companion’s observation records are very detailed, well-organized, and rich in content. Just from reading his report, I feel as though I’m already standing in front of those sprites... Would he be interested in working part-time in my laboratory? Excellent benefits!"

As he spoke, he gestured with his hand, and a piece of parchment and a feather pen full of ink emerged from beneath the blanket covering the desk. As they floated towards them, the feather pen hurriedly danced atop the parchment.

When the parchment fell into the doctor’s hand and was handed to Zheng Qing, he noticed it was an ’invitation,’ explicitly inviting (blank) to serve as a laboratory assistant at the Duzem Alchemy Laboratory, offering excellent benefits, with details to be discussed with Doctor Du Zemu at the Duzem Alchemy Laboratory in Beta Town East at (blank, date, and time).

Clearly, this was a sincere invitation.

Even the inviting party made no restrictions on the invitee’s name or the meeting time. Zheng Qing believed that even if he wrote Su Ya on the parchment and set the time for three o’clock tonight, the owner of this laboratory would surely prepare tea and refreshments in advance, awaiting the visitor.

Of course, Zheng Qing would not fill in that little fox’s name on the parchment.

He was merely drawing an analogy.

As for whether to fill in Xiao Xiao’s name, it was not his decision to make.

"I will convey your invitation to him." Zheng Qing accepted the parchment, giving his careful response: "I believe he will give you a response soon, I mean, later tonight or tomorrow."

Doctor Du Zemu immediately displayed a satisfied smile.

Then he set down the observation materials in his hand, retrieved his two eyeballs that had been soaking in the glass for some time, and directly inserted them back into his eye sockets.

The white and black eyes rolled nimbly within the sockets, looking even more dreadful than when they were empty.

Zheng Qing forced himself not to focus on those details.

The doctor picked up the stack of observation reports again, reading carefully, and after a long time, he cautiously shook the parchment in his hand and gave a preliminary conclusion: "Based on these materials and the descriptions in the observation report, I can only determine that they are in a special state of ’self-repair’ and ’safety.’ Whether it is evolution needs further testing and observation... because the active evolution of Alchemical Life is exceedingly rare, exceedingly rare, exceedingly rare..."

Again, three consecutive ’exceedingly’s.

Zheng Qing recalled that the doctor did not have this peculiar habit before!