CHAPTER 1599: CHAPTER 343: INTERFERING

"Interesting, or boring, it has nothing to do with work. Accidental, or deliberate, it also has nothing to do with work."

The young Warlock in the green robe and Daoist hairstyle lowered his eyelids, blocking the dazzling light in the distance: "The department’s responsibility is to prevent the spread of massive destructive spells. Our task today is to ascertain the cause of unknown dimensional fluctuations... Now that the task is completed, we should return for debriefing."

Do not let unrelated matters distract you during task execution.

Forty-one had deeply understood this point since his very first day in the department.

Is work involving forbidden curses interesting? Naturally, it is. Being able to closely approach magic that is nearest to truth in this world is certainly fascinating; but at the same time, this work is extremely dull—so dull that everyone in the department seems mute and deaf. Forty-one has been working here for nearly ten years and yet cannot even recall the names of ten colleagues.

Not to mention that every time they go out on missions, the department practically dictates how many meters they walk, how many corners they turn, and how many words they use when speaking to others.

This rigid, almost oppressive system has cultivated a uniform cold demeanor among the departmental staff.

In the beginning, Forty-one was uncomfortable with this atmosphere, but after one year, two years, five years, ten years, he gradually got used to the days with minimal emotional fluctuations, as if humans never had emotions to begin with. Having gone unused for so long, he had forgotten what emotions like crying, laughing, or being startled felt like.

"Such a rigid child," Master Baoyangzi stomped his magic wand, shaking his head. "Demons have already crept into the campus, and we’re still clinging to these outdated rules. Aren’t you afraid the school will be wrecked by those monsters?"

Forty-one raised his head, his gaze slightly stirred.

But then, his eyes fell on the gazebo not far away, where young Wizards were gearing up; on the distant shore, where ordinary teachers bustled back and forth; on the turtle sticking out its neck from the mud pool by the eastern lakeside; and on the gathering troops of the Fishman Tribe near Lake Heart Island. Even further away, at the top-floor window of the Book Mountain Library, an octopus tentacle peeked out.

The young Wizard smiled faintly: "The First University will not face trouble... No matter the type of demon, entering the First University will always lead to the same outcome."

Master Baoyangzi glanced at him: "Such simultaneously reassuring yet infuriating confidence."

"But you’re mistaken about one detail," the Elder Wizard shifted his tone, once again gazing at the dazzling golden light over the lake: "Not to mention events too far back, I recall just a few decades ago, an ancient demon snuck into the school, smashed dozens of divine statues in Atlas, and polluted a vast medicine field... This time, the consequences could be even worse."

The Black Cat slightly raised its head, squinting its ruby-like eyes.

The old man lowered his head, looked at it, and smiled: "Don’t rush, don’t rush... It’s not time yet. Compared to the eager believers waiting for salvation and the desperate ones hoping for miracles, a Diviner waiting for the outcome might be even more restless and anxious."

"However, compared to Diviners close by, the Wanderers deep beneath the sea and in the starry sky seem even more desperate. They’ve caught a whiff of something transcendent and eternal, and they’re already impatient, drooling with greed."

Forty-one discerned the subtle implications in the old man’s words, furrowing his brows slightly as he looked at the golden light. The glaring brightness obscured what was happening inside, but evidently, Master Baoyangzi and the Black Cat appearing by the lake wasn’t just because of the simple task he was assigned today.

The Black Cat paid no attention to the young Warlock’s pondering nor the Elder Wizard’s ramblings.

It flicked its tail idly, glancing sideways at the short figure hiding behind a bush near the lakeside, its feline eyes filled with unease: Why would that little girl come here?

It gazed upwards at the sky; the time now was Chen Shi, not even eight o’clock in the morning.

So early to rise—could the girl be sleepwalking?

...

The little girl the Black Cat noticed was Li Meng.

But Li Meng was certainly not sleepwalking.

Last night, Jiang Yu had stayed out all night. The Little Witch, having no homework, had hugged her plush bear and slept heavily until dawn, so early this morning, she woke up with no choice when the sky was still dark.

After waking, she realized her cousin still hadn’t returned.

Having slept her fill and finding it boring to lie in bed, and being unwilling to do her homework, the Little Witch pondered for a while. Finally, she remembered her cousin’s habit of waking up early to feed stray cats all around the campus, so she sprang out of bed, threw down her plush bear, and eagerly rushed out to feed the cats.

Of course, for safety reasons, she didn’t wander aimlessly through the campus shrouded in morning mist alone.

She sent Lin Guo a paper crane, arranging to meet under the Cat Fruit Tree.

Since the onset of summer, the Cat Fruit Tree had grown lush green leaves, and the furry creatures hidden among them were hard to locate. The two Little Wizards climbed up and down, busy for quite some time, but still hadn’t counted how many cats were in the tree.

While they were occupied feeding and counting cats, a sudden scream from a Witch pierced the air near the lakeside.

Lin Guo, being somewhat more steady, decided not to risk investigating and tried to scare Li Meng by saying the screaming Witch might be the ’Slit-Mouthed Woman,’ hunting for food by the lake. Li Meng sneered at the Warlock’s cowardice, plucked a docile ragdoll cat from the tree, perched it on her head, and hung an Invisibility Talisman on herself as camouflage. Then, she stealthily made her way over.

She arrived earlier than the young Wizards from the student council and the department staff, so she clearly saw the green vine on the lake and the familiar Female Demon atop the vine—she had encountered Nikita on the admission airship, making a deep impression on her.

The Female Demon seemed to sense the peeping gaze from behind the bushes, sweeping her glance in that direction and nearly scaring the Little Witch breathless. When she came back to herself, the school’s Protect Legal Formation had already activated. The golden net in mid-air started to retract slowly until it formed into a ball of golden light, thoroughly enveloping the green vine and all those atop it.

Only then did Lin Guo creep slowly to the bushes—his Invisibility Talisman was of inferior quality, so he couldn’t move too quickly, or it would affect the invisibility.

"That scared me!" The Little Witch clutched her chest, trembling with excitement: "Did you see that? That Female Demon! The one I told you about, from last year’s admission airship... I think her name is Nikita! She actually showed up on campus!"

Lin Guo squinted his eyes and shook his head.

At this moment, he could only see a blinding light.

The light was so intense that the Little Warlock instinctively dropped his gaze, looking lower toward the lake surface, where the green lake, white oxen, and red birds slightly alleviated the visual strain from staring directly at the golden light.

Then, very close to the lake surface, he saw a pair of familiar horns.

The Little Warlock slowly rose to his feet.

"What are you doing?" Li Meng tugged hard at his robe sleeve: "Get down quickly... If the student council spots us, they’ll send us back!"

Lin Guo stared blankly at the lake.

"Sheep," he whispered.

"What?" Li Meng craned her neck, taking a look toward the lake.

"Sheep, my sheep!" Lin Guo swallowed hard, his eyes shimmering incredulously, but his steps had already begun uncontrollably rushing toward the lakeside: "Big Black! Big Black!! I’m here!"