Chapter 2001: Chapter 222: The Final Candidate

As expected, the gentleman was not in the bookstore.

Zheng Qing was now able to calmly face this minor setback.

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know either!”

The Yellow Flowered Cat sprawled on the windowsill of San You Bookstore, lazily basking in the moonlight, eyes barely open, covered in a faint, ethereal glow, looking very relaxed: “The world is so big, there’s nowhere he can’t go… Besides, I’m not the one keeping him, why ask me about his whereabouts…”

Before it finished speaking, a chopstick-thin, golden bolt of lightning shot out from the void, striking the Yellow Flowered Cat’s forehead with a crack, sending tufts of singed, curly cat fur flying and quickly filling the air with a burnt smell.

“Yow!!”

The Flower Cat let out a tragic cry, jumping three feet high on the spot, and upon landing, raised its paw to point furiously at the air, seemingly preparing to utter some fierce words. But after a few stabs into the air, it ultimately withdrew its paw shakily.

“Did you see that?” the Yellow Flowered Cat growled at the boy, temper rising: “All you have to do is mutter something like I did, and he’s bound to know you’re looking for him!”

Zheng Qing looked at the Flower Cat as if it were stupid.

“I just wanted to ask the gentleman to be our hunting team’s advisor.” He pretended not to hear the Yellow Flowered Cat’s terrible suggestion, sincerely explaining his purpose: “This month the school is holding a hunting party, and the Absolution Hunting Team needs to find a suitable advisor to participate…”

“Just for such a small matter?!” The Yellow Flowered Cat nearly twisted its nose in anger, raising its paw to point at its singed, curly forehead fur, indicating for Zheng Qing to take a look at the price it had paid.

The boy couldn’t just say, ‘That was because your mouth got you in trouble,’ so he merely smiled apologetically at the Black Cat, eagerly supplementing: “… Brother Huang, you know, the Absolution Hunting Team is quite excellent, although not quite up to the college teams, among First University we’re just a bit weaker than the Judgement team, even facing a 3A team, we’re not afraid… You know, to prepare for this school hunting party, we’ve been specifically practicing a second-rank battle formation, and the first time we trained, we were even chased by a frenzied mutated Gaetrassi…”

“Don’t come to me with this nonsense.”

The Yellow Flowered Cat interrupted the boy’s chatter irritably, calling forth a Water Mirror, tilting its head to carefully assess the destroyed fur on its forehead, full of heartache: “My fur, I don’t know how long it will take to restore it…”

As it spoke, it kept glancing at the boy.

Finally, when its paw smoothed down that tuft of singed cat fur for the third time, muttering ‘cat fur care costs,’ the young public student had a sudden realization.

“Brother Huang, you know my financial state,” Zheng Qing sincerely looked at the Flower Cat on the windowsill, pulling out a greenish jade coin from his pocket, offering it with both hands: “This is our hunting team’s entire remaining activity budget for this semester…”

The Yellow Flowered Cat didn’t even lift an eyelid.

Zheng Qing gritted his teeth, pulling out a few gold beans, a few Silver Horns, and a handful of Copper Coins, clinking pleasantly: “It’s all here… D&K’s salary can’t even be paid next month!”

The Yellow Flowered Cat finally lifted its eyelids, casting a gaze at the pitiful amount of gold and silver Zheng Qing held in his hands, sighing: “With this little subsidy, I can’t even buy a small fish snack, what use do I have for it…”

Zheng Qing knew that the Yellow Flowered Cat usually ate fish snacks not of ordinary quality sold on the Pedestrian Street, but at this moment, hearing it say that so much money in his hands couldn’t even buy a small fish snack still made him feel sad.

There’s no harm without comparison.

After all, a jade coin could allow Xin Fat Man to treat the whole 403 dormitory to chicken legs for a whole semester—including the Fat Cat in the dormitory.

Yet now he couldn’t even buy a small fish snack.

“Put that gold away,” the Yellow Flowered Cat grandly waved its paw, stood up on two legs, and cozied up to Zheng Qing, throwing an arm around his shoulder, enthusiastically probing: “You can exchange it for other interesting things… For example, anything interesting the old man gave you, let me play with it for a few days…”

Hearing the word ‘old man,’ Zheng Qing nervously glanced upward, simultaneously trying to move away, fearing being struck by lightning thanks to this wretched cat.

He had no confidence he could be as thick-skinned as the Yellow Flowered Cat.

However, the Flower Cat’s paw was very strong, completely preventing the young wizard from breaking free, leaving the two even closer together. Zheng Qing bet that when he looked up, the Flower Cat also cautiously glanced upward.

Luckily, it seemed the gentleman didn’t mind the Yellow Flowered Cat’s borderline wording and didn’t offer a second bolt of lightning.

This greatly increased the Yellow Flowered Cat’s courage.

“Do you have, do you have,” it wagged its tail, teasing around Zheng Qing’s neck, cat face eager: “The old man letting you be alone at school must have given you plenty of good things…”

Zheng Qing tucked in his neck, dodging around but unable to avoid that fluffy tail.

Ultimately, he sighed in resignation: “Honestly, no… There’s just a pocket watch, seems like it can control time, though I don’t know how to use it… Do you want it?”

“Tch, what’s fun about time,” the Yellow Flowered Cat shook its head vigorously: “Anything else? Give me something fun, and I’ll tell you where you can definitely find an advisor.”

At that point, Zheng Qing had to take it seriously.

He frowned, diligently thinking over the contents of his Grey Cloth Bag, eliminating item by item, finally setting his sights on that long-hidden Law Book.

“How about this Law Book?” The young public student enthusiastically pulled out the Law Book, opening it before the Yellow Flowered Cat could react, pointing out: “The gentleman said that the spell inside is the starting form of a Forbidden Curse…”

After the Black Prison battle, the spells in the Law Book disappeared with the slender beam of light; at the end of summer break, when Zheng Qing opened the book, there were already many faint writings, vaguely visible.

This time, upon opening again, the spells on the first few pages of the Law Book had reappeared clearly, although many pages were still missing or blurry, not affecting the boy’s vigorous recommendation to the Flower Cat.

“Put it away, quickly put it away!”

The Yellow Flowered Cat averted its gaze with misfortune written all over its face, its fluffy paw tapping the young wizard’s face like a spring, with a hint of agitation in its voice: “… You just pull out anything… Aren’t you afraid the Law Book might go berserk and blow up the old man’s bookstore?”

Zheng Qing blinked, obediently stowing away the Law Book, carefully securing the leather clasp. A few wisps of glow flowed between the book’s pages and its cover, rainbow hues, briefly shining.

“So the advisor…” the boy bashfully looked at the Flower Cat.

The Yellow Flowered Cat wore a gloomy expression, raising its paw to pinch a few times, like a wizard calculating with his fingers. Yet the chubby cat face coupled with the fluffy paw appeared particularly joyous.

“Go to the Greenhill Mansion to find that Little Fox!”

Soon, the Yellow Flowered Cat calculated the result, flicked its tail, and immediately vanished before the boy, leaving only a lingering echo in the empty bookstore: “The divination shows she’s your advisor…”