ccnovels Chapter 107 : Chapter 107
Chapter 107 : Chapter 107
Chapter 107
On the second day after the rescue operation ended, Ji Qing left the school.
He had never planned to stay there for long. The only reason he had remained at the school in the first place was to see the Class S classmates who had not yet arrived. Now that he had already met them, Ji Qing had no reason to continue staying.
However, during the meal gathering, Shao Huayu brought up an interesting proposal.
“I looked over the semester assessment the teacher posted in the class group chat.” Shao Huayu paused, his tone casual. “The requirements are actually fairly simple. We only need to take on two or three A-rank Commissions, then finish the school’s final assessment. After that, the rest of our time can basically be arranged however we want.”
“The only troublesome part is the extra tasks the school might assign.”
“I already confirmed that with the teacher online,” You Xingluo cut in gently. “Students are not required to complete them, but if it involves emergencies such as the safety of classmates, the school will forcibly ask nearby students to provide as much support as possible.”
Zhou Que’s eyes immediately lit up. “If that is the case, then it sounds pretty easy.”
At that moment, Zhou Que suddenly felt rather glad he had come here with Shao Huayu. Compared with being trapped at school all the time in a dreary life that felt like prison, this kind of life—where he could plan his own schedule freely—was what he ought to be enjoying.
It was the perfect chance to visit every place he had wanted to see during high school.
The island, done. The desert, not yet. Antarctica, not yet. And then there was… As Zhou Que counted on his fingers and reviewed all the places he had once wanted to go, he had not even finished sorting them out before he noticed Shao Huayu looking at him with helplessness written all over his face.
Zhou Que blinked in confusion. “Did I say something wrong?”
Liu Mu, standing to one side, explained in a gloomy tone, “Because the premise for all that going smoothly is that your Hunter Account has to be able to take A-rank Commissions. As things stand, the Hunter Accounts all of us have seem to be F-rank Hunter Accounts. We are still a long way from being able to take A-rank Commissions.”
Zhou Que: “...Huh?”
He had never imagined that his wonderful high school life would get stuck at the very first step. He had always been at the very top of whatever field he was in, yet now he was actually being stumped by a mere Hunter Account.
Unwilling to accept it, he turned around and asked, “Why can they not just give me an A-rank Hunter Account for the simple reason that I am an S-rank Ability User? Wait... do not tell me that after graduation, I will have to go through the entire process again of climbing from an F-rank Hunter to an S-rank Hunter?”
“I was S-rank for so long, and now I have fallen all the way to F-rank?” Zhou Que looked utterly devastated.
Seeing that Zhou Que’s words were becoming funnier and funnier, Ji Qing forcibly suppressed his laughter and turned to the equally helpless Shao Huayu. “You all should have dealt with Hunter’s Guild Commissions before, right?”
“We have.”
Ji Qing immediately gave him an amused look. “Oh? You did not have this problem back then?”
“That was because we were borrowing the accounts of elders in our families.” Shao Huayu glanced at Ji Qing with endless resignation. “Ji Qing, you know what our family situations are like too. In my family, anyone who has a Hunter Account tends to have a pretty high account rank.”
“My heavens...” Ji Qing immediately showed a grin like someone enjoying a good show.
The moment he thought about watching Shao Huayu and the others slowly accumulate account rank from scratch, Ji Qing felt an indescribable delight in his heart. The idea of watching noble-house young masters work themselves to the bone from the bottom up was simply too entertaining. Even though Ji Qing himself would also have to start from zero.
His daily life would likely shift all at once from the Dawn Society’s dangerous missions to the Hunter’s Guild’s simple commissions of finding lost cats and dogs.
Well, whatever. He could just treat it as everyday amusement, Ji Qing thought indifferently.
Compared with Shao Huayu and You Xingluo, who had family affairs to worry about, and Zhou Que, who was sulking over having become an F-rank Hunter, Ji Qing’s life was remarkably simple. Ji Qing hesitated inwardly. Was this going to become yet another dull winter break for him?
For now, he could only pray that it would not be that boring.
Looking at Zhou Que, who seemed as though he might collapse at any moment, You Xingluo rested his chin on one hand and said casually, “After graduation, we should be able to start at B-rank Hunter. A Class S diploma from Third Ability Academy is actually quite valuable.”
This rather well-known Seer added with deep vexation, “Though right now I am still wondering whether I should even register one after graduating.”
Although the Hunter’s Guild did not force holders of Hunter Accounts to answer the Guild’s summons, and many high-ranking Ability Users employed by government agencies also registered Hunter Accounts in order to earn extra money, Hunter Account ranks still had to be maintained.
Every hunter had to complete the minimum number of commissions required for their rank each year.
For Ability Users who were already employed by government agencies or other organizations, that was an extremely inconvenient requirement. The higher the commission rank, the greater the difficulty, and the more time it took to complete.
Not every Ability User had enough time for that.
Teammates, planning, time... all of those had to be taken into account. That was why, inside the Hunter’s Guild, a large proportion of S-rank Ability Users chose to remain at A-rank or B-rank Hunter level, because that made it easier for them to complete the annual hunter assessment.
“So that means we are going to have to take a ton of commissions in the first half of the year?” Zhou Que suddenly complained.
“Yes.” Shao Huayu nodded seriously. “And to avoid unnecessary complications, I plan to start with commissions near the school, then make our way back toward Central City as we keep taking them. That should be enough to complete this semester’s assessment, and then...”
“The next few semesters should be easier.”
“That really is a good method.” You Xingluo first swept his gaze across the people around him, then nodded in serious agreement.
After receiving You Xingluo’s approval, Shao Huayu turned to Liu Mu. “When you get back, remember to keep an eye on what commissions we can take.”
“Understood.” Liu Mu calmly pushed up his glasses.
At that, Ji Qing immediately understood what was going on.
There were only the five of them at the gathering: Shao Huayu, You Xingluo, Liu Mu, Zhou Que, and Ji Qing. Compared with those who possessed offensive Abilities, other types of Ability Users had a harder time meeting the school’s assessment requirements.
Although support-type hunters were quite rare and were always booked in advance by teams that needed cooperation, that only mattered once their Hunter Accounts rose above B-rank and they became eligible to take team missions.
Shao Huayu was clearly planning to use the free time he had this semester to quickly raise You Xingluo and Liu Mu’s hunter ranks, though the main focus was probably Liu Mu.
Compared with You Xingluo, who had the backing of the You Family, Liu Mu needed that help more.
Shao Huayu really did treat his own people well. He had not even planned to deliberately slack off. Instead, he meant to take them through the process of Hunter’s Guild commissions several times in earnest, Ji Qing thought to himself. He had already discovered earlier that Hunter’s Guild Commissions could be posted by hunters themselves.
Which meant—for these three noble young masters, it was entirely possible for their clansmen to help them customize commissions and then let them coast through them.
But clearly, none of them intended to do that.
After thinking of something, Zhou Que said in surprise, “When you put it that way, Ling You’er’s side is going to be a little inconvenient. With how socially anxious she is, there is no way she would go join some unfamiliar team. She can still handle low-rank commissions alone, but what about high-rank ones?”
“There is no need to worry about that.” Shao Huayu shook his head dismissively. “She seems to be pretty close with Song Xiaoran, Feng Youyou, and the others. She will probably choose the two of them as fixed teammates later on.”
You Xingluo blinked. “If it really comes down to it, you can just go ask her later.”
“No way—” Zhou Que protested loudly. “My relationship with her is not even that good. What if she shuts me down? Would that not make me look ridiculous?”
Since he had not gotten the answer he wanted, Zhou Que puffed out his cheeks in dissatisfaction.
But very soon, he turned around and said to Liu Mu with complete self-righteousness, “Liu Mu, you go! Go ask that Ling You’er about her situation!”
The fingers Liu Mu had resting on his glasses suddenly froze.
Even though Zhou Que’s tone was overbearing, the request itself was not impossible. Liu Mu himself was not sure whether he ought to ask or not. He slowly glanced in Shao Huayu’s direction, and after seeing the speechless look on Shao Huayu’s face, he said quietly, “You should go yourself.”
Th-this... it really was not that he did not want to go. Liu Mu broke into a cold sweat inwardly.
“Huh? Are we not friends?” Zhou Que grumbled even more unhappily. “A shut-in like you, who can stay inside for ten days or half a month without going out, definitely has something in common with a withdrawn, socially anxious person like Ling You’er, right? You definitely have something to talk about, right?!”
“How could we possibly have anything to talk about?” Liu Mu exploded in indignation. “If I do not even leave the house for ten days or half a month, what possible topics would I even have to chat with her about?”
“Hahaha...”
The other three people present could not help laughing out loud.
At the end of the gathering, Shao Huayu suddenly asked, “By the way, Ji Qing, what are you planning to do this semester?”
“Interested in taking commissions with me?” You Xingluo immediately cut in.
Zhou Que’s eyes lit up even more. “Ji Qing, are you coming? Let us quickly clear the low-rank commissions together, and then hurry up and start taking A-rank team commissions.”
Although Liu Mu said nothing, his gaze had already shifted toward Ji Qing.
“Ah...” Seeing all four pairs of eyes turn toward him, Ji Qing smiled with feigned helplessness. “It does sound very interesting, but unfortunately, I have things to take care of later. If we run into each other again in the future, then we can do commissions together.”
“So you really do have something to do?” Zhou Que was disappointed at first, but then immediately changed his tone excitedly. “I can help you with it! Then the two of us can catch up to Brother Huayu and the others—”
Ji Qing rejected him at once. “That will not do.”
Zhou Que gave a dissatisfied snort, but he did not ask any further. That sense of boundaries was something he had been taught from childhood as a disciple of a noble house.
After glancing at Zhou Que, You Xingluo then looked at Ji Qing with a smile. “Then let us look forward to meeting again in the future if fate allows.”
“All right.”
Ji Qing nodded seriously.
Although he knew the chances of that were quite low, he could not help feeling a trace of anticipation. Ji Qing still could not guess where he might meet them next. It might be in the middle of some commission, or in some unfamiliar town, but the most likely possibility was the registration day next semester...
That was also why Ji Qing had chosen to wait for them to appear.
***
The mist spread everywhere, and the forest was completely silent.
As Ji Qing followed the map navigation northward, his gaze could not help being drawn to the scenery of the forest wetland he passed along the way. In that wetland forest, countless trees grew, competed, and seized natural resources from one another.
Their roots intertwined in tangled masses, their trunks were thick and towering, and their canopies were so dense they looked like a sea, making the whole forest resemble a boundless expanse of trees when viewed from afar.
Is the Dawn Society’s Base of Operations somewhere near here?
A trace of doubt crossed Ji Qing’s mind.
It did not quite match what he had imagined. He had thought it would be a more... a more dry and peaceful environment. Quietly gathering his thoughts, Ji Qing continued deeper into the wilderness along the route shown by his Terminal navigation.
He had not used Li Yuan’s appearance for this trip.
As a way of testing Emerald, Ji Qing had chosen to meet him using his own original appearance.
After reading through the Dawn Society’s internal archives, Ji Qing could more or less infer that Emerald knew what he looked like. The two of them had joined the Dawn Society at the same time, risen to become cadres at the same time, and afterward both took on the most important duties in the Dawn Society’s early days.
There was no possible way the two of them did not know each other.
When that thought reached him, Ji Qing suddenly stopped walking. He lifted his head and gazed at the forest shrouded in mist, yet his thoughts could not help drifting back to what he had discovered that morning.
The Dawn Society archives provided by White Night had allowed him to notice many subtle details.
Up to now, the true core of the Dawn Society’s activities had never been “protecting the interests of the Infected,” but rather “investigating the Federation’s old affairs.” The higher-ups of the Dawn Society were investigating certain incidents the Federation had deliberately buried, which was also why they needed the World Book.
At first, Ji Qing felt troubled by this, but as his understanding deepened, he suddenly became aware of the deeper meaning behind his own actions.
“Revenge...?” Ji Qing murmured softly to himself.
It was truly a strange thing, yet it also filled Ji Qing with an absurd sense of familiarity.