Chapter 3015 - 28: The Clearing Before the Door

Chapter 3015: Chapter 28: The Clearing Before the Door

The pumpkin carriage creaked to a halt in the clearing before the gate.

The white big mice glanced ahead, then behind, hesitating whether to dig a hole and bury themselves in it.

Ding Dong jumped off the pumpkin carriage, and upon seeing Zheng Qing, immediately raised three fingers of his right hand, swearing with a tearful face: "—I didn’t know they would run this far! They only told me to watch over these big mice... I’m just a driver, I know nothing! I haven’t even finished my Magic Potion homework yet!"

Just hearing the last sentence could make one mistake him for a student of Jiuyou Academy.

"Ding Dong?" Zheng Qing somewhat uncertainly asked.

"It’s me..." the Mouse People replied honestly.

Zheng Qing sighed — if the driver was the boldly daring Ding Dang, he might have been implicated in tonight’s matter. But Ding Dong? This timid muddle-head definitely doesn’t have the courage to venture into the Silent Forest in the dead of night.

"—Who’s in the carriage?" Jiang Yu stepped forward and asked a question that Zheng Qing was also very concerned about.

There was no need for Ding Dong to confess; a small head honestly poked out—it was Poseidon. Perhaps because the atmosphere at the scene was rather subtle, the Little Fox didn’t dare to talk nonsense but instead jumped out of the carriage and ran off to Zheng Qing, dry-wailing: "—Wow, blabber, you scared me to death! The forest is pitch dark, I almost thought I’d never see you again!"

Since she transformed, this was the first time Zheng Qing embraced her.

Compared to the image of the Little Fox in his memory, the current Dong Dong was much heavier and noisier. Once she nestled into his arms, she began prattling non-stop, from how beautiful the moonlight was tonight, to how she planted a few sunflowers in the garden of Greenhill Mansion, and even how she saved a bunch of tail fur during her spring moulting, which could help Zheng Qing make quite a few brushes.

With her demeanor like this, who could stay mad?

Following Poseidon, three Great Elves carefully peeked their heads out, nervously climbed down from the carriage, trembling all the while, yet their eyes shone as they looked toward Zheng Qing, an eager expression on their faces.

No way to get mad at them either.

"Come here, all of you!"

Zheng Qing sighed, patting their heads, and in the end couldn’t resist a scolding: "Don’t you know how dangerous the Silent Forest is? And yet you chose to come here at night..."

"Li Meng?!" Jiang Yu’s voice, suppressed with anger, rang in Zheng Qing’s ear.

Zheng Qing looked up.

Just in time to see Li Meng and Su Ya sneaking out of the pumpkin carriage. Upon hearing her cousin’s rebuke, Li Meng instantly began to protest: "—I didn’t know she wanted to come here! She initially told me the place was within the school’s Protect Legal Formation! Brother-in-law, I really have been wronged this time!"

Whoa!

Zheng Qing felt as though he heard a universal sigh of satisfaction from the onlookers, but when he suspiciously turned his head, everyone wore a serious look as if they had heard nothing.

"—All of you, scram!" Jiang Yu, however, wasn’t so easily fooled. Her face visibly reddened with anger as she lashed out at the onlookers: "Have you completed today’s training task?"

Zheng Qing hurriedly averted his eyes.

Clearing his throat, he looked at Li Meng hiding beside him, changing the subject: "—Who told you about this place?"

Including Su Ya and the three Great Elves, the unexpected visitor’s gazes uniformly fell on Poseidon, the answer evident; this made Zheng Qing’s ominous sense of foreboding grow stronger.

"Well, Dong Dong, how did you know about this place?" Zheng Qing felt his smile become somewhat stiff.

"I have a map, aw!" The Little Fox held up her tail, offering up the Parchment curled at its tip to Zheng Qing’s nose, seemingly thrilled that she could answer Zheng Qing’s question.

Zheng Qing immediately noticed the slender winding red line on the paper, instinctively asking: "—Where did the map come from?"

"Stolen from mama’s desk!" Poseidon’s face brimmed with pride.

Stolen?

Just by her?

Zheng Qing looked at the Little Fox in his embrace, speechless. Before he could speak, a slender jade-like finger reached from the void, flicking accurately on the Little Fox’s forehead.

Clap!

The smile on Poseidon’s face quickly vanished, tears welling up from the flick on her noggin.

"No crying!"

Accompanied by a faint fragrance, a familiar voice sounded almost directly in front of Zheng Qing, sternness tinging the tone: "After going back tonight, you’re grounded for a month! One week’s pocket money deducted, no negotiation!... And Su Ya, one month’s allowance deducted!"

Click!

Su Shijun’s high heels stomped heavily on the stone slab at the entrance, producing a clear sound, her tall figure casting a long shadow behind her. Under the moonlight, her skin appeared brilliantly fair, allowing Zheng Qing to easily notice her rose-red lips and long eyelashes, as well as the curves beneath her loose, flowing robe.

The originally quietly maintaining Atoning Hunters were now slightly stirred.

With just a few words, the Upper House Member of the Moon Council had seized control of the scene’s atmosphere.

"Alright, Miss!"

Su Ya gladly accepted the punishment, apparently overjoyed that the outcome was much better than she anticipated.

Poseidon pouted, trying hard to hold back tears in her eyes, seemingly wanting to argue further; but upon seeing the stiff face of Su Shijun, she immediately lost the courage, and her tail, which had just lifted, drooped weakly.

"Yuzui Hunting Team, with Xiao Xiao as the core, deploy the Goose Battle Array, continue to hunt that Shu Deer!" Jiang Yu didn’t hesitate to borrow the solemn atmosphere created by Su Shijun, though she directed her target at the spectators: "—Fail the task, and you’ll have additional training for a week!"

Hiss!

Zheng Qing distinctly heard a group collectively inhaling sharply behind him.

Yet, he didn’t dare to speak at this moment—after all, he wasn’t around when Poseidon and Yuzui were managed by them, so now he naturally had no reason to interfere recklessly.

Fortunately, he noticed the petite figure following Su Shijun.

"Wow, Juice?" The warlock’s slightly exaggerated voice sounded in the clearing: "Long time no see...you, why are you smaller again? What brings you here so late?"

Halfway through his greeting, he realized the two witches’ sharp and cold gazes landed on him, and he instantly became a bit stammering.

"Long time no see!"

Zhu Si greeted cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to the subtle atmosphere surrounding her, making an offhanded complaint: "...Finally someone sees me! I almost thought I hadn’t shrunk, but turned invisible! Ha, hahaha!"

She laughed twice, alone.

No one echoed her laughter.

So she promptly ended it, pulling over the desperately inconspicuous Ding Dong alongside her, bluntly explaining: "I’m here to take my idiot back, you continue, continue..."