High School of Demon Hunting
Chapter 1533 - 277: The Difficult Problem of Crossing the River

Chapter 1533: Chapter 277: The Difficult Problem of Crossing the River

Under Nikita’s army’s "escort," the task of finding Xiao Xiao’s entrance passage proceeded without any resistance. The wandering demons or beasts across the plains were like midsummer snow before this army, melting away cleanly.

The young wizards didn’t even need to walk. They rode on several giant spiders, as casually as if they were on a countryside outing.

Zheng Qing and Xiao Xiao sat on the back of the largest spider, watching over Nikita.

Because Zheng Qing still had many questions he needed to ask Doctor Xiao:

"Why is Hastur helping us?"

"What?" Xiao Xiao was squinting while gazing at the shimmering surface of the Skye River and didn’t catch Zheng Qing’s question.

"You mentioned before that Hastur is cousins with the Sea Demon King, so why would he help the school rather than his cousin?"

"I’m not an Outer God; how would I know what he’s thinking?" Xiao Xiao finally understood Zheng Qing’s question, shook his head, adjusted his glasses, and said:

"But I can deduce it based on common sense. Blood ties are the most precious yet cheapest connection in the Wizard World. Magic can easily destroy such ties. Perhaps it’s a feud over principles, or a clash of egos, or maybe it’s simply Cthulhu disliking how Hastur resembles him... We don’t need to guess about the stories of big shots—just knowing the outcome suffices."

"How do you know all this?"

"Know what?" Xiao Xiao patiently countered.

"Things like how the Sea Demon King is Cthulhu, Hastur’s relationship with Cthulhu, that sort of stuff," Zheng Qing said, recalling all the research he had done, constantly suspecting he had overlooked some obscure section in the library: "Does the school library have records about this?"

"Of course not... These are private notes." As Xiao Xiao spoke, he suddenly raised his hand to stop the team from moving forward. Then, he jumped off the purple spider’s back and closely scrutinized the scene before him on the Skye River. After a brief examination, he stood upright and continued, "If you have other questions, we can discuss them slowly after returning to school... For now, it’s time to go home."

Zheng Qing gestured with his gun barrel and, together with Nikita, jumped off the purple spider’s back.

At the moment, they stood within a modest river valley, with the broad Skye River unfolding before them. Its waters flowed gently, mirroring the sky like a bright mirror. The riverbank was surrounded by hills filled with shrubs and small patches of farmland. The water was distinctively clear and blue, enshrining splashes of white waves.

It was as if someone had sliced off a piece of the sky and tossed it into the river.

Standing at the river valley, they could easily see the city walls of Wusa across the river not far away. The shadow of the small, pitch-dark city crept across the plain like a lazy feral cat.

"No wonder you chose to go to Wusa City back then," Zheng Qing said, gesturing at the distance between the riverbank and the small city, nodding repeatedly. "Indeed, back then your options were limited... Did you crawl out of this river?"

The young wizard’s gaze wandered over the river’s surface, trying to locate some sort of opening. But all he could see was the tranquil river and the chaotic riverside; there were no places that could hide a "passage."

Unlike Zheng Qing, Xiao Xiao wasn’t foolishly searching along the riverbank. He cast a Bubble Head Charm over himself, jumped straight into the water, and moments later made a deep dive to the bottom, startling everyone.

Every wizard has a mystical connection to the passage they use to enter the Dreamland. It didn’t take Xiao Xiao much effort to locate an invisible vortex under the calm water’s surface, which led to another world.

It was a "water eye."

But this "water eye" surprised Xiao Xiao—it was too small. After briefly sensing it, he identified the major issue: The water eye was far too narrow.

It wasn’t just Nikita’s sizeable army that couldn’t pass through; even the five individuals in the Atonement Hunting Team couldn’t go through in one trip. According to Xiao Xiao’s perception, the passage could only accommodate two people at a time.

And one of those must be him.

Because he was the "key" to this passage.

This meant the bulky Ancient Leather Giants and the Shatak Bird flock couldn’t be brought back to school—these were substantial spoils of war, and it was indeed regrettable to abandon them.

However, the bigger headache wasn’t the loss of the spoils but the "risks posed by handling these spoils." If they were simply left by the riverside and the young wizards of the Atonement Hunting Team walked away, the out-of-control monsters would wreak havoc on the nearby small city. Xiao Xiao could imagine the consequences even with the back of his heel.

Even if they had the patience to "safely disperse" this army, they would need to carefully plan the selection and sequence of people passing through the water eye. Without Zheng Qing’s intimidation, Xiao Xiao wasn’t confident in managing the cunning Female Demon.

With all these chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind, Xiao Xiao climbed out of the water with difficulty, dragging his heavy, water-soaked robes. The bubble over his head burst into mist the moment he surfaced.

The short warlock shivered.

Soon, several warm gusts of wind enveloped him. His teammates cast a Spell invoking the imagery of "the rising sun and gentle valley breezes." In just moments, Xiao Xiao’s robe was dry again.

But his expression didn’t return to smooth calmness like his robe; it remained furrowed in knots.

The young wizards of Atonement quickly learned from Xiao Xiao about the specifics of the passage.

"It sounds like the river-crossing puzzle," Zheng Qing remarked, cradling his Charm Gun while keeping an eye on Nikita, nodding thoughtfully.

"River-crossing puzzle?" Xiao Xiao raised his eyebrow. It was rare for Zheng Qing to know something he didn’t. Indeed, Xiao Xiao was hearing about this puzzle for the first time.

Zheng Qing instantly perked up with interest: "It’s a simple story. One day, somewhere, a farmer had to cross a river with a big gray wolf, a small goat, and a basket of cabbages..."

"Why would a farmer bring a big gray wolf along?" Zhu Si asked, raising her hand to challenge the logic of the story. "Gray wolves eat people!"

"Maybe the farmer was a werewolf, so he kept a gray wolf as a pet," the little Female Demon next to Nikita earnestly added to the narrative setup.

"Right, right, a werewolf. The farmer was a werewolf." Zheng Qing waved his hand impatiently. "That’s not the point... The point is, they needed to cross the river, but the boat was too small, so the farmer could only take one thing across at a time. If the farmer wasn’t present, the gray wolf would eat the goat, and the goat would eat the basket of cabbages. This is the classic river-crossing puzzle."

"I’m the gray wolf," Nikita said self-assuredly, pointing at herself, smiling mischievously as she looked at the young wizards.

"Who’s the cabbage?"

"Her." Jiang Yu silently pointed at the little Female Demon. "If you guys weren’t around, I think I might strangle her."

"It’d be hard to strangle a demon with bare hands... Leaving her with the school is a good plan," Zheng Qing seriously proposed his opinion before looking at the group again. "So, what do you folks have in mind? Any good suggestions?"