Having already put the troublesome vortex at Linzhong Lakefront far behind them, Zheng Qing and his friends tacitly agreed not to discuss the matter again. They parted on a secluded lawn in the academy's rear garden and went their separate ways.
Nothing happened that night.
At noon the next day, Fatty Xin took a stroll around Linzhong Lakefront under the pretext of "collecting medicine," finally learning what had caused the previous night's incident.
It turned out that the Patrol Team had flown into a rage at Linzhong Lakefront and provoked the merfolk because, while on patrol, they had discovered a huge pile of merfolk dung dumped in front of Book Mountain Hall. Several bizarre symbols had also been smeared in dung, crookedly and unevenly, across the stone pillars flanking the entrance.
Although subsequent investigations confirmed that the symbols contained no magical fluctuations and had no definite meaning—apparently they had merely been someone's way of venting dissatisfaction—the act had still produced extremely unpleasant consequences.
With the Patrol Team members watching, they could clearly see a trail of damp marks stretching all the way from Linzhong Lake to the front of Book Mountain Hall. It looked exactly like the tracks left by merfolk dragging their heavy feet along.
Combined with the recent friction between the merfolk and the academy, as well as the conflict between the merfolk and the Patrol Team, some of the hot-blooded younger team members had been consumed by anger. They had gathered on the lakeshore on their own, intending to summon the merfolk out for a confrontation.
The merfolk who answered the call were no easy opponents either. They constantly invoked their "reservation autonomy," demanded that the young wizards produce concrete evidence, refused to cooperate in every possible way, and spoke with no small amount of mockery. Most