A Rat

At a normal time of year, there would still be plenty of daytime vitality lingering around campus at eight or nine in the evening—students studying hard in the self-study rooms, students conducting experiments at the benches, students strolling and chatting beneath the streetlights, students meeting in secret in the little woods, and so on.

But today was not such a day.

Because the Lower Yuan Festival had only just passed, the school's curfew had not yet been fully lifted. At this moment, the academy seemed somewhat deserted. Apart from a few students ordered to patrol the area, there were hardly any figures wandering about.

Except for certain "idle little animals" that were neither wizards nor pets—although they lived at the academy too, they were not students and thus were not bound by the ban. So long as they did not mind the dangerous aura pervading the air outside, whether it was the Patrol Team or the School Labor Committee, everyone turned a blind eye to these wandering figures.

That was why Zheng Qing had been able to stroll leisurely across the empty little square, pass the quiet Linzhong Lake, and come wandering to the Office Building on a night like this.

After leaving the dormitory, Zheng Qing headed straight for the Office Building according to his plan, intending to ask the professors to take a look and see what exactly had happened to him. Old Yao was the most suitable person for this sort of thing. If he could not find Old Yao, Professor Yi from Divination was also a decent choice. Failing that, Zheng Qing might even pinch his nose and pay Professor Li's office a visit.

Plans, however, were always beautiful, while reality was forever full of unexpected mishaps.

For example, Old Yao was not in his office.