High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2686 - 907: Now We’re Both Stuck in the Hole

"Project? What project?"Nikita’s crimson eyes flickered, and she showed a hint of interest on her face. "I was a bit curious just now... I remember you mentioned a few times before, you tried different ways of contacting, but never managed to reach an agreement with the child, so the experiment could not continue. From what you’re saying, this time you used another school project as a bargaining chip to get the child to cooperate with your experiment?"

Since Thomas hadn’t explained in detail before, Nikita was unclear about the true identity of the ’successful experiment subject’ and unaware of the grievances between Zheng Qing and the Crow.

Her speculation was purely based on the vague information Thomas usually revealed, and she had constructed a scenario of interest exchange in her mind.

Thomas did not deny her speculations.

"Something like that."

He vaguely pressed his lips together, gathered his energy, and tried to sound upbeat. "In any case, with this potion, you can definitely get through the most difficult phase when the spirit merges with the flesh, and then the spirit can help cleanse all the demonic aura from your body... Once you recover, even if you can’t return to First University, you can explore the new world... I can accompany you to hunt dragons, climb the highest peaks of every world, watch the sunrise in different worlds, learn a hundred languages... all the things you dreamed of doing back then, we will have the chance to do them in the future!"

He became more excited as he spoke, eventually gesturing and swinging his arms so enthusiastically that it made Nikita recall their school days together.

The image of the young man in a blue gown, often bruised, slowly merged in her memory with the present young man in a black robe, slightly hunched over.

Nikita propped her cheek, listening to Thomas’s enthusiastic description of the future days, her eyebrows arched in a smile.

The green cobra, unnoticed, had already crawled back onto her knee, coiling around her arm, flicking its tongue. It seemed to sway its head and tongue in time with the Warlock’s gestures, listening as well to his imaginings.

A long while later.

When Thomas’s daydreaming stopped and the room returned to silence.

Nikita let out a long sigh.

"When following Teacher Ulixi across the Sahara before, it told me a story." The Female Demon gently stroked the cobra wrapped around her arm, speaking softly.

Upon hearing "Ulixi," Thomas instinctively frowned—despite being a Crow, he was still an assistant at First University and naturally repulsed by names of Great Demons he’d heard of since childhood—but looking at the Female Demon with her head lowered in front of him, he eventually said nothing.

"...Once, a young Witch fell into a hole and couldn’t get out. She called loudly for help, hoping a passing Wizard could lend her a hand. Then an Elder Wizard leaned over and looked down.

’Stop calling, child,’

he said, throwing down a shovel. ’Dig a bit deeper, or dig another way out, or pile up the dirt behind you... In any case, only you can get yourself out of this hole.’

The Witch in the hole took the shovel and began to dig carefully.

At first, she tried to dig a new pathway from the side, but after digging for a long time, there seemed no way out in sight, and the light behind her dimmed more and more, darkness nearly swallowing her whole.

Then, she tried to pile up the dirt, but only then did she realize she was trapped too deeply; the dirt behind her wasn’t something easily dug out... If she excavated too much of the supporting earth, the hole might collapse and bury her underneath.

Just as she was on the brink of despair, another old Witch appeared.

She too leaned over, looked down, and listened to the Witch’s call for help in the hole.

But she was equally powerless.

’Stop digging, child.’ The old Witch sighed, tossing down a jar of Magic Potion. ’You can’t dig your base while filling your hole at the same time... Drink this potion, and you’ll forget the hole.’

Forgetting the hole means there will be no thought of leaving it.

The Witch picked up the jar of Magic Potion, hesitated, still undecided on whether to drink it, when a third Wizard appeared, a young Warlock.

Upon hearing the Witch’s cries for help, he leapt into the hole without a word.

’Are you crazy?’

The young Witch in the hole was shocked and couldn’t help but curse loudly, ’I asked you to get me out, not to come down here... Now both of us are stuck in the hole!’

The also now dirty young Warlock just smiled, flashing a set of bright white teeth. ’Calm down, beautiful, such a hole was never meant to be escaped by one person alone. More people falling in means more chances of finding a way out.’

The story ended here.

Thomas furrowed his brow, patiently listening to the end.

Several times throughout, he barely resisted the urge to interrupt the Female Demon’s story, but ultimately said nothing. It was only when Nikita finished with ’More people falling in means more chances of finding a way out’ that his brow slightly eased.

"A very interesting story, the ending is thought-provoking... If you hadn’t had that accident, you certainly would have been an excellent teacher by now."

Thomas sighed softly, looking at the cobra coiled around the Female Demon’s wrist, offering a simple critique of the story: "I just doubt whether this story is really one Ulixi told you... Also, why did you highlight that the final Warlock had bright white teeth?"

Nikita looked at him with an odd expression.

"That wasn’t what I wanted to emphasize," she reminded.

"But that’s the only part I care about," the Warlock answered calmly. "No matter how angry you are now, as you said, both of us have already fallen into the same hole."

The Female Demon turned her head, looking at the cold, blank wall by the desk.

A trace of nostalgia flickered in her crimson eyes, and a gentle expression appeared on her face, one Thomas hadn’t seen in a long time.

After a while, that gentleness faded, and she turned back, looking at the Warlock with a charming smile: "People only fret over things they can still bear, and despair only while harboring hope. Once a certain boundary is crossed, there’s acceptance. Long, long ago, shortly after I boarded the Mist Ship, I had already accepted. The me who was before died on that ship. The current me is named ’Nikita Zhou’... Do you know what that name implies?"

The Warlock’s face turned slightly pale, clenching his teeth, but said nothing.

Nikita withdrew her smile, quietly watching him: "So, don’t try to carry burdens you can’t bear anymore. Call me a Demon, treat me as an experimental subject, it’s still better than seeing me as her. For you becoming a Crow for me, I can be your subject... Everyone should bear no extra burdens."