The police always arrive last.
With a few soft popping sounds of air explosions, three figures shrouded in black robes abruptly appeared in the center of the area. Several spell books, emitting various colored lights, floated before them. The spell books were slightly open, their pages slowly turning in the faint glow, as tiny, intricate runes swirled and flowed between the pages.
Zheng Qing could clearly feel the heavy pressure emanating from those pages.
It was exactly like when Thomas had cast his Spell earlier.
"Who is casting In Qi Lei on the street!" an exasperated voice came from under the hood of a short, stout black-robed figure. "Don't you know there are two Alchemy workshops three hundred meters away? Are you trying to blow up Daming Ward!"
Beside him, a tall black-robed Wizard silently pressed his spell book, and four or five thick vines burst from the ground, tightly binding the snoring Pig Demon to the earth.
The remaining two black-robed Wizards fixed their gaze on Zheng Qing.
The scattered pedestrians on the street were all watching from a distance; only Zheng Qing sat not far from the Pig Demon.
"Wizard Union Investigation Bureau, Emergency Rapid Response Team, Registered Wizard, Commissioner Andrew." The short, stout black-robed Wizard nodded to Zheng Qing. "You were on the scene, do you know who cast the Thunder Spell?"
The short, stout black-robed Wizard was an Easterner, with a baby face and no beard, but long fuzz was clearly visible at the corners of his mouth. His robe bore the Trident Sword emblem.
Zheng Qing obediently pointed to the street corner.
"Thomas!" The short, stout black-robed Wizard turned his head for a look, exclaiming in surprise, "Didn't you stay at the school to be an Assistant Teacher? Why do you have time to wander around Four Seasons Square now!"
"Bastard!" Thomas's face fell, his mouth twitched, and he retorted fiercely, "I only stayed at the school, I'm not in prison, why can't I come to the market?"
He put away his brown spell book, brushed off his robe, and quickly walked towards the group.
"It looks like you haven't been at school these past two days," the short, stout Wizard said with a meaningful shake of his head.
Thomas frowned.
"It's just a Wild Demon, was it necessary to cast a Thunder Spell!" a tall black-robed Wizard interjected. "And why does this Wild Demon have a talisman pasted on its glabella?"
Zheng Qing looked at the talisman pasted between the pig's nose and forehead, pondering that even pigs had a glabella.
"We were in Auster's Protection earlier," Thomas stepped forward, squatted in front of the hog-tied Pig Demon, examining it carefully, and replied, "This Pig Demon saw us and charged directly at us."
Only then did Zheng Qing learn the proper name for the light shield that had appeared on the street earlier.
Auster's Protection? It sounded like a protective Spell invented by someone named Auster.
"You mean this Wild Demon can see through Auster's Protection?" The tall Wizard shook his head, denying it very confidently, "This Spell has been discussed multiple times by the Wizard Alliance Grand Wizard Council, and can even block the vision of Great Demons. A mere Wild Demon cannot possibly have such an ability."
"That's why I'm also very curious." Thomas pulled out a pile of bottles and jars, a pair of earthy yellow leather gloves, and some tweezers, bone saws, hammers, knives, and scissors from somewhere.
"I plan to collect some samples and take them back to the school lab to have a look."
The Commissioners from the Investigation Bureau looked at each other and nodded silently.
"That's the pair of gloves you received in your sophomore year, isn't it?" Andrew took off his hood, revealing his baby face, and tutted, "What a devoted person. I heard earlier that she's already married, didn't you know?"
"I just can't afford new gloves," Thomas said in a flat tone.
He squatted on the ground, put on his gloves, and skillfully dissected the Pig Demon with the scattered tools at hand.
Saliva, blood, brain matter, flesh, hair, tooth sockets, cartilage, hard bones, and other unnamed connective tissues were deftly separated by him and sorted into different containers.
Zheng Qing felt a little uncomfortable watching his focused yet relaxed demeanor.
"He might have been that fat guy just now!" Zheng Qing whispered, "Don't we need to notify his family? Isn't he still alive?"
The three Wizards from the Wizard Alliance Investigation Bureau looked at him with surprise.
"Any Wizard contaminated by a demon will fall and become a true demon. There are no exceptions," Thomas said very clearly, very cruelly, "The Wizarding World only has one way to deal with all demons."
Zheng Qing was not foolish enough to continue asking what the 'way to deal with it' was.
He took a few steps back, getting further away from the dead pig. Then he anxiously checked his exposed skin for any unclean things.
"Newcomer?" the tall Wizard asked Thomas.
"This year's Freshman. Couldn't be newer," Thomas put away the bottles and jars, stood up with a smile, "Just now I set off a small firecracker, and it scared him half to death."
Zheng Qing strongly resisted the urge to snort through his nose.
"Don't use such an understated tone! You just cast a Thunder Spell! Everyone on this street was almost blown away by you!" Andrew lamented in a very helpless tone, "What kind of lunatics are in Starry Sky Academy?"
Hearing this familiar remark, Zheng Qing couldn't help but chuckle.
Andrew turned his head and glanced at him.
Zheng Qing smiled amicably.
"Thomas, the Bureau has a co-investigation mission, do you want to lend a hand?" Andrew looked back at Thomas.
"No," Thomas refused very bluntly.
"If you agree to this, the Bureau can discuss with Daming Ward not to pursue your fault for dangerous spellcasting," Andrew lowered his voice, tempting him softly.
"No time!" Thomas said with a stern face, huffing, "I still have official business, I need to write an eight-thousand-word interviewer report tonight. If you need my spellcasting report, I'll just complete it then."
"Official business?" Andrew glanced at Zheng Qing, walked over, and put his arm around his shoulder. "Is it this year's Freshman? He looks very tender! You can take him along to broaden his horizons. Young man, do you want to see what a Great Demon looks like?"
Zheng Qing glanced at the sleeping wild boar on the ground and shook his head like a rattle-drum.
Just a Wild Demon had almost swallowed him; from what they implied, a Great Demon was an even more terrifying existence!
He was just a scholar; when he encountered a demon, he had to run!
There was no reason to go looking for demons.
"Which college is he from?" Andrew put down his hand, looking at Thomas with a gloomy expression. "He has no youthful vigor at all."
"Nine Provinces College. The Publicly Funded Student ranked second in total grades this year among Freshmen." Thomas showed a mocking smile. "I remember you were also from Nine Provinces College, what was your rank when you entered school, second to last or third to last?"
"A top student!" Andrew shouted loudly, putting his arm back around Zheng Qing's shoulder. "Quick, help us take a picture! It'll be worth a lot of money later!"
Zheng Qing tried to stand up straight, his face flushed with embarrassment.
"The young man is too shy." Andrew turned to look at him, smiling, "Say whatever you want, don't be so hesitant."
"Can you reimburse me?" Zheng Qing made up his mind and asked loudly, "I used a Tranquility Talisman just now to suppress that Pig Demon, can your Investigation Bureau reimburse me for it?"
Andrew was dumbfounded.
