A prophecy comes true.

It means that some unlucky words or humorous remarks have become real.

Zheng Qing isn’t sure if Xin Fat Man has word spirit lineage, but Zheng Qing feels he definitely has a crow’s mouth — the Monday hadn’t even ended yet, and the piece of black jade in Zheng Qing’s hand fell to the ground.

But it wasn’t accidental; he threw it down on purpose.

On Monday night, when Zheng Qing was returning to the dormitory, he encountered an out-of-control gargoyle at the entrance. The gargoyle suddenly dropped down from some roof, arms ablaze, pouncing toward Zheng Qing. Startled, the warlock instinctively let go of the black jade and reached for the charm gun in the grey cloth bag.

As expected, the ghoul’s head was shattered with one shot by the young teaching assistant who had come to his senses.

Fortunately, the black jade fell on the grass and was not damaged. But this encounter served as a reminder to Zheng Qing, who shifted the jade to his left hand and kept his right hand free, ready to respond to any sudden situations.

"The School Works Committee’s investigation concluded that the incident with the ghoul was accidental."

The next afternoon, Jiang Yu found Zheng Qing and reported the details of last night’s incident: "Do you know about Martin Todd Alchemy Company’s recent improvements to the gargoyle power system? That task was undertaken by Jabir’s alchemy lab at the Institute of Applied Magic. Jabir’s lab referenced the characteristics of certain special magic lifeforms’ internal magic power circulation, proposing several improvement plans. Then, in the third-stage safety test, the lab randomly selected a few gargoyles on campus, optimized them in a specific direction, and tested the operational status of different plans.

In the subsequent fourth-stage observation experiment, these gargoyles showed no abnormalities, so Jabir’s lab selected the best-performing plan and reported it to Martin Todd Company.

As for the other adjusted gargoyles, since the adjustments were all about the power system and did not involve any modification of thought or consciousness—and because these gargoyles behaved entirely normally within the experimental predictions during the third and fourth stages—Jabir’s lab did not destroy them. Instead, they included them in the fifth stage, a phase of routine observation.

Many labs at the school have similar projects, using time variables to observe the long-term operation of experimental subjects. But you just had bad luck, encountering an experiment subject that suddenly lost control."

"It does sound like an accident." Zheng Qing muttered, staring at the investigation report in front of him, which was stamped with a series of various red seals, lost in thought.

"You think it wasn’t an accident?" Jiang Yu brushed a strand of hair falling on her cheek behind her ear, keenly sensing the subtle difference in the warlock’s words.

"I don’t know," Zheng Qing squeezed the piece of black jade in his hand and glanced at the witch, who looked a bit tired. Not wanting her to worry, he immediately changed his tune, half-jokingly saying: "I mean, after all, I’m not in that lab... I wonder if the school will ask me to compensate for the experimental subject’s head being shattered."

"It’s good enough if Jabir’s lab doesn’t have to compensate you for mental distress, how could you possibly owe them!" The witch’s tone carried a bit of displeasure, yet her face also carried a hint of a smile. "But if you want them to pay, I can help... Jabir’s alchemy lab is quite wealthy."

It’s a well-known fact that alchemy labs are very rich.

If Zheng Qing was determined to ’scam’ them in this matter, it shouldn’t be difficult to fleece Jabir’s alchemy lab for dozens of jade coins.

But, after all, he is no longer the freshman from two years ago who was broke upon entering school, and he doesn’t want to get into any conflict with a senior lab over this small matter, nor does he want Jiang Yu to continue worrying about it.

So Zheng Qing laughed and diverted the topic, saying: "It’s okay, it’s okay... but what about you, you’re so busy, why did the school have you deliver the investigation report to me? I thought the School Works Committee would contact me directly."

"I’m the monitor; these things can’t be bypassed by me." The witch glanced at the piece of black jade in Zheng Qing’s hand and let the alchemy lab off the hook. "... Did your stone transformation succeed?"

Saying this, she opened her palm, revealing her piece of white jade: "Li Meng said mine seems to have a little cat’s outline, but maybe because I keep staring at it, I feel like there’s no change at all."

That piece of white jade indeed hadn’t changed much.

Zheng Qing felt Li Meng was turning a blind eye and speaking nonsense, but he couldn’t stupidly expose it on the spot—in that moment, he suddenly had a deeper understanding of ’The Emperor’s New Clothes’—he opened his palm, revealing the piece of black jade, and solemnly compared: "Hmm, compared to mine, your jade does seem to resemble a little cat... look at this edge, doesn’t it look like a curled-up cat’s leg... mine hasn’t changed one bit."

The witch, having been affirmed repeatedly, instantly felt uplifted.

"I’ve been worried that there wouldn’t be any progress before Thursday’s class on the Art of Body Transformation," she yawned widely as she stretched her arms. "...If you don’t object to the School Works Committee’s report, please sign it. I have to deliver it to the office building later. Also, Li Meng heard from Fat Man that you guys recently have been using ’code phrases’ when you meet; is this a new training content for the hunting team? Why didn’t you ask me?"

She blinked her eyes and looked at Zheng Qing.

"Because I could never mistake you!"

The warlock unhesitatingly gave the correct answer, accompanied by a dry laugh: "Besides, that’s not a training content for the hunting team, it’s just Dylan coming up with a dormitory security measure out of whim... didn’t his family intend for him to marry a zombie bride? He’s afraid someone might impersonate us and trick him away..."

Zheng Qing cheerfully sold out a certain uninformed companion.

Jiang Yu didn’t doubt it.

However, when the witch left, Zheng Qing immediately felt somewhat preoccupied.

In the evening, when Xiao Xiao returned from the library, Zheng Qing shared the investigation report from the School Works Committee with him at once and discussed the results he had talked over with Xin Fat Man.

"...The investigation report shows that the internal magic circuit of the ghoul was severely eroded and was very sensitive to lightning weather, which is why it lost control. But don’t you think it’s all too coincidental?" Zheng Qing pointed to a section of the report, emphasizing: "Not too early, not too late, it happened to lose control just when I had just taken off the invisibility talisman and was greeting Grandpa Niwu..."

"Coincidence isn’t a reason to overturn an investigation report." Xiao Xiao shook his head, carefully reading the report: "Many things in the world happen as one coincidence upon another... especially since the ghoul was modified months ago, did the Seven Sins receive the task to attack you then?"

Zheng Qing hesitated, then shook his head.

"So, you should remain vigilant, but don’t be overly sensitive." Xiao Xiao rolled up the parchment report, tossed it into Zheng Qing’s drawer: "Your main focus should still be on your studies."