Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 35: Iron Comb Chicken

Snap!

As the lamp above his head switched on, the room was immediately fully lit. Xiao Lin finally saw that the person behind him who spoke all of a sudden was not a ghost, but a man in nightwear leaning against the wall.

The man yawned and looked at Xiao Lin sleepily. “What year are you from? Why are you here stealing chickens this late at night instead of sleeping?”

“Who are you?” Xiao Lin had a wary gaze. He also felt rather shocked to see a man suddenly appear there in the dead of night.

The man did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard Xiao Lin’s question. “I’m the Department Head for logistics. You broke into my place and you dare question me? You’re a freshman, I believe! Tsk, tsk, this batch really is something. It’s only been two days and you’re already violating the student code.”

After learning the man’s identity, Xiao Lin finally gave up all his ideas. He finally understood that the academy’s administration actually held a lot of power. Since the person before him was the head of logistics, Xiao Lin was no match for him–be it in status or strength.

It hardly occurred to him that the Department Head would actually spend the night inside the logistics department. Xiao Lin sighed and asked, “How do you know I’m a freshman?”

“Because only the freshmen don’t recognize me.” The man slipped into his slippers and walked to the chicken coop to check the birds one by one. Then, he turned his head and said unhappily, “Look! You’ve woken up all the chickens!”

The chickens looked rather strange. They had gray feathers and their heads were at least twice as big as an ordinary chicken’s. Their eyes were small, blood-colored, and spun around repeatedly. However, their most striking character was the fleshy crest on the top of the head, which was actually semicircular and sharp like a knife’s edge. It was as dark as ink, which was a sight to behold for Xiao Lin. He could not resist leaning forward to take a closer look.

“Be careful!” The sleepy man’s eyes opened wide all of a sudden. His hand quickly grabbed the corner of Xiao Lin’s clothes and threw the boy back.

At that moment, a rooster from the corner jumped out at lightning speed and slammed the fleshy crest into the wire fence of the chicken coop.

Sparks flew everywhere and the sound of metal clashed!

Xiao Lin, who had been forcibly thrown to the ground, looked dumbfounded. He then realized that those crests did not just look like blades—they were blades, and sharp ones at that!

“This… What in the world is that?” Xiao Lin was dripping with cold sweat. He realized how naïve he was for wanting to eat those chickens earlier.

The man patted his forehead and said helplessly, “You’ll learn about them in your biology course; there’s a species of animal on Norma called the iron comb bird.”

Xiao Lin pointed to the birds in the chicken coop with a look of disbelief. “Iron comb bird? They’re birds? Don’t pull my leg just because I don’t know anything!”

“Well, these are chickens.”

“Then why did you claim that these are iron comb chickens?”

The man nodded, “Okay, okay. Let me explain more accurately. These are chickens in front of you. I forcibly hybridized Earth’s domestic chickens with the Planet Norma’s iron comb bird. I should name them iron comb chickens, shouldn’t I? Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it!”

“Forced hybridization…” Xiao Lin connected the dots regarding that cross between a chicken and a bird and his lips twitched. He looked at the smug man and stuttered, “You… Who are you exactly?”

“I’m Song Junlang, head of the logistics department,” the man introduced himself. As his name suggested, he was a very handsome man¹ indeed, but Xiao Lin’s mind was conditioned to think of the chicken-bird hybrid whenever he looked at the man…

Bang, bang, bang!

A heavy knock was heard at the door not too far away. Song Junlang walked to the window and took a look, then looked back at Xiao Lin and smiled. “I knew it. How could a freshman sneak out in the middle of the night and steal chickens without being caught? The Disciplinary Department of the student union can’t be that useless. Come with me. You’ll have to accept what’s coming to you.”

Xiao Lin knew that the student outside was the one tasked with patrolling and had safely passed by the golden dragon. Even if Xiao Lin had a surplus of redemption points and credits, he was not prepared to have them be deducted just like that. A sudden thought then occurred to him after he opened the door. “Wait! Didn’t you just say that you wanted to eat beggar’s chicken? How about I stay here and cook some for you!”

Song Junlang snickered. “You’re the one who wanted to eat beggar’s chicken.”

Xiao Lin’s vision was hazy from hunger; his stomach gurgled non-stop. He nodded without denying and lamented, “Let me be a hungry ghost for now. I haven’t even anything until yet.”

Song Junlang asked, “Is the freshmen’s buffet so unappetizing to you?”

Xiao Lin shook his head quickly. As the head of the logistics department, Song Junlang was likely the one who was responsible for all three of those meals. Xiao Lin would never dare to say anything bad about that, and besides, they all tasted amazing. He briefly explained the situation of his physical training that afternoon and did not manage to return to the dormitory in time because he was finishing his last round of exercise.

Department Head Song sighed dramatically. “You took more than three hours to run twenty kilometers? How bad is your stamina?”

Xiao Lin whispered embarrassedly, “Only three points.”

“Oh? That’s low!” There was a strange expression on Song Junlang’s face. He rubbed his chin and glanced back-and-forth between Xiao Lin and the chicken coop. He then asked, “Do you really know how to cook beggar’s chicken?”

“Yes, definitely!” Sensing a change in the department head’s attitude, Xiao Lin would never be so foolish as to admit that he only learned from television.

Song Junlang added, “I’m talking with these kinds of chickens.”

Xiao Lin gritted his teeth and comforted himself by saying that the iron comb chicken was just a little bigger than a normal chicken. In the end, he nodded and said yes, but added after some thought, “I won’t be responsible for slaughtering this chicken!”

If Xiao Lin and his current combat ability came face-to-face with the iron comb chicken’s sharp-edged fleshy crest, no one knew whether Xiao Lin or the chicken would be victorious.

“You don’t need to be concerned about killing the chicken, but you have to give your assurance that you’re doing this out of your own accord, and that I’m not forcing you.”

“No problem. This is my decision,” Xiao Lin agreed unhesitatingly, but failed to notice a peculiarity in Department Head Song’s tone.

Song Junlang’s face suddenly lit up with joy and looked at Xiao Lin with interest. He patted the boy’s shoulder again and happily remarked, “I think it must be fate for the two of us to meet tonight. Hahaha, I can’t wait.”

‘Are you really that excited to eat beggar’s chicken?’

Xiao Lin removed the doubt in his mind as the knocking outside the door became more urgent. He said anxiously, “Then, what about the Disciplinary Department?”

“It’s fine. Leave them to me. As long as you’re on my turf, no one can do anything to you!”

Xiao Lin was slightly relieved. At the end of the day, he managed to save his redemption points and credits. However, he had a very uneasy feeling in his heart. Department Head Song was looking at him rather strangely, like a scientist looking at a guinea pig.

Xiao Lin comforted himself by saying that he was reading too much into the situation.