Versatile Mage

 Mo Fan went into the forest together with Yu Shishi, following the directions she gave him.

 Mo Fan picked up a fragrance not long after. He blurted out, “Have you seriously been living here away from civilization? Where do you get food and necessities?”

 Mo Fan did hear about special groups of people that lived outside the safe zone. They were able to prevent demon creatures from harassing them by using some traditional methods, like the villages outside of the Ancient Capital had.

 “Mm, I have a unique fragrance that prevents demon creatures from attacking me,” Yu Shishi said in a half-genuine voice.

 “That’s amazing, let me smell it,” Mo Fan stuck his nose closer.

 Yu Shishi immediately blushed. She glared at him and snapped, “You’re a jerk!”

 “I’m just curious. If we can utilize your fragrance, us Mages could move freely in demon creatures’ territories as we pleased. We wouldn’t have to hide timidly in the cities,” Mo Fan said with a stern look.

 Yu Shishi did not respond. Her expression was a little cold.

 “I’m just joking, what’s with the cold look? You should smile more. You look younger and prettier that way. Like me, that’s why I’m so handsome,” Mo Fan continued.

 “How shameless can you be?” Yu Shishi had never met a man like him. The man was going to pay for it once they went deeper into the woods.

 “Don’t you think I’m handsome? Take a closer look.”

 “It’s too dark, I can’t see you clearly.”

 “You can touch me then.”

 “Can you please shut up?”

 —

 The trees gradually became denser. Mo Fan had already lost his sense of direction. He sniffed and discovered the air was a little damp.

 The leaves were moist, so was the ground. Even the trees had drops of water on them, as if they were sweating.

 However, it was not the kind of moisture that would make people feel itchy and moldy. It seemed to have a faint unique fragrance that was soothing to the mind.

 Mo Fan checked his surroundings and asked, “Did you really hear a noise coming from here? Are you sure that my student is here?”

 Mo Fan had his back to Yu Shishi. The woman’s eyes sharpened. She slowly moved her finger to command the moths that were hiding behind the trees while she was talking to Mo Fan to lower his guard…

 “By the way, what was the fire you were using just then? Why was it different from the fire of the Mages I saw before?” Yu Shishi asked curiously, slowly approaching Mo Fan from behind.

 “Oh, it’s the fire of Ardent Sunset, a powerful fire I found in the desert. It’s particularly effective against insects and bugs… huh, isn’t this my student’s bag?” Mo Fan exclaimed.

 Yu Shishi was stunned. She quickly called off the moths that were preparing to ambush Mo Fan!

 Yu Shishi knew that some fire was particularly deadly against insect-type creatures. If she failed to subdue this man right away, her little creatures would suffer heavy casualties!

 “Great, he’s here.. .he isn’t injured too, but he…he seems to be asleep?” Mo Fan found Bai Hongfei in a wet bush.

 The young man was not injured, but he had lost consciousness. Mo Fan was unable to wake him up. If he had not felt the idiot’s pulse, he would have assumed that the man was already dead.

 “Your student is pretty bold to be sleeping here,” Yu Shishi said to Mo Fan after she called off the attack.

 “He seems to have been put to sleep by some plants,” Mo Fan frowned.

 “Let me see,” Yu Shishi went up and pretended to be inspecting Bai Hongfei’s condition, “I think so too. I did see plants like that on the mountain before.”

 “Do you know how to wake him up?” Mo Fan asked.

 Yu Shishi shook her head.

 “Forget it, I’ll bring him back to town first. Perhaps the Healers might know how to wake him up. Come with me, I don’t want to leave you here in the mountain,” Mo Fan said.

 “Sure, I live close to the town too,” Yu Shishi said.

 —

 Mo Fan carried Bai Hongfei on his back and chatted with Yu Shishi on the way back. He was quite interested in the fragrance that made her invisible to demon creatures. Unfortunately, Yu Shishi did not seem to be willing to share her secret.

 Mo Fan did not force it. It was not like he could just tie her up on a table to experiment on her without her consent.

 When they reached the base of the mountain, Mo Fan happened to see a huge group of people heading their direction. He could easily tell they were Hunters judging by the way they were dressed.

 Yu Shishi was following behind Mo Fan. She only saw the group of people after turning the corner. She immediately realized something and fixed her eyes on Mo Fan.

 “Did you ask them to come?” Yu Shishi said coldly.

 “Yeah,” Mo Fan nodded.

 Yu Shishi moved her finger again while she slowly unleashed an aura.

 She hated being lied to the most. She had gone easy on Mo Fan since she thought he was not posing any threat to her. To her surprise, the man had asked a bunch of Hunters to set up a trap for her!

 She had enough of being chased around by Hunters!

 Yu Shishi was about to make her move on Mo Fan when the man quickly went up to Cao Qinqin and said, “I found him. Thanks for coming, I will still give you all the contribution points I promised. Sorry about that!”

 The Hunters smiled as soon as they heard the words.

 They did not even need to do anything to earn the contribution points. What else could they ask for? The Hunters were more than willing to accept it.

 Yu Shishi stood still. She could not help but feel annoyed. Was this guy purposely trying to get on her nerves?

 “Sir, why is that beautiful lady with you too?” Cao Qinqin looked at Yu Shishi and said in surprise.

 “She was lost in the woods, so I brought her with me too. Oh, she helped me find Bai Hongfei too, I should be thanking her instead,” Mo Fan said.

 —

 Yu Shishi did not like to hang around the Hunters. She left after staying for a brief moment.

 Mo Fan seemed reluctant to part ways with Yu Shishi. However, his expression changed as soon as the woman disappeared into the distance.

 “Sir, what’s wrong?” Cao Qinqin asked.

 “I can feel a strange aura from her. She’s most likely the reason why the water stopped flowing,” Mo Fan said.

 “Huh? Sir, why didn’t you catch her?”

 “If Bai Hongfei was dead when I found him, I won’t have gone easy on her,” Mo Fan said.

 Since Yu Shishi did not kill Bai Hongfei, it meant Bai Hongfei must have seen something that he was not supposed to. Yu Shishi had no choice but to put him to sleep. As such, Mo Fan did not want to alert her. He wanted to find out what Yu Shishi was up to.

 “But sir, she seems quite normal to me,” Cao Qinqin said.

 “That just means you aren’t experienced enough, since you aren’t alerted when something that might pose a threat to you is around!” Mo Fan knocked on Cao Qinqin’s head.

 “Sir, you aren’t that much older than me!” Cao Qinqin protested with a wronged face.

 “Tell Zhou Lixin to follow her. She might be suspicious if I keep hanging around her. Besides, I’m just too handsome to keep a low profile. Zhou Lixin has the face of a Mr. Average. He won’t have trouble following her,” Mo Fan said.

 “…” Cao Qinqin was left speechless for an instant. She said softly, “Sir, you’re pretty funny.”

 “Cao Qinqin, it sounds like you want to spend an extra few years at school,” Mo Fan stared at Cao Qinqin.

 “Sir, I’m sorry, you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever met.”

 “My back is feeling a little sore after carrying that idiot Bai Hongfei for so long. A little massage might help.”

 “Sure thing!”

 —

 —

 Bai Hongfei did not wake up. Even the doctors had no clue what to do after he was admitted into the hospital.

 Bai Hongfei was not injured, nor was he under a Curse. He had just fallen asleep like a patient in a persistent vegetative state. His conditions were perfectly normal. His stomach would even growl when he was hungry. The doctors could only feed him with infusions…

 Mo Fan was having a headache too. He wanted to know why the river had stopped flowing. It was likely that Bai Hongfei might have found some clues about it, but he was still sleeping!

 “Did any of you find any clue?” Mo Fan asked.

 Mo Fan had been sending the rest of the students to investigate the river since then, but the river was perfectly normal whenever they were around. However, as soon as they left, the water would stop flowing again. Not a single drop of water could reach Tongxiang, making it impossible for Dean Xiao’s formation to operate as intended.

 The Water Circulation Magic Formation would only work when the water was flowing, helping irrigate the crops and protect the cities and towns…

 “Sir, sir, we found out that apart from Bai Hongfei, some other people in the town are showing the same symptoms too. Do you want to go and take a look?” Cao Qinqin said.

 Mo Fan pondered. They needed more clues. They still had no idea why Yu Shishi wanted to put these people to sleep. What was she trying to hide?

 Only the person that tied the bell knew how to untie it. They could only find the answers from Yu Shishi!

 Zhou Lixin showed up and hurried over to Mo Fan. “Sir, this is bad! The woman you asked me to keep an eye on was arrested by the City Hunters! When I asked them, they told me she’s an evil moth woman who has murdered many people!”

 “The City Hunters? Moth woman?” Mo Fan was astounded.

 He suddenly remembered the rumors he heard when he was at Chongming Island in the past. Apparently, there was a moth woman in Wuzhen that would appear at night and murder people!

 Was Yu Shishi the moth woman?

 “Sr, sir, we have a problem!” Mo Fan had yet to recover from the shocking news when another student hurried over to him.

 “What’s going on?” Mo Fan asked.

 “Many kids have suddenly fainted in Dongzha, they are on their way to the hospital!” the student blurted out.