Chapter 105: Sanfu Department Store (1)

That night, Luo Qi didn't sleep well for half the night; he was even more excited than the first time he went out with Du Zhengyi after accepting his so-called social investigation. Last time he went out, he was full of self-doubt, uncertain every day, but this time he truly knew what he was going to do, and his whole heart was at peace.

Early the next morning, he and Du Zhengyi set out. They didn't risk using the Pendragon Orbital System, which was a great pity to Luo Qi. They took a human high-speed train; the good side was that Luo Qi bought many snacks, and on such a mode of transport, they would almost never encounter other Mages.

While waiting for the train at the station, Luo Qi saw Du Zhengyi's ID card. The name on the ID was Du Zhengyi, and his place of origin was Zhejiang, which gave Luo Qi a great shock. He pondered for a long while and said, "Since that's the case, why can't you be a little gentler?"

Du Zhengyi ignored Luo Qi's nonsense, took a book from the ones Luo Qi brought, and picked and chose from Luo Qi's snack bag, taking a bag of Bugles.

Luo Qi stared at Du Zhengyi and pondered for a while, "No wonder you like girls who study history. Is she a particularly gentle liberal arts sister? She definitely isn't the terrifying type like Guan Xinyue."

"I wouldn't call it liking; it's just that she's pleasant to look at, and I feel it's not bad to travel a stretch of the road together." Du Zhengyi opened Luo Qi's book; it was an exposition on brain anatomy from a Mage's perspective. "Have you understood this book?"

Luo Qi ignored his serious question and instead asked anxiously, "What is 'traveling a stretch of the road together'? How long counts as a stretch? A stretch until Guan Xinyue's house, or a lifetime? Why do you talk in such a pedantic, old-fashioned way?" Du Zhengyi was actually starting to chat with him about these things; he felt their friendship had taken a step forward.

"Do you like Guan Xinyue?" Du Zhengyi steered the topic away without a trace. Sure enough, as soon as Luo Qi heard the noun 'Guan Xinyue' and the verb 'like' put together, he bristled.

"I don't like her! She's still a child! I'm not a creepy uncle; that's a crime!"

Du Zhengyi chuckled, "You haven't come of age yet either; the ages of you two in your respective races are almost equivalent."

"I have always considered myself human, so if I am twenty, I am twenty; it's the age where I can smoke and drink," Luo Qi said hurriedly, patting his own chest.

"I think she likes you." Du Zhengyi put a snack into his mouth and pointed his chin at the bustling crowd ahead, "What kind of girls do you like? Which one is your type?"

Luo Qi curled up his legs and hugged his knees, feeling dazed and a little afraid. It must be that the end of the world was coming, because he was actually sitting with Du Zhengyi watching beautiful women.

He was sitting in a train station with a Battle Mage Gushan Guard watching beautiful women; he could brag about this feat until the end of the world. But thinking of this, he paused, only then realizing he had no place to go back to, and no one to listen to his bragging. His former friends were not suitable to contact now, and when he thought about their past life, those days were starting to become distant. He didn't know how he could return to his former friends to share in those worries that now seemed trivial.

"What's wrong?" Du Zhengyi looked at him suspiciously.

"You..." Luo Qi turned his head to look at his friend, "Do you want a massage? I discovered this chair has WeChat Pay for massages; it's only two yuan an hour."

"……!"

They arrived in the afternoon at the Mages' Xizhou, a modern human city. This city was very interesting. As soon as Luo Qi walked out of the train station, he realized there was an invisible dividing line here, differentiating two cities superimposed on the same Coordinate, only this dividing line could only be seen by Mages.

Countless road signs marked the locations of local large Pendragon Orbital System stations in code, and among the forest of billboards were interspersed Mage shops. He even saw a "Wushan Goddess" shop. Because he looked too surprised, he was unceremoniously knocked on the head by Du Zhengyi.

"Don't act like a bumpkin," said Du Zhengyi, who was wearing sunglasses.

"I heard that some Telepaths also do this... this service industry," Luo Qi said, "providing stimulation that acts directly on the brain's nerve centers. I heard... I heard that compared to that, the stimulation from the real thing can only count as a prelude."

The Battle Mage who excelled at Teleportation Thrust almost tripped himself on the curb, "I... damn... who told you all this? How old are you? Where did you hear that?"

"As long as you listen with your heart, you can hear many things," Luo Qi muttered, then curiously pressed, "Have you been? You've been wandering everywhere since you were a minor, and you still have money on hand."

"Shut up," Du Zhengyi said hurriedly, "Don't talk about it so enthusiastically; could it be that this is your career dream?"

Luo Qi grinned, "I'm hungry."

At this moment, they were already standing at the entrance of the Sanfu Department Store.

Luo Qi looked up and saw at a glance that this was an old department store, but keeping up with the progress of the times, it had probably been renovated recently, and the layout had been adjusted to the current commercial model of integrating eating, drinking, playing, and shopping. The mall had five floors in total; the top floor was an arcade, the fourth floor was restaurants, the remaining three floors were for shopping, and there was a supermarket and garage underground.

Yesterday, Luo Qi still felt there were too few clues and too many difficulties. But today, seeing the traces of Mages in this city so heavy, his confidence greatly increased, and he began to understand why Guan Yushan's clue was only a mere six characters. There must also be traces of Mages in the Sanfu Department Store, perhaps a shop, perhaps some location they frequented. Looking at it this way, the six characters "Xizhou Sanfu Department Store" contained enough information. Such a riddle within a riddle—Guan Yushan truly left enough time for his granddaughter to be protected.

He decided to start the investigation from the fourth floor.

Who knew that just as he was about to rush into the main entrance, Du Zhengyi yanked him out violently. He was startled. Trembling, he looked around, then looked back at Du Zhengyi, who was very calm and composed, not at all like someone who had discovered enemy activity.

"What's wrong?" Luo Qi straightened his back and said with feigned impatience, "Do we have to agree beforehand that we can only have one gift, Mom?"

Du Zhengyi was so annoyed he laughed, "Idiot, we have to hold a combat briefing before a mission, understand?"

"Oh," Luo Qi said, "Do we need to synchronize our watches?"

"Don't talk to me with that movie-cliché nonsense again," Du Zhengyi accurately guessed his weird remark, "After we go in, don't say any keywords, including names of people or organizations. Lower your energy amplitude—forget it, you probably don't understand yet, so just don't use any energy at all. Remember what you were like before? I require you to stay the same!"

"What? Then what's the use of you bringing me along?" Luo Qi asked in surprise.

"You can only use it when I tell you to," Du Zhengyi said, "You know you can't yet fully adjust yourself at will. One slip and your energy will hit the peak for all detecting Mages; it's practically the equivalent of walking in holding a megaphone."

"Oh," Luo Qi said, "Got it, Mom."