Chapter 113: A Phone Call

The crowd in the subway station was like a rushing river, and Du Zhengyi and Luo Qi were swept up in it, moving involuntarily toward the exit along with the flow. Luo Qi did not see how Du Zhengyi did it, but two subway tickets appeared in his hands; he expressionlessly shoved one of the tickets into Luo Qi's hand, as if he really hadn't stolen it.

Luo Qi secretly imagined the embarrassment of the two unlucky people who had lost their tickets when they reached the subway turnstile later, and offered an apology in his heart.

They separated at the turnstile and passed through individually, then Du Zhengyi immediately grabbed Luo Qi's arm again. Luo Qi knew that Du Zhengyi could Teleport with him at any moment now, and he became mentally tense; there had been too many Teleportations today, and Du Zhengyi was damnably capable of cutting into the Subspace seamlessly, as freely as if he were walking on an asphalt road.

As they walked out of the subway exit, they naturally walked into a commercial street connected to the subway. The speed of the crowd slowed down, and Du Zhengyi observed his surroundings. Luo Qi followed his gaze and discovered that there were several shops in the commercial street opened by Mages.

It is a convention for Mages' shops to hide a character symbol from an ancient language in their shop logos. In the ancient language of Mages, that bird-shaped pictograph represents the Golden Crow, which in ancient meaning is the origin of all Magic. In human society, Mages will deform this symbol and hide it in various signs and decorations. Over time, Mages have all more or less trained themselves to have eyes like torches, able to see through this symbol game at a glance.

"There are quite a few Mages in this mall," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice beside him. "The traces of Mages are intricate and complex; I can see all kinds of Magic trajectories. This place is like a garbage dump of energy. We will stay here for a while, try our best to let the energy here cover our tracks, find an opportunity to shake them off, and then find a way to leave this city."

Luo Qi did not answer him; he suddenly lowered his head, and his footsteps also came to a halt.

"What is it?" Du Zhengyi looked at him vigilantly. "What did you discover? Do not use any energy."

"It's not that," Luo Qi said. He raised his head and looked blankly at Du Zhengyi, holding up the phone in his hand. "The phone is ringing."

"Wait to answer it," Du Zhengyi said calmly. "Follow me now."

He pulled Luo Qi along and walked into a restaurant opened by a Mage. Luo Qi vaguely felt that he had passed through a layer of Energy Field, and remembering that many Mages would buy a Crystal containing anti-theft protocols, he understood a little why Du Zhengyi said the Magic traces here were intricate and complex.

They went straight into the back kitchen. Before Luo Qi could see the situation in the back kitchen clearly, Du Zhengyi Teleported without a care. Luo Qi knew that Du Zhengyi was simply dumping the trouble of erasing supernatural sightings onto the people tracking them; the Qionglin could not help but follow the rules.

They appeared in the warehouse of an appliance store on the third floor of the mall. The phone in Luo Qi's hand had lost its signal due to crossing through space. When Du Zhengyi emerged from the Subspace, he didn't even stop his footsteps; he grabbed him and dragged him out of the warehouse, immediately changing their position again.

"Hold on," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice. "We cannot stay where the residual energy of the Teleportation is highest."

Luo Qi gave a vague "Mm," and secretly congratulated himself for not vomiting this time.

They had just walked past the television section when the phone in Luo Qi's hand vibrated again. Luo Qi looked down at the caller ID while walking. "Who is Liu Ziyi? Do you know her?"

Du Zhengyi frowned and said, "She is my junior sister; you have met her too. I heard that you even pestered her on your first day at the Qionglin. I just saw her photo in the WeChat friends list on the phone."

Luo Qi was greatly shocked. He did indeed remember that girl who always looked like she hadn't woken up, but—"When did I ever pester her? I only said a few words to her. Does the Qionglin gossip circle have no shame?"

He handed the phone to Du Zhengyi. "Since your junior sister is involved, you answer the phone yourself."

"She has done me a few favors. I don't know why, but we aren't actually very familiar. Yet even your position within the Qionglin was something she found out and told me." Du Zhengyi glanced hesitantly at the phone, which was still vibrating stubbornly in Luo Qi's hand. "You answer it; I still need the mental energy to distinguish the Magic traces."

Luo Qi gave an affirmative sound, made up his mind, and answered this bizarre call.

"Hello?"

"Who are you? Is that Du Zhengyi?" A confident female voice came through.

Luo Qi blinked. "Why didn't you call him Senior Brother? How rude."

There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone, and the tone suddenly changed. "Oh, is this the King of Kings Great Civet Cat King?"

Luo Qi heard a hint of mockery in her tone. "So what if it is? You aren't Liu Ziyi, why are you making this call?"

"Because I am the owner of this phone," the woman said.

"Then why do you have Liu Ziyi's phone?" Luo Qi said calmly. "Could it be that the eighty-two people in your phone are also all you? You really are quite a pervert."

The person on the other end of the phone was stunned, and even Du Zhengyi looked at Luo Qi in surprise. However, at this point, he had already become immune to Luo Qi; no matter what Luo Qi said or where his attention was focused, it could no longer completely surprise him.

"Du... Zhengyi... where did he dig up a treasure like you?" the other party said with suspicion, and it seemed she actually wanted to chat with him for a bit.

"Coincidentally," Luo Qi said, "I was dug up from underground."

The other party laughed. "Listening to you talk is really interesting."

"Listening to you talk is also very interesting," Luo Qi said with a sigh. "You remind me of a book. Do you know that humans often say women are like a book?"

"Is that so?" The woman's voice became a bit more charming. "Then which book did I remind you of?"

Luo Qi grinned. "*The Minds of Billy Milligan*."

It sounded like the other party stiffened. "Great Civet Cat, I..."

Luo Qi immediately interrupted her. "Call me King of Kings Great Civet Cat King, or I'm hanging up on you."

There was another silence on the other end of the phone. "Fine, Your Majesty, I am not schizophrenic; I am using Liu Ziyi's phone to call you."

"It's useless," Luo Qi said. "Du Zhengyi said he isn't close with his junior sister. Besides, you also know Du Zhengyi has always had a bad reputation; kidnapping his junior sister to threaten him is completely useless. You might as well tear up the ticket; I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" The voice on the phone practically roared. "I am using Liu Ziyi's phone to make you trust me! I want to help you! If you would rather run around like blind mice in a maze, then go ahead and hang up!"

"Then let's chat for another ten dollars' worth," Luo Qi said leisurely.

"Who exactly are you! Wait, don't hang up. I don't care who you are, and I don't care which mushroom patch Du Zhengyi dug you out of; that last sentence was just an exclamation!"

"Understood," Luo Qi said. "Then who are you?"

"My name is Wen Lin," the woman on the other end of the phone said after taking a deep breath. She paused, and her voice became a little softer. "Thank you for showing mercy today."

"You're welcome," Luo Qi said, raising his head to exchange a glance with Du Zhengyi.