Chapter 117: Wen Lin (1)

The small living room fell into silence once more. Luo Qi studied Wen Lin; she did not seem to be at a stalemate. Although somewhat frustrated, her gaze was direct, looking at Du Zhengyi with firmness and disappointment.

Luo Qi felt she looked familiar, though it was not her appearance or even her person that made her seem so. Suddenly, he realized this scene was actually a bit like when his mother would wrestle with him over serious matters. Of course, Wen Lin could not possibly think Du Zhengyi was immature the way his mother thought he was; she was simply expressing her disappointment in Du Zhengyi from the standpoint of righteousness. She stood on the moral high ground of the cause Du Zhengyi was engaged in and his own values, invisibly exerting pressure on him.

Luo Qi was not sure if she could gain any benefit. From what he knew of Du Zhengyi, Du Zhengyi was loyal, and his values were impeccable. But beyond that, he was no fool, nor was he someone easily incited. Luo Qi knew where his own greatest weakness lay: he craved approval. Du Zhengyi was the exact opposite; he never cared about anyone, had no need for anyone's approval, and would never care about someone else's disappointment.

However, Wen Lin was also very smart, just as Du Zhengyi had said. She quickly gave up on the silence, likely realizing that even with powerful enemies lurking outside, she still could not out-silence the statue-like Du Zhengyi.

"You can probably guess that without a report, we wouldn't have come so quickly," Wen Lin said, looking into Du Zhengyi's eyes. There was a meaningful pause at the end of her sentence, likely to see how Du Zhengyi would react to it.

Du Zhengyi, however, had no reaction at all. Luo Qi saw Wen Lin look toward him as well, but he was still wearing his hood up and a mask on, his eyes hidden deep within the hood; Wen Lin could not discern anything from him. Strangely, she was quite open; she did not even hide her curiosity and observation, giving Luo Qi a smile.

She turned back to Du Zhengyi and said, "It seems I can only talk to you. Your friend was actually quite talkative on the phone."

"You talked to him on the phone. Did it go smoothly?" Du Zhengyi said.

Wen Lin paused, unable to help but smile, "That's true. Du Zhengyi is mysterious enough, and his friend is truly unfathomable, so I won't bother trying to figure it out."

After a pause, she added, "This might not sound very pleasant, but I wonder if your other friends are as trustworthy as he is? Does anyone else know you were coming to Xizhou today?"

"I understand what you mean, but it wasn't my friend who reported me to the Qionglin," Du Zhengyi interrupted her question.

Fortunately so; this kind of meaningful suspicion made Luo Qi uncomfortable. Guan Xinyue did not have the ability to report him, and Mahjong was not the type of person to do that either. Although he did not know Mahjong well, and Mahjong did not like him much, when he was at his wit's end, Mahjong was the one who took him in and even acted as his teacher. What's more, Mahjong's concern for Du Zhengyi was genuine. Among the few friends Du Zhengyi had, Luo Qi always felt Mahjong was a true friend.

Wen Lin politely withdrew her question, "Distance should not come between kin; I probably shouldn't have said that."

"What time did the report arrive?" Du Zhengyi continued, somewhat bluntly.

"Five thirty-two," Wen Lin answered promptly and efficiently. "It was transmitted via the Public Post Station, so it was slightly delayed before reaching the Qionglin. Because the letter was marked urgent and the recipient was Venerable Fan Shi, it was sent to Venerable Fan immediately upon entering the Qionglin."

Luo Qi once again realized the sharpness and capability of the Battle Mage before him.

"Then this informant must have been at the scene when the incident occurred," Du Zhengyi said. "That is the only way they could time the report to the Qionglin to coincide with the end of the attack."

Wen Lin nodded, "Your analysis is correct."

"Any Mage of a slightly higher rank knows I am wanted by the Qionglin, but I don't think there are many who would accurately know to deliver the report to Fan Shi. This person cannot be a Mage unrelated to the Qionglin," Du Zhengyi continued calmly. "Knowing an attack would happen here, having a grasp of our movements, knowing the actual timing and progress of the attack, and being very familiar with the Qionglin—in my view, only the Lotus Burners could manage this."

Wen Lin took a deep breath; her expression showed she already believed Du Zhengyi. She shifted her gaze to the buffalo skull hanging on the wall and sighed somewhat dejectedly, "Do you know? I actually thought of that too."

Du Zhengyi remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

"But I just didn't want to believe the situation had become this serious, and I was still hoping that the problem was on your end," Wen Lin said helplessly. "I think the entire Qionglin probably doesn't want the Lotus Burner incident to be true, even though Venerable Pei Shu has mentioned it several times."

"Because the Qionglin doesn't want to believe there's a problem, do they intend to kill me, the one who discovered the problem?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Wen Lin turned to look at him and said sharply, "Forgive my bluntness, but if you hadn't done things that invited suspicion, no one would have found this opportunity to kill you."

Luo Qi had already been distracted looking at the room; he felt this room of Ata's had a Victorian-era, East-meets-West decor style. He pulled himself back to look at Wen Lin, secretly admiring her boldness. She truly was a female warrior; the pressure Du Zhengyi exerted was no small matter, yet she delivered such a direct hit, completely unbothered by his mountain-like oppression. However, she likely knew they had reached a critical point, as she was focused entirely on Du Zhengyi, no longer having the capacity to observe him, the mysterious visitor.

"What did I do?" Du Zhengyi said, his expression still blank.

"Do you really have to ask? That day you suddenly returned to the Qionglin, no one summoned you, yet you returned. You can, of course, say that it was your home to begin with and you could return if you wanted to. Even the fact that Li Xu was attacked by you could have a reason; Han Yi was attacked by you because he wanted to take personal revenge on you; that missing student, Luo Qi, could have been silenced by someone else—all of these could have nothing to do with you... but you returned, and the Qionglin's defenses were shut down." Wen Lin said all this in one breath, then paused to catch her breath. "Later, they tested the recovered Qionglin Defense Crystal; there was no extra Magic Energy, no traces of intrusion, and no one knew how it was cracked, so the Qionglin is now in a panic. I know everyone is secretly thinking that, compared to the ethereal Lotus Burners, the legendary Du Zhengyi is more likely to have the ability to crack the Crystal. The Lotus Burners are just a mob; although they carried out a terrorist attack, what of it? Du Zhengyi is the most formidable Mage in three hundred years of legend; there is no one like that among the Lotus Burners."

"So, the Qionglin can turn a blind eye to today's attack just because I appeared, assuming I caused it?" Du Zhengyi asked calmly.

"Can you at least tell me what exactly you did in the Qionglin? I have always admired you. I don't believe what Fan Shi says; I don't believe you are doing anything terrible. Can I beg you to tell me what you are doing?" Wen Lin looked at Du Zhengyi in pain.

Luo Qi was almost startled by the intensity of her emotions.

Then, he heard something that startled him even more. Du Zhengyi said, "I was trying to save Luo Qi."

Luo Qi froze on the sofa, never expecting Du Zhengyi to tell the truth.

But then, what shocked him even more was that Wen Lin burst into laughter, "Impossible!"

Huh? Luo Qi stared at her in surprise. Was there someone who knew more about this than he did?