Chapter 121: Dream Interpretation 2

The light rain that had been falling at dawn had already stopped. In the courtyard, Luo Qi saw the fruits of Guan Xinyue's shopping: the cardboard box for a dryer was piled together with many miscellaneous appliance packaging boxes. When he returned in the morning, the light was too dim to see them clearly. His cat was already burrowing into some of the small boxes, and the cat also had a new row of bowls.

"I keep dreaming of Li Xu," Luo Qi said standing in the courtyard, feeling melancholy while watching a row of garden rakes, under the direction of Majiang, loosening the soil in a newly cleared patch of the yard. "Sometimes it's just a shadow, but I've clearly spoken to him twice now."

Guan Xinyue was not there; Majiang had sent her to a KFC in the suburbs outside the town to buy breakfast, so that no more information would be loaded into her brain, which had a relatively low firewall.

Majiang pondered, frowning as he said, "You absorbed too many of Li Xu's memories, like a crate of cargo stored in your brain. Although you are cautious and don't want to touch them, those memories are ultimately in your deep consciousness. When you sleep, your primary consciousness has the weakest control over your brain; at this time, the memories sealed in your deep consciousness can become active. But you know that dreams are all absurd; the combinations in the deep consciousness sometimes lack logic."

"I know," Luo Qi said with a miserable face. He suddenly felt that the calm Majiang seemed so reliable, more stable and gentler than Du Zhengyi. Not knowing if it was because he was at his wit's end, Luo Qi actually felt a sense of father-like or brother-like connection toward Majiang. "I've dreamed twice that Li Xu was hypocritically confessing that he killed Du Zhengyi. This definitely isn't logical. I just went to verify it; Du Zhengyi is definitely still alive, and he even told me to get lost."

Majiang couldn't help but let out a "pfft" of laughter. "You and this personality of yours... no wonder Du Zhengyi can't do anything about you."

"But I feel very bad," Luo Qi said distressfully, habitually ignoring Majiang's teasing.

Majiang was just about to laugh when he suddenly seemed to remember something, his expression sinking. "When was the first time you dreamed of Li Xu saying he killed Du Zhengyi?"

"It was the early morning after the day I first met Li Xu. You remember that day, right?" Luo Qi said. That day was still the one where Majiang tricked him into going to the bar to meet that pervert.

Majiang frowned and thought for a while, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a long time before putting his glasses back on. "You know, Du Zhengyi was injured three years ago."

Luo Qi nodded.

Majiang fell back into silence. Luo Qi waited patiently for a while, until he was staring at Majiang's gaze, which had gradually become dull, and he almost forgot what he was waiting for. Majiang suddenly said, "Saying Du Zhengyi was injured or attacked makes it sound like he was just beaten up by someone."

Luo Qi was dazed for a moment before he grasped the point. "Why was he attacked?" He had always assumed this was a secret he absolutely must not inquire about.

"I don't know why, and I don't want to know why, but the specific reason actually isn't important," Majiang said. "You just need to think about his status—not his status as a Battle Mage, but his status as a Gushan Guard. Add to that the location where he was attacked: Gushan."

Luo Qi followed Majiang's train of thought. "He was guarding something... no, it should be put the other way around: someone or a group of forces attacked Gushan. They were attacking Gushan; Du Zhengyi wasn't the target, he just happened to be in the way."

"That must be how it is. It's just a matter of seeing who is so crazy as to dare to assault Gushan. You have to know that the Qionglin is merely an administrative hub; for many Mages, Gushan is the truly unreachable place."

Luo Qi added, "Most Mages don't even know where Gushan actually refers to; Gushan is just a myth and legend."

"Yes, those who have designs on that place are definitely not ordinary people. The Lotus Burners started entering the Qionglin's field of vision three years ago, which coincides with the time Du Zhengyi was attacked. As far as I know, the first person in the Qionglin to insist on the existence of the Lotus Burners was Pei Shu. The Execution Mages in various places started collecting intelligence based on Pei Shu's orders, and the Calculators also started conducting analysis under Pei Shu's leadership. Pei Lao is not a god; there must have been a starting point that allowed him to learn of and become convinced of the existence of the Lotus Burners," Majiang said slowly.

"You mean to say that it was Li Xu who attacked Du Zhengyi three years ago?" Luo Qi had also thought of this, but he suddenly felt that something was very wrong. "No, Li Xu is not a match for Du Zhengyi at all."

"What are you talking about? The attacks of a Mind Master are always impossible to guard against," Majiang said, shaking his head. "Not to mention that Mind Masters often establish thought connections, where several people synchronize their thoughts to combine into a torrent of consciousness to attack one person together. Although Li Xu is a pervert, he is indeed a Mind Master. The reason you were able to easily defeat Li Xu was that he recklessly entered your consciousness space at the time and had absolutely no defenses against you; he never expected you to retaliate."

"No, that's not right, something is still wrong." Luo Qi shook his head so hard it was like a rattle. He thought carefully, recalling things he might have intentionally forgotten, memories related to Li Xu. Recalling that period of memories that his consciousness had been burying caused his body to tremble instinctively. He had originally completely avoided that memory underground; just recalling it caused his body functions to react, and he was sweating all over, but he finally remembered. "No, the biggest secret Li Xu wanted to squeeze out of me at the time was what exactly happened to Du Zhengyi three years ago. That doesn't add up."

Majiang stared at Luo Qi, as if trying to see clearly whether what he was saying now was of sound mind.

"I don't have schizophrenia, okay?" Luo Qi said hurriedly. "Li Xu interrogated me repeatedly, and his main purpose was to know what kind of injury Du Zhengyi suffered three years ago. He wanted to know Du Zhengyi's characteristics, what type of injury Du Zhengyi suffered three years ago, and wanted to know why I went to see you, a Doctor, for treatment. Later, they realized from the Consciousness Barrier in my brain that my father was a mind-healing Doctor, and from there they deduced that the attack Du Zhengyi suffered when he was treated by my father three years ago was of the Telepathy type. What do you say to that, Doctor? Could it be that after Li Xu led a team to attack Du Zhengyi, the severely injured Du Zhengyi lost his memory of the attacker, and the person who attacked Du Zhengyi also lost his memory of the victim? What the hell is this? A cockfight?"

"Damn, you really dare to say anything," Majiang managed to squeeze out this sentence. Both of them looked up at the second-floor window at the same time, nervously worried that Du Zhengyi was looking down at them from the bedroom window right now.

"It's fine," Luo Qi said, his skill giving him courage. "Du Zhengyi won't get up until noon; he has always been very good at sleeping in."