Chapter 135: Possession

Luo Qi stood on the tree branch and slowly straightened his body, one hand pressed against the trunk, trying to capture that faint, elusive sound from just a moment ago.

The forest was silent, save for the nearly rhythmic sound of wind moving through the leaves. There must be a mountain stream in the distance; the water flow was small, flowing quietly through the gullies between the trees. Even with Luo Qi's good hearing, he could not hear the sounds of animal activity. However, there was nothing abnormal about this; this was not a true deep mountain, and wild animals were naturally scarce in places so close to human activity.

Du Zhengyi had come here to use a little-known Public Post Station. As far as Luo Qi knew, energy fields were often abnormal near Public Post Stations, so what he had just heard might also have been a sound caused by a slight fluctuation in the energy field.

Yet he was still unsure; just a moment ago, he had truly thought there was a snake nearby. But he had never been in close contact with a snake, nor had he ever heard the sound of a snake slithering. Thus, that judgment was less about having heard a sound and more about him simply having that feeling. He felt something approaching; this feeling of prickling on his back was fleeting, and he concentrated cautiously for a long time without sensing anything again.

But because of this, the mountain forest became somewhat creepy, and the psychological sense of security brought by the fact that Du Zhengyi was not far away began to dissipate. Luo Qi leaned against the trunk, concentrated his attention, and first checked his surroundings; in the Consciousness World, he did not detect any active consciousness around him.

He opened his eyes, let out a slow breath, and began to ponder if there was any way for him to quickly find the way back. He lacked the skill to discern direction in the wild; Mages were now completely domesticated city dwellers, and their survival ability after leaving human cities was fundamentally no better than that of ordinary humans. Worst of all, his mobile phone had been confiscated by Majiang to make him concentrate on his exams, and he had forgotten to ask for it back afterward, so he couldn't even rely on human tools.

Luo Qi sat cross-legged on the tree branch, closed his eyes again, and only after ten minutes of Meditation did he dare to slightly lower his Consciousness Barrier and enter the Consciousness World. A brand-new world unveiled itself in his consciousness; his field of vision became vast, and the forest became noisy, with simple, flickering consciousnesses dancing in his field of vision like fireflies. He knew those were likely squirrels, birds, or other small animals.

He saw the presence of humans and Mages from afar, like coordinates in a void world. He felt as if he were flying with the wind in the sky of this world, looking down at the Lighthouses guiding him on the ground; he could feel their real existence.

Luo Qi disconnected from the Consciousness World and opened his eyes, feeling slightly dizzy. It was easy to confirm their existence in the Consciousness World, but in the real world... Luo Qi thought vexedly, there was no scale to convert with, and he still couldn't know their exact location. He raised one hand, propped his elbow on his thigh, rested his face in his hand, and worriedly pondered how to handle this.

He remembered that when he was at Qionglin, he had escaped from Mages by avoiding the consciousnesses he identified. If he were to rely on the sounds of consciousness to locate them now, in order to shorten the physical distance, he would need to keep the Consciousness World open at all times, but that was truly a bit dangerous. This place made him feel insecure; in any case, Du Zhengyi would find him sooner or later. If he risked fully opening the Consciousness World—which he had finally managed to stabilize—just to find them quickly, that would be too stupid.

He also couldn't risk using the animals here. Luo Qi had originally understood cats, and he had practiced for many days in the Ancient Town, which was why he could use a cat to track Du Zhengyi. But now... he felt nauseated at the thought of a mouse; he had heard that squirrels and chipmunks didn't have very high intelligence, and the higher the intelligence, the harder they were to control. The brains of birds were a bit strange to begin with, making them even less suitable.

He thought gloomily for a while, and suddenly a new idea popped up. In fact, he could completely use a person's eyes to replace a cat's eyes; he understood humans better than anyone. As for the candidate... Du Zhengyi's Consciousness Barrier was unshakably thick, and Majiang was a Telepath himself; contacting his consciousness was not only difficult but also dangerous for both of them. That left Guan Xinyue as a good choice; as a human, she would fundamentally not actively realize the existence of an external consciousness.

However, to do this was truly perverted; doing such a thing while the subject was conscious was just like the legendary possession by a vengeful ghost.

Luo Qi sat calmly on the tree branch for a long time, repeatedly debating the feasibility of doing this. After a while, he thought that he could actually completely isolate Guan Xinyue's thoughts, only receiving the data collected in Guan Xinyue's brain without touching her logical thinking area or memory area. At least that was what he did with cats most of the time, which was why he didn't have the urge to eat mice or small birds. Human thinking was more agile than that of mammals, and many parts of the brain were more developed, but in essence, the difference was not particularly huge.

If they discussed which direction to go to look for him, he could follow their intentions and meet up as soon as possible. Even if Du Zhengyi had already returned and met up with Majiang, it was entirely possible that he would guess, based on their previous experience at the Heping Street neighborhood office, that he would be looking at them through someone's eyes. He was so smart that he might repeatedly return to a certain meeting point, letting him notice a place that could serve as a geographic coordinate. Thinking of this, Luo Qi suddenly felt a bit worried; perhaps Du Zhengyi had already done this, and he had wasted too much time—he should have done this long ago.

A gust of wind blew from the depths of the mountain forest, bringing a cold and damp scent. The short hair on top of Luo Qi's head was blown up, and the cold, damp wind hit the skin on his neck, making him shiver. A sense of foreboding spread like a red tide on the sea, and Luo Qi couldn't help but turn his body to look behind the tree.

Behind the tree was still trees, and beyond the mountain forest was still mountain forest. The forests of the Southern Country were lush and green, with streams and mountain brooks winding around the roots of the trees; it was perhaps normal to feel cold and damp in the forest in early spring. This was a nearly abandoned Public Post Station; there were plenty of such places on this planet. Du Zhengyi had chosen this place at random, and the probability of there being an ambush here was less than one in a thousand.

Luo Qi frowned and thought for a while, then retreated back to this side of the trunk, forcing himself to relax. He began to silently recite the operating procedure, his fingers moving to trace the complex operation diagram he would need to use in a moment, and gradually his attention became highly concentrated.

He closed his eyes, and the Consciousness World unfolded in his world once again. He accurately found the only human consciousness within range, like descending from the sky toward a bullseye on the ground; he circled that consciousness and gradually intruded into it. He hid his traces and lowered the activity level of his own consciousness presence. He was exceptionally happy and at ease while doing this, as if he naturally knew how to do it.

He merged into a person's consciousness, like a mountain stream merging into a great river. He temporarily abandoned the world received by his own ears and eyes, and he searched for her vision and hearing within Guan Xinyue's consciousness, casting them into his own brain; the world became bright and clear once again.