Chapter 143: Overnight

They did not leave the woods that night; this was certainly not the best choice, but it was best for Du Zhengyi to rest in place for a few more hours. The Doctor, his energy nearly exhausted, summoned some blankets out of thin air. Luo Qi felt that no matter how he looked at them, they were about the same as the ones used in his clinic; he probably lacked any further imagination, and he likely did not know what the composition of other textiles was, nor did he know much about human sleeping bags.

That night, Luo Qi thought Majiang would surely talk to him, but Majiang said nothing. Perhaps Du Zhengyi had said something, or perhaps Majiang did not want to bring up heavy topics after such a long day. Luo Qi certainly would not initiate the conversation himself; he was immersed in the joy that Du Zhengyi was safe and sound, and the campfire was so warm. Guan Xinyue had forgiven him, and he kept this favor, as large as Tianmu Mountain, in his heart.

He really had started to like Guan Xinyue a little. She might be endlessly petty toward him over trifles in their mundane life, but he had almost forgotten that in almost every truly major matter, she was calm and tolerant. He could not quite understand a girl like this, but he was finally beginning to understand.

Majiang roasted a dry, warm patch of ground for Guan Xinyue and chattered away, apologizing for making her sleep in the night. Luo Qi had no heart to disparage him; after eating the unpalatable dry rations the Mage had made for him, he finally became too sleepy to keep his eyes open. Rations made by Mages were famously unpalatable, but he suspected the portion Majiang made for him was exceptionally so. He had once smelled goldfish food when he was a child, and it tasted just about like that.

He did not want to complain; feeling content, he curled up next to Du Zhengyi, lying on the ground that had long since been dried by his side. Du Zhengyi was still leaning against the tree trunk resting, turning a blind eye to Luo Qi's act of encroaching on his territory. Luo Qi lay curled up beside him, extending his Yajian tentacles to probe slightly, feeling Du Zhengyi's Yajian warm and robust. He felt at ease, and his last thought before sleep was a worry about whether any humans would be attracted here. After all, this could hardly be called a deep mountain forest; there had been a blazing fire here just a moment ago, and a campfire was still burning now—would any curious humans intend to come over to investigate?

However, he was too tired, and now that he was at ease, his whole body suddenly ached, and he fell asleep as quickly as if he had passed out. In his dream, he was still pondering his last thought: would any humans see the firelight? He wondered how many times in human history the phenomena created by Mages had been recorded. Reports of supernatural sightings were truly written all over human history books, constantly interfering with the course of human history; shouldn't the Mages feel a little sorry?

After a while, he dreamed again that Du Zhengyi was killed, and he was inside the mind of a schizophrenic. The Du Zhengyi he saw through the eyes of the schizophrenic was a monster with three heads and six eyes, and in the first-person perspective, he killed him from behind. Despair and fear grew from the depths of his heart; he screamed in terror in his dream. He must have whimpered out loud, as he felt a hand land on the top of his head and pat it gently.

He was soothed, and in his sleep, his subconscious moved closer to that warm Yajian, soon falling into a deeper sleep.

When dawn broke, he woke up feeling nearly full of energy; the depression of the night had been evaporated clean by the sunlight like dew. He opened his eyes, and a pinecone hit him on the forehead.

Luo Qi let out an "ow" from the hit, opened his eyes, and saw Guan Xinyue squatting not far away watching him. Thinking of the favor he owed Guan Xinyue that was as large as Tianmu Mountain, he did not dare to make a fuss. He rubbed against his pillow, and a hand reached down from the pillow and flicked his forehead. This time it really hurt, and Luo Qi cried out, tears of pain welling up.

"Luo Qi, are you ever going to stop? Is it comfortable to use me as a pillow?" Du Zhengyi said, full of vitality above his head. "If you're awake, hurry up and roll off my legs; that spot is reserved for pretty girls."

Luo Qi covered his head and scrambled up. "Your hand is too heavy! Are there any girls who would use those legs as a pillow? The muscles are hard as rock, they bruised my head!"

Guan Xinyue laughed. "Luo Qi is just looking for benefits everywhere, shameless."

Luo Qi could not say anything; he turned his head and discovered he had even slept with a stiff neck.

Majiang walked over from afar. As he approached, their blankets dissolved into the air. He looked at Luo Qi and handed him a bag of goldfish food. Luo Qi took it with a bitter face. "What did you go do?"

Majiang was expressionless. "To act as a Scavenger."

Luo Qi guessed he must mean he went to dismember the bodies, and suddenly he could not bring himself to eat the rations in his hand. It was embarrassing to say he wouldn't eat in front of Majiang, so he decided to say something to distract him. "Then can you confirm why there would happen to be a High-Reaction Mage in such a desolate place?"

"First of all, your concept is not very clear," Majiang said. "Have you seen human mental illness? Are they also more powerful than the average person? This problem is even more fatal among Mages. Because schizophrenics have problems with their brains, it is often accompanied by the generation of high-energy issues. The more serious the mental problem, the higher the Mage's energy often is. They are often driven by the energy itself to look for places with high-energy radiation, such as a Public Post Station. Many schizophrenics are afraid of crowded places, so homeless people occasionally appear at Public Post Stations in the middle of nowhere."

"Are all Great Mages mentally ill?" Guan Xinyue asked suddenly.

"That's not what I meant, they are two different things," Majiang said, somewhat discouraged. "I am not mentally ill, and neither is Du Zhengyi."

He glanced at Luo Qi again and finally said, "Luo Qi isn't either."

Luo Qi felt that something had been omitted before that sentence; the original words were probably—even Luo Qi isn't. He turned to look at Du Zhengyi's complexion; he looked quite good indeed. Majiang was an amazing Doctor. No wonder when they first met, Majiang said he was responsible for stitching Du Zhengyi back together.

He felt uncomfortable in his heart and leaned over to Du Zhengyi's side to ask, "So this is your job? Cleaning up broken Mages?"

Du Zhengyi understood what Luo Qi meant. He said in a low voice, "It is certainly not a job that makes people happy. But someone has to do it, and I do it better than others, so I am more suited to do it."

Luo Qi could not describe the feeling in his heart; he lowered his head and pinched the rations in his hand.

"Luo Qi! Control your emotions! Your barrier is lowered again!" Majiang reminded him annoyingly. "I feel so sad, but actually, I have nothing to be sad about!"

Luo Qi shuddered. "My emotions are my privacy!"

"Then build your fence higher, you blockhead! Who wants to look at your privacy?" Majiang's voice was even louder.

Luo Qi immediately shrank down, pulling a long face in displeasure as he churned his Yajian to maintain a more stable barrier. Suddenly, he thought of something. "Speaking of which, Li Xu has been collecting information on Du Zhengyi as a Lotus Burner. Is it possible that all the Public Post Stations Du Zhengyi has been active in are in the records of the Lotus Burners?"

Du Zhengyi's brows furrowed, and he said reluctantly, "That is possible."

"Brother, then the nature of the matter has changed. You must send a message to Wen Lin again immediately, asking her to send people to clean up the mentally ill at other remote Public Post Stations. Otherwise, when the Lotus Burners check the bait, they will discover our general range of activity," Luo Qi said.

Du Zhengyi's expression changed, and he turned almost immediately to walk in the direction of the road. Luo Qi hurriedly followed. "Just tell Wen Lin a few locations; don't tell her everything you know."

"I know," Du Zhengyi said impatiently as he walked.

Majiang and Guan Xinyue were left standing there, staring at each other. Majiang sighed. "Fine, Luo Qi lacks trust in people; it might be because he is too calculating, which might be a good thing. Let's follow them too; the sooner we finish, the sooner we go home."

Over there, Luo Qi suddenly flew into a rage, furious. "Right, tell that idiot Wen Lin again, whether she likes it or not, we will contact each other via WeChat from now on! In the short term, we will no longer follow any Mage rules! If this matter wasn't arranged by the Lotus Burners, but was the handiwork of Qionglin, then I don't care about morality or not; I will alter her brain and give her a compulsion to eat shit for the rest of her life."

"Shut up!" Du Zhengyi said with disgust.