Chapter 146: The Great Civet Cat King

Du Zhengyi wished he could dismantle him; this increasingly bold civet cat was just lying on his bed, munching on beans with relish, with a whole bed full of books spread out, and a laptop covered in anime cat stickers left open on the side.

"Are you dropping crumbs?" Du Zhengyi narrowed his eyes and said threateningly.

"No, I'm not," Luo Qi said decisively. "Don't worry about such trivial matters. Come over and help me look at this book; this passage is too hard to translate, and I don't even know if my translation is correct."

"If you dropped trivial matters on my bedsheets..." Du Zhengyi said.

"Then you can use your profound Magic techniques to shake them down to the floor below," Luo Qi said shamelessly, then held up the book to read his translation, "The Ouroboros represents everything..."

Du Zhengyi snatched the book from his hand in annoyance and gave his head a knock with it. Only after Luo Qi let out an "Ow" did he feel satisfied enough to open the book. "Everything?"

Luo Qi hurriedly covered his head, leaned in, and reached out to point it out to him, "Right here, this sentence, this one! I'm not very good at ancient languages."

"Everything," Du Zhengyi nodded, indicating that what he said was not wrong, "but it also has the meaning of infinity."

"Hmm, the Ouroboros fulfills itself and also transforms its enemies. In this process, it gains a rich reward." Luo Qi translated another sentence.

Du Zhengyi endured it for a moment, then laughed out loud. "You're something else; it sounds like a storybook—*The Little Snake That Bit Its Own Tail*."

"Screw you," Luo Qi said with a dark face.

Du Zhengyi sat down by the side of the bed with the book, holding back his laughter as he translated it himself, "The Ouroboros devours itself and survives by doing so. It integrates opposites, exists because of conflict, is opposed because of fusion, and is fused because of opposition. In this endless cycle, it gains a reward, and this reward is eternal life."

"Hmm." Luo Qi pondered.

"The next sentence—therefore, the Ouroboros is everything. The Ouroboros destroys itself and gives itself life. Devouring itself and gestating itself, this symbolizes the alternating cycle of construction and destruction, life and death."

Du Zhengyi finished translating the page and flipped back a few more pages. "What follows is about other things, interspersed with a few First Element Calculation formulas. Is this enough translation for now?"

"Yeah." Luo Qi fell into deep thought. Du Zhengyi waited for him for a long time, only to see his expression grow increasingly gloomy, until he finally said indignantly, "What kind of bullshit is this?"

"People with ulterior motives who borrow mysticism to make a point often only take one or two points of meaning from it, so you don't need to think about it so much," Du Zhengyi said indifferently, handing the book back to him.

"But the Ouroboros must have hit on some idea of Da Hei's for him to favor it so much," Luo Qi said thoughtfully. "Brother, what do you think Da Hei is trying to express with this?"

Du Zhengyi shook his head. "Anything is possible; there's too little information. Perhaps he wants to emphasize karma. He helps people fulfill their wishes, and the process of fulfilling those wishes often requires using the power of those people themselves; this is also a kind of Ouroboros."

"Hmm." Luo Qi nodded, pondering as he said slowly, "If the Ouroboros eating itself and gestating itself is for the sake of survival, then this theme of survival aligns with the core purpose of the Lotus Burners. I increasingly feel that Da Hei is a branch of the Lotus Burners; the Lotus Burners might be splitting, just like the relationship between Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Da Hei might be a Protestant among the Lotus Burners."

Du Zhengyi took this in. "If the infighting caused by the split makes too much noise and is too reckless, and it finally gets discovered by the Qionglin, that is reasonable. There is consistency between these events; what you said is very likely correct."

Encouraged, Luo Qi nodded triumphantly and rummaged through his pile of things on the bed, making room for Du Zhengyi on half of it. "Your complexion still isn't great; lie down for a while. I still have a few places where I need your help with translation. I'll read for a bit, and if you fall asleep, I'll go back to my room myself."

"Alright." Du Zhengyi sighed. He was indeed tired and lacking energy, so he took off his shoes and lay down on the bed. "I'll lie down for a while; I'll sleep later."

Luo Qi watched him for a while in the shadows of the bedside lamp; there were dark shadows under his eyes. "What does it feel like to frequently carry out population cleanups?"

"Under normal circumstances, I don't kill people. The rules of the Qionglin are to try to capture people and lock them in the Cube under the Qionglin," Du Zhengyi said with his eyes closed. "This kind of thing, someone has to do it."

Luo Qi lowered his head, continued flipping through the book for a while, and suddenly said out of the blue, "My ideal career goal in the future is to be an animal behaviorist."

Du Zhengyi laughed with his eyes closed. "I thought you planned to pledge loyalty to Wushan."

"That's the second choice," Luo Qi said solemnly. "Going to Wushan is also in my future career plan. My goal is to spend my life in stability and enjoyment."

Du Zhengyi turned his head to look at him, but Luo Qi avoided his gaze and continued rummaging through the pile of books.

"I know you're worried, which is why you're lingering here. But Majiang is truly a good Doctor; his Medical Magic ability is among the best of the Mages in the current world," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice. "Learning more from him will be good for you."

"Yeah, I should give the Doctor a big red envelope," Luo Qi said, dragging out his tone, then paused. "Change into pajamas and sleep. I'll keep watch for a while, and if I get sleepy, I'll go back and sleep myself."

Du Zhengyi turned over, curled up into the quilt facing the inside of the bed, and whispered, "Too tired, don't want to change."

Luo Qi was suddenly stunned. He had never heard Du Zhengyi show weakness in such a weary voice. He was stunned for a long time before turning his head to look at Du Zhengyi, who had closed his eyes to sleep. Lying down, he didn't look tall, nor was he a particularly strong person; he was even a bit thin.

Luo Qi was quiet for a while. Outside the old window panes was a starless and moonless night. A lone lamp by the bed cast a patch of warm, dim yellow light. Du Zhengyi lay with his back to the light, looking just like a child.

Luo Qi climbed off the bed, walked to the window, and stood silently for a while. The tentacles of his Yajian gently touched and checked the edges of Du Zhengyi's Yajian; Du Zhengyi's sleeping Yajian was like the calm tide in a bay at night. He felt relieved and released as much safe and comfortable Yajian as possible; Du Zhengyi slept even more soundly.

Then his Yajian patrolled downward, checking Guan Xinyue's Yajian and smoothing out the anxiety in her dreams. He bypassed Majiang, then checked his own cat pack. No other Yajian could be found in the small town. He looked down at the kingdom of Yajian with satisfaction, his sense of safe comfort gradually growing during his wandering.