Chapter 150: Child Prodigy

"Mages are not as keen on living in groups as humans," Luo Qi continued, "As far as I know, only when the population reaches a certain scale does the concept of a nation emerge, so the Mage World has always been a loose confederation, and it is primarily based on this continent."

Guan Xinyue sat up halfway on the carpet, hugged another cushion, and turned her gaze away, trying her best not to stare at Luo Qi. As long as her gaze lingered on Luo Qi for a little too long, he would always look over. His eyes, pure and gentle, almost never avoided anyone. Being looked at by those doe eyes, anyone would be softened.

Guan Xinyue had overheard quite a few conversations between Mahjong and Du Zhengyi. Mahjong sometimes attributed this situation to Luo Qi's attributes as an offensive Telepath. But as long as one wasn't blind, everyone knew the reason was more than that; Mahjong always had some prejudices against Telepaths. In fact, even if Luo Qi was just looking at someone, it would make it hard for them to refuse him. She could tell that Du Zhengyi also understood this principle.

She slumped to one side, feeling sullen, and decided to show off some new knowledge she had just obtained from human books.

"But as far as I know," she said, "only when a settled population develops to a certain scale does civilization emerge."

Luo Qi thought for a moment and knew that Guan Xinyue was right; the development of the Mage World was indeed full of paradoxes. He didn't want to bother thinking about this question, which had little practical value, and asked casually, "What did you read in the biography?"

Guan Xinyue perked up; Luo Qi had been reading and hadn't spoken to her for hours. She flipped over to sit up and held up a book in her hand, "I just happened to flip to an interesting one, 'Record of Child Prodigies of Jiangzuo'."

Luo Qi let out a "pfft" of laughter, "It's a good thing my dad didn't buy this book when I was a kid, otherwise my life would have been even more miserable. To think someone would actually publish such a book; if you changed the title, this book would be 'The Neighbor's Kid'."

Guan Xinyue laughed and opened the book to read the first sentence, "The famous capital of Huai-Zuo, the beautiful place of Zhuxi."

Luo Qi was bewildered, "Is that how this book starts?"

"No," Guan Xinyue said with a smile, "I just happen to know how to recite that one line."

Luo Qi gave her a thumbs up, "You're becoming more and more like me!"

Guan Xinyue raised her eyes from the book, "Your dad wouldn't buy this book to read."

"Why?" Luo Qi asked.

"I told you, these are all files of deceased mages," Guan Xinyue said, "So why would there be a Record of Child Prodigies of Jiangzuo? Why are you so silly? It means these children didn't grow up! What use is a 'neighbor's kid' who didn't grow up? How could your dad possibly buy such an ominous book."

"Oh." Luo Qi felt a bit like an idiot. His switching between the human and Mage worlds was actually becoming less proficient than Guan Xinyue's. "Are these kids very impressive?"

"Does being able to conjure a Fireball at three years old count?" Guan Xinyue asked.

"That definitely counts," Luo Qi said, "At that time, I could only suck my fingers."

But as soon as the words left his mouth, Luo Qi realized it was habit that made him say that; he immediately realized that when he was three, he was capable of using Telepathy to attack people, just like a little demon. A wave of discomfort washed over him; he shifted backward to lean against the back of the chair and glanced out the window. The eaves were dripping; the rain of Jiangnan was falling again. The rain tapped finely against the treetops and roof tiles; this place was like a Tingyu Lou. He remembered that it was at the age of three that his Telepathy was sealed.

Guan Xinyue did not notice his change in mood; she was flipping through the pages rapidly, appearing somewhat excited, "There are other children, for example, who could make plants grow exceptionally lush at five or six years old, and another little kid who created a snowstorm in June at nine years old. But these are nothing; I discovered something particularly interesting. This book mentions that in the land of Jiangzuo, during the transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a town named Twenty-Four Bridges Town."

"That town is not small," Luo Qi remarked, though he didn't pay much attention.

Guan Xinyue, however, remained interested, her eyes becoming bright and shiny, as if she were certain Luo Qi would be attracted. She sat up higher and said mysteriously, "The main surname of this town is the Du surname."

Luo Qi truly turned his head, staring at her in surprise.

She said somewhat smugly, "These people with the surname Du are almost all relatives of each other; it was likely a large family living together in the town. And as far as I can see, this family's status in the Mage World was very high; the reason might be that this family frequently produced warriors and was always conscripted by the authorities."

Guan Xinyue watched with satisfaction as Luo Qi's mouth hung open; he didn't look cool at all now, just a complete fool. The saying "cool for no more than ten seconds" was exactly about someone like Luo Qi.

She decided to give Luo Qi another heavy, storm-like blow, "Do you know why their family frequently produced warriors?" She paused and thought, "So-called warriors, they should mean Battle Mages, right?"

"Should be." Luo Qi nodded quickly to show his affirmation of the research expert, "Can you continue?"

"Judging from the characteristics of their family's children, there must be the gene of a Teleportation Mage in their family's bloodline," Guan Xinyue said, looking at Luo Qi.

"Late Ming and early Qing dynasties?" Luo Qi muttered, "Such an impressive Mage family, why haven't I heard of them now?"

"Isn't that normal? I always feel like Du Ge doesn't seem to have any family; he never mentions his family members. Aren't you mages like that, with your numbers constantly shrinking and negative population growth?" Guan Xinyue said, "Do you know where Du Ge is from? He speaks standard Mandarin; you can't hear where he's from at all."

"He said he is from around here," Luo Qi said in a low voice, "And his parents died long ago; he was adopted by Pei Shu and grew up in Qionglin."

Guan Xinyue had been talking for the sake of talking, but upon hearing Luo Qi confirm that Du Zhengyi had no family, she still froze, feeling uncomfortable. "Then... maybe we really found his family history."

"Can I see the book?" Luo Qi asked, his doe eyes looking at Guan Xinyue again.

Guan Xinyue couldn't do anything about him and shoved the book directly into his hands, "Will you show him this?"

"Hmm," Luo Qi said, "After I finish reading it, I will show it to him. But he might already know; it's more convenient for him to retrieve information in Qionglin, and the Library of Qionglin is very complete."

Guan Xinyue nodded, "You mages... is the pressure of going extinct very high? That's why the Lotus Burners were forced out. Luo Qi, will you be super responsible and go..."

Guan Xinyue observed Luo Qi's expression and hesitated for a moment.

Luo Qi looked up from the book, "What? I go do what? Fight the Lotus Burners?"

"Go..." Guan Xinyue continued, "Breed?"

Luo Qi thought seriously for a while, "The people in your country are also about to have negative growth."

"Shut up!" Guan Xinyue jumped up.