Chapter 161: Black Market (9)

Du Zhengyi waited for them to finish laughing, then said without a hint of jest, "I don't think there is any problem with my work; a soldier cannot question orders. I believe the Qionglin has better arrangements for them. If Pei Shu were here, I would have handed the Civet King over to the Qionglin long ago."

Luo Qi glanced at Du Zhengyi. Du Zhengyi's expression was cold and stern; on that face, he could not find a shred of emotional warmth. Even though Luo Qi knew what he said was understandable, he still felt as if he had been struck by ten thousand points of blizzard damage.

"Pei Shu," Wan Pei muttered angrily. "Pei Shu, right, Pei Shu. You were raised by him, so of course you believe in your teacher. In your heart, he is a god. He might be a good man, and I also think he is quite fair, but is the tradition of the Qionglin really good? You are willing to give the civet a chance, but do the others have a chance? The children we caught—Dai Wei's younger brother was indeed a pervert; that little brat didn't even have a decent look about him when he was born. But some children are still too young. They might not be demons at all; perhaps they are just gifted children who were frightened and had a stress reaction. No one has ever told me whether the Qionglin's subsequent investigations into those children were fair. Zhengyi, I hope my work can have some closure. I hope that after every mission, there can be a credible report telling me that the children I caught have been fairly verified. But we are just treated as War Machines, maintaining the existence of the Qionglin—just machines!"

Du Zhengyi said coldly, "You have carried out as many dangerous missions as I have and experienced many hair-raising moments. Are you going to deny these? You know how unstable our world, and even this entire world, is. We are different from humans. Humans are only now starting to face terrorist attacks and the crisis of nuclear proliferation, but we have been struggling in such danger for thousands of years. The Qionglin's model is the best model for dealing with crises."

Luo Qi sat motionless. The old soldier across from him let out a long sigh and shook his head wearily, looking more like an old man for a moment. He shook his head at Du Zhengyi, "You are a smart and decisive person, and always so stubborn. I am just an old soldier and have never been able to out-argue you."

The old man's single eye turned toward Luo Qi. Luo Qi did not know what he was looking at; he could only see a confident, beautiful, tall woman sitting there.

"How old are you?" the old man asked him.

The beauty in his eyes smiled, "Old enough to use my brain to think about things."

"Are you friends?" the old soldier asked.

Luo Qi stared into the old man's single eye.

"Brothers," he said solemnly.

The old soldier laughed heartily and raised his hand in a gesture of apology, "I am not mocking you, I am..."

"It's fine," Luo Qi interrupted him magnanimously, indicating that he could understand him completely, "Even Du Zhengyi is often amused by me."

The old soldier laughed again. He picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and made a face at the old soldier over the rim of the glass.

"You just listen to him talk like this and are still able to be brothers with him?" Wan Pei asked.

"I don't listen to him talk. Our brotherhood mainly relies on the fact that he can't do anything about me," Luo Qi looked at Wan Pei.

The old soldier looked at the confident woman before him and fell into confusion for the first time. Through the woman's eyes, he caught a glimpse of another soul.

"My brother is an old-fashioned person. He likes rules and likes loyalty. All soldiers, soldiers of all races, are like this. I can understand that," Luo Qi said.

He raised his head and met the old soldier's gaze.

"Have you said enough about me?" Du Zhengyi said, not very happily. He was not accustomed to this brand-new atmosphere of conversation. Luo Qi just had the knack for making all serious matters unserious, all earnest conversations unearnest, and all solemn occasions unsolemn.

Luo Qi withdrew his gaze and gave him a smiling look. Still Luo Qi, just Luo Qi.

"Alright," Wan Pei suddenly said. "You brought the civet here hoping he could also become a patron here, and the gentlemen here have agreed. I should take him to leave his seal first; you cannot stay here for too long. Mr. Civet, have you decided what your seal will look like?"

"Do I need to handwrite my name?" Luo Qi asked with interest.

"Anything is fine—words, emblems, numbers; whatever the customer likes." Wan Pei stood up from the table and drained the rest of his wine in one gulp.

Luo Qi also finished his own wine and hurriedly stood up to follow. Du Zhengyi remained seated, drinking his wine slowly. Wan Pei had already walked toward the back, so Luo Qi had no choice but to follow him. They walked to the other side of the tavern, where a wooden counter as high as an adult's chest was topped with a latticed screen, looking like an old-fashioned accounting office.

Wan Pei rapped rudely on the wooden counter. Someone stood up from behind it and handed Luo Qi a lump of Magic gel, "Transform it however you like."

Luo Qi held the lump of gel nervously, knowing that the Magic he had to perform was simple; the hard part was designing a seal pattern for himself. He hesitated for a long while, unable to decide between a civet and a Slime.

"Take your time designing your seal. This is a big deal; your seal will be kept here for the next hundred years or more." Wan Pei was just about to reach out and pat him, but since his hand was about to land on a beautiful woman, Wan Pei felt awkward for a long time and didn't dare to go through with it.

Luo Qi didn't notice at all, deep in the throes of decision paralysis. Wan Pei left this entirely private matter for him to handle and turned to walk a short distance away. Behind him, Du Zhengyi finally finished that glass of wine, stood up, and walked slowly to his side. The two chatted casually for a while, all idle talk, no longer involving any sensitive disagreements.

Wan Pei scrutinized Du Zhengyi for a while and asked with concern, "How much longer can your brain hold out?"

Du Zhengyi turned his head abruptly toward Luo Qi's direction. Luo Qi, who was studying the seal, turned his head to look at them. Du Zhengyi was a bit suspicious, but he was nearly ten meters away from them, and the bar was very noisy; even a Mage's ears might not necessarily hear. Moreover, according to Du Zhengyi's judgment, Luo Qi's hearing was quite average and could not be counted as having "little pointed ears."

Du Zhengyi observed Luo Qi, who had buried his head back into the seal, for a moment, then turned back to Wan Pei and said, "He doesn't know."

The old soldier looked at Du Zhengyi in confusion. Du Zhengyi shook his head and explained, "My situation is not good, and I don't want to make him feel bad."

Wan Pei stared at Du Zhengyi in astonishment, the meaning in his single eye very complex, "You met an A-level Telepath, you suddenly changed, and everything you do is for him..."

Du Zhengyi looked at him, bewildered, then suddenly understood the old captain's meaning, "No, no, no, that's not it. He is an A-level Telepath, but have you forgotten that I happen to also be someone with the most solid Mind Shield?"

"Oh, right. I should drink less," the old soldier breathed a sigh of relief, "That's great. You finally look a bit like a human."