Chapter 18: Psychic Beast

"I heard that Du Zhengyi used his own Psychic Beast to attack you?"

Luo Qi looked back and forth slowly between the two of them. After such a massive misunderstanding and suffering such great pain, he had originally gathered all his strength to tear Du Zhengyi apart, but now he clearly knew that Du Zhengyi was on his side.

"Don't take it too seriously," he said, "Du Zhengyi tries to strike me dead at least twice a day."

Juanmao seemed taken aback, a trace of hesitation appearing in his expression, "Is this guy really that annoying?"

Luo Qi sighed, wanting to roll his eyes from the bottom of his heart, "Du Zhengyi is not a patient person."

This sentence sounded like a condemnation, but it was also the truth. Juanmao looked at Du Zhengyi uncertainly once more, and Luo Qi followed his gaze. Du Zhengyi had no expression at all; his face was written with complete indifference. Luo Qi did not know what was going on right now; he did not even know who Juanmao was, yet he sensed that he had fallen into an active volcano, and the smell of sulfur was already rising from the Abyss beneath the ground.

His mind was becoming clearer and clearer. He did not know why this Doctor insisted on holding him responsible for this matter, even dragging the Committee into it. But he knew he absolutely could not ruin his chance to earn extra credits, and even less could he add a stain of having been investigated to his resume. So, although Du Zhengyi had almost torn his chest open, since he had not died, he was still grateful that Du Zhengyi had refused to yield to the Doctor.

"Am I okay?" Luo Qi asked the Doctor.

"Oh, right." The Doctor seemed to suddenly realize that he was still a doctor, "When you were sent here, you had a broken rib and an open wound on your chest, but your internal organs were not damaged. You are fine now; in twenty hours at most, you will be jumping around again."

"Did you treat me all by yourself?" Luo Qi estimated that this person was likely a master of Medical Magic. Inadvertently, he saw the window behind the Doctor; the Light Magic on the building opposite had not been turned off yet. With the help of the light, the shadows of the trees outside the window were clearly visible. The leaves on the branches were growing densely; at this time in the north, the branches were usually bare.

He was startled and could not help but ask Du Zhengyi, "Are you alright?"

"Me?" Du Zhengyi asked in confusion.

"You carried me across thousands of kilometers!" Luo Qi was so astonished that he could hardly close his mouth, "Although I know you are very powerful, this is just too powerful."

The Doctor snorted and said with no small amount of sarcasm, "Yeah, really powerful."

Luo Qi sized them up. Du Zhengyi still had that look of having switched to power-saving mode, and the Doctor sarcastically muttered to himself, "Ran fast enough, nearly ran straight to the Western Heaven."

The Doctor's reproach was self-evident, and Luo Qi also knew that everything had its limits; the consequences of a Mage overdrawing their power were often very serious.

Luo Qi pondered for a moment and said thank you to Du Zhengyi, "I thought about it carefully, and I still have to say it."

Du Zhengyi nodded, fully understanding his meaning.

The Doctor observed them, seemingly not intending to let Luo Qi off, "That may be so, but do you understand the operating principle of a Psychic Beast?"

"I know," Luo Qi said bluntly, "That lion's brain copied a part of Du Zhengyi's Yajian, but I don't intend to hold Du Zhengyi accountable for that; some people might not even be able to figure things out even if they possessed an entire brain."

He said the last sentence while looking at the Doctor. The Doctor looked a bit annoyed, and Du Zhengyi simply laughed out loud.

However, judging from the fact that Du Zhengyi did not interfere at all, Luo Qi realized that the Doctor must have some authority, and the weight of this authority was not small; even the mule-headed Du Zhengyi was somewhat wary of it. So, if he wanted to interrogate him, in order not to make the situation even bigger, he should wisely answer him properly.

Luo Qi continued, "If it's only a small part of the overall Yajian, imbalance is normal. Perhaps Du Zhengyi inadvertently copied the part of his Yajian that was a bit annoyed with me, and coupled with the lion's bloodthirsty nature, it's understandable that an accident occurred. Considering I was blabbering at Du Zhengyi at the time, and Du Zhengyi has always lacked patience, he might have been particularly annoyed with me right then; that also makes sense."

When Luo Qi reached this point, he could not help but turn his head to look at Du Zhengyi with resentment, "I just don't understand how it could be a lion? I said a hundred times I wanted a dog, a dog, a dog." He sighed, unknowingly entering blabber mode again.

"The lion is the Head Beast," Du Zhengyi said, "Mages cannot control so many wild beasts at the same time; usually, the Head Beast is responsible for controlling the herd, so only the Head Beast is called a Mage's Psychic Beast. When that lion was in the school laboratory, we had already established a connection, and I could easily give it orders."

"Oh," Luo Qi said embarrassedly; his knowledge was always so half-baked.

"Not very good at studying?" the bystander Doctor asked with a grin.

Luo Qi realized that although the Doctor had an unreliable demeanor, he was actually very sharp.

"Why are you teamed up with Du Zhengyi?" he continued to ask, "Don't mind me, it seems a bit impolite to say it like this, but Du Zhengyi is..."

Luo Qi swept a glance at him. Of course, he knew the Doctor meant that he was a low-spec version, and being in a group with Du Zhengyi really lowered efficiency. A familiar sense of shame gnawed at him. He calmed down slightly and thought before saying, "Du Zhengyi originally wanted someone from the history department... maybe a girl, to be in a group with him."

The Doctor was greatly surprised, his attention distracted. Although he did not want to let go of Luo Qi, he could not suppress his curiosity, "Du Zhengyi, you have a girlfriend?"

Du Zhengyi shook his head with an ambiguous meaning, making it clear he would not entertain him. Wanting to replace Luo Qi with a history student was indeed what he had said in Liu Li's office at the time.

"Then why did he choose to be in a group with you later?" the Doctor turned back and asked with a grin, the light in the corners of his eyes truly not lacking in shrewdness.

"I think now that there must be a reason we are in the same group," Luo Qi said pointedly, "But why do I have to keep answering your questions the moment I wake up? Can you allow me to ask one too? Who are you, sir?"

"Me," the Doctor said with a laugh, "I am Du Zhengyi's mender. If he breaks himself into pieces, I am responsible for sewing him back together. I forgot to introduce myself to you just now; my surname is Ma, called Majiang."

"The one you can play when you're idle?" Luo Qi asked in surprise.

"Tsk," Doctor Majiang said, "You say your chest was almost torn apart by someone, how come you still don't know how to watch your mouth?"

Luo Qi smiled, "Alright, Doctor Ma, to tell you the truth, I don't know how to answer your question either. Actually, I would rather ask you, why can't I team up with Du Zhengyi to do things? Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so I should still be of some use."

Majiang did not expect to hear such words and was momentarily stunned, not knowing how to continue. Even Du Zhengyi was watching Luo Qi, but Luo Qi avoided the latter's gaze. Although he had only known Du Zhengyi for a few days, these few days had been quite good for Luo Qi; admitting that he was not qualified enough was not a good start to being friends.

However, the person who wanted to kick him off the volcano was clearly caught in hesitation. Luo Qi could not care about the neutral Du Zhengyi and decided to risk an attack on his family doctor. Luo Qi licked his dry lips and concentrated his spirit, "Although I think you are practically talking in your sleep, I am still willing to tell you clearly where I was and what I was doing on the day three years ago when Du Zhengyi got into trouble."

Not only Majiang, but even Du Zhengyi was startled.

"My dad is a doctor, named Luo Ruian, and three years ago, he happened to be Du Zhengyi's attending physician." Luo Qi saw the two of them look at each other in front of him; Majiang looked like he had been shocked repeatedly. Luo Qi added, "I think Du Zhengyi probably knows."

But Du Zhengyi's expression was very strange. A trace of doubt flashed in Luo Qi's heart; could it be that Du Zhengyi did not know the name of his own attending physician? If Du Zhengyi did not know, he did not say it, and his thoughts quickly became untraceable.

"My dad told me about this after he got home," Luo Qi said, and added a miserable sentence in his heart—it wasn't just told, he had talked about it for three whole years. "I heard at the time that a Venerable from the Sanctuary personally sent a college student to the hospital and spoke highly of him, so I couldn't help but admire this little hero, which is why I have a deep impression of this matter."

Majiang might not have wanted to laugh, but it was likely his nature; he held it in for a moment before laughing out loud. He nodded as if immersed in memories and whispered, "Yes, the Du Zhengyi of those years would have been Nezha if you had put two wheels on him."

Luo Qi looked at Du Zhengyi's cold face at this moment and found it hard to imagine what he had in common with Nezha; perhaps the commonality was that their output was relatively high?

He withdrew his attention and stiffened his face, "I clearly remember where I was that day and what I did. Not only did I not have the ability to harm Du Zhengyi, I didn't have the time either. Because two thugs found me that day; they wanted to imitate the Lotus Burners and planned to use me to purify themselves. Getting rid of them was not an easy task for me."

Du Zhengyi looked over abruptly, his gaze so sharp that Luo Qi could almost feel a stinging pain. Majiang's smile also disappeared; he uneasily shifted his weight from one foot to the other, seemingly suddenly regretting his aggressiveness just now.

Just as Luo Qi was about to continue, Majiang interrupted him, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you had such a serious energy deficiency problem. Just now Du Zhengyi said..." He closed his mouth in time, probably unsure if the remark about him not even being able to light a fire had been heard by him.

"But I can guarantee that Du Zhengyi is not a Lotus Burner; he would never attack you because of this," he said sternly.

Luo Qi raised a hand to signal him not to continue, "I know." In the world of Mages, speaking of people like him was like the human world facing dwarves; good people were always terrified of making him feel discriminated against, which actually made him feel even worse. He looked at Du Zhengyi and smiled slightly, "It's no big deal. Magic Ability is already weakening; everyone knows that, and I'm not the only one whose ability isn't up to par. What's rare now isn't people like me; what's rare is Du Zhengyi."

"I was in emergency care for a long time that day," Du Zhengyi said slowly, "Your father probably couldn't make it in time to take care of you."

"I wasn't hurt much," Luo Qi said, "A passing Great Mage saved me; there are always more good people in the world."

Majiang was a bit embarrassed, not knowing how to continue.

Du Zhengyi squinted at him and said in a tone that suggested the matter should end here, "He hasn't eaten for over a day; can't you show some common sense and do a nurse's job for once?"

Majiang nodded and turned to walk out.

Luo Qi watched his back and let out a sigh of relief. He had finally extricated himself from one trouble; everything he said was the truth, and his explanation should have been convincing. He had successfully persuaded others, but his chest still burned. Others might be willing to believe him, but he found that doubt had grown from the bottom of his own heart. He had a premonition that this was not the end of it, and that doubt might grow into a towering tree.

Du Zhengyi coughed, and he came back to his senses. Du Zhengyi pointed at his chest with his chin.

"Sorry," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi was stunned for a moment, then blurted out, "Stop talking nonsense. This was an accident, and the idea was mine to begin with."

The two fell silent, and after a while, Luo Qi asked again, "Having traveled such a long distance, are you alright?"

Du Zhengyi shook his head.

Ma Jiang returned at this moment, bringing him a portion of Spanish fried rice that had been reheated after cooling. The taste of the fried rice was not bad, but the physical weakness caused by his injuries left him without much of an appetite; after eating a few bites, he felt a bit nauseous. Doctor Ma kept him company for a while, her words no longer carrying the intent of an interrogation, and she instructed him on many precautions regarding his physical condition.

He struggled to make a trip to the restroom; in fact, his body was recovering very quickly, and Ma Jiang was a good doctor, so he estimated that by tomorrow he would no longer feel pain in his wounds.

The clinic's hallway was also painted with child-themed walls, and at the end of the hallway sat a giant teddy bear, large enough to pick up a small child and eat them whole. The hallway was quiet, and he stopped to stand by the hallway window for a while, breathing in the fresher air here and looking through the window at the black shadows of the trees outside.

Only now did he have the opportunity to fear what the answer to the question really was. Why did Du Zhengyi's Psychic Beast attack him for no reason, and what exactly had he been dragged into?