Chapter 188: Mr. Zhao

"You killed eleven people." Luo Qi seized the main point, his voice accusatory, "A Mr. Zhao who came from who knows where."

"That is a baseless accusation; you were the ones who killed them," Mr. Zhao said with a smile, straightening his crisp collar.

Luo Qi flared up instantly, "Are people without independent Yajian still people? You have already castrated their sense of self; living as your puppets is even more cruel than killing them."

"If you hadn't pushed so hard, they wouldn't have had their self-awareness completely erased," Mr. Zhao said, looking at Luo Qi.

Luo Qi was shocked, "Are you saying that if we hadn't discovered the problem at Jingtu Temple, you wouldn't have killed them to destroy the evidence in the end? This kind of denial is too childish. You truly disappoint me, boss of the Burners."

"What I mean is, slaughter does not bring me joy; I am not a madman," Mr. Zhao said calmly.

Luo Qi understood his meaning; although it was uncomfortable, the ridiculous thing was that this was actually a candid start. This Mr. Zhao, whose abilities were unfathomable, and his clownfish, had not, after all, directly pushed them into a life-or-death battle.

Mr. Zhao paced forward a few steps, his polished leather shoes crunching in the rubble, "We are in a crisis, and war is inevitable. We already have one foot in the war; death is a painful loss, and I do not wish to see it either. But if you are wishfully thinking that war will not break out, or that there can be no death in war, then I must say, your intellect is a bit unworthy of your talent."

"Whose war?" Luo Qi felt uncomfortable being mocked; the man's confidence could make one feel inferior. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Whose war against whom?"

"Our war against humanity."

Luo Qi found this simply ridiculous, "You started it?"

"I heard you know humanity very well," Mr. Zhao strolled leisurely through the rubble, "Can you answer me how many species of animals humanity has driven to extinction on this planet?"

Luo Qi remained silent; he could not be convinced, but he could not argue either. If he said that humans and animals were not in the same category, then what was the relationship between Mages and humans? Mages' brains were more developed than humans'; could one say that relative to Mages, humans were nothing more than gorillas?

Mr. Zhao smiled slightly, knowing he had already won, and he intended to press his advantage, "Humans have been like this since their ancestors; what did they call their ancestors again?"

He scoffed at this point, "Homo Sapiens, thinking they are truly clever. But Homo Sapiens is indeed the most successful race in this world, yet what about other humans? Where did the Peking Man go? Where did the Neanderthal go? Where did the Flores Man go? I think you probably know that those humans slightly inferior to Homo Sapiens were exterminated by Homo Sapiens tens of thousands of years ago. We Mages are humans who were luckily slightly superior to Homo Sapiens, and luckily, we have survived to this day. But now, humanity is only one step away from discovering our existence. I don't even dare to say if humanity has already surpassed us now."

He shrugged, and the great fire behind him burned even more fiercely, shooting dozens of meters into the high sky, "Such a great fire could only be created by us Mages in the past, but now, can't humans do it? Do you think humans will be grateful to our Prometheus, or hope that Prometheus rolls away to somewhere they can't see?"

Luo Qi could not speak. The leader of the Lotus Burners turned to Du Zhengyi, "I think you actually agree in your heart, don't you?"

Du Zhengyi did not speak. Luo Qi turned his head to look at him in astonishment. Under the firelight, he could not see through Du Zhengyi's expression.

"Luo Qi, don't you understand? Your friend is a warrior of the Archive; he was born to defend the world of Mages, and so was I. The Lotus Burners and the Archive are the same; their only purpose is to protect the interests of the race," Mr. Zhao said.

Du Zhengyi finally spoke, "If one day humanity truly goes to war with us, I will fight for the Mages, but I will not slaughter innocent humans in a department store like you."

Mr. Zhao's brows wrinkled in disgust, "This is indeed the view of the Archive—weak and useless. To overthrow old habits and old thinking, how can it be done without fire and blood?"

Luo Qi came back to his senses, "Are you here specifically to debate us? That shouldn't be right; how could a top leader be so free? Or are you giving a routine speech before finishing us off?"

Mr. Zhao laughed out loud, saying with some relish, "I haven't done it myself for a long time, but I reached today's position by doing the work, not by giving speeches."

Luo Qi blinked and said pitifully, "Then what earth-shattering thing did we do to labor Leader Zhao into coming in person? I heard you already sent a clownfish agent to deal with us; are you still not at ease and need to come out yourself to watch us breathe our last?"

"This is a misunderstanding," Mr. Zhao sighed, standing firm, rocking back and forth with a grin, "The incident with Li Xu shocked our upper echelons. Other Sage Mages informed the clownfish directly without my consent. I think you must understand; the old men are always making a fuss."

Luo Qi nodded and sighed, imitating his tone, "Li Xu is really not a good thing, you know that, right?"

Mr. Zhao smiled slightly, "But he also used himself to open up your Ren and Du Meridians, didn't he? How can one explain such a blessing in disguise?"

"How do you know?" Luo Qi asked him vigilantly, "Did you find out from my parents?"

The man looked at him. They were standing closer now, and Luo Qi realized he wasn't actually much taller than himself. He held up two slender fingers, tapped his own temple, and smiled at Luo Qi, "You can know it by using your brain. I am not like that pile of old bones in the Archive who can be played around by Du Zhengyi."

"Du Zhengyi didn't play anyone," Luo Qi couldn't help but defend Du Zhengyi, "He was protecting me from the Lotus Burners, a weak minor like me. He has never betrayed the Archive."

The man looked at Luo Qi and rolled his eyes, "Believe whatever you want to deceive yourself. I heard that Doctor Luo's son's primary talent is talking nonsense; looking at it now, the intelligence was indeed accurate."

Luo Qi was severely insulted and couldn't help but retaliate, saying seriously, "Believe whatever you want to say too. Regardless of whether you are the real body now or not, we can still sense many of your true characteristics to some extent. These are first-hand materials on the leader of the Lotus Burners, which can enrich the profile on you. The Archive will be very interested in the information Du Zhengyi takes back."

The result was a series of laughs from Leader Zhao, "Stop it. Venerable Fan Shi of the Archive is dying to put him to death. Will anyone really listen to what he says?"