Chapter 192: Stranded

Luo Qi experienced six consecutive Teleportations; he vomited during the fifth, but by the sixth, he seemed to have conquered Teleportation. A few times in between, he could feel them appearing in strange Energy Fields; once it was in a wasteland, but even Luo Qi could sense abnormal Radiation beneath the ground, and he suspected it might be a human weapons testing ground. Such places were particularly suitable for erasing a Mage's own energy traces.

The sixth time, they appeared in a city park. Du Zhengyi let go of his arm, and Luo Qi took a breath, seeing that Du Zhengyi did not intend to travel again.

"Six times!" Luo Qi couldn't help but shout, complaining irritably, "Six times, I f***ing played a rollercoaster six times in a row; my guts are about to come out."

He plopped onto the ground, dizzy and lightheaded, yet he didn't forget to add a sycophantic remark, "But you're really badass, I'm impressed. Aren't you uncomfortable yourself? What's your limit for consecutive jumps? Can you make it as far as Alaska?"

"Luo Qi." Du Zhengyi called him, his tone solemn.

"Hmm?" Luo Qi looked up in surprise, vaguely sensing that something had happened. Perhaps because of Du Zhengyi's unusual tone, a thick shadow draped over his heart, dragging it downward.

In the late night, the community park had only low path lights. Du Zhengyi stood tall, his face shrouded in the shadows of the pavilion corner, and Luo Qi couldn't see him clearly for a moment.

"I'm resting for a while," Du Zhengyi said. His voice was very light; for some reason, Luo Qi thought of the sound of falling snow, and for an instant, he felt an unbearable panic.

Du Zhengyi took a step back, slowly sat down on the bench behind him, and let out a long breath.

"Brother." Luo Qi stood up and slowly approached Du Zhengyi. He saw that Du Zhengyi's eyes were closed; under the dim light, his eye sockets looked like deep shadows.

No one answered him; Du Zhengyi was hunched over quietly on the bench.

"Brother." Luo Qi heard his own voice sound as shrill as a little girl's. He coughed and lowered his voice, though it was still filled with terror. "Brother, that was a very unlucky thing to say, say it again!"

No one answered him. All around were residential buildings filled with humans; families staying up late still had their lights on, but the park in the center of the street was as silent as a graveyard. Du Zhengyi was the only person beside him, yet now he was so quiet it was as if he were no longer in this world.

"Brother." Luo Qi squatted down in front of him, placing a hand on Du Zhengyi's knee, "What's wrong with you?"

He looked at the quiet Du Zhengyi. With things having reached this point, he couldn't even bring himself to reach out and check if Du Zhengyi was still breathing; he didn't dare lift his hand at all. He gently rubbed Du Zhengyi's knee, as if this could make Du Zhengyi feel a little better, as if Du Zhengyi had just walked too far and was taking a break.

"Brother, is there anything I can do?" he asked in a low voice, but no one answered him. His throat was constricted, and water flowed down from his eyes, dripping off his chin; he didn't even realize what it was.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard someone driving by, honking a harsh horn on the silent street in the early morning. Someone in a nearby residential building opened a window and cursed. He also heard a cat walk past him, stop, and observe them for a while. In a little while, the first wave of morning exercisers would appear, followed by the earliest breakfast vendors, and the morning market would soon open.

All the idiots, all the cats, were living their lives as usual, enjoying the start of a new day, yet only Du Zhengyi was about to lose this day.

He couldn't take it anymore. He leaned forward, lying across Du Zhengyi's legs, unable to stop himself from wanting to have a good cry. At that moment, a hand landed on the back of his head, gently rubbing his hair, "Luo Qi, I'm fine."

Luo Qi burst into tears immediately, collapsing completely onto Du Zhengyi's lap.

"Luo Qi, get off," Du Zhengyi said helplessly in a hoarse voice.

Luo Qi cried and said, "It's not that I want to stay here, my legs are f***ing numb from squatting, I can't get up."

Du Zhengyi closed his eyes and sighed, "Wimp. Alright, I won't die that easily. You're such a f***ing wimp, you make it so a person can't even close their eyes when they die."

Luo Qi bravely wiped his tears on Du Zhengyi's pants, finally recovering his strength, climbed up from his lap, stood up, and looked him over carefully. "Then what exactly is wrong with you? Did the clownfish attack you? Or did an old injury flare up?"

"Old injury flare-up," Du Zhengyi said, looking up at Luo Qi. "I don't have much strength right now; I might need your help to get back. Once we're back, the Doctor will have a way."

Luo Qi swallowed. He had never seen Du Zhengyi so exhausted. What made his heart sink the most was that he could see Du Zhengyi not only couldn't stand up but also couldn't use his arms to any great extent; his brain could barely control his limbs. These symptoms were very familiar to him as a Mind Mage who had started learning Mental Attack; they were symptoms produced only by severe Mental Attacks. But this was actually a sequela—a sequela he hadn't been able to shake for three years. Did this mean the damage was irreversible, or that the wound had never healed at all...

"Luo Qi," Du Zhengyi called him.

He caught a glimpse of Du Zhengyi's serious expression; there was a slight reproach on his face. He understood what Du Zhengyi meant—he didn't want him to keep asking, nor did he want him to dwell on it. He might have crossed a line, touching someone else's privacy, so he hurriedly focused on helping Du Zhengyi stand up.

"The Doctor will have a way, right? Are we going back to find him?" Luo Qi knew he was saying something useless; the Doctor had been Du Zhengyi's Doctor for the past three years. If the Doctor had no way, he didn't know who else they could go to. But if he didn't say something useless, he wouldn't be able to dispel Du Zhengyi's suspicion that he was dwelling on it.

"He is a good doctor," Du Zhengyi said.

"Then I'll learn this from him; maybe I should have been a doctor after all," Luo Qi said, supporting Du Zhengyi as they walked toward the roadside.

Du Zhengyi couldn't help but smile; Luo Qi was a person who made others feel warm. "You are a Class A offensive Telepath. Although you usually look like someone who must be Class B, or at most a Class B1 Telepath with a bit of offensive capability, you are not a healing-type Telepath. Being a doctor doesn't suit you; you should find the path that suits you best and keep walking it."

Luo Qi didn't answer him; he didn't say anything, just supported Du Zhengyi as they walked slowly.

"Luo Qi, have you ever thought about what the future will be like for you as a rare Class A Telepath in our world once everything is over?" Du Zhengyi said in a low voice.

Luo Qi had a feeling that Du Zhengyi actually just wanted to make him laugh, to make him happy and regain his spirits. He was actually already unable to speak, but he didn't want to let Du Zhengyi's efforts go to waste, "I haven't thought about it. Maybe I'll be the top star of Wushan."

Du Zhengyi laughed, "Then you should consider it further. If you don't develop at Wushan, you might be the top star of Qionglin. Have you ever thought that in a hundred years, maybe you'll be standing in Pei Shu's position today?"

"My biggest dream is just to be your assistant," Luo Qi said in a low voice.

"Then you should think a little further ahead and have a bit more ambition. Now that I think about it, when the Calculators dumped you on me and insisted that your L-Value was the highest, I don't know what they actually calculated." Du Zhengyi said.

"If the known conditions aren't enough, they can't calculate a damn thing," Luo Qi said. "No one knows I'm a Telepath; without this important variable, what else could they calculate? Maybe I'm just very lucky, so you'll be fine."

Du Zhengyi didn't answer him. The burden on Luo Qi's arm suddenly increased, and he hurriedly held the unconscious Du Zhengyi. Damn it, he cursed inwardly in his sudden pain; he really was the unluckiest person, with zero Luck.

There was already some light on the horizon, but he was holding the unconscious Du Zhengyi, stranded in a human residential area.