Chapter 207: Movie-Watching Experience

"Anchor Point?" Guan Xinyue stared at Mahjong urgently, reminding him that he hadn't explained this question yet.

"Right, Anchor Point. No matter how far you go, you won't lose yourself; it all depends on the stabilizing effect of the Anchor Point." Mahjong had his hands in his trouser pockets and sighed. He stood by the window, looking through the thin white gauze at the human city that had just awakened outside. "Luo Qi trusts Du Zhengyi. In that situation, he trusts Du Zhengyi more than he trusts himself. Luo Qi often jokes that Du Zhengyi is his conscience; in fact, that's not entirely a joke. He views Du Zhengyi's existence as the foundation of this world's reality. He must have organized his own memories, using Du Zhengyi's existence as the root of the World Tree, and then infinitely extended the nodes of this tree, hanging the events of his life that truly existed layer by layer upon this tree."

"But Du Ge does exist," Guan Xinyue blurted out, "even if... he has indeed existed."

Mahjong turned back to look at the sleeping man. "He must exist for longer. If you see a deer run past from a train, even though that deer existed, as day after day passes, the memory will begin to blur. Once a few months have passed, you will start to doubt whether you actually saw the deer that day."

Guan Xinyue opened her mouth slightly; she knew that what Mahjong said was right.

"Not to mention in such a severe situation, and a Mage's life is so long. The number of Mental Attacks Luo Qi might have to face in the future could be countless," Mahjong said in a low voice. "The day the doubt begins is the day the losing of oneself will begin. Du Zhengyi must live a little longer, live to leave more and deeper traces in Luo Qi's life. Deep enough that even if one day Luo Qi suffers a severe Mental Attack, he can still rely on the Anchor Point to stabilize his Yajian. However, fortune and misfortune are interdependent; Du Zhengyi also knows he cannot continue to be so self-destructive, so he has been much more active in accepting treatment recently. Perhaps, who knows, he might really be able to recover his health. Maybe all of this will turn out to be a good thing in the end, and we can have a happy ending."

"Will Luo Qi become a Great Mage in the future?" Guan Xinyue asked in a low voice. "A Mage with a reputation like Du Zhengyi's?"

"I don't know either," Mahjong said. "Of course, he has the aptitude, and no one knows exactly how great his potential is. But I don't think he has any desire for fame. Du Zhengyi is a person who has always been driven by his own convictions, while Luo Qi is the exact opposite. I see that Luo Qi is not driven by anything. People without a driving force usually don't get very far; even if they have talent, it's useless. Doesn't Luo Qi always say he wants to open a pet shop? I think that is his true thought."

Several hundred kilometers away, Luo Qi had gotten a new cat from a pet shop in the Zhouqiao Grass Market. Of course, cats sold in the Black Market could never really be just cats.

Luo Qi sat on the second floor of the pet shop, sitting in the eternal night of the Zhouqiao Grass Market.

His chair was near the window, the bamboo blind half-rolled, and his new pet was lying in his arms. It was also a kitten as black as night with two yellow pupils, but if one looked closely, its biggest difference from an ordinary cat was its ears. Its ears were pointier than cat ears, with two long, thin tufts of hair at the tips, somewhat like a certain close relative of its.

But it was truly too black; if it curled up and stayed still, one couldn't see what was what at all, just a ball of black fur.

"I can't be bad at naming things forever," Luo Qi said, gently stroking his kitten. The kitten closed its eyes contentedly, and the person and cat quickly established a bond. "I've decided to give it an imposing name; Qiongqi is not bad. It's just a little bit unlucky. How about Fuqi? Ah, Ruiqi seems better; the English name is Rich, so both the Chinese and English names come out at once! I really am a little genius. What do you think?"

He looked up at the only other man still sitting in the room. His hair, which always looked a bit damp, was now truly soaked through. His Mage Robe had been completely torn open, revealing a chest covered in bloody scratches. Looking closely, his chest was full of claw marks, and his ten fingers were stained with his own blood.

Dai Wei no longer remembered which round of waking up this was. The first time, he was drinking with a few friends when Yao Yu suddenly rushed in to propose to him; he was both surprised and happy, feeling smug. He had thought a woman like Yao Yu would never really marry him, and then he had married in a daze. On their wedding night, his bride's mouth suddenly dripped blood, the blood staining the front of her wedding dress; she tore open his chest with her bare hands and opened her bloody mouth to eat his heart.

By the time he woke up in terror, he found himself upstairs in this pet shop, the owner and the Apprentice had both passed out, and sitting on the chair in front of him was Yao Yu, who was teasing the kitten. Before he could figure out the situation, he fell into a second illusory world. This time, he was being chased by zombies in a forest. He thought this wasn't real, but the pain of having his neck bitten off was just as real as the excruciating pain of having his chest cut open and his heart dug out. He wet his pants in fear, and his high blood pressure was on the verge of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Then he was thrown into a cave, gnawed on by insects... so, that was three times.

He trembled in despair, his pants wet and sticky, clinging to his legs with scalding urine. He had a terrifying premonition that all of this would never end today, and the blurry-faced person sitting in the chair would throw him back into hallucinations again and again. He might not have really had his heart dug out, his neck bitten off, or his entire skin gnawed off by insects, but all those sensations and pains were real. He even felt that he would never be able to forget the feeling of the zombie's teeth biting into his neck for the rest of his life.

He no longer asked who that person was or what they wanted. His eyes were bloodshot, his face pale, his whole body covered in blood, his pants wet with urine. He wanted to pass out, but every time, that person, that person could wake him up from the verge of shock. He trembled, murmuring one sentence, "Why?"

"Why?" This time the person repeated. He was now an old man, his beard and hair all white, looking very respectable. "No reason. Because our master is currently unable to wake up and doesn't have time to deal with me, so you're just out of luck."

"Why me..."

"Why you?" Luo Qi laughed. "I heard you wanted to buy that thing to screw yourself?"

Dai Wei froze, then suddenly went crazy. "There... there are others who wanted to buy other things, I know, I know who they all are. They entrusted me to ask for the price, only I know who they all are!"

"Hmm, I did come to ask you about this," Luo Qi said.

"I'll tell you, they are..."

Luo Qi raised a hand to stop him. "But you don't need to tell me, because I already know."

"Then you..." Dai Wei's last shred of hope was also extinguished, and he sobbed in despair. "Please, I beg you..."

"I don't like others begging me, because I have never liked being superior to others."

"What the hell do you mean you don't like being superior? How much higher do you want to be?" Dai Wei cried helplessly, having lost the bit of courage he had just now. "Please, I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"I've already said," Luo Qi said patiently, "I already know everything I want to know. I have nothing to ask you."

"No!" Dai Wei was almost driven mad. "Ask me, please, ask me!"

"A poor wretch with no bargaining chips, and you still want to spend 100,000 credits to buy that thing? Could it be that you don't have that thing yourself?" Luo Qi said angrily, then suddenly took a deep breath to suppress his anger. "Want to watch another movie? I still have quite a few in my inventory. How about we play *Texas Chain Saw Massacre* for the next one? I really haven't wasted my time studying anatomy and neurology during this period; I've become quite proficient at pinching which nerve of yours today."

"No!" Dai Wei screamed, his whole body convulsing, staring at Luo Qi in terror.

Luo Qi seemed to be provoked by this scream; he stood up abruptly and suddenly rushed over. Dai Wei reflexively wanted to punch him, and the cat let out a screech. His hand was raised, but he involuntarily slapped himself hard across the face.

Luo Qi kicked him and the chair over to the ground. "If you don't want to play anymore, then remember this: withdraw the bounty you posted for hunting Du Zhengyi. Otherwise, after the next midnight, I will make you stay forever on the day you were dismembered by a chainsaw."

"I know, I know, I swear I'll go withdraw it immediately," Dai Wei cried out.

"Tell those financiers behind you that I will remember them. Tell the entire Zhouqiao Grass Market, whoever goes against me again, I will invite them to watch a movie."

"This isn't according to the rules," Dai Wei said, crying. "This isn't according to the Black Market's rules."

"Watching a movie with me, that is my rule," Luo Qi said with a dark face.

Dai Wei said nothing more, just kept nodding while crying.