Chapter 24: Bird-Man

They sat down at the kitchen table; Luo Qi had just finished washing his hair, and it was still dripping wet, so he irritably wiped it a couple more times in a haphazard manner.

This place had spent years slowly dying, and even long after the Mages here had all died out, it remained ignored. But suddenly, two waves of Mages arrived, and they happened to time it right when their own group was causing a stir.

During the few days they were away, Du Zhengyi had made good arrangements, and the area around the village was as chaotic as ever. Although there were no incidents of people being hurt, the villagers were indeed annoyed by the disturbance and organized a dog-catching operation, which, as expected, was unsuccessful. Normally, at a time like this, the villagers should have gone to the city to seek help from the relevant departments, but the standard procedure always took time, and they had become accustomed to the convenience provided by the temple. Therefore, the Wishing Tablet was hung up yesterday afternoon.

Whether considering the urgency or the difficulty of completion, this wish was almost immediately judged by the temple as a high-merit prayer. In this regard, the high-experience task Luo Qi wanted to create had already been completed. According to what Du Zhengyi had inquired about this morning, if they had the time to finish this matter, they would definitely accumulate enough merit to enter the inner sanctum and meet the Master.

But just early this morning, perhaps right around the time they returned to the Guan Family Old Residence, someone timed it perfectly to come over and kill all the Psychic Dogs.

Isn't this just looking for trouble?

Du Zhengyi's lion should have played a leading role, but he had searched the surrounding mountains and forests for an entire morning without even seeing a shadow of the lion. The most likely outcome was that the lion had also been killed by someone; for unreasonable creatures that cannot see the light of day, the Mages' convention has always been to destroy them directly.

This point angered Du Zhengyi more than anything else, perhaps because he felt sorry for his pet, but even more so because he would never have the chance to bring the lion back to the laboratory to carefully examine what exactly caused it to attack Luo Qi.

Luo Qi had an intuition that this matter was related to Li Xu; otherwise, it would be too much of a coincidence.

Guan Xinyue listened for a long time and then worriedly interjected, "The lion and the dogs are all dead; do you need to pay for the lost laboratory equipment? If you do, I will save up money to compensate you in the future."

Luo Qi suspected she was maliciously acting cute; if he had said that, Du Zhengyi might have continued to beat him, but because a girl said it, his expression became pleasant, and he even controlled his previous exasperation.

Old lecher!

"Today is the fifteenth of the lunar calendar; it is said that a Master will come here," Du Zhengyi said with a sunken face, "Our fellow clansman who is blocking our way will definitely arrive as well."

They chatted about these things for a while longer, but didn't come up with any leads. After Du Zhengyi concisely narrated the sequence of events, he was too disdainful to repeat the details, and Luo Qi couldn't keep pestering him with questions; they both could only wait for further developments. Luo Qi kept coming up with one idea after another, but they were all off-target and useless. He also didn't feel that he should talk to Du Zhengyi about his dream now; he was already annoyed enough, and he shouldn't bother him with his own dreams. Besides, ever since he opened his eyes, the details of the dream had poured away like water held in the palm of his hand; the only content he remembered was that Li Xu seemed to have killed Du Zhengyi. Unless he wanted to get beaten, he would never tell Du Zhengyi about this.

He emphasized to himself at least three times in his heart that Li Xu could not possibly have killed Du Zhengyi; now is a civilized Mage society, and murder is a serious crime in any society, and the Supreme Committee would never let a murderer go. Not to mention that Du Zhengyi was the favorite student of that Great Mage; Pei Shu was one of the greatest Mages of the century, and his influence was enough to push enormous forces; Du Zhengyi was no nobody.

It was just that when he thought this, he faintly felt an even greater sense of unease. Guan Xinyue's grandfather didn't look like a nobody Mage either, yet he still died in this house. Then, thinking of Pei Shu's status, wouldn't he want to investigate the cause of death of a reclusive Great Mage?

If Pei Shu sent his favorite student to investigate the cause of death of a Great Mage, wouldn't that be reasonable and logical? The so-called social investigation, as his friend Liu Xing pointed out, was nothing more than a pretext to deceive people. Perhaps bringing Luo Qi along was slightly unreasonable, but Pei Shu had said that Luo Qi understood human society very well, while Du Zhengyi did not. If explained this way, it was also reasonable.

But even so, it still didn't explain why Teacher Liu Li went out of her way to say that the reason he was chosen was because of his high L-Value? Teacher Liu Li was not a person with much of a sense of humor.

When he pondered to this point, the three of them were wandering around the village. Du Zhengyi suddenly glanced at him. "What's wrong with you? Such good weather, we're just strolling around doing nothing, why have you suddenly become so grumpy? Can you argue with yourself?"

Guan Xinyue seemed to be waiting right there and immediately added, "It's that time of the month."

Luo Qi was stunned for a moment, shot them both an annoyed look, and was too angry to speak.

They had been strolling around the village for half a day, ostensibly to observe the environment, and Luo Qi had already memorized most of the households related to Guan Xinyue's family. This was truly a boring village; the architectural style was surprisingly consistent and lacked aesthetic appeal, and by noon, drunks began to appear, swaying on their motorcycles, which showed that their spiritual civilization wasn't much to speak of. The village road lacked people; a few dirty children ran out to play for a while, and the theme of the game was still bullying a dog. Luo Qi went to stop them, and the children threw a "fuck your mother" at him before disappearing.

He really didn't understand why the Guan family's Great Mage chose this kind of place to be independent of the world!

They stopped at the entrance of the village to bask in the sun and drive away the feeling of boredom; this dull and vulgar little village outside the city was really meaningless, without even a hint of spiritual elegance. Luo Qi felt that as a Mage, one shouldn't choose this place to die. This place didn't even have as much fun as the neurotic Guan Xinyue.

Two women walked out of the village, seemingly heading to the bus stop outside the village to catch a bus. When they saw Guan Xinyue, they greeted her, calling her the little girl of the Guan family, but Guan Xinyue crossed her arms and ignored them entirely. It was evident that the Guan family themselves were also out of place here.

Luo Qi still wanted to criticize Guan Xinyue's rudeness, but for some reason, Guan Xinyue suddenly became very angry and directly attacked him, saying he had taken a fancy to a married woman. Luo Qi was heartbroken and told her not to corrupt Du Zhengyi, who didn't understand anything. In fact, Du Zhengyi didn't participate in their conversation at all.

Luo Qi boredly refused to pay attention to Guan Xinyue, and Guan Xinyue herself ran to the other side of Du Zhengyi to stand, putting on an appearance of having been hurt. Luo Qi really didn't know where she had been hurt, and he refused to say anything soft.

A small bus running the suburban route came to the bus stop outside the village; the bus shell was dented in several places, and the vehicle wasn't very environmentally friendly either. When it passed by them, the exhaust sprayed all three of them in the face. Luo Qi's mood became even worse. "Sometimes you humans are like a virus to this planet."

Guan Xinyue immediately retorted, "Down with the virus!"

Luo Qi turned his head to glare at her; her face was accurately hidden in the shadow of Du Zhengyi's shoulder, and from Luo Qi's angle, he couldn't see her at all. Luo Qi's gaze was attracted by a group of people squeezing off the bus door behind Guan Xinyue. A tall, thin man naturally blended into the crowd, as if he had just walked off the bus. But when he glanced over the first time just now, he hadn't seen this person. Luo Qi believed in his judgment; among the locals wearing various furs and taking the bus, this young man wearing a Canada Goose, stepping in Chelsea boots, and sporting a trendy "Yin-Yang" haircut was completely out of place. He had two long legs and a thin neck; when Luo Qi saw him, he was reminded of a type of water bird, and a familiar feeling suddenly twisted his stomach.

The bird-man drove his two long legs forward a few steps, his gaze suddenly drifting over here. He had a pair of sharp eyes and a decent, thin face. His gaze jumped, as if he were startled, and then he let out a snort of laughter, as if mocking his own alarm.

The bird-man straightened his collar and walked over, looking spirited; his whole person seemed to have increased foreground exposure, as if he had entered a Consciousness Awakening State, glowing as if a peacock had fanned its tail.

He looked at Guan Xinyue with an affected air, gave Luo Qi a self-righteous, perfunctory smile, and then turned to Du Zhengyi, who was standing in the middle, and said with fake familiarity, "Buddy, I think I've seen you somewhere before?"

Guan Xinyue raised that small, thin face that was always full of sarcasm, laughed, and asked acidly, "Are you planning to hook up with my brother? Buddy?"

The bird-man ignored Guan Xinyue's words with a high-and-mighty attitude and laughed magnanimously. When he laughed, the right corner of his mouth was much higher than the left. This person, this smiling face, Luo Qi would never forget.

Ice formed in Luo Qi's stomach, and his heart beat violently in his chest; the scenes from countless nightmares returned. In a trance, he could once again feel the coldness of the train tracks, smell the scent of withered grass and soil; he could hear the sound of the wind passing through the decaying grass, and the huge roar of the train whistling closer; the earth trembled in this roar. Despair and fear swallowed him; he was going to watch his own leg be crushed by heavy, cold machinery while he was still alive.

He still remembered the bird-man's voice; the shrill whistling sound he blew still scraped Luo Qi's ears in some of his dreams; he was excitedly encouraging his group of idiot friends, bragging about the Lotus Burner's membership guide, and Luo Qi was their initiation gift.

The bird-man didn't know what he had noticed, but he also looked at Luo Qi suspiciously, his expression changing slightly, and he said hesitantly, "Buddy, you look a bit familiar too."

Luo Qi swallowed silently; so he had long forgotten about that business from three years ago. His throat was pasted shut, and his thighs were filled with lead.

Guan Xinyue snorted, "Then do I look familiar to you?"

Du Zhengyi interrupted them; he looked at the bird-man and suggested, "Find a place with fewer people to talk?"

The bird-man's attention was attracted by this person who exuded the aura of someone in charge, and he gladly complied.

They came to the side of the frozen pond outside the village; the tall willow trees and bushes surrounding the national highway outside the village blocked the view from the village looking out. Luo Qi left Guan Xinyue by the side of the road; he stopped for a moment and, out of the bird-man's hearing range, instructed her to stand in a conspicuous position and not to walk out of his line of sight. Guan Xinyue nodded gloomily in agreement; fortunately, most of the time she was willing to cooperate.

Du Zhengyi and the bird-man walked into the snow-covered pond; from a distance, they looked like two city dwellers who had come to the countryside to find some wild fun, and Luo Qi quickened his pace to catch up.

"Are the dogs yours?" he heard the bird-man ask indifferently.

"The dogs and the lion both belong to Laboratory 57; you need to submit supporting materials to the laboratory and wait for the Committee to deduct your Credit Points at its discretion," Du Zhengyi said honestly, looking surprisingly patient. Luo Qi couldn't help but feel a bit surprised; he walked to a step behind Du Zhengyi, not wanting to speak rashly.

"Oh, I see." The bird-man laughed, revealing a mouthful of shiny white teeth. "Okay, okay. You guys really do things by the book. Sorry, brother, how do they say it in the market? Right, you were intercepted by me."

Luo Qi frowned; his disgust for the bird-man burned a fire in his chest, and his ears were filled with the sound of the tides of blood in his own body.

Du Zhengyi seemed not to notice his cynicism, appearing restrained and polite. He had the reasonable patience of an adult, his face was calm, and his words were courteous. "It might be a misunderstanding; we are students from the Northern Academy, responsible for investigating the supernatural sighting of the human girl over there. During the investigation, we discovered some suspicious points and were just looking to understand them in depth to complete the report."

The bird-man smiled, "When I saw the Psychic Beast, I guessed it was from the Northern Academy, but I didn't expect them to be students." His gaze wandered between the two, and he couldn't help but laugh again. "Your academy really likes two-person combinations; the tradition of the turtle and the snake?"

He was referring to their school's totem; the origins of Mage and human culture were inextricably intertwined. There were four oldest universities on this continent, and the schools had always been named after directions, having used the names of divine beasts and the Eight Trigrams in history. But as time passed, the divine beasts became tattoos on the arms of little hooligans, and the Eight Trigrams were reduced to the Blue Bird Technique. The names of the schools went through several rounds of slow changes, and finally, they honestly became the East, South, West, and Northern Academies, hastily dividing the enrollment area on the earth in the form of the character "Gong".

However, although the seas have changed into mulberry fields and people say that change is the only constant, some things still don't change much, such as the academy's totem.

Du Zhengyi took a Copper Button out of his pocket, and Luo Qi glanced at it and knew what it was. He was familiar with that thing because he also had one; every Mage Apprentice in the school had their own Copper Button. The seal on the Copper Button was the Snake-Coiled Turtle representing the Black Tortoise, one of the four-directional totems of the intertwined turtle and snake, and the seal below was engraved with the student's name. Du Zhengyi taking this out was actually being honest about his identity.

The bird-man took the Copper Button, weighed it in his hand, turned it over to look at the name, and seemed to have no impression of Du Zhengyi's name, his expression becoming increasingly dismissive. He turned the seal over again to look at the seal on top and made a face. "Snake wrapping a turtle, tsk, a bit lewd. You know this school badge was a reproductive symbol in ancient times, right? The Black Tortoise is the god of reproduction." He might have thought his joke was quite funny, but some jokes can be made by insiders, but when outsiders say them, the context is not very good.

Du Zhengyi took back the Copper Button he returned, nodded politely, and for some reason, actually began to explain in the tone of a university lecturer, sounding a bit wooden. "Snakes shed their skin and regenerate; the ancients regarded this as incredible. In many ancient cultures, snakes mean reincarnation and eternal life; turtles enjoy longevity, which goes without saying. The northern totem is a symbol of longevity and eternal life, and the Black Tortoise is the god of destiny."

Luo Qi looked at him suspiciously; what on earth was Du Zhengyi doing?

The bird-man was amused by Du Zhengyi, his expression somewhat helpless, perhaps because he didn't expect Du Zhengyi to seriously argue these things with him. "Is that so..."

"May I ask who you are?" Du Zhengyi asked seriously.

"I am an Execution Mage," the bird-man said quickly, as if afraid that Du Zhengyi would want to continue telling him about the totem. "Sent by the Committee. You can probably guess why I came here. Is that girl the old man's granddaughter? She isn't a Mage?" He pointed his chin in the direction of Guan Xinyue.

Luo Qi instinctively showed no reaction, staring tightly at Du Zhengyi. Du Zhengyi's brow furrowed slightly. "According to the regulations, I would like to ask you to show your credentials first; after all, this matter has some sensitive aspects."

"Oh, right, right, it should be like this." The bird-man said with a smile, his tone carrying a hint of mockery toward the student-like manner. He extended his left hand toward Du Zhengyi, palm facing upward. On his thumb was a green jade archer's ring, which looked like an antique.

Du Zhengyi did not react to his action. He laughed helplessly, his impatience becoming more obvious, "You don't mean to tell me you don't know what this means? You need to touch my crystal, hurry up, it contains my identification information."

Du Zhengyi nodded as if he had just figured it out, then turned his head to glance at Luo Qi. Luo Qi walked forward mechanically and placed his right hand onto the bird-man's outstretched palm, not even having time to wonder why Du Zhengyi wanted him to do it for him.

He carefully touched only a bit of the jade ring with his little finger, but the flow of information was still smooth; he was momentarily distracted by the thought that this piece of equipment of the bird-man's was of high value. Then his brain felt the information taking shape; this feeling was like a sudden enlightenment during meditation, or like a riddle suddenly becoming clear. Some information naturally became a part of his memory; he knew that the "bird-man's" real name was Zhao Zhiyan, he was twenty-nine years old this year, and he was currently a Second-level Executive Mage of the Mage Committee.

The information Zhao Zhiyan had made public to him ended there. He withdrew his hand, feeling it clench into a fist without realizing it, and he turned his head to look at Du Zhengyi to inform him of the situation.

"Can this information be confirmed as true?" Du Zhengyi asked him.

Luo Qi felt a wave of embarrassment; he did not have the ability to distinguish whether the information in the crystal was legally authorized, nor could he identify if the information had been disguised. He had studied the theoretical knowledge of appraising these things and could probably pass a written test, but unfortunately, that was of no help in practice.

Du Zhengyi and Zhao Zhiyan were both looking at him; he hesitated for a moment, "I cannot distinguish the truth from the false."

"Good," Du Zhengyi said crisply.

Luo Qi was stunned for a moment. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but Du Zhengyi had said that word extremely lightly, as if he were in a fantastic mood. At the same time, the wind stopped. A tension surged in the air, and a faint static electricity coiled around them, as if between the last bird call and the next, the world had paused.

An illusion? Luo Qi was dazed for a moment, then immediately saw an expression of disbelief appear on Zhao Zhiyan's face. A sound like ice cracking came from beneath Zhao Zhiyan's feet; his body lurched violently, and he could only barely maintain his standing posture, looking down at his ankle with a strange expression.

One of his feet had stepped into an ice hole, and the water beneath the pond's ice surface soaked his pant leg.

Luo Qi stepped back silently. Following the direction of Zhao Zhiyan's gaze, he clearly saw a withered, thin hand reach out from the ice hole and tightly grab Zhao Zhiyan's lower leg.