Chapter 27: Investigation Results

"According to the rules, I should ask the human to step aside," Zhao Zhiyan said in a measured tone, taking the final opportunity to make things unpleasant for Du Zhengyi, while simultaneously maintaining his disdain for Guan Xinyue.

"If you want to talk to me," Guan Xinyue said, struggling to keep her voice from trembling as she stood firmly in the center of her living room, "say it to my face. Don't act as if I'm a pet dog belonging to the two of them."

"Is that really necessary?" Luo Qi said from the side, in a measured tone, as if deliberately mimicking Zhao Zhiyan's cadence. "Can you stop acting like a hick who won't let his wife sit at the table? She is a Mage's granddaughter; all humans in Mage families have signed a Silence Contract with the Committee."

"A Silence Contract can always be circumvented by logic, especially since the Mages in her family are already dead; the power binding her to maintain silence toward human society has almost entirely vanished." Zhao Zhiyan was bested in the exchange; Luo Qi was sharper-tongued than Du Zhengyi, and the Northern Academy didn't have a shred of its legendary magnanimity. He bit his lip in annoyance, pinning his hopes on Du Zhengyi.

Du Zhengyi had been mentally elsewhere, half-listening to them argue about this, until the room fell quiet and everyone was looking at him; only then did he seem to return to his senses.

"I was just thinking," he said with a faint smile, "if Guan Yushan were still alive today, would anyone dare to kick his little granddaughter out of her own home? If no one would dare, then let it be."

The room went completely silent. No one spoke, and no one even moved, until Guan Xinyue suddenly turned, walked over to a chair, sat down heavily, and lifted her head.

Luo Qi let out a soft breath. He looked at Guan Xinyue with relief, then shifted his gaze to Du Zhengyi and stared at him for a moment.

Zhao Zhiyan turned his head back abruptly, saying nothing. He rubbed his thumb against his ring, and a cluster of flickering ancient symbols surged out like an explosion, swirling in the air between them.

Luo Qi swallowed, watching the storm-like swirling symbols with anticipation.

The ancient symbols converged and shrank continuously into points that were barely distinguishable. The Magic behind them pulsed, causing the points to gather into a plane, and the two-dimensional surface stretched into three dimensions; then, a phantom of an old man appeared in their midst.

His hair was gray, his frame thin. He wore a ceremonial robe, tied with a linen belt, and a ceremonial jade pendant hung at his waist. He stood calmly among them, his face serene and his eyes deep, as if he had been resurrected. Only some small text followed him, displaying his name, resume, and dates of birth and death, revealing the fact that he had already passed away.

Luo Qi had only seen photos of him before; now, he realized the photos hadn't captured his spirit. The deceased standing in the room must have been a man of great presence in his lifetime, which didn't quite match the image of the drunkard he had heard about. However, this recording might have been taken many years ago, back when his life had not yet fallen apart.

Guan Xinyue had not expected the Mage's image to appear as a three-dimensional projection. Seeing her grandfather suddenly appear, her body shook violently.

Zhao Zhiyan sneezed, ignoring the young girl's emotions, and wrapped the blanket he was wearing tighter around himself. "Guan Yushan, holder of three Level 1 Mage Licenses, recipient of the special Great Mage allowance." He sneezed again, covered his nose, and continued, "A Level 1 Executive Mage of the Supreme Committee, and a lifetime appointment at that, so he was a master. As for his achievements and... resume, don't you think this part is a bit mediocre? I suspect a large part of his life is classified. Du Liu, do you know?"

He asked Du Zhengyi with deliberate flippancy. Du Zhengyi only shook his head. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't care. Let's talk about his children. As far as I know, the fuse for these events might have been his daughter and son-in-law."

"Indeed." Zhao Zhiyan made a gesture, and the symbols in the air gradually gathered into the images of two other people.

They stood beside the old man. The woman had her head slightly bowed, looking reserved and introverted, while the man's expression was extremely rich, as if he were looking back and forth at the living people in the room. Luo Qi thought to himself that a recording always captures a person's essential traits; intuitively, this couple from the Guan Family didn't seem suited for each other. He glanced at Guan Xinyue; her expression was slightly disgusted, and she avoided looking at her Gufu.

Zhao Zhiyan said from over there, "Guan Ya, Guan Yushan's daughter, a Calculation Mage from the Six Institutes."

Luo Qi let out a grunt. "That's impressive."

Zhao Zhiyan nodded at him. "Yes, very impressive. The man is named Lu Chengzhi, Guan Yushan's son-in-law, who does some jewelry business. Uh, you know, he does business on both sides. Among ordinary humans, he is a jade merchant; among us, he sells all kinds of Energy Crystals."

As soon as he finished speaking, the symbols floating in the air gathered again into several blurred human shapes. "Their daughter, Lu Xinchen, should have started university this year, but she went missing."

As he finished this sentence, a fairy-like girl appeared in the living room, smiling playfully. Her hair was waist-length, with pink tips. She had inherited most of her parents' advantages and developed them perfectly; both her appearance and temperament were very likable. Zhao Zhiyan clicked his tongue and said, "A pity, her fate is unknown."

Before Luo Qi could think too much, another woman appeared. She was under thirty, with big eyes and a pointed chin, possessing a 'web celebrity' face that Luo Qi couldn't distinguish from others, with a slim figure and average height. "Qi Yue, originally named Qi Xiaoli. This person needs special mention. She is a local from this village, working as a nurse in a city clinic. She is suspected of having an improper affair with Lu Chengzhi. Before Guan Ya passed away, she pestered Guan Ya incessantly and even engaged in stalking behavior; she is suspected of having a direct or indirect connection to Guan Ya's death."

"In other words, you also suspect this woman is the direct cause of this series of events," Du Zhengyi said, using a declarative sentence.

"Yes," Zhao Zhiyan said. He looked up and met the gaze of the woman's image; the woman kept adjusting her hair, innocently blinking her long false eyelashes. Zhao Zhiyan shook his head; this woman probably wasn't to his taste. He said with a look of confusion, "Honestly, I don't know how Lu Chengzhi could have been obsessed with her. Maybe it's an old house catching fire—hard to control."

"That has nothing to do with us," Du Zhengyi said disinterestedly. "There should have been a complete investigation report when Guan Ya died. The investigation was under Guan Yushan's supervision, so the report should be credible, right?"

Luo Qi glanced at him again upon hearing this.

"Yes," Zhao Zhiyan replied. "But even with Guan Yushan presiding, and utilizing our Great Mages and renowned human forensic experts, they couldn't find any clues of Guan Ya's unnatural death. If Guan Ya simply died of a sudden heart attack, then people have their fortunes and misfortunes, and that would be understandable. It's just that Guan Yushan never believed it for a single day. He, his son-in-law, and his son-in-law's little mistress have been at odds ever since."

"Do you mean to say that you can confirm the cause of Lu Chengzhi's death is related to Guan Yushan?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Lu Chengzhi died in a gas explosion, but he actually fell to his death after being injured by the blast," Zhao Zhiyan said, and he quickly generated some three-dimensional images in the air. The top floor of a human residential complex, with a charred, damaged mark on the gable wall; the 3D image showed the hole from several angles.

"This is Lu Chengzhi's apartment in the city. The explosion point of the gas pipe was near this gable wall. He should have been near this wall when the incident occurred. After the explosion, he was severely injured, fell out through the broken hole in the wall on the seventh floor, and landed on the concrete platform on the first floor, dying on the spot."

Du Zhengyi frowned at the image. "This looks a bit like he was blasted out by Space Distortion Magic."

"Correct," Zhao Zhiyan nodded. "But actually, it wasn't. It really was a gas explosion. We conducted an on-site inspection, and there were no traces of energy residue. The police investigation also concluded that the death was caused by a gas explosion, suspecting that Lu Chengzhi was leaning against the cabinet lighting a cigarette at the time, and then—Boom!"

Zhao Zhiyan gestured the magnitude of the explosion, his eyes scanning the death scene slowly and stickily. Luo Qi's attention shifted away from the data; he silently observed Zhao Zhiyan, and he could see that death held an attraction for him.

"Both deaths had no direct connection to a Mage," Du Zhengyi said, not noticing; his attention was almost entirely on the current deduction, and he summarized thoughtfully.

"But an experienced criminal investigator believed it was murder and eventually traced it back to Guan Yushan. However, Guan Yushan had an alibi; someone testified that during the time of the gas leak, she was with Guan Yushan the whole time." Zhao Zhiyan curled his lips into a smile, tilted his head slightly, and looked at Guan Xinyue with ill intent.

Du Zhengyi was startled and couldn't help but look toward Guan Xinyue as well.

"What?" Guan Xinyue said defensively.

Luo Qi came back to his senses, also feeling a bit indecisive; he hesitated and asked her carefully, "Is... it true?"

"Of course," Guan Xinyue glared at him and said in an arrogantly unquestionable tone, "I never lie."

"Great-aunt," Luo Qi swallowed, "you were full of lies the first time we met!"

"Aren't you full of lies too?" Guan Xinyue said immediately.

"That's two different things!" Luo Qi said. "Were you really with your grandfather at the time?"

"That's right!" Guan Xinyue shouted angrily. "Because I know that even if my grandfather hated him to death, he would never kill my sister's biological father!"

Luo Qi recoiled slightly. In the ensuing silence, Du Zhengyi also hurriedly turned his head away.

"Fine," Zhao Zhiyan brought the topic back. "Let's talk about Guan Yushan's death. Ever since his daughter's unfortunate passing, his alcoholism became increasingly severe, and his temperament changed drastically, leading to many conflicts with his family. Soon, his wife began staying at her son's place frequently. Guan Xinyue was already living at her father's house, right? So, the only person confirmed to have been constantly by the Great Mage's side was his granddaughter, Lu Xinchen. It's an old story, just like the ending of every Mage who stays with humans; in the end, they inevitably part ways. So, when Guan Yushan died and his granddaughter went missing at the same time, there wasn't a single Mage left in the house. Of course, no one could report his death to the Committee in time. His body entered the police system's processing flow. By the time we realized Guan Yushan had died, we could only look at the autopsy report. I think at least the cause of death, alcohol poisoning, is credible. But our people arrived too late; it was already impossible to determine if there were other factors at the time of the incident based on energy residue."

Luo Qi didn't take the so-called alcohol poisoning very seriously; even Guan Xinyue thought it was impossible, and the consultation with Dr. Maji gave him even more confidence.

"I think even if you had arrived early, you wouldn't have reached a different conclusion," Du Zhengyi said thoughtfully.

"Why do you say that?" Zhao Zhiyan asked.

"There is a clear commonality in this series of events," Du Zhengyi said. "They are all deaths without any Magic interference—clean, efficient, yet successive deaths. They are full of the scent of human murder. Does this imply... that we might have been exposed?"

A chill ran down Luo Qi's spine, and he turned his head abruptly to stare at Du Zhengyi.

Du Zhengyi glanced at him, not understanding his meaning, and continued, skipping over him. "If it were the mistress killing, she could have stopped once she got Lu Chengzhi. If it were Guan Yushan killing, a Great Mage of his level would have many ways to kill Lu Chengzhi; he shouldn't have left a corpse for people to investigate, and he certainly shouldn't have let people die so dramatically. I assume everyone we can see right now is a pawn. Is there a larger organization operating behind them, testing the waters to eliminate us, the outliers scattered among their population?"

Population? Outliers? Exposed? A wave of panic washed over Luo Qi's heart. The strange Mage Li Xu from the night before last surfaced in his mind. The meaning behind his cryptic words was so similar to what Du Zhengyi said today. Li Xu had once asked Maji what would happen if they were discovered by humans; he had said that humans have an innate nature for slaughtering outliers. His mind was in such chaos that he couldn't immediately sort it out. Du Zhengyi continued speaking, so he hurriedly stopped his chaotic thoughts and continued to listen.

"It has been only a few decades since we were last slaughtered," Du Zhengyi said, his left hand resting on the chair's armrest tapping lightly and subconsciously. His thoughts seemed to have gone very far, and what he said was only a limited part. Luo Qi really wished he could rummage through his mind and dig out all his thoughts and the information he refused to disclose.

"Makes sense," Zhao Zhiyan said. Luo Qi looked over and found clear satisfaction and agreement on his thin face. To be honest, Luo Qi hadn't expected him to turn out looking like a decent person; three years ago, he was just a little punk imitating scum, and at that time, Luo Qi thought he wouldn't even qualify for service as an Executive Mage.

So what is he now? Is he a normal man who has grown up and returned to mainstream society, or has he finally realized his old dream and stepped into the halls of the Lotus Burners?

As if sensing his gaze, Zhao Zhiyan turned his face and glanced at Luo Qi. He hesitated for a moment, then gave Luo Qi a smile, revealing his gleaming white teeth.