Chapter 28: Lu Sir

"So you, like me, believe that the Jingtu Temple next door is this organization." Zhao Zhiyan looked at Du Zhengyi with interest.

"Perhaps a part of the organization," Du Zhengyi said. "I don't have any substantive evidence to prove that Jingtu Temple has problems, but according to Guan Xinyue, Lu Chengzhi's mistress Qi Yue has some connection to this temple. Luo Qi has a deep understanding of human culture, and he also feels that Jingtu Temple has many aspects that do not conform to Buddhist rules; when things are abnormal, there is a demon. We basically relied on intuition to locate this place, so we are very curious how you came to suspect Jingtu Temple?" Zhao Zhiyan nodded knowingly and gave them a thumbs up. "You guys really work fast. We later dug up an earlier case in the Committee's database, and when we compared them, we found suspicious points." He snapped his fingers, and a tall, furious-looking man appeared near Luo Qi, a pair of angry, blood-red eyes staring fixedly at Luo Qi. Luo Qi had been distracted, and suddenly facing such a dead face, he was startled, then immediately glared at Zhao Zhiyan.

"Seeing you distracted, I thought I'd wake you up." Zhao Zhiyan chuckled maliciously and glanced at Luo Qi thoughtfully. "Better focus your mind and look at this: Lu Jinfeng, a piece of trash who only has a Level 3 Mage License. In his fifty-seven years of life, he married four wives, all of whom were human. According to his current wife's report, Lu Jinfeng is a sadist; she was almost tortured to death by him several times. Considering his first three wives all died at a young age, it is suspected that they might have all died at Lu Jinfeng's hands. This wife who luckily survived is a devout believer in a local Jingtu Sect temple. Our people have spoken with her, and she did indeed once make a wish at the temple to get rid of her husband."

Guan Xinyue let out a heavy breath. "A mage has killed three humans, and you people have actually just ignored it all along?"

Zhao Zhiyan turned his head to look at her. "Pardon my bluntness, but you humans don't really care much about domestic violence either, do you? His second wife once ran away from home, and later it was the police who helped Lu Jinfeng find his wife and even persuaded her to go home and reunite. Besides, sorry, but your grandfather is an Execution Mage, which is equivalent to a mage's police, and his scope of responsibility includes investigating mage crimes."

Guan Xinyue's face flushed red, and she pursed her lips tightly, saying nothing more.

Du Zhengyi interjected and asked, "Is Lu Jinfeng also suspected of dying from human murder?"

"No, not suspected—definitely died from human murder," Zhao Zhiyan laughed. "Lu Jinfeng was deeply involved in the world and lived in human society year-round. He usually liked to write articles, so he worked at a media outlet. At the time of the incident, he had been drinking at noon and fell asleep on his desk after returning to the office. A colleague who had always had a grudge against him suddenly had a whim, picked up a kettlebell used for office fitness, and cracked his head open."

"Is this murderer in prison now?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Yes, suspended death sentence," Zhao Zhiyan said. "He confessed to the facts of his crime without reservation; he believed Lu Jinfeng was going to kill him, so he had to strike first to gain the advantage."

"Have you considered psychological intervention for the mage?" Du Zhengyi asked again.

"How many mages can perform such accurate and subtle psychological intervention? Besides, all Telepathic Mages are registered, and no one had contact with him during that time period. Also, the Supreme Committee immediately sent a high-level Telepathic Mage to detect him, and the result was that no one had touched his brain. If someone manipulated this person, it wasn't done in our way; humans are also very good at manipulating other people's psychology," Zhao Zhiyan said, then shook his head, his view even more firm. "Either he is mentally ill himself, or Lu Jinfeng, that lunatic, really did provoke him. Considering Lu Jinfeng's past, it's not impossible that he really threatened this human. Also, let me highlight one more point for you—this person has no connection to Lu Jinfeng's wife and is not a believer of Jingtu Temple. If someone is killing for merit, then the person accumulating this merit is still behind the scenes."

"Everyone on the stage is actually just a chess piece," Du Zhengyi said with understanding. "The pattern is the same."

"That's how it is," Zhao Zhiyan said. "This matter with Lu Jinfeng happened very early, and he was a small character, so it didn't attract much attention. It was only when they were searching historical cases vertically for Guan Yushan's case that they luckily compared and found the existence of the temple. We still have manpower checking other mage death records, and perhaps we will have more gains in a few days."

"If we are lucky, we will have other gains. As far as the current situation is concerned, this puzzle has two key points," Du Zhengyi said. "One is Jingtu Temple—"

"—and the other is Lu Xinchen," Zhao Zhiyan interrupted.

"Her disappearance is a puzzle beyond reason. How many clues do you have regarding this matter?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Nothing at all," Zhao Zhiyan said helplessly. Seeing Du Zhengyi reach out and beckon to Lu Xinchen's projection, the girl walked toward him and stood beside his chair, staring at him. He felt that energy fluctuation again, which he could barely withstand. Du Zhengyi had easily taken over the permissions of someone else's Magic Artifact; this heavy power suppressed him, making him afraid to make any rash moves. "Lu Xinchen just disappeared, very abruptly, and has left no trace since."

Luo Qi, who had been silent on the side, suddenly asked, "Does Lu Xinchen have any special abilities compared to ordinary mages?"

Zhao Zhiyan looked at him blankly. "A child who hasn't even undergone professional study... what kind of special ability are you referring to?"

"What was Guan Yushan's most outstanding ability?" Luo Qi asked from a different angle. "Could Lu Xinchen have inherited some talent that caused her to be noticed? After all, if it were a vendetta against mages... she wouldn't have just disappeared."

She would have been killed directly. Considering Guan Xinyue's feelings, Luo Qi's words were not too direct.

"Guan Yushan was a tenured Level 1 Executive Mage, a remarkable Great Mage," Zhao Zhiyan said, hesitating slightly. "His talent likely spanned all fields, but if you put it that way..." He pondered for a while, then shook his head. "I can only say that you have indeed provided a very good angle."

"I have one more question," Du Zhengyi said suddenly. "Have you found Guan Yushan's Magic Artifact?"

"Don't even talk about the Great Mage's Magic Artifact; we couldn't even find a single ordinary Storage Crystal," Zhao Zhiyan said. "Therefore, it is even less likely that the Guan family died naturally; someone took their crystals."

Luo Qi thought of the crystal they had taken out of the backyard well and which he had then shattered. It seemed that if Guan Xinyue hadn't activated the mechanism in the backyard in advance, they might not have noticed the General Crystal driving the track. He couldn't help but look at Du Zhengyi, but the latter had no reaction at all. He didn't quite believe that Du Zhengyi hadn't thought of that crystal which stored the Illusion Trap; he perhaps just didn't trust Zhao Zhiyan that much.

"Did that mistress Qi Yue have any abnormal behavior after they died?" Du Zhengyi continued to ask.

"After Lu Chengzhi died, she went to Guan Yushan to make a scene several times; if you ask me, she's just a shrew," Zhao Zhiyan became active again and said with great interest. "According to several mages who were familiar with Lu Chengzhi, Guan Yushan went to see Lu Chengzhi several times after Guan Ya passed away. At that time, Lu Chengzhi was already living with Qi Yue. He avoided his father-in-law himself and instead sent Qi Yue to deal with the old man. It is said that Qi Yue was very impolite to Guan Yushan. A master like Guan Yushan, accustomed to dignity, couldn't handle a little shrew. After Lu Chengzhi died, this shrew probably felt that her lover had been killed by the old man and went to make trouble at his door several times. It is said she even brought a bunch of little sisters and aunts and cousins to make a scene, right?"

His last sentence was directed at Guan Xinyue.

Guan Xinyue kept a tight face and only said in a low voice, "There isn't a single good person in this village," which confirmed that what Zhao Zhiyan said was not false.

Only then did Luo Qi realize why Guan Xinyue ignored the people in the village. Thinking again that her family's destruction stemmed from the affairs in the village, and in such a small village everyone must have known, her situation was imaginable. He was indeed slow to realize it; he had been far too blunt.

Zhao Zhiyan continued, "Later, Qi Yue went off with someone else. From the reports, the mage in charge of this matter never had direct contact with Qi Yue. About a month ago, Qi Yue's parents also left here; it is said they were picked up by their daughter... Tsk, something is wrong here." His attention became focused, and he quickly browsed the text floating in the air, with many golden spiderwebs constantly entangling new information. "They were actually able to lose an old rural couple?"

Luo Qi also saw the end of the Qi family entry in the records. The few flickering characters were very conspicuous, and they were also—whereabouts unknown.

His heart felt a bit heavy, and many thoughts swirled in his mind. Du Zhengyi's speculation made him uneasy. Du Zhengyi's understanding of the inside story was deeper than he had thought, or—he corrected this statement in his heart—it should be said that Du Zhengyi was more purposeful than he had thought.

He had thought they were friends, but now he felt a bit estranged. It wasn't because of how many secrets Du Zhengyi kept from him, but because friends should only be those who are equals. His life, in terms of scale, was vastly different from Du Zhengyi's life. He was roughly equivalent to a local guide assigned to Du Zhengyi by Liu Li. Perhaps he should focus more on finishing this job, go back to school to at least get a Level 3 Mage License, and continue his third-rate mage life. In the future, if he was lucky, he could end up like that Lu Sir, Lu Jinfeng, who had his head cracked open. All he had to do was control himself so as not to head down a perverted path like Lu Jinfeng's because of the psychological gap.

Du Zhengyi pondered for a while. "Other clues probably can't be counted on for the time being; the biggest breakthrough point remains Jingtu Temple. What time does their master see outsiders today?"

"It is said to be two o'clock," Zhao Zhiyan replied. They all subconsciously looked at the old-fashioned clock in the middle of the room. "It's almost time; now is the perfect time to exchange merit."

Du Zhengyi stood up and stretched. "Let's go, we'll go wait. If we're lucky, maybe we'll have some gains. Guan Xinyue, you wait here for us; I don't want you to alert them. Luo Qi, what are you spacing out for? I still need you to bring me luck!"

Luo Qi made a face at him. "I... can I..."

Du Zhengyi, who was about to walk out, stopped. "What? Need to go to the bathroom first?"

Luo Qi glared at him. "Can I stay here and look at these materials for a while? I... I might be better at flipping through materials."

Du Zhengyi turned to face Zhao Zhiyan. "Buddy, you don't have anything private in here, can you let him look at the case-related materials?"

Zhao Zhiyan sighed. At this point, what else could he say? Du Zhengyi had intentionally or unintentionally shown him overwhelming power several times already. The only path he could take was to be as sensible as possible. "There is a considerable amount of case data stored in here; almost all mage death cases from the last ten years are in there. By rights, it shouldn't be shown to outsiders."

"I've already searched through it once anyway," Du Zhengyi said indifferently. "If you want, I can give you a higher-level Committee authorization, but in that case, the events of today will have to be recorded in detail in the Committee Memorandum in the future."

Zhao Zhiyan's expression was a bit sour; he certainly couldn't let others know how much he had embarrassed himself today. He secretly harbored resentment toward Du Zhengyi's assertiveness, but on the surface, he was helpless.

"Besides," Du Zhengyi said persuasively, offering him a way out, "I see you aren't very familiar with these materials either. Wouldn't it be better to let Luo Qi help you organize the data? He is very good at paperwork and understands humans very well; the briefing could be much better than what you do."

Zhao Zhiyan could not let this opportunity to go with the flow pass by.

"Fine." He looked at Luo Qi, took the thumb ring off his thumb, and tossed it to Luo Qi.

Luo Qi caught the jade thumb ring and casually changed his form of address. "Thanks, Brother Zhao."

Zhao Zhiyan felt more comfortable; his pants were almost dry, and his body was thoroughly warmed up. He got up and walked out with Du Zhengyi. Luo Qi suddenly called out to him, "Brother Zhao, can I ask you one more thing?"

Zhao Zhiyan turned his head back.

"When did you receive the order to suddenly be in charge of this case?" Luo Qi asked.

Zhao Zhiyan sneered. "Today, at dawn."

Du Zhengyi's brow furrowed.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Zhiyan asked Luo Qi.

"Nothing," Luo Qi said.