Chapter 285: Apple

"Why am I still getting scolded at a time like this?" Luo Qi said irritably, "Is she even my real mother?"

Du Zhengyi let out a laugh he couldn't hold back.

Luo Qi glanced at him; he was still sitting leisurely on his sofa, playing with that apple.

"How did you two turn hostility into friendship?" he asked, puzzled, then added, "I haven't forgiven them yet, don't be so easygoing."

Du Zhengyi's expression was somewhat meaningful; he didn't answer the question, but instead said to him, "Luo Qi, you should think about what your mother said."

"What?"

"What your mother said must have great value. Although their Telepathy ability isn't as high as yours, their theoretical academic level is at an expert level," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi looked at him suspiciously, feeling that he was somewhat strange. However, Du Zhengyi's reminders were always useful, so he sat down beside Du Zhengyi, feeling for some reason that it was safer here.

"What does that have to do with the stupid business of me running an antivirus? Are you saying that I didn't beat the Queen at the time, and it's similar to the reason that antivirus attempt failed? I feel terrible, can the post-mortem meeting wait until after my body has recovered?"

His mother remained unmoved, her expression stern, and Luo Qi was not pleased either. He was in no mood to think about why he hadn't defeated the Seal Beast; failure was failure, and they had survived anyway—who even wanted to be the King of Seal Beasts? The Queen was so ugly. What he was uneasy about in his heart was why Du Zhengyi was here; his parents had been so determined to put him to death, it was impossible for them to have shaken hands and made peace so easily.

Luo Qi flopped onto Du Zhengyi, acting shamelessly. His mother's expression was very ugly. "Don't put on that act of acting spoiled like you did with your grandfather. Are you going to look for a big tree to shade you for your whole life? What kind of boy hides behind others?"

Luo Qi snorted through his nose, ignoring his mother. If his grandfather knew what she and his father had done to him, he would definitely have beaten them with his cane. Unfortunately, his grandfather had already passed away. In the eyes of others, he was just a very ordinary Old Mage who certainly hadn't obtained a Ship Ticket and had no qualifications for immortality.

He sighed and lamented for a while, sliding from Du Zhengyi's back to lie behind him, completely blocking his mother's line of sight with Du Zhengyi.

He was just a thick-skinned rogue; his mother couldn't do anything about him, but whenever he fell into this state, his mother would definitely go crazy.

Luo Qi didn't want to lower the situation to that scene from his childhood where he recited the multiplication table, but he was just angry.

"You must have missed one Alien when you were laying out the plan," his mother said coldly. "One Network Node launched a counterattack, waking up all the other Aliens you had controlled."

"Why is it me who did something wrong again? It's simply impossible! I dispatched so many Ghosts and subdued every node in the Mental Network," Luo Qi said impatiently, his head starting to ache again.

"If there was an Alien consciously used as a Sentry, and it entered a dormant state while all the other Aliens were active, have you considered that situation?" his mother said. "Can you detect an Alien whose cerebral cortex is not very active?"

Luo Qi fell silent; what his mother said did indeed make sense. But... "But since you've already solved the crisis, why are you still discussing this with me? Just to lecture me? Mom, how old am I now? You're still doing this heuristic teaching; if you have the answer, just tell me directly. I have no face left in front of an academic high-achiever, do I?"

"Face and substance, I see you have neither," his mother said without hesitation.

Luo Qi was so angry he turned over to face the back of the sofa. "I knew you would say that."

Du Zhengyi good-naturedly let him twist and turn behind him, but he felt something was wrong.

"Wait, Mom, you don't even watch movies, how would you call that thing an Alien?"

Luo Qi climbed up, and the apple Du Zhengyi had tossed up stopped in mid-air.