Chapter 286: The Plan

The apple tossed upward hung in mid-air; time had frozen. Luo Qi jumped up, ignoring the pain in his abdominal wound; his mother remained in the motion of reaching for something on the coffee table.

The pale sunlight of a Bei Guo winter fell through the window curtains onto his mother's head; she was still beautiful. The traces time left on a Mage were very slight; her hair was still jet-black, her skin lustrous, and there were no fine lines at the corners of her eyes. Time had only gifted her wisdom; what time had carved into her was not wrinkles, but only a mature temperament.

But it was still wrong.

His mother was even younger than in his memories, and her frozen expression held a hint of a young woman's fearlessness. Also, she wore a Crystal clip in her hair; in Luo Qi's memory, it was something he often gazed at while listening to stories in her arms, and in his childhood imagination, it was a star.

Luo Qi pouted, feeling aggrieved by the loss of his mother's consideration and love. It was a momentary grievance and loneliness, but he quickly suppressed this emotion.

The sunlight outside the window grew increasingly pale; the last time he had encountered this situation was in the Interrogation Room of Qionglin.

He knew all of this was an illusion, an illusion drawn from memory, essentially like a dream. When he realized this was just a dream, the illusion stopped.

The apple in the air, the still wind, his mother's frozen movements—everything stopped. Only the weather outside the window grew worse; he had an ominous premonition, and a bitter disappointment spread in his throat. No one was coming to save him; he was still being controlled by the Alien Queen.

Suddenly, the apple in the air was taken by someone; Luo Qi caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye and turned his head in surprise.

Everything was still, even the air had solidified. But when he turned his head back, a pair of eyes he was familiar with were looking at him and smiling. Du Zhengyi looked as vivid as ever, even his concerned gaze still carried a hint of mockery, as if trying to prove something to Luo Qi; he picked up the apple and took a bite, the crisp sound hitting Luo Qi's ears.

"Hmm," Du Zhengyi said with enjoyment, "You imagined the taste of the apple quite well, sweet and crisp."

"Brother," Luo Qi leaned back in surprise, "You were just reminding me that these are all illusions, right? I didn't react in time. You're real, how are you here, did you link with me?"

"Link your head!" Du Zhengyi said, casting a disdainful glance at him.

This was a bit unfathomable; Luo Qi was a bit confused and muddled. Du Zhengyi thought for a moment, "Can you imagine a pack of cigarettes?"

Luo Qi hesitated for a moment, and a pack of cigarettes appeared on the table.

Du Zhengyi put down the apple, took out a cigarette with satisfaction, lit it as usual, and took a puff; his expression immediately became quite spectacular. "This is the cigarette taste you imagined?"

Luo Qi said perfunctorily, "You never let me smoke, and now you blame me? I only took that one puff, I remember it tasting like this."

"It tastes like this? One year when some chemicals caught fire in the lab, it tasted just about like this."

Luo Qi shrugged, "This, your humble servant truly cannot do."

Du Zhengyi looked at him suspiciously, still not getting his reference.

"Oh, forget it, forget it, you don't need to understand," Luo Qi said dismissively, sitting on the carpet in front of Du Zhengyi with an exceptionally well-behaved posture, "Do you have a plan, boss? Give me some instructions?"