Chapter 297: Dad's Connection

"Luo Qi." A voice called out by his ear.

Luo Qi, who was busy stuffing candy into his pockets, paused for a moment and pricked up his ears to identify the voice. The Ancient Town was deathly silent; not even the sound of the wind could be heard, and the water of the Half-Dirty River surrounding the Ancient Town flowed quietly.

Luo Qi adjusted his perspective and realized that this call was happening within his Consciousness World, carrying a hint of anxiety and the mental voiceprint he was familiar with.

He shook his head and continued with his business. It wasn't Du Zhengyi calling him; it was his old man.

"Luo Qi!" The mental voice added a tone of reproach, and its directionality was more pronounced, pointing directly at him. The previous summons had been a bit like a broadcast, but now it was completely targeted.

"What is it?" Luo Qi responded carelessly in his consciousness. His old man's consciousness had already returned to his physical body, so his body should have awakened somewhere near the Ancient Town.

"Luo Qi! When you hear someone calling you, can't you at least respond?"

"Why? It's not like Du Zhengyi is calling me."

His father's consciousness curve must have erupted into a towering waveform—"Is it useless when your father calls you?"

"Not much use. In this heartless world, I couldn't rely on my parents at home, but I can rely on friends when I go out. Only friends will help me at critical moments." Luo Qi's consciousness responded with playful exaggeration.

"Didn't I help you? Did you decipher the brain structure of the Seal Beast all by yourself?"

Oh, right. Luo Qi had almost forgotten.

"Did you forget what your father did the moment you turned around?" his father asked suspiciously.

Luo Qi busied himself stuffing the last few crystals into his pocket, turned off the study light, and walked out of the courtyard. "So what? We broke up a long time ago; you and I aren't best buds anymore. Du Zhengyi is the one who counts as a buddy. You did help me, but that was only because I threatened you with my life, okay? Who knows what you were thinking; maybe you were just afraid of having no descendants. First crying, then starving, then threatening to hang myself—I actually had to hang myself before you were willing to help. Unlike Du Zhengyi, all I have to do is start crying and it works."

"Luo Qi, your standards are truly low. How did I end up with a son as shameless as you?"

"Ha—ha—showing your true colors, are you? I'm definitely not your biological son. Is what you're doing something a real father would do?"

"With your Nezha-like attitude of attacking even your own father, I really wish you were someone else's son."

Luo Qi's footsteps faltered. Many happy scenes from the days with his old man surfaced in his mind. There was a reason his tongue was so sharp; it basically came from day-after-day of practice. These scenes were transmitted by his father, with the perspective focused on his father, and added with a layer of fatherly love filter, which made Luo Qi feel uncomfortable in his heart.

His father also let out a sigh, "Son..."

Luo Qi kicked a wall he was passing by.

"Son, come back. Let's leave this godforsaken place, leave that godforsaken Qionglin, okay? If you want to keep your Telepathy ability, that's fine too. You've already grown to a level I can't control anyway; I have no way to suppress your ability anymore. Your old man just wants to keep our family safe. Come hide with your old man, son. Believe your old man's words—don't let them discover that this High-Energy Being is you."

"I never cared about their business anyway; I just want Du Zhengyi to stay alive," Luo Qi asked.

"Du Zhengyi?"

He didn't know what his father was confused about, but a glimmer of hope suddenly sprouted in his heart. Perhaps he had been completely wrong. "Attending physician, do you mean he is not in mortal danger?"

"That's not it. He just has a face that looks short-lived, and a personality that seeks death—even the gods couldn't save him."

His father was deliberately trying to anger him. Luo Qi kicked open the gate to the courtyard where the diesel was stored and retorted, "Heh, I have a way."

It was quiet in his Consciousness World for a long while, then suddenly his father's angry and panicked emotions pushed over, as if he had figured out what he meant, "No—"

"Oh, I get it," Luo Qi transmitted lazily, "You also know that Mages can achieve immortality."

"Luo Qi!" His father's consciousness became completely serious, carrying a stern warning as if he were a child, and he cursed.

Luo Qi pondered how to move the diesel and changed the subject to reply to his father, "I understand why you want me to hide and live under an assumed name. But I can't hide anymore; the Lotus Burners somehow discovered my real name."

His father answered him irritably, "Ignore them. We'll go hide in the Highland. Highland Mages never get involved in muddy waters; we can live there."

"Wait." Luo Qi's hand rested on a diesel drum, and he looked up in surprise, "How come you don't care about the Lotus Burners at all? Could it be that you sold me out?"

His father's emotions were a bit frantic.

"Not very likely." Luo Qi dismissed the thought himself, then asked curiously, "Are you a Lotus Burner too?"

"I—am—not!" If Luo Ruian were standing in front of Luo Qi, he would definitely be gritting his teeth while speaking.

"You've got me all confused. Then who is it? My mom? No way. My aunt?" Luo Qi guessed, but he also knew it was impossible to get any definitive answer from his old man tonight. "I'm hanging up, Dad. If you're a buddy, don't let Fan Shi in to bite me. By the way, do you know how old Fan Shi is? Has he lived for seventy thousand years or something?"

"From the time I first met him, he was a shallow idiot."

"Alright," Luo Qi crossed a name off the notebook in his heart, "Thank you, Dad."

"Luo Qi!"

His father's consciousness roared, but Luo Qi resolutely erected an iron-barrel-like Shield for himself, blocking his old man's signal.