Chapter 317: Selective Amnesia

"Do you remember when we returned to the Ancient Town, we encountered a few police officers and a corpse?" Luo Qi said, sitting down on a stone bench in the woods. "I didn't see the corpse; under those circumstances, the police wouldn't show us the corpse, and of course, I didn't need them to show me. But, for someone to drown in the small river outside the Ancient Town, that is impossible."

"Murder, and nothing but murder," Du Zhengyi agreed in a low voice. He knew. At the time, he hadn't explained the details to Luo Qi because he didn't want Luo Qi to take action; he was used to acting alone and didn't have the habit of discussing things with others, but he hadn't expected Luo Qi to go ahead and do it anyway without a word. This was a lesson; Luo Qi had taught him a lesson and turned the tables on him, telling him that if he didn't consult with Luo Qi in the future, he might end up being the passive party instead.

"And it must be a murder committed by a Mage; that is not even a question," Luo Qi said, not noticing his silence.

"I know," Du Zhengyi recalled. "Thinking about it now, we shouldn't have entered the town at that time."

"It was them luring us in, High-energy Crystals combined with the guidance of a Mind Mage; they didn't directly interfere with our thoughts. They also knew they couldn't do anything to you, nor could they touch me, so they were very cautious, only making us feel weary, fostering thoughts of procrastination and laziness, and letting our spirits relax. Doing this was truly clever. The result of relaxing was that we decided to just muddle through and stay in the Ancient Town for another night, and deal with it when it was light."

Du Zhengyi nodded. "You just said you were very concerned about the state of the corpse?"

"I didn't see the corpse at that time, or to be precise, I didn't see the corpse directly." Luo Qi swung his legs, his two feet in Timberland boots bumping against each other, looking a bit like a brat. "I saw the face from the police officer's Yajian, the face of the corpse."

"The face of the corpse..." Du Zhengyi was a smart man and understood almost instantly. "It was someone you knew."

"Someone I should have known."

Not knowing why Luo Qi used such phrasing, a trace of doubt passed through Du Zhengyi's heart. However, this bit of doubt didn't constitute a catalyst for any deduction; Luo Qi said all sorts of strange things every day.

"I mean, she looked very familiar to me. But dead people look quite different from when they are alive, and..." Luo Qi didn't continue; he bit his lip tightly, as if entangled in an inexplicable emotion.

"Who is she?" Du Zhengyi asked directly.

Luo Qi shook his head gently. "I don't remember. I only remember the feeling at the time; she should have been a woman I cared about, so my feelings were both sad and shocked."

"A woman?" Du Zhengyi said. "There aren't many women you could know, right? What do you mean by you don't remember?"

"Oh, I remembered at the time. I should have been thinking about going to confirm it that night, to go to the morgue to carefully confirm who that woman actually was, and whether she was the person I thought she was in my heart," Luo Qi said.

"So you went to the morgue?" Du Zhengyi said in astonishment. "Why didn't you call me to go with you?"

Luo Qi froze for a moment, for quite a while, until a broad fallen leaf drifted down from the tree and hit him on the head, before he hesitantly continued, "This is the part... I have been hesitating about and didn't know how to tell you. I don't know why I didn't call you to go with me; I can't remember clearly. I don't know what I was worried about at the time; I just had an impression that what I was worried about was very justified, even if I were to choose again, it would be the same. I think perhaps it was because I felt the Ancient Town would be dangerous, and if something happened, Majiang and Xinyue wouldn't be able to protect themselves; they needed you more than I did."

"Oh?" Du Zhengyi said. "Then can your senile brain think again about why everything you are saying now is speculation, and you yourself can no longer remember what wicked things you did last night?"

"Because I really don't remember; I almost don't remember anything related to that woman," Luo Qi said. "I don't remember who she was, what she looked like, or what connection she had to us."

"Did Clownfish wipe your memory?" Du Zhengyi asked worriedly.

"The one who wiped my memory was myself," Luo Qi said in a low voice.

A flash of surprise crossed Du Zhengyi's eyes, but he understood in an instant. "The best way to hide something is to forget it. That is a common saying in the Mage World."

"Yes, my parents used to say that often too," Luo Qi said, looking up at the sky in confusion again. "I must have been guarding against something; this must be a big deal. Judging from the situation at the time, I didn't want anyone to discover that woman's corpse, so I set fire to the morgue."

This time, Du Zhengyi was truly shocked. "Quite daring."

"Because on that woman's body, written in ink commonly used in the Mage World, was the Secret Language to awaken the Ghosts of the Ancient Town, clearly stating the method to obtain the authority for mind control," Luo Qi said, looking at Du Zhengyi. "Whoever it was, anyone who didn't burn the corpse would be an idiot."

Du Zhengyi didn't speak for a full minute; he was almost subconsciously thinking frantically. "This woman, she came to the Ancient Town with a purpose, and she also knew she would be murdered."

"Right," Luo Qi said. "At first I thought it was Clownfish who did it. But it wasn't; I encountered Clownfish who arrived a step later than me, and by the time he came, I had already lit the fire. As a result, he interrogated me about who that woman was, but by that time, I had already forgotten her completely."

Luo Qi made a triumphant grimace. "I just knew that when I walk the world on my own, there are too many chances of being caught and beaten up. I must make sure they can't shake a single copper coin out of my pockets."

"Is that why he kicked your chest until it was bruised?" Du Zhengyi remembered the things Luo Qi was shouting about when he came back last night.

Luo Qi nodded. "He almost killed me."

"Then why didn't he kill you?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Do you want me to be killed by him?" Luo Qi said irritably. "Do you have a heart or not? Isn't the reason he didn't kill me obvious? These things have nothing to do with him! The one who acted against us was a Venerable from Qionglin! He was setting the stage to watch Qionglin make a fool of itself. If he killed me, wouldn't he be doing the dirty work for Qionglin? Do you think a Lotus Burner would do such a thing?"

Du Zhengyi fell into deep thought, and only after a moment did he say, "If you hadn't seen that woman's corpse, and if there hadn't been the Secret Language on her body, we would have had no way out in the Ancient Town last night. Majiang knows part of the Secret Language, but he wouldn't have had the high authority you had yesterday to command all the minds of the Society."

"I know," Luo Qi said. "I remember the emotions at the time; I know she died for us. She knew we were there, and she rushed to notify us; even after death, she left a message for us. Brother, do you know? I didn't really forget her, there are just some trigger conditions, and only when those conditions happen will I remember. One day I will remember her, and the person who killed her..."

Luo Qi didn't continue; he stood up. "Brother, I'm about to die of heat; I'm not suited for living in the tropics, let's change places. Damn it, are you kidding me? It's raining just like in the tropics?"