Chapter 319: The Single-Plank Bridge

"Luo-Qi-Qi!" Du Zhengyi said with his hands in his pockets, calling out boredly in the woods. Deep in the forest, there was only an angry Luo Qi, who kept walking forward until he finally stopped in front of a fir tree.

"Luo Qi, are you taking a piss? Be civilized. There's a restroom in the house behind us; turn back before it's too late," Du Zhengyi said boredly, maintaining a slow, steady pace as he gradually approached Luo Qi.

Luo Qi suddenly turned his head, his pair of deep brown eyes staring intently at Du Zhengyi.

"Hey, speak of the deer, and a deer appears," Du Zhengyi said nonchalantly, not caring at all that the topic itself was a sensitive one.

Luo Qi stared at him for a while. At first, a storm of anger churned in the depths of his eyes, as if a black hurricane were sweeping across a world. The mountain forest was quiet; there were no extra human hearts operating here, no one to disturb the Mind Mage, and no one would be affected by the Mind Mage's emotions, so the storm in Luo Qi's eyes gradually calmed down. A playful light flashed in those bright, sparkling eyes again. Luo Qi thought about it for a moment, and finally, he was amused by himself, revealing his small white teeth.

Du Zhengyi laughed, "Kid, you're quite interesting. Did you just realize you're an idiot?"

"Yeah," Luo Qi said sheepishly.

"It seems this environment of the Highland Mage is indeed suitable for a Mind Mage to cultivate," Du Zhengyi looked up at his surroundings. "And this place is big enough. Even if you want to run wild to vent, you can't get very far; you can only run in circles here. This place has successfully reduced the manpower costs required to manage you."

"That's true. No wonder Pei Shu sent me here," Luo Qi thought to himself, and his expression changed slightly again.

"What do you mean?" Du Zhengyi asked. "I always feel like you have some opinions about Pei Shu."

Luo Qi waved his hand lightly, making a gesture to let it go, and suddenly began to talk about the scene where he encountered Clownfish in the morgue the night before. However, he didn't say that Clownfish told him Du Zhengyi would die soon, sooner than he thought, and more urgently than the old captain had told him. He couldn't say these words; he was as wary of them as a Word Curse, as if once they flowed out of their mouths, the fear described in the words would immediately descend.

Instead, Luo Qi started bragging, recounting how he fought Clownfish, and even vividly boasted about the scene where he stabbed Clownfish.

Of course, there was another huge secret—the secret Clownfish told him. He knew he wouldn't tell anyone, but from the moment he obtained the secret, he knew it would return to his dreams every night from now on, whispering in his ear like a sprite, charming him to push open every door of the Thirty-Three Temples of Lone Mountain. He wasn't the greedy little sprite in the old fairy tales; he didn't want all the treasures buried in the Thirty-Three Temples, he only wanted one. He wanted to return a normal life to his friends; he wanted them to have many days to meet in the future, when they would chat easily and do some boring things, including eating skewers and drinking beer at a human night market. Two hundred years later, they would calmly wait for the goddess in the gray dress to knock on their door; they would pass through the grave, and then someone would use a feather to weigh their souls.

So, Luo Qi actually knew that day would come sooner or later. He would definitely break into Gushan, but the person in front of him was the Gatekeeper of Gushan, so he needed to kill his friend first in order to break into Gushan and find a way to keep his friend alive. He had always liked to think about problems by looking for paradoxes; ironically, what he had to do now was a huge paradox.

While Luo Qi was talking about the thrilling process of fighting Clownfish, this thought turned into his mind once again, and he couldn't help but laugh. This laugh was inserted into the process of him saying Clownfish beat him up, which seemed particularly eerie.

It led Du Zhengyi to ask him, "Luo Qi, are you a masochist?"

Luo Qi hurriedly changed the subject to attract Du Zhengyi's attention, "I think this person, Clownfish, isn't very old. I even suspect he hasn't entered the middle age of a Mage; maybe he's only in his thirties."

"How can you tell?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"The way he talks, his sense of humor... I... kind of like him."

"Don't say such terrifying things," Du Zhengyi said, suddenly looking around. This was deep in the woods, and there was nothing there. "Don't say things like this to anyone except me, understand?"

"I know, I'm not actually stupid," Luo Qi said. "The things Clownfish revealed in his speech didn't have much of a sense of the era. I used to think he was very gloomy, and he is indeed a bit bitter and deep. But there are always those few moments that make people feel he is actually a very interesting person. He has many open-minded ideas. It's true that the Lotus Burner should be a radical among Mages, but at the same time, they are also the extreme conservatives among Mages. I can feel that he is not that kind of person; he has a high level of acceptance of humans. These characteristics of his coincide somewhat with someone we have been looking for."

Du Zhengyi took a deep breath of the air in the forest, which contained the scent of wood leaves. "The person who marked the exit in the Qionglin Underground Interrogation Room."

"Yes," Luo Qi replied, then thought for a moment and said, "You actually thought of it instantly."

Du Zhengyi fell into a moment of thought, his expression becoming serious. "Later, I will write the whole situation of this period into a detailed report for Pei Shu."

Luo Qi made a face and shrugged.

"I have to write it," Du Zhengyi added.

"Of course, that goes without saying," Luo Qi looked up at Du Zhengyi. This brilliant genius Mage of Qionglin looked gentle, kind, and especially honest and reliable. When God used a feather to weigh his soul one day, hopefully, Du Zhengyi could help him redeem his soul. "I don't have anything to hide either."

"However," Du Zhengyi said, "I won't mark these places that need attention for Qionglin; I will abbreviate some parts."

Luo Qi couldn't help but laugh; that was practically Du Zhengyi saying he would cheat. He thought for a moment, "Brother, is it because Venerable Fan Shi targeting you that made you a bit discouraged with Qionglin?"

"No," Du Zhengyi shook his head, and to Luo Qi's surprise, he denied it without hesitation.

"Then I thought, according to your values, you would advise me to be a responsible person like you and do some things for others. To paraphrase that superhero quote—with great power comes great responsibility."

Du Zhengyi looked at him calmly. "No one is a hero; I just like to get things done. I know Fan Shi wants to use me, but I've always been used by others, so I'm used to it. I'm not saying that because I've been used, I've become cynical and hope you don't follow in my footsteps. It's not like that. I am very satisfied with my life. I just hope you have the right to choose, to choose a life direction that satisfies you. The things I don't do for you are just because I hope you can have the right to choose for yourself, and not be discovered as useful by them too early, leaving you with no chance to choose."

"Then you're much better than my dad; he didn't give me a chance to choose," Luo Qi said.

"Yes," once again to Luo Qi's surprise, Du Zhengyi didn't humble himself at all, "I am indeed much better than him."

"Oh, your brilliant look is really cool," Luo Qi laughed. After a while, he restrained his smile. "I've thought a lot since yesterday. I don't want to go on like this; I don't want to waste myself. I want to try to help Pei Shu; I want to prove that I am indeed valuable."

These were all lies. Luo Qi recalled the time when he was at his lowest, and he didn't want to prove his value to Qionglin either. Even though he knew he had the ability of Telepathy, he actually just wanted to use it to raise cats.

"I thought you really wanted to open a pet shop," Du Zhengyi asked with some surprise.

Luo Qi licked his dry lips. He closed his eyes and felt a warmth in his heart once again. "Can I be your colleague?"

"What kind of colleague? Do you want to be a Battle Mage?" Du Zhengyi was amused.

"Can I be a bit more ambitious and be a Gushan Guard?"