Chapter 323: Zhao Jun

"To rashly declare war on Qionglin is to overestimate one's own strength; only a madman would do that. No matter how much the Lotus Burner's strength grows, or how many Mages they can incite to go mad along with them, as long as they stand in the open, the outcome of this war is obvious," Du Zhengyi said to Pei Shu, his mind now completely clear.

Luo Qi lay on the ground watching his profile, finding him more like a warrior than ever before. He imagined that when the war of the Mages truly broke out, no one would be able to stop Du Zhengyi. Things he was still cautious about today would be of no concern to him then; he would die on the battlefield, content.

Luo Qi lay there gloomily, several images flashing through his mind in succession. He saw the deranged Old Mage; that was his imagined final state of Guan Yushan. The trap he had prepared to alert Qionglin had been completely useless; the Clownfish had bypassed his trap just as he could bypass the warnings in the Crystal, because Guan Yushan had already lost in the battle of consciousness long before the final moment arrived; in his final days, he was merely a walking corpse. Before Guan Yushan died of alcohol poisoning, his soul had already died a step earlier. The Clownfish had won this battle very cruelly; he used the Old Mage's innocent daughter as a sacrifice, tortured the Old Mage's soul, caused his Consciousness World to collapse, made his world teeter on the brink, and finally won with ease.

When he and Du Zhengyi walked into Guan Yushan's home, only ghosts drifted there. As a human, Guan Xinyue was merely blind and deaf in the world of consciousness, but humans still possessed a sixth sense that could not be clearly explained. The story Guan Xinyue told was like an ancient fable, actually describing part of the truth. It was just that when they heard the story, they hadn't understood it at all.

And then there was the trap in the Guan Family's ancient well; the person who set the trap must have been Guan Yushan after his soul had died. Luo Qi did not have the ability to contend with the Clownfish's Consciousness World; he couldn't even touch the edge of it. Now, looking back, the immense pain that permeated into his Consciousness World when he picked up that Crystal under the well might have been the closest he had ever been to the Clownfish.

There was only this one accidental strategic advantage, but the only possibility he could deduce was that the Clownfish had a lifelong agony. It might have been a major loss; otherwise, Luo Qi couldn't imagine how the wound could be so severe. Unfortunately, this fact was also of no use; one had to know that since a person could walk to that point, they certainly wouldn't be someone with a warm and happy life.

"The Clownfish is definitely not a madman," Luo Qi blurted out.

"Their number two is not a madman, but the number one is definitely a madman," Du Zhengyi said.

"We deduced a person from the files," Pei Shu continued. "According to your intelligence, he has maternal bloodlines from the Du Clan, is not old, and even has his appearance; locating him was not difficult. The Calculator believes his name is Zhao Jun—ah, he used to be called Zhao Yun, the Yun with the bamboo radical; his current name should be one he changed himself later."

"Ha," Du Zhengyi said sarcastically, "He didn't change it particularly blatantly."

"Zhao Jun studied at the Western Academy back then and was a good student, but not excellent enough for the teachers to remember him fondly. I remember..." Pei Shu paused for a moment; an old man recalling the past was like rummaging through a thick box, there would always be a delay in time. "I remember that after he graduated, he once came to Qionglin to apply for a job, wanting to become a resident Mage."

"Did the teacher meet him?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"No," Pei Shu said, "I have some impression of his resume, but that is all."

"Why didn't Qionglin hire him?" Du Zhengyi asked.

A flash of wit crossed Pei Shu's face, "Because he wasn't excellent enough; the reason is just that simple."

"Interesting," Du Zhengyi smiled slightly.

"The Wujiu Experimental once wanted to recruit him as a laboratory assistant. But he refused; he said he didn't want to be stifled in a laboratory," Pei Shu said.

Du Zhengyi asked, "What was his field of study in his later years?"

"Orbital System," Pei Shu said. "Logically speaking, his most likely life trajectory should have been working at the Pendragon Orbital System, helping families install orbital interfaces."

Du Zhengyi was somewhat surprised. Logically, if a person became the leader of an extremist force, they should be someone both full of philosophical thought and capable of playing both sides; plumbers were usually dullards.

"But he did indeed study spatial technology, which has some relation to his own ability to perform Teleportation," he said.

"His parents were both low-level Mages. Even if his maternal bloodline has some relation to your family, that relation is already very distant, and after being diluted once more by his mediocre father, his spatial ability cannot compare to yours," Pei Shu said.

"He's a fool," Luo Qi interjected. He was running his own thoughts along his own train of logic and hadn't really been listening to the two's conversation, just unable to resist expressing his own opinion.

"Then he might be a very lucky fool," Pei Shu said quietly. "The Chief Mage of the Credit Point Balancing Planning Committee, Zheng Hanbin, hired him."

"Our economic officer recruited him? Hired an engineering Mage who studied Orbital Systems? To calculate Credit Points?" Du Zhengyi asked in disbelief.

Pei Shu nodded.

"Why?" Du Zhengyi asked in surprise, "They should have recruited Senior Calculator, data analysts, or human experts like Luo Qi."

"Theoretically, that should be the case. However, Zheng Hanbin proposed some reform measures at the time. I remember he proposed at the Committee that the Planning Committee was a very important department. Especially since humans had already proposed several very good mathematical models for their own economics, he was worried that humans might discover loopholes in their economic system. Humans are progressing, we are regressing; his department was in urgent need of excellent Mages. Zheng Hanbin proposed that the major was not important; what was important was the Mage's ability. Capable Mages could learn professional knowledge on the job. Under this line of thinking, he recruited a batch of various Level 1 Mages," Pei Shu said.

"Zhao Jun just happened to pass the Level 1 Mage License," Du Zhengyi said with realization.

"Correct," Pei Shu nodded and added, "But of course, it was a Level 1 Mage License in Orbital System engineering."

"So stupid," Luo Qi said, lying on the ground, voicing Du Zhengyi's inner thoughts.

"Zheng Hanbin of the Planning Committee..." Du Zhengyi said suddenly, recalling carefully, "How do I feel like I've seen this person?"

"He passed away four years ago, dying in office; you might have seen him at Qionglin," Pei Shu said. "I understand what you mean. Just as you think, Zhao Jun worked under Zheng Hanbin for ten years. He was highly trusted by Zheng Hanbin; his rank was high upon entry, relying on the high rank to avoid service in Qionglin."

"Did Zheng Hanbin have some side business?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Given the network of this Lotus Burner Mr. Zhao, he could only have inherited the Lotus Burner organization from Zheng Hanbin. In his traceable resume, he never had another opportunity to come into contact with any heavyweight figures," Pei Shu said.

"How old is Zhao Jun now?" Du Zhengyi asked again.

"Consistent with your judgment of him, he went to work at the Planning Committee right after graduating from university; it's been no more than ten years until now."

"The plumber's success came too suddenly," Du Zhengyi sighed.

Luo Qi said, "Maybe the old man died too suddenly, and the great power fell into the hands of the eunuch by his side."

Du Zhengyi and Pei Shu both looked at Luo Qi. He was still lying in the pile of cushions, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, as if practicing mind-piercing through the roof.

Du Zhengyi continued, "The previous Lotus Burner leader, Zheng Hanbin, hid in Qionglin for many years, and his position was almost second only to the Venerable. No wonder the Lotus Burner could hide so deeply in Qionglin; he had very convenient personnel authority."

"The analysis of Zheng Hanbin is still ongoing; his data is truly not small. This work requires not only Calculator but also many analysts. Unfortunately, we don't know who we can trust right now, so we are severely short-handed. Organizing relevant materials based on Zheng Hanbin's resume is a significant workload."

Luo Qi added vaguely from the side, "Just tell us when you need our help."

"Did the teacher never pay attention to Zheng Hanbin before?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"I must admit, I never paid special attention to him. He was a workaholic in his own department, constantly fighting for benefits for his own committee at the Supreme Committee meetings, with only his own work in his mind, and no interest in other people's affairs at all. Sometimes when the Supreme Committee made a decision, although it had nothing to do with him, he always suspected it was targeted at him," the Old Mage crossed his hands, looking somewhat uneasy. "To be honest, I was a bit annoyed by him. In the intervals between meetings, he was always chasing me everywhere; I always tried to avoid him. I really didn't want to listen to his extremely self-centered words."

Luo Qi couldn't help but laugh, "He is truly a genius, actually succeeding in making the First Venerable take the initiative not to pay attention to him."

Du Zhengyi was slightly startled, then realized that Luo Qi was actually very accurate. "He disguised himself as a routine-following mundane person, and one full of human weaknesses."

"Yes," Pei Shu admitted, "Actually, for him to plot so big, it's unlikely he was such a person; everything I saw was a false image."

"He might have had many private gatherings," Du Zhengyi said. "Since he was such a person, the circle of friends he showed to the world might also be very clean, and one wouldn't be able to find much valuable information at all. Wanting to conduct research on him and find the organizational thread of the Lotus Burner based on existing evidence might be difficult. However, how exactly did he die? Could this be a breakthrough?"

In this interval, Luo Qi fell into the depths of his own thoughts, tracing a golden Coordinate axis of time in his mind. At the node four years ago, the leader of the Lotus Burner died; at the node three years ago, the Clownfish invaded Gushan.

There is no evidence to suggest that the Clownfish of four years ago had any intersection with the Lotus Burner.

Li Xu's age and qualifications clearly indicated one point: he could not be a subordinate of the former plumber and current Leader Zhao.

Li Xu and his followers could only be the Old King's men. He was keenly interested in the hidden affairs of the Daheitian Temple and was also impatient to dig into what happened at Gushan three years ago, or rather, after the Old King died. He was even so eager that he was mad enough to want to kill the son of a Great Mage in Qionglin.

Luo Qi could almost clearly see the connections within. The Clownfish was a Great Mage who emerged out of nowhere about three years ago, powerful, calm, and cruel, as if hiding centuries of experience and knowledge. His first debut was to assault Gushan; he built a cult-like organization with his own hands and killed people through the hands of others. He even left rebellious graffiti in the oldest Consciousness Interrogation Room in Qionglin.

Therefore, his enemy was definitely not humans.

Luo Qi suddenly understood; only a fool would think he was a true Lotus Burner. His only enemy was Qionglin, was Gushan, was the core of the Mage system, was the center of the Mage World.

Even Zhao Jun was not necessarily a true Lotus Burner; he exuded a foul smell of power. Somehow, immense power fell into his hands, and he was impatient to wield this great sword to test its edge.

The Clownfish went dormant after the Gushan Incident, perhaps realizing he needed allies, and it was at this time that this big idiot Leader Zhao entered his field of vision.

For Zhao Jun, no matter how he obtained power, a mature organization must have more than one veteran figure. He needed to consolidate his position and also needed a powerful ally; the Clownfish was a very good choice.

So... Luo Qi turned under the cover of the cushions to look at his friend's young face, so the war against Gushan would break out sooner or later. As a Gushan Guard, his friend would sooner or later come face to face with the enemy.

Pei Shu's voice seemed to come from a world away, and a part of Luo Qi heard him speaking about the cause of Zheng Hanbin's death.

"Zheng Hanbin died of a Curse."

"What?" Luo Qi fell out of his own inner universe in shock. He merged all versions of himself from every channel into one and sat up from the pile of cushions. "A Curse?"

He looked at Du Zhengyi, suspecting he might have misheard. Perhaps Pei Shu had said a very technical term that he had mistaken for a Curse.

"A Curse." Du Zhengyi repeated it. "Are you hard of hearing?"

"Whose Curse?" Some old lady performing a shamanic dance? Because he took over their square dancing spot?

"It is the Curse of the Highland Mages," Pei Shu said, not particularly concerned. "The Highland Mages forbid anyone from climbing their Sacred Mountain, or else they will curse them. Mage Zheng was a mountaineering enthusiast who had climbed every mountain peak in the world, save for that one Sacred Mountain of the Highland Mages."

Luo Qi sat up straight. "I cannot help but feel a sense of respect for both parties."

"Mage Zheng... was always very stubborn; he liked to challenge and conquer. Besides, the Curse of the Highland Mages had always just been a legend until now," Pei Shu said.

Luo Qi gave a thumbs up. "A man who believes human will can conquer heaven."