Chapter 33: Trapped

Du Zhengyi and Luo Qi stared at each other for a moment; Luo Qi looked dazed and unable to speak, so Du Zhengyi stopped paying attention to him, stepped one foot into the pit, and reached out to pull open the body bag.

The corpse of an adult female was exposed before his eyes; the body had not fully decayed after the harsh winter, and there were many messy wounds on it. Du Zhengyi only gave up hope completely when he saw the steel nails driven into the corpse's eyes. He closed the woven bag. "Judging by the features, it doesn't look like a little girl; it might be the missing Qi Yue."

"And then?" Guan Xinyue asked anxiously, casting a terrified glance at Luo Qi.

"I cannot be certain of anything else," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi finally let go of the wooden handle of the shovel, and the shovel fell onto the loose soil by his feet. Du Zhengyi turned his head to look at him, his expression still the same unreadable indifference.

"Why did you tell Guan Xinyue that story that day?" he asked after thinking for a while. His tone was soft, sounding like hospice care.

"That was just a made-up story!" Luo Qi's throat was dry and hoarse, despair stuck in his throat like a fishbone. The cheap woven bag with blue and red stripes rustled in the wind; his eyes could not turn away, staring fixedly at that malicious bag. The biting cold wind of early spring lashed at his neck, poured into his collar, and blew his damp breath against his skin like a snake flicking its tongue as it slithered into his clothes, clinging to him stickily and whispering frantically behind his ears.

Luo Qi swallowed, clenching his fists tightly; he thought he might be going crazy. How did he know these things? Why did he come up with such a story, a story with a cheap woven bag, a wrapped corpse, and steel nails in the corpse's eyes? Had someone tampered with his head? Had someone stuffed this trash into his brain?

His heart was in turmoil, his ears ringing like drums, and he subconsciously looked at Du Zhengyi again. Du Zhengyi avoided his gaze, just as a healthy person, out of conscience, would be unable to look directly at someone who is terminally ill and nearing the end of their life. Du Zhengyi looked worried.

"Luo Qi!" Guan Xinyue called out by his ear, startling him again. Then he realized that Guan Xinyue had never called him in such a pleading voice; he understood what Guan Xinyue meant—she was longing for him to say something that would wake them both up from this nightmare.

"Luo Qi," Du Zhengyi suddenly called out, his tone urgent and his voice low, as if he had finally made up his mind. Luo Qi turned his head blankly between the two of them. Across the corpse, Luo Qi saw Du Zhengyi's lips move; judging by the shape, it was a curse. Then his long legs stepped over the pit Luo Qi had dug, and in one stride, he was at Luo Qi's side.

"Listen to me," he cursed again, then said urgently, "Mahjong is right; if you take the initiative to go to the Committee, you might gain a slight advantage."

Luo Qi listened numbly. Du Zhengyi grabbed his shoulder, looked into his eyes, and said, "If this only concerned me, I wouldn't care, but now things have gone off the rails. We must act quickly; a proactive response can compress the process and allow for a direct report to the Venerable. Luo Qi! Can you hear me?"

Luo Qi looked into Du Zhengyi's eyes and nodded; his throat was swollen, and he could no longer speak.

"The situation here is very complex, and I cannot leave. Can you take transportation to the nearest Pandragorn Orbital Station by yourself?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Luo Qi nodded again. The two had set out together, but now he had to return alone, back to the hub of the Magic World, to report his own problems. He felt like a mouse that had fallen into a maze box; even if he scurried around and managed to find an exit, that exit would only lead to a cage.

"I will give you a Coordinate; go find Pei Shu. He is one of the Venerables. Do you understand?"

This sentence gave Luo Qi a glimmer of hope, and he nodded.

"Good."

He could tell that Du Zhengyi breathed a sigh of relief. The hand that had been gripping Luo Qi let go, patted his shoulder, and then grabbed both of his shoulders, as if trying to make him pull himself together. "Zhao Zhiyan won't understand what is abnormal here, so we still have some time. Think carefully—what kind of thought led you to come here to dig up a corpse?"

Luo Qi looked into the depths of Du Zhengyi's pupils; it was only a glance, and he jerked his eyes away. "No—"

Guan Xinyue watched them anxiously, her foot slipped, and she almost fell into the corpse pit, jumping in fright. This action distracted both Du Zhengyi and Luo Qi. Luo Qi pushed Du Zhengyi away and raised his hands to pinch his own face agitatedly. "No, don't try to check my brain again. My brain must have been tampered with, I know it. What if I am just a trap? Is someone waiting for this opportunity, waiting for you to fall into my Yajian? They must know that you are not only bold but also very curious."

Du Zhengyi did not speak but pressed his lips together tightly. Now Luo Qi knew that this expression was almost equivalent to indicating that Du Zhengyi was indeed at a dead end.

Just then, Du Zhengyi suddenly turned around and looked at the locked courtyard gate. Luo Qi subconsciously followed his gaze, and soon he heard a sound—someone outside was fiddling with the lock on the iron gate. Before he could think, he heard the lock click open, the iron bolt slide back with a clatter, and then the gate burst open with a boom, sending dust and residual snow flying everywhere.

Two figures appeared at the gate: one was a monk wearing a brownish-yellow monk's robe, and the other was a Mage who was fashionably dressed in an untimely manner.

Zhao Zhiyan grinned as he entered. "I didn't know if something urgent had happened here, but I was worried and concerned for you, so I rushed over to lend a hand. The monk had nowhere to stay, so I just invited him along."

Luo Qi knew this was a case of mutual distrust; Zhao Zhiyan was afraid of being kept in the dark and had rushed over to see. He already loathed Zhao Zhiyan, and now, seeing his cynical, grinning, and relaxed demeanor, he felt almost physical disgust.

"How are things on your end?" Zhao Zhiyan asked with a smile.

"Found something," Du Zhengyi said, his expression having returned to normal. "Not very convenient for the monk to see."

"Oh, it doesn't matter," Zhao Zhiyan said. "We have to take the monk back for examination anyway; he won't have a chance to come into contact with anyone else."

He spoke with the attitude of someone who had caught an animal in a nature reserve and was now taking it back to a research institute. Luo Qi turned his head away in disgust, thinking the monk must have been coerced, and subconsciously glanced at him.

To his surprise, the monk, who had been standing quietly at the gate, immediately looked horrified, as if he had seen a ghost, the moment he met Luo Qi's eyes. Luo Qi's nerves had been dulled by the process of digging the pit, and he had no reaction to the monk's strange behavior; he only vaguely thought that being controlled by two Mages must have brought the monk to the brink of collapse.

But even dullness has its limits. When Luo Qi was stared at fixedly by the other two gazes, his instinctive fear once again sharpened his spirit to a keen edge. He came to his senses and noticed the expressions of Zhao Zhiyan and Du Zhengyi; the two of them actually shared a trace of similarity, both wearing expressions of unbelievable astonishment.

Luo Qi's heart sank; he knew that today's troubles were destined to come one after another, weaving into a tight thread that would eventually ensnare him layer by layer and drag him down into hell.

Du Zhengyi seemed to be the first to return to normal, though his expression as he looked at Luo Qi was increasingly puzzled. Zhao Zhiyan finished his act of being dumbfounded, finally let out a "Heh," and got angry, patting the monk who was shivering for some unknown reason. "So you haven't completely gotten rid of your fear instinct after all. Strange, why are you afraid of him?"

The monk stared blankly at Luo Qi and shook his head tremblingly, as if he had lost the ability to speak.

Everyone in the courtyard looked grave, except for Zhao Zhiyan, who was very relaxed and happy, looking as if he had cast off all his burdens. "Things have reached this point, and it's really out of my hands. What exactly did you find?" He had already seen the pit behind Du Zhengyi. "Hey? Who dug a pit here? Luo Qi?"

Du Zhengyi stared at him, his expression suddenly becoming very ugly, and an ominous thought flashed through Luo Qi's mind once again. He heard Du Zhengyi ask sharply, "Did you notify the Committee?"

Zhao Zhiyan shrugged. "Shouldn't I have? I have to report to my superiors, don't I?"

"What did you report?" Luo Qi asked in a low voice.

"Reported that I've found the great monk," Zhao Zhiyan said as if it were a matter of course. "The rest is up to the Mind Mage to pry his mouth open; that's beyond my capabilities, and I can get off work."

After saying this, he smiled at Luo Qi. "It looks like we'll have to take you back too; the Mind Mage will definitely need to check why the great monk had such an abnormal reaction when he saw you."

"Then I will also report this matter to my superiors," Du Zhengyi said coldly. "I'm afraid an ordinary Telepathic Mage won't be able to examine Luo Qi's Yajian."

"Oh—" Zhao Zhiyan said arrogantly, looking at Du Zhengyi with another laugh. "That's none of my business either."

Du Zhengyi frowned. Zhao Zhiyan was very wary of him; he was still smiling, but his body was tense, constantly guarding against Du Zhengyi. The harmonious alliance that had been barely established through the suppression of power was about to vanish into thin air.

Luo Qi felt he had learned a lesson, but he immediately knew that it didn't matter anymore.

"They are arriving soon," Zhao Zhiyan said with a smile, his tone kind but also a reminder to them.

Luo Qi's heart began to beat violently, his intraocular pressure rose, and his head throbbed with pain. Amidst the immense tension, the events of the past few days whirled rapidly in his mind; whether it was the result of thought or intuition, he suddenly knew who was about to arrive.

A trace of familiar energy fluctuation flickered in the courtyard, and Luo Qi knew that someone had arrived via Space Travel. He jerked his head to look at Du Zhengyi, and as the figures solidified, he said, "Li Xu."

He didn't know if Du Zhengyi had heard what he said; three figures in wide-sleeved robes appeared—three middle-aged Mages. They all recognized the one in the lead; they had just met him.

"Level 1 Executive Mage, Li Xu," the elegantly dressed and leisurely-mannered Mage said to everyone, carrying a solemnity that brooked no resistance. "Official business for the Executive Committee."

The handover happened almost in an instant. Luo Qi only had time to shout "Guan Xinyue," but he wasn't calling the girl; he was looking into Du Zhengyi's eyes as he said it. He knew Du Zhengyi would understand what he meant—that asking Guan Xinyue would be the same as asking Luo Qi himself. After that, Luo Qi was swept into a torrent of space-time travel.