Chapter 335: Class Reunion

Dozens of young Mages filed in, at least thirty of them. Luo Qi, having been interrupted from his Meditation, ran out and stared at these new members in surprise. They were wearing all sorts of messy, chaotic clothing; the two in the front wore T-shirts and loud, floral beach shorts, sporting sunglasses as if they had been on vacation at the beach just a second ago.

Yet, right behind them, several Mages were dressed in full Mage cross-collared robes, their black hair and black eyes all shining brightly, which reminded Luo Qi of well-nourished crows. Their expressions were also very solemn, and they all looked quite sharp, which only fueled Luo Qi's associations; in his own world, he had already silently categorized them as crows perched on a graveyard.

Most of the others were wearing what could be considered normal seasonal human clothing, but among these mostly normal people, Luo Qi also spotted a flashy kid with a large yellow Off-White label stitched onto his body.

A few people, for some reason, were dressed like they were in laboratory coats, wearing long gloves made of questionable material, looking somewhat dizzy and disoriented, as if they too had been suddenly teleported here from somewhere.

A young girl who had just walked into the hall was also very conspicuous, to a degree that basically rivaled the Off-White kid. She wore her hair in twin tails and was dressed in a gorgeous dress with puff sleeves, lace trim, white over-the-knee socks, and a small bear bag slung across her back. Luo Qi's gaze was drawn to her, and then he realized he actually knew her.

"Hey, Du Zhengyi!" Luo Qi shouted, "Your junior sister!"

Du Zhengyi didn't make a sound. Kawa the Mage had already hurried over to speak with them. Mahjong had slipped over from somewhere; Luo Qi suspected they could all sense that a large-scale Teleportation Magic had just occurred here.

"Ouch," Mahjong said, looking somewhat like he had a toothache, "Du Zhengyi."

"I know," Du Zhengyi said, "The weirdos of the entire school have come."

"It's practically a Halloween nightmare," Mahjong said.

Luo Qi looked left and right, nearly laughing out loud, "What, are they all actually your teacher's students?"

"Pretty much, or at least they're close and familiar," Mahjong said with a dejected face, "What exactly is Pei Shu thinking? Is he trying to hold a class reunion for the two of us?"

"I know what Pei Shu is doing," Luo Qi said with a smile.

"You know again?" Mahjong asked distrustfully, "Then tell me."

"I told Pei Shu that someone had broken in here, and that the Highland Mages didn't take it seriously enough, nor did they really believe what Du Zhengyi and I said. Pei Shu said he would send some help our way later; I think this must be that help," Luo Qi said.

Mahjong stopped talking, looking a bit desperate.

Luo Qi saw that they had already found Du Zhengyi and Mahjong, and several of the Mages began walking toward them.

"Brother, are you really ranked sixth?" Luo Qi asked, suddenly curious as he looked at the messy crowd in the hall.

Du Zhengyi snorted and said, "I am the boss wherever I go."

Liu Ziyi was the first to walk over, still wearing her habitual dazed expression. However, she didn't seem to be heading for Du Zhengyi, nor did she have much interest in him; she walked over excitedly and asked, "Where is Guan Xinyue?"

"She is following the Highland Mages to plant flowers in the rainforest," Mahjong said.

Her eyes lit up, "There's a rainforest here? I want to go see it too. Before I came here, I was at the mall attending an event, and then my teacher suddenly pulled me over. I was a bit unhappy just now, but seeing you guys here makes it much better, especially since there's actually a rainforest here—I've never seen one in all my life."

"Wait," Mahjong said hurriedly, "What did you come here for? Didn't your teacher tell you?"

"Oh, it's a mess outside, and the teacher doesn't want us to get dragged into it," Liu Ziyi said readily.

"What kind of mess?" Mahjong asked.

"The Supreme Committee of the Qionglin is holding a Hearing right now, constantly summoning Mages to be questioned or to testify. The teacher thinks most of it is unnecessary, just a tug-of-war between them. Plus, the teacher said it's not safe anywhere right now and wants us to come here to take shelter," Liu Ziyi replied.

The other Mages also walked closer, and Liu Ziyi found an opportunity and quickly took the chance to run off to play. Mahjong and Du Zhengyi exchanged a glance and said, "No wonder everyone who came is from the laboratory."

"Pei Shu is protecting the civilian staff?" Luo Qi asked. "Ah, he also believes that the Lotus Burners are targeting the Qionglin now, and he's worried that the young Mages will fall in the first wave of attacks."

"Something like that," Du Zhengyi said. "They will indeed be relatively safer here."

"And with you here to look after them, it's truly a reasonable allocation of resources; it doesn't waste you at all," Luo Qi said, not sure what he was feeling, speaking in a casual tone.

"Who is looking after whom? That's not how you put it. Speaking of resource allocation, we resources have been allocated for Du Zhengyi from the very beginning."

Luo Qi turned his head and discovered that the person speaking was one of the crows.

"Hey brother, you were all brought here suddenly, huh? Sorry about that. You were attending a funeral, right?" Luo Qi said.

The man looked at him with sharp eyes; well, if eyes were probes, he had already pierced into Luo Qi's bone marrow. Luo Qi had to admit that this person looked very sharp—not the handsome kind of sharp, but the kind that seemed to radiate static electricity from his whole body. This person looked like he should be working in a graveyard.

Perhaps it was because Luo Qi looked too young, but the man didn't pay him any mind at all. As if no one had spoken just now, the man turned to Du Zhengyi. "Again. Once again, all of us have to drop our original work to accommodate you. If all resources are tilted toward you, of course you can always be the boss."

Luo Qi blinked and looked at Mahjong's expression; his toothache-like appearance was becoming more and more obvious. Luo Qi looked back at Du Zhengyi and found that Du Zhengyi remained expressionless, showing no feedback at all to this sarcasm.

The Off-White kid beside him suddenly said, "This place is actually not bad; it's very quiet, no one bothers you, and it's very suitable for preparing a neutral environment. If we conduct experiments here, the work will progress faster."

He sized up these few people, his gaze sliding from Du Zhengyi to Mahjong, and finally resting on Luo Qi's face.

He gave Luo Qi a smile and said easily, "Buddy, I don't know you yet."

"Oh, my name is Luo Qi," Luo Qi said hurriedly, reaching out to the Off-White kid.

The Off-White kid immediately reached out and shook hands with Luo Qi; Luo Qi felt many calluses on the inside of his palms, which didn't match his unrestrained exterior. He said, "My name is Zhou Quan, the 'Quan' as in 'power'—without the power."

Luo Qi grinned, thinking this person was quite interesting, "I'm the 'Qi' as in 'strange'."

"The 'Luo' as in 'radish'," Du Zhengyi suddenly said.

Luo Qi smiled and looked at Du Zhengyi, only to be glared at by him.

The Off-White kid looked at Du Zhengyi with a hint of horror, as if Du Zhengyi had suddenly turned into a Qiongqi right before their eyes.