Chapter 341: Failed Skiing Plan

A few hours ago.

Luo Qi lost hope, "The temperature here is higher than I thought; the skiing plan might be a wash."

"How about we find a place with suitable terrain and build our own ski slope?" Zhou Quan was unwilling to give up the idea of skiing; having trekked across the wilderness for an hour, he was still full of enthusiasm.

"Making snow is easy enough." Luo Qi recalled the spectacular scene when he lost control of his fire last time; he estimated that he could probably trigger a blizzard and bury both of them alive on the mountain.

"Building a ski slope is a bit difficult. How is your skiing technique? Skiing in the wilderness counts as an extreme human sport, though it shouldn't be too hard for a Mage," Zhou Quan said.

"Let's put that aside for now," Luo Qi said to him. "How come I heard this place often has landslides and avalanches? Can this place withstand additional snowfall?"

Zhou Quan hesitated when he heard him say this. The two had just climbed over a mountain and were still stepping on snow when they passed through the mountain pass, but looking down, there wasn't much snow. In fact, Luo Qi wasn't very satisfied with the mountain terrain here either; it was craggy and jagged, with the mountains mostly angular. When the Earth created this piece of land, the background theme set was 95% cold and grim.

As they looked down from the mountain together, several four-legged wild beasts galloped across the withered yellow grass. Luo Qi watched them disappear into the distance, and a few minutes later, watched them come galloping back. "What the hell is that?"

Zhou Quan didn't recognize them either, feeling a bit curious, "The only things that can run like this at an altitude of five thousand meters are Mages and them."

"Don't say that. They look like Tibetan wild donkeys to me," Luo Qi said after taking a closer look. "Being mentioned in the same breath as a wild donkey doesn't feel very honorable."

"Is it a donkey?" Zhou Quan asked in surprise. "Donkeys are this impressive? I want to get closer and see; will they be afraid of people?"

"How could they be afraid of people when they're this stupid?" Luo Qi said, following Zhou Quan as he walked down. Having been out for so long, he hadn't seen anything but snow-capped mountains and withered grass; now that he saw an unusual living creature, he was a bit interested too. He had to take a look, otherwise, how could he brag to Du Zhengyi when he got back.

He got along quite well with Zhou Quan. Compared to the average Mage, Zhou Quan was quite unprincipled, so he wasn't easily surprised, and Luo Qi found it very easy to be around him. The way he spoke to Luo Qi was as if they had been friends all along; he had no curiosity about Luo Qi and didn't care at all about Luo Qi's background. He didn't even try to probe Du Zhengyi through Luo Qi, and although Luo Qi was already on edge, he never said a single word that would trigger suspicion.

He was like someone who had seen so many secrets that his level of curiosity was extremely high; the background and life of a "furball" like Luo Qi couldn't stir his curiosity. This might have to do with his profession; working in the highest-security department of the Qionglin, and coordinating various secret Magic testing grounds, he had seen all the highest-level Magic, or at least the written documents for them. Luo Qi imagined that if he sat in an office at the Qionglin for ten years, he would probably just want to head out into the wild too.

As a reward for Luo Qi keeping him company, he answered all of Luo Qi's curiosities about the Qionglin without any barriers. It really didn't seem like a big deal to him; he wasn't exactly passionate about his job, so he felt no obligation to keep anything secret.

Luo Qi asked him if anyone was experimenting with predicting the future. He told him very directly that there were indeed Calculators doing this work, and not just one or two, but the highest-level Calculators were calculating for Pei Shu.

But he also told Luo Qi that such calculations were meaningless. He told Luo Qi in a tone that suggested it was no big deal: you see the future, you make a change, and the originally determined future no longer exists. This was almost the same as what Du Zhengyi had once told Luo Qi. It was just that his delivery was indifferent; he knew many secrets, but they were all just indices of secrets, and he understood almost none of the principles behind them, nor could he use most of the Magic. He wasn't a talent like Du Zhengyi, but he was definitely a staple of the Qionglin; he had no grand dreams or noble pursuits, but the Mage World needed people like him.

They also talked about human life, and Luo Qi discovered that Zhou Quan was a person who really enjoyed life; he enjoyed the benefits of both sides. In Zhou Quan's philosophy, he didn't criticize humans, nor did he blame Mages; to him, beauty was everywhere in this lovely world.

He didn't even care much about Luo Qi's Telepathy ability. He had been living here for a few days, and the first time he discovered Luo Qi was taking a Mind Mage course, Luo Qi clearly remembered him saying, "That's great, your major is very cost-effective; no need to apply for special experimental equipment."

Luo Qi didn't know what to say; perhaps Du Zhengyi had blown up too many test targets, leaving him under heavy burden.

They walked up to the wild donkeys on the Highland. "Looking at them this close... I feel like they are just donkeys," Zhou Quan said.

"They're donkeys from near or far! Big donkeys," Luo Qi said. He had recognized them as donkeys from halfway up the mountainside.

Zhou Quan stared at the wild donkeys from a distance of one meter. "What are they thinking?"

This was the only time Zhou Quan wanted to make use of Luo Qi's ability. Luo Qi looked at him, "Even if my brother and the others always think I'm stupid and unprincipled, I'm not going to use Telepathy on a donkey."

Zhou Quan burst into laughter, "I was just thinking, living at an altitude of five thousand meters, would their thoughts be particularly..."

"How special could they be? They must be thinking, the weather is so good today, the air is so good, the oxygen is so plentiful," Luo Qi said.

"Maybe the Highland Mages think the same way." Zhou Quan took a piece of synthetic fruit out of his pocket; Luo Qi couldn't recognize what kind of fruit it was, as fruit made by Mages often had vague shapes and might actually just be vitamin supplements with a bit of sweetness added. Zhou Quan tentatively tried to feed the fruit to the donkeys, but the donkeys kicked up a pile of dirt at him, snorted a few times in his face, and then ran off. Zhou Quan sighed at the donkeys, "What do you think is so good about this place? Did the teacher who taught you say why they live here?"

"Living here helps them better maintain their way of life. The Highland is like a cultural island," Luo Qi replied, his gaze subconsciously following the wild donkeys, discovering that they were crossing a small river.

"Then why don't they just go find a real island?" Zhou Quan said. "With blue seas, clear skies, white sandy beaches, coconut groves, beauties, and bikinis."

"Maybe... the lack of those things is exactly why they think this place is good? Have you heard of ascetics?" Luo Qi said.

Zhou Quan laughed, and just as he was about to continue chatting, Luo Qi suddenly pulled him, "Did you notice the wild donkeys are circling in front of that valley? They won't go in, and they won't leave, as if something is irritating them."