Chapter 353: Meaning

Luo Qi opened his eyes; he had just woken up from yet another bout of unconsciousness. He lay quietly for a while, letting his gaze wander slowly along the patterns on the ceiling. He saw familiar lines that, despite several transformations, never strayed from their core, weaving together into several obscure meanings.

His gaze shifted to the opposite wall, where the patterns depicted more variations, describing the various creeds of the Highland Mages. He looked on listlessly, when suddenly his gaze jumped; he saw a black head leaning against the wall.

Only then did his brain catch up with his visual signals; what he saw was Du Zhengyi, the only one still keeping him company.

Luo Qi coughed once.

Du Zhengyi looked up. He saw a pair of clear eyes, brimming with concern and endless patience. They were as clear as the sky above a cedar tree on Christmas Eve, yet contained so much fragile humanity. Looking at him, Luo Qi felt as if he were seeing dry, crisp pine branches on the snow, and catching the cold, fragrant scent of a pine forest.

"Ah..." Luo Qi sighed.

"Hey." Du Zhengyi looked at him as if amused. Perhaps because it was midnight, his voice was very low, and his throat was a bit hoarse, likely from sitting on the floor against the wall for too long. But he still looked very happy, his face radiating the vitality of the living. "You're awake?"

"Mm." Luo Qi rubbed his eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Why say that? You just fell from three stories up, it's not like you fell into a bottomless pit." Du Zhengyi said with a smile. He stood up and sat on the edge of Luo Qi's bed, his mood uncharacteristically soft, with no hint of sarcasm. He was clearly very satisfied with this outcome and had no further special demands.

"I don't know either." Luo Qi smiled. "I just had that strange feeling."

Du Zhengyi laughed. "So you've finally been taught a lesson. Kid, this lesson seems to have gone pretty well, hasn't it?"

"Are you satisfied?"

"The tuition wasn't too expensive, I'm very satisfied," Du Zhengyi said.

"Didn't Mahjong say I was fine? Why are you still here?" Luo Qi stared at him with his pitch-black eyes, as if trying to see into his depths.

"Keeping you company for a while," Du Zhengyi said leisurely. "You wouldn't want to wake up and not be able to get a drink of water, would you? Could you handle being that miserable?"

Luo Qi seemed genuinely startled. "I can make water myself."

"You can make it?" Du Zhengyi said dismissively. "But your cookies aren't bad; want to eat some?"

Du Zhengyi gave him a glass of water and a plate containing a few Oreo cookies.

Luo Qi ate the cookies and drank the water with a complex expression. "This taste won't poison me to death, will it?"

"It doesn't taste exactly like an Oreo," Du Zhengyi said nonchalantly. "But you have to eat these experimental scraps; you left them all over the place before you went out."

"I wanted to let Mahjong try some first," Luo Qi said.

Du Zhengyi laughed; the direction of the conversation made him feel both relaxed and comfortable. "You really hold him in too high regard. Right now, everyone is cooped up at the Highland Mage station eating beans; never mind semi-finished Oreos, they'd ask you for semi-finished steamed buns too. Honestly, you have a real talent for these... non-productive magics."

"If you like eating them..." Luo Qi cautiously took a bite of the Oreo he had made himself; the cocoa flavor was a bit bitter. "I can make them much better than this."

Du Zhengyi turned his head to look at him.

"What's wrong?" Luo Qi asked, puzzled.

"Nothing," Du Zhengyi said. "Do you want to sleep more?"

"I've slept enough," Luo Qi said; he was certain he had already slept for eight hours.

"It's not dawn yet, you can sleep a little longer," Du Zhengyi urged him.

Luo Qi obediently lay back on the pillow, his eyes still fixed on Du Zhengyi. "You're very happy. I rarely see you this happy."

A smile returned to Du Zhengyi's face, and he did not hide his emotions. "Today... no, yesterday, I was a bit depressed."

"Depressed?" Luo Qi asked, studying him with his gaze.

"Of course I get depressed too," Du Zhengyi said. "Usually I don't. But yesterday felt a bit like the final straw."

Luo Qi thought quietly for a moment and said, "It went out of control."

"Are you saying I lost control?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"I mean you've always been able to control your life, but yesterday it went out of control. Although your luck wasn't great, you've always kept your life under control despite various adverse situations, right up until yesterday," Luo Qi said quietly, as if explaining Du Zhengyi's own problem to him.

"Maybe so," Du Zhengyi said. He was still in a very good mood; normally, he wouldn't tolerate anyone daring to dissect him. Luo Qi also rarely spoke to him like this directly.

"Brother, as a friend, as a buddy, you're too generous," Luo Qi said, reaching out to grasp Du Zhengyi's wrist. "You're the kind of person who will be my friend for a lifetime."

"Did I say you were a friend or a buddy, Luo Qi? You're just my goldfish," Du Zhengyi said with a playful smile. "You were really scared, weren't you?"

"I feel that I am special," Luo Qi said. "Why?"

"Stop!" Du Zhengyi said, raising his hand to unceremoniously wipe Luo Qi's forehead. "Don't be so mushy. You're especially annoying, you know that, right?"

"I'm just stating facts. I can feel that I'm special to you. Just as you are my Anchor Point, I have conversely become some kind of special existence to you. I want to know what that is?" Luo Qi looked at him innocently, as if asking him to solve an arithmetic problem. "There must be some kind of Magic Contract in this."

Du Zhengyi looked at him. "There is nothing in this; it is the inevitability of the intersection between people. While you believe in me, I will inevitably believe in you too. I don't like this world very much, but I have worked for this world my whole life, and I have given everything. Officially speaking, this is nothing, that's just how it is. But privately, I have always wanted a reward; I wanted a meaning. I hope that everything I have done has meaning. I rarely have intersections with people; to put it bluntly, I don't actually have much intersection with this world. But between you and me, because of those encounters, there really is a deep relationship. To me, you are also an Anchor Point. If one day I no longer existed, thinking that you are still in this world... I don't know how to say it, but simply put... I am very happy. I would feel that this world has paid me back. But if they take you away too, I... I can't quite handle that."

"Your values have collapsed," Luo Qi laughed. "Honestly, we are actually the same; either way, they will collapse a bit. But actually, what you have is PTSD; seeing a Doctor might help you overcome it."

"Is that so?" Du Zhengyi laughed.