Chapter 36: Interrogation 1

The room is gray, the walls are piled stones, the seams are rough, filled haphazardly with mortar. If one were to use a metaphor, the architectural style here is exactly the same as a pigsty.

Luo Qi sat behind a table with an Obsidian surface, his gaze landing on a streak of mortar on the wall; the mortar had solidified while flowing out of the stone seam, and the wall had thus impossibly preserved that moment of disarray.

His hands rested naturally on the Obsidian surface, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing against the cool, smooth tabletop. Obsidian is also solidified liquid; scorching magma once surged out from deep underground, solidifying in the icy world into striking black stone. Ancient mages called Obsidian "Dragon Crystal." It is said that Dragon Crystal has always been used as an Amulet, but that is content from advanced courses, and Luo Qi has not yet studied it. He only knows that a table with an Obsidian surface placed here cannot be without purpose, and he also knows that such a magnificent table is extremely abrupt in this room.

"Ahem," a throat-clearing sound came from across the table.

Luo Qi glanced at the person, his line of sight moving back to the wall; it looked as if someone had drawn a pattern on the stone, and as long as one tilted their head, the pattern looked like a grinning cat face.

"Child." The middle-aged Mage's way of speaking always had a cadence to it, as if victory were already in his grasp, forever unhurried. "What are you looking at?"

Luo Qi turned his head, took his hands off the table, relaxed his spine, and leaned casually against the back of the chair. "Mr. Li," his gaze shifted to the second person at the table, "Mr. Zhao."

Zhao Zhiyan looked different from the impression Luo Qi had; even when he was being beaten by Du Zhengyi, he could still maintain a cheeky, slick appearance, but now his face was stern, glaring at Luo Qi with righteous indignation. It was as if he had suddenly taken an oath these past few days to be a righteous sidekick.

Luo Qi's situation was bad, but he still couldn't help but smile at him. His face was full of horror, he glared at Luo Qi with disgust, and raised his chin to look down on Luo Qi, as if Luo Qi were a pile of stinking dung.

"Do you know what place this is?" Li Xu said gently, calling back his attention.

Luo Qi looked at him in silence.

"This is the underground of Qionglin, the Mage Supreme Committee," Li Xu said, "used to detain those magicians who are highly dangerous to society."

Luo Qi still looked at him in silence, and Li Xu sighed, "What are your thoughts on this?"

"I am proud of myself," Luo Qi said.

Li Xu's expression changed, as if he realized that talking to Luo Qi would not be as simple as he had imagined. He paused and followed up on Luo Qi's words, "Indeed, according to your school grades, even in another hundred years, you shouldn't have been able to get in here."

Luo Qi's face was haggard, but when a smile flashed across it, it still restored quite a bit of color to his pale face. He was not provoked, and a hint of cunning flashed in his black eyes; he thoughtfully sized up the Old Mage's eyes, and when their gazes met, this young half-baked Mage did not flinch.

A trace of annoyance crossed Li Xu's face, "Have you noticed the two mages detained near you?"

"They are so crazy that it's a bit hard not to notice, isn't it?" Luo Qi retorted, and after finishing, he added, "Actually, what I'm curious about is, were they crazy before they were locked in, or did they go crazy after they got in?"

Li Xu watched him, a subtle arc forming at the corners of his lips, his expression revealing the satisfaction of having eaten a delicious meal. Luo Qi's face sank, and he began to look at Li Xu seriously, "Who are you?"

"I am a Level 1 Executive Mage," Li Xu said, "in charge of the Magician Security Department; my main job is to investigate magicians who are potentially dangerous to public safety."

"So you can identify who has strong Magic Ability," Luo Qi said thoughtfully, "is that why you are interested in Du Zhengyi and Majiang Yisheng?"

Li Xu smiled and said, "Our department is responsible for recording all those with excellent school performance; of course, we are also responsible for locating those who, while not so excellent, have some crooked talent."

"Did you find that tavern that night based on the whereabouts of Du Zhengyi and Majiang Yisheng?" Luo Qi understood a little, but also felt a bit horrified, "Does the Supreme Committee track and monitor all high-level mages?"

Li Xu made an ambiguous expression he thought was humorous, neither saying yes nor saying no.

"You don't have that much manpower," Luo Qi's mind took a turn, and he said wisely.

Zhao Zhiyan interrupted him, "You'd better worry about yourself! You really have a lot of nerve."

"What's my problem?" Luo Qi asked with a hostile tone, turning his head to glare at him, "Because a monk is afraid when he sees me, then I have a problem? Maybe I'm possessed by a ghost. Why don't you find someone to perform an exorcism for me?"

"You had better confess honestly," Zhao Zhiyan said sternly, "you are the most suspicious in this whole affair; how did you know there were corpses buried in that courtyard?"

"I went to the mistress's house for a field inspection; the color of the soil in the courtyard was wrong, and one look told me something was buried there." Luo Qi said, "You should have gone to that courtyard to inspect it long ago; your legs weren't diligent enough, you couldn't find the clues yourselves, and now that I've found them, you're blaming me out of shame and anger?"

Zhao Zhiyan let out a scoff, as if he had caught Luo Qi's tail, "Since that's the case, why were you so nervous at the time? Why were you scared like that, and even specifically had Guan Xinyue notify Du Zhengyi to go over immediately?"

Luo Qi looked at him silently, watching until Zhao Zhiyan was so annoyed he was about to go crazy, then he sighed and said, "It was my first time seeing a corpse, so I was startled. What about it? Is that not allowed?"

"Child." Li Xu raised his hand to signal Zhao Zhiyan not to keep bickering with Luo Qi, "Your ability is not as good as Zhao Zhiyan's, but your glib tongue is a big step above his."

"What did I say?" Luo Qi said indignantly, "Am I supposed to just listen to him convict me without explaining a word?"

"Child." Li Xu stretched his hand out on the black table and made a slight downward pressing motion; this time, he was the one soothing Luo Qi. "Let's talk about something else first."

Luo Qi's attention was drawn; he closed his mouth and looked at the two of them.

"Let's talk about your friend first," Li Xu said, "let's talk about Du Zhengyi."

"What's there to talk about?" Luo Qi looked at him suspiciously, "If you want to know about him, you can go find him yourself, or otherwise you can go find his teacher."

Li Xu smiled slowly, his fingertips tapping lightly on the Obsidian tabletop, "His teacher? You mean Pei Shu? If it turns out one day that Pei Shu is also suspicious, then he will have to come here too and sit in your seat."

Luo Qi did not speak; for a moment just now, he felt a huge pressure. Li Xu was warning him; perhaps the little thought he had when he first arrived here about being able to contact Pei Shu to help him had long been known to Li Xu, and he was incidentally making him give up hope. In fact, he hadn't really expected that Great Mage, whom he had only met once, to act righteously and help, he just felt that Great Mage Pei was more like a sensible person than others and might be able to trust him more.

"I heard that Du Zhengyi once took a semester off in his fourth year," Li Xu continued, confident that he could steadily control the situation and occupy the dominant position. "How much do you know about this?"

"Never heard of it," Luo Qi said dryly.

"I didn't expect to learn too much from you," Li Xu said, "you can just chat casually; what are the characteristics of Du Zhengyi as a person, what are his preferences? Say whatever comes to mind."

Luo Qi raised his hand and grabbed a handful of his own hair, scoffing, "Do you have a daughter his age? Did your daughter take a fancy to him? Mr. Li, if that's the case, just find any teahouse, and if you buy me a pot of tea, I can chat with you for an afternoon. But we are currently in the underground of Qionglin, and I have no mood to chat at all."

"You are the son of two doctors; you should be able to observe what kind of aftereffects Du Zhengyi has," Li Xu was very impatient with his nonsense; his voice grew a little higher without him realizing it, and ignoring his digression, he continued completely along his own line, "What type of serious injury did he suffer three years ago?"

"Don't know!"

"Why did they choose for you to team up with Du Zhengyi?"

Luo Qi was about to explode completely, "Damn it, I don't know either! Everyone comes to ask me, and I'm very annoyed too! If you find the reason one day, please don't hesitate to enlighten me! I'll pay ten yuan to buy your answer."

"What abnormal situation happened after you teamed up with Du Zhengyi?" Li Xu's patience was exhausted; he stood up and walked around the table to press in on Luo Qi. "Why did you suddenly leave the Guan Family Old Residence? What happened that night? Majiang Yisheng's high-dose Medical Magic was used on you, right? You were seriously injured and had a narrow escape from death? Is that it? What were you injured for?"

Luo Qi pursed his lips tightly, leaned against the back of the chair, and raised his head to resist the huge pressure Li Xu was exerting on him. "Are you trying to get me to falsely accuse Du Zhengyi of being a High-energy antisocial magician?"

Li Xu scoffed, tilting his head and looking at Luo Qi with pity in his eyes, "I haven't thought of that yet. But as for this charge, Du Zhengyi is indeed more capable of bearing it than you. How long do you think you can hold out here without going crazy?"

"I feel pretty good right now," Luo Qi said, shrugging his shoulders, and said quite seriously, "My mind is clear, and I feel proud of myself."

"I still have many methods I haven't used on you, child," Li Xu said, "I don't want to be too cruel to a child; you don't understand anything at all yet."

"Thank you," Luo Qi said, "you really are a kind person."

Li Xu took a deep breath in annoyance, one hand landing on Luo Qi's shoulder, "I hope you can be more cooperative; you must know that we are just investigating all suspicious mages, this is just work. You don't need to be so hostile."

Luo Qi looked at Zhao Zhiyan, who was glaring at him from across the table; in fact, as long as Zhao Zhiyan appeared in this room, the situation had already become very hostile.

"Fine," Li Xu took another step back, persuading, "just pretend I'm picking a son-in-law for my daughter; you can just pick those things you think are favorable to Du Zhengyi to say. No matter what it is, I am willing to spend the time to listen."

"Then I have to see what your daughter looks like first, whether she's a beauty," Luo Qi said, "I have to be loyal to my buddy."

"Your buddy?" Li Xu laughed.

Luo Qi ignored him, having made up his mind that even if they turned the world upside down, he would not pay attention.

"You're overthinking it, little friend," Li Xu said in a low voice, "I've already talked to Du Zhengyi's classmates. I heard he is an exquisite egoist, a famous selfish ghost among the graduates, who doesn't even have a single friend."

Luo Qi was startled.

"What? You think a little idiot like you could actually become his buddy? On what grounds? Because your ability is too low, and staying by his side can mask his High-energy radiation, facilitating Invisibility?"

Li Xu mocked Luo Qi without a care, and by the end, he couldn't help but burst into loud laughter. Opposite Luo Qi, Zhao Zhiyan also looked at him derisively, twisting his lips to hide his amusement, struggling to maintain the persona he had adopted for today's interrogation.

"If he really treated you as a friend, Great Mage Pei Shu should have shown his face by now, right?" Li Xu continued, bombarding Luo Qi's defenses.

Luo Qi tilted his head and sighed, "Whatever."

"Planning to talk now?"

"I heard the best interrogation technique is for one to play the bad cop and the other to play the good cop," Luo Qi said slowly. "I don't know what's wrong with you two, did you not coordinate beforehand? Both of you are playing the same role, choosing to disgust me together? Sorry, I'm in a bad mood, and for that reason alone, I don't want to talk to you."

"Since that's the case, let's stop pretending to be civilized people." Li Xu straightened his back beside him and took his hand off Luo Qi's shoulder. "I heard you and Zhao Zhiyan had some unpleasantness a few years ago?"

Luo Qi froze, as if choked by the air. He looked at Zhao Zhiyan with trepidation and disgust, while the latter smiled with smug satisfaction. Zhao Zhiyan had not forgotten him. Li Xu knew it too, and he was neither evasive nor concerned about it.