Chapter 364: Explosion

Fear caused the temperature in this cramped space to drop by several degrees. Guan Xinyue was trembling, but what shocked her even more were those Mages who had once seemed tall and oppressive to her; almost every one of their eyes was wide with terror, a nameless fear cowing them. For the first time, she understood Luo Qi's troubles, understood Majiang's vague hostility toward him, and understood just how powerful Du Zhengyi was to be able to remain calm and composed in the face of Luo Qi.

Luo Qi stepped forward slowly, looking down at the Mage from a position of superiority. "No matter how tall a person is, when they kneel, they are shorter than me."

The crowd was deathly silent.

Luo Qi reached out his hand. Every inch his fingertips approached the male Mage, the Mage trembled more violently. He deliberately dragged this moment out to be almost infinitely long; cold fear could make a grown man scream. Finally, his fingertips touched the male Mage's temple.

The man began to howl. Right before everyone's eyes, his face instantly turned deathly pale, his eyes bulged from their sockets, and the veins on his forehead throbbed. He howled in agony, even drooling as he did so.

Luo Qi withdrew his hand, and the male Mage's howling stopped. He gasped for air, his eyes still bulging as if he could not immediately recover from the immense pain he had just endured.

Luo Qi raised his own hand and looked at his fingertips, as if pondering something for a moment, not paying any mind to the gazes of the surrounding Mages.

Guan Xinyue took a step back, slowly putting distance between herself and Luo Qi.

Inside the hall, Du Zhengyi knew nothing of what was happening outside. He was trying to find a way to carve a path for himself through the jungle, heading straight for the few people who had originally been conducting experiments in the hall. Not many people had remained inside; he and Luo Qi had been in almost the last wave to evacuate with Majiang. Those left behind were essential personnel, and they should all have been in the hall with Liu Ziyi.

The situation in the hall was different from when he had left it; the plants had grown even more lushly. Du Zhengyi even suspected that if they were left entirely to their own devices and only restricted within the Barrier, they might eventually die from self-competition.

But something must have happened now. He efficiently hacked through the plants; even in a world of vegetation where it was impossible to discern direction, he could still advance toward a definite heading. Just as he calculated that he had arrived at the distance, he did not see the clearing that Liu Ziyi had successfully opened up by manipulating the experiment.

Du Zhengyi began to grow cautious. He believed that Liu Ziyi had once set up reliable protection in the vicinity, but now the terrain had changed, and he did not want to approach rashly and accidentally walk into a dangerous spot.

He began to clear the ground and soon discovered scorched marks. He also found a piece of equipment that looked like it had been sent flying by an explosion; it was clearly human equipment. An explosion had occurred here. Du Zhengyi roughly guessed how this small blank area had been swallowed by the plants. Majiang had told him before that this type of plant would consume all available energy as much as possible. Regardless of the cause of the explosion, the explosion must have also released a large amount of energy, stimulating the surrounding plants to accelerate their growth, and they had quickly occupied this gap.

Du Zhengyi quickly scanned the ground and, after advancing less than a meter, found a Highland Mage whose body was completely covered and entangled by the new growth. Fortunately, these plants had no intention of strangling the Mage's neck; they were just growing on their own accord.

He rescued the Highland Mage and set him aside for the moment, then continued digging forward. The situation was a bit like following a vine to find the melon; the second "melon" he found was Liu Ziyi. The girl was unconscious. He checked her over and made a preliminary judgment that she had not suffered any serious injuries; like the first Highland Mage, she had simply passed out. There was still a small scrape on her forehead, likely caused by flying debris during the explosion.

Du Zhengyi busied himself with clearing out all the Highland Mages. Just as he was nearly finished, Liu Ziyi was the first to wake up. She saw Du Zhengyi in a daze and immediately let out a sigh of relief.

"Senior Brother, you saved my life again," she muttered, struggling to sit up.

"What happened?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"I'm not sure. The equipment suddenly exploded. We couldn't control it; everything happened too suddenly. It was too late to run outside, and there were dense plants everywhere. We only had time to retreat as much as possible and cast a Protective Barrier over ourselves," Liu Ziyi said.

"Was it an experimental accident?" Du Zhengyi asked, though he didn't actually hold out much hope for that.

"How could it be? I am absolutely committed to safe production; I've never had such a big problem before!" Liu Ziyi said irritably, raising her hand to cover her forehead. "The Protective Barrier wasn't cast particularly well."

"Are you sure?" Du Zhengyi hoped she could rule out all possibilities. "You aren't very familiar with human science, are you?"

"I saw a Spatial Directional Distortion Magic with my own eyes."

Du Zhengyi looked at her in surprise; that was not a simple, casual piece of Magic.

"You can test for Magic traces; the plants might not have eaten them all," Liu Ziyi said. "It's a miracle we weren't twisted into shreds by the person who did this."