Chapter 38: Du Zhengyi

Du Zhengyi woke from a chaotic dream; the messy dreams tortured him, and sleeping was more exhausting than being awake.

He sat up from the single bed, threw off the gray quilt, walked over to a narrow mirror standing in the corner of the wall, and examined himself with the most listless gaze.

The mirror was a cheap product framed by white plastic pipes. On the wall next to the mirror were a few simple hooks, holding the most ordinary black plastic hangers, on which hung the two sets of clothes Du Zhengyi often wore. Below them sat a plastic stool, serving as a stool for putting on shoes.

With a cold face, he changed into his outdoor clothes, finally walked back to the bedside, and picked up his customary Energy Crystal from the plastic stool that served as a nightstand. The Crystal was inlaid in a silver turtle-and-snake necklace pendant, strung on a silver chain. The amount of Magic energy a crystal stored was not proportional to its physical volume, but its preciousness was inversely proportional to its size. He put the chain around his neck and roughly stuffed it deep inside his clothes, letting the icy thing press tightly against his chest.

Du Zhengyi's apartment was not large, totaling no more than fifty square meters including the bathroom, and the window faced east. Opposite the room was a set of six-door white cabinets; two cabinets served as bookcases, and one acted as a utility cabinet. In the space of less than a meter between the bookcase and the east wall, a desk was squeezed in, with nothing on its surface. In the center of the east wall was a window of modest size, fitted with white blinds; even when Du Zhengyi was home, the blinds remained half-closed for most of the day.

In a word, this place was completely inconsistent with Du Zhengyi's appearance.

As a genius who was fully aware that he was a genius, Du Zhengyi lacked patience, was inevitably overbearing, carried himself with flair, and did not shy away from showing off his power. Yet here, it was cold, desolate, and almost devoid of the aura of a living person.

He stood expressionless, straight in the center of the room, staring at the blinds, slowly buttoning the cuffs of his shirt.

An unfamiliar buzzing sound pierced the stagnant water of the room; Du Zhengyi frowned and turned his head to search for the source of the sound.

An old iPhone 4 was vibrating on the plastic stool under the clothes rack. The phone had been shoved at him by Guan Xinyue when he left the old Guan Family house; its original owner was Guan Xinyue's grandfather. He had almost completely forgotten about it, having tossed the phone there upon returning home, never expecting it to still have power.

Du Zhengyi walked over and picked up the phone. There was only one person who would make this call; he hesitated for a moment, but finally answered it.

"Brother," Guan Xinyue called out cautiously. She was imitating the way Luo Qi addressed him, likely wanting to close the distance between them. But Guan Xinyue was not a girl skilled at currying favor, and the intimate address sounded very stiff.

Du Zhengyi did not bother to answer.

"Hello?" Guan Xinyue said. "Are you there?"

Du Zhengyi maintained a near-bored silence, yet the person on the other end somehow found confidence and said affirmatively, "You're definitely listening, right?"

The fawning, ingratiating tone was gone from her voice; it sounded more like Guan Xinyue again.

"Yes," Du Zhengyi said.

"I want to see you; there are some things I want to talk to you about," Guan Xinyue said.

"Say it over the phone."

"It's not convenient to say over the phone," Guan Xinyue insisted. "Besides, I don't know if it's being wiretapped. I have a lot to say, and it's not very safe to say it over the phone."

"Mages aren't good with electronic products; no one will be listening," Du Zhengyi said coldly.

Guan Xinyue was shaken by his attitude, but she was not repelled. She tried to find an angle that could move him. "I want to ask about Luo Qi. I want to talk to you in person."

"I have no need to tell you," Du Zhengyi said blandly, considering hanging up the phone.

But Guan Xinyue had always been determined and was very good at finding the right timing. "Then there are some things about my grandfather that I have no need to tell you either."

Du Zhengyi hesitated, weighing to some extent the ability of a sixteen-year-old to spout nonsense. He remained silent, pushing the pressure onto Guan Xinyue, listening to her rapid breathing on the phone; if she gave more information over the phone, he wouldn't have to pay her any mind.

Unfortunately, Guan Xinyue withstood the pressure and also avoided the clumsy strategy of trying to prove her credibility.

"Meet me at the tea house from last time," she said arbitrarily, and with a hint of baboon-like irritability, she hung up the phone decisively.

Facts proved that Guan Xinyue was very good at negotiating; even when her strength was crushed by the other party, she could still manage to secure an opportunity to gain the upper hand.

Guan Xinyue did not specify a time for the meeting, but Du Zhengyi knew she was very familiar with Mages and roughly understood their speed of movement, so the meeting time should be now. He also knew that with the patience Guan Xinyue had to spend months luring a Mage to her door, if he didn't go, she would likely just keep waiting, and this matter would never end.

He had been checkmated by the young girl. When he arrived at the tea house where Guan Xinyue worked playing the piano, she looked as if she had been waiting for him for a long time—waiting until her phone was almost out of power.

She was sitting in a corner of the tea house in a good position, back against the wall, monitoring the entire tea house from the front. This seat was also next to a window, which faced the tea house's courtyard. It was morning now, there were few people in the tea house, and ancient music was playing over the speakers, the sound of the flute as if weeping and complaining.

As soon as Du Zhengyi sat down, Guan Xinyue tossed aside her phone and nimbly poured him a cup of tea. "What exactly is going on with Luo Qi?"

"I don't know," Du Zhengyi said, looking at her.

Guan Xinyue's expression faltered, her cheeks flushing slightly, but she acted quite maturely. "If it's not convenient to disclose it to me, you just need to tell me if he's alright right now."

"When I say I don't know, I mean it literally," Du Zhengyi said, drinking the tea in the cup. "I don't know."

Guan Xinyue was slightly taken aback, thought for a moment, and continued, "I guess he must still be in trouble. I sent him WeChat messages, and he never replied. Later, I called his phone, and it never went through either."

Du Zhengyi interrupted her. "Is there anything that couldn't be said over the phone? Why did you have to make me come over?"

Guan Xinyue managed a forced smile, picked up the teapot to carefully refill his tea, and filled her own cup as well. "If even talking in person is this difficult, how could it be discussed over the phone?"

Du Zhengyi made no comment on the truth she spoke.

"Can't you think of a way?" Guan Xinyue watched his expression and said slowly.

"I have already notified his parents and reported it to the authorities," Du Zhengyi said, frowning impatiently. "The matter will naturally have a time when it is resolved."

Guan Xinyue seemed not to have heard him; her gaze fell on the napkin on the table, stubbornly repeating the sentence she had just said, "Can't you think of a way?"

Du Zhengyi drew a breath. He had always seen Guan Xinyue flying into a rage and arguing with Luo Qi, looking willful and exaggerated—truly a middle-school-syndrome girl—so he hadn't known she could be this persistent.

"I will not stick my neck out for anyone," Du Zhengyi said gloomily, kindly adding an explanation, "I don't have that much time."

"Oh," Guan Xinyue said in a low voice, lowering her eyes.

Du Zhengyi guessed she was finally frustrated into anger and should be starting to feel dejected. He thought it was time to stand up and leave, not wanting to hear Guan Xinyue say in a rather strange tone, "You have some dark circles under your eyes. Have you looked in a mirror?"

Du Zhengyi looked at her in silence. She was folding a napkin printed with a Lotus in a somewhat neurotic way, folding it again, constantly folding the napkin smaller and smaller, then unfolding it, and folding it in the opposite direction. She just kept her head down like that, as if talking to the tissue. "You're actually very worried about him."

Du Zhengyi felt he was starting to loathe humanity.

"How bad is this matter, really?" she asked unexpectedly again.

"I said, I will not stick my neck out for anyone," Du Zhengyi said coldly. "It's not that I can't, it's that I don't want to."

Guan Xinyue was frightened by his faint anger, shrank back slightly, and asked in a low voice with her head down, "Why?"

"You see I have dark circles, that's good; you see the traces of my conscience," Du Zhengyi said irritably, then let out a soft, mocking laugh. "He is still so young, completely innocent, and now he might be about to die in a madman's conspiracy. I've known him for a while, so of course I'll feel a bit uncomfortable. But I think time will help me overcome this sentimentality."

Guan Xinyue looked up in astonishment, staring at Du Zhengyi in disbelief; her cheeks were flushed red, and her eyebrows looked even paler. Du Zhengyi watched her face full of anger, yet finally felt a sense of relief.

"How strange," she murmured. "When Luo Qi was here, you were more like a person. Is that the purpose of Luo Qi being a mascot?"

Du Zhengyi's expression paused, as if he had thought of something, but he didn't grasp that thought, and immediately hung his loathing for this world back on his face.

"Talking about conscience or morality, I know it's useless." Guan Xinyue seemed to have seen through something from his expression, and she snorted with a bit of cynicism. "Luo Qi said you have bigger goals; as an ordinary person, I certainly have no way to understand or get involved. For me, I only know that a Black Hole has appeared in my home. Ever since it appeared, one person after another has been sucked in, and I don't know when it will be my turn."

"If you keep looking into the Abyss, one day the Abyss will look back at you," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice.

Guan Xinyue shivered. She looked back out the window; outside, it was still a sunny, beautiful day in early spring, the tone of the sunlight already warming up, no longer the paleness of winter. But sitting here, opposite a gloomy Mage, everything felt like a lifetime ago.

"Even so," Guan Xinyue said, "I hate it. It has destroyed everything beautiful in my life, yet I don't even know what it is. I can't pretend the Abyss doesn't exist; it's always there, constantly torturing me in my mind. And my sister, who is still missing—I must find her too. I know that perhaps in the end I won't find my sister, and in the end, I won't be able to kill this Black Hole. I really don't have any power, but at the very least, I won't let it always get its way! Since I know it is currently swallowing Luo Qi, I must make sure it cannot succeed—my thinking is just that simple!"

"Are you hoping to persuade me with a speech?"

Guan Xinyue let out a long sigh, and Du Zhengyi almost thought he was bullying a little girl and winning without honor. Who would have thought that Guan Xinyue would lift her head, a trace of arrogance emerging on her face, "No, I intend to name a price to hire you."

Du Zhengyi looked at her, "Let's hear it."

"I will use a storage Crystal belonging to Guan Yushan as payment," Guan Xinyue said.

Du Zhengyi looked at her expressionlessly, as if evaluating the truth of her words. She looked at him, likely knowing he was not so easily convinced, and she intended to say something more to prove her offer was not fake. Who would have thought that just as she was about to speak, Du Zhengyi seemed to have been struck, his expression changing abruptly. He suddenly raised his hand to press on Guan Xinyue's forearm and commanded her roughly, "Don't speak!"

Guan Xinyue was startled; she stared into Du Zhengyi's eyes, which were now as sharp as a hawk's. He raised his hand and made a slight gesture for her to remain still. His own body posture slowly relaxed; he seemed to be listening to something, or perhaps as if he could extend his nerve endings infinitely. He seemed to have sensed something, and his body became almost completely still.

Guan Xinyue did not know what he had sensed; she could be certain there was not a single person around them. She was sitting against a corner of the wall, and her field of vision was very open; as far as she could see, there was not even a place to hide a person.