Chapter 392: Positioning Memory

Liu Ziyu truly located an anomalous energy point, finding the actual physical location of the storage container.

Liu Ziyu intended to explain her discovery process to Du Zhengyi and provide him with some actual data as evidence, but Du Zhengyi could not listen any longer, nor could he wait.

"Ziyi." He reached out and gripped her shoulder, interrupting her excited, lengthy explanation, "I trust your judgment completely."

"Does the pressure indicate the degree of your trust?" Liu Ziyu said, looking at the hand gripping her shoulder.

Du Zhengyi let go, "Apologies."

"The pressure does indeed indicate the degree of your trust." Liu Ziyu smiled cunningly, "I will take you there; that place is about ten kilometers from the valley entrance, though that is only the straight-line distance on the ground. I estimate the actual location is about three kilometers underground, with an error margin of no more than five meters."

Du Zhengyi made a preliminary estimate, "No need to dig any further down; a physical distance of three kilometers in the Mental World should be conspicuous enough."

Liu Ziyu nodded, her footsteps light as she led the way. Du Zhengyi habitually observed that she could shed some of the constraints of gravity. If he used Luo Qi's way of describing it, she could probably manage the wall-vaulting and roof-leaping seen in martial arts novels, so she looked as light as a swallow jumping back and forth over rocks, walking on the ruins left by the cataclysm as if on flat ground.

Du Zhengyi was somewhat glad his physical fitness remained at its original level; he could still keep up closely with Liu Ziyu while carrying someone on his back, whereas the other errand-running Mages Liu Ziyu had ordered about were reaching their limits by now. They had already been tossing about the entire mountain area for several hours earlier to set up the Sensing Crystal array.

The map projected by the Crystal had been guiding Liu Ziyu's direction; her light footsteps suddenly paused as she leaped onto a rock, and then she crouched down like a cat.

"What is it?" Du Zhengyi asked hurriedly.

"I feel very cold," she said, looking back at Du Zhengyi.

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

Liu Ziyu's expression remained as dazed as usual; she was buried in a pile of flying data, constantly tugging at data strings with her fingers. Suddenly, she leaped backward, and that large pile of flying data chased after her like a swarm of wasps. She jumped behind a rock, suddenly quickened her pace, tapped her foot on the stone, and vaulted back. She didn't use much force, but this leap carried her back at least four meters, retreating far away.

Du Zhengyi stood still; Liu Ziyu finished her retreat and waved at him, "You don't need to worry, forge ahead!"

Du Zhengyi gave her a thumbs-up; he was impressed.

He knew Liu Ziyu must have sensed the aggressiveness radiating outward from the powerful Consciousness World. He felt nothing for the moment; he didn't know if he should attribute that to his own Consciousness Barrier being too thick. If Liu Ziyu continued forward, she could step into the world of souls at any moment and encounter uncertain danger. The road ahead could only be left to someone like him who had to move forward no matter what.

He hesitated, but still left the unconscious Luo Qi where he was; the person remaining in the Consciousness World might not be Luo Qi, and he could not let Luo Qi's body go any further. However, he actually felt more confident now than before they set out; Liu Ziyu judged that the reason for the mountain collapse was that the consciousness controlling this place needed to expend overloaded energy, and this matter was mostly related to some action of Luo Qi's.

Before taking the final step, Du Zhengyi vaguely felt the wind stop; he took a deep breath of the thin air of the Highland, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

In that instant, a sheet of brightness burst forth, and oxygen-rich air rushed toward him, as if he had stepped into another world in one stride. If he weren't one hundred percent certain that this was just an illusory world acting on his senses, he would have truly thought he had passed through the Sandbox Gate and entered another space.

A figure walked toward him from the depths of the world against the light; Du Zhengyi had no way to see the newcomer's appearance against the glare, only vaguely seeing that the other party was wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

He suddenly felt a bit unsure; he had seen Luo Qi's appearance in the Consciousness World before, always presenting himself in the image of a jelly Slime resembling an octopus. If he could see that pathetic, useless blob of mud again now, he would be so relieved that he would resolve never to criticize Luo Qi again.

This grand entrance appearing against the light also seemed like a childish trick Luo Qi would play, but if one considered the narcissistic mode of that self-proclaimed Progenitor Mage playing god, things were hard to say.

The passage of time in the Mental World could be much slower than the outside; Du Zhengyi waited for the figure to walk closer. Judging by the flow of time here, the other party had walked quite a distance—they certainly knew how to strike a pose. Regardless of who he was, he could have been face-to-face with Du Zhengyi in an instant.

Du Zhengyi even heard the sound of the other party's hard soles clicking on the floor; in other words, this was an auditory hallucination the other party intentionally caused him to have. There might be some hidden meaning in this, but Du Zhengyi had no way to judge.

The other party unhurriedly performed the act of "walking closer" until the distance between them was close enough that the intense light making him look like a descending deity faded somewhat. Du Zhengyi saw the other party's appearance clearly; he didn't feel fear, but if this were reality, he didn't know if he would be surprised enough to curse.

The newcomer was about the same height as him, wearing a pair of gleaming leather boots, and on his head was an old European aristocrat's hat with a wide brim, the left side of the brim folded up and pinned to the crown, decorated with a large golden feather at the back. Around his neck, he wore an old aristocrat's false collar, his two hands were gloved in leather, he was cinched with a leather belt, a rapier was tucked at his left waist, and a majestic cape hung behind him. This was the newcomer's entire attire!

Du Zhengyi was by no means trying to accuse the other party of showing off. Because this was the other party's entire attire.

Of course, no clothes and no pants.

But Du Zhengyi didn't want to accuse the other party of being a pervert even more, because you simply cannot accuse an orange cat of being a pervert just because it isn't wearing clothes!

That's right, what Du Zhengyi was facing was an orange cat about his own height, wearing a hat, a sword, and boots!

"Luo Qi!" Du Zhengyi roared in annoyance.

So much for not being angry, so much for the joy of recovery, so much for spoiling the child—all the thoughts that had churned in his kind heart were gone. He just wanted to grab Luo Qi and give him a sound beating.

The cat looked at him.

"Can you act a little more human?" Du Zhengyi shouted in annoyance, "Do you know how worried others are about you? You still have the heart to play this game?"

The Puss in Boots glared at him, then suddenly raised his right hand to his chest and bowed to him, "Oh, guest from afar, I have been waiting here for you for a long time. Please follow me to my master's castle; fine wine and beautiful women are waiting for you there."

"What?" Du Zhengyi stared at him threateningly, then had a second thought—it really didn't feel right; its consciousness magnitude didn't seem to be at Luo Qi's level, "Who are you?"

"As you can see, I am the Puss in Boots," the orange cat said.

"Damn it." Du Zhengyi finally swore, "You're even wearing gloves and a hat."

"As the master said, the companion coming to find him is an ignorant illiterate with no childhood who would surely ask such a question," the cat said. "Because I am the Puss in Boots, I am the Puss in Boots; anyone with a childhood can tell at a glance."

Du Zhengyi felt that familiar itch in his hands again, needing his fist or palm to greet Luo Qi's body. "What exactly are you? Who exactly is your master?"

"Ah, guest, let me regain my manners and my hospitality!" the cat said, clicking his boots together with a 'snap' and standing straight, puffing out his cat chest, "I come from a distant water-town Ancient Town, but my master says my identity must not be leaked. The master added a linguistic shell to me, so I can speak with a Lotus. My master..."

"The only thing you're spitting is foam," Du Zhengyi frowned and said. He tried interrupting the cat and found the cat had no special reaction, which showed it didn't have a complex core; it was just a low-level soul Luo Qi had tied to the door of the Mental World to keep watch.

The cat continued as if it hadn't been interrupted, "My master is from the Snow Country, the son of Ryan Luo, Qi Luo."

Du Zhengyi finally laughed; his consciousness inevitably transmitted a ripple of laughter that spread through this world. He had no way to hide his amusement as he would in the real world, "Qi Luo, is it? You don't feel ashamed at all speaking like that, do you?"

To his surprise, the cat sighed, "According to my deduction, if I were still a complete consciousness, I would definitely feel ashamed. But I have grown accustomed to serving the master. Follow me, guest from a foreign land; my master has prepared fine wine and dancing girls for you in the castle."

"Must I follow you to see Luo Qi? Luo Qi must be able to hear this now; he should know that once everything is settled, he is going to get a sound beating, right?" Du Zhengyi's consciousness whispered. He had no choice but to follow Luo Qi's rules of the game. He felt the vastness of this Consciousness Space; it was far from being filled by only one of Luo Qi's consciousnesses, but the distinct personal traces here almost indicated that the consciousness dominating this place was indeed Luo Qi.

But Luo Qi had hidden himself for some reason; if he didn't follow his lead to complete this game, he would never find Luo Qi in this maze.

He imagined himself following the Puss in Boots forward, and sure enough, the Consciousness World realistically completed it all. Du Zhengyi looked around carefully and found that Luo Qi had done everything very meticulously and exquisitely; he saw the delicate wood grain of the floor, the spacious and seemingly endless corridor decorated with all kinds of statues, the walls completely inlaid with polished marble, even the marble's texture being just as natural and real. Every twenty steps along the corridor, there was a floor-to-ceiling window; light shone in from outside, but when he looked out, he could only see a sheet of intense light.

It seems Luo Qi hasn't decided on the scenery outside yet.