Chapter 393: Puss in Boots

Du Zhengyi followed a large, striding, imposing orange cat across this corridor of blurred distance, finally arriving at a plaza with a stone base. The marble material vaguely reminded him of Ancient Rome; an obelisk stood in the center of the plaza, and if they wanted to reach the largest circular domed building, they would still need to pass through a towering stone-carved Triumphal Arch.

This was definitely not a perfect replica of Ancient Rome; Du Zhengyi suspected that a large amount of Luo Qi's personal preferences had been added, partly because Luo Qi might not remember the original details of the architecture, but that didn't stop Luo Qi from improvising. Du Zhengyi saw a relief of the young Nezha stepping on Wind Fire Wheels on the Triumphal Arch, swinging his Universe Ring.

He raised his hand to cover his forehead; only by replicating the actions of the real world within this virtual world could he feel slightly better.

The orange cat was calm and composed, leading him toward the circular domed building. Du Zhengyi couldn't help but ask, "What did you just say? Luo Qi also has fine wine and dancing girls? Has he imagined a forest of meat and a pool of wine?"

"My master has to pass a large amount of time without nodes, and killing time requires imagination," the Puss in Boots said. "The guest is currently seeing the Third Kingdom; this cost my master a great deal of effort. The First Kingdom was the future era, and the Second Kingdom was the steam empire; both were destroyed by my master respectively. Now it is the Roman period; my master says he favors this era because he shares the same surname 'Luo'."

Du Zhengyi had nothing to say; one can never distinguish the truth in someone else's imaginary world, and the person speaking behind the scenes right now might just be Luo Qi. He had come too late; Luo Qi had been trapped in this world for a long time, and he was indeed trying hard to consume the feeling of being trapped in the depths of time, which also made Du Zhengyi sad.

He couldn't help but think of the scene he saw after falling into an Illusion at the Guan Family; to this day, he still couldn't be entirely sure why he saw the scene of Luo Qi being tortured into a deranged old man. He didn't dare say now whether his subconscious had sensed something and thus made the worst inference.

But that didn't seem right either; they didn't have such a deep friendship back then. They hadn't known each other for long, but life-and-death experiences could quickly shorten the distance between two people. It was just that the bond of life and death came later, not at that time.

He began to worry again, wondering if this grand and self-indulgent illusion meant that Luo Qi had already lost his mind.

"Are you split off from Luo Qi?" Du Zhengyi couldn't help but ask the orange cat.

The orange cat turned its head, its sharp round face staring at him, "No, I told the guest already, my master comes from the Snow Country, and I come from Jiangnan."

Du Zhengyi was stunned for a moment, "Are you a Ghost of the Society?"

"My master has instructed that if you say so, I must flatly deny it!" the orange cat said.

"Luo Qi actually stole you out! When did he hide away High-energy Crystal?" Du Zhengyi said angrily, "Oh, I know, it must be that idiot Mahjong; that Calculation Crystal wasn't put away."

"Guest, this is a peaceful world." The orange cat snapped its fingers.

Du Zhengyi's heart jolted; he realized his anger had vanished, and he was suddenly calm and composed. He understood now: this was Luo Qi's territory, and as long as he wanted to, he could adjust other people's emotions.

Two smaller Puss in Boots pushed open the heavy doors for them; Luo Qi had even made himself a temple! But in his temple, it was Peter Rabbit who was working hard to polish the armor until it shone. Du Zhengyi gradually felt a sense of irony; what Luo Qi had taken over was originally a temple, an illusory world built by so-called gods for themselves.

His state of mind calmed down, until he looked up and saw Luo Qi sitting at the very top of the magnificent hall, and the person standing to the side wearing a head butler uniform was himself...

A curse slipped out of his Yajian.

Luo Qi was lolling on his throne, enjoying... a song and dance performance in the great hall.

Luo Qi's dancing girls had yellow bodies, red cheeks, and black ear tips, lined up in a column, diligently performing for Luo Qi.

Even Du Zhengyi recognized this thing, "Pikachu?" Of course he recognized it; when their mobile phones still had signal, Luo Qi watched it many times and even tried to drag him along to watch. He had refused at the time, so Luo Qi finally had a chance to get revenge on him now; in such a powerful world of illusions, he couldn't avoid watching even if he wanted to.

"How is it?" Luo Qi took a large gulp of wine, ignoring Du Zhengyi as if out of spite, "I just like watching Pikachu dance; I've watched it seventy-two times and still haven't gotten tired of it."

Du Zhengyi was silent for a while, looking at Luo Qi from afar, wondering if Luo Qi could actually taste the wine. If it all relied on his own imagination, could the taste of wine really be that real?

He had a lot to say, a lot of arguments to have, a lot of curses to use on Luo Qi, a lot of confused questions to grill him with, how could he be so calculating and yet so childish... but in the end, he said, "Get down here, we're going home."

Luo Qi's head turned like a rattle, his cat eyes glaring at him. The posture he was about to strike in his attempt to make a scene gradually retracted after a brief moment of hesitation; everything around him changed with his mood. The light that was bright enough to make one's eyes ache gradually dimmed, the hard-dancing Pikachus disappeared, and the fine wine beside him, along with the butler Du Zhengyi who was respectful to him, all faded into the shadows. Luo Qi sat up, sullen and dejected, like a fallen king. The brightness, music, and laughter in the vast hall all vanished, and Luo Qi revealed his true form; in this vast yet desolate world, there was only himself.

And the Puss in Boots. But it had no active emotional function and could not count as true companionship.

"Am I late?" Du Zhengyi said tentatively.

"I thought you wouldn't come," Luo Qi said, rubbing his fingers on his pants; he was wearing plaid pants, his pajamas.

"I'm sorry," Du Zhengyi said.

"That's not necessary," Luo Qi said, lowering his head, "I don't want to leave."

Du Zhengyi was silent for a moment; just for a second, he understood. "OK, then I'll go bury you."

Luo Qi truly never disappointed him; the distance between them was shortened in an instant. Luo Qi stood right in front of him, and a wave of weepy emotions washed over him.

"Acting cute won't work either; aren't you ashamed of being like this all the time?" Du Zhengyi's hand habitually slid into his own pants pocket again, satisfied to see that Luo Qi had realistically simulated their height difference; it always felt good to be able to lecture him from above.

"If acting cute worked, why would I need to make any other effort!"

"Damn it, then just say it clearly, what other demands do you have this time?"

Luo Qi hesitated for a moment, then said resentfully, "The lies that bastard framed me with must all be voided!"

"Framed? You have a guilty conscience, don't you?" Du Zhengyi said mercilessly.

Luo Qi jumped with anger, "I'm not acting like a human!"

"Fine," Du Zhengyi said briskly, "I'm going to burn you right now!"

"You have no humanity, you're not loyal enough!"

"I'm leaving," Du Zhengyi said, "I'm going to move your corpse over. Whether you leave or not is up to you; I'll give you five minutes."

After saying this, Du Zhengyi concentrated his attention on the intention to leave; as he left, he heard Luo Qi's Yajian shouting that he wanted to break off their friendship, and he felt truly refreshed.

He withdrew from the Consciousness World, and the real feeling of oxygen deprivation returned, but he didn't care at all. The shattered valley put him in a good mood; he turned his head and saw Liu Ziyu still in the same place, the readings floating around her changing wildly. She might have already captured part of the truth from these dry data. Without even lifting her head, she made a gesture of acknowledgment toward Du Zhengyi, indicating she knew he had successfully withdrawn from the Consciousness World. Her entire focus was immersed in those readings, perhaps because those readings could tell her the truth of this world better.

Hearing Du Zhengyi's footsteps returning, she asked casually, "Is he still intact?"

Du Zhengyi almost admired her nonchalant style, "Certainly quite intact."

He picked up Luo Qi and brought this annoying ghost back to the area where the Yajian was strongest. He didn't know how long this process would take; he put Luo Qi down and let him lie flat on the ground. As it turned out, in the blink of an eye, Luo Qi was practically impatient; he returned to his body almost immediately. His body produced new changes at a speed visible to the naked eye, different from the regular physiological characteristics of an unconscious state; anyone could see he was about to wake up, and might even have cramps.

Luo Qi opened his eyes and let out an "ouch," complaining that the sunlight was dazzling his eyes.

Du Zhengyi, with a sense of gratification, did the one thing he wanted to do most at that moment.

He kicked Luo Qi, successfully making Luo Qi let out an exaggerated scream.