Chapter 411: Settling Accounts

Zhou Quan finally dropped one last sentence, "I guess you might need to hold a war council; it wouldn't be convenient for me to attend," and with that, he disappeared behind the woods.

Luo Qi heard Du Zhengyi snap his book shut right above his head, and he hurriedly tucked away the remaining pistachios.

"Brother, they are still coming for you, coming for Pei Shu. I've also been labeled and counted as part of Pei Shu's team. Is this considered good news? The upside is that I can now be considered to have an owner, so they can't just catch me like a wild rabbit in the fields. The downside is that I really have no control over my own fate; drifting in the world of martial arts..." Luo Qi muttered, suddenly realizing the next line was "how can one avoid getting stabbed," he hurriedly swallowed the unlucky words and forced a change, saying, "my body is like duckweed."

"This isn't the first time Pei Shu has encountered this kind of situation, but his current predicament is exceptionally difficult." Du Zhengyi jumped down from the tree, landing easily and steadily beside Luo Qi, who looked at him with envy.

"Maybe it's because the situation this time is the most complex," Luo Qi said, his hands in his pockets playing with his remaining pistachios.

"Yes, things are happening one after another. The reappearance of the Progenitor Mage's high-level dungeon has had a huge impact. Although they don't know what happened yet, the fluctuations in Magic Energy alone are enough; it has created great pressure on Pei Shu and completely disrupted the normal workflow. Fan Shi's ending wasn't going to be very good to begin with, and now that he's encountered such a good opportunity, he's bound to fight back with everything he's got. I never thought that Mage society would also have such complex politics."

Luo Qi wrinkled his nose and touched his chest, searching for a trace of guilt in his heart, but found none. Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud; right now, anyone who got close could probably smell the thick scent of guilt radiating from his friend. He weighed it up and decided it was better to count it as his own fault.

"If I hadn't been born, there wouldn't be these troubles. Maybe I broke the balance of the original pattern, and Fan Shi only made a move against you because he smelled my scent. If the Progenitor Mage's high-level dungeon hadn't encountered me, she wouldn't have appeared, and then there wouldn't be..." Luo Qi said sorrowfully, while catching a glimpse of Du Zhengyi reaching the limit of what he could bear to listen to.

"Don't say that," Du Zhengyi said, annoyed.

Luo Qi immediately shut his mouth and leaned over to his brother to give him a pistachio, "Cheer up."

"The contradictions are already there, and things were bound to happen. Even if it has something to do with you, you aren't the cause," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi nodded obediently. Du Zhengyi was just a fair and just good person; he knew Du Zhengyi would never vent his anger on him just because of his loyalty to Pei Shu. However, he hoped even more that Du Zhengyi wouldn't blame the problems on himself; Du Zhengyi never doubted himself, and he would never need to doubt himself in the future either.

Du Zhengyi took the pistachio and played with it in a circle with his fingers right in front of him, as if performing a magic trick. At times like this, Luo Qi would always think that if Du Zhengyi didn't carry the burden for the Qionglin, wasn't enslaved by the Qionglin, didn't have time constraints, and wasn't hailed as a hero, then... then he would definitely be quite fun.

"What are you thinking about?" Du Zhengyi asked, guessing. The pistachio disappeared between his fingers, and a large Crystal that looked very familiar to Luo Qi was tossed up from his fingertips.

Luo Qi acted foolish for a moment, then suddenly felt a chill in his heart and blinked in surprise, "What is that? It looks... somewhat familiar."

"Keep playing dumb, and this Crystal will be mine; I'll never give it back to you," Du Zhengyi said.

"No, no, no," Luo Qi said hurriedly, "It's mine, I admit it, give it back to me quickly. I stole it with my own ability, so it's mine. When did you take it?"

"I also stole it from you with my own ability. If you have the ability, come and snatch it back," Du Zhengyi said.

"I was wrong, Boss," Luo Qi said immediately, then added righteously, "Reward it to me!"

"Can't you struggle a little? I've never seen anyone with less backbone than you."

"Is struggling useful?" Luo Qi said indifferently, "Give it back to me, or I'll kneel. I'm telling you, be careful, or I'll kneel and beg you; this is my final warning."

"You little bastard," Du Zhengyi said helplessly, "This is filled with the property of the Mind Mage Society, right?"

Luo Qi's face fell, "If I rescued it, it belongs to me."

"Look at your ambition, like a Treasure Hunter who has never seen anything good," Du Zhengyi said, "It's useless for you to hold it now. If you connect with them, you'll be immediately detected by the Investigation Team's Mind Mages. You're about to become a key subject of investigation, and it's impossible for this thing not to be discovered if it's on you. So I'll keep it for you for now, and when things calm down, I'll return it to you."

Luo Qi's eyes lit up instantly, "You'll definitely return it to me?"

"We'll see how I feel," Du Zhengyi said, becoming a bit guarded when he saw his eyes light up, keeping his words a bit vague.

Luo Qi weighed the pros and cons and knew this was the best choice. What's more, Du Zhengyi not only didn't pursue the matter of him stealing the Ghost, but even promised to return the stolen goods to him; this was simply an unexpected joy.

"A real man doesn't go back on his word," Luo Qi said hurriedly, fearing that Du Zhengyi might change his mind later.

Du Zhengyi gave him a mocking look, "A real man should hold on for the next five minutes."

"Why?" Luo Qi asked in surprise.

"Because Guan Xinyue is right behind you, and she's been a bit off these past few days. I'll give you a few minutes, and we'll continue our conversation later. But I won't go too far; if the girl wants to kill you, remember to call me loudly," Du Zhengyi said with a straight face.

Luo Qi hurriedly turned his head back. In fact, Guan Xinyue had only just walked into the woods and was still some distance away from them. He couldn't tell if what Du Zhengyi said was true or false, but then he thought about how Du Zhengyi couldn't possibly be someone who joked around, so since he said it, it must be true.

Du Zhengyi turned to walk away, but suddenly couldn't help turning his head back to ask him, "You didn't let a ten?"

"Damn it," Luo Qi shouted in shock, not knowing how to defend himself.

"Alright, no need to say anything, I don't think you're that much of a bastard," Du Zhengyi waved his hand, not knowing if it was at him or to wave away his own terrible imagination.

Luo Qi leaned against the tree trunk, feeling depressed, waiting for the gloomy-looking Guan Xinyue to walk over slowly. She was indeed a bit off, but he didn't know why either. Yesterday he was still thinking this might be because girls are anxious about life and death, or perhaps Guan Xinyue's "relatives" were visiting, which was why she was in such a bad mood and extremely irritable. But now that he thought about it, it didn't seem to be either.

"Luo Qi," Guan Xinyue called his name with complex meaning; to Luo Qi, it sounded like she was chewing on the name.

"Yeah," he responded obediently.

"There's one thing I want to ask you, your body has recovered quite well today, right?" Her expression was cold, but she hadn't lost her sympathy.

"Yeah, not bad. Is that what you wanted to ask about?"

"Of course not," Guan Xinyue didn't buy his act of playing dumb today. "I want to ask you, do you have any news about my sister?"