Chapter 414: The Investigation Team

Luo Qi and Du Zhengyi were summoned back by the Highland Mages; suddenly leaving the sunlight-filled garden and returning to the red-carpeted interior, Luo Qi did not feel very comfortable.

He did not pay particular attention to the dense crowd of people in the hall, and turned his head to describe his symptoms in detail to Du Zhengyi.

Du Zhengyi was lowering his rolled-up sleeves, saying indifferently, "I think the reason you're uncomfortable is that you shouldn't have eaten so many nuts before Teleportation; I thank you for not throwing up. I've never heard of any Mage getting motion sickness from Teleportation; you'd better not use your brain right now, and save your energy for digesting those pistachios."

"It's because the Teleportation they opened was bad; the Teleportation you initiate isn't this dizzying," Luo Qi said. However, if Du Zhengyi didn't care, it meant he was still a healthy baby, and he turned his head to gloomily stare at the black-clad crowd in the hall.

In fact, their numbers were not as large as Luo Qi's first impression, but because they were all wearing black robes, they looked more numerous than they actually were when standing together, a dense, dark mass. Not only that, but to Luo Qi, they were a blank slate. In other words, they were standing there, and Luo Qi habitually looked at them with both his eyes and his Yajian; in Luo Qi's vision they existed, but in Luo Qi's Consciousness Space, there was a hollow area in front of him.

"They look like they've come to hold my funeral," Luo Qi said with a dark face.

Du Zhengyi laughed out loud, "These are legal robes."

"The legal robes that chant 'hurry like a law'?" Luo Qi asked.

"Not that one, it's the legal robe for enforcing the law," Du Zhengyi couldn't help but laugh again.

"Then how come I don't know about it?" Luo Qi asked curiously, "I've never seen anyone selling these clothes." "Because our world rarely needs to enforce the law," Du Zhengyi said, and only then did he raise his head, his gaze slowly sweeping over the people in front of him. Some people covered their faces, shrinking back and avoiding his gaze when Du Zhengyi looked over.

"I'm a bit dizzy from them," Luo Qi said unhappily, "I trust my Yajian more than my eyes; to me, they don't exist at all, they look like a bunch of ghosts."

"They used Magic Crystals, and..." Du Zhengyi paused, his gaze passing through the crowd again, as if "thinking" about something, and suddenly, as if he had realized something, he smiled slightly, "And seven, no, eight Mind Mages formed a Magic Array together to shield you."

A tremor went through the crowd, and some people were very uneasy. Many of them were perhaps seeing Du Zhengyi for the first time; for a Non-Telepath Mage to be able to clearly judge the existence of Mind Mages was itself very terrifying. Moreover, there must be many neutral Mages among them who were transferred over to make up the numbers; they might not have volunteered for this job.

"Ow," Luo Qi cried out unhappily, "What does that mean? Do I have a contagious disease? Why shield me? Everyone looks like they're wearing biohazard suits, it's really unpleasant."

Luo Qi's unhappiness was genuine; he even kicked a cushion on the carpet away.

"Luo Qi," Du Zhengyi called his name, seemingly in admonishment.

"Why are you scolding me?" Luo Qi said unpleasantly.

"What did I say to you?" Du Zhengyi said in surprise, "How did I scold you?"

"You calling my name is scolding me," Luo Qi said dogmatically.

Someone coughed, trying to interrupt their conversation, which ignored everyone else. Luo Qi turned his head to look at him with resentment, his cat-like eyes narrowing, "What do you want?"

It was a young man, his age hard to tell, but he should have been in the first sixty years of his life. He was thin and capable; at first glance, he had Du Zhengyi's style, but he was definitely quite a bit older than Du Zhengyi. "I hope you can separate for a moment; we represent all Mages and would like to talk to you."

"Better not," Du Zhengyi snorted, but his tone was too relaxed, and it was interpreted by the others as a light complaint rather than a warning.

"You represent all Mages? Do my mom and dad count too? Did they give you a power of attorney? Let me see it," Luo Qi said sharply, "You say you represent them, so you represent them? I also represent the universe and want to talk to you; the universe thinks your outfit is ugly, and you're even wearing a green belt—this whole set looks like a burial standard from a thousand years ago."

The other party looked at Luo Qi in astonishment; this was probably not the way of speaking he had prepared for. Luo Qi's age was already near adulthood, and the Investigation Team's contingency plan had not anticipated that Luo Qi would be so difficult to deal with. This could not be blamed on their lack of preparation; the biggest reason was that the school had very few records on Luo Qi. Because he was not a good student, nor was he a figure who could contribute to Mage society. Like Du Zhengyi's file, if you went to any Mage institution to flip through it, there would be a pile of data. But Luo Qi... based on his original talent, he would sooner or later be banished to the bottom layer, which was human society, so there was no need for records.

In the original Mage society, Luo Qi was approximately equal to non-existent.

"Non-existent" grinned and gave the other party a sly smile.

The black-robed Mage gave up on communicating with him and said to Du Zhengyi, "We plan to divide into two groups; Luo Qi will be questioned mainly by Mind Mages, and the rest of us would like to talk to you, Du Mage."

There was no expression on Du Zhengyi's face, and he said calmly, "Luo Qi has not yet reached adulthood, nor has he taken any Mind Mage courses; he won't start taking this class until he's in his fourth year next year. Under these circumstances, from the perspective of protecting underage Mages, I do not suggest you investigate him in such a hostile manner. You are approaching him in the way you control High-Reaction Mages; if you trigger the stress response of a Mage of his level, the responsibility lies with you."

Just as his voice fell, a steely female voice cut in, "What, Du Zhengyi, are you hoping we'll get down on our knees and beg him?"

Luo Qi immediately turned his head and saw that the speaker was a woman approaching middle age, at least in her second sixty years, wearing a ponytail, with rough skin, eyes like frost, and even her bones were larger than the average woman's.

"Xiang Qian," Du Zhengyi called out her name, "Has your period not been normal for a hundred and twenty years?"

"I'm not that old yet," the woman said coldly and stiffly.