Chapter 415

"Who is she?" Luo Qi muttered.

"An old colleague." Du Zhengyi said, his gaze turning cold as it swept from the female battle mage's face, facing everyone. "Under these circumstances, I refuse to accept the investigation. I will submit a written application to the Supreme Committee, declaring this investigation invalid."

The black-robed crowd was like a thick black mist, silently hanging in the air. Luo Qi tugged irritably at his T-shirt collar, trying to let in more air; the blank space in his consciousness field was genuinely uncomfortable. This feeling was like someone with acrophobia standing at a height, wanting to jump down, or someone fallen into deep water instinctively struggling. A thought stirred in his heart—a self-preservation instinct, wanting to tear open the blockade before him and unify the scenes across multiple consciousness fields. Though he could restrain himself, this restraint itself was unnatural.

Luo Qi looked around—no shadow of a Highland Mage in sight. Highland Mages surely didn't want to wade into this muddy water; most had some telepathic ability, valued the integrity and transcendence of consciousness, and wouldn't like such a ghostly scene.

The young mage leading the team bore Luo Qi's utterly unreasonable, age-inappropriate non-cooperation on one hand, and on the other faced the justified protest of the Qionglin War God, under real pressure. He had several moments where he almost wanted to pull out the Execution Mage's authority to scold Du Zhengyi for breaking rules, but then remembered Du Zhengyi himself held the Execution Mage title, plus his battle mage identity, and had long been doing the highest-authority work among Execution Mages. Though the Mage World didn't emphasize smooth operations, he too had to be careful.

"But we are the ones dispatched by the Supreme Committee. If you want to file a complaint..." he said cautiously, "... you can do so after our investigation, by submitting to the Supreme Committee to invalidate the investigation results. This follows Qionglin's workflow—we are all willing to follow the rules."

The female battle mage named Xiang Qian snorted, speaking bluntly: "To put it plainly, we've come all this way—let's just get the work done. If later Qionglin's lame thunder-sitting idiots say we did jack shit, then just treat us as having come specially to fart. Du Zhengyi, are you really this much of a mother's boy? You've been out so long you've even taken on a big aunt?"

She rolled her eyes impatiently, tossing out mismatched, nonsensical vulgarity regardless of age or gender, revealing her disdain for Du Zhengyi, though no respect for others could be heard either. Luo Qi glanced at this rough tomboy, anxiously licked his lips, and his consciousness tendrils crept toward her.

Luo Qi had thought she wouldn't feel it—not only because he believed his cultivation was profound, but also because the shields from the Mind Mage Array were too solid and thick; he was just probing. But this woman, striding forward, suddenly glanced at him, giving him a start.

Du Zhengyi ignored her, paying no heed to her violent knocking—as if she hadn't spoken at all. His icy, stern gaze still fell on the young team leader, and Luo Qi suddenly noticed his robe was of higher quality than others', the moonlight woven into the fabric thicker, with a... yes, a rare high-energy crystal pinned to the collar.

Luo Qi's attention was completely captured—from the clothes to the person, he had a touch more restraint than ordinary mages, his face paler when facing Du Zhengyi. Luo Qi understood: this person's background must be excellent; his family might have produced several generations of Nine Venerable Mages, causing him to climb too early to a position not truly his. Du Zhengyi had singled him out at a glance upon entering the hall, using the pressure of the Plague God as a weapon, smashing it onto this pale-faced youth.

The pale-faced youth's anxiety became more obvious, awkwardly trying to drag things back onto his own track: "We're just doing routine work, not holding a personal grudge against you. I hope you can cooperate. I think you have no other choice either."