Chapter 422: Liu Li

Passing through two corridors, the hall that appeared before the group had completely changed. To be precise, the hall had actually disappeared.

It turned out the end of the corridor connected to a new loop corridor; the walls of the corridor had become tall, far exceeding the height of the original Highland Mage roof. Luo Qi did not know how they had achieved this. He tilted his head to look up; the light from the lamps could no longer illuminate the dome, and the high parts of the corridor walls vanished into the darkness. This did not seem like an illusion, but Luo Qi simply did not know how they had achieved it.

The newly appeared walls in the hall were like cold, sheer cliffs. It felt as if there were walls within walls; perhaps those walls were merely room partitions, but the grimly arrayed walls in the middle of the Ten Thousand Character Building were more like a labyrinth. A labyrinth above the World Dome, standing right atop the Ancestor Mage Ruins, wrapping the secrets of the Mages' power over the ruins. Two young Execution Mages led them, and the four of them stood in front of this newly risen structure, just like standing outside a labyrinth.

Luo Qi looked at his friends again with slight unease. They had escaped death time and again along the way, but now Guan Xinyue had become an unstable factor. There were dark circles under her eyes, her face was full of weariness, and she was even chewing gum.

Majiang was a good person with a sense of justice. He helped them because of his sense of justice, but he would also pour out secrets to the Qionglin because of his justice.

Du Zhengyi, expressionless. He could not help but smile; Du Zhengyi was like a constant in his life. Even though his life had been completely and thoroughly swept into a raging storm, and he himself was the great vortex within this raging storm, Du Zhengyi still stood unmoved.

He patted Du Zhengyi on the shoulder with a cheeky hand, "The Needle that Calms the Sea."

Du Zhengyi's brows furrowed, "What did you call me?"

Luo Qi rolled his eyes.

Zhou Quan quickened his pace, walking to a door ten meters away with the attitude of sending off a Plague God, knocked on the door, and then turned to signal to them.

Du Zhengyi and Majiang exchanged a look; neither of them spoke, and they walked forward together. Luo Qi did not like being ignored, so he immediately squeezed to Du Zhengyi's side, walking extra close to him.

Zhou Quan did not get close to that door, as if the door panel were scalding, and quickly dodged backward. When passing Luo Qi, he patted him on the shoulder, lowered his voice to say "Take care, buddy," and then retreated at high speed from the newly opened circular corridor in the hall.

The Execution Mage named Peng Xiaopeng was a member of the Investigation Team himself, so there was no need to avoid him. He led them and was the first to open the door and enter. Du Zhengyi followed closely behind him. Originally, the second person should perhaps have been Majiang; Luo Qi knew of the existence of the Mage hierarchy, but that did not stop him from squeezing in front of Majiang and following Du Zhengyi into the room.

"Oh, Du Zhengyi, it really is you. Honestly, I truly hope this trouble isn't yours." A familiar female voice sounded from inside.

Luo Qi poked his head out from behind Du Zhengyi and saw Liu Li sitting behind an office desk, still with that stern face he was familiar with. The desk was still piled with a large stack of paper documents, as if she had moved her office out of the school. Seeing her, Luo Qi felt a sense of relief. In a short period of time, everything had changed, but she was still the same, making him afraid—truly another constant amidst all the changes.

Her attitude toward him had not changed much either; she saw him at a glance, "And you, Du Zhengyi's big trouble."

Luo Qi walked out from behind Du Zhengyi, puffed out his chest, and put on a look of small surprise, "The honor is all mine."

"What?" she asked sternly, but also looked at him with confusion.

"The trouble of 【the God of War (who solves all the troubles of the Magic World)】, that is yours truly," Luo Qi said, "Of course, the honor is all mine."

As he spoke, he also used glowing golden light in the air beside him to mark out the grammatical structure of the sentence.

Liu Li's shoulders slumped, and she looked at Luo Qi, perplexed, "Thank you for drawing out the attributive."

Du Zhengyi remained silent throughout, full of patience. This small office was laid out very much like Liu Li's office at school; there was even a small sofa opposite the desk. The first day they met, they had sat on such a sofa. The lighting in the office was very limited, illuminating almost only the area of Liu Li's desk, just enough for her own use.

At this moment, she was sitting behind the desk, pressing both elbows onto an unfolded document. Her right hand was supporting her forehead, and a pencil was tucked between her fingers. She was looking at Luo Qi, her eyes filled with fatigue, looking as if she had a headache. Du Zhengyi knew she must have a headache; no one could see Luo Qi without getting a headache.

He should say something. "When you handed him over to me, you gave him to me as a mascot. He didn't look like he would do any harm; who would have thought he was such a stubborn rascal."

"Indeed," Liu Li admitted. She looked at Luo Qi, and Luo Qi was fearless; she could tell from those black eyes that wandered everywhere. He stood very close to Du Zhengyi, and no matter what Du Zhengyi said, he had, after all, allowed Luo Qi to stand pressed against his sleeve. The disparagement in his mouth toward Luo Qi was just self-deprecation for his own "produce." "I can see he still respects you. Have you considered properly leading the team and keeping him in check?"

"I have considered buying a chain and tying him up," Du Zhengyi said with a faint smile.

But Liu Li really felt a bit of a headache coming on. She could hear Du Zhengyi's shielding of that kid, especially when that kid let out a "heh" laugh, and Du Zhengyi didn't show even a hint of annoyance.

"But when it comes down to it..." Du Zhengyi hesitated slightly, "Teacher Liu, I have always wanted to ask you, who said his Luck was high to low?"