Chapter 430: Waves Rising Without Wind (2)

Luo Qi ran through two folded corridors, breathless, rudely bumping into two Mages who were blocking his path.

On the final stretch approaching the hall, his pace gradually slowed; he could already see the situation inside the hall, his eyes widening unconsciously, his mouth slightly agape. He found it hard to believe the scene before him.

Majiang followed him without panting, but upon seeing the hall, he exhaled through his nostrils and cursed under his breath.

In Luo Qi's eyes, countless drifting gauze curtains seemed to loosely re-partition the hall's space; Highland Mages occasionally wove between them, some sitting opposite each other debating in the areas separated by the curtains, but most Mages were meditating in their chosen zones.

Luo Qi turned around, grabbed Majiang's clothes, and ordered in a rage, "Tell me I didn't have a dream! They definitely interrogated me yesterday!"

Majiang cursed, "You didn't have a dream, kid, nor are you hallucinating."

Luo Qi let go of him and said in horror, "I thought my worst nightmare had come true. To test if I had a big dream, I'm going to grab the nearest Mage and make him 'pee' his pants for me to see."

Majiang pinched his nose in annoyance, "Luo Qi, can you do nothing? I guarantee you are definitely a Mind Mage; you don't need to use others to prove it. I'm going to find someone to ask where those rooms from last night were dismantled to, where the Investigation Team went, and where the hell Du Zhengyi went. You follow me now, no causing trouble, no going to pry open their brains to look, okay? You did well yesterday, but don't go ruining things just because you woke up from a sleep."

Luo Qi had no objections, but he raised his hand and pointed in a diagonal direction. This hall was already quite massive, and now it was layered with the Highland Mages' curtains; they had also been biased toward looking for the large-scale buildings that had appeared yesterday, so their brains had deceived their eyes, causing them to miss the fact that a few rooms resembling the Qionglin Office were still preserved here when they first entered.

Luo Qi's heart eased, and he swallowed hard, as if intending to swallow his heart back to its original position. "Do you think we both overreacted? It's all because of the mess we've encountered lately, making us jumpy. Maybe Qionglin doesn't have daytime usage rights for the hall at all, and what was set up last night was just temporary illegal construction. Once we walk over there, we'll find Du Zhengyi in those two offices, busy working like a house-elf helping the Qionglin bigwigs copy documents; he must really love doing this stuff without sleeping all night."

"What is a house-elf?" Majiang asked, confused.

Luo Qi said impatiently, "Don't mind those details. Let's go take a look, but don't run anymore, especially."

"You actually care about face?" Majiang said, even more confused. He spent more time at Qionglin and wasn't as optimistic as Luo Qi; there was definitely something wrong with this situation. "You're still too young; you don't know that in this world, face is the least important thing."

Luo Qi pretended not to hear the last part of Majiang's muttering, keeping a straight face as he followed Majiang quickly through the winding path isolated by the curtains toward the opposite side of the hall.

The hall had no outward-opening windows, so even in broad daylight, it relied on artificial Light Magic. The light in the hall today was dimmer than usual, and there were more curtains than usual; within the dark red gauze curtains were many Highland Mage figures, and the corners of the curtains were adorned with many Highland plants. Both Mind Mages could sense soft, low-frequency noise ringing within their Mental Domain.

"The Highland Mages seem to have some activity today," Luo Qi said. As he passed the center of the hall, he habitually glanced at the fountain and happened to see a figure not shrouded by curtains. He hurriedly grabbed Majiang, "Wait."

The Highland Mage's chief steward was nimbly and gently processing data projected by a storage Crystal. When Luo Qi and Majiang approached, he looked up at the sound, still gazing at them politely and with great patience. Luo Qi didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt Mage Kawa's gaze lingered on his face for a few extra seconds.

"Master Kawa," Luo Qi couldn't care about anything else and asked urgently, "Why were all the rooms set up by the Investigation Team last night removed? Have you seen Du Zhengyi? Please, can you just say it directly? Don't use metaphors!"

The young Highland Mage first nodded slightly to greet them before speaking unhurriedly. "Your Investigation Team decided that the investigation work had concluded and there was no need to occupy our space. As for your companion, I did not pay attention." Fine, Luo Qi licked his lips; he had to accept that not everyone would be interested in staring at Du Zhengyi. "Thank you. May I ask one more thing? Do you have any activities today?"

"Some Mages will reach the threshold today," Kawa said gently.

"The threshold for what?"

Kawa pointed to the dome.

Luo Qi was startled, then realized it had nothing to do with him. If the Highland Mages wanted to ascend, let them ascend; he didn't want to worry about what they were doing. Majiang was already walking impatiently toward the door on the opposite side, and Luo Qi hurriedly followed. He knew in his heart that the Investigation Team wouldn't end the investigation so quickly; logically, that shouldn't be the case, and the remaining offices indicated as much. Perhaps there were too many people in the Investigation Team, and everyone had their own primary duties, so they couldn't afford to keep wasting time here with the Highland Mages and had temporarily withdrawn some people.

The Qionglin office here retained the Highland Mages' architectural style, and this extra circle of walls in the hall was also wrapped in dark red felt; Luo Qi estimated there was about sixty square meters of space inside, with the door opening on an inconspicuous side. Majiang knocked on the door twice, the sound appearing somewhat abrupt in the quiet hall, and after a slight hesitation, he pushed the door open directly.

Luo Qi immediately squeezed over, peering inside through the gap between Majiang's body and the door frame. There were six or seven desks inside, with office supplies on the tabletops, and people were busy behind them.

So this really was the Qionglin office stationed in the Highland?

Luo Qi swept his eyes across and almost took in the entire office, the disappointment in his heart like a stray dog biting at everything. He didn't see everyone's face clearly, but he knew at a glance that Du Zhengyi was not inside.

He pursed his lips, biting his lower lip hard, suppressing his disappointment and displeasure, not splashing these emotions like dirty water onto the people in the room.

Majiang coughed and asked the room, "Has anyone seen our kid's comfort blanket?"