Chapter 444: The Dead Woman

The wrestling match fell into a calm after a strange stalemate; the world maintained a balance between the wasteland and the ocean, and the coastline stretched out, steady and stable. At the edge of his own world, at the end of the wasteland, Luo Qi created white cliffs, maintaining a psychological advantage that had to be just a bit higher than Clownfish. And Clownfish's ocean lapped beneath his cliffs, splashing cold white foam against the frigid rock walls; Luo Qi could not help but imagine that Clownfish was spitting at his feet.

Of course, he focused his attention; a Mind Archmage's battle would not be that aimless.

A projection of Luo Qi himself appeared on the cliff top: a bright green Slime.

Another physical projection appeared on the sea; the waves lifted him up, and a man wearing a Mage Robe stood upon the ocean, the hood of his cloak pulled low over his head.

Luo Qi watched him in silence. Although one had chosen land and the other the ocean for their Consciousness World this time, he still felt a trace of similarity between them: they were both ice-cold.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Luo Qi felt a sense of familiarity in the wisps of consciousness seeping out from the other's world—it was the feeling of encountering one of one's own kind. He looked at that ocean, bewildered; he could parse a portion of it, he understood some of the traces of thought within it. They had similar feelings, similar cognitive abilities. This similarity to his own kind made him uncomfortable; Clownfish was like a cruel mirror, reflecting an amplified version of his own anger, coldness, and ruthlessness. He preferred the kind of similarity he had with Du Zhengyi, a similarity on other levels and structures.

Just then, a sneer blew in from the sea like a cold, damp wind. Luo Qi clearly interpreted the emotion transmitted in the consciousness: would a person like this help Du Zhengyi? Would he say to Du Zhengyi, "I'll return a favor to you, bring your friend back"? Just because he felt apologetic about Du Zhengyi's wounded, near-death state?

It was fundamentally impossible; Du Zhengyi had been used.

"I've been wondering, why did you help Du Zhengyi fight the Progenitor Mage to save my life?" Luo Qi asked in the Consciousness World.

A burst of laughter came through. "Because we cherish each other. I mean, Du Zhengyi and I."

"Give it a rest," Luo Qi said. "Go ahead and deceive Du Zhengyi with your heroic sentiment; only a hero would believe your nonsense. We Mind Mages are not warriors; there are no heroes among us. You don't feel sorry at all for killing Du Zhengyi!"

"What? You've only just stepped onto your journey, and you think you already understand Mind Mages?" Clownfish's consciousness asked him.

"At least I understand you," Luo Qi said. He jerked his tentacles sharply, and a woman appeared beside the Slime.

She was a slender, delicate woman, perhaps even a bit too thin. In the howling gale between the black northern sea and the wasteland, she appeared soft and pitiful. Yet, just by standing there, she was a rare, warm presence in this world. Her red sleeves were gently swayed by the wind, and she offered them a soft smile, carrying a childlike playfulness.

Clownfish's world covered its slight tremor with frost.

"I have seen her," Luo Qi said loudly.

In his world, he could have made the woman turn her head to look at him, but he chose to turn his own head to look at her; he allowed her to maintain the illusion of a completely intact individual existence. Although Luo Qi could not actually see her features clearly, nor could he confirm the most delicate contours of her face, her existence was beyond doubt. The feeling was like looking at a work of Impressionism. Though he could not see every detail that made up her outline, he could see the gentleness and serenity in her eyes, the playfulness at the corners of her lips, and the vitality of her cheeks. Like an Impressionist painting, they read and displayed a world through the mind rather than the eyes; he had acquired the impression Clownfish's mind had formed when looking at her when she was once alive. Perhaps this was, in fact, the most real kind of existence.

Clownfish also preserved himself in this way; Luo Qi could not see him clearly, but he could see the coldness in his gaze, and he could see the complexity of his expression (the complexity of his thoughts).

"I have seen her," Luo Qi reiterated. "Not just during our clash just now. Pulling her out of your core consciousness just now only made me start to recall where I had seen her before."

"Impossible," Clownfish said dogmatically.

"It's really interesting, you're just like me, throwing yourself everywhere," Luo Qi said, exposing him.

Clownfish observed him gloomily.

"Tell me, did you become this twisted, this unscrupulous, because you lost her?" Luo Qi asked.

"Shut up," Clownfish said in a low voice, but he was not angry.

The cold wind made the woman beside Luo Qi begin to shiver. She started to feel cold and let out a sigh, looking up toward the distant sea as if wanting to see clearly when the storm would stop, when the sun would show its face and warm her body.

A wave of anger surged from the sea, lightning flashed beneath the clouds, and Clownfish's voice was like rumbling thunder: "You are not allowed to toy with her!"

Luo Qi stopped manipulating her form; he stopped manipulating the dead. Even if she were just a fantasy created by Luo Qi, no one would feel good watching someone else toy with their deceased lover. Luo Qi had successfully enraged Clownfish.

The woman ceased all living behavior and stood on the cliff again like a distant memory. Out of a trace of reluctance, Luo Qi performed the superfluous act of creating a bonfire for her. This behavior could only comfort himself, like burning paper money for the dead.

"Luo Qi, what exactly do you mean?" Clownfish roared.

"I almost died once. At that moment of near-death, I saw her, and many other people who had already died," Luo Qi said slowly. "I realize now that it actually had nothing to do with me being near death. The fleeting glimpses I saw were not ghosts. What I saw were fragments of memory, but not my memories. I once suspected they were someone else's memories, but I thought no one could have seen both a person sitting in a palanquin and a woman wearing jeans."

Clownfish grasped his meaning. "Indeed, no one can live that long."

This might have been a probe, or it might have been a trap. Luo Qi did not take the bait and continued, "Now I know what that was. Since then, I have also taken many other people's memories; memories are like footnotes to time."

Clownfish transmitted a gust of mocking wind, carrying intense contempt; he jeered at Luo Qi, "How poetic."

A flash of anger swept through Luo Qi's Consciousness World, and he attacked, "The Pendragon Orbital Terminal of the Guan Family—it was you who modified the Old Mage's Crystal, it was you who set the trap. I touched that Crystal, and what was stored inside was a copy of your soul. I must say, your soul tastes truly bitter. Is that the taste of the souls of everyone who wants to take revenge on the world? Your soul was already shattered long ago; even if you wanted to extract a copy, you couldn't filter out the pain. Not to mention those scraps of other people's memories shattered within your own; I suspect you've already gone mad, so mad that you can't even remember which parts are yours and which are someone else's."

"In time," the wind said, carrying an amused laugh, "everyone will be like this."

"Like what? Becoming an old fool?" Luo Qi asked in surprise, cursing Clownfish under his breath. "Your memories are all scrambled."

"It is that you are fundamentally unable to read encrypted memories."

Luo Qi paused, his mind racing, considering the possibilities. "Did you deliberately scatter the memories and then reassemble them using your own encryption method? Is that how you prevent others from reading your memories?"

Considering their opposing positions, Clownfish should not have responded to him, but perhaps it was rare to encounter a worthy opponent, and anyone would find it hard to resist showing off. "It is impossible for you to learn."

"I can't learn? Does the Society not teach it? Did you invent it yourself?" Luo Qi asked curiously. "I've searched through the common techniques of Mind Mages, and indeed, no one does this. I think humans use this method to encrypt computers. Aren't you a Lotus Burner?"

Clownfish remained indifferent.

"Why are you able to use Invisibility?" Luo Qi asked again.

Clownfish still did not answer him. Luo Qi vaguely sensed that he was thinking, and the decision had not yet been made.

"Somehow you possess Invisible Magic far superior to others, and you still want to covet the Highland Mage's Curse Ability, don't you?" Luo Qi asked.