Chapter 445: The Clownfish's Ocean

"Yes, I am a Lotus Burner," the Clownfish's mocking voice came through, "and you are a Mind Mage of the Qionglin!"

"Oh." Luo Qi understood; this was an insult, and the two of them were surprisingly well aware of each other. "Disloyalty is the talent of a Mind Mage, isn't it, old senior?"

"Disloyalty? That depends on what the object of loyalty is," the Clownfish said. His voice no longer sounded like thunder or wind; his voice gradually changed from the sounds of the natural world into a human voice. Luo Qi cautiously maintained his barrier, unsure if the Clownfish was offering a truce or showing goodwill toward him.

If he were offering a truce or showing goodwill... then what would he himself do? Would he slide toward the Lotus Burners?

"I don't count as one of the Lotus Burners," the Clownfish said, as if he had heard Luo Qi's inner thoughts. Luo Qi shuddered at the sound; his barrier loosened somewhat due to a lack of confidence, and taking advantage of this opportunity, the Clownfish abruptly closed the distance between them.

The Clownfish stood at the edge of Luo Qi's cliff, his sharp mental weapon pricking at the surface of Luo Qi's mental barrier like a needle, and then it hovered there. Under the immense pressure, Luo Qi did not retreat a single step.

"I smell your scent, Luo Qi." The Clownfish's physical projection was pressed right in front of Luo Qi.

"Pervert," Luo Qi couldn't help but say.

"A scent of despair; your consciousness world is so desperate it's about to go mad." The Clownfish grinned, his eyes watching him from the shadows.

"Likewise," Luo Qi said. He changed from the form of a Slime into his own form, then reached out his hand to the right. The woman at the edge of the cliff drifted toward him in a daze and took his arm. The Clownfish watched him with a strange, restrained look, not angered to the point of jumping up by his provocation.

"Sometimes..." the Clownfish said in a low voice, "you are frighteningly precocious."

Luo Qi guessed this was sarcasm; he didn't care, as he was now completely relaxed. He turned his head to look at the woman. "I don't think the Lotus Burners would squat here for so long; they should be busy carrying out terrorist attacks. Even if we can create projections, we can't create their souls. Souls—you can't be missing even a fraction."

"It's rare that you realized this at such a young age," the Clownfish said. He also turned his head to look at the woman, and to Luo Qi's surprise, he never again angrily demanded that Luo Qi let go. However, Luo Qi's attitude toward her was quite gentlemanly; he had been silently reciting that the dead should be respected.

The atmosphere became quite strange; the two of them were like they had suddenly started a casual chat, even though the Clownfish's blade was still hanging over Luo Qi's head.

"What did she die of?" Luo Qi chatted with him.

"Died in an accident," the Clownfish said softly, gazing at the woman beside Luo Qi.

"An accident?" Luo Qi was somewhat surprised. Mages rarely die in accidents; the only things he could imagine were Liu Ziyu causing an explosion in the lab, or someone stumbling into the range of a Curse.

"She was a human, can't you tell? Are you blind?" the Clownfish asked, the last sentence carrying a trace of impatience, as if everyone should be able to see all the characteristics of his lover at a glance.

"How could I possibly tell? There's no difference in appearance between a Mage and a human... oh..." Luo Qi said, and he realized another thing. "So you really couldn't be a true Lotus Burner."

The Clownfish tacitly accepted this fact. Luo Qi followed this vine down, groping to try and reconstruct the Clownfish's behavioral path. "You are actually utilizing the Lotus Burners? Your goal..." he hesitated for a moment, "... is still Gushan, isn't it?"

"Why speak in riddles when we are both clear-headed?" the Clownfish said bluntly. "Is your goal not that place?"

"Planning to use the power of the Lotus Burners to complete in a roundabout way what you couldn't do more than three years ago?" Luo Qi said, pondering. "But don't take me for a confidant. No matter what, I would never plan a terrorist attack like you, attacking humans indiscriminately. I thought you really couldn't stand humans? How could you kill your lover's kin?"

"That is an essential war loss; otherwise, how could my score among the Lotus Burners rise so quickly?" The Clownfish grinned, revealing a smile; Luo Qi vaguely felt that he must be a very handsome person.

"Pervert," Luo Qi muttered. "Have you never thought about how many people like her died just like that in your attacks? Just to help the Lotus Burners demonstrate against the Qionglin? Just to gain trust and obtain power? Have you thought that she might also have fallen in a shopping mall for no reason?"

"What? Speaking for the Qionglin? Shut your mouth, Luo Qi, you coward!" The Clownfish suddenly became uncontrollably furious. The clouds over the sea surged; in an instant, the dark clouds were as black as ink, and the sea surface was as gloomy as dusk. An ominous storm was brewing in the distance. "You fool, do you still want to speak for the Qionglin? If the Qionglin had acknowledged the existence of the Lotus Burners earlier, she wouldn't have died!"

"What?" Luo Qi paused in astonishment. The Clownfish meant... she died for this? She died in a terrorist attack caused by the Qionglin's inaction, died at the hands of the Lotus Burners? His chest felt as if a roaring thunder had trembled through it; many things that didn't make sense were corrected, and the jagged edges of the puzzle became smooth. "You... you are pushing the Lotus Burners and the Qionglin to destroy each other..."

"Is that not right?" The Clownfish grabbed Luo Qi's arm. "Is that not right? Is there any side, the Lotus Burners or the Qionglin, that is qualified to continue existing? I want you to answer me with your soul: do you think either side's existence is righteous? Isn't the Qionglin, which has existed for thousands of years, a zombie?"

Luo Qi didn't want to answer, but he knew the answer himself; he didn't want to say it only because he didn't want to agree with someone who had killed Du Zhengyi. "If the dead could be resurrected, you would probably stop."

"How do you know the dead can be resurrected?" the Clownfish asked eerily.

"Otherwise, why would you be so persistent in wanting to dig up the secrets of Gushan?" Luo Qi said.

"You must know..." the Clownfish said slowly, "I gave up seizing the memory of the Progenitor Mage in exchange for your life."

"Unless the memory of the Progenitor Mage isn't that valuable either, and what is buried in Gushan is not just Magic knowledge, but something more important, for example, an essential Magic entity." Luo Qi said calmly, exposing the Clownfish. "You wouldn't save me because you owe Du Zhengyi; my existence is profitable for you, isn't it?"

The Clownfish did not answer.

"You have always been very close to me. Why?" Luo Qi pondered for a moment and asked. "Even your letting me live in the morgue was very strange, unless you did something to me; as long as I am active, it is profitable for you. For example..."

He let go of the woman's hand and looked around at the surroundings—the real surroundings outside the Consciousness World. His consciousness opened wider and went further. "For example, why were you able to walk into the Highland Mage's Barrier? Just by relying on Invisibility? Doesn't seem like it. Did I share something with you without knowing it? You and I... are two Mind Mages with similar power, but you are more powerful, knowledgeable, and experienced... Yu Shu, did you take advantage of me? Indeed, thinking from another angle, if I were a middle-aged Mind Archmage now and met an Apprentice Mage with potential, I would also want to put something in his brain. A kid with a clean record, full of hope—that is simply a treasure of the Qionglin. I also remember that the first time you saw me, you knew I was Luo Qi. You have long known about my... the secret of our family, right?"

The Clownfish was silent, his eyes staring fixedly at Luo Qi, as if evaluating something.

"We..." Luo Qi asked slowly, "have an Entanglement, don't we?"