Chapter 447: Dr. Luo's Pathological Analysis

"Mind Mages are the most detestable Mages," Luo Qi said slowly, "Everyone fears having their brain modified, and everyone fears that the decisions they make do not come from themselves. For example, I could deepen Liu Ziyu's fear just a little, and then she wouldn't come down this floor with me, and I would find an opportunity to talk to you alone. Of course, this is harmless to her, but it is not very ethical for me; I should be able to avoid using it if I don't have to. What is more terrifying than this is having one's self completely erased, just like those puppets you created. The self has long since ceased to exist, but the body remains in the world; that is entirely a zombie."

"An academic seminar?" Clownfish reminded him sarcastically, while another part of his consciousness was cautiously evaluating Luo Qi.

"Hardly academic, right? I haven't sat in an academy learning step-by-step; these are all learned as needed," Luo Qi said. "For instance, prompted by you and other seniors, I discovered that I can also create Energy Crystals, using myself."

"You are indeed selling yourself everywhere on the Black Market; Qionglin will discover it sooner or later," Clownfish said.

Luo Qi waved his arm, as if shooing away an annoying little fly. "It doesn't matter; those are just harmless little jokes. Qionglin won't necessarily take me seriously."

"Little jokes? Not necessarily," Clownfish laughed lowly, but he did not continue to expose Luo Qi.

Luo Qi did not dwell on this; he carefully scrutinized Clownfish, slowly attempting to peel back a layer of Clownfish's defenses, approaching Clownfish's core consciousness slightly, trying his best to memorize the characteristics of his consciousness. He continued, "Actual combat is the best way to learn. I have reviewed the battles I participated in many times later on, and I even wrote analysis notes. Do you want to see them?"

"Thanks, I'll pass. I don't want to grade your homework. If you want a master-disciple relationship, you'll have to kowtow to me a few times first," Clownfish said indifferently.

Luo Qi made a face at him, with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "What I recall most is the battle between Du Zhengyi and me against you and Zhao Jiaozhu. Don't you think I fought well?"

"If you're starting to write your memoirs now, aren't you being a bit too narcissistic?" Clownfish sent him a piece of half-true, half-false confusion.

"I just want to say, I realized later that to tear apart the other person's brain, one must use one's own consciousness." Luo Qi did not want to truly leak his emotions to Clownfish, but facing an expert, he did not have that much energy to suppress his own emotions. The sky above his wasteland was covered in thick clouds, the air became abnormally humid, and even the slightest sounds were amplified; a Blizzard would descend within a breath. He continued, "Dismantle your innate pity, delete compassion and empathy, heighten anger, copy such a fragmented consciousness from your own, and then artificially twist it into a cold devil, a furious beast. Finally, release it into the enemy's mental world."

This time, Clownfish did not speak.

"We can only use our own consciousness to do this, right?" Luo Qi asked. "There is no need to take someone else's consciousness to make a devil and then store it in one's own skull; no matter how big the head is, it is always limited."

Luo Qi was mocking Mind Mages, and also mocking himself. His consciousness's tone was flippant, but in his Mental World, a Blizzard was already raging. His true emotions were caught in the snowstorm, whipping the entire world. Clownfish raised his head, and large chunks of snow smashed into him; his robe was about to be torn to shreds in the Blizzard. He turned his head to look at the girl who had been frightened by the Blizzard, subconsciously reaching out his hand to offer her shelter. She raised her hand and placed her small hand in his. At this very moment, she vanished abruptly.

Clownfish turned his head back, his gaze looking at Luo Qi with cold rigidity.

Luo Qi was quite satisfied that his attention had been grabbed back. "You attacked Du Zhengyi with a copy of your own consciousness, right? If his will wasn't firm enough and he was completely unable to resist you, then he should have suffered brain death immediately. But he resisted you; he is a Battle Mage, trained to resist Mind Mages, and his will is tough enough. He must have successfully held on until other Mind Mages discovered him and rushed to save him."

"Well said," Clownfish said. "I should praise you; for your age and experience, you performed well."

"But you are more powerful," Luo Qi said dryly. "Du Zhengyi could only suppress the consciousness that attacked him and try to minimize the damage. Pei Shu and my father could only save him along this line of thinking. Their difficulty must have been that they couldn't extract your consciousness from his. They could only help him build mental barriers, and he could only use a large amount of Magic Ability inside his own head to keep the barriers from collapsing. So, could it be said that you are still in his brain?"

"Correct," Clownfish said.

"You can take your own things back!" Luo Qi said angrily. "And you still have the face to lie to him that you are sorry for him?"

Clownfish raised a hand, making a gesture for Luo Qi to pause for a moment. "Let me interject: why don't you let your Doctor Ma, or your own father, handle the problems in your own brain?"

"Because I don't trust them..." Luo Qi stopped there; he understood Clownfish's meaning in despair.

"I feel that you have already understood," Clownfish said. "Du Zhengyi wouldn't allow me to touch his mental world again either, even if he understands in principle that when death is imminent, it's better to try. But you understand the subtlety of the mental world. His world doesn't trust me, yet I must invade his thinking. Even if he weren't a high-level Mind Mage, this behavior would still trigger an imbalance in his mental world, causing serious damage to his spirit. The result... I dare not say what it must be, but one can guess: perhaps PTSD, perhaps psychopathy, obsessive-compulsive disorder; the best result might just be the loss of the ability to control certain emotions..."

Luo Qi was completely silent.

Clownfish said in a low voice, "You said that after losing the integrity of the soul, a person is no longer themselves. Perhaps he will walk from the light into the darkness, just like... Algernon."

"Algernon..." Luo Qi's consciousness murmured the name. The bitter story was remembered by him, and a torrent of emotions he could not resist rushed from his heart into his head. His Consciousness World became unprecedentedly powerful; Clownfish was shocked and took a few steps back. Luo Qi's mental world was suddenly teetering on the edge of collapse, the thick clouds tearing into blood-red wounds, like the gates of hell opening overhead.

"Control yourself!" Clownfish roared. Their mental worlds were now connected; if Luo Qi's world were destroyed, a Black Hole would tear his world apart along with it. This was the only way Luo Qi could defeat and kill him, and he didn't want Luo Qi to drag him to his death just because of a moment of negligence. "Damn it, what exactly is Qionglin thinking, why would they pull Du Zhengyi away!"

This sentence had an effect on Luo Qi; he swayed and then stabilized his spirit.

"I suggest you go find Du Zhengyi, put down that bit of dignity of yours, and properly be a tag-along. You were a thick-skinned person to begin with, so what are you pretending for!" Clownfish roared.

Luo Qi was pretending as if nothing had just happened. "So, I still have a chance. I heard that Entanglement can be deepened. If I gain a further, deeper understanding of you..."

"Fuck, you really are an optimistic person," Clownfish said in disbelief. "You want to synchronize with me and then go back to save him? I might devour you."

"At least the cause is determined; I have hope of maintaining the status quo," Luo Qi was silent for a while, and finally said, "If I can synchronize with Du Zhengyi, I can definitely strengthen his barriers. This brings me back to my original idea."

Clownfish scrutinized him for a while. "But in the end, you still need the method of rebirth in Gushan. Du Zhengyi's Entanglement Quanxian with the Gushan Guard is very high; it's hard for you to break this. Let's face reality. I will help you rise to the top in Qionglin; you must ensure that you won't have a mental breakdown because of the current difficulties and go on a killing spree in Qionglin."