Chapter 449: The Beginning of Cooperation

Luo Qi's face was dark; he did not respond to Clownfish's proposal, turning instead to say irritably, "Let's hurry up, I only asked for ten minutes of leave."

"Does 'hurrying up' mean we've reached an agreement or not?" Clownfish replied, also somewhat irritably.

"Cooperation?" Luo Qi spat out the word with disgust. "Of course we have to cooperate; do I have any other choice?"

"Are you planning to draft a contract now?" Clownfish asked.

"No need, just pay a deposit first," Luo Qi said, agile and seasoned. He currently held an upper hand that wasn't worth bragging about, but Clownfish did indeed want him to succeed even more than his own father did. "First, tell me, is Fan Shi a Lotus Burner?"

"No," Clownfish said without hesitation.

"Not even a little connection?"

"He plays the political games of Qionglin; it has nothing to do with me," Clownfish said.

"Right, it has nothing to do with you at all," Luo Qi repeated mechanically.

Clownfish pondered for a moment, finally saying vaguely, "You should be able to understand that when striking at an enemy, dividing them is the most effective method..."

"You instigated Fan Shi," Luo Qi took over his words to summarize, then added, "The gorilla under his command planned to kill me today."

Clownfish thought it over seriously for a while, then spoke slowly, "I don't think Fan Shi's defeat is a foregone conclusion. He shouldn't have reached this level of madness while there was still room to maneuver. Sending someone to kill you here only directly proves to Qionglin that your past actions were indeed forced, while simultaneously compounding his own crimes. Even if we take ten steps back and assume he really has lost his mind, the person he should hate more is Du Zhengyi, not you."

Luo Qi pondered for a moment and said, "Someone told Du Zhengyi that the gorilla is gradually going insane."

"That's truly interesting," Clownfish transmitted a wave of amusement. "I've never seen a Gushan Guard wearing the same pair of pants as an outsider."

"Outsider?" Luo Qi repeated. "You don't know a damn thing."

"You should read more serious books, Luo Qi," Clownfish said. "If you studied Volume Three of *Contract Principles* properly and used your brain a little, you would realize that under the constraints of Entanglement and oaths, Gushan Guards are unlikely to open their hearts to outsiders, nor do they share secrets; this is a law of Magic. Du Zhengyi is actually a special, isolated case. Perhaps you haven't realized it, but I suspect other Gushan Guards find him unbearable. You might think he's rigid, but he is already a Guard who has broken free. I don't know why he is able to be unconstrained to a certain extent; perhaps one day you will be able to research it. It looks like a field of research you'd be interested in."

Luo Qi didn't care whether Clownfish was being sarcastic, but he remembered that Gushan Guards had once attacked Du Zhengyi; he had always thought that was because they were jealous of Du Zhengyi. Now that he thought about it, perhaps his filter was too thick; he had simply and crudely attributed everyone who couldn't stand Du Zhengyi to jealousy. Pei Shu wasn't outside at that time, and the Gushan Guards might have been following their oath constraints; attacking Du Zhengyi might have been fulfilling an obligation. "Gushan Guards are more like robots than Battle Mages," he couldn't help but blurt out.

"Indeed," Clownfish affirmed. "Battle Mages actively lower their fear, pain, or adjust other physical parameters according to the needs of battle. That's nothing; humans also train soldiers to overcome fear, pain, and fatigue. But Gushan Guards are a different case. Once they enter the scope of their oath constraints, their bodies adjust these parameters on their own. Even if they don't want to in their hearts, they can only let their instincts take over; they have no choice."

"Cruel," Luo Qi suddenly said.

"That's right," Clownfish said softly. "Mages are the most problematic species on this planet, a bug of Earth." Luo Qi was stunned; Clownfish's stance had indeed brought him a subversive realization. He wasn't just saying he didn't stand on the side of the Lotus Burner; he wasn't just one of those Mages who sympathized with or loved humans. Luo Qi suspected he might be leaning toward another extreme. Suddenly, Luo Qi understood why he used Daheitian Temple to murder Mages. It wasn't because they were fallen and irresponsible Mages who married humans, so he had to punish them; most of the reasons he killed them might not need a modifier at all. He just wanted to kill—Mages?

Luo Qi felt a slight sense of unease. Clownfish didn't say anything more; his consciousness was very calm, and Luo Qi didn't truly sense a trace of hatred. He felt slightly comforted; Clownfish might just be complaining. Luo Qi would say similar things himself when he was in a bad mood.

"The person who wanted to kill you is a Battle Mage; his innate conditions are good, but his brain isn't very good, and his temperament is violent and cruel," Clownfish said, pondering. "But it's a bit too coincidental that he suddenly had a dramatic mental breakdown at this time."

Luo Qi thought of the terrorist attack in the shopping mall, those manipulated minds. "Was it done by a Mind Mage?"

"That would have to be a very powerful Mind Mage. It wasn't me. Nor was it any other Mind Mage in the Lotus Burner, otherwise I would know. By the way, it was I who instigated the leader of the Lotus Burner to accelerate the pace of the attack and take a clear-cut stand against Qionglin, but I didn't arrange the terrorist attack; there are people in the Lotus Burner who specialize in that."

"How many Mind Mages do you have?"

"Not many."

"Pei Shu is the strongest Mind Mage of the current age; I've heard that the Head Venerable of Qionglin is often a Mind Mage," Luo Qi said suddenly. "If you hadn't gone perverted, you would have had a chance too."

"Me?" Clownfish laughed, his amusement like bubbling spring water, impossible to hide. "If you want to say you suspect that the person who secretly manipulated the gorilla was Pei Shu, you can say it directly; there's no need to beat around the bush and bring him up. Kid, your rhetoric isn't that clever."

A trace of shame flashed across Luo Qi's chest, but to put it in a better light, he had at least overcome his anger and embarrassment.

"I don't know if it was Pei Shu," Clownfish said. "I can't see through him, whether I use Magic or not, I can't see through him. If one day you figure it out, remember to tell me. Now let's look at the time; ten minutes is almost up. Anyway, I will come over often; from now on, there will be plenty of opportunities for us to meet... as long as we can avoid Du Zhengyi."

"Can he see through your Invisible Magic?"

"Theoretically, no, but... let's not underestimate the Gushan Guards. You and I still don't know nearly enough about the secrets of this world." Clownfish paused and finally said, "Before I leave, I have a question I want to ask you."

"I won't necessarily answer," Luo Qi said cautiously.

"Don't worry, I won't ask about any deep secrets. Ever since Du Zhengyi actually sought me out to cooperate for your sake, this secret has been stuck in my heart. Forgive me for being so gossipy; you know Mind Mages study the human heart, and encountering a human heart I can't understand is like a top student unable to solve a problem—no matter how I think about it, it's an insult." Clownfish spoke eloquently, revealing sincerity. Finally, he circled to the main point. "I... want to know, how did Du Zhengyi choose you as a friend? Especially... when you were still a piece of garbage worth nothing?"

Luo Qi wasn't angry, perhaps because he had suppressed his anger too many times since yesterday, so he was finally able to successfully restrain himself now.

"Asshole," Luo Qi said, then exited the Consciousness World. Just then, he felt the transmission complete, and a Liu Ziyu holding a Fireball appeared before him; his heart tightened sharply.