Chapter 450: Characters on the Wall

"According to the plan..." Luo Qi said hurriedly, the tension making him choke, and he didn't finish the second half of his sentence.

In the quiet underground space, the crackling sound of the Fireball in the girl's hand was practically ear-piercing, and the sound of their breathing felt like it was about to shatter their eardrums. This tense, terrifying moment of reality felt as long as a year, until finally, Luo Qi saw Liu Ziyi raise her eyebrows. "Hmm..." she made a sound that lacked much confidence.

This sound was like a signal, and Luo Qi relaxed all at once.

Liu Ziyi rambled, "Although we agreed on ten minutes, I... really didn't have the patience to wait up there."

Luo Qi relaxed completely.

"Did you sense him?" Liu Ziyi asked.

"No." Luo Qi steadily added a note of regret to his voice. "Maybe that mass of energy really isn't a person."

Liu Ziyi let her shoulders slump in frustration and looked around unwillingly.

Luo Qi said cautiously, "Have you ever thought that what you observed might be some kind of natural phenomenon of Magic Energy? According to theoretical guidance, we Mages are all drawing Magic power from nature, like the super-scale energy humans dream of, covering the globe to provide power. Such large-scale energy supply can't be without any issues; it's normal for a little energy fluctuation to appear somewhere. We are on the Highland now, even humans feel that places around five thousand meters in altitude are eerie."

Luo Qi was purely spouting nonsense, but Liu Ziyi actually took some of it in. "Perhaps..." she mused, "this is a line of thought."

Fortunately, this person was Liu Ziyi; she had a broader perspective than the average Mage and was more tolerant of unconventional thinking.

"How is the Radiation now?" Luo Qi asked a question he was most worried about, incidentally managing to divert Liu Ziyi's attention.

"Oh, this." Liu Ziyi seemed to have forgotten about it, waking up from her deep thought, and she grabbed the Radiation Monitor carelessly to take a look at the reading. "It hasn't risen, it's even dropped a bit... Logically speaking, it would be good enough if it didn't rise, why would it drop? Radioactive Radiation won't drop within a few minutes."

"Do you feel a breeze around here?" Luo Qi asked, the sweat on the tip of his nose suddenly feeling a bit cold. He raised his head, carefully sensing a faint, elusive breeze.

"Mm, it's not a natural breeze." Liu Ziyi said, she noticed it immediately too, and spoke with insight. "It carries a bit of a smell, just like that scent that human ventilation facilities always have."

"Do you think there might be Magic here that cleans Radiation?" Luo Qi asked.

"It's possible." Liu Ziyi pondered for a moment and said, "If the Progenitor Mage used Magic to stir up radioactive Radiation, they should have been able to stir up a certain degree of Cleaning Magic; existence implies rationality."

Luo Qi smiled at her last sentence; she was truly a Mage deeply involved in the world, and in many aspects, she was likely at the forefront of the Mage population. "Let's go, let's go back to a place higher up and continue talking. This experiment is just like this; if you have follow-up experimental projects, I will continue to help you."

Liu Ziyi was startled for a moment, and an expression of both gratitude and embarrassment appeared on her face; Luo Qi felt she must have been blushing. "I... I'm sorry for threatening you earlier and forcing you to take risks to help me. I usually... don't do that."

"It's fine," Luo Qi said, taking the opportunity to climb up the pole, "I'll ask you to return the favor."

Liu Ziyi grinned, looked back at the place where the Energy Ball was strongest with regret one last time, and finally stepped into the Teleportation Point leading to the upper level with Luo Qi.

They walked slowly toward the next Teleportation Point, and Luo Qi observed the surroundings. "Have you ever thought about what these many layers of empty halls were originally used for? I mean, perhaps before they created the Radiation, or rather, the Curse, this place should have been useful."

"Mm." Liu Ziyi made another vague sound; she hadn't thought about these things. She was accustomed to only researching phenomena and problems that had already appeared; she truly didn't have enough imagination to notice the past uses of a few empty rooms. But once Luo Qi pointed it out, she understood that this was indeed a question with some value. "Mages truly wouldn't do useless things."

She adjusted her Magic, increasing the number of Fireballs for lighting, and also increased the brightness. They looked together into the empty hall, the firelight casting their shadows very large, and Liu Ziyi laughed. "I'm reminded of some sand paintings. But no matter what was here before, it's all gone now; the floor is metal, and so are the walls. Let's go look at the wall; only the wall is worth a look."

Luo Qi agreed with her, and they walked together toward the nearest wall. The firelight became increasingly brilliant, and the wall, which perhaps hadn't been illuminated for thousands of years, revealed its true form in the firelight. Countless ancient Mage Spells were woven into patterns covering the wall's surface; Luo Qi could only read a few, and didn't quite understand their meaning.

"What would they write on the wall?" Luo Qi asked, changing his angle to guess, "The essence of a Spell is like a command, commanding Magic Energy to be used for oneself. What would we write on the wall?"

Liu Ziyi stared at the wall for a while and shook her head with no interest. "These Spells are all too ancient; I suspect even Du Zhengyi couldn't understand them. Generally, ancient Spells are like some kind of proto-language, concise, with a clear structure; the ones the laboratory can decipher are all this part. These Spells are even more ancient than the generally ancient ones, complex, tedious, with chaotic structures; they are the parts the spell-breaking laboratory hasn't deciphered to this day, they are dead Spells. Mages under the history branch are more interested in this; they feel these things might not be Spells, because the complex flowery symbols and beautiful layout make them feel it's very romantic. Combining human history, individual romantic Mages guess these might not be Spells, but poems or something. I don't care; I think they say this just because they are dissatisfied that Mages don't have literary scholars, and while they say on the surface they don't care about humans doing these useless things, there's no lack of those in history who secretly hope for it."

"Hmm." Luo Qi said indifferently, "Yeah, maybe what's written on here is 'No urinating or defecating,' 'No spitting,' 'A small step forward, a giant leap for civilization.'"

Liu Ziyi was amused and let out a burst of laughter. "A place this big can't be a men's restroom, Luo Qi."

Luo Qi smiled and turned to ask, "Can I look at the current energy chart?"

"Of course you can." Liu Ziyi said, and as soon as she finished speaking, the Energy Monitoring Chart appeared in the air. She let Luo Qi study the chart while she continued to observe the wall.

"I'm in the energy chart now too, but you are much brighter than me." Luo Qi said in a low voice.

"Oh right, because I'm burning a Fireball." Liu Ziyi explained casually, "I turned up the detection sensitivity; as long as they are a Mage, they will carry at least a little energy. Now it shows all Mages who are using Magic and those who aren't. You aren't using Magic, so you are much dimmer than me in the monitoring chart."

"Oh." Luo Qi said softly. However, it wasn't that he wasn't using Magic; what the clownfish told him was indeed the truth.

"Luo Qi, I'm looking at it from another angle." Liu Ziyi reached out and knocked on the metal wall. "There isn't a speck of rust on this; based on experience, I feel these metals are quite light, yet their load-bearing capacity is so good."

"Unlike Du Zhengyi's blade." Luo Qi said.

"Definitely not the same metal, but both are very special." Liu Ziyi said.

"There's a groove on here." Luo Qi's hand was tucked into a character; he hadn't noticed it just now, the groove was embedded in the strokes of a character. He picked at it, but nothing happened; no secret passage he had imagined opened up.

Liu Ziyi also touched it. "This should be a slot used for connection; they once fixed something on the wall."

"How boring." Luo Qi lost his curiosity. "Let's go back, I'm hungry."