Chapter 464: Ruins 8

The expert group had a total of nine members, including Liu Li, and they would provide a final expert review opinion on the safety issue of the Mind Mage Luo Qi. The nine chairs prepared for them were placed at the very front, and now eight members were seated, each of them over a century old. Peng Xiaopeng, from the Fan Shi family, sat in the second row of chairs; his original position was now occupied by Archmage Fan Ning. After suffering enough insults a few days ago, Peng Xiaopeng couldn't withstand the pressure, and Fan Shi had to send a more senior figure, his younger brother Fan Ning.

Du Zhengyi, who had asked the question, stood between them and Liu Li, his back to the expert group. Someone coughed, trying to remind him of the issues regarding status and rules. But he didn't turn his head, let alone retreat, and his momentum wasn't disturbed, as if the expert group didn't exist at all.

Liu Li's sharp gaze swept across everyone in front of her, and she suddenly stared sharply at Zhou Quan.

Zhou Quan was slightly startled, then reacted immediately, understanding the meaning of Archmage Liu Li. He immediately explained what had just happened in the sandbox to Du Zhengyi with the fastest speed, concisely and accurately, before anyone could interrupt him.

Liu Li gave him a satisfied glance. He caught his breath, swallowed slightly, and his gaze shifted toward Du Zhengyi again. He knew Liu Li was trying to control the development of the situation and ease the conflicts between all parties, but whether she could control the development of the situation was still uncertain; he was quite curious about the direction of the situation.

This all depended on Du Zhengyi! —Zhou Quan shivered and suddenly wondered why he would think so. The investigation team had nine old immortals, deep in seniority, complex in background, and powerful in authority, while Du Zhengyi... was just Du Zhengyi at this moment. He didn't think Pei Shu would disregard everything to help Luo Qi in this matter. Would he? —He wouldn't, Zhou Quan answered himself confidently; there was only Du Zhengyi here.

Zhou Quan observed Du Zhengyi with great interest. The young man had no reaction on his face after hearing his report. He turned to Liu Li. In the dim light, Zhou Quan could only see half of the man's face; that statue-like face was emotionless and impeccable. He opened his mouth to speak, his voice filled with the arrogance and impatience he had long been accustomed to in Qionglin, "So the test has failed. The test should be terminated immediately, and the sandbox should be opened."

Liu Li didn't express her position for a moment; she pursed her lower lip tightly in difficulty. Du Zhengyi was also her beloved student. Although she was severe, she had always been protective of her own. Du Zhengyi had always been the eldest son she doted on; she didn't feel that he was being offensive by speaking like this, but others couldn't take it. One person stood up from the expert group's chairs, and then two more stood up. However, the latter two looked uneasy only because of the interruption of the magic images, and after standing up, they even retreated invisibly a few steps, subtly pulling away some distance. Zhou Quan saw all of this in his eyes.

Just then, the first person who stood up spoke. "You have no right to point fingers here, child!" The person who spoke spat out the word "child" very heavily.

Du Zhengyi turned his head to look at the person who spoke to him—white hair, round face, light brown eyes, thick frame. Du Zhengyi knew who he was. Although he looked nothing like Fan Shi, he was indeed Fan Shi's younger brother. Just half-brothers, he looked more like his mother who lived on the grasslands; his mother had a good reputation among that generation of Mages. Fan Ning's appearance was more rugged, and because of this ruggedness, he lacked a bit of Fan Shi's femininity; his decency was of the grassland noble style, with more pride in the recipe.

"Child?" Du Zhengyi repeated the word he had just heard with a strange voice. Zhou Quan almost laughed out loud; he didn't know Du Zhengyi could insult people so acidly. His face, which had no expression, was now precisely fitted with pitying surprise, as if he were looking at an ignorant elementary school student. "If you still respect the Mage bloodline, speaking like this is too contrary to etiquette. I vaguely remember that you are counted as my cousin, but your mother's bloodline is too far from me; is this why you don't know who you are talking to?"

Someone really let out a laugh; it was the Battle Mage in the chair, the only representative of the Battle Mages.

Fan Ning was first taken aback, then became angry, but immediately fell into hesitation. This young man named Du Zhengyi was truly too overbearing, but the female Venerable behind him didn't interfere with him. Even when Fan Ning looked over in anger and shame, protesting to the Venerable with his gaze, she actually avoided his gaze. This was truly a heavy blow to him; he realized in astonishment that this meant the young Mage wasn't spouting nonsense. Regardless of why his seniority was so ridiculously high, it was a fact. Perhaps their family had had children late for several generations, and he was surnamed Du, which could only come from the twelve families of Mages. In the most orthodox Mage society, this surname, even if almost extinct, was still much more precious than his Fan surname. This might not count for much in the peripheral Mage society, but it was still very important in the core Mage circle. His ancestors had intermarried with the Du family, which was considered a huge honor when he was young. He was severely humiliated and was speechless for a time. Du Zhengyi turned his head at this moment to continue speaking.

"I don't know why you still haven't stopped the test. Since there is no possibility of repairing the monitoring, no matter what happens inside, you won't know, and there won't be any test results. So now, stop the test immediately."

Fan Ning hurriedly followed his words. Originally, he had intended to drive him away directly, but now he had to face reality and had to argue with this young man. "I think it's best not to do so. We might never find such a good opportunity to test the safety of Mage Luo Qi again. If we give up this test now, Mage Luo Qi will once again be unable to gain Qionglin's trust, and perhaps the opportunity for trust will never come again. That result is good for no one; we will forever be half-believing in this excellent Mage, and he will also expend countless energy to prove his innocence, which is also an endless nightmare for him."

Du Zhengyi tilted his head, turning slightly toward him, seemingly surprised that he could speak so reasonably. "Mage Fan, this is also the only reason why I agreed to let him accept the test." His face became cold and hard again, and he said coldly, "However, you messed it up."

"You agreed?" Another Mage stood up from his chair; Du Zhengyi didn't recognize him. He was a short man, of course, still a bit taller than Luo Qi. (However, Luo Qi still had hope of growing taller; this person who had lived for over a hundred years definitely had no chance.) "As far as I know, Luo Qi and you have only known each other for two months. By what magic contract did you provide the right to force the Supreme Committee to need to seek your consent? Or is it that Luo Qi has actually controlled you?"

"Mage Xu Hong, it is impossible for Du Zhengyi to be controlled by Luo Qi; I thought I had already explained it clearly to you. In fact, with Luo Qi's current level of technology, he can't even control ordinary Battle Mages. Regarding this point, I think there is no need to bring it up again." Liu Li said in an unquestionable tone. The Mage nodded stiffly to Liu Li and sat back down angrily.

She sighed and turned to Du Zhengyi, "But I also hope you consider Mage Fan's words; he makes sense. Luo Qi must be tested, but because we can't see what's happening inside, I think the test time should be shortened to forty-eight hours."

"Twenty-four hours." Du Zhengyi said in a deep voice.

Liu Li hesitated, turned to Fan Ning, and said with a hint of request, "We still have a Mage inside; I hope to consider her personal safety."

Fan Ning hesitated, "An important part of testing a Mind Mage is the ability to withstand mental pressure for a long time; even forty-eight hours is already very short. Perhaps we can consider opening the sandbox every twelve hours to send people in to check the situation inside, while maintaining the original length of time."

"Fan Ning, you should know that the sandbox cannot be opened at will; each opening will affect the closed magic space inside, and frequent opening may change the sandbox rules. Even if it's just a slight change in conditions, it's uncertain what kind of stimulation it will cause to the creatures inside, and the situation could completely exceed Luo Qi's control ability, which would be a huge loss for the entire Mage society." Liu Li said.

Her words had barely fallen when Du Zhengyi suddenly said, "Twelve hours later, I will go in to evaluate. If I think the test should be terminated, I will bring them out. The test must end in forty-eight hours at the latest, otherwise, I will apply for Mage asylum to the Highland Mages on behalf of Luo Qi."

"This is betrayal!" the Mage from just now shouted angrily.

Du Zhengyi turned his head and said calmly, "You can go tell the Highland Mages that, tell them that if someone applies for asylum to the Highland Mages, it is betraying Qionglin. I guarantee that when your life faces an unreasonable threat, you will only have the path of suicide."

"Is the threat coming from you?" the old Mage said indignantly.

Du Zhengyi looked at him quietly, "Understand it however you like."

"Shut up." Mage Liu Li shouted, not just at Du Zhengyi; she brought out her identity as a Venerable Mage, her gaze sweeping sharply from Du Zhengyi to the senior Mage who was sitting. "Mage Xu, you should understand the delicate balance between us and the Highland Mages; do you really want to create a diplomatic crisis on their turf?"

"But..." he opened his mouth to speak, actually already a bit nervous, regretting his rash words.

Zhou Quan suddenly interjected from the side with a smile, "Mage Xu is just used to saying such things in Qionglin; we all are, and it wasn't a big deal originally. Who could have thought that one day we would be exiled to the territory of the Highland Mages, hehe..."

"Shut your mouth, Zhou Quan, we are not in exile." Liu Li said annoyedly, "Let's decide it this way, open the sandbox once every twelve hours. However, Du Zhengyi, you cannot be the only one going in; there will be other Battle Mages, and besides that, I will have experimental Mages go in to install new monitoring nodes. Wei Zhen, you are responsible for finding the most obscure and ancient communication magic, and you must ensure it is one Liu Ziyu doesn't know. I don't allow anyone to argue with me anymore, let's decide it this way."

Her gaze swept specifically toward Du Zhengyi. Du Zhengyi raised his head, his gaze not meeting anyone's, and this time no one contradicted the Venerable Mage again. ===== CHAPTER 465 =====