Chapter 479: Ruins 23

The storm finally stopped, much sooner than the two Battle Mages had anticipated.

Xiang Qian smacked her lips and said with a hint of disdain, "Lacking staying power, aren't they?"

"Mage Xiang, I will take you to the target location via Teleportation. I vaguely remember a place that might be the Library," Du Zhengyi said politely, his level of courtesy setting a new record for himself in Qionglin.

Xiang Qian raised her hand and tied her graying, medium-length hair into a neat braid at the back of her head. She squinted at Du Zhengyi. "This is the first time in your life you've been polite; I never thought you could be so flexible. If you ask me, opportunities for growth are everywhere; as long as you live long enough, you'll always run into times when you need to ask for help. For instance, if one day you suddenly had a wife and children, and were no longer a bachelor, your cultivation would immediately take a leap."

Du Zhengyi endured the Old Mage's nagging, but upon hearing the end, he couldn't help but say, "I don't have a son as old as Luo Qi."

"Even if you don't, what does that matter? I'm afraid half of Qionglin thinks Luo Qi is yours to raise now. Haven't you noticed they haven't even thought about bothering Luo Yisheng? Luo Yisheng runs faster than a rabbit; not finding a trace of him is one thing, but them not being very proactive in their search is another. They all feel that catching you is enough; Luo Qi's problem is your responsibility," Xiang Qian rambled on. "Doctor Majiang said you had best not use Magic. This city isn't very big; we had better walk."

"I insist on Teleportation," Du Zhengyi said with restraint.

Xiang Qian raised her eyes; those aged pupils seemed to grow paler with the passing years, exhausted yet sharp, and she sized up the young Mage with a gaze that was insightful yet not particularly mean-spirited. "As a person, Luo Qi isn't even that great."

Du Zhengyi looked at her without speaking.

She smiled. "Ah, I remember that feeling too. One day you suddenly meet someone—not anyone of great importance, but they make you feel that life has become interesting. If there's time, you'll definitely have a drink or a cup of tea with them on the weekend, and have lunch together on the Wednesday of the following week. It sounds trivial, but even if you live for two hundred years, such a person is hard to come by, because life is just that boring."

"Hold onto my arm, Master," Du Zhengyi said, frowning, as he reached out to grab the small puppet. "We are leaving now, and this has nothing to do with Luo Qi. I certainly won't walk there with you; the road is too long. Between listening to you nag the whole way and dying a little bit, I will definitely choose the latter."

Xiang Qian was amused, and amidst her hearty laughter, they traversed the distance of half the city, appearing via Shixian in a neighborhood near the city center.

They stood in knee-deep water, right in the center of the street. The storm had brought a massive amount of precipitation in a short time, and the city had accumulated a great deal of water; Du Zhengyi did not know if a city trapped in such a small Sandbox still had any drainage capacity. The sun appeared above their heads, flaunting this pile of dilapidated ruins. At least half of the buildings on both sides of the street had collapsed; their original appearance was unrecognizable, though one could tell from the tall foundations that the architecture in this area had once been quite magnificent.

"Oh no," Xiang Qian stood in the water and muttered, "I know now why the storm ended so quickly."

"What?" Du Zhengyi asked casually. Appearing in the water had caused the small puppet to react; it seemed somewhat at a loss in such a large pool of water. Du Zhengyi reached out and pulled it close to his side; for reasons he couldn't even explain himself, he had been paying close attention to it, instinctively looking after it, as if unwilling to give up the tiny possibility that it might just be Luo Qi.

Xiang Qian was already accustomed to this behavior of his—not as rational as a Battle Mage, or perhaps she was—she didn't want to tangle with a young Mage over this matter anymore. She was more sensitive to the surrounding environment; she tugged hard on Du Zhengyi and pointed behind the ruins. "Look into the distance."

Du Zhengyi looked into the distance. Behind the ruins, very far away, the sky was still black, with thick ink churning and stirring in mid-air. But they were bathed in brilliant sunshine, and there wasn't even a breeze in the water-laden air.

"Eye of the Storm," Xiang Qian said. "The storm has only passed halfway. It's truly puzzling; this is a Sandbox, so where did the half of the storm that rolled past go?"

"No time to think about that; leave Magic theory to the schools," Du Zhengyi said. He only glanced at the distant storm before turning his eyes away, looking at a building nearby. In the half-collapsed hall, he saw a figure flash by. "I've seen traces of Luo Qi having been here."

After saying this, Du Zhengyi dragged the small puppet and waded toward the steps. Xiang Qian hurried to keep up; now she heard the sounds too. "Sounds of someone moving, four... no, six. They must be puppets."

She prepared for battle, but unexpectedly, Du Zhengyi stopped her. "Don't move. No need; do you hear them moving in a pattern?"

"Indeed, puppets can only move mechanically," Xiang Qian said.

"No," Du Zhengyi said briefly. He climbed the steps and walked above the water level.

Xiang Qian followed. They bypassed a pile of debris washed into the building's hall by the flood, and their view was finally unobstructed. Xiang Qian opened her mouth in astonishment. In the center of the hall, circling a pillar that had not yet collapsed, six puppets were running meticulously. "This..."

"Ah," Du Zhengyi said indifferently, "this is definitely Luo Qi's handiwork."

"This is..." Xiang Qian was speechless. "It wouldn't have taken much effort for him to just strangle them!"

Du Zhengyi thought about it simply. "If I wanted to cause six puppets to be completely brain-dead, it would certainly take more effort. Simply giving them a reinforcement command to have them run in a dead loop around the pillar—thinking about it, that should be much simpler. Luo Qi probably finally found a simple solution; at least we are close to him, and he did indeed come here."

"That... that is true," Xiang Qian had to agree with Du Zhengyi's analysis. She also saw the remaining wooden frames around the hall, which looked very much like bookshelves. "He really has no regard for a Mage's reputation. Didn't you teach him? He is destined to become a Great Mage sooner or later, and perhaps even a Venerable. Using Magic like this is truly third-rate."

"I think as long as it's useful, that's enough," Du Zhengyi said calmly. "Stay away from them, don't interrupt them, let's go around."