Chapter 480: Ruins 24

Luo Qi's Magic traces are everywhere here; Du Zhengyi can feel new traces with every step he takes, as if he were a puppy marking his territory everywhere. Fortunately, none of it is high-dosage Magic that would cause Luo Qi to overexert himself or lose control of his defenses, nor would it give the Qionglin too much hope.

These types of Magic are numerous and varied; most should be Mind Magic, but if that were the case, it would mean there had been many puppets here. Yet, the massive staircase in the Library lobby is empty, and not a ghost of a shadow can be seen in the two corridors to the left and right of the foyer. Only the puppets circling under the pillars at the Library entrance are as conspicuous as the red, white, and blue rotating light boxes at a barbershop.

A thought suddenly crossed Du Zhengyi's mind: what if that was exactly what Luo Qi had intentionally left for him? What if Luo Qi's goal was to be conspicuous?

"I don't sense anyone here," Xiang Qian said.

"If it weren't Attack Magic, it wouldn't be so obvious; Liu Ziyi can shield the Radiation of Magic Energy," Du Zhengyi reminded her.

"That is also possible." Xiang Qian looked around. "Is this Luo Qi's residual Magic? It extends into the corridor. This is too strange, as if he left marks to intentionally make us follow them to find him. Why would he do that? Couldn't he just stand at the entrance and wait? We had better test the environment for traps; perhaps someone forced Luo Qi to intentionally..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Du Zhengyi had already vanished via Teleportation, then appeared at the end of the corridor via Shixian. Xiang Qian sighed, muttered something unintelligible, and had no choice but to walk toward the corridor, following Du Zhengyi's direction. Du Zhengyi had already descended the simple staircase at the end of the corridor and walked into the underground hallway.

Luo Qi's traces were clearly traceable, like glowing fluorescent signals, pointing directly to a room in the middle of the underground hallway. Du Zhengyi passed through the hallway at high speed and discovered a barrier locking the door, flickering with someone else's Magic. It was likely Liu Ziyi's handiwork; he quickly dismantled the Barrier.

The moment the Magic was cleared, a powerful gust of wind rushed out from inside the door. Du Zhengyi was blown back a step by the wind carrying energy particles, unable to even open his eyes.

Xiang Qian hurried over. "Du Zhengyi, you are too reckless."

"No." Du Zhengyi raised a hand to stop Xiang Qian's defensive Magic.

Xiang Qian hesitated for a moment, but relying on her faith in Du Zhengyi, she retracted the half-released Magic in time. However, she sensed that Du Zhengyi had absolutely no faith in her; Du Zhengyi's overwhelming interference Magic had already unfolded, and if she hadn't retracted her defensive Magic, Du Zhengyi would have completely suppressed her Magic as well.

"You don't look like you only want to die a little bit," she teased with some dissatisfaction.

Du Zhengyi explained, "Defensive Magic is unnecessary. This is all Magic waste, not Attack Magic; this is Liu Ziyi's doing. Do not reflect it back; they cannot withstand it."

"Fine." Xiang Qian reluctantly admitted that his death-defying behavior could be considered reasonable; her defensive Magic might have severely injured the non-Battle Mage inside.

They each stepped aside a little, waiting for the Magic waste to dissipate before returning to the door. This time, the chaotic light pollution and the disturbed energy particles had vanished, and the true appearance of the room was finally revealed. A golden grid of constantly flickering lines acted like a massive background wall. In this spacious underground warehouse, a girl sat cross-legged in the very center, her eyes open and vacant, her gaze unfocused. Countless dancing golden arcs were constantly being drawn from her hands, forming new symbols around her. Symbols, Secret Language, formulas, and rune deductions constantly appeared, shifted, and vanished in the air. She seemed to be surrounded by a three-dimensional symbol matrix, and this matrix was still constantly expanding.

"This is..." Xiang Qian said with some awe.

Du Zhengyi made a "tsk" sound. "Liu Ziyi!"

The girl's shoulders jolted, as if someone had tapped her on the shoulder while she was concentrating on reading. Her gaze suddenly gained focus, as if she had just snapped back to reality. Her gaze landed on Du Zhengyi's face, and her expression lit up with joy. She called out happily, "Senior Brother?"

"Oh my, Pei Shu's children are stranger than the last," Xiang Qian sighed.

"What are you doing?" Du Zhengyi looked at the Magic floating throughout the entire basement with some annoyance. "Is this any kind of safe place? You're actually concentrating on calculations here? What if someone else had come? Where is Luo Qi? Which room is he in?"

"Luo Qi said it was fine; he said this Sandbox is tracking him, and as long as he leaves me, the Sandbox won't come to bother me," Liu Ziyi said, standing up from the ground and running toward Du Zhengyi.

"What?" Du Zhengyi's anger flared instantly, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say. Most importantly, he wanted to vent his anger at Luo Qi's absence on Luo Qi himself, but of course, Luo Qi was not there. He was furious, yet helpless. "So he can even say such arrogant things. He left marks outside, leading to you, probably hoping we would find you first. You know where he went, right?"

Liu Ziyi shook her head. "I don't know."

Du Zhengyi was speechless for a long time, and only after a moment did he say, burning with rage, "I am going to kill him!"

Xiang Qian helplessly clutched her forehead and interjected, "Why did you come to the Library? Enough, Du Zhengyi, control your temper. Good heavens, are you still a Battle Mage? Your emotions are more annoying than a Mind Mage's. If we knew why they came to the Library, perhaps we could determine where Luo Qi might be headed."

"We didn't originally come to the Library." Liu Ziyi truly had the ability to destroy everyone's confidence. "We were originally going to the bank. Luo Qi said large banks would have large vaults, which are the best-defended places for humans and can withstand puppets."

"And then?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"And then!" Liu Ziyi said. "Then it got really interesting. We discovered a large hole in the deepest part of the vault; it was dug by hand, hahaha. This place must have been robbed before! We were attacked once by a puppet that could use Teleportation and almost died, then we discovered that hole, followed it here, and found that this was a public library."

"You're actually happy about this?" Du Zhengyi asked, stunned.

"Yeah, Luo Qi explained to me how this bank robbery might have succeeded, and I think humans are just so interesting," Liu Ziyi said. "But during the attack, Luo Qi discovered that the main attacks were targeting him, so he said he should leave me. We discovered this was a library, and Luo Qi told me to wait for you here. He said Senior Brother would definitely come, and would definitely come to the Library to find him first!"

Between his anger and worry, Du Zhengyi hopelessly felt a trace of warm softness.