Chapter 482: Ruins 26

"How did you get rid of that Teleporter later?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"I activated a Shield," Liu Ziyu said. She reached out and pulled a silver chain from inside her clothes, from which hung a totem of an intertwined tortoise and snake, inlaid with a rare High-Energy Crystal; she pulled the chain out for Du Zhengyi to see.

Du Zhengyi nodded slightly; Liu Ziyu's High-Energy Crystal was pre-loaded with magic she could not cast herself, serving as an important supplement to her magic traits to save her life at critical moments.

"What type of Shield?" Xiang Qian asked.

"Secret," Liu Ziyu said, turning her eyes to Du Zhengyi.

Du Zhengyi nodded slightly and explained to Xiang Qian, "Pei Shu has some magic kept secret from the outside, which he distributes to us by storing it in crystals. These spells aren't exactly powerful, but their strength lies in being unknown; when used, enemies find it difficult to immediately find a countermeasure. For a Mage like Ziyi, this is the final step to escape and save her life; she won't use it unless absolutely necessary, let alone talk about it casually. If you insist on asking her, it would be the same as demanding her life."

Xiang Qian felt a bit awkward, "Casual, just casual; it's just my professional habit, I didn't necessarily have to ask."

Liu Ziyu continued, "Then I'll hurry and keep it brief. The Shield can only be used once in a short period. We immobilized that puppet, then ran through the hole at the end of the room to this side of the Library. Luo Qi parted ways with me here. If it weren't for a target as large as Luo Qi, I would have the ability to hide myself, so I didn't go any further; at that time, there were wandering puppets everywhere outside. Luo Qi took care of the few puppets in the Library, and he also let me wait in the Library, saying that you would come to find me."

"Do you know what method Luo Qi would use to protect himself?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Liu Ziyu paused for a moment, and after a long while, she said in a very formal tone, "I don't know."

Du Zhengyi glanced at her, "Speak your guesses; this isn't an experiment, there's no need to speak entirely based on facts."

"But Senior Brother, this *is* an experiment. How could you agree to let them use Luo Qi for experiments?" Liu Ziyu asked suddenly.

Du Zhengyi did not answer; any explanation would sound like a self-justification.

Liu Ziyu did not persist for an answer to the question either; she turned her eyes away and continued, "I really don't know. If it were ordinary puppets, there wouldn't be much danger to Luo Qi. Perhaps, perhaps there wouldn't be much danger. But this place is too cunning; I think there is more than just the Teleporter as a lethal weapon targeting Mind Mages here. And if the number of puppets is too high, I don't think Luo Qi can handle it either."

"Ziyi," Du Zhengyi interrupted her suddenly; he saw the panic she had been hiding and didn't want her to waste any more time saying these things. "Let me ask it this way: did Luo Qi do anything that made you feel it was special? Or rather, did you notice anything or any type of puppet that aroused Luo Qi's interest?"

Liu Ziyu looked into his eyes, a hint of surprise showing in hers, and Du Zhengyi continued, "If you tell me the details, I can roughly know where to find him."

Liu Ziyu looked at him for a while, then suddenly, as if making up her mind, took a slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to Du Zhengyi.

Du Zhengyi took it suspiciously, then realized this couldn't really be called a slip of paper; it was more like something between plastic and paper. He flipped the slip over and saw a number in the ancient language of Mages.

"What is this?" Xiang Qian asked with little interest, "A Mage's Calculating Rods?"

"This is money," Liu Ziyu said, "The place next door isn't an ordinary bank; Luo Qi said that underground there is an official factory for destroying obsolete currency."

Du Zhengyi raised his eyes, looking at Liu Ziyu in astonishment. Xiang Qian didn't say anything, but took the object from Du Zhengyi's hand and examined it carefully.

"Luo Qi said that the currency of some human countries now isn't entirely conventional paper; some fastidious countries probably think that's cleaner," Liu Ziyu said.

"Very good," Du Zhengyi said, suppressing his anger, "Luo Qi is about to die, yet he still decided to set off to find a second piece of evidence, is that it?"

"Perhaps it's because Luo Qi also discovered that this is a test environment, so he believes the box will constantly hurt him, but it won't actually kill him," Liu Ziyu said with her head lowered.

Du Zhengyi frowned at this jarring remark, and another wave of restlessness burned in his chest.

"I don't know what Luo Qi is looking for; this is a Library, but there isn't a single page of a book, and it's likely the same elsewhere," Liu Ziyu said.

Xiang Qian suddenly turned the slip of paper and said, "We've discussed this matter, Du Zhengyi. I'm afraid the slip of paper that Baby Luo Qi found makes the less ethical of our two inferences gain the upper hand, though with ten times the weirdness added. We have to think of it this way: if you or I were to execute a destruction order, which magic would we use? The simplest would be to provide the magic Secret Language for the paper, and then one spell would destroy everything of the same composition; that would be the cleanest. All the books would disappear, and history and truth would be gone too. Leaving the rest to Second-level Executive Mages would be enough; let them search house by house for what else needs to disappear. With their quality, there will always be fish that slip through the net. Their currency just happens not to be ordinary paper; those people destroyed the currency in the way of doing rough work, and this was left behind—there must be other things left behind too. In other words, Luo Qi might have gone to look for some text that doesn't exist on paper. Remember, that puppet of Luo Qi was searching for the Obelisk in the plaza; it must have been searching for stone carvings according to Luo Qi's instructions."

Du Zhengyi thought for a moment and said, "I was hoping he would be a bit smarter; stone carvings are too conspicuous and wouldn't have been left behind."

Xiang Qian was noncommittal and continued to ponder the slip of paper in his hand.

Du Zhengyi looked at the grid behind Liu Ziyu, "How did you discover this is a testing ground? Did you open the Underlying Magic Protocol of the Sandbox?"

"Yes," Liu Ziyu said, "I know some Secret Languages that others don't, and by groping around, I found two interfaces and opened the Underlying Magic. I know what's going on here; this Sandbox has many Magic Protocols, and one of the important protocols is to test the energy of Mind Mages."

"Mind Magic is different from our Magic Energy; it's very difficult to measure," Du Zhengyi said.

Liu Ziyu snorted, which surprised him somewhat; her expression was a bit unfamiliar. "It could also be that there is too much we don't know. Look at this; there are some graphics here, and the descriptive symbols are different from all the others. However, the surface symbols are all decoys; this thing has been encrypted with a spell. I've been trying to crack it and have basically opened it. After decryption, there is another layer of images. Look at this area; it contains different concentrations of red, and the concentration range of the red is constantly changing. This is a record from the past few hours. Look at the time it started recording; you've noticed it, right? It's the time Luo Qi and I entered here. Ah, look at this; another image was generated later. Pay attention to the generation time—is it the time you entered here, Senior Brother? I knew it. Look at the red area in this image of yours; is it much lighter than the previous image? I remember you are a shallow-level Telepath, right? So you see, this only records you and Luo Qi, not me and Mage Xiang. Even though our Magic Ability isn't weak, the protocol didn't include us. In other words, this type of image might be used to describe Telepaths; the protocol stipulates that the image will only be initialized when the corresponding group of people appears."