Chapter 515: Nighttime Visitor

Night finally descended completely. Liu Xiuyun looked up from a pile of manuscripts, gazing at the Yinsong Senlin in the night outside the Simulation Window. A hearth fire burned to the side, and in front of the fire were a comfortable sofa, a small side table, an unopened rose, and a photo frame inlaid with a picture of his daughter.

The layout here was the same as his office at Qionglin, but it was too quiet here. He could not hear the occasional footsteps from the corridor; there was only the boundless silence created by the Highland Mage, and his heart felt hollow. Perhaps, however, this hollowness had nothing to do with the environment; it was his own heart that was hollow. He seemed to have miscalculated his cards and played them wrong as well.

Luo Qi's abilities were extraordinary, and his methods had always carried a sense of trickery. These were suspicious in themselves, but all of it had been masked by Bailida's inferior targeting. That clown was noisy and clamorous, seizing upon every issue he shouldn't have. In the consecutive days of meetings, he hadn't had much time to delve into the oddities of Luo Qi; his heart was full of sympathy for a child. Bailida was like a brainless, disgraceful fool, a... nonsensical fool whose only meaning for existence was to push everyone toward Luo Qi's side.

His heart felt panicked. He hadn't felt this kind of greenhorn-like panic for decades, and he didn't even know where this panic came from. He had an intuition that he had done everything wrong these past few days. He wanted to carefully review Luo Qi's files again, but he hadn't slept for two days; now, flustered and agitated, it was difficult for him to concentrate.

The fire in the hearth suddenly cracked. He was startled, and in his peripheral vision, he saw a snake of fire dart out from the hearth, coiling around the table and swallowing the rose and his daughter's photo. He jumped up in fright, rushing two steps outside the desk, but the fire snake vanished in an instant, even though the sky-high flames remained on his retinas.

He stood quietly, the feeling of hollowness in his heart worsening. Flustered and agitated, sadness suddenly intruded into his mind. He wanted to kneel on the rug in front of the hearth, wanted to prostrate himself on the ground and weep bitterly. His brain was roaring that this wasn't right, but emotions swept through like a storm; in all his life, he had never experienced such violent feelings. He had also never felt such formidable power. He knew his mind would eventually be laid bare, and he waited for that catastrophic moment in a fear that he could not fear.

Until... until a knock on the door sounded.

Liu Xiuyun took a moment to distinguish where the sound came from. The knocking was incredibly real. Only then did he suddenly realize that the chaotic, swift emotional storm had ended; his rapid heartbeat was his own.

Only then did he discover that he had been crouching on the ground at some point. Liu Xiuyun was stunned for a moment, then jumped up and walked toward the door.

Liu Xiuyun's hand landed on the doorknob, feeling the slight vibration brought by the knocking, restraining his suspicion of the real world. He pulled the door open and found a pair of brown eyes looking at him softly.

"You are..." He said halfway, looking at the young man... boy in front of him. His eyes held a sense of excitement; that was the spirit of a youth, not yet needing to be categorized into the ranks of men. He was... of course he was Luo Qi, who else could it be?

As if his thoughts had been read, the boy tilted his head and smiled at him. He stepped back a few paces, allowing Luo Qi to enter. Using a door to block a Mind Archmage was, of course, foolish and self-humiliating; he wouldn't do that.

The boy was still holding a cat, smiling at him politely, as if carrying some lack of confidence and childish reserve. He walked into the room carefully, as if afraid of leaving muddy footprints on someone else's carpet. Thinking of this, he then discovered that Luo Qi was actually barefoot. The T-shirt he wore was a size too big, so it might actually be pajamas.

The boy walked into the room and immediately looked around curiously, taking in everything around him. The large dimensions here must have left a deep impression on him. "Space Extension Magic?"

Liu Xiuyun nodded.

The boy turned his head and glanced at him. "The room I live in is much smaller than this."

Liu Xiuyun smiled contemptuously at the bitterness and pettiness in his words, saying sarcastically, "Feel like you haven't received enough? Never satisfied?"

The boy shook his head, looking at him quietly. "Small magic like this, Du Zhengyi can do it easily, but he still squeezes into a very small room with me."

He believed what he said. Du Zhengyi was the Mage most skilled at Teleportation in the current age, which meant he was well-versed in magic that manipulated space. "It seems the guardian in your family has been working hard to be responsible, not wanting to spoil you."

The boy was amused, revealing small white teeth, but when he glanced at Liu Xiuyun, Liu Xiuyun shivered for no reason; he had never been stared at by such an indifferent and terrifying gaze. The boy released the cat in his hands, letting the black cat move freely, and walked to the hearth himself. He sat down calmly in the sofa at the most prominent position, looking back at him like the master of the house.

Liu Xiuyun came back to his senses and turned toward Luo Qi.

"Sit down," Luo Qi said. "I don't like people talking to me from a condescending perspective."

"What? Don't you dare try to order a Great Mage..." Before he finished his sentence, his body involuntarily fell into a chair not far from Luo Qi. He looked up in astonishment, then wore an expression of anger.

The boy licked his lips like a satisfied cat. He looked at Liu Xiuyun with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "Isn't that better? When we sit down, we can be about the same height. I didn't make you kneel on the ground, Great Mage; you should thank me. Because I like equality; I am not the same as you people."

"I remember you were once sent to the underground of Qionglin," Liu Xiuyun said angrily. "I thought that experience would have taught you a lesson!"

Luo Qi laughed easily, changing to a more comfortable position on the sofa, resting his elbows on the armrests and crossing his fingers. "Some Mages go underground, not because of what they did, but because they make Qionglin feel like they smell of gunpowder."

"It's fortunate you know that very clearly," Liu Xiuyun teased.

"Back to the previous topic, some people are simply not worthy of using Magic," Luo Qi said.

Liu Xiuyun looked at him angrily; he didn't know what the previous topic was at all—the topic of decorating the house? "You are the one not worthy of using Magic."

"I haven't really used much Magic at all," Luo Qi said innocently.

"Was Bailida's attack on you arranged by you?" Liu Xiuyun asked.

Luo Qi only gave him a grimace. "Take a guess?"

Liu Xiuyun sighed. "Perhaps your parents restricted your abilities because they discovered long ago that you are a devil. Du Zhengyi will realize this sooner or later; perhaps he already suspects it. Tonight, he suggested I leave here and hide in Qionglin."

(End of chapter)