Chapter 530: Sunflower

Luo Qi walked out the door, and Mahjong was waiting right outside, a teasing look on his face.

Luo Qi did not want to talk to him; he shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and strolled toward the hall. Mahjong blocked him once again, incredibly annoying.

"Where do you want to go now? Do you know you have quite a few enemies now?" Mahjong said.

Mahjong, it was always Mahjong, always so serious, even though he did not really like him. "I want to go outside for a walk," Luo Qi said slowly.

"No, Du Zhengyi said you can only stay in your own room." Mahjong flatly refused, staring at Luo Qi impatiently. "Stop playing tricks, Luo Qi. You are really troublesome, do you know that yourself?"

After he finished speaking, he waited for Luo Qi's counterattack, some ingenious mockery, or some sophistry to turn black into white. But Luo Qi raised his head, opened those eyes that were a bit too pure for a boy's face, and looked at him pleadingly. "Do you need me to kneel and beg you?"

Mahjong almost bit his tongue, left speechless. Just as he was shaken in body and mind, filled with guilt, Luo Qi took off running.

Mahjong cursed a string of profanities. He hesitated between turning back to find Du Zhengyi and chasing after Luo Qi, groaned in agony, abandoned his dignity as a Doctor, and ran after Luo Qi.

He discovered once again that Luo Qi was much faster than he had imagined; in the blink of an eye, Luo Qi had reached the end of the corridor. Right before Mahjong's eyes, Luo Qi plunged into the corridor and vanished.

"Damn it!" Mahjong cursed angrily. He was a Mind Mage; he was familiar with this trick. When humans pass through a door, they often briefly forget some things they were thinking about; this is a spatial change that helps the human brain perform a subtle reset, which helps human thinking become clearer. Mage humans are the same; a Mind Mage can use this moment to perform Mental Induction. Just at the moment of moving from the corridor to the hall, the sense of space in his mind also switched. His originally focused thinking was slightly adjusted and reset by himself, and Luo Qi had interfered with him at this very moment.

Now, Mahjong was facing an open-plan office, with dozens of people and all sorts of objects. Even though he knew Luo Qi was damn well among them, and his eyes must certainly be able to see Luo Qi, his brain was refusing to identify Luo Qi.

Damn it! Mahjong knew this Mental Induction could not last long against his own will, but this time was enough for Luo Qi to disappear. He thought frustratedly, why was it that among all the most cunning, most bastardly types of Magic, Luo Qi could always master them the fastest?

Luo Qi had slipped outside, appearing in the middle of a woodland of Highland Mages, surrounded by flourishing yellow dandelions. The rain had indeed stopped, the ground was still damp, and he stepped into some mud.

Directly in front of him was a small pond, not far from the great lake, and there were a few temporary seats by the pond where a few Mages were chatting.

Luo Qi's appearance attracted their attention. Luo Qi saw the eager desire to get to know him on the faces of two of them, but at a time like this, he had no heart to talk to strangers.

He turned around and walked in another direction, stepping on the little yellow flowers, but he bumped head-on into someone very hard to avoid.

As soon as Zhou Quan saw him, he smiled like a flower.

Luo Qi turned ninety degrees again and walked in another direction. Zhou Quan did not mind at all; he shoved the text materials he was holding into the arms of a nearby Mage and trotted after Luo Qi.

"Hi, Qiqi," he said cloyingly, forcibly hooking his arm around Luo Qi's shoulder. "How come you're not very sunny today?"

Luo Qi looked back. "Are you blind? I'm not some sunflower any day; I've always been a serious man."

"Eh," Zhou Quan said indifferently, looking back twice. "Where is Du Zhengyi?"

"Don't know," Luo Qi shook his head. "Get off me, you and I aren't exactly close acquaintances."

Zhou Quan burst into laughter, shaking Luo Qi's shoulder. Luo Qi grew impatient. "Go away, or I'll eat your head."

"Wait, wait, wait." Zhou Quan hurriedly grabbed Luo Qi. "What's wrong with you? Tell me if there's something difficult; maybe I have a way. Who doesn't know I'm a walking encyclopedia?"

"Then I should eat your head even more; better to rely on oneself than to beg others," Luo Qi said seriously.

"Don't be like that, please keep me around and let me exercise my subjective initiative," Zhou Quan said with a smile, leading Luo Qi toward a less crowded, denser part of the woods.

Luo Qi heard the subtext in his words and gave him a symbolic shake-off. "What are you doing? My superior told me not to go into the woods with people of unknown origin."

The bushes grew thick in the deeper woods. They had walked only about ten meters or so when the bushes already filled the gaps between the tree trunks. Mages passing by here would find it hard to notice them unless they were specifically looking for them. Luo Qi stopped in his tracks, truly refusing to walk any further with him. "Last time I followed you, I ended up in big trouble. Let's stop here; the extent of our friendship is only ten meters. If this matter isn't worth the thorns pricking my body, you'll see!"

"Stop complaining; isn't all this me actively making up for the losses I caused you?" Zhou Quan said with a smile. "Our friendship will definitely be much deeper than ten meters, because I've bet everything on you; I'm planning to hang out with you."

"Can you have a little more ambition?" Luo Qi asked.

"Can you have a little more ambition?" Zhou Quan said. "Aim higher."

"Like killing Pei Shu and declaring myself king?" Luo Qi said casually.

Zhou Quan shivered and froze for a moment. After recovering, he smiled awkwardly. "Let's talk about serious business."

"Please speak," Luo Qi stared at him, deadpan.

"Do you know Han Yi?"

"Sounds a bit familiar," Luo Qi said slowly. "Wait, I remember now, I've heard of him. What's the deal with him? His wife's relationship with Du Zhengyi seems to make him very dissatisfied."

"You could put it that way... sure," Zhou Quan said steadily; his level of acceptance was much higher than that of the Old Mages. "But it's not his wife; they were just engaged. No, it's not that his wife had an affair with Du Zhengyi either. Chu Yao... was a very excellent Battle Mage."

"How excellent?" Luo Qi asked.

"Excellent enough to be Du Zhengyi's partner; is that enough weight for you?"

Luo Qi nodded silently. "I remember now, she died."

"Han Yi has been asking around about you for the past two days," Zhou Quan said. "Today he asked me."

"Oh?" Luo Qi finally showed a bit of interest. "What does he want to do to me? Tell me."

"What could he do to you? Why is your phrasing always so strange? Are you actually looking forward to it? Oh right, you're in a bad mood today; do you want to find someone to test your blade on? Better not; he is also a very excellent Battle Mage. At the right moment, he might be completely daring enough to make a move on Du Zhengyi."

"What moment? When Du Zhengyi is sleeping like a baby?" Luo Qi asked.

"Can you stop looking down on others?" Zhou Quan said. "Actually, the point I'm more interested in regarding this matter is—he told me he wants to talk to you."

"With me?" For the first time since leaving Pei Shu's door, Luo Qi smiled genuinely. "I'm interested. It would be best to arrange the meeting within fifteen minutes; I happen to be free today."

(End of chapter)