Chapter 548: Breaking One's Word

"That is none of your concern." Du Zhengyi's calm voice was like a blade, wedged between them.

Luo Qi had been sitting crookedly, curled into a ball, but now he suddenly straightened his chest and nearly sprang up, unfolding like a dumpling, his brows and eyes instantly turning sharp. He had held much resentment and was about to lose his temper; he turned his head, neck stiff, looking at Du Zhengyi, wanting to snap back. Then he had a second thought—snapping back would be useless. Not snapping back felt stifling, so he wanted to curse a few times. He turned his head to spit fire, but saw Du Zhengyi's slightly pale face, and his heart gave a start. He realized in a flash: this was Du Zhengyi! Was he really going to say something unpleasant to him? What grudge could he possibly hold against him?

He huffed indignantly through his nose and hunched his back again. "Brother, you were really badass today."

No one picked up his words. Luo Qi tossed his head nonchalantly, shaking away the hair that was getting in his eyes, and rolled up his sleeves to unwrap a burger. "How are you so amazing? I always thought you were special, but what I saw today was on a completely different level from before. Even when you killed the Alien, you didn't use this method. Too amazing! When I go back tonight, I'll find Majiang and tell the Doctor exactly how amazing my brother was today."

Du Zhengyi did indeed turn his head, his icy, stay-away-from-me aura cracking slightly.

"What do you think the Doctor will say?" Luo Qi said. "Is Pei Shu still there? Majiang loves to blabber so much; with a parent figure around, he'll be so happy to have one more person to listen to him blabber."

Du Zhengyi was stunned for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Traitor."

Luo Qi let out a "pfft" of laughter and handed the burger in his hand to him. "Then eat a burger; don't just drink iced cola. Maybe I won't say anything when I get home. Seriously, stop being angry with me. To be so angry that you won't eat—Brother, who would believe this if I told them? The renowned God of War, the Qionglin Plague God who kills without blinking, actually being driven to a hunger strike by a kid. How childish."

"Nothing good ever comes out of a dog's mouth; you're the Plague God," Du Zhengyi said, snatching the burger from his hand. "You are so annoying, I really want to return you to your Baba!"

"Oh, alright, that's enough anger for now. Are you eighty years old to be this naggy?" Luo Qi said shamelessly. Seeing Du Zhengyi gasp out of the corner of his eye, he hurriedly spoke first to distract him. "Brother, do you know why Du Tingxiu and Pei Shu had a falling out?"

Du Zhengyi shook his head. Luo Qi glanced at him, unable to read his emotions from his face; it seemed he really wasn't that interested.

Luo Qi's suspicion grew deeper. "Brother, even if Du Tingxiu isn't your Baba, he's still from your family. Don't you care at all why your family was..." The word wasn't easy to get out. He paused, then said in a much lower voice, "Exterminated?"

Du Zhengyi looked at Luo Qi. "What value is there in needing to understand it clearly? If I had been born in that time and my family had committed an unforgivable crime, I fear I would have had to kill them with my own hands. This is, after all, my duty."

Luo Qi's hand, reaching out to take a burger, faltered. Du Zhengyi didn't usually like to speak like this; this was a warning, the clearest warning Du Zhengyi had ever given. Luo Qi still opened the burger's wrapper, took a steady bite, and looked up at Du Zhengyi with a smile. "Why be so cruel? It wouldn't happen. If it were really that situation, they wouldn't have sent you. Are they even human?"

But today, Du Zhengyi seemed unwilling to let Luo Qi off. He said in a low, meaningful voice, "Gushan Guards are very useful. We cannot control ourselves at such times; warriors exist for slaughter."

Luo Qi's pair of black eyes lifted, staring straight at him. "Wasn't Du Tingxiu a Gushan Guard? If he was, how did he manage to betray them?"

"Gushan Guards are very secretive; I cannot be certain if he was one," Du Zhengyi said. But having reached this point, both of them knew that it was indeed possible he was a Gushan Guard.

Luo Qi didn't force Du Zhengyi to admit it to his face, but as he took another bite of the burger, he suddenly understood: this was precisely why Du Zhengyi would definitely go to Kongsang Mountain. Du Zhengyi was basically semi-retired; ordinary missions might not stir much interest in him, but this was different. He had his suspicions.

He ate the burger slowly and looked up to see the streets outside the window about to turn pitch black. They were on a Highland several time zones away; back home, people were probably getting ready for bed. Luo Qi thought of that unfinished building of Du Zhengyi's, the only room in the Ghost Building where someone lived—narrow, pale, just like a human laboratory or a hospital ward. He actually quite liked it there. If life could truly go smoothly, 120 years later he would say to the children who admired him—in my life, my favorite place was a pale, silent little room. Oh, how he really hoped to have the chance to pull off that pretentious act.

But he probably wouldn't be able to say it if the friend of his life ended up silently taking his last breath in that pale, silent hospital ward. He couldn't stand it.

Luo Qi pulled back his thoughts, curled his lips into a grin, and said, "Twelve hours isn't going to work; eight hours at most, an eight-hour workday. I can't guarantee I can hold out for eight hours without acting up; I'm very delicate."

Du Zhengyi looked at him suspiciously. He was being too agreeable, which made Du Zhengyi feel uneasy.

"I'll just use this time to take lessons with Mage Hashi and learn how to be a Mind Mage. The Highland Mage's classroom is guaranteed to be safe," Luo Qi said.

"Fine," Du Zhengyi said.

"Oh, right," Luo Qi said smoothly. "For safety's sake, Brother, give me back my High-energy Crystal; it's more convenient for me to hold it myself."

Du Zhengyi looked at him and pondered for a while. Luo Qi held the burger, looking back at him with a clear, innocent expression, his pair of deer eyes soft and docile.

"No," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi kicked the table and changed his expression. "Why? You said you were only holding it for me for a moment!"

"Great Sage Sun, you're already powerful enough as it is; leave the Golden Cudgel with me for now," Du Zhengyi said vigilantly.

"How can you be like this! That's mine!"

"Have you no shame? You stole that from Majiang; otherwise, I'm giving it back to Majiang."

Luo Qi was so angry he threw the burger down. Without the computing power inside the Crystal, without those Ghosts from the Society, he had no way to safely search the data Shi Xiansheng had given him. Browsing those secrets collected by the Black Market would definitely help with the current situation. But this situation was like a human computer; if the CPU processing power wasn't enough, running too much data would definitely cause the system to crash. "You break your word, don't you regret it!"

Du Zhengyi ignored him.

He kicked the table again. "I've changed my mind, I'm going with you! I can break my word too; I'm best at breaking my word!"

(End of chapter)