Chapter 553: Environmental Issues (2)

"Oh," Luo Qi said, hands shoved into his trouser pockets, "nerd."

Liu Ziyi looked up at him upon hearing this, her already dazed eyes blank for a moment, and she mumbled a few words, seemingly a question. But she was always one to answer her own questions; suddenly, as if struck by a realization, the look of confusion on her face unfolded in layers, and she tilted her head to look at Luo Qi, "You are very like Pei Lao."

A shiver ran down Luo Qi's spine, and the two hands in his pockets stiffened, "How could I be like a Venerable? Where am I like him?"

"Both have a ton of affection for my senior brother," Liu Ziyi said with disdain.

Luo Qi's face even stiffened, and suddenly his thoughts turned a few times, "What kind of person is Head Venerable Pei?"

Liu Ziyi thought for a while, as if the problem were easy to solve, but describing the person was difficult. She said quite laboriously, "Have you... ever read *The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber*?"

Luo Qi nodded; of course he had read it.

Liu Ziyi's expression brightened, "Then that's easy to explain. Pei Lao is like Zhang Sanfeng. We love being by his side, just as the Seven Heroes of Wudang loved Zhang Sanfeng. However, among us, the teacher likes Senior Brother the most, just as Zhang Sanfeng liked Zhang Cuishan the most."

But Zhang Cuishan later ran off with a little demoness, Luo Qi silently slandered.

Liu Ziyi shook her head herself, "That's not right either. Senior Brother is much more promising than Zhang Cuishan; Senior Brother is more like Zhang Wuji."

That's even better, later ran off with four little demonesses, Luo Qi silently added another sentence.

"So you mean Venerable Pei is like Zhang Sanfeng, his martial arts shaking the past and present, and his virtue shining through the ages," Luo Qi said in a low voice, "He is such a good person."

"Yes," Liu Ziyi said, "Pei Lao is truly someone to be looked up to; no amount of praise for him is too much. I can praise my teacher without blushing, and if you had the chance to follow him and learn, you would say the same."

Luo Qi said nothing, not daring to dissent, and even more so, he thought of that lion-like man he had met for the first time, the leader of the Magic World, who, like an old man doting on his children and grandchildren, lovingly and slowly smoothed out the curled edges of Du Zhengyi's thesis.

A sound came from his coat's inner pocket; the needle-prick-like emotions in his chest pricked his kitten, and he hurriedly reached out to help the little black cat so it wouldn't climb out, stroking the kitten's chin to soothe it. Liu Ziyi looked at the kitten, and her feelings of affection exploded; Luo Qi, who had Telepathy, and the cat both felt this warm gentleness. The kitten betrayed Luo Qi, frantically signaling to Liu Ziyi in Luo Qi's direction. Luo Qi had no choice but to let go; his cat jumped into the young girl's arms, purring and wanting the little girl to pet it. Luo Qi rolled his eyes; he could hear that it had even adjusted to a hertz range that girls could not resist the temptation of.

Liu Ziyi held the little black cat tight like an ordinary girl, kissing and rubbing it, "Little baby, what was the little baby's name again?"

"Luoruiqi, English name richluo," Luo Qi said.

Liu Ziyi raised her eyes, "The same generation as your dad? Isn't Doctor Luo named Luo Ruian?"

"Yes," Luo Qi said. When he named it, his heart was full of anger toward his old man; now that he thought about it, it was really quite boring.

Liu Ziyi said nothing; Luo Qi guessed she wouldn't care about these trifles either, as she was a strange girl herself.

"It really isn't a kitten," Liu Ziyi suddenly said.

Luo Qi reached out to cover the kitten's ears and said jokingly, "Shh, don't hurt it."

Liu Ziyi suddenly raised her head, her fingers stroking the kitten also stiffening, lost in her own musings. "If there isn't just Qiongqi, but also such cat-like magical creatures... some oviparous, some viviparous, some cold-blooded, some warm-blooded, could they all be cryogenically stored? These environmental parameters are clearly not low-temperature environments, and there isn't just temperature parameters... Let me think, I have seen them store seeds at the Highland Mage's place."

"They even show you their core secrets?" Luo Qi asked subconsciously; the only worldly life the Highland Mage seemed interested in was planting trees.

"The Highland Mage is an open group," Liu Ziyi said.

That was true; Luo Qi certainly knew how willing they were to accept him, but for him to turn "I" into "we," he did not yet have that level of cultivation. He cast the Highland Mage aside and stopped thinking about it, turning instead to cautiously provide more information to Liu Ziyi; he knew Du Zhengyi would never have said this much. "If this is a warning message, a warning message continuously sent outward for a hundred years?"

"What kind of warning message would be counted in centuries?" Liu Ziyi asked, but what comforted Luo Qi was that all the difficult questions Liu Ziyi asked did not require mortals like them to answer. He watched as Liu Ziyi's eyes lit up, and she murmured in response, "Only this world would be counted in centuries. But the monitoring information for this world is in my hands, and there isn't... Oh, I understand, there is another world, not our world, yet it is our world."

"What?" Luo Qi couldn't understand at all. Liu Ziyi handed the cat to him, and he hurriedly took it back. The little black cat didn't need him to take it; enraged, it slapped him and scrambled up to the canopy, disappearing into the foliage. "What?"

Liu Ziyi seemed not to have heard Luo Qi's question and had also forgotten the cat; she busily opened the laptop on her knees and muttered to herself, "It's Earth."

"Huh?"

"Geological information," Liu Ziyi corrected her wording, "I need to compare human data; this is... oh, this really is mainly geological information. It looks very normal because it hasn't exceeded the normal environmental range, but... this is..."

She reached out her left hand, attracting a Crystal to approach, and then countless symbols that Luo Qi could not understand precipitated out of the Crystal, transforming into rapidly changing information. Liu Ziyi was comparing this information with the computer. "The core data has appeared in several human papers; it might be... I can't say for sure..."

"Please, just tell me the result; even if you are wrong, you are still more right than others!"

"I can't say clearly, but the main data has appeared repeatedly in human research in recent years." Liu Ziyi bit her lower lip and made a final judgment irritably, "In the field of human research, it is related to glacier melting."

"Glacier melting?" Luo Qi pondered rapidly. Liu Ziyi shook her head in disbelief, but Luo Qi grasped some key points, "Permafrost melting."

"But I don't understand this human discipline," Liu Ziyi said.

"No need to understand; just knowing that glaciers are melting and permafrost is changing will bring about serious geological changes." Luo Qi pressed his lips together; he thought of the location of the true ancient Ganzhou, which was different from the human Ganzhou; Ganzhou was not far from the intersection of the three Highlands. And Kongsang Mountain was within the range of the Qilian Mountains, mostly in a no-man's-land with harsh climatic conditions; one didn't need much human knowledge to judge that if the glaciers melted, the geological disasters there would intensify. So... "So, the things inside are about to be exposed."

Liu Ziyi raised her head to look at him, her face showing some hesitation, "Things... do you mean... Qiongqi?"

"I don't know." Luo Qi shook his head; he had thought this might be the case, but now that it was suddenly layered with proof, his heart grew heavy.

Liu Ziyi lowered her head and typed a few times on the notebook, "According to human records, they believe that glacier melting has released some ancient viruses, and there are already cases of animals infected with viruses in Siberia. Oh, it really looks like a Curse. If it has to do with an Ancient Mage... I might need to report to the teacher... You don't mind, do you?"

"Ah, of course, of course that's no problem," Luo Qi said; expecting to hide this matter from the Chief Venerable Mage was impossible. He still wasn't sure of Pei Shu's intentions; he had been here yesterday, and Du Zhengyi might have reported to him, or he might not have. But Zhou Quan knew about this, and the Highland Mage was also watching; if it were said that under such circumstances, what Luo Qi was doing could still be a secret, that wouldn't be realistic. But until now, Pei Shu had not expressed a stance, had not participated, and left everything for them to explore on their own, leaving the system of Qionglin to operate as usual. But since Pei Shu had tacitly allowed him to toss and turn as much as he wanted, he would definitely toss until the final boundary.

"If there really is such an inheritance of an Ancient Mage," Liu Ziyi pondered, "I really want to go and see it. Did Senior Brother go to investigate this? He might need an Experimental Mage; a Battle Mage can't handle this."

Luo Qi was just about to speak when he suddenly "heard" a familiar Yajian, accompanied by a strange and mist-filled Yajian. The Crystal on Liu Ziyi's wrist flickered, and Liu Ziyi also raised her head. "Someone is coming," she said, and smiled, "It's Xinyue."

Luo Qi also recognized her; she was happy, excited, thrilled, and shy.

What the hell, did she shake hands with her idol?

Footsteps slowly approached, and a soft, interesting male voice said, "Can I show you my world? Do you know that your music creates a world for others?"

Huh?

Luo Qi lunged to the edge of the tree branch, swaying but looking down from above at the two people passing by below, and shouted angrily, "Don't touch her Yajian, you seventy-or-eighty-year-old peacock! Compared to you, she is still an infant; you can even flirt with such a large age gap?"

(End of chapter)