Chapter 554: Peacock

Guan Xinyue lifted her petite face in surprise to look upward, and the person beside her similarly raised their head; the face gazing upward was as handsome as a forest elf, appearing strangely young and beautiful, making them look quite a match.

Luo Qi jumped down from the tree in annoyance, landing a bit too hard; unable to hold back the momentum upon impact, he had to take a step forward to steady himself. He kept a straight face and reached out to pull Guan Xinyue to his side, ignoring the fact that she immediately gave him a punch with agility. He glared at Wusu, who stood gently to the side, a head taller than him, watching him with a polite smile.

"That's enough, you're also a hidden Mind Mage," Luo Qi said in a low voice.

The leaves overhead moved again, and Liu Ziyi emerged, asking in surprise from above, "What's wrong?"

"Hidden?" Wusu's smile deepened, as if he had been complimented. "I wouldn't say that. My telepathy rating isn't high enough to count as a Mind Mage."

"What a coincidence," Luo Qi rolled his eyes. "Just barely on the line, right? Neither high nor low."

"Oh, Mage Wusu, it's you," Liu Ziyi said from above again.

Guan Xinyue couldn't take it anymore and tugged at Luo Qi. "Are you sick? Why are you talking to him like that without rhyme or reason! You're so rude!"

"Rude? If he were polite, he wouldn't be harassing you. You're a human; in front of him, you're like an unlocked diary!" Luo Qi turned his head and started arguing with her.

Guan Xinyue's face flushed. "Yes, I can't arm myself like you Mages, thank you for the reminder. But I can take care of myself, I don't need you to worry. Did you get amnesia? We've already broken up! Don't talk to me. And, sorry, Wusu actually taught me a simple way to block Mind Mages like you. That is to think in English, because your English is terrible—even if you can hear the sound of my thoughts, you won't understand what they mean! You illiterate!"

Luo Qi was stunned by anger, and before he could think of a comeback, Liu Ziyi overhead was already amused into a fit of laughter; he was practically surrounded by enemies.

"Wusu is much more decent than you, you big idiot!" Guan Xinyue shouted angrily.

"Then when he strolled out of the forest with you like a peacock, did he tell you he's almost a hundred years old? He has a century of life experience, just enough to deceive a little girl like you," Luo Qi said, glaring at Wusu.

"I have my own brain, you big idiot." Guan Xinyue glanced at Wusu, her face turning even redder. "If he's a hundred years old, that's even better; that means he has over a hundred years of lifespan left, which, rounded up, is about the same as mine."

"Huh?" Luo Qi's mouth fell open.

Liu Ziyi laughed again and said from above, "Don't be angry, Xinyue, boys are all idiots."

Wusu didn't mind being dragged into the insults, nor did he feel offended, saying in a soft tone, "Fortunately, I am already an old man of nearly a hundred, no longer considered a boy."

Luo Qi squinted at him; he was poised and graceful when he said this, his appearance extremely beautiful. Sensing his gaze, Wusu's eyes also looked over, his clear, light irises looking into his own; he couldn't help but feel his spine tingle, and he took a step back, his cheeks turning red in a "whoosh."

This damn... this damn... Luo Qi stood frozen in the woods, as if suffering a great humiliation.

"Ha, ha, ha." Liu Ziyi chuckled from the treetop, and Luo Qi wished he could crawl into a tree hole. Unexpectedly, after laughing, Liu Ziyi suddenly changed the subject. "Mage Wusu, you've asked me about Luo Qi several times; now that you've run into him, if you really have something to say, you don't need to ask me or Guan Xinyue anymore. You can just tell Luo Qi yourself."

Luo Qi was startled.

Wusu smiled warmly, as if Liu Ziyi had truly given him a friendly suggestion that suited his wishes. "That's true."

Luo Qi had had enough of his charming act; although it was hard to detect a trace of falsehood in his gentleness, it still made him unhappy. "What do you want with me?"

"To see if you're in danger, can't I fulfill my duty to the Qionglin?" Wusu said.

Luo Qi took his words as nonsense; anyway, Liu Ziyi would look after Guan Xinyue here. With something on his mind, he shook his head and turned to leave.

"Wait." Wusu stepped forward to block him. "I thought you would go to Ganzhou with Du Zhengyi. Aren't you in the same group?"

Before Luo Qi could speak, Guan Xinyue interjected, "He wanted to go, but rolling on the ground and crying this morning didn't work..."

Wusu couldn't help but laugh. "So that's the style of the Great Raccoon King."

"That was..." Luo Qi stopped halfway; he wasn't that concerned about his image. He looked up and whistled; a sharp cry responded from the woods further away. A ripple passed through the windless canopy, and in the blink of an eye, a black fur ball jumped from the canopy above onto his shoulder. He raised his hand and habitually stroked it a few times, about to put the cat into his pocket, when suddenly Wusu also whistled, and Luo Qi's cat suddenly raised its head to examine him.

Luo Qi also looked up, stopped in his tracks, and watched Wusu with a vigilant expression.

Wusu smiled slowly. "Also a Psychic Beast? It has a semi-finished brain that requires you to map out its complete primary consciousness. Do you know? It wasn't even a cat to begin with, just a piece of semi-automated equipment. Let me see, its brain structure is very special; in a primitive, natural environment, it should be a group-living creature. Its telepathy is different from us Mages; it can... I see, it is better at detecting intent to attack, and can also test... could it be testing lies? You use it as an external device, don't you? Because you aren't a warrior, your combat experience is insufficient, and you are still too young, not very good at detecting the other party's aggression toward you, so this thing is an early warning device. Relying on this, you have an important head start; no wonder you are so bold. However, I have an academic question: how can it produce a reaction to lies?"

Luo Qi watched him calmly, the impatience in his heart fading away completely, all his restlessness dispelled. He stared at Wusu as if he were a puzzle that had captured his attention. "Interesting, and someone said they weren't a Mind Mage."

Wusu looked at him, smiling. "We are, after all, different from ordinary Mages."

"Of course." Luo Qi licked his lips. "Besides a Wushan Mage, who else could make someone as thick-skinned as me blush?"

"Can you answer my academic question? There is no end to learning in life; although I am ninety years old, I am still willing to learn with an open mind."

"It can't determine if you are lying, but it performs consistency checks, from psychological to physiological, and can eventually get a relatively accurate result. It is not a person and can bypass a Mage's Thought Barrier because it cannot perform mental interference or attacks, so a Mage's mental system does not guard against it," Luo Qi said calmly. "Actually, its function is even greater than you said. Don't forget it's an animal; its sense of smell is even more sensitive than a Mage's, and it is very good at distinguishing odors produced under the influence of different human hormones."

Liu Ziyi flipped down from the tree and landed beside Guan Xinyue. "Interesting, Du Zhengyi has a lion, but it's not very useful; they forced it on him. This one is more portable."

Guan Xinyue said to her in a low voice, "Why do you have to turn everything into equipping them? Don't you want to raise one yourself for fun?"

"This one is rare," Liu Ziyi replied, sounding a bit pitiful. "It's not that easy to get."

"But I heard Luo Qi say that there were many cute ones in that pet shop at the time; he only picked one to take away," Guan Xinyue said.

Wusu interjected leisurely at this moment. "Fan Shi is in charge of psychic creatures in the Qionglin, and those sold to the Black Market also have to do with him; he likely took the most harmless ones privately to trade for favors from big shots. You happened to run into it and snatched an inconspicuous one. I see you looking pitifully everywhere asking big shots for news, and I don't know if you've collected this piece of information. But even if you didn't ask, you might have guessed it already. Since Fan Shi can use psychic Alien monsters to surround and hunt you down, he has a very detailed grasp of the situation regarding Psychic Beasts. I heard Du Zhengyi's briefing and thought that Fan Shi has been missing for so long; if he didn't think to go to Ganzhou, that would be a bit strange."

He spoke with composure, and after finishing, he smiled. The child in front of him was different from what he had imagined; he was staring at him coldly, his eyes deep, impossible to see how deep they truly were. From the moment he started saying these things, the child gradually became serious; he stood right in front of him, yet he was like a black hole, constantly deepening, a different person from the impatient and cute appearance just now. He didn't think the impatient appearance was a facade, or that the child's exterior was a mask; they were both him. He was just able to control himself; he himself was like a complex structure wrapped in clouds and mist—how much of the clouds and mist to blow away, and how much of himself to let people see, depended on his own will. That was also a specialty of a Mind Master approaching the peak. The descendants of Wushan could only reach the middle of this mountain; they could not reach the height of this child.

"If that's all you wanted to tell me," the child in front of him said calmly and straightforwardly, "you have wasted my limited time."

"Luo Qi?" Guan Xinyue suddenly called him, her expression changing slightly.

Luo Qi glanced at her, and a "voice" stuck to her consciousness, whispering, "I know what you're going to do, but I don't have time to deal with you. Just one thing—listen to me, stay away from Mages."

Wusu's expression turned serious, as if he had just stood a little straighter, no longer cooperating with the current light to show his best angle, no longer having a posture rich in psychological suggestion; he seemed to have become a different person, the filter gone. He stood there, just a handsome man, and the dream around him lost its color.

Luo Qi looked at him. "I guess you just came to test me today; we can talk in detail if there's a chance later. I really have to go find Zhou Quan; there's business to be done."

(End of chapter)