Chapter 560: Meeting Up (3)

Perhaps they had run into a madman.

Wen Lin looked at the young man across the round table... a boy? No, it seemed he was a man. He was a bit too short, perhaps one meter seventy-two? Definitely under one meter seventy-four, not more than a few centimeters taller than Liu Ziyi. Wen Lin's height was one meter seventy-six, and male Mages were generally over one meter eighty, though few exceeded one meter ninety-four; a height like Luo Qi's was quite rare. If Mages were gathered together, Luo Qi would be conspicuously miniature. Even his frame was a size smaller than that of an adult male Mage, and he still looked like a youth.

A careful look at him revealed even more youthful features. His eyes were clear, his hair soft, his skin delicate, and the knuckles of the fingers resting on the tabletop were small and supple. Beneath a thick black coat, he wore a gray-green turtleneck sweater that made his complexion appear even fairer and cleaner; the sleeves of his coat were actually a bit long, covering his wrists. Mages generally did not dress so warmly; he looked like a well-behaved baby under his mommy's meticulous care, the kind whose family would never feel at ease letting him go out alone. However, it wasn't exactly him going out alone now; he was following a veteran Mage, along with two young girls who looked very willing to dote on him. He must have enjoyed acting spoiled with the young girls; she guessed that if he just pouted aggrievedly, those two girls would share at least half their snacks with him.

Wen Lin exhaled a puff of smoke, but, no, he was definitely not crazy.

There was no fanaticism in his eyes, no neurotic posturing; his pupils were clear and pure, but no one could light up those eyes. He told jokes himself, his wit like pearls. But if it were someone else's joke, no one could make his amusement reach the depths of his eyes. So, he was no longer a boy, not anymore. Well, she only discussed matters with men, not boys. Mortals could not see through a Mind Master, but she would do her best.

She reflected on the scattered intelligence she had gathered: this person, Luo Qi, had made Qionglin change its view of him in just a few short days. Although they all knew that Qionglin would certainly tolerate a Talent Mage, this process was often difficult enough to completely reshape a person. She had also heard that he was becoming increasingly influential among Qionglin's core Mages. If that were the case, his value and weight had long since surpassed Du Zhengyi's, and she would be very happy to deal with him.

Since Luo Qi was not crazy, then he hoped to disclose the secrets hidden by Qionglin through different channels. The strange Mage beside him carried a strong Wusu vibe; she could taste it. Wusu must also be paying attention to Qionglin's brand-new Century Mage; what happened here would soon reach Wusu. Wen Lin's thoughts shifted; it was exactly the same way Luo Qi had coerced Chi Yu on the human streets—he wanted everyone to know the secret. The more people who knew, the safer he would be; this was his way of protecting himself.

She did not mind this at all.

"Kongsang Mountain is a very large mountain range, not as big as the entire Qilian Mountains, but it has several high peaks and wide valleys." Wen Lin lit a second cigarette, held it between her slender fingers, and puffed away at the round table, not even touching the milk tea in front of her. "Shi Qian and I used Ganzhou here as a starting point and walked through quite a few villages. Most of the villages didn't have many people; at first, there was nothing, but gradually we began to feel uncomfortable. At first, this feeling wasn't easy to describe; we encountered the same uncomfortable humans in several villages. They were actually relatively easy to identify: either their mental state was truly problematic, or they looked like they had depression. Most of these humans were plagued by nightmares year-round. I told you about one typical dream: a teacher dreamed that he went deep underground, his ears filled with unintelligible whispers, and countless evil beasts were hidden within amber boulders."

Luo Qi nodded; that was what she had said the last time they spoke with Wen Lin. At that time, she had still hoped he would personally go to Kongsang Mountain to investigate, but it had been completely and utterly rejected by Du Zhengyi. But perhaps that was just how fate worked; he was now sitting in this county town of Ganzhou.

Liu Ziyi was captivated by Wen Lin's words. Guan Xinyue did not hear anything unusual; after all, she only had a general impression of Magic and could not distinguish which were uncommon scenes. Wusu listened thoughtfully, revealing nothing. Wen Lin looked around at them, not caring much about their reactions, and turned her attention back to Luo Qi. "When we saw this person again a month later, his dreams had changed."

"Did he go further underground?" Luo Qi asked.

"No, he started dreaming of bloody slaughter," Wen Lin said, shaking the ash onto a napkin.

"Did he dream that he was killed?" Luo Qi asked.

"No." Wen Lin took a drag of her cigarette and raised an eyebrow at Luo Qi. "He was the monster doing the slaughtering."

Luo Qi pondered and said casually, "That perspective is actually quite nice."

"Poor man, I think he was about to go crazy," Wen Lin said. She lifted her head and tossed her loose, long hair back onto her left shoulder. "Our situation was also very bad. As I said just now, at first we only felt uncomfortable, strange, and afraid. The will of a Battle Mage is as strong as iron; we wouldn't feel like ghosts were hiding in the shadows for no reason."

Luo Qi remembered what Han Yi had said; he was also a Battle Mage, and his description of the feeling of fear was very abstract and perfunctory. Luo Qi instinctively did not believe what he had said at the time, and now Wen Lin had started on the same topic, but there seemed to be more to it. "You shouldn't have been dreaming."

"No." Wen Lin shook her head, her face tightening. "I discovered someone was right around us, following us closely like a shadow. To investigate, we went from one village to another, sometimes staying in the villages. When we returned to our lodgings, our personal items were often rummaged through, and at night, they even touched the crystal I carried near my neck."

She pulled a chain from her neckline, connected to a ruby pendant. Luo Qi felt a slight fluctuation of energy, likely connected to Wen Lin's emotions. At such a close distance, touching her crystal was like caressing her neck with a blade.

Wen Lin tucked the necklace back into her clothes. "But when I opened my eyes, there was nothing." She looked at Luo Qi and suddenly smiled, her eyes meaningful. "I wonder if the Great Civet King can understand the fear when a Battle Mage opens their eyes only to find nothing there."

"You are sure there was something, right?" Luo Qi asked calmly.

"One day we were camping in the wilderness. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a white figure right by the grass near the camp; a man was watching us. Before I could react, he disappeared, vanished into the dark night, leaving no trace of Teleportation magic behind," Wen Lin said.

Luo Qi turned to Shi Qian. "Did you see him too?"

Shi Qian hesitated for a moment, as if he really didn't want to speak, but finally, he raised his head and said, "A pair of very large, round eyes with heavy bags, the black pupils taking up a large proportion, but the eyes were lifeless. A scruffy beard, his face slightly bloated, listless, and somewhat hunched, like a crude pig butcher among humans. One meter ninety tall, which is quite tall, yet he spoke in a soft whisper."

"You saw him so clearly in a single glance in the dark? Did he speak to you?" Luo Qi asked in surprise.

Shi Qian's complexion was very poor, as if his stomach were hurting. "Because we saw him again later. I accompanied Wen Lin to revisit that teacher; he was also conducting an investigation. He asked us to go see a child in a remote village. The village was called Hongquangou. When we saw him there, he was in the process of killing someone in that child's home. The cruelest way of killing, Spatial Orientation Distortion—we generally wouldn't use that method to fight. He used such means to kill an ordinary Mage. That Mage... was too young, didn't know anything... even now I can't forget the expression on his face when he died."

"You are too sentimental," Wen Lin cut him off, saying impatiently. "If you are going to kill, isn't it the same no matter what method you use?"

Shi Qian looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. "It's like having your lungs ripped out while your brain stays alive for a while; no one deserves to die like that."

"Enough, Du Zhengyi himself is the Battle Mage most skilled at this; he is the benchmark for Battle Mages," Wen Lin disagreed.

"Hongquangou." Luo Qi repeated the name. "Did you fight him?"

"We ran away," Wen Lin said. "The magnitude of the magic he used was too high, far above ours."

"How does he compare to Du Zhengyi?" Luo Qi asked.

Wen Lin and Shi Qian exchanged a look, and Wen Lin said, "I believe they are Mages of the same magnitude, and both have the Talent for combat."

But Shi Qian added, "He is a pervert. He is not a Battle Mage at all; he is a pervert who enjoys torture and killing. I don't know who he serves, but if it isn't the Lotus Burners, I can't think of anyone else who would be willing to associate with him."

Luo Qi pondered silently. That meant if Du Zhengyi encountered him, he could not escape unscathed; he would either be killed by him or die from consuming too much energy because he killed him. In the final analysis, Du Zhengyi could not fight someone of the same level at all right now.

Wen Lin said irritably, "The key to the problem is why he can turn invisible? Don't tell me all those feelings of mine were illusions. He didn't harass you perhaps because you are far inferior to me and not worth mentioning at all."

Shi Qian's expression was as if he had been severely wounded; he looked at Wen Lin in pain. For a moment, Luo Qi thought he was going to storm out, but he still hid his male dignity and sat on pins and needles to accompany her. He didn't have to get involved in this mess, Luo Qi realized; he loved her.

Luo Qi turned to the most respected person here, Wusu. "Has there never been a Mage capable of invisibility?"

"Seventy thousand years ago, perhaps," Wusu said.

Wen Lin said, "Let's put it this way: a killer of this level who can also turn invisible—any one of us could die at any time."

Shi Qian said in a low voice, "So now is the time for us to withdraw."

Luo Qi had a feeling they had argued about this kind of conversation countless times already. He looked at the time on his phone: four hours and forty-five minutes left.

(End of chapter)