Chapter 563: Hongquangou (4)

Du Zhengyi raised his hand, slowly approaching the filthy door panel; the static electricity generated by the magic particles fell onto his palm like an even breeze.

The old woman downstairs shouted to him, "Du Zhengyi, what did you find?"

Du Zhengyi turned a deaf ear. He stood silently until, several dozen seconds later, he suddenly raised his head and kicked the door open.

The foul, putrid smell of blood in the room rushed into his nose, as if a can of herring had been pried open, the stench erupting suddenly. Du Zhengyi looked expressionlessly at this room, which was also covered in spells; blood and human tissue were splattered everywhere, as if someone had exploded in here.

Of course, someone had indeed had their chest blown apart in here.

As the concentration of the odor dissipated slightly, Du Zhengyi walked in immediately. He walked straight across two-thirds of the room, then his raised toe suddenly paused. He moved his foot; there was a thick gap in the middle of the rough wooden floorboards, and a bit of light was embedded in that gap. He extended his left hand, and as if guided by a bit of force, a tiny crystal flew out from the floor gap and landed in his hand.

The limited magical power within the crystal sensed his summons; this bit of power was only enough to create a barrier to temporarily conceal a crime scene.

A superfluous act... or was it done in a rush?

Du Zhengyi impatiently neutralized the magic in the crystal and tossed it aside. Which pervert made this kind of thing? It wasn't very powerful, but it was exquisite, simulating the casting of a spell just like a living person.

"Du Zhengyi!" Xiang Qian called his name from downstairs as if calling a soul.

He did not speak, turning his head to glare at the tightly closed window. The nailed-shut window flew open, and the cold wind from the distant mountains blew in, blowing away the turbid, rotting air in the room. He looked out the window unconsciously; the mountain ranges covered in glaciers in the distance shone with an ice-blue light under the Sunlight, while the nearby hills were as red as flames.

He should have gone downstairs immediately; there was nothing of value here, not even this Seal Magic used for concealment. He found such places very annoying.

Yet, as he cast this glance out the window, his soul was suddenly captured for an instant. He stood there blankly for a while, vaguely remembering that a long time ago, he had also stood here, or had looked at that massive glacier from this direction once before. It was the same blue peak connecting to the heavens, the same supported by red hills, as if ice and fire were blending together.

He was certain he had never been to Kongsang Mountain.

But that distant familiarity was etched deep into his soul, as if he had once trekked across a scorching, boundless sea of sand, or swum in one breath through a dark, endless sea, arriving here to let the first breath of his homeland pass through his lungs—sweet and cool.

Homeland? Du Zhengyi froze; this was definitely not his homeland. A Mage's lungs were the same as a human's, better adapted to the altitude of plains; apart from those ascetics, no one wanted to live in a place like this.

But looking at that glacier-covered peak again, a layer of strange comfort washed over his heart once more. A bizarre thought emerged from the bottom of his heart—he knew he would eventually go there.

He was startled, as if pricked by this thought.

Why did he have to go there? He didn't remember; the only thing he could guess was that someone had planted this idea in the depths of his heart. When was it planted? It must have been a long time ago, long before he had the strength to resist at all. But why? To do what?

This thought was not intense; he could just walk away. If he were bored and had nothing holding him back, he might go take a look now, or perhaps one day a hundred years from now. He pondered for a while; the thought that he had to return to Qionglin in four hours was much more pressing than this, so it seemed he wasn't too troubled by it. However, since he had a little over four hours left and the trail had gone cold, if he didn't go over to take a look, there was nothing else to do now.

Xiang Qian could wait no longer. Just as she intended to go upstairs to check, Du Zhengyi charged down the stairs. She was just about to ask for the situation when Du Zhengyi gave a restless order, "Everyone follow me. I'll drive the first car, the others follow me. Those at the door, get moving! We only have four hours to act, don't let anyone delay things for me."

The Battle Mages at the door scattered instantly. Most left via Teleportation; although no one had the long-distance Teleportation ability like Du Zhengyi, they could manage the distance to teleport outside the village to scramble for the cars behind. The only ones left who hadn't vanished were Xiang Qian in the courtyard and Yan Hao, who hadn't kept up. Du Zhengyi glanced at Yan Hao, always feeling he wasn't very bright.

Yan Hao was glared at by him and, realizing it belatedly, hurriedly turned and ran outside. The result was that he, Xiang Qian, and the Doctor Mahjong got into an off-road vehicle with Du Zhengyi.

Xiang Qian sat in the back seat, stretched her legs, and finally couldn't help but say to Du Zhengyi, "You've been racing against time."

Du Zhengyi kept a cold face and said nothing, reversing, turning, and setting off.

"It seems things aren't very stable over at Qionglin either, right?" Xiang Qian said worriedly.

Mahjong was sitting in the passenger seat and suddenly started knocking the back of his head against the headrest.

Yan Hao couldn't help but ask, "Doctor, what's wrong with you?"

No one answered him. Mahjong exchanged a look with Du Zhengyi, their gazes unfathomable, and then Mahjong pulled up his hood to get some sleep. The pressure in the car was inexplicably low. Yan Hao couldn't withstand such a heavy atmosphere and shrank back into his seat, feeling uneasy. He had heard of many crises Du Zhengyi had experienced, each one more perilous than anything he had ever encountered. Thinking that he might face such terror in four hours, his palms were once again drenched in sweat, and he couldn't help but keep kneading his two hands back and forth.

Du Zhengyi didn't look at the map. This place was sparsely populated, but a brand-new road had been built; it just looked like the road would bypass the mountains, wasting a lot of time. He took a shortcut, finding a small path that looked like it had been used by construction vehicles, and drove straight into a red valley. This section of the valley was extremely wide, with towering red cliffs on both sides, but the width between the valley walls could swallow a great river. If Luo Qi were here, he would probably tell him that this was a He Gu, formed by glacial meltwater, and that the thin spring in the middle of the valley could sometimes swell into a raging river. The name Hongquangou was truly petty.

They spent an hour driving, and the He Gu still hadn't reached its end, nor had they seen anyone; the water surface in the valley gradually widened a bit. Du Zhengyi encountered several herds of antelope on the road, none of which were very afraid of people.

Xiang Qian was very patient with long waits during missions; since there was no need to take action and the environment remained peaceful and quiet, she soon fell asleep as well.

Mahjong woke up after a nap, wrapped his windbreaker tighter around himself, and listlessly watched the animals passing by for a while. The terrain on one side became gentler, and there were many more animals on the slopes. "Du Zhengyi, I think I saw a bear. Seems like a family, a big one leading several small ones; one of the little ones looked a bit like Luo Qi... now it's being carried away by its mom. Tsk, bear cubs are the same everywhere."

Du Zhengyi ignored him. He yawned out of boredom and continued broadcasting to himself, "There are no humans in this place, how strange. Humans should be everywhere. Hey, let me tell you, last year I went to play on the grasslands of Tanzania. At the time, I was enjoying the silent, uninhabited wilderness, listening to the call of the wild. No people, no machines, no noise, only the harmony and tranquility of nature. I was so moved I was almost crying; I thought that at the dawn of time, before humans were born, the world must have been like this. Who knew that just at that moment, a voice drifted from the dense grass a few meters behind me: 'Fuck, there aren't even any lions to see here, let's go, change places.'—Holy shit, can you believe it? It was actually in Chinese, not even locals talking! All the atmosphere was gone."

In the back seat, Yan Hao couldn't help but laugh. Mahjong immediately turned his head and gave him a comradely look; at least a Battle Mage could have a sense of humor. "Buddy, want a cookie? It's too boring sitting in the car. Here. New Oreo flavor, quite special."

Yan Hao hurriedly took it, "Thank you."

Mahjong kept looking back at him, so he had to quickly stuff one into his mouth, his brow twitching, "Uh... star anise flavor?"

Mahjong held back a laugh, "Special, right?"

Yan Hao forced himself not to vomit, swallowed it whole, and nodded with an indescribable expression. "Highly concentrated star anise flavor."

Mahjong turned back around, laughing, and suddenly called out, "Du Zhengyi, is that Toyota in front stuck? Must be humans on a self-driving trip. It's stuck in the mud by the river; this place is practically a plateau swamp. Humans actually traveling alone in one car, they definitely can't get out on their own. Should we help?"

It probably was; Mahjong was never wrong about these trivial matters concerning humans. He was a Doctor for humans, equivalent to someone traversing the cross-section of human life. But this was truly a nuisance; helping humans pull the car out would only take a few minutes with Magic, but using human methods... thirty minutes if fast?

"Do them a favor," Mahjong pleaded, "If he's stuck here, he might be eaten by a bear in the middle of the night."

Du Zhengyi frowned and shook his head, but he still picked a dry patch of road and parked the car not far behind the stuck Toyota. He pushed the door open and stepped out, casually pulling a cigarette to put in his mouth, and walked slowly toward the Toyota.

The Toyota in front also opened its door, and a tall man stepped out, wearing a white Columbia windbreaker on his upper body, light gray, almost white outdoor pants on his lower body, and off-white snow boots. This outfit didn't quite match his appearance; his eye bags were large, and his build was bulky and clumsy, looking like a middle-aged man who did manual labor. Few men at this age liked to wear all white, except for doctors with certain occupational diseases. But he definitely wasn't a doctor.

Du Zhengyi took a puff of his cigarette; for a moment, he almost thought this person was a Mage. But then the middle-aged man who did manual labor smiled at him reservedly, and the voice that spoke was low, refined, and polite, "The mountains here are beautiful, it's just the road that isn't very good."

He didn't seem like a Mage, and he couldn't feel any residual Magic.

Du Zhengyi nodded; the car was empty. "Self-driving alone?"

The man in white smiled embarrassedly, "Maybe it's a midlife crisis."

Du Zhengyi understood, "Went on a trip on a whim?"

The man in white nodded shyly.

Du Zhengyi handed him the cigarette pack, "Want one?"

The man thanked him repeatedly, pulled one out from the pack in Du Zhengyi's hand, and his gaze followed the car behind Du Zhengyi, looking over the entire motorcade one by one. Du Zhengyi took out a lighter to help him light it. He withdrew his gaze and said shyly in a low voice, "A G55 isn't suitable for this desolate self-driving route; it's too valuable. If parts break, it's hard to get replacements in a place like this. But, is the business van behind yours too? It's my first time encountering someone driving a business van in a place like this."

Du Zhengyi looked back; he didn't know which idiot bought this fleet of Mercedes; some Mages were just that kind of moron. "Heh, picked them up on the road, a bunch of rich kids."

The man nodded and said cautiously, "There's a highway after crossing this mountain; you should take the highway later."

Du Zhengyi looked at him and nodded, "Let's pull your car out first."

(End of chapter)