Chapter 572: Vacuum Zone

The area beneath the glacier was quiet; even the black fierce-birds from overhead were nowhere to be seen.

Du Zhengyi gripped the collar of Luo Qi's jacket. For a moment, countless thoughts surged through his mind, and anger flickered through his emotions like static sparks. He stared into Luo Qi's clear eyes; the pupils shifted slightly as if startled, but as they recognized who had come, they instantly melted and burst into radiance.

Du Zhengyi turned his face away, moved his lips to curse under his breath, and his hand loosened powerlessly. Luo Qi immediately scrambled up on his own, joyous, crowding in, and full of spirit. "Oh, what a coincidence!"

Coincidence your mother.

Du Zhengyi's gaze fell behind Luo Qi, taking in the group of people Luo Qi had brought—all sorts, truly colorful, beyond what an ordinary person could imagine.

"Luo Qi, you're really bringing the old and the young along, aren't you?" Du Zhengyi's gaze lingered on Wusu's face for a moment before returning to Luo Qi. He secretly sized him up and continued with a sarcastic tone, "What a filial child, even participating in this kind of family tour group. You've worked hard."

Luo Qi laughed out loud. The Battle Mages were all closing in on them; for a moment, all the Battle Mages' eyes were fixed on Luo Qi, many with strange expressions. He stopped smiling, sensing several wisps of magical tentacles reaching out, as if trying to probe the depth of his magic. It wasn't exactly malicious; it was likely the instinct of Battle Mages. Du Zhengyi must have felt it too, as he suddenly turned his head back. The result was as if someone had suddenly muted the sound; all magic instantly fell into silence, and Luo Qi couldn't help but grin.

Luo Qi stretched out his arm to hang himself around Du Zhengyi's neck, leaning on his backer to look back at those people, smiling at them gently and obediently. "Hello, brothers."

Majiang frowned at him. This was nothing, but two Battle Mages stepped back upon hearing this—it was too strange. Luo Qi blinked, and as someone opened a gap, revealing the female Mage behind, he hurriedly added, "Oh, Nainai is here too. Hello, Nainai."

Only Xiang Qian responded to him; she raised her eyebrows but nodded at him in a friendly manner.

"That's enough out of you." Du Zhengyi tilted his head to glare at him, saying coolly, "Are you done socializing?"

Luo Qi laughed out loud, bragging dismissively, "I am the most polite."

"Why did you come here?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"This place is a vacuum, so I couldn't help but come over to take a look," Luo Qi said.

Du Zhengyi understood what he meant. Humans had done a generally good job with environmental protection here, and there were many animals living in the area. Under such circumstances, a patch of land with no animal activity would appear very abrupt; a Mind Mage would monitor such a vacuum of Yajian. However, Luo Qi was clearly just beating around the bush now.

"Your skills have grown. Sitting at home, your tentacles can reach all the way here. You're supposed to be honestly attending classes, yet you can still perceive this place the whole time; your detection radius is astonishing. In the future, when humans investigate the distribution of wild animals across the country, should we just pay you a salary and be done with it?" Du Zhengyi exposed him without mercy.

"Oh," Luo Qi said, "isn't it because Guan Xinyue wanted to go out shopping for snacks?"

"Shameless," a crisp four-character response came from behind him immediately.

Luo Qi smiled shamelessly, not caring that he had been exposed on the spot, and said again, "Look, there's a young lady who has been waiting for you for dozens of days; I've been keeping her company for you."

Du Zhengyi glanced in the direction of Wen Lin, raised his head to give her a slight nod, but the first sentence he spoke was merciless. "I remember we had a consensus, and I once drew a bottom line."

Wen Lin looked at him with a complex expression. She slowly recalled what that bottom line was, and Luo Qi, standing beside him, looked back. She had counted on Luo Qi to say something; after all, he was the one who had invited her first. But at this moment, his face wore a completely different spirit than before, as if he had happily turned into a different person—his expression was much more muddled, a face full of cowardice, with not a shred of righteousness.

She let out a laugh, and her face darkened. "What is that supposed to mean? I don't owe you anything."

Seeing Wen Lin turn hostile, Luo Qi finally woke up. He had almost forgotten that Du Zhengyi used to not cooperate with anyone; he was like a lone wolf, never caring who might be a potential partner. He climbed down from Du Zhengyi, stood a bit straighter, and changed the subject. "Wen Lin and Shi Qian did a great job with the preliminary work, much more effective than the Execution Mages of Qionglin. She has been waiting for us to contact her, and we never did. Although it was unavoidable, we have kept her in a dangerous position."

Du Zhengyi glanced at him and shut his mouth. Luo Qi turned back and smiled at Wen Lin. "Oh, don't be angry. My brother gets temperamental whenever he sees me; he's not aiming it at you."

Wen Lin's expression had softened quite a bit; she had been very embarrassed in front of so many Battle Mages just now. Du Zhengyi didn't say anything else, which was a rough apology at best. She glanced at the two of them a few times, unable to determine who was the one with the real decision-making power, but it was obvious that the spokesperson was Luo Qi. Her position was already awkward; she was a Battle Mage but had been working for Fan Shi. In everyone's eyes, they were Fan Shi's people, and Chi Yu was even less concerned with saving face. Battle Mages were already somewhat solitary by nature, and the elite Battle Mages Du Zhengyi brought were likely all somewhat repulsed by her.

She just laughed it off. "It's all for work; I'm not angry."

Du Zhengyi's expression could not be considered good. He looked past Wen Lin at Wusu. "Mage Wusu, are you here on official business under orders from Qionglin?"

Wusu stood there with composure, as if they were not standing at the foot of a glacier, but chatting in a Mage's tavern. "I am here as a friend, having accepted Luo Qi's invitation to come out and drink some milk tea."

Du Zhengyi laughed and turned to glare at Luo Qi. "You really are a slick social butterfly."

Majiang added, "I've been saying that all along. I told you to keep an eye on Luo Qi, and what did you say? You said Luo Qi had a brain and knew what was important and urgent, and wouldn't waste the opportunity to learn from the Highland Mages."

"Shut up," Du Zhengyi scolded in a low, annoyed voice.

Majiang did not shut up. "Did you see that he even brought Guan Xinyue?"

"Ah, right," Luo Qi interrupted loudly, drowning out Majiang. "Junior sister, why don't you take Guan Xinyue back? If it gets any later, you might not be able to return. Why don't you let Du Zhengyi pick a few people to send you to the nearest Pendragon Teleportation Station?"

"Who is your junior sister?" Du Zhengyi frowned and smacked him on the back of the head. "What kind of relative are you trying to claim?"

"Since my senior brother is here, I don't have to go back right now," Liu Ziyi calculated. She had already looked over the people Du Zhengyi brought. "Guan Xinyue can follow me; that's no problem."

Majiang looked at Liu Ziyi and said coldly, "You want to use a human for testing, right?"

Luo Qi looked at Liu Ziyi in surprise, thought for a moment, and was just about to speak when he didn't expect Guan Xinyue to cut off their conversation.

"I know, that doesn't matter."

"Shut up. You are just a human; stay away from these things. Do you have any idea what you are approaching? Even Mages aren't necessarily able to protect themselves; you're like a clam without a shell, and you're still..." Majiang suddenly became angry, which even startled Luo Qi. He could somewhat feel that the Doctor had been dissatisfied with the loss of control over the situation lately, but he hadn't expected it to erupt to this degree today. He wouldn't usually talk to Guan Xinyue like this; he was still able to control himself, at least enough to shut his mouth.

Guan Xinyue's face flushed slightly, but she was calmer than she had been in the past. She shifted her gaze away from Majiang's face and said faintly, "I'm fine."

Wusu, like a gentleman, lowered his head at the right moment to comfort her. "I will protect you."

"Thank you," Guan Xinyue said with a smile, but Luo Qi could tell she didn't take those words to heart.

As a result, Majiang glared at Luo Qi. Luo Qi shrugged helplessly. "Let's talk about it later. Let's talk about serious matters. Brother, what did you find? Why did you come all the way here?"

Du Zhengyi glared at Luo Qi as well, so Luo Qi had to look at the others. Xiang Qian was the only one who met his gaze. She was already confused and had no patience for the emotional outbursts of children. "We followed Du Zhengyi's feeling to get here, and we encountered a pile of human corpses. But as for the thing that attacked the humans, we didn't even see a hair of it."

"Feeling?" Luo Qi muttered the word strangely, his gaze turning to Du Zhengyi as he asked in a low voice, "What did you feel?"

"I feel that you are a little bastard, and you need to get back there right now," Du Zhengyi said bluntly.

"What did you feel?" Luo Qi asked stubbornly. "What kind of Mind Mage could influence your will? Can I try to see if I can do it?"

"That has nothing to do with it," Du Zhengyi said. He looked at the sky. "That has nothing to do with it."

(End of chapter)