Chapter 577: The Key

"In this world, it is truly too difficult to tell clearly which things come from Mage civilization and which come from human civilization," Luo Qi said. He stepped over the corpse without casting a single careful glance at it. Du Zhengyi left behind the other Battle Mages and Liu Ziyu, who was in the middle of complex measurements, and followed Luo Qi's lead as he walked along the riverbank.

"Do you have any opinions on such a grand theme?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"No," Luo Qi said. He saw Wen Lin watching them and said in a low voice, "Wen Lin has more talent than Yan Hao, and she is more proactive than the other Battle Mages. The others will be warriors in the future, but Wen Lin wants more."

"How did you see that?"

Luo Qi did not answer this question. "Fan Shi has no future in Qionglin; she grabbed onto us—mainly you—just in time. Once she has seen Pei Shu, she will have completely finished her change of camp. That she can persist here for so long is in itself the act of a madman. But it is truly strange; my entire body can feel that this place makes me uncomfortable, yet my brain cannot distinguish where the source actually lies. Brother, can you feel it?"

Du Zhengyi shook his head.

"I knew it," Luo Qi said, walking down along the traces left by human excavation. It was easy to distinguish; the mechanical excavation capability of humans was too powerful, as if a giant groundhog had been waving its claws here the whole way. "Your will is too powerful, your Shield of Mind is impregnable."

Du Zhengyi hesitated for a moment. Luo Qi sensitively turned his head to look at him; there was no Mind Magic, but it was like a swallow that always knows when it is about to rain. "Your feeling is different?" Luo Qi asked softly.

"How did you know?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Luo Qi's eyes widened. He blinked slowly; the wind blew into his collar and raised a layer of goosebumps on his neck, and he shivered, shrinking his neck. Du Zhengyi aimlessly thought that Luo Qi's neck was truly thin enough, fragile and tender, with life hanging by such a thin neck; if something were to pull at him with the slightest force, all that genius and cleverness would vanish.

"I... of course I would know," Luo Qi said slowly, as if speaking to himself. "The truth is like a red thumbtack stuck to a whiteboard; what else is there to not see?"

Du Zhengyi thought for a moment, not wanting to make this matter too complicated. "The matter is simple; this place makes me feel like I want to come." He knew many things, or rather, many things had always been placed before him; he just did not want to look closely. No matter how complex the world was, the path he had to walk was very clear. He could see that Luo Qi was entangling himself; Luo Qi wanted to trace every thin line that touched him in the crisscrossing web of the world. He did not want to stop Luo Qi; he could choose to be indifferent, but Luo Qi's road was still very long, and unavoidable.

"Why?" Luo Qi asked. "Why do you feel like you want to come? What person, who, implanted this thought in you?"

Du Zhengyi looked at him for a while. His expression was not intense. Luo Qi was changing; if they hadn't known each other before, and if he hadn't seen Luo Qi when he was completely innocent, then he might not have been able to see the emotions Luo Qi was suppressing. "What is there to be angry about?"

Luo Qi glared at him. "Don't tell me I should thank him?"

"This thought must have originated a long time ago, perhaps when I became a Gushan Guard, or perhaps it came from my own family when I was younger," Du Zhengyi said flatly.

Luo Qi's eyes lowered. After a while, he said, "What does that feel like?"

"Hard to say. It feels like a very distant memory; I just feel that I should come here. It's nothing; perhaps my brain was just tagged with some locations to make me pay special attention. Because this feeling is too shallow, it doesn't reach the level of controlling me; it can only be a latent reminder," Du Zhengyi said.

"I feel it has a deeper connection to the Du Clan. Although the Du Family always becomes Gushan Guards, not all Gushan Guards are people of the Du Family. If the scope of influence were as large as the entire constraint range of the Gushan Guards, then perhaps someone in Qionglin would have been able to figure out the location of this place long ago. If the meaning of the Metatron Cube marks a Guide, then the Guide who can open the Seal is a person of the Du Family," Luo Qi said.

He spoke very steadily, and Du Zhengyi could hear that he had already thought it through clearly.

Luo Qi suddenly took a breath. "Brother, if the bloodline of the Du Clan is the key, then the fewer people in the Du Family, the fewer backups of the key there are."

"Luo Qi, no one would wipe out my family just to obtain some monsters. Don't you think the people in our family are much more useful than those monsters?" Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi looked at him and smiled, but the smile gradually faded. "Right, no one would destroy the key for the sake of a mere few monsters capable of destroying humanity. It sounds ironic, but humans are, after all, not of my kind. This line of thinking is wrong; I thought incorrectly."

Du Zhengyi heard that he had more to say, but this follow-up never arrived; Luo Qi closed his mouth.

"Luo Qi, there are some things that it actually doesn't matter if you don't know. There are many things you can do; whether you do them or not is your freedom, but as long as you do them, someone will see, and there will be consequences. If you stay at home, although many annoying things will continue to appear and many people will come to bother you, and you might suffer some grievances, they will all pass in the end. The important thing is not to let people think you are dangerous again, and not to always appear in sensitive places like today. I know you don't trust Pei Shu, but his trust carries great weight; you cannot ignore this point, and you cannot do such things under his nose," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi raised his head and smiled at him, saying slyly, "No, no, no, Brother, you are mistaken. I trust Pei Shu very much; I believe his power is sufficient to control Qionglin. So, how could I possibly slip out under his nose? He is not in seclusion right now, and he is right at the Highland Mage station. Have you never thought that him letting me come out is his intention?"

Du Zhengyi's expression shifted, and he looked at Luo Qi with slight astonishment.

"If it weren't for Pei Shu allowing me to come out, no matter how slick and resourceful Zhou Quan is, would he have the ability to smuggle me out? And why would he do that? Because I look cute, or because my weight is truly that significant? Am I really just a narcissistic, stupid teenager?" When Luo Qi said this, he suddenly couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Is there such a thing as a free lunch in this world? Good people suddenly gathering to help me?"

Luo Qi was silent for a while, as if he suddenly realized he had to act like a child—too much wisdom might lead to falling out of favor—and his expression became visibly softer and softer. He was still wavering, not knowing how to give himself a way out. However, there was one more thing he couldn't help but say: "Actually, if someone wants to lure you here and use you to open the door, then they just need to not let you out, yet he still let you stand here."

"I don't care about being bait, nor do I like waiting passively," Du Zhengyi said. He looked at Luo Qi's awkward expression and said in a flat tone, "And I won't think you're a monster just because I see your tail. I haven't known you for just one day."

Luo Qi laughed again, turned his head to look at the river water, and pulled a lollipop from his pocket, tore open the packaging, and put the candy in his mouth. "You met the person Wen Lin spoke of; that should have exceeded Fan Shi's power. The one interested in this place should be the Lotus Burner. Regardless, I will not yield to the Lotus Burners. They truly want that legacy of the Ancestor Mages; once they can control the Abnormal Beasts, whether it is slaughtering humans or assassinating Mages, it is not a good thing."

(End of chapter)