Chapter 597: Low-Oxygen Storm

They followed Du Zhengyi to a new location; Du Zhengyi led them to climb up a slope beside the valley, about one kilometer away from the valley floor where they had originally rested, which was a high point in the vicinity.

The gale was like a whip sweeping across the wilderness. Luo Qi stood on the hill, mouth wide open against the wind, and was immediately deprived of oxygen by a gust. He tugged at Guan Xinyue's sleeve in the wind, inviting her to try it too, only to receive a listless eye-roll from her. She was too frail and was already on the verge of being blown back into the valley, saved only by Liu Ziyi holding onto her. Liu Ziyi's other hand was clutching a metal chain, one end of which was driven deep into the ground by the impetus of Magic.

The others were not much better off than them. The lightning had stopped, but the strong wind was like an endless scythe cutting through the wilderness; even for Mages, a moment of carelessness meant losing one's footing and suffering greatly. Liu Ziyi proved with her actions that she had the skills to justify staying behind. Luo Qi noticed that in today's prepared situation, her reaction speed was no less than her senior brother's, though she used a wide variety of Magic Props.

The oncoming gale carried the fishy smell of damp earth. Luo Qi gradually put away his cheeky, smug expression; the information in the wind made him uncontrollably excited. He lifted his eyes to look at the snow-capped peak not far away. The lightning strikes on the summit had stopped, which perhaps indicated something, but he would not make guesses before obtaining information. What he could be certain of was that the Lotus Burners must have arrived, or rather, they must have already taken their positions. Du Zhengyi stood beside him, silently observing the mountain. Luo Qi could feel his Spirit Fire burning steadily; even without conversation, he knew Du Zhengyi was thinking the same thing.

At this moment, Xiang Qian and the others should be climbing the steep ice cap. Luo Qi was not too worried about them, and even suspected they would return empty-handed. They were all excellent warriors, but lacked strategic value, so the Lotus Burners would certainly find a way to bypass them. If they were to cross paths, it would simply mean both sides had terrible luck.

Luo Qi secretly took stock of the members of their small team, naturally within the Mental Domain of a Mind Mage. The Battle Mages' flames were shrouded behind their respective Shields, and there were no unexpected superhumans, but their flames were all steady and vigorous. He slowly constructed a dam of Yajian for the Mental Domains of Guan Xinyue and Liu Ziyi. Suddenly, his methodical work paused, and a strange thought surged forth.

He was very familiar with Guan Xinyue's Mental Domain; he often looked after her Spirit Fire, much like tending to a small flower in a fence. Even though he was always careless when dealing with girls, he was extremely familiar with the form of this plant. He remembered her extensions in every direction, was familiar with the general shape of her flames, and understood both her areas of vigorous burning and her weaknesses. Just a moment ago, Guan Xinyue's Spirit Fire had seemed different, but when he looked closely, everything was not particularly different again.

He could be certain that this was still Guan Xinyue, and generally speaking, that should be enough. Luo Qi hesitantly increased the power of his mind, and just as he was about to zoom in on the details of the field of vision, a burning, scorching sensation suddenly came from behind his spine.

Luo Qi cried out from the heat. This burning pain acted upon his nerves; it was a counterattack someone had launched against him mentally. Luo Qi had been attacked when caught off guard.

"Who is that!" someone shouted loudly, almost at the same time.

The moment the first syllable was uttered, Luo Qi swiftly pushed his counterattacking power through the Consciousness World. The direction he attacked had originally been empty; there was no one with such a massive amount of Yajian, not even an animal. Someone had suddenly appeared via Teleportation, happening to collide with the Consciousness Network Luo Qi was probing. It was as if the moment they appeared, they crashed into Luo Qi's Consciousness Space. This person was also a Mind Mage, and their brain subconsciously treated Luo Qi's Yajian as an attack, launching a fierce counterattack. Luo Qi, who was not in an attacking state, was struck just like that. A subconscious counterattack is always a resistance that mobilizes the brain's entire spirit, like the final struggle of a dying person.

Luo Qi cursed in his consciousness as he launched a retaliation. In his normal vision, he saw nothing at all in the bleak wind and snow. His attack was aggressive, and the opponent sensed the information and vanished from his mental field of vision in a flash. Luo Qi also withdrew to the physical space.

"Are you having an illusion?" he heard Wen Lin ask, shouting in the strong wind. "Luo Qi, what are you shouting about?"

Another male Mage roared in response to her, "I definitely saw something just now!"

Wen Lin shouted, "I saw it too, but that shadow was too big, how could it be a person? Was it a herd of antelopes?"

Luo Qi could not find any target for his attack, so he retreated to the physical world and shouted to Du Zhengyi, "Brother, did you see it?"

Du Zhengyi asked him in return, "What was it?"

"If it wasn't a person, then it must be Pan!" Luo Qi shouted.

He saw Du Zhengyi nod, fully grasping his meaning.

"What is Pan?" Wen Lin shouted.

"Don't know," Du Zhengyi answered loudly. "Just listening to Luo Qi's tone is enough."

"What does that mean?" Wen Lin shouted, asking.

"It's a person!"

As soon as his words fell, his left hand grabbed Luo Qi's arm. Luo Qi understood, turned, and flashed behind him, standing in the middle of the Battle Mages' encirclement.

Everyone stopped talking. In that moment, only the gale from nowhere whistled across the empty wilderness. Luo Qi concentrated his attention in the Consciousness Space, preparing himself. His gaze fell back to the distant snow-capped peak; the Thunderstorm had stopped, and behind the bleak wind and snow, that mountain seemed to have become shorter.

Luo Qi's heart stirred; in his urgency, he wanted to find a bird to help him see more clearly. He enhanced his Yajian and instantly confirmed that there were no animals within ten kilometers. He did not know if someone was clever enough to drive away all the animals and clear the field, or if the animals were smarter and had fled early upon sensing trouble.

The activity in the mental domain took only an instant in the real world. Luo Qi finished checking for animals within ten kilometers and looked back, still seeing no new minds added to the Consciousness Space. He did not fully understand what Du Zhengyi relied on to sense the enemy's arrival, but Du Zhengyi's judgment had never failed. They waited quietly for about three minutes. Luo Qi withdrew most of himself from the mental domain. The wind grew stronger, the dark clouds overhead grew thicker, and the light continued to drop within a minute until it was abnormally dim; the snow-capped peak was submerged in the clouds and the storm.

Along with the dropping light, the air pressure also fell.

"The oxygen content is dropping drastically," Luo Qi said, realizing that something was wrong.

He turned his head to look at the people around him. Du Zhengyi's expression remained unchanged, though he seemed to be thinking about something. The Battle Mages were on high alert. Liu Ziyi's physique was much worse than the Battle Mages'; her breathing had quickened, and Guan Xinyue's face was deathly pale.

"Xinyue, are you alright?" Luo Qi asked Guan Xinyue.

If Guan Xinyue wanted to speak in the strong wind, she also had to shout. She did not bother with that effort and listlessly waved her hand, signaling that she was still okay.

Luo Qi turned to Liu Ziyi, "Junior sister, why is this happening?"

"The strong wind?" Liu Ziyi shouted with effort, "Highland climate? I'm not an expert."

"Where did this wind come from?" Luo Qi asked loudly.

There were too many reasons for that. Liu Ziyi closed her eyes, "Natural causes? Man-made air vortex caused..."

"You mean a tornado?" Luo Qi asked.

Liu Ziyi shook her head and shouted loudly, "I don't know! What use is a tornado?"

"What use is low oxygen?" Luo Qi asked.

Several Mages looked over at him. A tornado was certainly useful; it could be a byproduct of a Thunderstorm, or it could be deliberately created to destroy a target. But no Mage would consider increasing or decreasing oxygen. If one wanted to kill, they could just try a tornado; no one would want to rely on lowering oxygen content to suffocate people. The Magic cost was too high, and not only was it not worth the loss, but one might also suffocate themselves. Therefore, low oxygen was not the focus of Mages; the Thunderstorm and the gale were.

So Liu Ziyi shook her head in confusion, "To cultivate anaerobic bacteria?" She did not understand anaerobic bacteria, and that was useless to both Mages and the current situation; she had just casually said a word that came to mind.

Luo Qi did not speak. He had an ominous premonition and reached out to grab Du Zhengyi's arm. The air pressure dropped in a straight line, and the oxygen content was so low that Luo Qi was already feeling dizzy; he estimated it should have reached the limit for the human body. The back of his head felt numb, and a series of premonitions flashed across his brain. He gripped Du Zhengyi's arm hard and then let go—"They are coming!"

Du Zhengyi nodded in the gale; he had known long ago and had been waiting.

A new tear appeared in the Magic force field; the space seemed to be ripped open at one corner, and a massive black shadow appeared on the slope ten meters away from them.

"What is that thing?"

Luo Qi heard someone shout in shock; this was why the person who had seen it earlier had seen a huge black shadow. Luo Qi could not help but think of the Alien that had attacked them last time, but that housekeeping method, which had been leaked by mistake, should have already been recovered by the Qionglin.

The shadow gradually became clear, and a human figure could gradually be made out. He should be an adult man, seemingly wearing a hooded windbreaker. The hood of the windbreaker was pulled over his head, casting a deep shadow on his face; they could not see his features clearly, and it seemed like something extra was on his face. But he was undoubtedly a person. It was just that the thing beside him was definitely not an animal of this world.

Or... a bug? Luo Qi corrected his view in his heart. It had a black metal shell, at least six legs, and a pair of sharp mandibles. It was taller than a human, and its volume was the size of five people standing together. This disgusting, huge insect-like thing was a complete blind spot in Luo Qi's field of vision. Birds were already a danger zone for Mind Mages, cold-blooded animals were even harder, and bugs... bugs perhaps had no brains at all, which was why it needed a herding Mage.

(End of chapter)