Chapter 609: Front Desk

Luo Qi said nothing. Taking advantage of the opportunity while Du Zhengyi went straight to the point to examine the only piece of furniture in the room, he temporarily regained his freedom of movement and began to wander around the hexagonal hall. In truth, perhaps the Leader didn't amount to much; the Clownfish was the one who might actually possess more information. A profession like Leader might just be a mascot to begin with.

He did not observe the Clownfish directly. A wisp of his consciousness drew near to Guan Xinyue. Guan Xinyue was unaware of this; her subconscious treated him much more coldly than before, but the gentle consciousness of a woman still did not completely reject him. He cautiously extracted Guan Xinyue's perspective, and sure enough, she had been staring at the Clownfish. He used Guan Xinyue's eyes to size up every move the Clownfish made.

The Clownfish stood in the center of the room like a statue, more composed than Leader Zhao.

While keeping an eye on him, Luo Qi slowly walked to the wall and reached out to tap on it, his fingers slipping into the patterns on the wall. He did not feel a speck of dust. His fingers traced along the geometric, flowing cloud-like decorative patterns, then suddenly paused. He lowered his head to look at his shoes; there was mud on them from outside, and the dark brown stains on the edges of his soles looked like bloodstains.

He lifted his foot and rubbed the sole hard against the patterns in the corner of the wall, scraping the mud mixed with blood into the exquisite carvings. Several consciousnesses pointed toward him, filled with astonishment and reproach. That was to be expected; he was practically a minor celebrity now, and wherever he went, the gazes of Mages would pursue him, openly or covertly. How could he possibly do something like this without being noticed? He truly missed the days when he was a social transparent.

A gust of wind, faint as if it were not there, blew past. Luo Qi stepped back, a strong premonition rising in his heart. The hornless little snakes on the relief seemed to become real in this gust of wind, vaguely transforming into wriggling worms and snakes, crawling along the lines of the relief. Luo Qi's chest heaved with disgust, and he stumbled back in a panic. Several lines wriggled and converged toward the area he had dirtied. Goosebumps broke out on him, and for a moment, all the patterns on the entire wall swayed before his eyes, spreading like ripples on water. He felt dizzy, as if standing on the edge of the Abyss.

A hand pinched his shoulder. He hurriedly turned his head, "Ah, Brother..."

Du Zhengyi did not know when he had stood behind him, one hand pinching his shoulder, then squeezing hard. Luo Qi let out a breath from the pain, which actually made him sober and calm, and he shut his mouth. Du Zhengyi saw the worms devouring the blood-stained mud, his expression as cold and indifferent as if he were looking at a nest of ants. Luo Qi suddenly thought that this was not the first time Du Zhengyi had seen such worms in a place like this.

"It's fine," he said flatly.

What did "it's fine" mean? Did it mean the worms wouldn't multiply? That the worms wouldn't be interested in anything other than the stains? That the worms wouldn't eat people? Did it mean that even if Luo Qi made more discoveries, it wouldn't matter? Luo Qi thought with surprise that given Du Zhengyi's need for control, if he were to go off track even a little, Du Zhengyi would be furious. Yet the current situation was as if they had returned to Du Zhengyi's home—you go ahead and cause destruction, and if you can't control it, it's my fault for being the head of the house?

Luo Qi turned his head back, dazed. The worms wriggling along the patterns were drilling back into the places they had emerged from one after another. There were holes in the shadows of the relief that were difficult to detect. The worms had survived in the walls for thousands of years, diligently acting as Scavengers. Was the reason this place was as clean as new because of these designed worms? Every gust of wind Luo Qi could feel was not wind; it was static electricity brought about by the activation of some Energy Field. When Du Zhengyi responded to something he could neither see nor feel, when the welcome ceremony was activated here, when the doors were opened for them, and when cleaning was needed here, Magic was activated in sequence. The entire ruin seemed to be slowly waking up.

Luo Qi had a wishful conjecture: perhaps the Gushan that Du Zhengyi guarded was not near the Qionglin, perhaps it was here? Or perhaps Gushan was just a vague reference? Were all such places his territory? What made him feel like he had thorns on his back was that, through Guan Xinyue's eyes, he saw the Clownfish standing not far behind them, silently staring at their backs. He also saw the crawling worms. More importantly, he was the person who had walked into Du Zhengyi's territory years ago; his understanding of this place surpassed everyone's except Du Zhengyi's.

If this place was a riddle, the people who knew the answer were Du Zhengyi and the Clownfish.

Hiding his discovery was meaningless. Luo Qi did not know if he should just call the Clownfish over to take a look together, or ask him straight out if he could pick up a worm.

The Clownfish let out a soft laugh. Although it was impossible, Luo Qi was still suspicious, as if the Clownfish could sometimes clearly know exactly what he was thinking. Although he was not a profound or mysterious person, he was an extremely unreliable one, and to have his thoughts seen through like this was truly a bit humiliating.

"Du Zhengyi," the Clownfish called from behind.

Luo Qi turned around first, jumping back like an impatient monkey, staring at the Clownfish with displeasure. He had a vague premonition that none of them would be able to get the upper hand over the Clownfish.

"No need to cover it up anymore, right?" the Clownfish said sharply, his tone always carrying a cynical bitterness. Every time Luo Qi heard it, he felt his stomach acid rising, and he wanted to perform a dry heave in front of him. But the Clownfish continued clearly, "You just realized that you can also open this place, right? Open it. Do you really want to give up the chance to listen to the last words of the Progenitor Mage? If you don't open this, there won't be a guide for this place. We could search room by room, but that's meaningless, isn't it? With so many uneven Mages entering here, there's no guarantee which one will go astray and cause trouble. You'd better save yourself some trouble."

Luo Qi initially thought the last sentence was an insult to him. If it weren't for the fact that the previous sentences had shocked him too much, and if it weren't for the fact that he might not be able to beat the Clownfish, he would have already started taking drastic action. Once he realized he was actually quite powerful, it was hard to balance his mentality to its previous state when he was thwarted; not being able to rush up and beat the guy up was truly uncomfortable. He admired Du Zhengyi; he found that Du Zhengyi's emotions were very calm. If it were a different place or target, Du Zhengyi would have been very annoyed long ago.

Du Zhengyi was silent for a few seconds. Luo Qi thought this was just him thinking. A moment later, he made a decision and walked straight to the podium-like table. Now Luo Qi realized that it was indeed the "front desk" of this place, or rather, more like its control console.

No counterattack, no nonsense. Du Zhengyi's right hand was placed on the tabletop. Luo Qi caught a glimpse of the satisfaction and excitement on Leader Zhao's face. In an instant, the energy of Magic flowed abundantly in this room. A dazzling light condensed opposite Du Zhengyi, and several Mages cried out in excitement. Luo Qi sneered at them, but as the light formed a human shape, gradually taking on a female form, and all the Mages held their breath, worshipping her dreamlike elegance and beauty—Luo Qi screamed out.

"Fuck!" Luo Qi pointed his finger at her silhouette, unable to say anything else.

The Clownfish said knowingly, "Looking at your pathetic state, I can be sure who she is."

Wishing everyone a great Year of the Ox, soaring with the spirit of the ox! Stay healthy, happy, and may everything go as you wish.

(End of chapter)