Chapter 615: The Ancestor's Gift (4)

Guan Xinyue stopped along with the main group. She looked up blankly and saw Liu Ziyi raise her index finger, which wore a Crystal ring, and press it to her lips—silence.

Great, there was that sound again that she, as a human, could not hear! The world was still her world, yet it was no longer her world; she had become a half-blind, half-deaf wreck.

She could only look at Liu Ziyi inquiringly. Liu Ziyi's finger pointed to a door only a step away from them. They were already near the end of the corridor; the decorations on the walls had become more complex, and the corridor turned to extend in two directions here.

The Battle Mage had just finished searching this door, and behind it was also an empty room. She saw Liu Ziyi's faint brows knit slightly, her face showing some confusion. She could understand; Battle Mages were the most outstanding existence among Mages and should not have missed any traces of Magic. It was considered inauspicious for Mages to hear such sounds; humans might say they heard sounds that did not belong to the mortal world.

However, she did not feel afraid. She had experienced too much danger and strangeness. After putting herself on the line time and time again, her threshold had constantly risen. Even if she were face-to-face with Voldemort now, she probably wouldn't feel much—she was numb. Regardless of what the Mages said, she had discovered some human traits herself: humans were not as sensitive as Mages, but in exchange, they had superior endurance. In her view, Mages were all too keen, like sheepdogs among dogs; they were a bit neurotic, to say the least.

Luo Qi had heard it too. He once again assessed the situation and chose to play the obedient one, sticking behind Du Zhengyi, acting both obedient and cowardly. By now, Guan Xinyue could clearly observe his inner thoughts from his subtle body movements. What did Telepathy matter? Human mind-reading didn't require Magic; she could always guess what Luo Qi was thinking seven or eight times out of ten. Du Zhengyi was most susceptible to this act of feigned obedience and cowardice. She disdained to play the victim, but Luo Qi, as a man, had no such psychological burden—he was just shameless. Now, whenever something happened, Luo Qi would always hesitate, choosing between being a hellhound and your pet dog. Du Zhengyi was like a blind man, or perhaps the image of the stray dog Luo Qi had been when he was first discovered was deeply carved into his heart.

Du Zhengyi stared at the door and pressed his left hand on Luo Qi's shoulder, signaling him to stay put. Guan Xinyue rolled her eyes. Luo Qi nodded eagerly, looking harmless. Just as Du Zhengyi turned to walk toward the doorway, she clearly saw the expression on his face change, as if he were listening intently and seriously, but his eyes were looking in another direction—none of the other Mages were looking there. She had some thoughts: scenes from horror movies where only one person is always looking in another direction, at a ghost others cannot see.

She knew Luo Qi had some problems, but she also knew he would never admit it.

Just then, her head suddenly began to ache again, like needles piercing into her temples. She didn't care if she made a sound and clutched her head abruptly. The headache caused nausea, and golden sparks appeared before her eyes. This symptom had tormented her for a long time; for a few hours, she thought it had improved, but now the trouble had flared up again.

The headache made her spasm slightly, and her vision blurred. The scene she saw seemed to slow down in her mind, yet the details erupted more prominently in her brain. It must have been in the same instant: she saw Liu Ziyi looking at her with concern and guilt, reaching out a hand toward her; she saw Du Zhengyi open that door under the pale, moonlight-like light; she saw the black cat emerge from Luo Qi's pocket and dart out, with Luo Qi reaching out to grab the cat; through the open door, she saw gray spiderwebs sticking to the door frame, and she pressed her temples tightly, her head aching as if it would burst...

"Who went in to check just now?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Yan Hao became nervous. He had always wanted to perform well in front of Du Zhengyi, most of all hoping to receive the God of War's affirmation, and was eager to be the first in everything. Who knew he would be the one to mess up? He was filled with regret. Although he wasn't the only one who went in to check, he was the most uncomfortable. "I saw spiderwebs, I thought... I thought spiderwebs were just common... things."

Du Zhengyi glanced at him, and Yan Hao's heart jumped into his throat. He also knew the sharpness of a genius; Du Zhengyi's criticism would certainly not be easy to take, let alone the fact that he had foolishly thought he could produce some highlight. He stared at Du Zhengyi nervously, but to his surprise, Du Zhengyi said nothing and turned to walk into the room. The lighting in the room suddenly intensified, illuminating more gray spiderwebs in the corners of the room.

"The sound just now must have been the spiders moving, right?" he said hurriedly. Du Zhengyi did not answer, slowly walking into the room and observing carefully in silence. "Could... could it be hunting?"

Du Zhengyi ignored him, but he certainly wouldn't scold him either. Yan Hao let out a sigh of relief, when suddenly someone patted him. He turned back and saw it was that bright-eyed Luo Qi, still holding the black cat, smiling at him, and his heart sank.

Luo Qi smiled and said, "This is the Seal Land of the Progenitor Mage, how could there be spiders spinning webs? Look, this place is spotless. Even if we brought in mud, it would have been eaten by the insects kept here."

"Indeed..." Yan Hao became nervous again. Come to think of it, Luo Qi shouldn't be very old, probably not yet fully an adult. He had a pair of round, cat-like eyes, and his speech was playful and his temperament soft; at first sight, he made people feel very approachable. Not to mention that he could always lower the terrifying atmosphere that Du Zhengyi brought with him. Several Battle Mages hoped from the bottom of their hearts that Luo Qi would always stand around them; he was practically an auspicious sign that countered the Plague God. But every now and then, when Luo Qi looked straight at him, especially when Du Zhengyi turned his face away, he would suddenly have the chilling illusion of standing on the edge of the Abyss. But that was just an illusion, because as soon as Luo Qi's black pupils turned slightly, the playful smile of a youth would shine through that face, and the icy urgency would shatter instantly. "... Ah?"

"I mean, even if there are spiders, they wouldn't be ordinary spiders," Luo Qi said, laughing. It was at this moment! Yan Hao felt once again that the icy oppression had been swept away; the youth was just a youth, and the Abyss was just an illusion.

Luo Qi hugged the cat and turned to run toward Du Zhengyi. His footsteps were light and reckless. In this strange, unknown environment, it made Yan Hao's professional instincts as a soldier feel uneasy. Sure enough, he saw Du Zhengyi reach out and grab him, shoving him not very gently. This scene was too unsuitable for the God of War; the God of War shouldn't have the action of shoving others. Luo Qi tilted his head to look at Du Zhengyi, and Yan Hao saw from behind that he was sticking out his tongue, looking provocative.

Just in that shove, Luo Qi's arm holding the cat might have loosened, and the little black cat in his arms darted out, heading straight for the corner of the room.

Yan Hao, for some reason, also rushed into the room in a hurry. The black cat jumped back in an instant, holding a black spider the size of a swimming crab in its mouth, which made Yan Hao feel nauseated.

It even looked a bit like a crab, its back covered with a hard shell.

The black cat placed the spider on the ground and suddenly spat at it. Yan Hao was stunned, worried that Luo Qi's cat had been poisoned, but then he saw the shell on the spider's back soften like wet paper under the mucus spat out by the cat, and then it began to dissolve. The spider struggled convulsively and crawled to one side; the black cat jumped up to block its path and batted it to Luo Qi's feet with one paw.

Luo Qi almost vomited, looking at Du Zhengyi with a pale face and asking, "Is it asking me to eat it?"

"Definitely," Yan Hao was surprised to hear Du Zhengyi answer solemnly, "Your son went hunting and brought it back to honor you; don't let its filial piety go to waste."

(End of chapter)