Chapter 62: Apartment 2

Du Zhengyi woke from a deep sleep, feeling unusually satisfied at the very start of the day.

He pushed back the quilt and sat up, turned to get out of bed, and nearly stepped on the bundle of bedding on the floor. Du Zhengyi stared with lingering fear for a moment at Luo Qi, who was curled up on the floor tightly wrapped in a cotton quilt; only the back of his head was visible, his breathing sounded calm and peaceful, completely unaware that he had just escaped a Yajian storm and nearly been trampled to death.

Du Zhengyi stepped into the small gap Luo Qi had left for him under the bed, stood up carefully, and a sudden malicious thought arose in his heart; he felt a sudden urge to kick this bundle away. He shook his head helplessly, stepped over Luo Qi, walked to the small kitchen area next to the entrance, and poured himself a glass of water.

He pondered the situation from yesterday, which was quite satisfactory; that idiot Luo Qi had somehow slept his way into a sense of confidence in the middle of the night, likely because his body was indeed constantly recovering, and his Luo-style curiosity had also surged back, so he had secretly crawled up to open the door and go out for a look.

Du Zhengyi had woken up the moment he crawled up, lying in bed without moving, listening to Luo Qi's footsteps pacing back and forth in the hallway like a drama queen. Du Zhengyi had almost rolled out of bed to lock the door; it took Luo Qi over twenty minutes outside to finally figure out that this was an empty, haunted, unfinished building. During those twenty minutes, Du Zhengyi finally overcame the low-level amusement he had already overcome long ago, and didn't lock Luo Qi out just to see if he dared to knock. He listened to Luo Qi run back and roll himself into the bedding under his bed before he fell back asleep, feeling a bit like he was raising a pet.

Luo "Pet" "Inauspicious Mascot" Qi was currently buried deep in his cotton quilt, curled up comfortably. In fact, he had been awake for a long time, constantly pondering his inexplicable situation of being abandoned by everyone, thinking that when he was at his wit's end, he never would have expected that the one to reach out a helping hand would be Du Zhengyi, whom he had always thought he couldn't possibly have any connection with.

He thought about Li Xu's evaluation of Du Zhengyi; through Li Xu's already dim memories, he could also vaguely see glimpses of Du Zhengyi's past. It was a perspective observed from a third-party angle, and Du Zhengyi was undoubtedly a cold, frantic psychopath. But as far as Luo Qi was concerned, from his own heart, he didn't feel that way at all; even this apartment, as simple as a psychiatric ward, was a place of refuge where he could feel at ease.

He lay there listening to the various little sounds of Du Zhengyi getting up, listening to him carefully step over his body, saying nothing, tolerating him sleeping everywhere. Others might think Du Zhengyi was cold, but to him, Du Zhengyi's silence was a comforting understanding.

Suddenly, Luo Qi realized what he had just been thinking; he was actually already able to separate his own thoughts from those of others.

Luo Qi sat up from the floor in one motion, still wrapped in the cotton quilt, and stared blankly with a head of messy hair at Du Zhengyi, who was drinking water in the kitchen.

Du Zhengyi subconsciously strengthened his mind defenses, though he didn't feel any mental tentacles reaching out; still, the thought of having to guard against such a furball made him angry.

"I think I'm a bit more normal," Luo Qi said hesitantly, not quite sure.

"That's truly a joyous report," Du Zhengyi looked at him skeptically, "Do you want me to take you to the vegetable market to test it out?"

Luo Qi shrank back, "Give me some more time, I've only just managed to digest the trash in my brain."

"Even if you can reach a balance point by instinct, wanting to use it freely, or to put it mildly, wanting to ensure your floodgates can open and close automatically, all require returning to school for another four years of education," Du Zhengyi said as if he didn't care at all.

"Then can I go back to school now?" Luo Qi said in surprise.

"Of course not," Du Zhengyi said calmly, "Let me make this clear: how you were brought into Qionglin and how you were taken out, while you can blame it on Li Xu for now, it won't stand up to scrutiny and investigation. Once you return to school, you will inevitably undergo an interrogation with a Mind Master present. At that time, the most suspicious thing will be how you suddenly acquired Telepathy. Then it will definitely implicate the person who sealed your brain. I can't even imagine what kind of whirlpool you've gotten yourself into. Of course, I don't care about any of these things, and I don't care if your parents get involved. What I care about is that you, damn it, are an Advanced Telepath. You're like a glowing LED light embedded on the surface of this whole affair; all eyes will be drawn to you. From the moment I entered Qionglin yesterday, everything has been related to you—no, from the day I left school, everything has been related to you. So if they once realize that your weight is far heavier than they originally thought, then I will be implicated immediately. Everyone will think I have some grand conspiracy, and that I'm a crazy pervert who dared to steal Qionglin's Defense Crystal and shut down Qionglin's defenses for several hours." Luo Qi listened quietly, becoming more and more awestruck, and finally firmly grasped the main point, "You shut down Qionglin's defenses?"

Du Zhengyi frowned at him, "Otherwise, how could a cripple like you, looking neither human nor ghost, walk out of the Qionglin building and cross half the forest? Do you think you're invincible just because you've got a cheat code?"

Luo Qi's mouth hung open, and after a long time, he said, "Oh!" "I thought it was all thanks to the marks the senior left for me on the wall!"

"What marks?" Du Zhengyi asked him suspiciously.

"You know I can't see illusions, right?" Luo Qi asked, "Of course, now I know it's because of this barrier in my brain."

Du Zhengyi nodded, suddenly realizing where the problem lay, "That Interrogation Room is the oldest one in the Qionglin underground, and it has always been used to interrogate Telepaths. Could someone have used this characteristic to leave a secret code for those who came after?"

"I think so," Luo Qi said, "To me, it was a crude dungeon. If you say it's the oldest interrogation room, then that's correct; the walls were made of stone, and the code was on the stone wall."

Du Zhengyi thought of the tapestry he had seen on the wall, which described ancient legends from the age of myth. He could distinguish the existence of the illusion, but Luo Qi could see the entity behind the illusion. If this was prepared for Telepaths by some imprisoned Mind Mage, then... "Did Li Xu not see it?"

Luo Qi shook his head, "He shouldn't have been able to see it. The code was too obvious. When I first sat in that interrogation room, I was very curious and kept looking at the wall, but Li Xu asked me what I was looking at. I thought at the time that there must be an illusion covering the walls in that room; I guessed it might have been to save trouble during renovation..."

"Perhaps Li Xu's Telepathy isn't strong enough," Du Zhengyi speculated, "Perhaps that code is meant for Telepaths of a certain level or higher. After all, it's an interrogation room used by Qionglin's Mind Masters; if it weren't for that, I'm afraid it would have been seen long ago."

"Brother, tell me the truth, is my Telepathy really that high?" Luo Qi asked worriedly. "That Mahjong piece yesterday looked at me like I was a freak. He's a Telepath himself, yet he had to look at me like that. So just how much of a pervert am I?"

"Don't interrupt, what role did that mark in the interrogation room play?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"That mark was a bit special. Once I saw it, I definitely wanted to study it; I was just too curious. There were many voices inside that Obsidian table urging me to touch it. Later, my Yajian wasn't very clear, so I walked over and did as it said. After that, the door to the interrogation room opened. I didn't think too much about it and hurried out. Then I followed the underground corridor upwards. I walked for a long time, and later there were lights on the road. Further on, I encountered a fork in the road, but there were marks on the intersection. I followed the marks all the way, and finally, I walked out through a basement door," Luo Qi said, "Later..."

"Wait," Du Zhengyi interrupted him, "What kind of mark would make you feel so curious that you had to go up and touch it? I know your claws are particularly itchy, but they wouldn't be that itchy, would they? Could it be that your name was written on the wall?"

"Would you want to touch your own name? Isn't that a bit narcissistic?" Luo Qi asked.

Du Zhengyi was speechless, glaring at Luo Qi.

"Alright, alright, I'll explain it clearly," Luo Qi knew when to stop, not daring to push back any further, "The mark on the wall was a green fluorescent Laughing Man."

Luo Qi looked at Du Zhengyi expectantly, waiting for Du Zhengyi to have a sudden realization, but Du Zhengyi just looked at him blankly.

"Fine," Luo Qi muttered in disappointment, rubbed his nose, and began to explain, "The Laughing Man is a figure in pop culture, from a hit anime, and it even has a bit of irony to it. When I saw that someone had actually graffitied this thing in Qionglin's interrogation room, what do you think I would think? If you knew what this thing was, wouldn't you want to go over and study it? Do you have a phone? I can look it up and show you."

"I'll look later," Du Zhengyi said hurriedly, "You mean someone left something on the wall that's almost like a totem?"

"Hmm..." Luo Qi pondered for a while, "You could say that. Anyway, it's very human and very pop culture. Ghost in the Shell has quite a few die-hard fans."

"The interrogation room is very old; this underground interrogation room already existed before the superstructure was renovated," Du Zhengyi said, "It was originally difficult to judge who left the mark, but since you put it that way, the person who left the mark is a Mage from the modern world."

"Ghost in the Shell should have been a big hit in the mid-nineties," Luo Qi said, "The person who left the mark was probably from that time period; I thought of that too."

"This person is both an Advanced Telepath and someone who isn't particularly old, and who also has some understanding of human culture," Du Zhengyi continued, "They are either selecting those to be redeemed based on Telepathy, or they are..."

"How did they manage to open the interrogation room door?" Luo Qi didn't realize what he was saying, pondering and interrupting again, "Shouldn't the door lock be set up to be extremely difficult?"

"It should be set in the Obsidian, just like the Defense Crystal used by Qionglin. According to Qionglin's records, that interrogation room's Obsidian should have copied many Mind Master thought fragments. I think this person who left the mark must have cracked the Magic existing in the Obsidian and left their own Magic in the Obsidian. Their leaving the mark should have been as a trigger; once someone triggered the trigger, their Magic would devour the original Magic and open the door lock," Du Zhengyi said.

"Are they a genius?" Luo Qi said blankly.

"What I'm thinking is, are they indiscriminately guiding high-energy Telepathic Mages, or are they waiting for..." Du Zhengyi hesitated, "You?"

"Me?" Luo Qi was shaken, "You mean, is it possible it's my dad?"

"That's not impossible," Du Zhengyi said, looking at Luo Qi with annoyance, "But what on earth is your dad after?"

Luo Qi was speechless. After a while, he said without much hope, "Maybe he's a pervert."

Du Zhengyi ignored his complaint and said again, "There is another problem that should be taken seriously, and that is the starting point of this matter. Who was it that pushed you to me, pushed you into the limelight? Is it really Liu Li? Based on my understanding of her, I don't think so."

Luo Qi's expression became hesitant; his face was still pale, and there were severe dark circles under his eyes, making him look almost pitiful.

Du Zhengyi looked at Luo Qi and fell into deep thought. In that interrogation room, he couldn't see the mark that Luo Qi could see. With his ability, he could defend his own thoughts, but he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't be captured by the illusion, and Luo Qi's barrier, under the reinforcement of his own power and external forces, could actually completely isolate the illusion. Could one make an analogy, then, that Luo Qi's barrier was simply too thick, and the sturdy barrier isolated almost all magical possibilities? What if this Magic wasn't just Mind Magic based on Telepathy? Luo Qi's predicament was very likely completely restricted by this barrier like a fortress.

"Regardless, the most important existing clue is one you can't get around no matter what," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice.

Luo Qi had no reaction, looking as if he didn't understand what Du Zhengyi was saying, and wrapped himself more tightly in the quilt.

"Why pretend not to understand?" Du Zhengyi exposed him, "The mastermind behind all of this, sooner or later, we have to find an opportunity to ask what is going on."

Luo Qi angrily pulled the quilt over his head, rolled himself back onto the floor, and shouted from under the quilt, "What are you talking about? I can't hear you."

"Are you really that unwilling to face your parents?" Du Zhengyi didn't intend to let him off, "Do you intend to hide at my place for the rest of your life?"

A muffled voice came from under the quilt, "I can do the laundry and cook!"