Chapter 624: The Ancestor's Gift (13)

"No." An exceptionally firm voice, like a sharp blade cleaving through a tree, broke through the air that was on the verge of solidifying with hesitation.

Luo Qi looked at the person who had spoken; Guan Xinyue raised her head to gaze at them, her cold, resolute gaze sweeping across the faces of these Mages. He could perceive the indignation in her thoughts, but the aggression in her emotions was even lower than usual. He did not touch her mind, but still stood on the periphery, observing cautiously. Her thoughts were moving very quickly, flowing like water; ever since she was affected by Magic yesterday, her mind had been running at high speed. It was as if she were using her brain with the high intensity of a human Scholar, maintaining a state of high mental concentration at all times.

That might be a symptom of accidental Magic injury; her brain had been stimulated and remained in a state of stress response. Luo Qi really wished he had some medical knowledge right now to help her calm down. But if she were as easy to soothe as Du Zhengyi, it would be much simpler; even without any medical knowledge, he only needed to do something based on instinct, and Du Zhengyi would always easily accept it. If it were Guan Xinyue, it would be a miracle if she didn't twist his head off.

It was just that he was truly a bit worried about Guan Xinyue.

Her thoughts were as calm as flowing water, her speed of thought was like a rushing current, and her emotions were as cool as an ice lake. She was as stable as something Luo Qi himself admitted was a fantasy—being able to achieve Entanglement with Du Zhengyi, and from his perspective, at least sharing a bit of Du Zhengyi's stability. Then what was it that could balance out Guan Xinyue, this flammable and explosive powder keg?

Guan Xinyue's gaze fell upon Zhao Jiaozhu; she should have both feared and hated him, and Luo Qi had not failed to sense the cold fruit she had forcibly swallowed. But he had no choice; he could prune away emotions he did not need at certain moments, a feat that required painful restraint for an ordinary human. Fortunately, the tenacity and independence in Guan Xinyue's character had always shone brighter than diamonds. But the result of her restraint should not be this absolute numbness, which was almost the same as his own self after he had pruned his emotions.

"No," she said again, and everyone heard the finality in it.

For a moment, no one spoke to persuade her; Luo Qi realized that even Liu Ziyu did not make a sound. Anyone who hesitated would unknowingly submit to the firm voice of a leader. She had always been a prickly loner, a young girl—where did she suddenly get this aura of a leader?

She looked at Zhao Jiaozhu, pondered slightly, and said, "I don't need your concern. Your explanation to them has no meaning to me. There is really no need; why do you have a morbid concern for me?"

Zhao Jiaozhu's posture remained humble; just as he was about to speak, Guan Xinyue snatched the words away. "Let me correct that, not concern for me. Why do you have a morbid concern for the humans trapped here?"

Luo Qi felt Du Zhengyi sigh slightly; he realized this was also what Du Zhengyi had just thought of.

Zhao Jiaozhu stood before her, his center of gravity shifting gently from his left to his right, the smile on his face unchanged. "You are a good gi... a good person, I respect you. You have not stood in my way; if possible, I hope you live a long life."

A look of weariness flashed across Guan Xinyue's delicate face; she was just about to speak, but paused inexplicably, the expression on her face as if she had found the answer to a question.

Who gave her the answer? Luo Qi frowned in annoyance. Perhaps whether or not he could detect the Ancestor Mage's Yajian was not the biggest trouble; the tricky part was, if this guess were true, could he really drive away the Ancestor Mage's Yajian? He didn't even know to what extent the Ancestor's Yajian would affect Guan Xinyue, nor did he know if a Mind Mage should have the technique to exclude such influence.

On the other hand, he also could not be sure that if a fragment of the Ancestor Mage's Yajian existed, how large this fragment might be. Was it a fragment of memory, or some functional module that could affect emotions? He had long observed that the activity level of a Mage's brain was higher than that of an ordinary human, and by extension, the Ancestor Mage's brain activity might be higher than that of an ordinary Mage. Perhaps this could be simply described as: a Mage's head is bigger than a human's, and the Ancestor Mage is the biggest head among the big heads. Then, if the Ancestor Mage wanted to implant himself into a human brain, the first problem would certainly be the issue of insufficient capacity. Then he suddenly remembered that he had some Practical Magic Compendium; perhaps he could split off some fragments of his Yajian to quickly search and learn, and perhaps he could help Guan Xinyue. Doing this might not take long, or he might finish it while doing other things.

Du Zhengyi poked Luo Qi, and he realized he had been distracted. He turned his head to see if Du Zhengyi had any instructions, only to find Du Zhengyi looking at him with a complex expression, mixed with faint worry.

"What? Have my eyes turned green?" Luo Qi said, hoping to get away with it.

Du Zhengyi said in a low voice, "It seems that, so far, you still cannot break through this physiological transformation. Even though you think you are omnipotent."

Luo Qi paused and feigned, "So you are actually a Mind Mage too!"

"Shut up," Du Zhengyi said bluntly.

On the other side, Zhao Jiaozhu was unperturbed by the girl's accusations and instead took another step back. "You can certainly refuse; I can understand your choice. If I were in your position, I would be even more suspicious than you."

What he said was almost sincere. "We can choose not to scan your Yajian, but I hope you can think more for yourself—whether you are you, whether you are completely you. People with exceptionally firm wills can also push the Yajian of others, especially fragments of Yajian, out of their own brains. You can also rely entirely on yourself, child."

Luo Qi could not say anything; he felt that this nonsense from Zhao Jiaozhu was indeed impeccable. The logic held up; it was rare for him to say a few human words.

Guan Xinyue did not appreciate it, but what made Luo Qi uneasy was that she did not talk back either. If it were before, she would have always retorted, especially when facing Zhao Jiaozhu, and especially since she now appeared to have no fear of him at all. She didn't want to retort because she knew she had power. He hoped she wasn't being bewitched by some tongue; perhaps that invisible Ghost was just lobbying her to be cannon fodder. In fact, he knew that even Zhao Jiaozhu meant the same thing.

Suddenly, Guan Xinyue seemed to hear something. Here it came again, this appearance of listening intently; Luo Qi's heart sank. But this time, Guan Xinyue raised her head and looked around, "What is that sound?"

What sound? What sound could humans hear that Mages could not? Luo Qi was just about to get annoyed when Du Zhengyi beside him turned around abruptly, and then even Luo Qi heard it—a faint sound of wings flapping in the air.

What on earth was going on?

Updating "Deep Space Screw" tomorrow, trying my best to resume updates...

(End of chapter)