Chapter 628: The Ancestor

128. The Ancestor's Gift (17)

Matters seemed to have progressed to a point where this was unavoidable: destroying the relics of the Progenitor Mage.

Zhao Jiaozhu's expression was full of sorrow. He said, "A Mage's life is as precious as the Progenitor Mage's legacy, because we ourselves are also the Progenitor Mage's legacy."

But Luo Qi knew he was not refusing Du Zhengyi's request, because he immediately added, "In any case, everything that has happened here today is a complete and utter tragedy."

The Lotus Burners followed his lead, though Luo Qi could still smell the scent of trauma. They had generally been harmed, but this harm would, to a certain extent, soon transform into perverse aggression. He carefully savored these complex emotions and could not help but fall into deep thought.

As for Du Zhengyi, he would not consider the emotions of others at all. He neither cared about the "fragility" of others to a certain degree, nor did he have any emotional reaction to those who had once tried to kill him. To him, the matter at hand was like a deep cleaning, and he prepared to start deploying, focusing strictly on the task.

"Zhao Mage, our current progress is too slow," Du Zhengyi said, his tone as calm as if he were speaking to a colleague. "Caution is for the sake of survival, but it looks like it does more harm than good now. We must resolve the loss of control here quickly. If you are willing to wait here, the Battle Mages can finish the enforcement as soon as possible."

This was truly generous, but still better than hindering each other. However, Zhao Jiaozhu might not necessarily agree; trust was always a major problem. What if the Battle Mages rushed in first just to find a way to control the Seal Beasts? What if the problems appearing now could be corrected? A part of Luo Qi's mind was leisurely following this line of thought regarding trust, while another small part of him unexpectedly discovered that Yu Shu had spoken first.

"You could consider leaving Luo Qi and that human girl on our second line of defense," Yu Shu said. "Are you going to take them to the front line, or can you trust them enough to leave them with us?"

Zhao Jiaozhu revealed a gentle smile, almost bordering on understanding. "That is indeed a difficult problem..."

Before he could finish speaking slowly, Luo Qi chimed in as if he had just come back to his senses, "Ah, right, it is indeed a difficult problem." Several people glanced at him; his tone sounded like he was just being perfunctory and detached from the situation.

"We are destined to be united today," Luo Qi continued absentmindedly, then he finally increased his speaking speed, returning to his usual pace. "Forget it, we can't be separated. Zhao Laoda, Yu Shu, we are all conjoined twins today. I suggest we hold a combat meeting quickly. Let's be fast and not waste time. How about I host the meeting? Shall I be the middleman? My brother didn't mean to distrust you just now; he doesn't trust anyone when it comes to combat techniques, he's just not used to having many people around. Zhao Laoda, don't hold anything back either. This isn't the first time you've come into contact with the Seal Land, nor is it the first time you've dealt with Seal Beasts. You must have a reason for choosing to focus your exploration here. Let's speak plainly; more importantly, there really isn't time for double talk now. If we accidentally all die young here, the loss to our world would be too great."

After he finished speaking, he looked up and smiled at Zhao Jiaozhu, showing his little teeth. Zhao Jiaozhu hesitated. He glanced at Du Zhengyi, who had no intention of reprimanding the child. At times, they treated Luo Qi like a child, but when Du Zhengyi remained silent, power shifted back to Luo Qi; Du Zhengyi seemed solely responsible for adding weight to that power. He was not sure what attitude was appropriate to treat Luo Qi with; his age seemed to rise and fall on him like a riddle. When one valued him too much, he might just be a child being scolded and pushed around, but when one ignored him, it felt like missing the most important position on the field.

"Come on, Zhao Laoda," Luo Qi said with a smile, his tone intimate, as if he couldn't help but laugh. "Don't you want to say something?"

He did want to say something—that he really did not like having the control of the conversation taken away. He had not climbed to a high position long ago, but he had long been accustomed to manipulating people's hearts and could identify what it looked like when others intended to do the same.

Luo Qi was uncomfortable. He could say this with certainty, even if he himself had to admit that some of the things he did could not be considered very healthy, but even he felt that Luo Qi was somewhat eerie. No, he was very sure that Luo Qi's eeriness did not even lie in his Magic.

"What can I say?" Zhao Jiaozhu followed Luo Qi's lead and said, "In the current situation, we can only say what there is to say. Everyone should pool their wisdom to see if we can quickly resolve the predicament. I will also say one thing to be transparent: my friends and I all agree to give up on excavating the creatures sealed in this Seal Land, including any Seal Beasts."

He made a clear guarantee, his gaze moving from Luo Qi's face to Du Zhengyi. "Perhaps we can be considered distant cousins?"

Du Zhengyi did not react, while Luo Qi looked at him thoughtfully, waiting for what he would say next.

"So, I know a thing or two about some of the inside information. I know that every Seal Land can be activated by the Du Clan, and it is not limited to that. The Du Clan possesses secret incantations unknown to outsiders that can awaken the sealed management core of every Seal Land."

"An administrator account," Luo Qi said suddenly.

Just like most of the time, the vast majority of people did not know what he was talking about, but Zhao Laoda was indeed unusual. He nodded at Luo Qi. "You can understand it that way. From a certain perspective, the Du Family has always held the... administrator account of the Magic World."

Luo Qi could tell that he did not like using human concepts to defile the Magic World, but he certainly had not blindly refused to understand the human world; perhaps this person even understood human society better than most Mages. When he chose to kill, the reasons did not include fear born of ignorance.

His expression seemed to flicker, and he suddenly smiled at Luo Qi, adding an extra remark, "Just like in the human situation, the person holding the administrator account is just a programmer; it doesn't mean that the person holding the account holds the power." He hit the nail on the head regarding Luo Qi, and Luo Qi gave him a fake smile.

Luo Qi looked at Du Zhengyi and said to Zhao Jiaozhu, "But there is a key point here; I really can't simply compare it to a human computer system. It's like this, Zhao Laoda: I think the human administrator account also drives programs, but I really don't know what is being driven after the administrator account of the Seal Land is opened. I mean no offense, but we need to screen for potential dangers first."

Merry Christmas!

(End of chapter)