Chapter 640: The Ancestor's Gift (29)

The Ancestor's room was brightly lit; the corpses moved by magic onto the floor still maintained their basic human shapes, not having fallen into a pile of parts, nor had they disturbed the other Mages outside.

Wusu leaned down and cast several spells on the remains, wanting to trace the era of the corpses' deaths. If there were a time baseline, one could deduce a certain Great Mage who had gone missing in modern times.

Luo Qi quickly sized up the room inside. It looked very plain; there were no flickering decorative paintings on the walls, whether because the Seal Land only welcomed Du Zhengyi, or because this house had no decorative wall surfaces to begin with. Luo Qi was inclined to believe the latter. Against the two walls at the room's entrance stood storage shelves, on which were scattered some loose Crystals, a few empty Crystal storage boxes, and some miscellaneous items whose use and material Luo Qi could not identify. It seemed only the wall directly facing the door was empty, with only a small workbench placed against the corner, as if specifically leaving the center space open to prepare for a projection screen...

Of course, there would be no projection screen; Luo Qi just felt this place was functional.

If one were to speculate based on general circumstances, perhaps a Mage from modern times had also come here like them, and for some reason, died here. When they died, they were pressed against the inner room's door; the most likely scenario was being trapped inside. Perhaps when Wusu opened the outer room door, they had simultaneously opened all the doors in this suite. A Mage from many years ago had been trapped and died here simply because they did not know this spell.

But for a Mage who didn't even know how to unlock a door to have managed to penetrate deep into the Seal Land was not logical. Luo Qi also could not imagine why a Du Clan Mage would lock someone in here. Everything here was too mundane; it really did not look like a place that could trap a Mage to death.

Luo Qi glanced at Wusu, and while Wusu was still focused on the magic, he walked quickly into the room. This room was not too small, about fifty square meters, nor was it too large; it was just right for a creature the size of a human to move around in, not suitable for a dinosaur. Luo Qi picked up a Crystal from the wall-mounted shelf to look at it; the Crystal did not respond to his summons. Either this was a blank Crystal, or it was a dead, useless Crystal. On the shelf were also some metal blocks, complex in structure, scattered together like components of something. These things looked like something Liu Ziyi would be interested in. Luo Qi looked around the place once more; even the room itself seemed like Liu Ziyi's workshop. He could imagine Liu Ziyi having an office just like this in Qionglin, messily piled with her complex, broken things.

Perhaps this was originally a studio, an office; the Ancestors had an argument at the office door, spewing filth at each other, and in their anger, the memory was so profound that it was accidentally passed down to their descendants. Luo Qi did not know if he should explain it this way; he did not know what those Mages, who were once omnipotent like gods, had actually done, where they had gone, or what trouble they had caused. They seemed to be omnipresent even today, yet they were never willing to explain the ins and outs to any of their descendants.

Luo Qi walked to the end of the room without realizing it, stood irritably beside the workbench, and casually picked up a Crystal on the table; this Crystal had even been shattered. The Progenitor Mages liked to encapsulate everything, and their rooms would automatically form furniture as needed; it was rare to have a room with such a lived-in atmosphere. Perhaps someone was still living here at the very last moment, maybe it was a duty room, and the last person was left behind, locked inside, and finally waited until they died—Luo Qi thought with a "break the pot" mentality, and casually threw the broken Crystal back onto the desktop.

He turned back irritably, and a pair of ice-blue eyes were smiling at him.

"Ah!" Luo Qi cried out, took a step back, stared in horror at the eyes in the mist, and couldn't help but curse, "Ah, fuck!"

The already established instinct of a Mind Mage took effect. Without even thinking, just as a Battle Mage would cast a large dose of Attack Magic, Luo Qi's Yajian surged out beyond his own Shield.

But outside his Shield, there was no danger, only the low-frequency and pleasant fluctuations of an unfamiliar world of Yajian. Luo Qi was startled and cautiously retracted his Yajian. In an instant, the mist dissipated, and the person with blue eyes stood before him. The ice-blue eyes were clear and fragile; Luo Qi could even see the texture on his lips and the fine fuzz on his face. Luo Qi stared at him blankly; he was wrapped in the robes of an Ancient Mage, yet his appearance and temperament were no different from people today. His face was flawless, his body tall and healthy, and he was not breathing...

A gasp came from behind Luo Qi, the shock breaking through the Great Mage's usually towering barrier, which was perceived by Luo Qi. Luo Qi came back to his senses and heard Wusu's subconscious whisper, "This is..."

Is this a Progenitor Mage? No, Luo Qi intuitively felt he was not; it should be said he was a Mage from the Ancestor era. He stared at the ancient yet living Mage through the wall that had become transparent. For a moment, he had thought mist was dissipating before his eyes; now he realized it was just the wall becoming transparent.

"What did you do?" Wusu finally pulled his gaze away from the person who had suddenly appeared and placed it on Luo Qi, asking him.

"I didn't do anything," Luo Qi said in a low, firm voice, while not being so sure whether it was his proximity that triggered something, or if he had touched some Crystal or metal block that triggered it. "Perhaps it's the induction floor."

Wusu glanced at him. "Then why not ask him directly?"

Luo Qi licked his lips nervously. "His consciousness is not very clear right now. I just detected that his Consciousness Space is very relaxed, as if he is sleeping. Great Mage Wusu, we have found a Sleeping Beauty."

Wusu was silent for a moment; in almost the space of a breath, they stood there silently, staring at the ancient Mage. No one noticed them; some Mages outside were still shouting and counting dinosaur corpses.

Luo Qi said dully, "I thought we would find dinosaurs. Meeting a dinosaur is already strange enough, isn't it?"

Wusu pondered and said, "Since they could preserve dinosaurs, theoretically, preserving a person is not difficult. You said they don't have a clear consciousness? Then why are we speaking in such low voices?"

Luo Qi coughed and raised his voice a little. "Dare not speak aloud, for fear of startling the people in heaven?"

Wusu observed for a few seconds and asked hesitantly, "Can you wake him up, Luo Mage?"

"I don't know if that's wise," Luo Qi said. He remembered the prison under Qionglin that imprisoned high-energy Mages. This person's thinking was too calm; if he was sleeping, he was currently in a dreamless slumber. A person who had been in a dreamless slumber for ten thousand years—was the person who put him here punishing him, or was there another purpose?

Wusu must have been thinking about this question too; he suddenly said, "The Ancestors would not use this method to extend life. There is no meaning to living, no quality."

Luo Qi could not think of a reason; he could not even think calmly, and without realizing it, he spoke the part of his thoughts that were human. "Perhaps he was sick and froze himself here, waiting to find a way to save himself later."

But that was impossible; they were all unworthy descendants of the Ancient Mages, each generation worse than the last. If the Progenitor Mages couldn't solve it, the descendants certainly couldn't.

However, Wusu said at this moment, "Perhaps."

Luo Qi was stunned for a moment, turned to look at Wusu, and said with full admiration, "Great Mage Wusu is truly amazing. In all this time, no Mage has ever agreed with my bullshit, not even with such a vague agreement as yours."

"But in my consciousness, I heard them saying there was nowhere to go, the virus was spreading too fast, and they didn't know which ship was safe. I know what you said is unlikely, but what you said vaguely corresponds to what happened here back then. Perhaps they really had nowhere to go, so they sealed themselves here," Wusu said.

Luo Qi became serious. "But why nowhere to go? Outside is a perfectly good free world that could be completely dominated by them."

Wusu shook his head, and Luo Qi knew he had no answer either. Wusu looked at the person again; they were almost the same height, and he could look the other person in the eye. "Why... are his eyes blue?"

"You don't like blue?" Luo Qi asked casually, as he delved into that calm train of thought.

"Since there are more Mages with our appearance, I thought we should have some kind of advantage, and the Ancestor sealed here should be closer to our appearance," Wusu said, puzzled. "We have black eyes."

"Dark brown," Luo Qi corrected habitually and perfunctorily.

"But definitely not blue eyes, there are no blue eyes," Wusu said. "Besides that, his hair is too black; he looks like a middle-race."

"That might be because..." Luo Qi's words stopped on the tip of his tongue. He found the only spark in the calm thinking, his attention focused instantly, and he wanted to talk to that spark—【Do you want to come out?】

The spark had no consciousness, but it connected to another force, and that force was like a flood. Liu Ziyi, who was a room away, screamed in excitement. Luo Qi was distracted and realized it was Liu Ziyi who had obtained greater sealing power. But he really should have paid more attention to what was in front of him, because the transparent wall that separated him from the blue-eyed man disappeared...