Chapter 650: The Ancestor's Gift (39)

"Du Zhengyi, buddy, we have to get out of here," the clownfish said.

Thick fog permeated the air; the clownfish was barely visible even two steps away. The mist was so dense it felt solid, and they were like two diced pieces of fruit trapped in pudding.

"Du Zhengyi, say something, what are you hesitating for?" the clownfish called out. "Even if I'm untrustworthy, I'm still more reliable than those brainless snakes that don't know when to advance or retreat, right?"

The snakes in the middle of the corridor were surging forward like locusts, messily slithering along the flower vines, much like locusts roaming through a mountain pass. Du Zhengyi didn't pay him any mind at all. If the clownfish couldn't truly sense Du Zhengyi's presence in the Consciousness Space, he would have almost suspected that Du Zhengyi had taken the opportunity to shake him off.

The clownfish tried hard to maintain the rotation of the airflow. At this moment, he realized that a fan-shaped airflow was less strenuous than a rotating one and easier to maintain in form. Although the rotating airflow was more lethal to the snakes, he gradually discovered that most of the snakes were not particularly bloodthirsty, nor could they be considered particularly aggressive. The snakes that managed to brush past them would likely not turn back to bite, but instead slither directly toward a more distant place. Perhaps if they kept using the fan-shaped airflow to disperse the snakes in front of them, they could really manage to hold on; these snakes couldn't possibly be endless, and they really looked like snakes, not locusts.

"These snakes are being chased by something," Du Zhengyi suddenly said.

The clownfish let out a puff of air. "As expected of you, that's truly chilling to hear. Fine, then let's stick to what I said: we must leave here as soon as possible."

Du Zhengyi did not answer him; he was uncharacteristically dragging his feet, hesitant and indecisive. Just as he was stalling, a very light sound of footsteps came from the direction they had come from, somewhat like the sound of Luo Qi's hard-soled sneakers lightly stepping on the ground.

"What is it?" the clownfish asked, confused. He hadn't heard anything, but he still diverted a bit of his focus toward where Du Zhengyi was looking; there was no increase in consciousness there.

Du Zhengyi's subconscious also sensed a hint of something wrong. The footsteps were actually slightly different from Luo Qi's, but Luo Qi was usually so mischievous, and his walking posture varied with the scene, so Du Zhengyi couldn't be certain it wasn't him. He looked hesitantly toward the direction they had come from. The clownfish's hearing did not reach the level of a Battle Mage; he heard nothing and saw no figure vaguely appearing in the thick fog.

It was a shadow one size smaller than the average Mage.

"Luo Qi?" Du Zhengyi called out in a low voice.

No one answered him. He suddenly felt something was wrong, especially since the clownfish didn't seem to see anyone in the Consciousness Space. Luo Qi had had times when he completely failed to perceive the existence of humanoid creatures, and the price they paid that time was not small. Du Zhengyi suddenly drew a knife from his sleeve; the black metal blade extended like lightning. The blurry "Luo Qi" simultaneously extended a black arm, and the blade slid off its metal-shelled arm.

Du Zhengyi immediately relied on his memory to stab his knife again toward the gap in the armor at its throat. The Insect Race alien creature dodged quickly, using its better spatial perception in the thick fog to avoid Du Zhengyi's blade. The clownfish nimbly turned the wind into a 360° blast, increasing the energy so that the fog within five meters around them temporarily vanished. Only then did he see clearly what Du Zhengyi was fighting, and he immediately cursed in a low voice.

"The Progenitor Mage's big sons are here again; Old Zhao has really seen something today," the clownfish said.

Du Zhengyi was about to strike again, but the alien creature did not press the attack; it took a step back and returned into the thickening fog.

"Hey, an intelligent creature, it knows when to advance and retreat," the clownfish commented idly.

Du Zhengyi felt a stifled anger rising in his heart at this superfluous remark. This redundant tone and redundant sense of humor made him feel panicked. He reminded himself who the clownfish was; the clownfish was adept at scrambling anyone's brain, not to mention his own brain had already been ruined by him once.

Unexpectedly, the clownfish was observing him, and once again, the clownfish saw through everything.

"Not all short humanoid creatures are Luo Qi; they could also be Insect Race Seal Beasts." Du Zhengyi's expression was grim as the snakes slithered past, and the clownfish added, "Or it could just be an ordinary Earth monkey."

Du Zhengyi had already given up on responding to him.

The clownfish, however, was even more spirited. "Du Zhengyi, don't lie in front of a Great Mage like me. You refuse to accept my brilliant plan and leave here, not because my plan isn't brilliant enough, but purely because you're worried that lapdog Luo Qi will follow and push himself into a dead end? You still want to clear the path for him and block the possibility of him causing trouble? Doesn't this violate the Lone Mountain Oath? How are you bypassing your own sacred Contract?"

"Your plan is full of..." Du Zhengyi suddenly stopped, a fine layer of sweat seeping from his forehead. This feeling was all too familiar.

The corridor was quiet, the wind was still blowing, the ominous flower vines swayed in the wind from an unknown source, and the slithering snakes moved past with a sound that made one's scalp tingle. They both fell into silence.

After a long while, the clownfish spoke again.

"We must leave here. When there is no one to rely on, Luo Qi won't be reckless," the clownfish said quickly, his voice returning to a flat, restrained tone. "The humanoid Insect Race has been observing and tailing us; they are too smart, and that is not a good thing. We should leave here and find a temporarily safe place to discuss what to do next."

"Wait," Du Zhengyi suddenly said. A strange feeling like static electricity swept across his spine; this had nothing to do with the clownfish, it was another kind of fear carved into his marrow. It was the sound of a stealthy approach, the hunger for the hunt leaking from sweat glands... He suddenly realized, "Stop, don't blow the wind."

The clownfish stopped the wind cleanly and decisively, without asking what he had sensed or what means they would use to deal with the snakes if they approached after stopping. The moment the wind ceased, the barely audible footsteps were amplified. The weak airflow carried by the panting brought the fishy stench of snake blood, and the scent of excitement exuded from the sweat glands was so close to that of a Battle Mage. This time, even the clownfish sensed it; he suddenly raised his head, a pair of blue eyes looking at him through the thick fog.

"Damn it..." the clownfish took a step back.

Du Zhengyi bypassed the clownfish like lightning, his blade thrusting out, but the opponent was even faster than Du Zhengyi. Avoiding his blade, the opponent struck his wrist with a fist. Almost by instinct, Du Zhengyi sensed that his wrist bone would be shattered in the next second. He retracted his right hand without parrying, and his left hand pushed out a Talisman of Space Distortion, but the person disappeared into the fog, similarly avoiding his Magic.

"Huh? Using a big move after two exchanges? Is it that serious?" the clownfish called out. Without waiting for a second round of confrontation, he impatiently grabbed Du Zhengyi's arm.

In any scene before this, Du Zhengyi had never thought he would be this close to the clownfish, close enough to even be caught by the spatial movement Magic released by the clownfish, and the two of them disappeared from the corridor together.

When light and consciousness returned, Du Zhengyi stood firm and vigilantly examined his surroundings.

"We didn't go far. I'll state beforehand, I don't have your kind of ability; I can only move a few dozen meters. We're lucky we didn't get stuck in a wall; I took a risk and guessed the structure here. Fortunately, there is a lot of open space inside, and fortunately, there is no danger here. I knew that small rooms were mostly offices, not the Seal Land," the clownfish said quickly, while simultaneously starting to set up a Magic barrier.

In just a few seconds, Du Zhengyi felt multiple layers of Magic covering the area simultaneously, nested intricately, logically clear, without contradictions or obvious loopholes. Their sounds and scents should have been completely isolated; this place had been set up as an independent self-circulating space.

"Let's discuss what to do here," the clownfish said. "We are just in a room in this corridor; the time we can use this place definitely won't be long. Those things will find their way in at any time."

"Did you see clearly what that was?" Du Zhengyi asked in a low voice.

"A person," the clownfish said indifferently, then focused on operating some rear-end Magic.

"A person?"

"Oh, don't be embarrassed; the most terrifying thing is a humanoid creature. This is a fear carried in the genes. A four-legged goat isn't scary, but a goat that stands up on two legs and walks will be treated as a demon by humans," the clownfish said.

"I didn't feel fear," Du Zhengyi said.

"It was me; I felt fear and was startled, okay? What I mean is that thing just now—it wasn't a Mage, nor was it a human, but it was still a person. He was faster and stronger than you; I saw it just now, don't deny it. Without using Magic, you definitely couldn't beat him. But you might not know, his brain is smaller than a squirrel's; he is very unintelligent, and he shouldn't be able to use Magic. He is like..." the clownfish pondered, thinking as he spoke, "a physically enhanced Mage who can't use Magic. I never thought such a thing could exist. Such a thing would definitely fail in the evolution of the natural world. I mean, even you, if you had no brain, couldn't beat a pride of lions, right? Then what do you think is the point of his existence? The Qiongqi outside the Qionglin could tear him to shreds."

"His scent is very similar to a Mage's," Du Zhengyi suddenly said.

"You could smell that from so far away?" the clownfish asked.

Du Zhengyi ignored his question. "I have no interest in the Progenitor Mage; what they create or what they seal has nothing to do with me. I just want to finish my own work."

The clownfish whispered the words Du Zhengyi had just said, "Creation... the arrogant Ancestor..."

Du Zhengyi looked at him secretly, but he could not break through the layer of fog that shrouded everyone's consciousness; he couldn't see his face, and even his figure carried a hint of blurriness.

The clownfish seemed completely unaware and continued, "Let's not think about that. Perhaps the Progenitor Mage just liked playing with clay, and whatever they made, they made. However, have you felt the Magic of the Seal Land becoming surging and turbulent? Do you think the same as I do?"

"The final flicker of a dying lamp," Du Zhengyi said frankly; at this point, there was nothing to hide.

"Burning extra bright at the very end? That's really frustrating. Can we partially cut off the Magic supply to save some power? When I was blowing the snakes away just now, I thought we should turn off the transport elevator. On one hand, that way they won't come over anymore and won't fall into danger, adding to our trouble; on the other hand, it can save energy and try to hold out until you find a way to completely close the Seal Land," the clownfish said.

Du Zhengyi did not speak. The clownfish waited for a while and then said slowly, "I'm sure that no matter how you think about it, you won't find an opportunity where I could gain any benefit. Working together won't violate your duties as a Gushan Guard at all. If you want to ask about my purpose, I will tell you sincerely, because I am the person in this world who hates Seal Beasts the most. But I think you, as a person, have never cared about other people's purposes, nor do you care who is your enemy or who is your friend."

Looking at the almost undisguisable expression on Du Zhengyi's face, the clownfish laughed softly, "Is my work plan feasible?"