Chapter 653: The Ancestor's Gift (42)

The crisp sound of eggshells cracking vibrated against the Mages' eardrums; their tense nerves magnified this stimulus until it sounded like a thunderclap. Luo Qi felt a chill in his heart and subconsciously raised his head in the world of Yajian to search. Clusters of blurred consciousness flowed and squirmed in the mental world, making it almost impossible to distinguish whether they were dream-talk or the thoughts of an embryo about to break its shell. This feeling made Luo Qi feel a wave of nausea.

For a split second, Luo Qi was distracted. He caught a glimpse of a small object flashing past him in his field of vision. His brain belatedly activated his motor nerves; Zhao Jiaozhu was standing to his left, so he instinctively dodged to the right.

Magic power shot from somewhere unknown and coiled around the incoming object. Luo Qi turned around and discovered it was Wen Lin. She did not touch it with her hands; a hovering Magic held the thing suspended in the air half a meter in front of her. Luo Qi took one look but could not tell which end of the creature was the head and which was the rear.

Wen Lin must have seen it clearly at a glance; her expression was terrible. She waved her hand to cancel the Magic, and the thing fell to the ground without moving. Wen Lin turned and disappeared behind a pile of culture dishes. Luo Qi could not see her figure, so he turned back to stare suspiciously at the creature on the ground, only to find that the more he looked, the more it resembled a piece of a biological carapace.

It did not look like some Seal Beast had suddenly performed a shell-shattering explosion on him; it looked more like someone had thrown a turtle shell at him. Half-astonished and half-bewildered, Luo Qi cast his tentacles of Yajian out to carefully scan the nearby space. Restless brains lay dormant everywhere. Luo Qi felt uneasy for a moment and subconsciously looked up at the ceiling. Above was another Seal Room; he did not know what was waking up there, nor did he know if it was more dangerous to have a clever brain or no brain at all.

Just then, Wen Lin activated her Magic. Almost immediately, the fresh scent of blood stimulated Luo Qi's sense of taste. A startled and enraged emotional consciousness finally stood out from the others, highlighted in Luo Qi's field of vision.

Luo Qi rapidly dissected this consciousness. Unlike other newly born Seal Beasts, it was not just a simple desire to feed or attack; this consciousness was far more complex. It felt fear, anger, suspicion, frustration, sadness... This complex consciousness was as terrifying as a human's.

A figure ran out at this moment. Zhao Jiaozhu and Wusu the Great Mage both hesitated for a second, and Wen Lin chased after that person.

He was not wearing clothes, but his thick body hair acted like a layer of clothing. He was slightly taller than all the Mages here. Unlike the Mages, who were slender and agile, his body was thicker and burly, like a humanoid giant beast. Wen Lin did not go for the kill, but even though he was bleeding, he charged over like a whirlwind; for a moment, Wen Lin could not even keep up with him.

He had a pair of blue eyes.

Luo Qi was dazed for a moment before he suddenly realized that it was he who had smashed the turtle shell at him.

Human-like, yet not human, exuding an indescribable strangeness. Luo Qi wanted to squeeze his Yajian into the creature's brain, but it seemed to have some kind of instinct and charged toward Luo Qi.

Luo Qi retreated in a panic, stepping on the sticky mess on the floor and dodging the thing by circling around the culture dishes.

Among the few Mages, only Wen Lin took action; this time she had killing intent and wanted to finish that "person" off. Unexpectedly, that "person" changed his mind halfway through his charge at Luo Qi and feinted, rushing toward the door instead. In the midst of the chaos, he actually succeeded in fighting his way out, charging out like a tank; the Battle Mage guarding the door was almost knocked over.

Luo Qi rushed out in a hurry. The Battle Mages outside had not expected a "person" to emerge and could not help but hesitate. The incident was sudden, and the strange impact brought by the "person" far exceeded that of an ancient dinosaur.

Not to mention that the Lotus Burners had other thoughts. Ever since they stepped in here, everyone had harbored a faint, ethereal wish, hoping to receive the favor of the gods here, or that the Ancestor Mage had not left, or perhaps they wished to see their most devout descendants.

The hesitation of the Lotus Burners was tinged with a strange anticipation and a taste of happiness. The scent was so overwhelming that Luo Qi kept his mouth tightly shut, his face gloomy.

The fact that the corridor was full of people also stimulated this "person." His anger and fear reached a new high. He let out a roar and headed straight for Guan Xinyue.

Luo Qi's heart rose to his throat; just now he had discovered that this thing's speed and power might be even greater than a Mage's.

The Battle Mages standing on both sides of Guan Xinyue acted simultaneously, but that "person" cunningly dodged them with the instinct of a beast. He changed direction once again, avoiding the fatal blow, although one Battle Mage still left a deep wound on his abdomen.

He swept past the crowd at high speed and escaped successfully once more. The pain gave him a vague thought. Luo Qi, who was squeezing into his brain, felt his vague thoughts and was completely bewildered.

Guan Xinyue had been staring fixedly at the blue-eyed "person" since just now. At this moment, she stared at the tall, white back of the person fighting his way out and cursed angrily, "Is there something wrong with him? A Neanderthal? Really?"

The Mages did not care what the human girl was shouting, but Luo Qi paused for a moment. The knowledge he shared from Guan Xinyue's reading list took effect. Blue eyes, white skin, thick body hair, taller than Homo Sapiens, and a smaller brain capacity than Homo Sapiens—this really did look like the primitive humans named Neanderthals.

But Luo Qi could not be sure that a branch of primitive humans could really have such rapid movement speed, almost faster than a Mage; he was like... like a product of genetic engineering. In the Ancestor Mage's laboratory, there were humans, Mages, and semi-finished products that were like both humans and Mages. He dared not think about what this ultimately implied.

"Pervert!" Guan Xinyue spat out the two words not far away.

Luo Qi felt at a loss, feeling vaguely nauseated. Just then, a new wave of Magic rippled through the void. Two-thirds of the dream-talk Luo Qi had previously been able to perceive fell silent, and countless semi-finished lives went quiet.

Luo Qi knew this must mean something. He did not want to delay any longer; anxiety burned deep within his consciousness. He did not want to pay attention to the restless Lotus Burners either, so Luo Qi quickened his pace to return to Liu Ziyi's side.

What had just happened had no effect on Liu Ziyi. When Luo Qi rushed over, she was dismantling a crystal installed behind the door.

"Do you know what happened?" Luo Qi asked.

"Teleportation Magic Array," Liu Ziyi said simply.

"So they just ditched us?" Luo Qi asked, puzzled.

"Ditched us, and shut down the elevator too," Liu Ziyi said gloomily.

"That means..." Luo Qi only asked halfway; he was somewhat unwilling to continue.

"It means my senior brother discovered that it's very dangerous over there," Liu Ziyi said.

"Or he discovered that the clownfish is very dangerous," Luo Qi whispered, his heart growing more uneasy.

～

Zhao Jiaozhu asked hesitantly from afar, "Why did it only attack Luo Qi and the human girl?"

"It's obvious," Wusu replied, "It just wanted to attack the girl and the child."