Chapter 660: The Ancestor's Gift (49)

They appeared once more in a new darkness. Luo Qi did a quick headcount; everyone had completed the teleportation, and Liu Ziyi had successfully cast Teleportation Magic on those crystals again.

But Du Zhengyi was not here. Whether they had successfully reached their destination still needed to be verified; the only thing he could be certain of was that they had left the area they were just in.

Someone released a Light Magic spell. Luo Qi did not bother to identify who it was. In the mental world, the willpower of every Battle Mage surged in energy amplitude almost simultaneously. In the physical world, over a dozen perception and defensive magic spells that Luo Qi could not fully identify filled the space around them; the Battle Mages had entered a state of alert. Luo Qi used the temporary light created by the magic to observe his surroundings; the place was empty and shrouded in a layer of absolute silence.

"What's going on? Why is it so... here?" someone said. It was a Lotus Burner. Battle Mages were accustomed to remaining calm in the face of change and displayed professionalism during emergencies; the Lotus Burners were more like a ragtag army in every respect. The Lotus Burner who spoke also realized this, glanced at the nearest Battle Mage, and swallowed the rest of their words.

Leader Zhao smiled slightly, "It is indeed exceptionally dark and quiet here."

Exceptionally dark and quiet meant that all energy here had been shut down, and it also meant that Du Zhengyi had been exceptionally thorough in shutting this place down, shutting down the elevator. To prevent others from entering here again, Luo Qi knew, or more precisely, specifically to guard against him following them in. Liu Ziyi was already busy raising all her surveillance windows again, pouting as she began to check for nearby energy fluctuations and biological signs.

"I knew you could do it." Luo Qi remembered he should smooth things over with Liu Ziyi.

Liu Ziyi's duck-like pout retracted a little. He turned his head to look at Yan Hao, who was startled and looked back at Luo Qi inquiringly. Luo Qi's eyes became even deeper, a storm of bad temper faintly brewing; Luo Qi was not that polite or patient with him. Under pressure, Yan Hao grew decisively, suddenly grasping the leader's intent, and made rapid progress in learning to keep up with the leader's work progress, "There are traces of Teleportation Magic just used here; those guys definitely arrived here. Uh, there are also traces of Du Mage here; Du Mage must have been here."

"Are you sure?" Luo Qi asked.

"Positive," Yan Hao said hurriedly, then asked hesitantly, "Are they still nearby?"

They were not nearby, but they were not far either. Luo Qi cautiously unfolded a small, limited mental exploration; the Spirit Fire that approximated Du Zhengyi finally appeared in this area. His physical distance from them would not be too great; as long as they hurried, they could find him.

However, there was a Black Hole of consciousness near Du Zhengyi. In the world of consciousness, that Black Hole moved slowly around Du Zhengyi; reflected in the actual physical world, Du Zhengyi should be moving rapidly, while that Black Hole accompanied him throughout. Every creature with the ability to think would leave a form under Luo Qi's mental vision; a form could only be present or absent, but absent did not mean a Black Hole—a Black Hole was another kind of existence. The Black Hole was like an Abyss; Luo Qi looked at the Abyss from this side, and he knew the Abyss was also gazing back at him.

He was not afraid to face the Abyss; they had already clashed more than once. But the Black Hole was too close to Du Zhengyi's consciousness, hovering dangerously around Du Zhengyi's consciousness all the time, as if it might swallow that cluster representing Du Zhengyi at any moment. Luo Qi tried to approach Du Zhengyi's consciousness but failed; the Black Hole blocked him, and the tentacles he extended were attracted by the Black Hole, a series of probes disappearing into it. This world of consciousness had been claimed by someone else first; Luo Qi did not dare to rashly show any intent to attack. He vaguely felt that being allowed to appear here was already a peaceful balance. He touched the Black Hole lightly; the Black Hole did not give him any clear subjective consciousness, only releasing some malicious individual consciousnesses, like detained consciousnesses. These consciousnesses were each different, and none were normal, healthy mental entities. He approached slightly, sensed the smell was wrong, and immediately retreated. This was the style of the Clownfish; he was already somewhat familiar with it now. If he truly did something, he would first be stuffed with a mouthful of mental illness by the Clownfish, which would upset his stomach. If he did not want to have a major falling out with the Clownfish right now, he could only helplessly keep his distance from them.

So the current situation was that Du Zhengyi was being held hostage by the Clownfish. This hostage-taking only occurred in the Consciousness Space, only between the Clownfish and Luo Qi. The Clownfish did not even come to make a demand; he simply blocked any possible Consciousness Contact between him and Du Zhengyi. He could see Du Zhengyi, but Du Zhengyi could not feel him at all, nor did he know he was watching him. The Clownfish's behavior naturally had a purpose; Luo Qi understood this. But the Clownfish also cautiously kept to a scale that would not provoke Luo Qi into taking extreme actions immediately; he left a great deal of hope for Luo Qi—as long as Luo Qi quickened his pace, it might not take much time to find Du Zhengyi in the physical world.

"Boss? Do you want me to go out and look, then report back?" Yan Hao observed that Luo Qi's expression was poor and said nervously.

Luo Qi came back to his senses and subconsciously glanced at Yan Hao. Yan Hao's nervousness immediately reached its peak, radiating back onto Luo Qi. Only then did Luo Qi think to restrain his emotions; Yan Hao felt his shoulders loosen, hurriedly straightened his back, and took a deep breath.

"There is nothing here, no need to waste time checking," Luo Qi said.

He pointed to two Battle Mages to walk in front with Yan Hao, and pointed to a few more to bring up the rear. No one had any objections. Luo Qi followed behind Yan Hao out of the room; Liu Ziyi followed behind him without lifting her head, switching focus across several surveillance grids; Mahjong and Guan Xinyue lagged a few steps behind, walking among the majority of the Battle Mages. The Lotus Burners left a few people to walk at the very end; there was no talk of trust between them, but most people followed behind Leader Zhao, walking safely in the middle.

Luo Qi could roughly sense the direction of Du Zhengyi and the Clownfish; the Battle Mages could briefly track the traces left by Du Zhengyi. Luo Qi could perceive that there were no living creatures nearby; judging by Liu Ziyi's silent demeanor, her professional judgment was the same. But after only a few steps, for some reason, they fell into a thick fog. He was surprised to find the surroundings overgrown with plants, and a strange, fishy stench still lingered in the air.

"Reptiles," Yan Hao also smelled it and reported to Luo Qi; he performed a simple magic screening, "Possibly snakes."

"I don't sense any snakes," Luo Qi said in a low voice.

"Indeed, there are none. I can't hear them, and there are no live snakes reacting to magic." Although Yan Hao was not considered experienced, under the Battle Mage training system, he was qualified.

Behind Luo Qi, someone let out a retching sound. Luo Qi glanced back and was somewhat surprised to find it was Guan Xinyue.

Mahjong also looked at her in surprise; he even sniffed hard, "Is the stench that strong? I don't think so."

"It's not that," Guan Xinyue said in a low voice, covering her mouth, and almost vomited again as soon as she spoke. Her other hand hugged herself tightly, trembling slightly, trying her best not to get close to the walls, and her footsteps were very careful, as if she were afraid of stepping on something.

Luo Qi looked down at his feet, then looked carefully at Guan Xinyue, scanned her from head to toe, turned his head to Yan Hao, and said, "No need to check anymore. Let's go, pick up the pace."