Chapter 677: The Ancestor's Gift (66)

"Can you really save Du Zhengyi?" Guan Xinyue's question received no response; Luo Qi was racing against time, making his final efforts.

"Is there anything I can do?" Guan Xinyue asked again, but Luo Qi did not hear her clearly. She observed Luo Qi's state for a moment, suspecting that he could not hear sounds from the outside world at all; he was working at the limits of his body and mind. Sometimes Guan Xinyue wondered if it was the physical body that limited Luo Qi—humans often had such reflections; an aging human's mind might remain sound, yet it was trapped within a gradually deteriorating body. Luo Qi had once had the experience of leaving his body, though he had never discussed it with her in detail. She had a feeling he was unwilling to talk much about his own pain; perhaps that was his way of dealing with it. Or perhaps it wasn't painful at all. She pondered whether, if a person could cast aside their body, it would be equivalent to casting aside the limitations of time and space. But was an "existence" without boundaries also equivalent to "nothingness"? She could not figure it out, and her head began to ache.

"Xinyue." Luo Qi suddenly turned his head to look at her, his gaze making her feel somewhat creeped out.

"Why did you suddenly call me?"

"There's an extra countdown in the system." Luo Qi became even more agitated. "I guessed this would happen!"

"What does the countdown mean..." Guan Xinyue knew this question didn't need to be asked; this place would certainly have a self-destruct protocol. "Who set the countdown?"

"The system administrator," Luo Qi said, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"Du Zhengyi? Did he activate the self-destruct system?" Guan Xinyue said in surprise, though not entirely surprised. "Indeed, this place is about to lose control, and there are so many Lotus Burners here causing trouble."

Luo Qi glanced at her with gratitude; communicating with her was surprisingly easy. She was not a Mage, yet she could smoothly grasp his thoughts; he didn't even need to explain. Countless signs were reminding him of the similarity between the Progenitor Mages and humans. Stripping away that layer of Magic that neither Mages nor modern humans could understand, the underlying logic of the Progenitor Mages was the human way of thinking. This thought made him pause for a moment, until Guan Xinyue looked at him in confusion.

"I knew it would come to this; the Du Clan's mission is to shut down these... experimental sites left behind by the Progenitor Mages." As Luo Qi said this, he confirmed the activation of the final system and turned to the transparent device where Du Zhengyi was placed. The level of automation here was extremely high, or perhaps it should be said that the level of artificial intelligence was extremely high; once activated, the system could perform auxiliary decision-making on its own, requiring almost no manual operation. Even if he couldn't fully understand what these machines were doing, it didn't matter; in this light, they truly resembled Magic. He pulled a crystal from the upper layer of the device and fell into deep thought once again.

Guan Xinyue observed him; he looked as if he were reading technical documentation. The crystals extracted by these Mages were like small computer terminals that could be read and calculated, only they didn't need an interface, as if they could achieve brain-machine interconnection. That was why Luo Qi wasn't looking at Du Zhengyi inside the device. The device was transparent, and she could see that Du Zhengyi still showed no signs of improvement. The only change was that when he had just been placed inside, the solution had been stained red by his blood, but now the solution had turned clear again. At best, perhaps Du Zhengyi's bleeding had been stopped.

She anxiously looked away and found that Luo Qi was still motionless beside that crystal. If he hadn't been scared into a stupor, then he must be able to read medical parameters from the crystal, just like a Doctor in a hospital looking at a monitor. The reason he had been reading for so long was because he hadn't studied medicine; he needed to download medical knowledge into his brain—or he was simply looking up a medical guide to compare numbers. If Majiang were here, it would be better.

Regardless, Luo Qi had wanted Ziyi to gather everyone here, and now he had no intention of having others quickly retreat along the original path. That is to say, Luo Qi was certain that this place was safer than other areas, or that one could evacuate faster from here. It was as if this place were Noah's Ark...

Guan Xinyue suddenly realized she had caught up with Luo Qi's line of thinking. She was such a fool; this was a small spaceship docked in this giant hangar, and the hangar would, of course, have doors leading directly outside.

So, that was why there were ancient human ruins here! Guan Xinyue figured it out; humans couldn't have traveled through layers of danger from the main entrance like they did to get here; they must have come in directly through the hangar doors.

She couldn't help but look up; above her was the seamless metal structure of the spaceship, but she was now certain that there must be a door close at hand on the higher, more distant dome. She could almost imagine those robust humans who were already capable of manufacturing bronze, climbing up and down to place the coffins here.

Luo Qi must have thought of this long ago; the fact that he had been in such a rush to find Du Zhengyi yet still delayed here for half a day was because he was calculating using this place as a shortcut to leave.

But he still didn't know if Du Zhengyi could be saved, yet he still had to bring the Lotus Burners onto his Noah's Ark.

She pondered for a moment and quietly walked toward the cabin door. Mages were continuously gathering here, and Liu Ziyu had returned to the First Cabin; although she looked uneasy, she quickly focused her attention on the console. Du Zhengyi was still alive, and the spaceship was like a machine reconnected to power and rebooted; Liu Ziyu was attracted by the newly opened system.

Although the Battle Mages were somewhat confused, they remained rigid and serious, seemingly not fond of inquiry. The Lotus Burners followed their leader, and religious-style excitement still surged among this group; more than one gaze landed on Guan Xinyue, like thorns piercing her skin. Their unvented fanaticism was like medieval zealots eager to burn a witch.

A strong thought of revenge burned in Guan Xinyue's chest; after long suppression, she was now as desperate as when she saw a box of chocolate candies as a child. Her hands began to tremble involuntarily, and suddenly a familiar gaze was cast over; she was startled, coming back to her senses to see Majiang walking toward her, calling her name.

"Stay away from her!" Majiang said unceremoniously to the Lotus Burner who was only two steps away from Guan Xinyue. He walked closer, separating Guan Xinyue from the Lotus Burner. "Have you seen Luo Qi?"

"No." Guan Xinyue did not tell the truth.

Majiang seemed to relax a little, though a bitter look appeared on his face. "The situation is very bad, Xinyue; I'm telling you to be prepared..." He suddenly stopped. "What's with the bloodstains on your clothes?"

"A Lotus Burner suddenly spurted blood," Guan Xinyue said distractedly.

"Luo Qi!" Majiang called out, unable to bear it any longer. Never mind that Guan Xinyue was lying half-heartedly; now, no matter what she said, Majiang would inevitably think it had to do with Luo Qi. You could say he was as jumpy as a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring. "Luo Qi, where are you!"