Chapter 686: Fault Tolerance

They were silent for a moment, then Chu Jin pondered and asked, "Why did that Luo Qi become so crazy? Do you have any thoughts on this?"

"In the final analysis, it must be that the experiences of his life shaped his worldview. Luo Qi's nature is kind, and he was never fragile. I have seen with my own eyes that even after encountering much injustice, he could still maintain the purity of his heart. I think Luo Qi himself is a very idealistic and very kind person. So, he shouldn't have ended up like this." Du Zhengyi paused. "The key point that triggered his massive change might be the unfortunate early death of his wife. In the future, he must have met a very wonderful human, and he, as his father wished, united with a human and belonged to human society. But later, Mages destroyed all of this; his wife must have died in the chaos caused by Mages. It is even possible that what actually happened was darker; he was a Mage but chose a human partner, and the Lotus Burners likely punished his wife for this."

Chu Jin's face turned pale, and for a long while, she stared blankly at the window, unable to speak.

Du Zhengyi waited for a while, then continued, "If you want me to evaluate that Luo Qi, his greatest characteristic is—complexity."

Chu Jin looked at Du Zhengyi inquiringly.

"If I were him, the first thing I would do after traveling through time is kill all the Lotus Burners, and then find my lover before this Luo Qi does," Du Zhengyi said.

"Indeed." Chu Jin nodded. "That is the simplest and most direct way to handle it."

"But he chose to use the codename Clownfish and infiltrated the Lotus Burners. I think his hatred and what he is plotting are both much greater and much further-reaching than those of an ordinary person; I fear it is not as simple as taking revenge on a few people or regaining his lover. His hatred for the Mage World is deep, but sometimes he is full of emotion toward individuals—at these times, he is a bit more like Luo Qi, rather than Clownfish. When I didn't know he was Luo Qi, I once asked him to help me save Luo Qi, and he agreed. Although he had his own goals, at that time he was indeed very much like a kind, ordinary person. More than ten days ago, in order to set a trap, he revealed his identity to me. But when I was on the verge of death, he told me again that he was not Luo Qi. The only reason I can think of for his final lie is that he hoped I could pass away peacefully; he didn't want me to suffer mental torture while I was dying."

"He maintains the emotions of a normal person, yet at the same time, he is abnormally cruel," Chu Jin summarized rationally.

"He has a disability in one leg," Du Zhengyi said. "Luo Qi once told me that he was tied to the tracks by Lotus Burner Apprentices at school; they wanted to use a human train to sever this Lotus Eater's leg."

He avoided Chu Jin's gaze, not wanting to see the pain on her face.

He continued, "Luo Qi said he was saved by a passing Mage. But given the number of us Mages, the probability of a Mage randomly passing by and saving Luo Qi from the tracks is truly too low."

"So it was Luo Qi who saved Luo Qi," Chu Jin said in a low voice.

"That must be it. In the previous timeline, the guardian Luo Qi was bound to, which is Luo Ruian, must have been unable to arrive to save him for some reason. He was saved by a human, but because human medical capabilities are limited, he completely lost a leg. I later recalled that Luo Qi once reminisced about that point in time; it is very likely that at the time, his father was in Gushan saving me. A disabled Mage cannot survive in the Mage World; his timeline was likely even more painful and difficult than this one. So he returned to the past and decided to save himself once, perhaps because the matter of the crippled leg was indeed a knot in his heart. But this led to his indirect encounter with Luo Ruian, which then led to Luo Ruian and his wife refusing to undo the Seal on Luo Qi's Yajian." Du Zhengyi sighed. "Ultimately, it led to the collapse of Luo Qi's Mind Dam."

"It seems my Calculation is indeed not that brilliant. I thought I could win half a move against fate, but the result might just be fate using my hand to place the pieces," Chu Jin said.

"If his situation cannot be used as a reference by Luo Qi, then is it possible for a Highland Mage to soothe Luo Qi's mental world?"

"Highland Mages share a collective mental world, and this child Luo Qi is likely even more... cynical than a Highland Mage. I think he has no way to calmly accept the mental worlds of others," Chu Jin said as tactfully as possible. "However, your line of thinking is correct; the cultivation method of a Highland Mage can at least bring peace, and peace will win time for Luo Qi. In the final analysis, for a Mind Mage who has run into trouble, the only person who can save him is himself."

Du Zhengyi nodded. "If I can contact him, I want to persuade him to return to the Highland Mages."

Chu Jin did not answer him; she fell into deep thought, and finally shook her head gently. "I fear that a person's soul will not change much just because they have one less crippled leg, and the chain of cause and effect will not forgive him so easily. In my view, what Luo Qi is doing now is already very crazy. The reason he hasn't completely crossed the line so far is likely because of your existence as a Gushan Guard; he has been respecting your boundaries."

Du Zhengyi understood her subtext; rather than saving Luo Qi, he might as well save himself. The time he exists in this world is Luo Qi's effective time.

That helpless, painful feeling returned to his heart. If he had a way, he would be willing to do anything right now. He had conceded; he didn't know if he had conceded to fate or to Luo Qi. He apologized to the former self who ignored his own life and was triumphant all day long; he was willing to put in every effort, seriously and conscientiously, to continue existing in this world. But he truly had no other way; he had no way to guarantee he could hold on until the day Luo Qi no longer needed him.

"I think there is only one possibility that allows a person to both maintain kindness toward individuals and be able to kill individuals without any scruples," Chu Jin said suddenly.

Du Zhengyi was somewhat surprised by the turn in the topic.

"Only when this person believes they are working for a greater and more far-reaching event."

"This kind of person is what Luo Qi hates the most; he curses such people as dictators and terrorists. I think even the version of him in the other timeline wouldn't necessarily think he has the qualifications to make arrangements for the entire Mage World and human world," Du Zhengyi said.

"If you could freely travel through the river of time, what would you want to do?" Chu Jin asked.

Du Zhengyi did not answer this question. Chu Jin shook her head and pondered, saying, "People will always find some important time nodes to make changes. I think after that Luo Qi discovered the secret of time, he attempted his first time travel. He thought about it simply and decided to return to the day that caused his heart's knot, which was the day he lost a leg. He also happened to know that a chaotic battle would occur in Gushan that day, so he timed his entry into Gushan to see if he could find an opportunity to loot Gushan while taking advantage of the situation. He is very skilled at dealing with Mind Mages, so he destroyed the arrays of those Mind Mages. Of course, the result was that he replaced those Mages and came into conflict with you. However, because he didn't have a strong desire to kill, his attacks on you weren't as heavy as those people's, and you survived. He likely hadn't obtained what he wanted most yet when Pei Shu appeared. He had no choice but to leave Gushan, but there was still enough time for him to rush to save himself. When people travel through time, they often don't show mercy to another version of themselves; this is also a form of the Time Correction Paradox. But Luo Qi didn't kill himself; instead, he saved himself. I think it is very likely because he wanted to see another possibility for his own life. That might have been a secret wish, but it is understandable. He wanted to see himself with a sound body, living a normal life in the Mage World, and what kind of other life he would have. I think he must have been very curious about you later; you were a friend he could never have had. I don't know what kind of attitude he would have had while watching from the sidelines when he saw you risking your life and going through fire and water for Luo Qi."

Du Zhengyi thought for a moment. "You're right; he kept mocking Luo Qi, and now that I think about it, it really does sound like self-mockery."

"Zhengyi, what you need to pay attention to is that this point in time might not be his final destination," Chu Jin said.

Du Zhengyi's heart sank.

"Perhaps you know why Mages do not record history," Chu Jin said.

"Because to Mages, history is not history; it is a Coordinate," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice.

"So one of the most important secrets of Gushan is clear historical records, detailed Time Coordinates. I know these things because Calculators often need to use historical data to calculate the future. Time travel requires consuming a massive amount of Magic Energy; it requires the energy of the entire world to accumulate to a certain degree to support a single trip. Before waiting for the next time he can perform time travel, the Time Coordinate Luo Qi wants to obtain most must be the one most favorable to his goal. If his goal is not just to see another version of his own life, not just to retrieve his lover, then what he might want is to destroy the Mage World. This goal is large enough; under this goal, the life and death of individual Mages are no longer important, so he wouldn't care."

"Time will perform self-correction," Du Zhengyi said, but he suddenly thought of another possibility. "Unless our time was already changed long ago, changed by a more far-sighted Mage. The appearance of Luo Qi is the self-correction of time. Perhaps Luo Qi has always been right; Mages should never have been parasitic in the human world for so long."

Chu Jin nodded, her face still pale. "Calculators can only observe; they cannot effectively interfere with time, so why do Calculators still exist? Who do Calculators serve? I have never been able to figure these things out; perhaps one day you will be able to find out, because you are the person closest to the secret. Perhaps one day, you and Luo Qi can escape, because relative to a large enough Time Correction Paradox, your individual lives can only be considered a tiny error in Time Magic."