Chapter 691: Zhou Yanchen

Du Zhengyi walked into a human park; it was a somewhat sloppy park, or rather, a park that emphasized wildness.

At the heart of the park was a small lake, where water grasses grew in a tangled, uneven mess, and some plum trees were planted along the shore. Under the trees were some hydrangeas; the hydrangeas here bloomed early and were already a riot of color. In one corner of the park was a bamboo grove, which seemed to connect to another area outside the park.

Du Zhengyi sat down on a park bench, surrounded by several elderly people strolling around the lake. Occasionally, young people passed by, mostly looking as if they were taking a shortcut through the park to get somewhere else.

Two girls walked past Du Zhengyi; they seemed to be in high spirits, saying how lucky it was to have such a rare, clear, sunny day for their outing. Du Zhengyi was somewhat surprised and subconsciously looked up at the sky. The sky was thinly and evenly smeared with a layer of clouds by the wind, like a dome produced by an excellent plasterer, without a hint of blue showing through. It was a standard overcast day.

He took it as human teenagers using slang and decided to let it go since he didn't understand. But after a while, he heard the elderly people walking in circles discussing the weather, excitedly saying that today was finally a sunny day and they should soak up some sun. He looked at the sky again in surprise, wondering if he was blind or what—why did the sun look like it was hiding behind the clouds to him?

An older man wearing a human polo shirt appeared under a plum tree. Du Zhengyi glanced at him; he could skillfully play the part of a human, but humans wouldn't have the heart to trample a hydrangea, and Venerable Liu could not understand the toil humans put into cultivating plants.

"Why did you ask me to meet here?" Du Zhengyi asked directly, without greetings or polite small talk.

Liu Xiuyun tolerated his rudeness; the overwhelming situation left him in no mood to consider matters of etiquette. He walked over and also sat on Du Zhengyi's bench.

"He checked the information on the natural deaths of Mages, searching backward from the present for a hundred years," Liu Xiuyun said, observing Du Zhengyi's expression. "What do you think he is looking for?"

He was talking about Luo Qi. Was Luo Qi compiling information on deceased Mages?

Liu Xiuyun hoped he might know something, but Du Zhengyi was equally confused. He was familiar with Luo Qi; Luo Qi's thinking had always been unrestrained, and his experience and knowledge structure leaned toward those of humans. Even if he generally knew Luo Qi's direction, he could mostly only understand the methods Luo Qi used after the fact. His current expressionless face was not because he was withholding anything from Liu Xiuyun, but simply because he didn't want Liu Xiuyun to see that he was actually just as clueless.

Liu Xiuyun was not good at probing; seeing that Du Zhengyi didn't pick up the thread after he started, he let it go and continued speaking.

"I don't understand what he is doing. When I discovered he was checking information on deceased Mages, my first reaction was that he was looking for information on unnatural deaths for some reason, but I didn't expect that all the Mages he retrieved had died of old age." Liu Xiuyun's expression was even more serious than Du Zhengyi had expected.

Du Zhengyi glanced at him again, worried that Luo Qi's unpredictability would make the conventional Old Mage overthink things—thinking of the classic trope where a little pervert can't stand to see anyone die of old age and insists on scattering their ashes at every grave.

However, Liu Xiuyun had clearly done a more pragmatic and detailed investigation, and he continued, "But after carefully checking his search path, I found that he went a step further, filtering out some highly respected Mages who had contributed significantly to the Qionglin from the list of Mages who died of natural causes."

Du Zhengyi suddenly understood what Luo Qi was actually looking for.

Liu Xiuyun did not notice the change in Du Zhengyi's expression; he was frowning hard as if he had a toothache. Luo Qi had definitely plunged him into great distress.

"After he selected these Mages, he then performed a vertical search of these Mages' family trees, and finally took all the family tree information. Du Mage, I've said so much, do you have any ideas?"

Du Zhengyi suddenly asked, "Venerable Liu, what kind of Mage counts as highly respected?"

This question made Liu Xiuyun pause. Du Zhengyi pulled out a cigarette. "I don't mean anything else, but Luo Qi is still young; his criteria for judgment may not be consistent with the Mage levels granted by the Qionglin. He must have narrowed down the set under the reputation of 'highly respected.' Can I see the 'Luo Qi Selection'?"

He paused, sized up Liu Xiuyun, and had to explain further, "I want to see whose family trees Luo Qi picked. Can I see the list?"

Liu Xiuyun didn't speak. Showing Du Zhengyi the list, especially displaying such confidential documents outside the Qionglin, seemed to make him very uncomfortable. Not to mention that this was related to his own outrageous act of stealing from the institution he was guarding. But he didn't hesitate for long; he still pulled a blank sheet of paper from his empty pocket. When he unfolded the paper, he authorized it, and text quickly crawled onto the surface.

This was a human park; they could play those tricks of the Mages, but they couldn't really let text float in mid-air.

Du Zhengyi looked at the paper. He knew most of the names on it; he had read some of their papers, some appeared on the covers of his reference books, and others appeared in the illustrations of textbooks.

"No Mind Mages, no Battle Mages, no Medical Mages, no famous Level 1 Executive Mages, no pure Administrative Mages stationed in the Qionglin." Du Zhengyi's gaze swept across the page quickly.

Liu Xiuyun nodded; he already knew this list by heart. He commented, "None of these people can catch his eye; he really is a cynical child."

"Not that cynical; he definitely didn't kick out the Battle Mages because he didn't like them."

Only then did Liu Xiuyun remember that Luo Qi's best friend was a Battle Mage; his brain was muddled from staying up for several days. But that made it even stranger. Those names flowed through his mind once again, and he muttered, "Then the remaining people... the remaining people... Good heavens, the pattern of the people he picked is actually very strong; only Calculators and Experimental Mages?"

"Yes." Du Zhengyi nodded. "Some people may have multiple abilities and identities, for example, being both an Experimental Mage and holding a leadership position in the Qionglin, perhaps becoming famous for their administrative status, which makes many people overlook their remarkable achievements in the theory and technology of Magic."

Liu Xiuyun asked in confusion, "What do you think Luo Qi means?"

Du Zhengyi smoked that cigarette. "Maybe Luo Qi likes science and engineering students and wants to build a public shrine for science and engineering talent, so he asked you for their life resumes and family trees."

Under the shock, Liu Xiuyun's face turned extremely ugly. "Du Mage! I ask you to be serious!"

"Calm down, Venerable Liu, I'm just telling you—I don't know." Du Zhengyi smiled. "Working on the front lines is always like this; most of the time, problems are trivial and unsolvable, and you can only walk forward step by step. Why don't we return to my first question: why did you ask me to meet here? Is there something nearby?"

Liu Xiuyun suppressed his anger and glared at Du Zhengyi. This cynical Qionglin genius, raised with the indulgence of Pei Shu, never took Venerables or elders seriously. He always unconsciously revealed the posture of a predator; everyone was prey in his claws, and he looked at everyone as if he were looking at a potential criminal. For a moment, he was unwilling to be fooled by him at his age and really wanted to turn and walk away, but at that moment, Du Zhengyi softened his aura a fraction and suddenly said to him, "Sorry, Venerable Liu. You should know, I only dealt with High-Reaction Mages before; I really didn't expect that one day I would look at the Qionglin from this perspective. Just consider it an occupational disease; I didn't mean to be disrespectful."

Liu Xiuyun's anger leaked out; he was also asking for Du Zhengyi's help and should maintain his composure toward the younger generation. "No need to apologize. I haven't dealt with Battle Mages; I think I'm just... not used to it. I want to start the investigation with Zhou Yanchen, the Mage who died most recently on the list; his home is nearby. To be honest, I don't have any leads; I just want to try my luck."

Du Zhengyi nodded slightly. "That's a very good starting point; I only have that one method as well."

"Du Mage, actually we have a better way. Why don't you go ask Luo Qi directly?"

"When you saw Luo Qi last time, didn't you suggest he come find me?" Du Zhengyi asked calmly.

Liu Xiuyun's expression was somewhat ugly. "I did. I suggested he return to your side, return to a state of having a guardian."

"What did he say?"

"He told me to get lost and warned me not to go find you," Liu Xiuyun said very patiently.