Chapter 698: Camping

The wind at the mouth of the valley made the fire under the stove flicker; a mocha pot perched above brewed a pot of coffee, and a human hand picked up the pot, pouring the coffee into a titanium cup. The peach blossoms in the mountains had already withered, and the majestic snow-capped mountain at the end of the valley briefly revealed its true form from the mist.

An unnatural gust of wind swirled across the lake surface; she raised her hand to shield her face, brushing aside her short hair and tucking the tips behind her ear. By the time she lowered her hand, a figure had already appeared before her, wearing a strange, modified black Hanfu, looking down at her from a position of superiority.

She looked up, her clear eyes watching him calmly, and she lifted the coffee cup to take a slow sip. The several laptops and the generator arranged around her emitted a faint hum; she glanced at the equipment. "Do you know how many times graphics cards have gone up in price since humans started developing AI? The Great Cat King has always been stingy, and recently he's added a habit of taking his anger out on others. I've already told you, if you want to stay in the Grass Market, you need to remember about electromagnetic interference-type Magic and use it less in the future."

The man let out a strange laugh, "How amusing, a human conveying the new King's orders in front of me with such airs."

She smiled as well, not taking him to heart, and lifted the coffee cup to take another sip. The rich aroma of the coffee diluted the lingering scent of Magic, making her feel a bit more comfortable.

She was too calm, and the man couldn't decide for a moment whether to lash out. He was a middle-aged man—middle-aged for a Mage—but his actual age was more than five times that of this human girl. Even if he was displeased, he still had basic self-control and could avoid being provoked by a teenage girl. But he had traveled a long way, and the meeting place agreed upon with the Great Cat King had changed again and again, forcing him to repeatedly prepare his Magic in a disheveled state, which had already put him in a very bad mood.

He hoped this was not some clumsy trick of the Great Cat King.

"Where is he?" he asked the girl coldly. Some said she was a human pet kept by the new owner of the Grass Market, a master whose own age was a mystery and whose temperament was unpredictable. Not many had seen him, and while there were many rumors about him, most were contradictory, making it hard to discern the truth. "There won't be another location, will there? If one is too timid and overly suspicious, one is not suited to be the master of the Black Market."

The girl finally looked at him, revealing an amused expression, "So why did you destroy the human equipment within a few kilometers the moment you arrived? Since you don't have the ability to see the Great Cat King, why not learn from those minor Mages and try to sneak a photo of him through a phone camera?"

His complexion turned even uglier, "Is he here?"

"He was using the computer, like I said. He's in a very bad mood now; you made the livestream he was watching disconnect. The Great Cat King just said that you are like bird droppings falling from the sky—you never arrive at the right time, new Mr. Yun."

The man shuddered, as if the wind from the snow mountain had cut through the valley and into his body. He did not question the girl's words; he instinctively looked toward the tent at the campsite. The tent flap was open, and seven laptops sat on the camping table under the canopy, with only an empty chair behind the table. His empty hand stiffened and splayed; he swallowed, trying in vain to focus his attention and invoke all the training he had received against Mind Mages.

As if another gust of wind blew open his collar, making the hair on his spine stand on end, his gathered focus was diverted, and his entire attention was occupied by how cold he felt. In the valley where the peach blossoms had already faded, his gaze was pulled toward the craggy snow mountain; his spine was numb with cold, as if he had fallen into an ice sheet, his forehead stung, his limbs lost sensation, and his body began to tremble violently. The only sound he could hear was the chattering of his own teeth.

"Chatter, chatter..." his cold thoughts turned slowly; it felt as if he would hear this sound transmitted through his skull for the rest of his life. The cold was like a maggot boring into his bones, tearing at his skin like a wound, causing his heart to slowly stop beating.

"Don't—" he used his final bit of Yajian to emit an indistinct plea from his throat.

"Chatter, chatter," that terrible sound drowned out his plea; his stiff facial muscles lost control, and he wedged his tongue between his teeth. "Chatter, chatter," blood flowed from the tip of his tongue, and he gained a sliver of control.

Raising his forearm, he used the bit of self-control he had luckily regained to press his palms together, forming a clear posture of supplication.

He regained his senses; sweat soaked through his expensive silk fabric. The snow mountain was far away, the clear blue lake reflected the light and shadows of the sky, and the woods were silently still. The girl had finished the coffee and was setting the cup down, indifferent to his plight; an Ear Bone Stud on her ear reflected the Sunlight, stinging his eyes with pain.

He believed the Great Cat King would not appear today; the only one who could see him was this human girl, and he could only grovel and rely on the human girl to pass on messages—this was likely the Great Cat King's way of tormenting people. He gasped for air, his soaked undershirt clinging to him, and slowly turned his stiff neck, wanting to make himself look as presentable as possible. Unexpectedly, just as he turned his neck to the right for the second time, a figure appeared at the edge of his vision.

He shuddered and looked over. The chair by the laptops was still empty, but an outdoor lounge chair that hadn't been there a moment ago appeared by the table, and a young man was lying there leisurely. A man, or perhaps a boy. He couldn't tell; his build was like a boy's, but those eyes looking at him carried endless experience, making his skin crawl.

"You are..." he swallowed, cutting his words short; he could not appear as if he were probing the secrets of the Great Cat King.

"My name is Luo Qi," the young man said, looking at him, as if answering a question he hadn't spoken aloud—"My real name is, of course, an open secret."

He trembled slightly, unable to help but clench his teeth.

"There is no point in hiding secrets from me," the young man whispered. He tilted his head slightly, his half-lowered eyelids masking the light in his eyes; he did not seem to be truly looking at the person.

"I have no secrets, Great Cat King," he weighed the title the young man might like to hear. "I came here to discuss with you... to request... to request that you respect the thousand-year-old custom."

"When your Baba was alive, he and I had a brief encounter; I owe him a favor, so I gave his son a few extra days of grace. Did this lead to an unnecessary misunderstanding?"

"My father has not passed away," he said unconsciously.

"He has already boarded the ship, little Mr. Yun," Luo Qi said impatiently. "I want Pei Shu's crystal. Hand it over, and you can pretend nothing happened and go back to being your intelligence peddler."

"If someone comes asking for the crystal containing your soul fragments in the future, I would not hand that over either," he said, annoyed while bearing the pressure.

"There's no need for such loyalty; I am sending myself to people everywhere. When the day comes that all Mages are dead, my backups will still be active everywhere," Luo Qi said. "Besides, if you are truly so law-abiding, why are you clutching Pei Shu's backup?"

"Great Cat King, there is no need to be so misanthropic," he said, his fingers gripping the ring in his hand.

Luo Qi's gaze slid down and landed on his hand. "Oh, a timing device that can teleport you out when time runs out. What will happen next? Very clever. You don't know what will happen next, either."

Luo Qi revealed a weary smile, and Guan Xinyue stood up.