Chapter 71: Battle of Consciousness (2)

Du Zhengyi thought over what he was about to do one last time; the conclusion remained that it was not worth it.

The risk and the reward were not proportional; what he was about to do could not even be called rational, and he could already foresee how much fierce criticism he would face afterward. But if he were lucky, and Luo Qi managed to pull himself together and eat his brain, then both of them would be spared the fate of being nagged to death later.

However, things had reached this point, and thinking any more was useless; he could not let Luo Qi die such a miserable death in his room. If time could flow backward, he would not want to let down that bewildered youth who had followed him out of the school.

Du Zhengyi took a deep breath; the barrier in his mind had not been lowered for four years, and even he himself could not guarantee that he could do it.

He sat down on the spot, crossing his legs and relaxing as much as possible, wanting to enter a state of Meditation under the most stable conditions. Unfortunately, that female ghost also moved close to him at the right moment, her cheek pressing against his face; he was almost provoked to the point of losing his temper, angry to the point of gritting his teeth. The Illusions created by people always carried slight personal characteristics; he secretly swore that if this matter could be resolved smoothly, he would beat Luo Qi until he was crippled—he had to beat this cheeky habit out of him.

His thought merely flashed by, and the monster in the room instantly boiled over. Du Zhengyi closed his eyes, and after cutting off his vision, his brain became much clearer. He seized this brief opportunity to let the barrier in his Consciousness Space loosen a little.

Almost immediately, he felt the intrusion of another consciousness; that consciousness was even more acute and powerful than he had imagined, and the Consciousness Barrier he had loosened was almost completely shaken. The wavering of the barrier brought a familiar headache to Du Zhengyi, and he immediately realized that the timing was terrible; the pain made his Consciousness Barrier a fraction weaker than before. A trace of fear flickered in the depths of Du Zhengyi's heart, and he was almost prepared for the complete collapse of the barrier. Who would have thought that the consciousness that had broken in would hesitate, as if it had felt his pain.

"Luo Qi." A glimmer of hope rose in his heart, and he concentrated his spirit to search within his consciousness. He did not receive any response; that consciousness was as dark and cold as the bottom of a frozen pond, and he could not imagine that Luo Qi's heart would have such a part. He looked upward from the bottom of Luo Qi's pond; he could not see any hope, and immense despair and loneliness permeated this gloomy space, with the thick, impenetrable ice layer overhead only casting mottled shadows of light.

Du Zhengyi's consciousness churned within Luo Qi's consciousness, unable to find any of the warmth and innocence he was familiar with in Luo Qi. He had not expected to face this; he had originally held a sliver of hope that, within Luo Qi's frightened emotions, he could easily find Luo Qi's true self.

But now, Luo Qi's true heart was like a scarred primordial animal; his wounds had never healed, constantly radiating stabs of pain in the cold void. Such a world was almost unbearable even for Du Zhengyi; this was truly a place of torment, but a soul that had never witnessed darkness and pain could not create such a Simulation Window, and Du Zhengyi was somewhat confused.

He hurriedly separated his own emotions, establishing more barriers within his own consciousness; this move completely enraged Luo Qi.

The Illusion of consciousness changed abruptly; the deathly silent frozen pond turned into a black northern ocean. Du Zhengyi had just thought that Luo Qi had not even forgotten to add seagulls above the sea surface when he was slapped head-on into the black seabed by a giant wave foaming with white spray. He struggled, struggling desperately upward, but the giant wave transformed into a turbulent current on the seabed, engulfing Du Zhengyi as if a giant's furious palm had gripped him, not only wanting to squeeze out the last breath he imagined but also to throw him against the cliffs on the shore.

Du Zhengyi waved his limbs desperately, trying every possible way to set up barriers, but Luo Qi's enraged consciousness was a mad ocean, and he could not resist at all. In the world of consciousness, his lungs were about to be squeezed of their last breath, which would mean the death of his consciousness.

"Luo Qi," he murmured, despair digging deeper into his world, but it was also at this moment that his heart stirred, and with his last bit of strength, he unloaded all his barriers in one breath.

Du Zhengyi's Consciousness Barrier was completely lowered.

He completely exposed his consciousness, his deep consciousness, his surface consciousness, all his secrets, his most hidden fantasies, all his emotions... As a result, Luo Qi's consciousness was suddenly frozen. Du Zhengyi watched as the vortex stopped surging, the ocean turned into bubbles, and vanished suddenly under the sunlight.

Luo Qi's consciousness not only did not go to dig into any of Du Zhengyi's secrets, but suddenly shrank itself very small, like a balloon under the sunlight, swaying and hanging in a place that was not very high.

Du Zhengyi was somewhat surprised, silently facing Luo Qi in the world of consciousness. Luo Qi's balloon swayed uncertainly for a while, then slowly transformed into a silicon-based creature from a game, a jelly-like Slime, commonly known as Little Soft. The Slime extended a tentacle, touching Du Zhengyi as if to soothe him; just as Du Zhengyi noticed it, it shyly retracted the tentacle.

Du Zhengyi was almost certain that this must be the Luo Qi he was familiar with; when he completely closed his barriers and unfolded his self, Luo Qi somehow recognized him instantly. It was just that Luo Qi's change was still too fast; even though he had thought that the situation would improve after finding Luo Qi's true self, he had never made such an optimistic guess. He suspiciously touched Luo Qi lightly with his consciousness and immediately received a joyful response; Luo Qi sent back a burst of pure peace and trust. The emotions transmitted directly in consciousness without using any language, expressions, or body language made Du Zhengyi, who was not a Telepath, feel it was very wondrous.

Du Zhengyi had experienced many things in this world, but this was his first time experiencing such a wondrous journey; he learned things quickly and immediately sent back a string of inquiring consciousness to Luo Qi, and Luo Qi's tentacles gave him an affirmative thought in return. He breathed a sigh of relief, yet still felt uncertain. He pondered and asked Luo Qi if he could leave, and Luo Qi hurriedly gave him an affirmative feeling again.

He could not fathom how Luo Qi was able to shrink back his consciousness to let him leave, but Luo Qi did it immediately, as if he had already undergone quite a bit of training. He gently pushed Du Zhengyi away, and his own consciousness folded rapidly, like a prank toy, the spring-loaded monster being pressed back into the box. Finally, the box closed with a "bang," Luo Qi completely shut his consciousness back in, and Du Zhengyi opened his eyes in reality; he had been pushed out of Luo Qi's Consciousness Space.