Chapter 82: Negotiations Break Down

Some accumulated details might not seem important at the time, but once they are revealed and verified, looking back at them then is no longer the same.

Du Zhengyi could not help but think of the second day Luo Qi was brought into the Society; his terrible mood was still quite similar to the state he had consistently been in over these past few years. He had become friends with Luo Qi without realizing it; if Luo Ruian insisted on being malicious, it was true that he hadn't had any friends for a long time. He had several partners, but none could get along with him as well as Luo Qi. If his actions did not stem from his own heart, then everything he did was actually what Luo Qi wanted him to do... He had not really thought about it this way before.

These were nothing more than a flicker of thought; in fact, it was as if the heavens and earth had suddenly changed color, the sound of the wind intensified sharply, and the grass on the ground near him swayed violently. The power of Mind Force filled this space with prickly, itchy static electricity, and the force field suddenly became extremely unstable.

Luo Ruian's expression changed instantly. He stared at Du Zhengyi in shock, and also at the space around Du Zhengyi. He realized in hindsight why Du Zhengyi had placed a loveseat here. He had even deliberately invited him to sit down. Of course, he could not possibly cooperate with a child's stupid prank game and actually sit with him on a loveseat in the wilderness.

But now... he suddenly understood that it was merely a psychological suggestion. Of course he would not sit down, but it was also no longer possible for him to think that there was another person here.

"Luo Yisheng, you really have said the wrong thing." Du Zhengyi raised his head; although the force field had changed abruptly and there was a faint momentum of Mind Force running wild, his expression still did not change much.

Luo Ruian suddenly realized that Du Zhengyi was more mature than he had thought, but whether that was the case or not no longer mattered, because he had to face a more severe problem.

"Luo Qi insisted on coming." A mocking smile appeared on the corner of Du Zhengyi's lips. "I originally wanted to talk to you first, to chat about what is best for Luo Qi. But I couldn't beat Luo Qi; as you said, Luo Qi can always get what he wants."

"Luo Qi." Luo Ruian's lips trembled. He looked at the spot beside Du Zhengyi; in his eyes, that half of the sofa was still empty, with nothing there.

He could not see his own son.

Du Zhengyi turned his head to look beside him. "By the way, I also collected a piece of data: Luo Qi's psychological intervention ability is indeed very strong. He just learned this bit of superficial Illusion Technique and defeated his old man. Luo Mage, you probably understand this technique; if you didn't see him first and didn't realize his existence, your vision would be obscured. It's really quite ironic; you want so much to make decisions for your son, but now, as long as your son doesn't want to be seen by you, you will never be able to see where he is again."

Luo Ruian's face turned livid, and a look of shame and anger flashed across his face. He tried several methods, and in a fit of annoyance, he wished he could pull out his parental authority to order Luo Qi to go home with him.

Du Zhengyi suddenly smiled again and said, "It's fortunate that most Mages have relatively deep personalities, especially Mind Mages, otherwise you would definitely be throwing your weight around as a father right now, shouting and forcing your son to reveal himself and go home with you, wouldn't you?"

This was an eye for an eye. Luo Ruian had not expected this young man, who held immense Magic power, to be so vindictive. That his character could not be directly proportional to his ability really shattered the average person's perception of elites.

"Luo Qi," Luo Ruian shifted his gaze away from Du Zhengyi's face and said in the despotic tone exclusive to fathers, "Everything I said is the truth. If you are already an adult, don't play these childish games. Let's sit face-to-face and have a good talk."

That tone was as if they were talking about a trivial matter, rather than a major accident that had spanned nearly twenty years of Luo Qi's life.

A father would never take a child's anger seriously. The static electricity in the air suddenly increased, and Du Zhengyi reached out to block it in front of him; a bolt of Lightning Technique appeared abruptly in the open space.

"Luo Qi!" Luo Ruian ignored the bolt of Lightning Technique and said majestically, "Do you still want to raise a hand against your father? I didn't expect you to fall to such a degree; you have disappointed me too much."

The air suddenly fell silent, replaced by an immense sense of oppression.

Even Du Zhengyi felt uncomfortable with this oppression. He tugged at the collar of his shirt. "Luo Qi, stop while you're ahead; don't let me get dragged into this!"

Of course, no one in the air responded to him, but Luo Ruian suspected that the two of them could communicate, and perhaps Luo Qi was even visible to Du Zhengyi.

Things having reached this point, the impatience on Du Zhengyi's face grew even stronger. He scanned the stalemate before him and said in a bad tone, "Is this an ethical paradox? Or maybe I should step in to solve the problem. My dad isn't here, so I can knock down whoever I want."

Luo Ruian ignored Du Zhengyi's arrogance; he was still staring at that blank space. "Come back with me, Luo Qi. In this world, only parents will never harm their own children; you will understand this later. Du Zhengyi, likewise, if you understand all these things I've said, you should help me persuade him."

Du Zhengyi sighed. "If I could do anything about Luo Qi, I wouldn't have come to find you at all; I'm also very annoyed right now. Hey, Luo Qi, according to your dad, you should be an eraser; could you please do me a favor and erase the disappointment in my heart so I can keep a good mood?"

Although Luo Ruian was a more composed Mind Mage than the average Mage, he really could not stand this flippant behavior of Du Zhengyi's. "I know the habit of the Northern Academy is to pair a Battle Mage with a Mind Mage, but if you think Luo Qi can act as a Field Doctor, you are wrong. His essence is offense, completely different from a Healing Mage."

Du Zhengyi smiled. "Luo Yisheng, it's not that I am greedy and covet your precious son. It's that when Luo Qi was rebuilding his mental world on his own, he used his most respected friend—that is, yours truly—as his Anchor. You know what the consequences of this are, right? Could you please see if you can think of a way to make him change it?"

Luo Ruian looked as if he had been struck on the head; only at this moment did his expression truly become severe. He stared fixedly at Du Zhengyi, his face ashen and full of agony; he looked almost as if his heart and liver had been ripped out.

He was unable to regain his ability to speak for a while, but Du Zhengyi's expression suddenly had some subtle changes, looking as if he were listening to something.

Thus, he could be even more certain that Du Zhengyi and Luo Qi could communicate, and his son was saying something to Du Zhengyi. And this result was definitely not what he wanted to see.

A look of helplessness flashed across Du Zhengyi's face. "Alright, it seems you are of no use either. Your son says he doesn't trust you. Then the conversation ends here; it no longer has any positive meaning."

"Luo Qi." Luo Ruian called his son's name in a daze and took another step forward, but he knew that he would never be able to see his son after all.

"Look, things have reached this point." Du Zhengyi stood up, straightened his suit, and put on an appearance of wanting to say goodbye. He looked at Luo Ruian with disappointment and said, "He doesn't trust you, so he will never let you touch the foundation of his mental world."

"You can't..." Luo Ruian blurted out.

Du Zhengyi smiled slightly. "Actually, I can." He reached out and grabbed the void existence beside him.

Luo Ruian realized what was happening and hurriedly exerted force, trying to change the force field here, wanting to make it impossible for Du Zhengyi to enter the Subspace. But how could a Doctor hold back a Battle Mage like Du Zhengyi, who had been smug for several years without suffering any divine retribution and could still be arrogant under the sun?