Chapter 93: Heping Street Neighborhood Office (1)

"Even if you turn off WeChat, as long as you are still in the city, you are still caught in my inescapable net," Luo Qi said gleefully, a complete reversal of the decadence he had shown these past few days.

"Inescapable net..." Du Zhengyi said incredulously, "Are you suffering from a severe case of middle-school syndrome?"

Luo Qi scoffed at his words, continuing to immerse himself in his inexplicable sense of victory. Du Zhengyi had no idea when they had even started a competition. However, he realized a moment later that Luo Qi's words were less of a victory announcement and more of a threat. Luo Qi was telling him that as long as he didn't leave the city, he could forget about shaking him off; turning off WeChat was useless, and even Teleportation was useless. When it came down to it, there were too many cats in the local area.

Du Zhengyi cursed Luo Qi under his breath, yet felt helpless; other than tacitly allowing Luo Qi to follow him, he could think of no other way.

"You know your issues haven't been fully cleared up, and the process within the Qionglin hasn't been completed because Li Xu still hasn't woken up," Du Zhengyi warned him.

Luo Qi was startled, "Did I really destroy Li Xu's brain? I... I hadn't thought about that..."

"Stop the anxiety!" Du Zhengyi said sternly. He looked around, then suddenly lowered his voice, "It's not your problem. After he lost consciousness, it was I who attacked him. The main reason he hasn't woken up now is that he was severely injured. If you were to meet the Great Mage rashly now, it would always be somewhat unfavorable. Although your ability to control energy is constantly increasing, I don't think you are confident enough to pass the Great Mage's inspection, so I told the Qionglin that you are bedridden with serious injuries and are recuperating under medical advice, making you unsuitable to accept a Qionglin investigation."

"You beat Li Xu until he was injured?" Luo Qi said in surprise, "Isn't he a Great Mage? How could you dare to hit a Great Mage?"

"So what?" Du Zhengyi frowned impatiently, looking rebellious, and took the opportunity to point out the absurdity of Luo Qi's position, "You almost ate his brain!"

"That was subconscious..." Luo Qi muttered.

"Then you had better learn your lesson and keep your Yajian under control," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice. "And don't interrupt me when I'm speaking, and don't create unnecessary complications."

"Got it." Luo Qi mimicked Du Zhengyi's impatience perfectly and said, "I won't go in, alright? I don't even want to see those Great Mages who act like you're their own grandson the moment they see you! I'll wait for you outside."

Du Zhengyi glared at him, wanting to beat him for that comment about being a grandson. Luo Qi, whose ability to read the room was never lacking, immediately put on a serious face and began to make amends, "Brother, or I could try using Mental Misdirection on my appearance. I spent all day yesterday learning the theory from Majiang."

"One day," Du Zhengyi said ruthlessly, "and you only learned the theory."

"There are still results," Luo Qi said quickly. "You also said that Mental Misdirection isn't that difficult. My lesson today was supposed to be practical training, and Majiang was going to evaluate my internship tonight. I'd better seize the time to practice during the day." Du Zhengyi rubbed his chin and looked at him suspiciously, "You talk as if you're really a good little boy..." "I've always been a good kid," Luo Qi said without even blushing. "At worst, I'll just hide from the Great Mages. The regular staff at the office shouldn't have the ability to see through Mental Misdirection, right?"

"They are all administrative staff. Not to mention a Telepath's disguise, they might not even be able to see through the disguise of an ordinary female Mage," Du Zhengyi hesitated for a moment. "So how did Majiang tell you to practice? Why don't you practice for me to see?"

"If you stare at me like that without shifting your attention, how could I possibly mislead your brain into believing that what your eyes see isn't real?" Luo Qi shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Fine, that is indeed my fault," Du Zhengyi said reluctantly. "But you're like a chatterbox monkey beside me. Give me a hint—how can I completely shift my attention away from you?"

"Then let's just do this: I'll try to start practicing the experimental content Majiang asked me to, and you stop targeting me. We'll just keep walking toward the office. Let things take their natural course; when something else happens that makes you temporarily forget I'm here, you'll be able to see my experiment succeed," Luo Qi said.

"What kind of earth-shattering event could possibly make me forget a chatterbox like you?" Du Zhengyi said what was on his mind. Seeing Luo Qi hold back an angry expression, he changed his tone, "Fine, let's go. Hurry up, don't waste any more time. Do you still have a cat in your pocket?"

Luo Qi looked down at the head of a black cat peeking out of his pocket, "It refuses to leave, and there's nothing I can do. I actually preferred that orange cat."

"Heh," Du Zhengyi said, "I feel the same way."

Luo Qi pulled a long face, but Du Zhengyi had already started walking forward. Du Zhengyi's movement speed was quite fast; if he wasn't careful, he might lose him at the next turn. He hurriedly followed, smiling ingratiatingly, "Actually, this black cat is fine too. A pair of yellow eyes—it looks just like a dust sprite."

"I don't know what that lowly name is supposed to mean," Du Zhengyi said idly. "Sounds a bit like you: a soot sprite, a bad-luck sprite."

"Damn it," Luo Qi couldn't help but blurt out after being retorted.

Du Zhengyi gave him a threatening glance, and he stuck out his tongue guiltily, "Oops, just an interjection, an interjection! You're a man who does big things, don't mind the details."

They walked out of the alley and onto a slightly wider street, though it was still an old one. Both sides of the street were lined with plane trees. The trunks were as thick as two people could embrace, splitting into two branches at about the height of a person; even a single branch was thicker than Luo Qi's waist. After the trunks branched, one branch always extended toward the street, so the trees on both sides connected above the street, turning the entire road into a dim, tree-lined tunnel.

Luo Qi closed his mouth without realizing it. He was a Northerner, and his biggest trait was not being used to vegetation that was overgrown to a crazy degree; in places like this, he always felt it was eerie.

Du Zhengyi couldn't relate to Luo Qi's feeling. After walking for a while, he noticed he was a bit quiet and turned to look at him, only to see Luo Qi again. He knew then that all that talk about Luo Qi learning Mental Induction was complete nonsense; this bad-luck sprite was just good at spouting nonsense. He glanced at Luo Qi a few more times, then suddenly leaned in and asked in a low voice, "What does it feel like to communicate with so many cats?"

He spoke suddenly, and Luo Qi was startled. When he came to his senses and realized Du Zhengyi's expression was serious, he figured Du Zhengyi had developed an academic interest—after all, this genius was proficient in everything except Telepathy. "Uh..." Luo Qi began to think seriously, recalling what it was like to look at people from a cat's perspective, experiencing the cat's simple yet pleasant thoughts, wondering how to put it into words.

Just then, Du Zhengyi spoke idly again, "Do you want to eat a mouse?"

"Damn it!" Luo Qi shouted. Du Zhengyi was actually playing with him, wasting all the effort he had put into organizing his words.

"Stop yelling," Du Zhengyi said. "We're here."

Luo Qi looked up at an old building by the side of the road. The doors and windows were covered with electric rolling shutters, and on the wall above the main entrance, a few large golden characters were posted: Heping Street Neighborhood Office.

"What?" Luo Qi said, bewildered. "A neighborhood office? This place isn't even called Heping Street!"

"So what? Which human would care about one extra neighborhood office?" Du Zhengyi shrugged, "This is the Mage office for this district."