Chapter 98: Heping Street Neighborhood Office (6) — The Encirclement

Du Zhengyi silently calculated the distribution of every bit of Fan Shi's power; he could perceive the strength and stability of Fan Shi's power as a Venerable. He quickly abandoned his specialty, the thrusting attack, as Fan Shi was densely surrounded by layer after layer of Force Field Shield; he could barely get close, and any weapon he could use would be disintegrated upon approaching Fan Shi's shield.

He had considered a desperate gamble to distort Fan Shi's force field, but the risk of failure he calculated was simply too great. The space here was too small, and the edges of the room had a Force Field Barrier; he was essentially fighting someone in a cage, and it was much the same as a trapped beast fighting for its life.

However, the information Luo Qi had brought him allowed him enough time to apply a shield to himself as well. Fan Shi was a Venerable of Qionglin, not some desperate outlaw, and he did not want to attack Du Zhengyi in a rush either. The two were like ancient warriors dueling; as the battle began, both sides were protected by their respective shields, and the fight started with a standoff, each cautiously waiting for the other to act first and reveal a flaw.

But Du Zhengyi knew he was still at another disadvantage; he could feel three people at the Battle Mage level right outside this room, and they were closing in step by step.

He did not know where Luo Qi was; he could not feel Luo Qi's flickering energy, nor did he know how they could have let Luo Qi, who had come in with him, go. This was a miscalculation; he really should not have let Luo Qi come in with him, just walking in like two men walking into an arcade. He was actually not a reckless person, and looking back now, perhaps his trust in the Venerable had been too blind.

"I heard from Pei Shu that if you weren't a warrior, you might have become a Calculator," Fan Shi said suddenly, interrupting his perception of the situation outside. Fan Shi took a step forward, accompanied by the sound of slight energy explosions; the pages of the books on the bookcase and desk were the first to start burning, and the air was filled with a scorched smell.

"Well, have you calculated it yet?" he added gently, as if patiently tutoring a student on their homework.

"No solution," Du Zhengyi said.

He looked up at the ceiling, appearing indifferent to life or death, but in reality, he was making his final decision. He was hesitating whether this was the final moment; he could not escape without bringing out all his power. He still had the option of surrendering, but his judgment of the human heart had never been particularly brilliant, though he did have a fair amount of self-awareness. Surrender always meant looking for opportunities in the future, but that would lead him into a field he was not good at; he really did not feel he could get any good results through negotiation. It would take at least three months for Pei Shu to walk out of Gushan; three months was enough for the world to be turned upside down.

"Then don't waste time," Fan Shi said reservedly, as if he looked down upon manual labor. "I don't care how I take you back, but if we can avoid doing it by force, it would be more decent."

Du Zhengyi's thoughts at this moment were not on him; something was not quite right, and Du Zhengyi tilted his head slightly in surprise. Fan Shi was somewhat taken aback; being distracted on the battlefield was not like the behavior of a Battle Mage.

In fact, Du Zhengyi's range of perception was very large, far exceeding that of an average Mage; this was almost a unique characteristic of a Battle Mage. Because almost at the same time, the three Battle Mages outside the room also suddenly turned and walked away.

Du Zhengyi's first thought was that someone had come to help. But the only person outside was Luo Qi; if Luo Qi could successfully escape this time, it would be a job well done, and someone should buy him candy. Could he really have brought reinforcements? Besides, who could Luo Qi go to for help? All he could find now was that doctor Ma Jiang, and the latter might have decent abilities—decent at promoting cell growth, which was completely useless right now.

But at this moment, Fan Shi sensed it belatedly; he looked stunned and turned his head sharply to stare at the black cat on the window.

Du Zhengyi realized it in an instant and had to admire Fan Shi's biological identification ability, but then he understood that there was no need for biological identification ability at all; as long as one's ears were sharp enough, that was enough. He also heard cat calls, one after another, accompanied by more and more moving biological entities.

The Gushan Guard and the Venerable of Qionglin, outstanding representatives of two types of Mages, could not help but stare at each other blankly at the moment when tensions were high and they were about to fight until the sky turned dark.

Both of their excellent detection abilities perceived the visit of hundreds of cats; the lobby of the Heping Street Neighborhood Office must have already been occupied by stray cats.

In fact, it was not just stray cats, but also most of the house cats in the old city area that could break out of their homes. The residents here were mostly elderly and already had the habit of keeping cats, and the terrain of the old city area was suitable for the survival of stray cats. (The Jiangnan region, warm throughout the four seasons, not only nourished humans and Mages but also bred generation after generation of stray cats—ah, this sentence comes from Luo Qi.)

If things had only gone this far, it could still be brought to an end.

But the old neighborhood was also home to the city's lowest and poorest idlers; even in broad daylight, there were quite a few people idling at home and in the alleys. The nearby cats were suddenly and abnormally screeching like ghosts while moving in the same direction; such a strange sight could easily go viral on TikTok for a long time, so how could people miss it? Therefore, when the first batch of cats just arrived at the entrance of the Peace Street Neighborhood Office, more than twenty humans had already followed along.

"There is no Heping Street here at all; why is the Heping Street Neighborhood Office located here?" a man who looked no more than twenty years old shouted at the entrance.

The lowest level of Mental Induction has only one essential point: it must not be broken. People walked past this entrance every day, but as long as no one called them out and pointed it out to them, they would walk past the entrance of this Heping Street Neighborhood Office without seeing it, not even glancing at it once. This was the effect of the Crystal Fragment embedded in the door handle of the Heping Street Neighborhood Office—the effect of neglect. For these humans who were not sensitive to the spirit, this was already useful enough.

But now, cats from all five streets in the entire old city area were surging here, and the Magic of neglect was no longer working. Once the sign on the door was called out by this young man, the Blindfold Magic ceased to exist, and everyone could see clearly; suspicion climbed among the crowd.

"That's right, why is the Heping Street Neighborhood Office here?" a man in his forties said.

"Hey? Can this still serve the common people? If the residents of Heping Street want to go to the Heping Street Neighborhood Office to handle affairs, isn't this just tossing people around?"

"Exactly!"

"Heping Street? Do you guys know where Heping Street is?" suddenly someone else asked.

"Never heard of it; I've lived here for fifty years and have never heard that our city has a Heping Street!"

"Do you think this sign is wrong? Do street offices still call themselves 'Neighborhood Offices' now? Don't they usually call them 'Street Government Service Centers' now?"

"I don't know, I can't figure it out, and there's no one inside! Why are all these cats going inside? It's too eerie!"

The cats were still gathering in a steady stream, the crowd was getting larger and larger, and everyone was talking at once in excitement; the young man who spoke first quietly retreated and disappeared into the back of the crowd.