The magician in the city

Chapter 676 Ancestral Gift (66)

"Can you really save Du Zhengyi?" Guan Xinyue's question went unanswered, and Luo Qi made a final effort, racing against time.

"What can I do?" Guan Xinyue asked again, but Luo Qi didn't hear her clearly. She observed Luo Qi's state for a while, suspecting he couldn't hear the outside world at all; he was working to the limits of his physical and mental endurance. Sometimes Guan Xinyue wondered if his body was limiting Luo Qi. Humans often have this feeling: aging humans retain their mental well-being but are trapped in their aging bodies. Luo Qi had experienced leaving his body before, but he hadn't told her about it in detail. She had a feeling he didn't want to talk much about his pain; perhaps it was his way of dealing with it. Or perhaps it wasn't painful at all. She pondered that if a person could abandon their body, it would be equivalent to abandoning the limitations of time and space. But wouldn't "existence" without boundaries also equal "nothingness"? She couldn't figure it out, and her head began to ache.

"Xin Yue." Luo Qi suddenly turned to look at her, his gaze sending chills down her spine.

Why did you suddenly call me?

"A countdown timer has appeared in the system." Roach became even more agitated. "I knew this would happen!"

"The countdown means..." Guan Xinyue knew there was no need to ask this question; there was definitely a self-destruct mechanism in place. "Who set the countdown?"

“System administrator,” Roach said, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Du Zhengyi? He activated the self-destruct system?" Guan Xinyue said in surprise, but not so surprised. "Indeed, this place is going out of control, and there are so many Lotus Burners causing trouble here."

Roach glanced at her gratefully. Communicating with her was surprisingly easy; she wasn't a mage, yet she understood his thoughts perfectly, without him even needing to explain. Countless signs reminded him of the similarities between the Primordial Mage and humans. Beneath the veil of magic, incomprehensible to both mages and modern humans, the Primordial Mage's underlying logic was simply the human way of thinking. This thought stunned him for a moment, until Guan Xinyue looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“I knew it would come to this. The Du family’s mission was to shut down these experimental sites left behind by the progenitor mages.” Roach said, confirming the activation of the last system before turning to the transparent device where Du Zhengyi was standing. The design here was highly automated, perhaps even highly sophisticated in terms of artificial intelligence. Once activated, the system could make decisions on its own, requiring almost no human intervention. Even if one couldn’t fully understand what these machines were doing, it didn’t matter; from this perspective, it truly resembled magic. He pulled a crystal from the upper part of the device and fell into deep thought once more.

Guan Xinyue observed him; he looked as if he were reading technical documentation. The crystals extracted by these mages resembled small computer terminals capable of reading and calculation, except they didn't require an interface, similar to brain-computer interfaces. Therefore, Luo Qi wasn't looking at Du Zhengyi inside the device. The device was transparent, and she could see that Du Zhengyi showed no signs of improvement. The only change was that when he was first placed inside, the solution was stained red with his blood, but now the solution had cleared. At best, Du Zhengyi's bleeding might have stopped.

She anxiously averted her gaze and found Roach still frozen beside the crystal. If he wasn't terrified, then he could read medical parameters from the crystal, like a doctor reading instruments. He was taking so long because he hadn't studied medicine and needed to internalize medical knowledge—or he was simply checking medical guidelines and comparing numbers. If only Mahjong were here.

Regardless, Roach had Ziyu gather everyone here, and he didn't seem to want the others to evacuate immediately. This meant Roach was certain this place was safer than other places, or that it was a faster way to escape. It was as if this place was Noah's Ark…

Guan Xinyue suddenly realized she was following Luo Qi's train of thought. She was so naive! This was a small spaceship, docked in this giant hangar, and of course the hangar would have a door leading directly outside. That's why there were ancient human ruins here! Guan Xinyue understood. Humans couldn't have gotten here through the main entrance, traversing countless dangers like they had; they must have entered directly through the hangar door.

She couldn't help but look up. Above her was the spaceship's seamless metal structure, but she was now certain that a door lay within reach in the higher dome. She could almost picture those agile humans, capable of crafting bronze artifacts, climbing down to place the coffin there.

Luo Qi must have already figured it out. He was in a hurry to find Du Zhengyi, but he still lingered here for half a day because he was planning to use this place as a shortcut to leave.

But he still didn't know if Du Zhengyi could be saved, yet he still wanted to bring the Lotus Burner onto his Noah's Ark.

She pondered for a moment, then quietly walked towards the hatch. The mages continued to gather around. Liu Ziyu returned to the first cabin. Although she seemed restless, she quickly focused her attention on the control panel. Du Zhengyi was still alive. The spaceship seemed to have been reconnected to a power source and restarted. Liu Ziyu was captivated by the newly unlocked system.

The battle mages, though somewhat confused, remained rigid and serious, seemingly uninterested in probing. The Lotus Burners followed their leader, a religious fervor still surging among them. More than one gaze fell upon Guan Xinyue, like thorns piercing her skin. Their unvented fanaticism resembled that of medieval ecstatic believers yearning to burn witches.

A powerful urge for revenge burned in Guan Xinyue's chest. After a long period of suppression, she now felt the same urgency as when she was a child seeing a box of chocolates. Her hands began to tremble involuntarily. Suddenly, a familiar gaze fell upon her, startling her. She snapped back to reality and watched as Mahjong walked towards her, calling her name.

"Stay away from her!" Mahjong said rudely to the Lotus Burner, who was only two steps away from Guan Xinyue. He moved closer, separating Guan Xinyue from the Lotus Burner. "Have you seen Luo Qi?"

"I didn't see it." Guan Xinyue didn't tell the truth.

Mahjong seemed to relax a bit, though a bitter look remained on his face. "The situation is bad, Xinyue, I'm telling you to prepare yourself..." He suddenly paused, "What happened to the bloodstains on your clothes?"

"One of the Lotus Burners suddenly coughed up blood," Guan Xinyue said absentmindedly.

"Luo Qi!" Mahjong shouted, unable to contain himself any longer. Even if Guan Xinyue's lie wasn't entirely sincere, now no matter what she said, Mahjong would assume it was related to Luo Qi. You could say he was paranoid and overly suspicious. "Luo Qi, where are you!"