The magician in the city

Chapter 677 The Gift of Our Ancestors (67)

Du Zhengyi awoke from his dreamless slumber, his hearing returning first, and the faintest sounds were picked up by his auditory nerves.

These environmental sounds were too perfect for the mage's ears; they were too soft and too monotonous. In other words, the sounds had been filtered and adjusted to suit the mage's needs. Just like Qionglin.

He opened his eyes abruptly. The simply decorated room, with crystals storing magical energy carefully embedded in the walls, was a familiar place—Joan Lin's infirmary.

He didn't sense that there were many people around him; there was only one person a room's distance away, and that person was walking quickly towards him. He turned his head in that direction and saw Ma Jiang's calm face, which was both familiar and unfamiliar.

Turning his head was difficult. The bed was very comfortable, conforming to every part of his body and supporting him lightly. But as soon as he left the bed, the gravity seemed to expand a hundred or a thousand times.

"Wait a minute, your body has just undergone a major overhaul... or rather, you've just been brought back to life, and your brain is trying to regain control of your body. Your brain has to some extent realized that your body is undergoing extensive regeneration, and there's a slight resistance. But it's alright, I've always seen that you're not that particular, and you don't mind raw or cold foods."

"Am I still alive?" Du Zheng asked vaguely, as if his throat was opening up again.

“That’s right.” Ma Jiang affirmed his judgment.

He's still alive.

He touched his abdomen with difficulty; there were no scars. Had Mahjong's healing magic advanced to this extent? He still remembered his condition at the time—he was certain to die.

When he was following the steps to ensure he had a breath left, he didn't think too much. It's just that the magical world is full of unexpected turns, and he needed to be prepared for this contingency, to provide help to whoever might save him in the future. The situation was urgent; there was no time to think carefully. How many people he had wronged, how many things he hadn't yet addressed, how many debts he owed—these were all regrets he didn't have time to consider.

"Doctor, have you made such great progress?" Du Zhengyi asked, oblivious to the situation.

"Heh, it's all thanks to the greatness of magic." Ma Jiang said with a forced smile, using another round of medical magic to collect data on him. "The recovery is going well."

“I thought my consciousness would be torn apart and devoured before my body died,” Du Zhengyi said.

“I’ve always thought so too.” Ma Jiang nodded, withdrawing his usual medical magic and cautiously beginning a basic, superficial probe of Du Zhengyi’s consciousness. “Obviously, we were all wrong. Our understanding of this type of consciousness-based magical attack is limited. We originally thought that the weaker your body and the more scattered your consciousness, the more dangerous you would be. But the actual situation seems to be that when you were really about to die, your brain made this judgment, and then your whole being prepared to die peacefully.”

Du Zhengyi had nothing to say, so he could only continue to ask, "Then why am I starting to get a headache again?"

“You’ve come back to life. The activity in your brain has triggered everything that was supposed to be triggered, both good and bad,” Ma Jiang said.

"Fine." Du Zhengyi seemed indifferent. Ignoring Ma Jiang's advice, he insisted on sitting up. Blood rushed to his head, and his eardrums felt like they were being pressed against by an awl. "How did I get here? Where's Luo Qi?"

"Who?" Ma Jiang asked him calmly.

Du Zheng looked up, observing Ma Jiang's face. If it were a joke, Ma Jiang should have immediately launched into a tirade of accusations against Luo Qi like popcorn exploding, then decisively declared that he didn't know any of this bullshit Luo Qi. There were too many things Luo Qi might have done while he was unconscious; if Ma Jiang didn't launch into a fierce tirade, it wouldn't be like him at all.

Ma Jiang simply looked at him calmly. "Who are you asking about?"

"Doctor, am I still alive?" Du Zhengyi asked calmly.

Upon hearing this, Ma Jiang decided to conduct a preliminary diagnosis of his consciousness.

Du Zheng raised his hand to indicate that it was unnecessary. "Am I currently in a state of physical depletion, using my last bit of strength to create an illusion?"

Before Ma Jiang could answer, Du Zhengyi ruled out that possibility himself, "It can't be like that. If it were such precious time, I wouldn't dream of a doctor. Who would want to dream of being examined by a doctor at the last moment of their life?" "Thank you, Makoto, you're truly amazing," Ma Jiang said through gritted teeth. "Then who would you dream of at that moment?"

“None of your business,” Du Zhengyi said. “Where’s Luo Qi?”

"Du Zhengyi," Ma Jiang called his name, his voice steady, "Who is Luo Qi?"

They looked at each other, and saw the answer to their questions in each other's facial expressions.

“Oh, someone has tampered with my memories,” Ma Jiang said. “I felt it, but I don’t know what was taken away.”

Finally, something bad happened.

"Are you that accepting?" Du Zhengyi stood up.

“Because the person who erased my memories doesn’t allow me to have any emotions about this part. The name Luo Qi doesn’t indicate gender, is it a girl?” Ma Jiang said, his expression even more blank than usual, unable to even show any helplessness. “I don’t recommend you stand up, your ear is bleeding.”

I need to hurry.

“You’ve been unconscious for fourteen days, brother. Even if you hurry, it’s too slow. I advise you to sit down,” Ma Jiang said.

"What do you remember? Do you remember what happened in the last few months?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"of course I remember."

"How did I survive? Did your medical skills suddenly receive a divine gift?" Du Zhengyi asked.

“That was magic from the sealed land; I don’t have that kind of power. Now that sealed land is gone; it was completely wiped out. It’s terrifying,” Ma Jiang said thoughtfully, suddenly shuddering as he said “terrifying.”

He recalled the scene: they were high above, looking down, moving rapidly, everything behind them dissolving, twisting, and compressing. At the last moment, they broke free from the terrible gravity; the vast sealed land shrank into a sphere and vanished, leaving only the wasteland. It was as if nothing had ever happened, as if nothing had ever existed.

"What kind of magic is in the sealed land?" Du Zheng asked.

“The wounded sealed creature… blue eyes… judging from the bloodstains, he ran into the transparent coffin himself, and when he reappeared, his wounds were healed. We… someone recklessly dragged you into a coffin of the same type as him. I almost thought there was no hope. Even if you could come out again, no one knows if you would become a sealed beast… or a skeleton… Don’t be angry, you seem normal now, and your mind is normal,” Ma Jiang said.

"Who discovered this method? Who dragged me in here?" Du Zheng looked at Ma Jiang and saw a blank look in the latter's eyes.

“I understand,” Ma Jiang said dryly. “He is the one whose memories were erased.”

"Besides those of us who already knew each other, do you remember any new people you and I met in the last few months?"

"I forgot more than one?" Ma Jiang understood Du Zhengyi's implication.

"Do you still remember Guan Xinyue?" Du Zhengyi waved away the doctor's healing magic. "Don't you remember? This is the girl. You're obviously interested in her. If I'm not mistaken, you're hoping that when she's a few years older, you'll have a chance to win her favor."

He spoke maliciously, venting his anger, and walked outside.