The magician in the city

Chapter 678 The Gift of Our Ancestors (68)

Qionglin remained unchanged, as if nothing had happened.

The mundane daily tasks proceeded steadily, and everyone seemed calm, peacefully and comfortably repeating their work day after day. No one showed any unease, and no one had ever heard of Roach, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stirred up a storm in the magical world.

Du Zhengyi walked around Qionglin for a while, and none of the battle mages on duty were on duty for those days. He checked the logs and found that everyone had a reasonable reason for being sent out.

The attendance records from over ten days ago are also available. Reason for attendance: Handling an emergency in the Sealed Land. Result: Mission accomplished.

At least the reason for his attendance was not to deal with the altitude sickness mage.

The only unusual thing was that none of the highest-ranking mages were present. Du Zhengyi tried to contact Pei Shu, but the reply was to wait for now.

He had never encountered anything like this before, including erasing someone's memory. It wasn't that he didn't know Qionglin would do such a thing, but he wouldn't do it so ruthlessly at such a high level.

Why would there be any need to erase the doctor's memory? He poses no threat and is under a high level of secrecy.

Du Zhengyi even considered that if it weren't for his inability to do so, his memory would also be erased. He wouldn't remember what happened when he woke up, or worse, he would remember everything, but without any sadness or anger. He remembered Luo Qi, yet hesitated, unsure why he had acted for him, and confused as to why he couldn't act.

Ultimately, altering the memories and thoughts of those around you, even in Qionglin, crosses a line. No one has ever done this before, not even the highly respected Pei Shu… He has never been such a person.

He might have to thank the clownfish for turning misfortune into a blessing in disguise. He gained a flawed mind, but it also made him someone who could protect himself.

The thought of clownfish felt like a thorn piercing his chest. He immediately dismissed the thought; for something unsolvable, any further thought was pointless.

Returning to the matter at hand, even from a purely rational perspective, Pei Shu had no need to erase these people's memories. Their loyalty was beyond question. Taking things this far had already backfired.

What can we do next? Do we have to completely control everyone's minds?

Why did it come to this? Did Roach finally get into trouble and do something big that blew half of everyone's brains out?

He traversed half of the forest and entered the place where the experimental mages were staying. If he couldn't find the answer here, he might go to the Highland Mages.

His body was still sluggish, but it was slowly becoming more coordinated. He never imagined he would still be alive. Judging from what Mahjong said, it seemed that Roach had decisively thrown him into the container for cultivating sealed beasts. Or rather, summoning beasts. Based on his previous judgment, the devices used to create summoning beasts shouldn't be suitable for humans; they could only create mindless things.

It's likely that Roach was out of options, or perhaps he observed something else and made a new assessment. Roach always seems to see things others can't; this ability is innate and perhaps even more important than his telekinetic magic.

The magical work in the lab continued, and Du Zheng couldn't tell if they were continuing the work from the Highland Wizards. He recognized a few faces; some of them had been with the Highland Wizards before, and one of them had bought cookies from Roach. These oddballs got along well with Roach.

Liu Ziyu saw him from afar and ran over excitedly as before, "Senior brother!"

His heart sank. The world was like Roach's broken game, experiencing a glitch and rollback. He had become the bug in the game.

"Senior brother, what's the matter?" Liu Ziyu asked.

Du Zhengyi looked her up and down. "You've gotten a bit tanned."

"That's so rude, I'm not dark-skinned," Liu Ziyu said instinctively, then paused. Du Zhengyi stared at her.

She raised her hand and looked at it carefully, slowly as if she were restarting her thoughts, "Oh—I really have gotten a bit tanned, so quickly, like I've been sunburned on the plateau."

It seems her memory is even less than the doctor's, at least stopping before she met the Highland Mage.

“I think I recently met a human girl,” Liu Ziyu said, pulling a sticker from her pocket with the name of a bubble tea shop on it.

She looked at the sticker but it didn't evoke any memory. Then she flipped it over; the back showed a Go board. "No mage would want to play this."

Du Zheng shook his head and was about to leave when Liu Ziyu took out her phone again, turned on the screen, and a selfie of her and Guan Xinyue hugging each other immediately appeared.

Du Zhengyi was speechless. Luo Qi's face was right above their heads, and he was sneaking around behind them taking selfies with an expression that looked like he wanted to punch them.

"Thank you," Du Zheng said, half-jokingly. "Otherwise, I would have thought I was crazy."

"Wait a little longer." Liu Ziyu pulled him aside, opened the photos, and then opened a video in the photo app.

Roach's face appeared on the screen, haggard and disheveled, with blood on his face. He looked extremely tense, as if he were gritting his teeth at someone; he was still rapidly cursing when he started recording the video.

He turned to the camera and said, "Brother, I have to go. I have to take Guan Xinyue with me; they won't let her go. I also can't see...see your teacher; he's coming soon."

He felt that the pause in the middle might have been an insult, but Luo Qi held back. He seemed quiet for a second, then his voice softened, "Brother, take care. You'll wake up, but I can't wait any longer, don't be angry. I will... I'll find a way to pull through, I promise. Be careful..."

Before he could finish speaking, the camera started shaking, someone shouted, and off-camera, Roach said urgently, "Take it, take the phone, hide the phone, quick..."

The screen went completely black, as if someone had stuffed it into a pocket, and the video ended quickly.

“I think this is a message for you,” Liu Ziyu said.

"So that's how it can be done," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice. He took Liu Ziyu's phone, opened the video, and watched it again.

The video was being recorded in the wilderness; they had already left the sealed land. Du Zhengyi didn't know how they left; he had abandoned everything when he made the decision. He abandoned them, he abandoned Luo Qi; he had no way to take Luo Qi out with him.

He could only close the seal, annihilating everything in the collapse of magic. He had to clean up the mess left by the Primordial Mage and prevent those mindless yet terrifying animals and humanoid creatures from escaping. In that instant, he sacrificed not only himself, but also Roach and the others.

He couldn't say for sure whether his actions were due to the magical contract or his true intentions. Perhaps both. But Roach had found a way out on his own, somehow managing to bring others along as well. He had even saved Roach's life. He recorded a short video explaining his whereabouts, not intending to blame him, and even in his haste, worried that Roach was angry.

Roach's lack of common sense is indeed reflected in many aspects, perhaps especially in the positive ones.

"Ziyu, is it possible that you have their phone number or have added them on WeChat?"

“Definitely. But there’s no signal here,” Liu Ziyu said.