magician in town

Chapter 686 Work Orders
Du Zhengyi returned to Qionglin. The area around Qionglin had experienced a rapid temperature increase; the snow in the forest had vanished overnight, and the streams flowed gently. He stayed in the woods for a while, smoking a few cigarettes. The pale white tree trunks reflected the sunlight; staying there for too long made him uncomfortable.

Many possibilities swirled in his mind, but none were particularly insightful. His conversation with Master Chu Jin was meaningful, but it didn't offer any immediate help in the current situation. She might not have been entirely truthful; for example, she might have met their Roach earlier.

Because she trusted him so much, she practically revealed her biggest secret. There's probably only one possibility for Chu Jin to trust him to this extent: she met Luo Qi, and Luo Qi told her that he was completely trustworthy.

He guessed their meeting must have been very brief. Roach might have wanted to get some data from the calculator, or perhaps he wanted to catch a glimpse of his aunt. Roach wouldn't delve into his aunt's mind; he wasn't that kind of person. Therefore, the clownfish's secret was likely still intact. He felt slightly relieved; he absolutely didn't want Roach to discover this. Sometimes, the hardest thing for a person to see is themselves, and Roach found it difficult to realize who that cold, twisted clownfish truly was.

He added this new information to his speculations over the past few days, trying his best to vaguely reconstruct what happened after he lost consciousness. Roach successfully brought them out at the moment the sealed land closed, and then used the Primordial Mage's magic to heal his severely injured body.

After they escaped danger, something unexpected must have happened, something terrible that made Luo Qi feel out of control. So when he was filming the video, he was both emotionally distraught and anxious. He said he had to take Guan Xinyue away and that they had to avoid Pei Shu.

Two keywords: Guan Xinyue and Pei Shu.

At first glance, the most likely reason for taking Guan Xinyue away is that the Lotus Burner went mad at the time. But that's not the case. If the Lotus Burner were to go on a killing spree without a sealed beast, it would have to be with the Clownfish. If the Clownfish were there, Luo Qi wouldn't have been cursing and swearing. He wouldn't treat a powerful opponent like that, especially one who is a mind mage.

Based on the information gathered today, Du Zhengyi was almost certain that the clownfish wasn't present. The clownfish was only using the Lotus Burner; he had likely already achieved his goal, obtaining information about the sealed land by following Du Zhengyi. Before Luo Qi tried to get everyone out, the clownfish had probably already left the sealed land, completely unconcerned about those who had been abandoned.

The remaining Lotus Burners would be no match for Roach and his group of battle mages. Roach wouldn't take the humans away just because he was afraid of them.

So the situation became this: Guan Xinyue wasn't in danger, but she couldn't see Pei Shu, so Luo Qi had to take her away and completely sever his connection with the mages. In another scenario, wasn't that just a replay of his own story with Luo Qi? He had also taken Luo Qi to avoid Qiong Lin's sight because Luo Qi had acted like a mage with high-level reflexes, posing a threat to Qiong Lin.

Guan Xinyue somehow gained the ability to harm mages. Luo Qi was in a sorry state and cursing because of this sudden event. He hurriedly left a message for him and disappeared with Guan Xinyue.

Did Guan Xinyue find the nuclear bomb left behind by the Ancestral Mage and detonate it at the mage?

Regardless, the most probable conclusion lies here. After making contact with the core secrets left behind by the progenitor mage, Guan Xinyue subtly implied that she had done something that harmed mage society. This aligns with Pei Shu's action of erasing the memories of Mahjong and Liu Ziyu, suggesting that her actions may have created significant unrest in the magical world.

He believed it wasn't Roach who erased their memories; Roach was too lenient in such matters… Perhaps that was too biased, so he tried to think more objectively—if Roach had actively erased everyone's memories on a large scale, Pei Shu, who arrived later, would immediately label Roach an anomaly and eliminate him. Therefore, doing so would be meaningless for Roach; he wouldn't be the one to alter memories.

Mahjong didn't go with them. Perhaps Mahjong stayed behind to take care of itself, but he really wished Mahjong had been braver and gone with Luo Qi and Guan Xinyue. Mahjong was like a stabilizing factor in the old era, but now two of the most unstable little ones have disappeared alone.

After finishing a whole pack of cigarettes he had just bought, Du Zhengyi turned and walked into Qionglin's building. He had issued a request for assistance in investigating Xiang Qian's cause of death, but had not received a response.

Du Zhengyi waited for a while, but found he couldn't wait any longer. He checked the death list of the battle mages who had died that day and saw Yan Hao on the missing persons list, though the fate of those on the missing persons list was uncertain.

He thought for a moment and then requested to be transferred to investigate Xiang Qian's death. The request was rejected, with the reason given that an execution mage and a battle mage were already handling the case. He then tried to submit a new work request, asking to be transferred to find Yan Hao. The request was rejected again, this time because a higher-priority work order had already been assigned to him.

Two higher-priority work orders popped up one after another. Du Zheng looked at the first work order, and a name made his pupils shrink.

First work order

Dangerous Element: The Great Tanuki King
Additional dangerous individuals: All mages who have had contact with the Great Tanuki King (see list 1.1)

Job duties: All monks on list 1.1 are required to go to Qionglin Temple to await investigation; all available monks with spiritual power are required to go to Qionglin Temple to conduct identification work (list 1.2 attached).

Recipients: List 1.1, List 1.2

He touched list 1.1; his name was on it. He paused for a moment, then touched the second work order. The text on the work order spiraled out:

Second work order

Dangerous elements: Lotus Burner & Mahakala

Monitoring Status: The Lotus Burners have lost their leader; internal strife has broken out between the two factions; the new faction is codenamed Great Black Heaven.

Job Responsibilities: Capture Lotus Burners, monitor and reduce the risk of mage exposure, and minimize damage to human society.

Recipients: List 2.1

The first work order concerns Roach, and the second concerns Clownfish. Clownfish will not let the Lotus Burner go; he doesn't even want to kill him himself, so he orchestrates a more convenient form of self-destruction through internal strife.

But he hardly wanted to think about why Roach was being used as a pseudonym. He sent a complaint to the source of the first work order, explaining that he could not have his mind examined or penetrated by a mind-controller.

A while later, he received a letter confirming his appeal had been approved, with an attachment at the end of the official document. He opened the attachment, which read: "Sorry, brother, I forgot to remove your name." The signature was Zhou Quan, and he then realized that the main text was also sent on his behalf by Zhou Quan.

Forgotten? No way. Du Zhengyi then realized that Zhou Quan seemed to have reminded him twice already; he should go find him, and they should have a talk.

　Happy Children's Day to all the big and little friends! (^O^)
　　(End of this chapter)