Really experiencing life? The hobbies of the superior people are really hard to understand... "Don't you investigate the situation before taking action? I see that you are at most in the late stage of tempering skills. How dare you rescue people in a place where there are righteous mages stationed?" Qi Ji held his forehead with his hand. Even if Qi Ji wasn't there this time, Lunxi would most likely be safe. After all, she has a powerful father backing her up, so these human traffickers shouldn't be so bold as to attack her. "This time I didn't receive a commission from the guild. I heard from some residents that there might be a gang here that is suspected of kidnapping women and children... so I wanted to come here and try to solve it myself." Speaking of this, Lunxi's face became serious. "In fact, I did some research beforehand and made some preparations." She bent down to pick up the dagger that had fallen to the ground and waved it in front of Qi Ji. "But I didn't expect that there would be a righteous mage staying behind. The intelligence I collected didn't mention it at all... and it goes against common sense." That's true. High-level righteous mages are definitely high-end combat forces in Stio. Even if these evil forces have them, why would they waste them on guarding human trafficking dens? It doesn't make sense from a logical point of view. It's normal that Lunxi didn't take it into consideration. If there hadn't been the variable of the True Mage, with her strength in tempering techniques and the spiritual dagger, this shabby little house that harbored evildoers would have posed no threat to her. "Hush, wait, the reason why this mage is here is because of me, right?" Qi Ji thought of something, "That makes sense. According to the original plan of the mastermind, I was probably tied here after being drugged, and that high-level mage was used specifically to deal with me." Thinking of this, she looked at Lunxi and felt that it was necessary to tell her about her experiences during this period of time. Moreover, if there was such a noble lady willing to help, it would be more convenient to investigate the matter. Being stared at by Qi Ji, Lun Xi felt a little uncomfortable, and turned his eyes away slightly with a slightly red cheek: "Miss Qi Ji saved my life again. I'm really sorry for always causing trouble for you..."
In fact, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have flipped over here... "Let's put aside the polite words for now." Qi Ji waved his hand nonchalantly and said seriously, "Yesterday at noon, a group of robbers came from the East District. As soon as they entered the city, they burned, killed and looted. I happened to run into them and took care of them all." Lunxi's eyes lit up: "That's great, Miss Qi Ji is amazing! These guys started last month..." "That night, someone broke into the room I rented in the hotel and tried to drug me." Qi Ji interrupted her and continued, "I have reason to suspect that this was the remnants of the bandits or the revenge of the forces behind the scenes." "No, no way!" Lun Xi gasped and immediately came forward to carefully observe Qi Ji's whole body, "Did they do anything to you? Are you injured?" "...Do you think I look like something's wrong?" Qi Ji wondered why this young lady was as frightened as a child. Lunxi looked at Qi Ji's face with bated breath, as if she was examining a delicate work of art that she had accidentally touched. Her head moved slowly from left to right, and she got so close that Qi Ji could even feel her warm breath caressing his face. "call--" Ten seconds later, as if confirming that there were no scars or blemishes on Qi Ji's face, Lun Xi breathed a sigh of relief, leaned back, and said angrily: "How can you do such a thing! It's obviously Miss Qi Ji... Ugh." She suddenly paused, as if she realized the complexity and obscurity of the whole thing, and a look of shock gradually appeared on her face: "Wait a minute... In other words, the recent bandit attacks were not only deliberately planned, but also involved... underground forces in the city of Stio?" Seeing her belated reaction, Qi Ji sighed and gave a brief summary of what happened afterwards, including some of his own speculations, such as the original plan of the instigator. "God, how many evils are hidden in this city..." As a daughter of a noble family, Lunxi is not completely ignorant of the ways of the world. She knows very well that there must be many places in the city where the sun does not shine, as well as a large number of complicated underground disputes. But through the things Qi Ji said, we can get a glimpse of an evil and unknown conspiracy brewing in Stio. The scale of this conspiracy is unprecedented and the implications are so wide that even she could not have expected it. "It's obvious... this hideout is just a tentacle of a mysterious force," she speculated with a heavy face after calming down, "and the true form of that force... may even be powerful enough to shake the foundation of Stio." This is not an exaggeration. Lancy is the only daughter of the ruler of Stio, and her father, Edward the Elder, usually does not hide important matters from her. If there is some underground organization in the city that she is completely unaware of, then it is very likely a dark and evil force that is completely beyond the control of the ruling class.
"Don't you want to talk to your father?" Qi Ji said. If Lunxi's speculation is true, then the people who should be most anxious and most qualified to intervene must be the real rulers of this city. Baron Iris, one of the four nobles, who is also Lunxi's father Edward, is naturally among them. "That's right. I'll confirm it with my father when I get back." Lunxi nodded thoughtfully. For some reason, his expression seemed a little reluctant. Then she turned her gaze towards the rammed earth room where the victims were imprisoned: "Now, rescue the children first..." “Ahem!…” A dry groan was heard not far away. It turned out that the wizard who was hammered into the wall and was unconscious was waking up a little. Qi Ji deliberately held back when he knocked him flying, otherwise, let alone a high-level mage, even a thick-skinned and tough Gog giant would have no chance of keeping his body intact. The reason for not killing him on the spot was to keep him alive for the time being so as to interrogate him for further information. Seeing that he was about to wake up, Qi Ji also thought of this: "That guy is about to wake up, I will go ask him if he knows any key information. Don't let him go yet, the little boss has not been dealt with yet." The man named Ins had just left when Lunxi came, and he hadn't gone far in such a short time. He must have heard the loud noise when Qi Ji broke through the wall. He must be rushing back to check the situation. If we let the people locked in the house go at this time, there is a high probability that someone will run into Ins on the road, which will be even more troublesome. "Oh... okay." Lunxi also understood Qi Ji's meaning. He followed behind Qi Ji, holding a dagger in his hand, and stared vigilantly at the struggling mage who was embedded in the wall. "Shh, it hurts...what happened to me..." The wizard shook his head dizzily, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw two slender figures approaching in the darkness. "Uh……" He looked around blankly, as if trying to confirm his current situation. A few seconds later, Qi Ji had just walked up to him when he suddenly threw away the staff in his hand and said in a quick and frightened voice: "I surrender! I am not one of theirs! I am just an adventurer hired as a thug. I will answer whatever you ask. Don't kill me." Chapter 19 Ghost Wolf Qi Ji and Lun Xi looked at each other and thought that this guy was quite cowardly. That would make things much easier. Otherwise, Qi Ji would have to figure out how to pry anything out of his mouth, which would be troublesome. She knew nothing about torture. Qi Ji took a few steps back and folded his hands over his chest: "Do I need to ask this? You have said everything you need to say." "Can I, can I come down?" The wizard twisted on the wall in pain. "As you please." Qi Ji never let his guard down and was not afraid of him playing tricks. He struggled hard for several times and finally freed himself from the deep indentation in the wall. He was sweating coldly from the pain. "My name is Danny. I'm a planeswalker from the Empire. I just came to the Holy Land a month ago." The mage gritted his teeth and flexed his muscles. "Last week, when I stopped by Stio to rest, a local gangster - called 'Ghost Wolf' - contacted me through the Adventurer's Guild and wanted to hire me for a short period of time. The price he offered was quite considerable..." "The Empire" usually refers to the neighboring country of the Templar State, the Glorious Plantagenet Empire across the Great Forest of the East. As for "planeswalker", it is actually the abbreviation of "traveling mage". As the name suggests, it is a mage who leaves his homeland and travels around the world.
"My mission is to stay here and wait for Ins...ah, my client—wait for him to bring a warrior who is probably at the peak of righteous thoughts..." Danny continued to narrate. While he was talking, his eyes occasionally glanced at Qiji and Lunxi's faces, as if he was trying to guess their thoughts from their expressions. Unfortunately, the two of them were hiding in the shadows, and their entire upper bodies were blurry, so his plan failed. "...Anyway, that's it. When the time comes, I will be responsible for using mental magic to control the target and restrict his ability to move, making it easier for Ins to interrogate him. I only need to stay outside the room to prevent any accidents." In the end, he simply gave up on playing tricks and leaned against the wall, resigned to his fate: "That's all I know. Every word is true. Even if you torture me, I can't tell you more." This "target" refers to me, right? Qi Ji tapped his left elbow with his right index finger, and continued to push back on the speculation that had been unable to proceed due to insufficient information: ...I was knocked unconscious by the effects of the drug and was abducted by Ins. He was brought to this den. Mage Danny used mental magic to control me, and Ins interrogated me... ——What are you interrogating? Purpose? Background? Identity? She thought this was a crucial point: What on earth were these guys trying to get from me by going to all this trouble? What was in it for them? Her intuition told her that once this problem was solved, all doubts would be resolved. Unfortunately, Danny certainly didn't know about this because he was just a temporary worker. "Everything he said was true." Qi Ji glanced at Lun Xi who was frowning in thought, "And it was the whole truth." Qi Ji's senses have become so powerful that ordinary people can't imagine it. As long as she pays a little attention, she can easily capture and distinguish subtle changes in a person's breathing, heartbeat, pulse, blood pressure, skin color, eyes, micro-expressions, subconscious little movements, etc. Combined with simple physiological knowledge and inspiration, a sixth sense that can be described as a foul, she can quickly judge and estimate the other person's true psychological activities based on their physical state and spiritual fluctuations. It can be said that she can transform into a human lie detector at any time. Almost no one can lie in front of her without being discovered, and even concealing the truth is extremely difficult. So she wasn't worried that Danny was lying or playing any word games; those little tricks wouldn't fool her. Lunxi trusted Qi Ji's ability, so he did not doubt the truthfulness of Danny's words. He turned to Qi Ji and asked: "So, that man named Ins knows a lot. Should we wait here for him to come back?" "Let's do it this way. We will be able to find the instigator at the top level soon if we follow the clues layer by layer." Qi Ji nodded, and while speaking, he slowly looked towards a dark corner under Lun Xi's puzzled gaze: "By the way, how long do you plan to eavesdrop?" As soon as the words fell, a heavy and steady sound of footsteps came from the shadows, and a skinny but tall figure slowly walked out: "I'm afraid it's impolite for you two ladies to trespass into my house without permission." Lunxi vigilantly drew out the dagger and pointed it at the man, immediately activating the dagger's spiritual power, and the shiny silver blade glowed with emerald light. The person who appeared was an old man in his sixties, wearing a conservative and old-fashioned suit, with thin lips and slender eyes full of a cold temperament. It was the old man who was guarding the door and meeting Ins.
Seeing the old man appear, Danny immediately turned his gaze away and pretended to look at the clouds through the big hole in the ceiling. As a high-level righteous mage, how could he not sense an ordinary person more than ten meters away? Of course he had discovered it long ago, but he just didn't say it. It would be a lie to say that he had no ill intentions. He was just hoping that the old man would be able to slip away and inform the Ghost Wolf leaders of the situation so that he could ask for reinforcements, so that he could escape in the chaos of the confrontation between the two sides. Now that Qi Ji had revealed the existence of the old man, he naturally knew that his little plan had not been hidden from Qi Ji. He also knew that there was no need to explain and he could only pretend to be dumb and act as if nothing had happened. Qi Ji was too lazy to pursue the matter for the time being. He looked at the old man and said quietly, "You are very decisive. When someone breaks in, your first reaction is not to run away, but to commit suicide by taking poison." In her perception, the old man's vital signs were weakening at an absolutely abnormal rate, which was clearly a symptom of being poisoned and dying. And this kind of weakness began the moment she broke through the ceiling and knocked Danny away. In other words, the old man chose to commit suicide without hesitation after hearing the noise. Such a cruel reaction made Qi Ji unable to stop him in time. "I am just an old man who is about to die. Whether I fight or retreat, you are so powerful that you can easily counterattack." The sickly paleness gradually climbed up the old man's face, but there was no trace of fear in his cold eyes. "It would be wise to end my life as soon as possible." Qi Ji did not speak again. Because at the same moment the old man finished speaking, he seemed to have exhausted all his strength, and collapsed like clothes taken off a hanger, and soon died. "No need to go over there," Lun Xi saw the old man fall down and rushed forward to rescue him, but Qi Ji stopped him, "He's dead." "Dead, dead?! He just... committed suicide!?" With the observation ability of a martial artist with tempered skills, Lunxi could also see that the old man's chest and abdomen had stopped rising and falling, and he was immediately shocked and his head went blank. Although she was the only daughter of a baron, she had few opportunities to be exposed to the world. However, because she often went out to accept commissions from guilds, she was not completely ignorant of the world and the sufferings of the people. She still has some understanding of the dark and evil side of society. However, this fanatical and almost insane decisiveness still completely broke through her bottom line of acceptance, causing her thinking to shut down for a short period of time. It was totally incomprehensible. How could a living person give up his life so calmly without even a second of hesitation? Doesn't he have any worries? Doesn't he miss his relatives and friends? Isn't he...afraid? It's so absurd, so absurd that if the villain was designed like this in a heroic opera, the audience would laugh at him. Qi Ji watched the old man die silently. To be honest, even she was a little surprised by the old man's decisiveness. If he hesitated between life and death for a few seconds, she would immediately rush to the door and subdue him. He immediately judged the huge gap between the enemy and us, and ended his life to keep the secret. From the perspective of the overall interests of the organization, he made the most rational choice. It is obvious that this plain-looking old gatekeeper is a death warrior. His loyalty to the organization has reached a level that ordinary people cannot understand, and his own life is insignificant to him. "It seems that things are more difficult than originally expected." Qi Ji half-closed his eyes and thought of a lot of things. Chapter 20... Crossing the First Threshold... This unknown old man reveals a lot of information worth exploring further. The most obvious point is that it is extremely difficult to train a death warrior. This is not something that can be achieved by simply spending resources. It also requires strong organizational skills and ideological cohesion. Even using violence and fear to brainwash and control thoughts is not an easy task, and even extreme terrorist organizations find it difficult to do it. Of course, it is also possible that he relied on mind control spells. After all, there is magic in this world, and it is not uncommon. Qi Ji did not sense any strange spiritual remnants in the old man, but he could not rule out the possibility that his own inspiration was not sharp enough. Either the Ghost Wolf really has enough means and resources to train fanatical assassins, or he has the ability to cast some extremely secret mental spells that even she cannot detect any traces of.
The true face of this organization is more rigorous and meticulous than she had originally imagined. It is probably not just a simple gang. "Well, although it doesn't look like it can threaten me yet, it will make the story more difficult to advance." Qi Ji's interest became more and more excited. "Don't be too reckless. It will be bad if you fail." "You two, Ins is back." The speaker was Danny, who had been pretending to be invisible. Just as he finished speaking, there were four knocks on the main door, three long and one short. Qi Ji looked at Danny with a faint smile on his face and said, "How about you go and pick them up? Of course, I won't force you, haha."