After the airport express line set off, Mo Feng kept silent after giving a "nice to have met you" look.
Let the three of them think about the philosophy of survival in the entire academy and even Magic Capital.
Compared to the confused Chen Shikun, Father Chen, who had been in the political field before, had a meaningful look in his eyes. He kept drinking the hot tea in the thermos cup, planning how to give his son this lesson tonight.
In outer-city cities, mages were mainly also city administrators. Few of them took up positions in the rest of the vast bureaucracy or the numerous private enterprises.
Distance resulted in beauty.
Hence, the image of a sorcerer had always been high above the clouds in everyone's hearts. One of their survival philosophies was also to be shrouded in the clouds.
When the airport express line reached the Peninsula Hotel by Eternal Gathering River, Mo Feng and the other two alighted from the car.
Gazing at this landmark building of the hotel industry, Father Chen looked at the three figures. Gritting his teeth, he pulled his son out of the vehicle and chose to enter.
It was rumored that when mages decided to make this the capital, they cast legendary ninth-level spells into this river which flowed into the sea.
It would never freeze throughout the year. During the day, it would absorb sunlight and make the pedestrians on both sides feel extremely cooling and refreshed. At night, dark clouds would fill the sky and reflect starlight, thus giving it the name "Eternal Gathering River", the place where starlight gathered.
There were even rumors on the Internet that a legendary-mage's tomb was buried deep under the riverbed, beneath the endless currents.
His lifelong wealth, countless magic items, and his achievements were all stored inside!
The star pattern indicated by the river at night was the guiding key.
Hence, every tourist who came to Magic Capital would come to Eternal Gathering River at night to walk around and experience the beautiful scenery of the starry sky. They would also try their luck.
Every year, there would be quite a number of people who would swim to the bottom of Yongju River, and a few would die.
The Eternal Gathering River divided Magic Capital evenly into two halves. Downstream led to the port and sea, which upstream was the vast Star World Lake.
The Central Magic Academy was situated on the island right in the center of the Star World Lake. Unless one could fly or tunnel underground, the students on the island could only travel back and forth by a regular ferry every day.
The Peninsula Hotel that Lin Qi was staying in was located on the Eternal Gathering River, a place where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold. Nearby was the ferry crossing. During the day and night, there would be leisure ferry boats, where one of the viewing stops would be the academy on the Star World Island.
There was a row of Rolls-Royce and Maybachs waiting at the entrance of the Peninsula Hotel. The manager, who had been waiting at the entrance for a long time, noticed Mo Feng's figure and hurriedly greeted him. "Mo Feng, why didn't you inform me before you got off the plane? I could have gone to pick you up."
"No need. Have you arranged the rooms?" Mo Feng asked.
"Of course." The manager nodded.
Mo Feng turned around and whispered to the two of them, "This piece of land is one of the businesses of Golden Dawn."
Overhearing that, the manager immediately knew the identities of Lin Qi and his companion. His expression became even more warm and gentle.
Suddenly, his phone rang. Mo Feng glanced at it and walked over to a corner to pick it up.
Lin Qi silently sized up the splendid and elegant hotel. Not only were the decorations extravagant, the service staff who were pushing the luggage rack were all of the same height and looked handsome or pretty. It was obvious that their looks had been strictly screened.
No wonder people said that half of the handsome men and beautiful women in this country were all gathered in Magic Capital.
Although the manager was afraid of neglecting the two of them, he did not speak for a while as he was unsure of their backgrounds.
Meanwhile, Father Chen said warmly, "You two are so independent. You didn't come with your family?"
Wang Ruoling frowned slightly and turned her face away. "My parents are missing."
Hearing this, Lin Qi felt sympathy for her and matched her words. "My parents are still alive, but I was just released from prison."
"…"
Father Chen's face twitched. He smiled awkwardly and said, "It's fate that brought us together. Why don't I treat the two of you to lunch?"
His son, Chen Shikun, stood behind him shyly. From time to time, he would glance at Wang Ruoling, but when their eyes were about to meet, he would immediately avoid them.
"We'll see what arrangements Mr. Mo Feng has first," Lin Qi said.
Father Chen smiled and went to the front desk to check in. The lobby was empty and they stood in a corner.
Lin Qi was not a gossipy person by nature, but when he saw Wang Ruoling frantically tapping on her phone as she approached the hotel, he could not help but glance her way because this phone was not her usual phone.
In an instant, his eyes widened.
"Gambling Addicts Anonymous, right? Sympathy meal?"
Whether it was the idol Wang Ruoling or the mage apprentice Wang Ruoling, logically speaking, she should not be associated with this group of hopeless "brothers".
Both "gambling" and "drugs" could easily destroy a person or even their family.
Compared to "Sex Addicts Anonymous", where the addicts really tried to abstain, "Gambling Addicts Anonymous" was just a pack of degenerate gamblers gathering together. Most of them had huge debts and could only wander outside. They could not return home or they had already destroyed their own families and had no home.
After these gamblers got money from working or from their family, their first reaction was not to repay their debts but to gamble again.
There were even many people who would post their personal experiences about how they won first and lost later. But in fact, they were just secretly promoting gambling platforms in an attempt to drag people down into hell.
"You know this too?" Wang Ruoling was surprised.
Lin Qi raised his hands and pretended to be shackled as he said, "Didn't I just come out from prison? I'm very knowledgeable."
The gamblers would basically borrow all the money they could from the people around them, and then switch to swindling as much as possible. Even the money, painstakingly raised by family members to pay off high-interest loans, would just end up on the gambling table. Lin Qi did not want Wang Ruoling to have too much contact with this.
"Since you know about sympathy meals, you should know that I just ordered takeout for someone who asked for help." Wang Ruoling sighed.
Lin Qi couldn't help but frown.
After some gamblers won at the betting table, they would visit a bar and contribute some money to those who had lost so they could have a meal. These were the so-called sympathy meals. Of course, there were still kind people in this world.
However, most of the money would go back to the gambling table. What was even more ironic was that the donors would often come back a few days later after losing it all, and end up part of those who were begging for a sympathy meal. They would even contact the people who they had previously given meals to, to see if they could get back some money.
"When I win, I will pay you back at the end of the month." This was the mantra of these people.
Wang Ruoling's eyes were misty as she sighed.
"Back then, my dad lost all his assets and even owed $150,000 in debt. Later on, when he came home and confessed, Mom, Grandpa and Grandma went around begging on their knees to amass $75,000 to repay part of the debt first. In the end…"
"The more your father thought about it, the more indignant he became? He went to gamble again?" Lin Qi said coldly.
One of his classmates back then was a gambler, and it took the whole family three years to help drag him out from the pits of debt. When he was preparing to get married, they finally let down their guard and returned his identity card to him. In the end, his classmate lost his wedding down payment, as well as tens of thousands of dollars he had borrowed from the bank and microfinancing companies. Later, he felt too ashamed to go home and committed suicide.
Wang Ruoling smiled bitterly. "You guessed right, but he won $300,000 first."
"What happened then?" Lin Qi asked sympathetically.
Winning was the process, losing was the result. He had already guessed that there would be an even more tragic ending. There was no such thing as losing nine times out of ten bets. One lost all ten times.
"Yes. At that time, he had his winning chips in hand, so he went to a small-sum betting table downstairs, thinking of winning some taxi fare home. But the more he gambled, the more he lost. He lost so much that his face turned white, and he went missing. Mom couldn't stand this fact, so she ran away from home. Grandpa and Grandma hung themselves that night. My aunt adopted me thereafter."
"Later on, I came out as an idol to pay off my family debts and redeem my ancestral home. After completing my goal, I was a little lost, so I turned to the path of a mage. In the end, I actually succeeded."
After listening to the story, Lin Qi finally understood. "So you are not giving money but ordering takeout for these starving gamblers? Is it really useful? Their minds are filled with gambling and turning over a new leaf, but in the end, they can only walk down the same path again."
Wang Ruoling smiled. "I will persuade you to turn back with each mouthful of rice I give. I don't know if it will work, but there can be one less orphan in the world like me, it will be worth it."
"Wang Ruoling, I will definitely pray to you for exams in the future," Lin Qi said with emotion.
"Huh?" Wang Ruoling was surprised. "Your results aren't bad, right?"
Lin Qi showed his white teeth. "There's a custom in our hometown. We have to pray to a female Bodhisattva before the exam."
"…" Wang Ruoling was instantly angry and embarrassed. She knew that Lin Qi was secretly mocking her for being a saint.
However, after his teasing, she did not feel as gloomy as before.
She suddenly lowered her head. "Lin Qi, can I trust you?"
"Tell me, My nickname is actually 'The Honest and Reliable Gentleman." Lin Qi boasted.
Wang Ruoling raised her head, her gaze becoming incomparably sharp. She gazed at the distant horizon by the river and extended her hand to point.
"There's an extremely dazzling and luxurious place on Star World Lake."
"Lost Island?" Lin Qi's head ached.
That was the only openly-legal gambling place on Planet Blue. Even all the mainframes for the countless online casinos were situated inside. It was a place out of the boundaries of the law.
"Yes. The moment I was accepted, I made up my mind that one day, I would destroy the place that destroyed my home."
Lin Qi's expression changed. He would not believe that there was no legendary-mage backing Lost Island.
"What about your ancestral home?"
Wang Ruoling smiled bitterly. "That's right. It's in the old district of Magic Capital. If you're interested, I can bring you there tomorrow."
Suddenly, Mo Feng walked over quickly and placed a hand on Lin Qi's shoulder.
"Kid, you've turned the tables."
Seeing that Lin Qi was startled, Mo Feng smiled and said, "The deceased Luoqi who caused you to be imprisoned—his sister Luo Yunxi said that your dream last night might have been a plot to frame her family."
"That's why, on behalf of her parents, Luo Yunxi wants to treat you to a luncheon at Fortune Gathering Restaurant and offer you an apology. By the way, she used to be a top student at the academy, so she'll probably be transferred to a teaching position soon."
Lin Qi couldn't help but shake his head. "Refuse for me—"
"I heard that she will even give you a magic item as compensation."
"Well, it's definitely not good to reject an apology from a lady. May I know what time it will be?"
Lin Qi looked very righteous. Yes, that's the real reason.
He would never bow down over a mere magic item!
But even if it was a trap, it seemed like a good idea to nibble at the cheese before throwing the trap back?