I Am Not A Mage Lord

Chapter 23: Competition Proposition, Possessed By Death

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

“Wang Ruoling’s” figure slowly faded, as if she had left the world, like the refraction of light and shadow of a mirage.

A spectre undead creature!

Ghost!

Seeing this scene, Lin Qi, whose scalp had gone numb, finally released his hands that were pressing down on the embroidered robe.

Using a low-level undead creature to fight a high-level undead creature would be just a death wish.

The previous time when he saw his malicious “self” in the “mirror,” he was still able to maintain his calm because it was a dream!

From “fake hallucinations” to “hallucinations of the five senses”, it was essentially just a VR game. And the “dream invasion” was at best just an enhanced “immersive” experience.

No matter how scary it was, it was just an illusion. It was just like a horror movie. Some people could watch them with delight.

However, the ‘ghost’ before him was a terrifying existence that could really kill.

It was rumored that ghosts had all kinds of incredible abilities, such as death stares, causing decay with just one touch, petrifying wails and even possession.

“It seems that I wore this Bone Robe too quickly.” Lin Qi sighed.

He had fallen into a trap in less than an hour.

He didn’t even react when the car drove into this desolate area. This place was clearly a demolition area that had been sealed off after the land requisition was completed. That was why the buildings were empty, leaving only the flickering streetlights.

Ordinary patrol officers would not enter this place unless they had nothing better to do than risk encountering a ghost.

“Wang Ruoling’s” entire body radiated with a cold aura, as if she had frozen ice in her body, directly obliterating the surrounding life energy.

She walked slowly toward Lin Qi. The weeds on the ground withered and died.

“Oh? Have you finally realized that I am the original owner of this Bone Robe?” Wang Ruoling’s face split into two, the left side had a smile while the right side was crying.

“After eliminating all the other possibilities and remaining impossibilities, there is only one enduring possibility.”

Putting on a scholarly air, Lin Qi nudged his imaginary glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It’s just that I didn’t think it would happen so soon.”

The next moment, his phone flew into the other party’s hand. Wang Ruoling punched in a number. “Ruoling, I have something urgent to attend to now. Why don’t you leave first? Send me the address. I’ll look for you later.”

Lin Qi’s expression became more and more serious. After evaluating the surrounding environment and methods, he already knew the severity of the crisis.

“Yes, but you don’t have to sigh. Even if you didn’t wear it, I would still control you using sleepwalking to come here at night wearing that. It would only make you more miserable.” Wang Ruoling looked at Lin Qi like he was her prey, her image becoming dimmer and her tone cold.

“The magic robe you’re wearing has successfully killed the previous three owners, but no necromancer has been able to see through its mechanism. Even if they detect some evil spiritual light, they will only attribute it to necromancy. Otherwise, why would the Phoenix clan use this on you?”

“Tell me. What do you want?” Lin Qi asked with deliberation.

The other party had so much to say to him. It was clear that it did not want him to die just like that.

There must be something it wanted. This was his only chance of survival.

The ghost nodded in appreciation. “Actually, it is easy for me to kill you. But I need to possess you to complete a certain investigation.”

Lin Qi was instantly wary, pointing out the fallacy. “But you said the first three owners of the robe are all dead?”

“That’s right. Their bodies all weakened after I possessed them. After a while, they were corroded by negative energy and transformed into undead creatures.”

Lin Qi couldn’t help but gasp.

“You managed to quietly carry out the first three possessions. Why are you exposing yourself to me now then?”

The ghost gave a faint smile. “Because there is a mysterious barrier in your mind that prevents me from eroding your consciousness, such that my control over you is limited to the physical level. Once you enter the academy, your powers will become stronger and stronger. Since I want to make my move, wouldn’t I choose a time when you are at your weakest?”

No matter how foolish Lin Qi could be, he understood the meaning behind the ghost’s words.

However, before he could react, the robe controlled his hands and made them strangle his throat. The veins on the back of his hands and neck were bulging. He was suffocating!

Ordinary people could not commit suicide by holding their breath or strangling themselves.

This was because once one fainted, their body would naturally relax and they could breathe smoothly again.

However, dozens of seconds passed. Although Lin Qi felt his consciousness blur, the hands that gripped his throat were still extremely strong.

He would definitely be strangled to death by himself!

Suddenly, the dark clouds dispersed and moonlight flowed back onto the grassland that had just withered.

The ghost pressed his palms together, “Don’t worry, I was just proving to you that I have the ability to kill you.”

Lin Qi sneered. “You have given such a long speech. What exactly are you trying to tell me?”

“Do you want me to be killed by you here? Or do you want me to accept your possession and eventually become an undead creature just so that I can live a little longer?”

Clearly, the “memory palace” in his mind eliminated the possibility of “possession.”

That was why the other party brought him here, vastly reducing the possibility of a life and death struggle where both parties would suffer.

This was no kind-looking golden-fingered old grandpa. It was a terrifying monster that would suck the blood of its host and kill it!

Both sides were ready to fight, the atmosphere was fierce.

None of them were fools. The ghost didn’t use lies to disguise himself as a benevolent-looking old man to achieve his goal, because with Lin Qi’s cautiousness, he would definitely report it to the officials without a second thought and give the Luo family a hard time.

The ghost was wary of his future growth in the academy and the protection of his memory palace. He would not let him have the chance to seek help from the academy or research ways to get out of this situation. He would definitely kill him tonight or invade his consciousness to complete the possession.

The ghost chuckled. “You will not believe me even if I say that I will only possess you in the future. That’s right, I want you to open up your mind and accept my possession tonight.”

“You have such a wonderful imagination.” Lin Qi taunted.

The ghost shook its head confidently. “That’s right. You won’t agree to this either. That’s why I’ll compete with you. If I win, you’ll accept the fate being possessed by me. If I lose, I’ll go back and hide in the robe. You can do whatever you want with it afterward.”

Lin Qi couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

There seemed to be no additional conditions, so no matter how bad things turned out, he wouldn’t be in a worse state than he was now.

He had nothing to lose by taking this gamble. But he also had no way to control the methods of the other party.

There was no way he would dare to believe the other party even if it swore an oath or proposed a contract. He would fear that there would be some trap within.

“Then how are you going to make sure I will accept defeat after I lose?” Lin Qi asked warily.

The ghost had expected Lin Qi to accept it and he said with satisfaction, “Don’t worry, you just need to accept this competition. If you lose, I naturally have a way to make you fulfill your promise.”

Lin Qi sighed softly. “What competition?”

“Aren’t you good at computational reasoning under the pressure of death? We will compete on this then.”

As it spoke, the ghost looked straight into Lin Qi’s eyes. “We will take turns to put forward a self-created ‘hypothesis’. The other party will need to prove or disprove it.”

“If you can prove my hypothesis but I fail to prove yours, you will win. And vice versa.”

This was a double-elimination system, and the margin of error was much greater. Nevertheless, Lin Qi nodded in agreement.

The ghost said happily, “You can go first. Remember, you have to make a directly observable, self-created hypothesis. It cannot be something that already exists in the world.”

Lin Qi smiled.

In his memory palace, he walked to the bookshelf and looked at the book “Memories of Unanswered Mathematical Conjectures”.

Lin Qi said calmly.

“Choose a positive integer X.”

“Rule One: If X is an even number, it will be divided into two.”

“Rule Two: If X is an odd number, then multiply it by 3 and add 1.”

“For the new number, repeat rules one and two. This iteration would give the final result of the number ‘one’. Please prove or disprove it.”

The legendary “3X+1” conjecture was also known as the”Collatz conjecture”…

Take five as an example. 5-16-8-4-2-1. After five iterations, the final number would be one.

Take 11 as an example. 11-34–17–52–26–13–40–20–10–5-16–8–4–2–1. After 14 iterations, the final number would be one.

It was unusually simple and easy to understand, plus the format of the question was very inviting.

Even primary school students would be filled with confidence when they saw this question in the final term exam.

But!

For numbers 10,000 and below, the starting value having the largest total stopping time was 6171, requiring 261 steps.

For numbers 100,000 and below, the starting value having the largest total stopping time was 77031, which required 350 steps.

——

For numbers one billion and below, the starting value having the largest total stopping time was 670617279, which required 986 steps.

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Tens of billions of years had passed, but no one had found an exception.

This was one of the strangest mathematical conjectures in his previous life. Even the top mathematicians had not been able to come up with a proof for it!

Lin Qi thought maliciously.

Student Ghost, welcome this “other-dimensional attack” from another parallel world!