Chapter 720: The Questions Millien Seeks
With the arrival of the holiday, the students in the academy departed from the Witch Academy to enjoy the privileges that the extraordinary world offers.
Outside the academy, students are restricted from using their extraordinary abilities, but they can use them when accepting tasks to recruit (abduct) new students.
This indirectly strengthened the teams that would recruit new students during the holiday.
While many students were preparing, another group was also undergoing a… “major earthquake.”
That was Xiao Han’s support group.
Since Xiao Han had “died,” was the support group still necessary?
Was that Xiao Han truly worth their devotion, even in d*ath… What valuable spiritual wealth and guiding ideology had she left for the support group?
This was a question that had to be faced, yet many instinctively avoided it.
As the Xiao Han support group developed, this loose organization had yet to disband, mainly because the benefits in the Expanding Realm had not yet been fully distributed.
As soon as the holidays were over and the final handover of time and power was complete, they would have to confront this issue, whether they wanted to or not, as someone would inevitably bring it up.
Now, the representatives of the support group’s interests had held several meetings within just a few days about this issue.
Everyone’s thoughts and opinions were driving a singular idea: they hoped that this large group would not fall apart.
A large organization to rely on, even if it was loose, but which aligned with everyone’s wishes, would basically remain stable as long as its core remained.
Thus, from a perspective of interest, no one wanted the support group to collapse.
However, now… they were facing a serious problem: the core figure of this organization, “Xiao Han,” was dead.
Was it really necessary to support someone who was dead?
Now that they had reluctantly come together, using this name felt disjointed and illegitimate.
Consequently, many voices emerged within the support group.
Some advocated that the era of the “Xiao Han Support Group” had passed and hoped they could break free from this framework, give the organization a new name, and usher in a new era, perhaps even form a large club.
Some believed Xiao Han could not have died so easily and were seeking verification, vehemently condemning those who wished to change the name.
Others, purely representing interest groups, felt that their current scale was sufficient to secure a place at the Witch Academy and, with many other large forces, clubs, and groups in the academy destabilized after teaching assistants were cleared out, they needed to seize this opportunity swiftly.
Their Xiao Han support group also had teaching assistants!
Although those teaching assistants wouldn’t listen to them.
Moreover, a specific group within the support group proposed a unique suggestion.
The teaching assistant Xiao Han… was rumored to have a younger brother, Yang Yunhan!
Why couldn’t they recruit him to the Witch Academy and let him serve as the spiritual symbol of the support group?
Even if he might be worthless, so what?
They just needed a reason for the Xiao Han support group not to disband, and having a younger brother inherit his sister’s title would suffice as a temporary spiritual pillar.
He didn’t need to be very capable or even particularly talented; he would serve as a symbol, and seeing him would remind others of the glory achieved by the former teaching assistant Xiao Han.
To create this spiritual symbol, many began to spontaneously recall past achievements, wanting to compile them piece by piece: those accomplishments, the things done, the words spoken, the papers published…
When they seriously went back to review, they suddenly discovered that the person they supported had accomplished so much in just one short year!
Combined with the title “Little Witch,” which Principal Mei had personally acknowledged, along with the emphasis beyond normal expectations…
Indeed, only in d*ath could one satisfy everyone and cause them to reminisce about her beauty, her value, her significance…
Everything about her would be deified; it seemed that only the deceased genius was the one everyone loved.
She should only exist in promotions and illustrations, not in their midst.
During this quiet upheaval, Millien also encountered a significant low point in her life.
A major turning point in her life led her to follow the teaching assistant Yang Yuelan, creating the Xiao Han support group in the Expanding Realm along with numerous interest groups.
And with her most direct backing having completely collapsed, she also harbored no regrets about her choice back then, even when her status within the support group had drastically fallen.
Of course, “drastic fall” meant she could no longer become the absolute leader within the current support group, but the resources, connections, and relations she still held allowed her to stand firm within the support group, and she still had a certain amount of influence.
However, she was not participating in this final frenzy of interest distribution.
She was clear on the priorities and needed to confirm one matter: had Xiao Han truly died?
Perhaps her actions seemed like trouble-making to others, but this matter was already settled!
Other academies had spread the word!
So many people witnessed the d*ath of that teaching assistant Xiao Han; even the extraordinary Holy Angels and Extraordinary Witches attempted to revive her with no success.
Wasn’t so much evidence sufficient?
For Millien… it certainly wasn’t enough!
In these days, she had been running around trying to verify the news, first seeking the mentors of the lower-grade academies partaking in this joint examination hunting; she even sought out Teacher Lina, who had relations with Xiao Han.
But she received ambiguous answers.
Xiao Han was dead; that was a fact.
When she asked about the possibility of reviving Xiao Han, Teacher Lina did not give a direct response.
While others celebrated Xiao Han’s d*ath, only Millien and her companions, along with the intelligence team, were searching for other possible scenarios.
Although many in the support group were grieving over Xiao Han’s “passing,” they similarly did not want an insurmountable peak compressing them.
They liked the current situation; they had already gone beyond merely relying on a spiritual leader to come together, and now they felt Xiao Han’s d*ath came “at just the right time.”
It was just that this incident occurred so suddenly that it left them a bit unprepared.
However, Millien didn’t care about that; she sought many people: Xiao Han’s former roommates, former classes, former advisors, former clubs… some she could meet, others she couldn’t, and some, when met, proved to be of no value, while others, after meeting, believed in Spirit Xiao Han not simply dying.
In searching for Xiao Han, she suddenly realized that her social circle wasn’t that large.
It seemed she didn’t need anyone to support her: she had no kindred spirit friends nor any bound by interest; no fixed social circle, and it appeared she did not even have someone to talk to.
Now, Millien had few choices left, and the only people she could still seek out seemed to be Yi Rui and her group.
That group was formed by several teaching assistants and was among the few who had a good relationship with Xiao Han, which she considered friends.
In fact, she had other options: one was to find the mentor who taught Xiao Han, particularly Teacher Bai Yu, who appeared to have been close to Xiao Han and even killed several extraordinary beings for her!
The other option was to find the Academy Head… but it was clear she didn’t have the qualification for that.
After weighing her options, Millien decided to seek Yi Rui and the others first.
But when she contacted Yi Rui, she found out that she surprisingly didn’t have permission to enter the place where Yi Rui and her group were located!
Moreover, they seemed to be deliberately avoiding discussions about Xiao Han.
Although this sounded like a terrible development, Millien was perceptive; she could discern something from their avoidance.
First, it ruled out the possibility that Yi Rui and her group had a relationship with Xiao Han that was as good as it seemed, which was a wrong conclusion.
So… why were Yi Rui and her colleagues evading questions about Xiao Han?
Teacher Lina also seemed to avoid this question, although she clearly stated Xiao Han was indeed dead.
Correct; that was a fact, but d*ath in the extraordinary realm isn’t absolute!
She had many questions, such as where Xiao Han’s body was now?
Was the Academy Head’s emphasis on Xiao Han an attempt to revive her in some other way?
But without concrete evidence, she couldn’t confirm this hypothesis.
Yet, an inexplicable instinct made her catch many crucial clues; her subconscious pieced together an answer that Xiao Han wasn’t dead, but the objective reality was… she had no evidence.
Aside from searching for people, Millien remembered she also had the Great Knowledge Seed and possessed the Earth Vein Identification Technique; however, she couldn’t search for much information about Xiao Han through this method.
“It seems we have all forgotten something… or overlooked many things; there must be evidence that proves Xiao Han is still alive,” Millien asserted.
For instance, the Great Knowledge Seed she possessed, which originated from Xiao Han; if Xiao Han was entirely dead, why could the Great Knowledge Seed still be used?
She asked Teacher Lina this question but received the answer that… the spell effects of the Great Spellbook were permanent.
Though this provided her with new knowledge, it wasn’t the answer she wanted.
“Have you made any progress on your end?”
Millien was not acting alone; she had the intelligence team, or rather, the intelligence team within the support group leaned towards her, especially since it included personnel dedicated to Xiao Han.
“We have not found out where Sister Xiao Han’s body is; the Earth Vein Identification Technique cannot trace it, and regarding Xiao Han’s inheritance… there is currently no information proving who has inherited the Great Spellbook.”
“Having no inheritor is the best answer,” Millien sighed in relief; now she needed to find that Teacher Bai Yu.
She still had many questions she wanted to ask this mentor; if anyone knew the most, it would be this Teacher Bai Yu at her current level of access.
Moreover… if the Great Spellbook was to be inherited, Xiao Han’s extraordinary girlfriend would be the one most qualified to have it.
Before departing, Millien glanced at the lone figure beside her that only she could see.
This was the Knowledge Shadow from the Great Knowledge Seed, a projection from her subconscious; she retained the original image of Xiao Han, hoping this self-image and subconscious could continuously motivate her.
“What do you think we missed? Why did you conclude that Xiao Han is not dead?”
“Think for yourself; this matter is drenched in haste and strangeness, filled with flaws and theatrics.”
“Stop with the riddles, okay? You’re not really Xiao Han!”
“The cause of Xiao Han’s d*ath was the Dream Demon draining her soul material, leading to her complete d*ath. Did the mentors not discover this, nor could they stop it? The multi-school standoff, although occurring after Xiao Han’s d*ath, had the Witch Academy unilaterally suppressing the powers of many academies; how could they allow a Dream Demon to s*ck Xiao Han’s soul material?”
“But the fact that Xiao Han cannot be revived is true.”
“So you’re presenting another question: can Xiao Han choose not to be revived? If that’s possible… why wouldn’t she want to be revived?”
“Assuming it’s possible, does that mean she left other academies in a lurch?”
“Who knows?” The Knowledge Shadow did not respond directly to this speculation.
Thus, at this moment, Millien had yet another question, and now she was simply lacking someone… or a witch who was willing to answer these questions.
“Maybe you should pay more attention to those intelligence personnel.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Did they discover something but didn’t tell me?” Millien asked.
“Do you remember the contract they once signed? To serve Xiao Han.”
“I remember.”
“But Sister Xiao Han is dead… whom are they serving according to the contract?”
“…”
“Perhaps that’s the nature of the contract?” Millien fell silent for a moment, then found a reason for herself.
“Uncertain questions? Just ask someone or a witch, right?” The Knowledge Shadow patiently guided Millien.
“Alright, that’s enough; you have many questions now. Go seek answers, whether those answers are affirmatives, negatives, or silence, or even… deception. I believe that as long as the other party states a position, you seem to already have the answer in your heart; no lie is perfect, and you just have to do one thing: persevere until you finish asking these questions.”
“Thank you, this… really helped a lot.”
Millien waved her hand to disperse the Knowledge Shadow and then began searching for a way to find that Teacher Bai Yu.
First, what about the address? Or contact information?
As an experienced student at the Witch Academy, she had many ways to find mentors.
She knew how to utilize the current academy system to find contact information for on-campus mentors.
Or to look for the mentor’s previous courses and find the notes.
Even the most primitive method, asking a mentor she knew for information about another mentor.
So, soon, she found that mentor’s office. But clearly, during the holiday, the mentor was not in the office.
So she exerted more effort to locate the mentor’s residence.
However, such an unannounced visit was also impolite, but… she had to face this reality.
Now there was only this mentor who might answer her questions.
As she stood at the door of the villa, hesitating whether to knock, the villa’s door suddenly opened.
“I see you’ve been standing at my door for a while; come in. I somewhat remember you, Millien, right? The one who helps Xiao Han in the Expanding Realm.”
At this moment, the door was opened, revealing a figure accompanied by a flat, emotionless voice standing before Millien.
“Um… yes, that’s me…”
