Chapter 869: It’s Time to Contribute to the Family
Two more days passed.
Shi Ruizhi had gradually gotten her life back on track, and she no longer dwelled on the issue of compensation.
She directly contacted Millien and discussed all matters related to compensation.
This was a compensation that Shi Ruizhi had never even imagined, to the point where it almost made her lose the motivation to work hard.
However, after a whole day of fooling around, she felt a sudden urge not to put in any effort.
During these past two days, she had to admit that she was very happy, until she encountered those reporters from the campus news club who found her, then she understood what it meant to be so bothered that she didn’t want to go out.
After all, as the only person who experienced an incident during the self-generated magic power experiment, now that she was awake, they naturally wanted to get firsthand information from her.
Moreover, the journalists from the news club made their intentions very clear, which made her hesitant to say too much.
Even so, various rumors began to circulate on the academy’s network.
If it were just that, it wouldn’t have been enough to make her feel uncertain about her life.
Because of her amnesia, she was still a student, and she had to face her academic responsibilities.
But she was already in ninth grade… having passed the phase of being mentored, the last two years belonged to the students themselves.
Just as she was preparing to spend the upcoming time making up for theoretical knowledge and mastering her powers, she suddenly realized that some matters… seemed more complicated than she had imagined.
For instance… her experience of failing in the experiment seemed to have other implications.
And the one directly related to this… was her roommate, Ji An.
Although she didn’t remember much of Ji An’s daily life, according to Fang Zhi, Ji An usually wasn’t in the dorm during the day and often didn’t return at night, yet these days she had been probing her.
It seemed she was confirming whether or not she had lost her memory.
Moreover, the probing process revealed many words that she didn’t understand.
However… even if she didn’t understand, she could feel Ji An’s urgent emotions, sometimes even certain words were unnecessary.
“Here again?”
Shi Ruizhi paused her actions without showing any emotion, as the message appearing on the Knowledge Seed was sent by Ji An.
“Come see me here.”
With just a few short sentences and a location, that was all the information Ji An sent over.
Though Shi Ruizhi was puzzled, through this message, she vaguely sensed that the other party intended… to confront her?
“Moon, can you help me prepare ten sets of materials according to first-level specifications? I have some matters to attend to.” Shi Ruizhi said to Moon, who was happily assisting her nearby.
She was currently conducting her previous witch topic research, which focused on the most common energy manipulation magic among witches, and it wasn’t even a specialized type.
Now that she had just begun touching upon this topic, she seemed to understand why her past self had eagerly joined that experiment.
If this so-called self-generated magic talent could indeed grant her powerful mana recovery effects and abilities beyond a limit of over ten thousand magic sources, she would be wide awake!
However… it was clear that the experiment had failed, and she had to bear the consequences of that failure.
According to Moon, she had already completed the framework for self-generated magic, and she just needed to perfect the so-called ceremony to unleash the power of this talent.
Nonetheless… she was hesitant; she hadn’t made up her mind to accept this talent over the past two days.
What if it caused her a second round of harm?
“Okay—first-level specifications, right? Wow… so many?”
“Yeah, no problem, Moon, I’m just a bit busy with some things; don’t force yourself too much. I’ll come back and we’ll work together once I’m done.”
“Okay—then Senior Shi Ruizhi, hurry up～”
“Mm.”
Shi Ruizhi gave Moon a complicated glance and, as she passed by Moon, she left a magical mark on her without much fluctuation.
Seeing that there was no reaction, she felt a bit relieved.
With the days of getting along, Moon’s role had become less significant. The whole day she had gone out to play was accompanied by Moon and Fang Zhi.
To be honest, her amnesia didn’t require a junior to stick with her; in just a few days, she could almost manage by herself.
Even without Moon, Fang Zhi in her dormitory… was willing to help her.
Though they had only spent a few days together, Shi Ruizhi realized that Fang Zhi genuinely treated her as a friend and confidante.
So… what about Moon?
Although Moon was sent over in the name of helping her, she felt more like a “watcher,” monitoring her life and learning about her past.
The teaching assistant named Yang Yuelan might have suspected from the beginning that the experiment accident wasn’t so simple.
So… this time when sending her over, she naturally couldn’t let Moon follow her.
That was why she had Moon stay behind to help her with these trivial matters while marking a spell to prevent Fang Zhi from coming over.
Because she was genuinely afraid.
Afraid that Ji An would confront her…
If everything was arranged by Ji An, her friend… then Yang Yuelan, the assistant, would definitely not let Ji An off the hook. Well… actually, she wouldn’t let off this person who caused her amnesia either.
But what if the plan to sabotage the experiment was a conspiracy between Ji An and herself?
After all, she had learned some details about her incident from the academy’s online discussion. During her accident, there were no traces of her committing any wrongdoing… which meant that either the experiment was faulty or something was wrong with her.
But… could it really be the experiment that was flawed?
Over a hundred people succeeded, yet she was the only one who had problems?
On this point, Shi Ruizhi didn’t dare to think deeply, because once she did, she would inevitably start to doubt herself. She had forgotten what kind of person she had been before and didn’t know whether she would engage in such actions for personal gain.
After all, she could feel that the compensation from Yang Yuelan and the academy could lead her to a laid-back life, and so she too might be used by others as a pawn for money!
Moreover, after losing her memory, she found her balance dwindling… it wasn’t impossible for her to take such a path for money.
This life, which should have been progressing beautifully, kept being disturbed by these matters.
Could it be… that even if one forgets, they cannot escape their past?
She suddenly realized that the compensation she received from Yang Yuelan felt particularly hot to touch.
Leaving the laboratory, she took out her flying broomstick and flew directly to the designated location.
“Is that so? The rooftop?”
Shi Ruizhi looked somewhat surprised at the final location, which appeared to be the rooftop of a teaching building.
Then a figure gradually came into her view: her roommate, Ji An.
Shi Ruizhi crossed over her broomstick, sitting sideways before leaping up and landing steadily on the rooftop.
“Ji An, I’ve come as promised. What do you want to see me for?” Shi Ruizhi took the lead in questioning, as if to boost her own morale.
Since she had come, many things naturally had to be faced.
“Shi Ruizhi, you finally came.” Ji An turned around, but her expression was so stiff that it was somewhat frightening.
Shi Ruizhi hadn’t expected that Ji An would seem like a different person after just a few days since she last saw her!
“What… what happened to you?” Shi Ruizhi instinctively took half a step back, clearly startled by the other’s transformation.
“What happened to me… haha… what happened to me…” Ji An looked as if nothing mattered anymore, “What else could it be… of course, I was abandoned by my mentor…”
“Mentor? Abandoned?”
“Amnesia is really great; you forget everything… you’ve forgotten it all! Did you think that this way you could start a brand new life? And you have a large sum of compensation! Were you having fun the day before yesterday… but I couldn’t have fun!” Ji An said angrily, even shouting, and that exclamation of “couldn’t have fun” was a release of all her emotions!
“……”
“Don’t look at me with those confused eyes; I feel disgusted! I almost want to pluck your eyeballs out! In your eyes, I’m just a madwoman, right! You wouldn’t understand anything!”
“So… that incident during the experiment… was it caused by you?” Shi Ruizhi pressed her lips together, an ominous thought rising, but she instinctively wanted to retract those accusations.
“Cleaning up the responsibility, wasn’t it done thoroughly! Did you think you were clean!”
“I don’t remember anything… so, you can say whatever you want…” Shi Ruizhi took a deep breath and awkwardly uttered these words.
Because saying this truly tested her conscience.
She truly could not remember anything; there was no lie in that, but she didn’t want to be the scapegoat who was clueless. The only thing that could correct her situation… was evidence.
Only evidence could convince herself that she was also a bad person.
She was just an ordinary person; at least after her amnesia, she felt she was an ordinary person. She really wanted everything from her past to fade away along with her amnesia!
Even if… it meant burying some truths.
Everyone makes mistakes… mistakes reside therein, and no one can compensate for those errors, but everyone still needs to move forward with their lives.
Sometimes, selfishness is also necessary for living better.
“What about evidence? Without evidence… I won’t admit to anything…”
“Evidence? When did evidence matter?” Ji An snapped angrily; the Witch Academy would not provide her with any evidence!
The academy would not communicate evidence through formal channels either.
When her mentor abandoned her, the so-called evidence was merely a way to legitimize her having to carry the blame.
If one wished to prove something, anything could serve as proof!
Why had Ji An become so hysterical?
Why had she become so anxious these days?
Because she was abandoned, not only by her mentor, but also by the student body and forces behind the academy.
She had watched everything happen helplessly!
And she… couldn’t stop it, could not escape, and could not just end her life!
This was a straightforward action targeted against the teaching assistant named Yang Yuelan.
The students initially had no right to interfere with such experiments, for they knew that if this little aunt’s experiment went wrong, they would all be in trouble!
The previous assistant purge incident was still fresh in memory… who would have the guts to provoke this harbinger of death?
However, many groups within the academy found this little Yuelan displeasing; it was just that her strength was too terrifying.
Additionally, with Tan Jun’s constant provocation in the arena, they simply couldn’t stand it any longer.
After all, Yuelan had said in the arena that anyone challenging Tan Jun was challenging her, so everyone defaulted to viewing Tan Jun’s actions as part of a provocation against all forces by Yang Yuelan, a slap in the face.
But even so… no one dared to lay hands on this little witch.
This was the current status of Yang Yuelan in the Witch Academy.
She… was a madwoman that no one dared to provoke!
The reason they took action was due to the support of an Extraordinary Mentor.
With the “support” from the Extraordinary Mentor group, it instantly heightened everyone’s desire for revenge.
And the plan was simple: according to that Extraordinary’s instructions, target the ongoing self-generated magic experiment of Little Yuelan.
As long as an incident occurred, Yang Yuelan would likely face immense pressure from public opinion, coupled with some manipulation of the narrative, it would certainly give her a headache and weaken her influence.
After all, once she understood what self-generated magic truly was, she would know that if this talent spread… it would be a massive blow to all forces!
It would also be to the family, as promoting to an Extraordinary Witch would become simpler. Would those restrained by their family not escape it through this means?
And the implementer of this plan was Ji An… there was no doubt, Ji An was a student of Daniel.
And Daniel… represented an Extraordinary Witch reaching out to assist them.
Moreover, Ji An’s roommate, Shi Ruizhi, was one of the 146 individuals selected for the experiment.
Everything should be like this.
Their actions were surreptitious; the Extraordinary Witches took care of covering their tracks.
Besides, this matter was very measured for them, allowing them to vent their frustrations while creating a huge hassle for Yang Yuelan, disrupting the self-generated magic experiment process, tarnishing Yang Yuelan’s reputation, and undermining the extensive influence of Little Yuelan’s support group…
The Extraordinary Witches might have also achieved some goals.
It could be considered a win-win situation.
This operation didn’t inflict real harm on Yang Yuelan herself;
In the end, it could even leave Yang Yuelan wondering who had done her wrong, only to watch if she could contain her fury.
But all of this was still thinking too naively…
No one expected that this incident would actually attract the attention of Principal Mei Linde!
Causing her to personally investigate!
Along with subsequent support and attention from Principal Beif Alanna… the alignment of the two principals made those small groups of witches headed by Daniel… compromise.
The process of compromise made even her mentor’s students unaware.
After all, it was a game at an Extraordinary level.
She only knew that she was abandoned by her mentor, and now she had to carry all the blame!
In fact, she had sensed something was off beforehand; Mentor Daniel had also warned her beforehand that the situation was not looking good.
When she still naively thought her mentor would protect her.
But she had absolutely not thought that her mentor could not even protect herself!
Otherwise, her mentor wouldn’t have told her to shoulder all the blame!
Did she want to?
She didn’t want to!
But she could not defy the will of an Extraordinary!
Nor could she defy the will of her family!
She was a part of the family; she didn’t live for herself, but for the family under their shackles.
She hadn’t broken free from the bonds of the family, so… she couldn’t bring everyone down with her.
Thus… family members influenced the academy’s forces, requiring her to take on all this blame without letting a single strand of influence touch the forces established by the Extraordinary Academy or the families behind them.
The family had nurtured her up to this point; she was enjoying their benefits, and now… it was time for her to contribute to the family.
