Chapter 883: Only in a Child’s World is Everything Black and White
“Baking House… is it here, right?” Shi Ruizhi asked, somewhat uncertain.
Since this baking house was currently closed for business, Shi Ruizhi couldn’t quite grasp the situation.
“Ah, if you don’t know, just go in and ask! Didn’t you see the door wasn’t locked? Just go in and ask!” Fang Zhi said, unceremoniously pushing Shi Ruizhi inside.
“Hello~ this is the baking club, right?”
Soon, a responding voice came from inside.
“Yes, who are you?” The one speaking was Ying Shiqian. Although the baking house was currently closed, her enthusiasm for the place still brought her here.
In her words, sleeping at the cashier was more pleasant than on her bed at home. Of course, the people at the baking house knew this was just an excuse.
“Hello… I’m Shi Ruizhi. Millien sent me over…” Shi Ruizhi said.
After days of contemplation, she ultimately decided to follow the path of that Xiao Han.
So, she mustered the courage to get Millien’s contact information, and in the end, the latter told her to come here.
*Cough* Millien? Did she say why she wanted you to come? Or did she want you to join our baking club? ” Ying Shiqian asked with curiosity, propping her head on one hand with a hint of interest.
After all, Ying Shiqian was well aware that the baking house had changed; they were all on a boat called “Xiao Han.”
In recent days, Millien had facilitated many people joining the baking house, and Ying Shiqian knew those people joined for Xiao Han’s sake.
Could this one in front of her be something special? Why did she come alone today?
But while Ying Shiqian was mulling over these thoughts, she vaguely felt that the name Shi Ruizhi sounded somewhat familiar, though she couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination.
“After I contacted her, she said to meet here to discuss some matters in detail. As for joining the club… she didn’t elaborate.” Shi Ruizhi explained.
“Oh, not a Millien person then~” From what the other said, Ying Shiqian understood that this person was likely a genius whom Millien had her eye on, who had not yet considered joining the support team after Xiao Han.
“By the way, may I ask… what is your reason for looking for Millien?” Just then, Tan Jun came over from behind.
Tan Jun wanted to participate in the secret exploration of the Ice Snow Throne, but this place was filled with unknown dangers. Since her Absolute Cold Wand was closely related to the manager, she naturally wanted to hear some advice from the manager about venturing out.
If the manager was unwilling to take risks, she could leave her Absolute Cold Wand behind as a safeguard since she still had a Frozen World.
Moreover, she had her companion, Xiao You, who possessed Ancient Ice Remains, which was also one of the fragments.
“Huh? It’s you?”
Tan Xuan recognized Shi Ruizhi and recalled that during the promotion experiment of Self-Generated Magic Power, Shi Ruizhi was one of the 147 participants.
Even though she had left early after completing the experiment and did not witness the incident herself, she had learned about Shi Ruizhi during that time.
“You… recognize me?” Shi Ruizhi asked with curiosity, feeling that Tan Xuan looked somewhat familiar, as if… she had seen her while browsing the academy’s website?
“I’m also one of the participants in the Self-Generated Magic experiment, or rather, I participated slightly earlier than that batch.”
After all, her Great Knowledge Seed had an incredible memory ability. “Of course, mainly because you were the only one who had an accident, I naturally paid attention to you.”
“Oh, that’s how it is… you are Tan Xuan?” Upon hearing this, Shi Ruizhi immediately remembered the news from the academy; wasn’t this the Tan Xuan who dominated the league’s unlimited combat competition?
According to her profile, she was even just a sophomore…
Speaking of which, she had searched for information about that Xiao Lian teaching assistant, who was also of similar age since they were in the same batch.
She remembered reading a joke.
A year ago, everyone mocked Yang Yuelan for being in the same batch as Tan Xuan.
A year later, everyone mocked Tan Xuan for being in the same batch as Yang Yuelan.
“What! You are that Shi Ruizhi!” At this moment, Ying Shiqian’s slightly prolonged reflection finally made her aware of the core issue.
“Uh… this… should not be surprising, right…” Shi Ruizhi replied weakly.
“Ah… it’s nothing, I was just amazed, after all, you’re the one who had an incident during the Xiao Lian experiment. Naturally, I took a closer look, it’s fine~ it’s fine… don’t look at me, I’m just a cashier.”
“Come in and sit for a bit. The baking house is temporarily closed due to some reasons; it’s actually a club adjustment. I wonder what brings you here this time?”
Tan Xuan took this opportunity to invite them in.
“Actually… I wanted to find that Xiao Lian teaching assistant. She said that once I realized something, I could contact Millien. It was Millien who sent me here.”
“You want to find Xiao Lian? She’s still busy right now, so you might not see her. However, her clones might be available.”
“Actually, clones are not a big deal.” Upon mentioning clones, Shi Ruizhi thought of that figure who accompanied her those days, the Moon, whom she never expected to be that assistant’s clone!
As Shi Ruizhi and Tan Jing exchanged a few words, Millien pushed open the large door of the baking house, with another figure following her, which was the clone “Moon.”
“Are we already here? It seems we are the last ones.” Millien entered and was a bit surprised to see Shi Ruizhi chatting with Tan Jing.
It’s not unusual for her to arrive late, as she was usually very busy.
Even with club issues to handle, aside from the workload that manager allocated her, she was also doing other things.
For instance, contacting true support team members, those who believed in faith-based power generation, and getting involved in some enterprises within the academy.
Right now, she had a lot of resources at her disposal; if these resources were not utilized, should she just let them grow moldy?
In the academy, no one cares about what favors are owed; if there are resources, then there are people who want to profit.
In any case, since she took over the baking house club, Millien did not want to see this club run itself into the ground.
Moreover, the baking house type of business could also be profitable; the issue was that the original baking house was not keen on expansion.
But to allow Millien to develop the baking house… was not that easy.
The name Stove Room would be more suitable once expanded, becoming a non-profit label for this club rather than its core business.
After all, from an extraordinary perspective, ordinary money isn’t really money; only extraordinary materials like Red Copper, Secret Silver, and Aoking count as real “money.”
Even if the bread was made excellently, could it earn a single Red Copper?
Not very likely.
As my clone arrived, Shi Ruizhi stood up. Even now, Shi Ruizhi wasn’t sure how to face the person before her.
Frustrated? Calm? Or something else?
Ultimately, Shi Ruizhi was still trapped in an event without answers or evidence.
Having received favors, having been granted tolerance… in fact, it was these that ultimately influenced her final choice, leading her to follow my Xiao Lian teaching assistant.
“What’s the matter? Still not let go?” At that moment, I treated the baking house as home, pulled out a chair, and sat down, then looked at Shi Ruizhi.
Upon hearing my words, many people could sense the flavor of gossip.
In fact, the accident during that experimental incident that stirred the academy was quite a concern.
That girl named Ye An conspired against her roommate, causing the latter to get caught in an experimental accident, and then she attributed the cause to that experiment.
This was the surface-level academy report, something that general people only found amusing.
Those who were deeply concerned would relate it to the batch of students cleaned up afterward and the assistant incident, knowing it was an accident targeting the Self-Generated Magic experiment.
“Um…” Shi Ruizhi didn’t know what to say at that moment.
Letting go?
How is that possible?
Not letting go?
But she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Actually, Ruizhi has also been brooding over this matter these days…” Fang Zhi, as Shi Ruizhi’s roommate and close friend, could only speak up to alleviate her stress.
“Is that so? I’m really sorry. It seems our earlier conversation didn’t alleviate your concerns but instead added to your mental pressure.”
“After all, what happened to the girl? Is there something hidden in this matter?” Ying Shiqian listened somewhat confused, as she couldn’t quite understand this encrypted conversation.
“Do you mind if I say it out loud?” I asked, looking at Shi Ruizhi.
“…Go ahead…” Shi Ruizhi hesitated for a moment but still spoke up.
After all, she had already made her choice. It wasn’t safe to keep this matter hidden; if others couldn’t accept it… then it would still be a ticking time bomb in the end.
“Actually, the whole event is quite simple. Shi Ruizhi was injured in this accident, lost most of her memory, and experienced an irreparable loss of memories deeply tied to the essence of life.” I cut straight to the point.
“Amnesia? I think I’ve seen news reports on that, but I didn’t expect it to be so serious.” Ying Shiqian remarked.
“Deeply tied to the essence of life? That severe?” Tan Xin was even more concerned about the essence of life, after all, she had been battling with senior sisters, naturally being aware of high-level life forms and their undying nature.
Initially, she had also wondered what kind of injury necessitated hospitalization for a senior sister, and now it seemed to connect.
“Yes, to put it simply, she lost her memory. Shi Ruizhi remembers nothing. But the key issue is that the accomplice who framed her said before being caught that she was also a conspirator in this experiment. However, Shi Ruizhi does not recall, and any evidence proving this has been erased. She is now caught in this dilemma; even though I have forgiven her, she can’t convince herself.”
“There’s even this hidden aspect?” After I finished speaking, many people showed surprise.
“Really can’t find any evidence at all?” Tan Xin couldn’t help but be puzzled. She knew the information retrieval capability of the Great Knowledge God. Since Xiao Lian possessed the Great Knowledge Tree, her ability should be even more formidable—how could she find nothing?
“Yeah, found nothing.” I looked at Tan Jun and replied.
After all, it was possible that this was the work of an Extraordinary Witch, so it was somewhat inconvenient to disclose.
However, Tan Jun held a different view; she believed Xiao Lian might know the truth, but she wanted to earn some goodwill from the senior sister before her.
After all, a girl who could be bound by her own morals was truly… quite rare; at least her values were very upright.
Shifting responsibility is the most instinctive thought of an ordinary person and will also be their subsequent course of action.
“Regardless, I actually don’t mind. Even if it’s not Shi Ruizhi, it would still be someone else; those who seem to want to mess with me have been around for a while, so I don’t care. I thought I could alleviate your concerns by saying this, but I didn’t expect you to think so much.” As I spoke, I looked at Shi Ruizhi, who avoided my gaze upon meeting my eyes.
“I think you can understand, right? Whether it’s rationally assuming innocence or emotionally maintaining tolerance for uncertain matters, I have no need to pursue such responsibility.” I expressed my viewpoint to everyone.
Regardless of how one views it, many decisions made come before reasons; giving reasons is just to make this choice seem easier for oneself or for others to accept.
“Indeed, if even Xiao Lian forgives her, then we really have no need to blame anything. Moreover, what if this is just your roommate finally expressing her dislike for you, right?”
“Indeed~ no need to worry~ Xiao Han said it’s fine now.”
“Then… what if I really did it? Would that mean… my sins could be entirely wiped away?” With Shi Ruizhi saying this, everyone fell silent, as they understood what it meant to not forgive oneself.
“Sin… doesn’t that word feel a bit too heavy?” At this moment, I chuckled softly, breaking the silence, as I was the only one qualified to judge this matter. “In your view, are there only two outcomes? You must be a good person or a bad person? But is it really that simple? As long as one is human, they have done bad things and done good things. Regardless of whether you’ve done something, it has already passed. You don’t need to darken your own self-image. My lack of concern for your mistakes does not mean absolution.”
“Only in a child’s world is everything black and white. We are all adults now; do not let childish issues trouble your adult self, unless… you want to admit you haven’t grown up yet.”
I spoke at length, and my satisfaction with the effect was considerable.
Shi Ruizhi’s Soul Essence had truly led her to lose many things. So, in a sense, she was indeed reborn at this moment, which was why she displayed some seriousness and childishness. However… she had the right to bid farewell to her past.
If you ask who granted this right… that would naturally be me.
If anyone were to hinder her from parting ways with her past, I would ensure she had no future!
