Chapter 253, Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Two: The Orphanage
After Sheng Chunqiu's betrayal, Yan Shi specifically reviewed Sheng Chunqiu's detailed personnel file.
She was born in an orphanage in the world of the living. At the age of eighteen, she was discovered to be different after being involved in an unusual case, and was specially admitted to Zhanzhou in the same year.
During his time at school, Zhan Zhou consistently ranked first in his grade and was the top student in his class from his second year onwards. After graduating as an outstanding graduate, he was specially recruited into the headquarters of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs.
During his tenure at the General Administration, he made no major personal mistakes. He acted with composure and meticulousness, achieving notable results year after year.
Meanwhile, during this period, the General Administration underwent a major personnel change, and Sheng Chunqiu was extremely lucky to take advantage of this opportunity to rise through the ranks until he became the director of the Execution Division.
At this point, they held considerable power.
A near-perfect resume.
Throughout the entire file, Sheng Chunqiu's work at the General Administration can be described as diligent and conscientious, without any acts of favoritism.
Therefore, Yan Shi couldn't understand when Sheng Chunqiu decided to betray and go down the current path.
Not to mention, Guan Yunji once mentioned that Sheng Chunqiu was her first student.
The lights inside were so bright that Yan Shi could clearly see the composure in Sheng Chunqiu's eyes.
Yan Shi suddenly turned his head and looked at Duan Yunchen, who was watching the scene unfold, and asked, "Is there any milk?"
"Huh?" Duan Yunchen was taken aback, then realized, "Yes, yes! Director Yan, would you like it hot or cold?"
Yan Shi: "Add half a cup of ice."
She held the milk cup in both hands, leaned back on the sofa, and her gaze returned to Sheng Chunqiu.
"I would like to hear the details."
“Perhaps you have seen my file,” Sheng Chunqiu said, ordering a glass of ice water as well.
A thin layer of mist condensed on the glass. She unconsciously rubbed her fingertips against the glass until her fingertips turned slightly white from the cold before taking a small sip.
After drinking half a cup, Sheng Chunqiu slowly said, "My access to the inner world originated from an accident."
The light fell on her face, making her amber eyes appear as clear as glass.
Sheng Chunqiu spoke in a very calm tone, as this was something that happened a very, very long time ago to her.
So long ago, she herself had almost forgotten.
Sheng Chunqiu's life was unremarkable before he turned eighteen.
She grew up in an orphanage, diligently completed nine years of compulsory education, and achieved excellent grades. She was admitted to the best high school in the area through the junior high school entrance examination, and then gained admission to the prestigious Imperial University through the college entrance examination.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, she will complete her law studies at Imperial University and become a lawyer after graduation. Of course, depending on the job market, she might pursue other paths. In short, she will live an ordinary, unremarkable life.
For an orphan, this is already considered defying fate.
However, an unexpected event occurred.
On the day Sheng Chunqiu received his admission letter from Imperial University.
Clutching the letter, she ran back to the orphanage with rare excitement, pushing open the door: "Director Mama, I'm back! Look at my acceptance letter!"
Only an eerie silence answered her.
She stood frozen at the doorway, her smile lingering on her lips.
No one answered her.
Sunlight fell on the courtyard, on the swing, on the grass, and on a pile of bodies haphazardly stacked together.
The younger brothers and sisters who usually surrounded her and called her "Sister Chunqiu" all stared wide-eyed, their skin as pale as wax.
The headmistress, or rather, that "thing," was bending down to lick the blood from the corner of her mouth. She slowly raised her head and smiled gently: "There's one more."
Sheng Chunqiu felt as if something was choking her, and she couldn't make a sound; her whole body trembled.
The acceptance letter slipped from my fingertips, fell to the ground, and was covered by grass clippings and mud.
No one knows how Sheng Chunqiu survived.
It's all over.
Sheng Chunqiu knelt before the corpses scattered on the ground.
Before her, in the neck of the headmistress, was an arrow formed purely of golden spirit.
The sword pierced the trachea and went through the neck. No blood flowed.
The entire orphanage was littered with corpses, but there wasn't a drop of blood.
Only the wind seemed to weep softly through the broken windowpanes.
Sheng Chunqiu did not cry.
She just knelt there blankly, her fingertips gripping the glass, breathing heavily.
Shan Fengyang almost thought she was dead too.
"Huh?" Guan Yunji's fingers formed a hand seal, and she was somewhat surprised after quickly reconstructing the entire process. "It's a blood demon. This little girl is quite powerful. Not only did she kill it, but she also trapped the blood demon in its already dead body."
"What is a Blood Demon?" Sheng Chunqiu turned around when he noticed the newcomers and asked them in a hoarse voice.
The local authorities' patrol team had arrived, cordoned off the area, and numerous public officials began handling the scene.
Dan Fengyang bent down and said gently, "A kind of spirit race. Good child, you've worked hard. Sleep well, and when you wake up, nothing will have happened."
Sheng Chunqiu looked up at them steadily: "If nothing happened, can the headmistress still come back?"
cannot.
No one answered.
But Sheng Chunqiu, who was only eighteen years old, could see the answer in the eyes of the adults.
The Bureau of Extraterritorial Affairs will classify the orphanage tragedy as a fire and alter Sheng Chunqiu's memories. She will remember nothing that happened today.
Only Sheng Chunqiu, from this day forward, will have no home, and no past.
How could Sheng Chunqiu be content with this?
Dan Fengyang's gaze was calm and detached. As the director of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs, a legendary figure who held absolute power in the underworld, she didn't have much sympathy for the victims of every case.
It's lucky to have survived.
Sheng Chunqiu could see this clearly, so in despair she grabbed Guan Yunji's sleeve and began to kowtow heavily.
She kowtowed repeatedly, her forehead hitting the ground and bleeding.
"Please, please take me as your apprentice," she said. "I'm very smart; I can learn anything, and I learn very quickly!"
Guan Yunji just happened to be passing by and followed Shan Fengyang to see what was going on. Upon hearing this, she raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Oh?"
“And I’m very talented,” Sheng Chunqiu stammered, his voice hoarse. “I can see very thin specks of light in the air… I can, I can use them!”
In fact, in the eyes of Shan Fengyang and Guan Yunji, who had seen countless geniuses in the underworld, Sheng Chunqiu's talent was mediocre and not outstanding.
Guan Yunji, however, had nothing to do and was quite bored: "No, it's not that," she said with a shrug, "What's your name?"
Sheng Chunqiu: "Sheng Chunqiu, my name is Sheng Chunqiu. Sheng means prosperous times, and Chunqiu means the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods."
Guan Yunji lazily gave her a quick divination.
What was originally just a moment of leisure turned into a realization that Sheng Chunqiu's future was inextricably linked to the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs and the World Barrier.
Guan Yunji was genuinely intrigued: "Alright. You'll be with me from now on."
Sheng Chunqiu grasped at this last straw.
Guan Yunji wouldn't teach students who knew nothing, so she asked Shan Fengyang to write a letter of recommendation for Sheng Chunqiu to enroll in Zhanzhou, and then she hardly paid any attention to him after that.
Years later, Sheng Chunqiu left Zhanzhou as an "outstanding graduate" and entered the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, becoming Shan Fengyang's direct subordinate.
---
"At the time, I was just unwilling to accept it, and I had nowhere else to go," Sheng Chunqiu said calmly. "The culprit was the Blood Demon, and it's already dead. I have no one else to hate."
"So I can only hate myself for not being strong enough. I only found out when I was in fourth grade that Christy, the principal of Zhanzhou, could reverse time."
“You see, Director Yan,” she chuckled softly, “there’s always a way. It’s just that I don’t have one.”
Yan Shi: "Then what were you doing by betraying the Bureau of Extraterritorial Affairs and destroying the world barrier?"
"Because I've figured out the crux of the problem," Sheng Chunqiu said earnestly. "It's because I'm not strong enough. It's also because everyone in the outer world isn't strong enough."
"The Mother Goddess is so unfair; the difference in the concentration of spirit between the inner and outer worlds is so great."
"If there were no world barrier, no difference in spiritual concentration, the children of the surface world would also start learning magic from a young age. The tragedy of the orphanage would not have happened again."
Yan Shi: ?
“It should be written in all the new employee handbooks of the Bureau of Alien Affairs,” she couldn’t understand, “about the difference in combat strength between the beings in the Outer World and the Outer World.”
"Have you considered how devastating the collapse of the world barrier would be for the ordinary inhabitants of the surface world?"
"So I've been planning this for a long time," Sheng Chunqiu said. "During my time at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, I've been pushing forward with this issue."
"Currently, Zhanzhou is already enrolling a certain number of international students every year, and the system of the Foreign Affairs Bureau is also being gradually improved."
Yan Shi's lips twitched: "I don't think so."
Some of the oversights in the information department's work can even be traced back ten years.
Sheng Chunqiu sighed, "So I originally wanted to wait a little longer. But you've come."
"If I don't start now, I'll never have another chance."
Author's Note: A small accident happened, causing a delay. Red envelopes will be given out in the comments section today.
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