Chapter 74 The Witch and the Teacher
Yan Shi had already read through most of her grandmother's work journals. She discovered that the journals, which probably spanned several decades, only consisted of one volume, primarily because:
Grandma didn't use it as a work notebook at all; she used it as a diary.
I didn't write anything about work.
But if someone beat up during a meeting today, or if a mermaid from Guixu Sea cried over a seashell full of pearls because she was tricked, then the story would be written in as much detail as possible.
Such wonderful things obviously can't happen every day, so some dates on adjacent pages of the work journal are quite far apart. There's also a page with June 7th and the next page with May 19th, presumably spanning the new year.
Yan Shi wasn't sure exactly how long it took.
Because this work journal doesn't have a year marked on it.
Therefore, the work journal makes no further mention of this bottle of mithril or the subsequent transaction between Grandma and Duan Yunchen.
Duan Yunchen paused for a moment: "Director Yan, you should know that the Weir Hub is a huge alchemical creation, right?"
Yan Shi: "Mm."
It is said to be a groundbreaking achievement forged by the Forging Division of the Logistics Department of the Foreign Affairs Bureau.
There are large city alchemical creations before the Vil Nexus, but none can compare to the Vil Nexus in terms of the amount of energy maintenance and the number of people it supports.
The Bureau of Forging also became a coveted destination for top alchemists, comparable to the Alchemy Tower, due to the Vil Nexus.
Duan Yunchen continued, "This is my agreement with Shan Ju. The Will Nexus is my independent creation, and according to the agreement, I will protect the Will Nexus until the end of my life."
"I remember you're the ageless witch, right?" Yan Shi said in a deep voice. "Then what do you need mithril for?"
Mithril may indeed have many uses, but since Duan Yunchen also broke into the Death Church, her desire for mithril must also be for its life-sustaining properties.
"Director Yan," Duan Yunchen reverted to his usual nonchalant self, "Why do you have so many questions? Didn't you only ask about the specific details of the transaction? I've already told you everything."
Yan Shi: "Alchemy Tower".
Duan Yunchen: ...
“This really involves my privacy.” She pouted, trying to dissuade Yan Shi from the idea.
Yan Shi: "Alchemy Tower".
Duan Yunchen: "Alright, alright. It's nothing. The ageless witch didn't just spring out of a rock and suddenly grow up."
“My teacher was on the verge of death,” she said, her eyes lowered. “The ageless witch, when her life force was truly exhausted, there was nothing she could do to save her.”
"We have no souls," Duan Yunchen said calmly.
Yan Shi began to tap his fingertips lightly on the table as he pondered.
There is no soul in Liuguang's body today.
What exactly is the mechanism of action of mithril-containing alchemical products?
Yan Shi: "Whatever remains without a soul is no longer itself."
"So what? The Well Hub was born because of this anyway." Duan Yunchen shrugged.
"Single is a genius; she gave me new ideas. I used my own life force as a foundation to record the teacher's last actions as the core of the Well Hub, and preserved them in the branch office of the Bureau of Alienation."
"She survived in a sense. That's enough for any living being."
As a transaction, but more than just a transaction, Duan Yunchen will remain in the Weir Hub forever in order to protect this core.
There's nowhere to go.
In exchange for the ageless witch's endless life and freedom, she obtained a projection that recorded her actions during her lifetime.
Perhaps because no one had mentioned this matter, once Duan Yunchen started talking to Yan Shi, he didn't stop and continued, "My teacher is a very, very irritable witch."
Yan Shi's lips twitched. He really wanted Duan Yunchen to look in the mirror decades ago.
Duan Yunchen doesn't seem like a gentle witch at all.
"She has no patience; everything she tries to raise dies, even sea buckthorn. I'm probably the only living creature she's ever managed to keep alive."
When Duan Yunchen spoke of it, it was very different from his usual tone. He spoke with a hint of disdain and grumbling, yet also with a deep sense of appreciation.
"And she's a bit silly, very easy to fool. She also always has some kindness in her heart, helping any living being with any kind of favor, she's not like a witch at all."
"She would regularly clear out thieves in the neighborhood to prevent them from affecting the lives of the residents, help shepherds find their lost children, and read postcards sent by their daughters from afar to shop owners with poor eyesight."
Yan Shi didn't interrupt. In fact, she didn't quite understand Duan Yunchen's teacher, nor did she understand Duan Yunchen himself.
Since Duan Yunchen spoke of his teacher as having only flaws, how could she be willing to remain forever at the Weir Hub for the sake of a projection of his actions in life, which might not even be real?
"It would have been fine if I had just been meddling in other people's business, but we're witches after all, we have endless time to do what we like."
"She likes living here and likes the residents nearby. The children all like her and will secretly leave some homemade snacks or fresh flowers on the windowsill of the cottage in the early morning; throughout the year, the residents will give her all kinds of seasonal gifts for various festivals."
"She's terrible at everyday life, but she lives a comfortable and refined life."
The residents always took care of her, so Duan Yunchen enjoyed traveling the world without worrying that his teacher, who knew nothing about farming, would starve at home.
"It was just bad luck back then, the holy war happened to reach the vicinity of our settlement hut."
The war in the underworld is not just about raging battles. It also involves countless unconventional weapons and clashes between powerful beings, leaving ordinary creatures utterly defenseless.
"She's still so foolish. She's a witch; she could have left on her own. But she didn't."
"She used her own life as fuel to create a protective shield, sheltering residents within a hundred miles. She didn't even tell me."
Perhaps fearing that Duan Yunchen would object and stop her, the teacher, though stubborn, had never been able to refuse Duan Yunchen's requests since childhood.
It's also possible that she was afraid Duan Yunchen would want to help her out of consideration for her.
Duan Yunchen's teacher is a kind-hearted witch, but she never asks Duan Yunchen to be a kind-hearted witch as well.
This was her personal choice, not a choice forced upon Duan Yunchen.
This time was different; the teacher didn't want Duan Yunchen to interfere with her decision.
The holy war has completely spread to this land. If the witch can leave, where can the residents of this place go?
"By the time I finally found out and rushed over from the Alchemy Tower, her hair had turned completely white. Please, she's a witch."
She's a witch, you know.
The ageless witch was born with the gift of endless years, bestowed upon her by the Mother Goddess.
Duan Yunchen still remembers the shock she felt when she questioned her teacher, "Are you crazy?"
She never imagined she would see her teacher grow old.
Even at this point, the teacher was still in his usual irritable state: "I could beat you even if my hair turned completely white, Duan Yunchen, you disrespectful brat."
During that time, Duan Yunchen went even crazier, running all over the continent, trying to find a way to bring her teacher's life force back.
No, absolutely none.
Duan Yunchen returned home dejectedly. She was now even afraid to step into the house, because every time she came back, her teacher seemed to have aged a bit.
His hair slowly turned completely white, wrinkles appeared on his smooth face, and his eyes lost their clarity, becoming cloudy.
She had aged so much that Duan Yunchen almost didn't recognize her.
The nearby residents still anxiously gathered around the witch's hut. They knew Duan Yunchen was in a bad mood, so they never appeared near him when he was around.
But the fresh flowers in the vase always had dew on them, and the warm food on the table, all told Duan Yunchen that they were there.
The teacher told her to stop making trouble: "I'm just paying the price for my own choices. You haven't gone out to play in a long time."
"Go out and take a walk by yourself. When you pass by here again in the future, remember to bring some snacks for my tombstone."
"The tombstone should say, 'This was a witch who loved excitement.'"
Duan Yunchen is a witch who loves to travel freely.
Duan Yunchen lost control and yelled at her, "You're not allowed to mention it! I'll find a way! This is my choice too!"
The teacher is stubborn about some things, and Duan Yunchen is even more stubborn about this one.
Even though she traveled all over the world, even though everyone said she was crazy.
When the teacher's other female friends came to visit him, they also mentioned Duan Yunchen: "Your student has gone mad."
The teacher sighed softly: "She just can't bear to say goodbye. Although it's something a witch must learn in her life."
When Duan Yunchen finally managed to exchange for mithril from Danju, she felt it was the blessing of the Mother Goddess.
She rushed excitedly into the small house: "Teacher, teacher! I've found a way!"
The teacher did not reply to Duan Yunchen.
The teacher will never reply to Duan Yunchen again.
"This can't be real, right?" Duan Yunchen stood beside the bed, gripping the mithril bottle tightly in his hand. "Are you kidding me?"
"This is a very serious matter! You can't lie to me about this!"
"Teacher, get up! You're not a child anymore."
The teacher did not respond.
She remained lying there, silent.
Duan Yunchen fell silent immediately; she suddenly felt the small house was eerily empty.
“Get up,” she whispered. “I will never say you are too loud again.”
The cabin was quiet.
Duan Yunchen didn't check her teacher's heartbeat. She quietly left the room and closed the door again.
The shepherdess, the shop owner, and the peddler all stood outside the hut watching Duan Yunchen with concern.
"Leave," Duan Yunchen said. "Leave before I get angry."
They didn't move.
Duan Yunchen didn't move either.
She ignored the residents and instead took out her phone to call Director Shan again.
"In a single round," Duan Yunchen said calmly, "all the powerful beings in the time system must be very curious about the witch."
"Ask the principal of Zhanzhou if he's willing to make a deal with me now."
Danju: "Duan Yunchen, you need to think this through. The witches' magic also comes from their life force."
"I am an alchemist," Duan Yunchen said. "There is no witch in the world more skilled in alchemy than me. Even without the witch's magic, I am still a powerful alchemist."
As expected, the principal of Zhanzhou agreed.
"You are the first witch to sell her life force." She was surprised. "Things are valued for their rarity. How long do you intend to pause here?"
Duan Yunchen: "What's the longest you can go?"
"If it's just this little house, one year. I'll also give you a bonus: rewind time inside the house by one minute."
Duan Yunchen doesn't owe anyone any favors.
She gave one-third of her life force.
"You can come to me for an alchemy session. Bring your own materials, and I won't charge you any processing fees."
The principal chuckled and ruffled Duan Yunchen's hair before walking away: "Little witch, you're still a child. You have a long future ahead of you."
Duan Yunchen ignored her and built a new witch's hut outside the witch's hut, exhausting all her knowledge to create a masterpiece.
Vell Hub.
"The Bureau is very satisfied. The Bureau of Alien Management needs to set up a branch office next to this boundary gate. This is because it is the closest boundary gate to the capital of the surface world. At the same time, it is the central boundary that divides the human territories of the East and West."
"With the Well Hub, there's no need to build another large city-state. I personally provided all the materials for the Well Hub, which should have saved the Bureau of Alien Affairs a lot of money."
"I don't know what happened after that. I could only stay in the Weir Hub and couldn't go anywhere else." Duan Yunchen finished telling a long story and looked at Yan Shi warily.
"For example, I don't know anything about how the General Administration moved from the Guixu Sea to the surface world, or about the several outrageous directors of your General Administration after the single bureau."
"Oh, I wasn't talking about you."
Yan Shi: ...
The tiny bit of attempt to understand the rationality of Duan Yunchen's actions that had just arisen in my mind has now completely vanished.
She coldly commented, "Your behavior is completely abnormal. The effort and reward are disproportionate."
"You are being very irrational."
Duan Yunchen: ?
She suddenly burst into laughter: "Perhaps. But Director Yan, aren't you humans the most sentimental race?"
"Why do you, a human, question me, a witch?"
Yan Shi: "This has nothing to do with whether or not one values feelings. It's purely about giving nothing in return."
"Was it really your teacher who survived?"
Duan Yunchen: "Not everything needs to be rewarded. And whether something is meaningful or not is defined by the living being itself."
"If I think it's worth it, then it's worth it."
Director Yan did not reply; the phone went dead with a beeping busy tone.
She hung up the phone.
Duan Yunchen jumped off the bed, slipped on his slippers, and walked out of the room.
The lights in the corridor turned on one by one.
A diluted solution of light gray mithril flowed silently through the pipes inside the wall.
Almost no living being knew that, as the head of the Welsh Hub branch, she lived on the top floor of the branch.
However, no matter how big the matter is, once he gets off work, Duan Yunchen will never go down from the top floor again.
She walked into the central room, which was the familiar interior of the witch's cottage living room.
The teacher sat at the table in the center of the living room, wearing glasses and reading a newspaper.
Duan Yunchen: "Good night, teacher."
The teacher looked up, smiled for the ten millionth time, and replied, "Goodnight, Duan Yunchen. You little rascal, go to bed early and don't stay up late."
"Let's go to the street to eat wontons tomorrow morning."
Duan Yunchen grinned widely: "Great!"
"I love wontons the most."
I don't actually like it anymore.
No living being would enjoy eating the same breakfast for decades.
Because Duan Yunchen returned too late, all that remained were the teacher's records of behavior during the last three days.
But that's okay. If the teacher thinks she likes it, then she likes it.
Duan Yunchen glanced at his teacher one last time, then left the small house.
"I'll come again tomorrow morning," she muttered to herself. "Then the teacher will say good morning to me."
Author's Note: I've been commissioning illustrations recently, and the following have already been confirmed for publication: two illustrations of famous scenes from Yan Ju's comics with accompanying backgrounds, one solid-color background half-body portrait of Yan Ju and one of Yan Lan, and two chibi versions of Yan Shi.
I'm currently debating whether to add another one. Here are some options for you to choose from:
1. Lin Cai and Libertas
2. Shanfengyang and Linxi Bridge
3. Sheng Chunqiu and Guige Mu
4. Lanlan and Lin Cai in their childhood
5. Do not
6. Other combinations
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