So, these pains and scares were part of her experience, but when nothing was life-threatening and there was no need to rack her brains or abandon her moral compass just to find a way to survive, it was easy to maintain a healthy psychological value.
Of course, "healthy" didn't mean being a hundred percent free of issues; any standard had a range of values, and one could only say that Wen Xiang Yuan's psychological value was exceptional among scavengers.
But the problem was that if what Nan Yue was seeing now was truly what Wen Xiang Yuan had experienced, her psychological value could not possibly be healthy.
Was it because she had forgotten everything?
That didn't seem right.
Nan Yue felt that Miss Wen was a part of Wen Xiang Yuan, but she wasn't Wen Xiang Yuan.
It was a feeling that was hard to describe; if she had to put a word to it, it was intuition.
Nan Yue didn't delay any longer. She ignored the maid's corpse on the floor, used her black mist to trap a few specks of the dust, and then slipped out of the office.
"You're out?"
Huo Fuyu was somewhat surprised. Nan Yue had only taken twenty minutes, which was faster than he and the others had expected.
"Let's go."
Nan Yue didn't hesitate. The item in her hand was a hot potato; the sooner she got rid of it, the better.
The two of them quickly went downstairs while no one was around. Huo Fuyu followed the cleaning group to dump the trash, while Nan Yue returned to the outside of Miss Wen's bedroom.
At this moment, Butler Zhao was still standing outside. He stood straight, checking his pocket watch from time to time.
Though his face was expressionless, Nan Yue could still sense his impatience.
It took Nan Yue some time to get back, and she arrived outside the bedroom exactly at the thirty-minute mark. At that moment, the bedroom door opened and Wen Shen came out.
"Miss says you may go back now. She will call for you if she needs anything else."
There was no explanation, a behavior that could only be described as willful. Butler Zhao simply nodded, appearing very accustomed to it, and then left.
Wen Shen sized Nan Yue up for a moment before letting her inside.
Nan Yue was secretly complaining in her mind. Miss Wen had said she would stall for thirty minutes, and she really hadn't missed it by a single second.
Clearly, she could have helped stall for a bit longer.
"Wen Shen, you may leave."
This time, Miss Wen didn't get out of bed. She leaned against the head of that massive ship-like bed, her long hair like black silk winding down the red velvet pillows. Paired with her somewhat pale face, she possessed an eerie beauty.
Once everyone had left, Nan Yue handed the ledger to Miss Wen.
The other woman raised an eyebrow. "You really do have some skill."
She looked through the ledger nonchalantly, as if what was recorded inside was merely something harmless like a recipe.
"Have you read it?"
Nan Yue hesitated for a second before admitting it. "I flipped through a few pages to confirm what it was."
Miss Wen let out a faint, ambiguous chuckle. "Do you know what this is?"
Nan Yue remained silent. Miss Wen tapped her hand with the ledger. "This thing can destroy the Wen family."
Nan Yue thought for a moment before saying, "But it can also make you the true person in power of the Wen family."
Miss Wen suddenly burst into wild laughter, as if she had heard something extremely funny.
Her mouth stretched wide and her eyes were open large. It was a somewhat horrifying expression, yet when she did it, it had a unique charm.
However, Nan Yue still felt a jarring sense of eeriness.
She felt somewhat uncomfortable, especially since Miss Wen and Wen Xiang Yuan looked exactly the same.
She didn't like seeing this kind of laughter, filled with the scent of despair, on Wen Xiang Yuan's face.
"Do you think power is of any use to me now?"
Nan Yue was somewhat confused. She looked directly into Miss Wen's eyes, and in that instant, she didn't know who she wanted to speak to.
"Of course it is. Power is the most useful thing."
"With power, what else would be worth giving up on yourself for?"
Miss Wen gave her a look full of mockery. "Do you know what the purpose of the most precious Miss Wen of the Federation is?"
Nan Yue actually already knew, but Miss Wen continued anyway. "I am just a gift. Whoever Wen Chu wants to curry favor with, he sends me to them."
"Do you think it matters if I have power? How do those people look at me behind my back!?"
"The fact that I'm still alive makes even me feel disgusted!"
Nan Yue was silent for a moment before saying, "Since he treated you this way, then you should naturally take away what he cares about most and make him suffer."
"You can even give him a taste of his own medicine, but none of that is a reason for you to give up."
"I don't think there's anything shameful about this, nor is there anything that should make you lower your head."
Nan Yue's cold tone echoed softly in the room.
"The one who sent you was your brother, and the ones who bullied you were those families. You did nothing wrong. Staying alive is something you should fight for. What is there to feel disgusted about?"
Nan Yue knew that the pollution world had a set of nearly harsh and ridiculous systems specifically targeting women, with requirements for them in all aspects, even creating words like "purity" and "chastity" to judge them.
But the world Nan Yue lived in had no such rules. Therefore, she couldn't understand the social perspective of the mission world that viewed women as inferior to men, nor could she understand the indoctrination that a woman needed to prove her honor through death after losing her purity.
In the real world, might made right. Any scavenger knew that men and women were the same and neither should be underestimated.
There were even more women among the high-level players on the Top Rankings; here, strength was what spoke.
As for things like chastity, it was even more of a nonsense concept. If it was something one did willingly, then it was no one else's business.
When it wasn't willing, the person was clearly a victim and should openly expose and criticize the perpetrator, rather than lowering their head and feeling like they were shameful.
However, ever since Nan Yue learned that the pollution world had its own set of logic, she had stopped dwelling on these things.
She felt that she and the natives were simply born into different worlds, and she was lucky to be a member of the real world.
Although they needed to devote their lives to the purification project, they were not subjected to ideological conditioning.
The natives of the pollution world were much more pitiful, which was why Nan Yue was unwilling to break through the situation with pure violence.
It was the same now, especially since Miss Wen and Wen Xiang Yuan looked exactly alike. Even though she knew the other person wasn't Wen Xiang Yuan, she couldn't help but feel some level of empathy.
She didn't want Miss Wen to think of herself this way.
Nan Yue looked at Miss Wen. "You are not at fault in any way. You are cleaner and more noble than anyone else."
"So I hope you don't give up on power."
Miss Wen looked at Nan Yue blankly, and for a moment, she didn't even know what to say.
She wanted to mock her, she wanted to kill her in a fit of rage, and she wanted to question if she was being sarcastic.
But she couldn't say a word.
Because she saw the maid's eyes.
In those clear eyes, there was a level of determination, respect, and... encouragement that she had never seen before.
Rate on N.U.
