Smith was dead.
He had exploded on the spot along with the rest of the pursuers after Adele got the answers she wanted.
Only after finishing that trifling matter did Adele turn her attention to Snow White.
Snow White had blood on the corners of her mouth, and her clothes were shredded from Smith's attacks.
However, the most serious injury was her wrist, which Smith had stepped on earlier.
It was clear from the way her hand twisted at an odd angle that the bone was definitely broken.
“It's not a big deal, though.”
Adele took out a potion, splashed it on Snow White’s wrist, and snapped the bone back into place before she could even register the pain.
“Aaaah!!!”
The sudden, unannounced move caused Snow White, whose arm had gone numb, to scream in agony.
“There, you're fine now.”
Stowing the potion bottle, Adele picked up the potion Snow White had tried to drink earlier and handed it back to her.
Snow White blinked, startled, and cautiously moved her wrist.
Though it felt a bit tingly and numb, there were no major issues with its movement.
She naturally reached out to take the potion Adele offered.
Indeed, this was the inferior version of the Life Potion made by Cinderella.
“Right, Cinderella!”
Having escaped her own crisis and with her injuries steadily improving, Snow White breathed a sigh of relief, only to immediately remember her close friend.
“I wonder how Cinderella is doing right now.”
Leaning against a tree behind her, Snow White struggled to her feet, intending to head toward the hill where they had agreed to meet.
But because her internal and external injuries had only just begun to heal and her health was only rising slowly, her steps were labored.
If Adele hadn't immediately stepped forward to support her, she would have surely collapsed.
“Use the flying magic broom; it’ll be faster. Just... don't get your hopes up.”
Adele's expression was incredibly solemn as she spoke.
Snow White froze for a moment at those words.
Just moments ago, before his death, Smith had finally confessed under Adele's pressure why they had been so intent on hunting her down.
To be honest.
If she hadn't been the victim herself and nearly died, she would never have believed she was being hunted for a reason so stupid it was laughable.
“Adele, do you think after more than a year of all this, there are still such stupid creatures in this world?”
Sitting on the flying magic broom, Snow White wrapped her arms around Adele’s waist and leaned her head weakly against the other woman's shoulder as she asked.
“As long as the two different states of being—Transmigrators and evolved beings—exist in this world, there will always be people who commit all sorts of stupid acts in their desperation to climb higher.”
“It has nothing to do with how smart they are or if they could get high grades in school.”
“It is simply pure ambition at work.”
Adele spoke with a philosophical air, while Snow White remained silent behind her.
Differences, distinctions...
Humans might be able to endure loneliness and hardship, but they cannot stomach injustice.
‘Why can others be evolved beings, while I'm stuck as an unevolved Transmigrator, a mere primitive?’
Discussions like this had appeared on the world channel more than once.
In fact, they had never stopped since Lan Qingyou founded the Witch race.
People would resort to any means necessary to become an evolved being.
This was certainly because of the tangible benefits like racial talents, Numerical Correction, Knowledge Correction, and Experience Correction.
But more than that, it was because of the desires in their hearts.
It was easy to understand; everyone has desires of one kind or another.
But Snow White was experiencing such twisted, stupid, dark, and even disgusting desires for the first time.
Though Snow White had been running from day into night to get here, the return journey on the flying magic broom was significantly faster.
In a mere half hour, the two arrived at the hill.
Blegh—
Snow White, who had jumped down in her haste to find Cinderella, was met with a scene she never wanted to see in her life.
In an instant, her stomach churned, and she began to vomit on the spot.
“This must be Cinderella. I recognize the clothes she was wearing.”
Adele landed beside Snow White, looking down at the shredded clothes and the pile of scattered white bones on the ground.
Adele had seen plenty of life-and-death partings. Although this was the first time she had seen a scene quite like this, her reaction was far less extreme than Snow White's.
“I originally came to bring you the learning tutorials for new magic and some alchemy materials I gathered recently, but then I ran into this.”
Adele gave a bitter smile.
In truth, Adele’s reason for coming to this region was partly to deliver magic, flying magic brooms, and materials to Cinderella and Snow White—those two stubborn witches who refused to add her as a friend.
But it was mostly because her card storage was already full, and she wanted to find a place to clear it out.
After all, the slots on the card were far too few, and it felt like a waste to just throw those materials away.
So, she had chosen the shortest path and flown directly here.
She had ended up encountering Snow White being hunted, and now she was faced with this scene.
To be honest, Adele didn't know what she should do now.
“Heh... Adele... can humans really be creatures capable of such evil?”
Snow White collapsed to the ground, turning her head away after she finished vomiting, not daring to look at her friend's tragic remains.
That was Cinderella.
Even though only a pile of white bones remained, Snow White could still recognize her.
It wasn't because of the clothes or the books left behind as evidence; it was simply a raw, instinctive certainty.
Even if she desperately didn't want to admit it was her friend, she had no choice.
In her heart, she had believed her friend was definitely still alive. On the way here, clinging to a shred of hope, she hadn't even looked at the contacts on her card to see if any had vanished.
But now...
She had been backed into a corner by reality. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn't.
And so, she laughed, but she also wept.
She laughed at the absurdity of this world, and she wept for her friend’s inhuman death.
“Didn't I say it? Humans will do anything to make themselves part of the higher class,” Adele said calmly, before asking Snow White another question.
“What do you plan to do next?”
“Plan?”
Snow White’s hands paused.
To be honest, she had never considered the possibility of Cinderella’s death or being ambushed herself.
Being asked so suddenly only made her already muddled mind even more lost.
“Yes. Your friend is dead, and now you’re all alone...”
“I... I haven't thought about it yet.”
“Then let's collect Cinderella’s remains first. At the very least, we should bury her.”
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