Chapter 291
Aivina glanced at Shaer, said nothing more, accepted all of Adele's money, pulled out a ten-shilling coin, and returned it to Adele, saying, “That’s enough. Save some for yourself to eat.”
The naive Adele handed over all her savings without a hint of doubt that Shaer and Aivina might deceive her.
Fortunately, she encountered Shaer; otherwise, with someone else, she would have been left with nothing but her underwear. In hindsight, her wicked mentor, who kept her cooped up in the lab all day writing papers and conducting experiments, stealing her results, had inadvertently protected her.
Seeing Adele surrender all her money, Shaer finally felt at ease.
Now, even if Adele wanted to go to Beiansu, she wouldn’t have enough for a ticket.
Once Beiansu was completely safe, they could return the money to this poor child, with interest.
For some reason, teaming up with Aivina to “deceive” Adele brought Shaer a twinge of guilt. The clearer Adele’s eyes were, the stronger Shaer’s guilt became.
After all, this was all for her safety… Shaer could only use that reasoning to soothe her conscience.
Watching Adele abandon her plans to go to Beiansu with her help, Aivina decided not to linger any longer.
Her initial purpose in following was to worry that Adele was too stubborn for Shaer to persuade. Now that the task was successfully completed, there was no need for her to stay.
Since Shaer had mentioned needing to consult Adele about some medical issues, Aivina wasn’t particularly interested in that. Besides, she had to visit the Great Western Railway Company to discuss some matters.
The company was planning to open a direct railway from Boren City to Ansu to alleviate the growing population in Ansu and solve the transportation issues for Boren City’s mineral resources.
However, the railway’s route had yet to be determined. Aivina could use her position to slightly modify the railway’s path to pass by her factory and mine, securing a hefty compensation from the company.
With financial subsidies in place, as long as Aivina offered enough rebates, the money would be profitable no matter who earned it, and people would be more willing to give Aivina a favor.
After Aivina left the clinic, Adele, back in her seat, looked up at Shaer and whispered, “Thank you.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I know you’re helping me. Thank you.”
Adele shook her head. “I’ve always been a burden to those around me… My knowledge is too shallow.”
“Why do you say that?”
As Shaer listened, she realized something was off.
Setting aside matters of social etiquette, emotional intelligence, and the fact that Adele was too trusting, her knowledge could hardly be called shallow.
“After studying ‘poison crafting’ for so long, I didn’t even know what a ‘sexual health potion’ was. Shaer, can you lend me some money? I want to buy a few bottles and see if I can reverse-engineer…”
Before Adele could finish, Shaer interrupted her.
“Stop. Forget about that.”
Shaer raised her hand, her expression flat.
She had thought Adele might reflect on whether she was a bit too socially inept, but it turned out one shouldn’t try to understand Adele with normal reasoning.
However, Adele was obedient; when Shaer said to forget it, she almost immediately did.
“By the way, Shaer,”
Adele seemed to remember something, looking at Shaer, who was still standing there, and asked, “Are you here for a check-up?”
Shaer hadn’t left with Aivina; it seemed she had something to discuss.
“Oh, right, I wanted to borrow some research materials from you, to discuss and also ask about the ‘physician’ replication ritual.”
Shaer got to the point. “I want to learn.”
“You want to follow the ‘physician’ path?”
Adele blinked, her silver pupils revealing a hint of joy and anticipation.
The idea that a friend could walk the same path as her was enough to make Adele happy.
“I plan to understand it first,” Shaer replied. “I’ll decide after that.”
Upon hearing this, Adele immediately stood up, grabbed Shaer’s hand, and said, “Let’s go, come home with me. The materials are all at my place.”
Adele seemed particularly excited; she was determined to spark Shaer’s interest in medicine with the most basic knowledge in the shortest time.
Shaer didn’t refuse Adele’s invitation, and Adele pulled her along Gem Avenue, drawing the attention of many passersby—Adele’s home was just down the street.
As they passed an intersection, Shaer had the chance to help the hurried Adele button up her lab coat, covering her a bit—this was to avoid attracting too much attention.
At that moment, Shaer could feel a slight sense of defeat in Adele.
Close to 170 cm tall… at least a C+ size… such a perfect figure; would she ever have a chance to grow up like that?
Her body was still young; she should still have a chance… right…?
---
Chapter 166: The Basement, Imprisonment, Tara.
“This… how is this possible…”
Adele stared at the notebook in her hands, her mouth slightly agape.
Just moments ago, she had used the notebook to pose some questions to Shaer, wanting to gauge her foundational knowledge.
But to Adele’s surprise, even as she gradually increased the difficulty, Shaer maintained an accuracy rate of over 90%.
Adele looked up at Shaer, who was quickly flipping through literature beside her, feeling for the first time a sense of her own insignificance.
“You… really just started reading medical books today?”
Adele asked.
“I’ve read some intermittently before, but I didn’t finish them,” Shaer replied, placing the book on her lap and looking at Adele. “Are you done testing?”
Compared to Adele’s shock, Shaer appeared remarkably calm.
Since Adele had previously asked which books Shaer had read, her questions were mostly based on those texts.
For Shaer, this posed no challenge; with her photographic memory, these were merely easy questions.
The ones she got wrong were simply areas she hadn’t yet covered.
“Finished… testing…”
Adele nodded, somewhat reluctantly.
Then, looking at Shaer, her gaze grew resolute, and she said directly, “Let’s pursue the ‘physician’ path, Shaer.”
“You might be a super genius.”
Shaer chuckled and shook her head slightly, saying, “I just have a good memory.”
This remark seemed to completely shatter Adele’s psychological defenses. She tossed the notebook onto the table and slumped over it.
Heaven knows how torturous it was for her when she first started learning, memorizing all this.
In that moment, she even felt a pang of inferiority in front of Shaer—something she had never encountered on her journey to becoming a “physician.”
Adele, resting her head on the table, turned to look at Shaer, puffing out her cheeks and staring at her.
How wonderful… Shaer, so beautiful, gentle, elegant, and smart…
Envy, envy, envy, envy…
“What’s wrong?”
Noticing Adele’s somewhat forlorn expression, Shaer asked, puzzled, “Did I get a lot of questions wrong?”
“No.”
Adele sighed softly and asked, “Which school of ‘physician’ are you most interested in?”
There was no need for Adele to teach Shaer basic medical knowledge anymore, so she decided to jump straight to the extraordinary knowledge.
“School?”
This touched on a blind spot in Shaer’s knowledge. She asked, “What schools are there?”
Finally, there was a topic Shaer didn’t understand, and Adele straightened up, turning to face Shaer, her arms crossed over her chest as she said:
“You don’t know this? No way—let me explain it to you.”
“Currently, the Redemption Society is divided into three major schools—Healing School, Alchemy School, and Transformation School.”
“To put it simply…”
Adele paused briefly to organize her thoughts before continuing.
“Healing School specializes in using ‘ritual medicine’ and spiritual materials, employing their extraordinary abilities to heal patients. It’s the largest school in terms of membership.”
“Alchemy School excels at using various spiritual materials to create potions, treating themselves or others, or enhancing abilities. This is the school I mainly study.”
Table of Contents
