Hesta again reached out as hard as she could.
"Okay." The woman looked at her, "After you called the police, about 3 minutes later, we arrived at the scene with people. At that time, the entire monastery was already in flames. We quickly discovered and solved the problem Dean Irma, but putting out fires is not our specialty.
"Although the fire brigade of Tan Yi City immediately started to rush in, there was a mountain road in between, so it was too late to put out the fire anyway. But you don't have to worry too much. My colleagues and I had already put out all the fires before the fire engulfed the entire building. All the children in the living room were taken away from the monastery, so the casualties caused by chelation this time were not significant."
Hesta's breathing became violent, and she had strong doubts in her heart - what about Bo Heng in the solitary room?
Did you find him and rescue him?
But she couldn't speak or express.
"I will come see you again after a while." The woman's hand reached out and touched Hesta's head, "My name is Chiba, Chiba Masaki, and I am a member of the Chelate Hunting and Epidemic Prevention Organization AHgAs Leader of the subordinate 403 team, nice to meet you."
…
…
A month later, Hestad was discharged from the hospital safely.
During this month, every day, she still woke up as early as she did at St. Anne's Abbey, but this time, she no longer had to quickly get dressed and get out of bed to ring the morning bell.
Most of the time, she lay blindfolded and alone in the hospital bed, feeling the pain gradually extinguishing in her body.
Hesta thought back to the past. At some moments, she even had some vague hallucinations. Everything that happened that night was not real, it was just a nightmare. Maybe after waking up, everything would be the same as before.
It wasn't until Chiba came to see her for the second time two weeks later that Hesta was still unable to see but could speak.
That day, Chiba brought an invitation letter, inviting Hesta to join her organization.
"Chelate hunter?" Hesta took it suspiciously, "Me?"
Chiba laughed, "I haven't heard anyone call us 'chelate hunters' for a long time. We are indeed a monastery that practices asceticism... This is a title that was only used by people a few centuries ago." "
"Then what should I call you?" Hesta's fingertips touched the words "AHgAs" on the top of the invitation, "...What is the abbreviation of this?"
"AHgA," Chiba explained quickly, "the full name is Anti-Homogenization Agent (Anti-Homogenization Agent), which refers specifically to those individuals among humans who can rely on their own talents to independently resist the erosion of chelation disease - because of this name It’s too hard to pronounce, and it happens to contain Hg, so in informal situations, people mostly call us ‘mercury needles’. Maybe you have heard this name somewhere before?”
"Mercury needle..." Hesta repeated in a low voice.
This title made the girl feel somewhat familiar.
Chiba looked at Hesta and continued: "You can understand this identity as a talent - there are 1.9 billion people living in this world, but the number of mercury needles is only about 4,000. In other words, those who become mercury needles The probability is about one in a million.
"On the night we killed the chelate, we suspected that there might be a gifted child in St. Anne's Abbey because the chelate showed slight signs of poisoning - probably because it was contaminated with Or caused by consuming blood from mercury needles.
"Although you are indeed seriously injured, the chelation disease spores in your body have basically metabolized themselves in the first week - in other words, you are just like us, you will never be infected with chelation." A sick person, Miss Hestad."
Hesta's voice was calm, "...Is there something wrong?"
"Hahaha, there is no mistake," Qianye rubbed his nose, "Although the current chelation disease is not as active as it was more than ten years ago - we still urgently need new people... Are you willing? Join us?"
At that time, Hesta, who was still blindfolded, frowned and didn't answer anything.
"Of course, this is a very important decision... I have to give you some time to think about it, right?" Chiba laughed, "We have a high-risk profession here, but the good news is that you can apply for retirement when you are 25 years old. Although in most cases-"
"Miss Chiba?" Hesta turned her head in the direction of Chiba, "Can I ask you a few questions?"
"you say."
"Behind the main church of St. Anne's Monastery, there is a row of old houses. There is a solitary room at the north end of the second floor. On the night of the incident, a fourteen-year-old black-haired boy was locked up there - is he okay?"
"I have no impression. Let me ask."
Chiba stood up and went to the corridor outside to make a phone call. When she came back, Hesta immediately turned to face her, "How was it?"
Qianye pondered for a moment: "Two bad news and one good news, which one should I hear first?"
Hesta's face turned pale, "...bad news."
"The team members in charge of the search and rescue at that time did consider that there might be something missing, so they went in and ran through several buildings in St. Anne's Monastery one by one - even the basement, but except for you, they didn't find anything. other people."
Hesta's breathing became rapid, her nose suddenly felt sore, and the tip of her nose began to slowly turn red.
"The good news is," Chiba continued on his own, "according to the news from the security team, apart from the chelate, there were only two remains found at the scene, one of an old man and one of a child - presumably You should know who they are."
Hesta was stunned for a moment - yes, she knew, those were poor Sister Gerdin and Frasan.
"Didn't you find the third person?"
"Yes, no."
"...What's the other bad news?"
Chiba looked directly into Hesta's gauze-wrapped eyes, "This can't be regarded as news, more like a speculation - when we arrived at the monastery, the chelate was lurking in the confessional behind the main church, where... …It’s very close to the solitary confinement room you mentioned.”
Under Qianye's explanation, Hesta finally understood what she was referring to - during the three minutes when the Mercury Needles were absent, Bo Heng had most likely been attacked. There are many explanations for "there is no body at the scene". The most likely one is that he may have fallen into the rapids under the cliff where St. Anne's Monastery is located in the chaos, and it is indeed easy for his body to be lost.
"Don't be too desperate, he may still be alive... If you can provide more information about this boy, we can help you search in the Severn Mountains area."
…
At that time, Chiba said so.
Now, more than half a month has passed since the night of the incident, and Hesta has never heard from Bo Heng again. The fire burned away most traces of that night, and no one knew Bo Heng's whereabouts.
Today, Hesta's injury has fully recovered. She put on the clothes Qianye prepared for her and sat alone in the corridor of the hospital waiting for Qianye to pick her up and leave the hospital.
Qianye promised her that she could take her back to the place of origin today, and she promised Qianye that she would get an answer today - an answer on whether to add mercury needles.
