When I saw Chiba again, it was already the evening of this Thursday.
Chiba originally proposed to take Hesta out for a ride, but Morley refused outright.
"I protest, Molly," Qianye frowned, "As a guardian, why can't I take Hesta out for a walk? Does the base have to interfere when I fulfill my obligations?"
Morley said calmly: "If you really care about your obligations as you say, then you should understand the rules and regulations of the base in advance: to take students out of the base, you need to make an appointment at least one day in advance - not like Now, if you come here casually, you will take people away."
Qianye waited for a while and saw that Mo Li was determined not to open the back door, so she had to give up.
"There is nothing we can do." Chiba shrugged lightly and looked at Hesta, "Then let's walk around the base."
Hesta did not speak and silently followed Qianye away.
The two walked near the playground. There were young people running in groups in twos and threes under the sunset. In the golden sunset, Hesta suddenly saw a black tattoo on Chiba's neck - it was hidden by the collar of the sweater when they last met. , and now I looked closely and realized that it was a string of sentences composed of letters. Each letter was stretched thin and high, like a row of dense black fences.
The sentences composed of these letters were not in a language Hesta was familiar with.
Chiba took out a small silver key and waved it in front of Hesta, "Here, take it."
The key fell into Hesta's palm, and the girl looked at her with some confusion, "What is this?"
"That newspaper clipping." Chiba replied, "I deposited it in Grayscale Bank in your name. If you need to take it away later, just bring your ID and this key."
Hesta was startled and her eyes dimmed slightly, "...Thank you."
"How are you feeling, this time?"
"Um?"
"Why do you look so stupid?" Qianye laughed, "You can't be scared by that bastard, right?"
Hesta looked up at Chiba: "What do you think, Miss Chiba, why should you cancel the restraining order on Sean?"
"Because that thing is useless." Chiba glanced at Hesta, "Is it useful?"
Hestad didn't answer immediately.
She softly recounted what happened that night when there was a sudden power outage in the teaching building, and how Sean might have been using the surveillance system in the teaching building to observe her for more than half a month.
"Let me tell you." Qianye snapped his fingers, "With unrealistic illusions and pinning hopes on this system, hoping that it can protect you with all kinds of complex rules, the final result is Give the perpetrators a stronger incentive to circumvent the rules. They will prepare in the shadows until they think the new time is ripe... At that time, you will only face greater trouble."
"But what's the use of Miss Chiba's 'little gift'?" Hesta asked, "Sean has awakened for the second time."
"So what if I awaken for the second time?"
"If he is strong enough to compete with the chelate, it will make no difference whether I hold a gun or not." Hesta raised his head, but deliberately lowered his voice, "Once he enters bullet time, he can easily catch the gun I shot. bullets, and even took the gun away to threaten me."
Chiba smiled, "Since you are so afraid of bullet time, have you ever tried to understand its limitations?"
Hesta paused, "...I asked Liz, but she didn't tell me."
Chiba looked forward, "Liz has always been a good and well-behaved child. It's normal that she didn't tell you... What other channels did you use to inquire about this issue?"
"I went to the archives, but my authority was too low. Many reference materials related to mercury needle research were not open to me. Then I searched the base's official news, trying to find records related to combat casualties, but the news There were no details in it, so I changed my mind again. I went to the library and looked for all the memoirs I could find written by people who survived the infected area, and pulled up a book list——"
"This may not be of much use," Chiba interrupted. "Publications need to be reviewed before publication, and all sensitive descriptions of mercury needles will be deleted."
"Okay... Then I saved a lot of time." Hesta replied, "Because I haven't had time to read these books yet."
"Very good, Jane." Qianye's voice became slightly calmer, "The more fearful something is, the more people should take the initiative to understand it."
"So...Miss Chiba's answer is?"
Chiba did not answer immediately, but instead asked, "What about Sean? How much do you know about him?"
"I don't know," Hesta said softly, "If I apply to the base for access to his information, he will definitely know... I don't want to give him a look now."
"Isn't this too pessimistic?"
"……how to say?"
Qianye raised his eyebrows slightly, "Even if Sean is in an advantageous position now, as long as he doesn't completely defeat you, he has to worry about your counterattack. He has unilaterally announced the start of the battle, but you feel that this is just Is it reasonable to be a fool and not even bother to understand your enemy?”
"Obviously it was Miss Chiba who said this was just an 'ordinary quarrel between students'——"
"Strategically, of course, this is just an ordinary friction," Chiba interrupted Hesta, "but this does not prevent us from formulating a strict counterattack strategy for it - think about it with your little head, you What kind of rules do you want to set for the other party?”
……rule.
Hesta thought about this word and looked at Chiba again.
"Sean invaded your life with his methods. This is an act of violence, Jane. Violence has no boundaries. Its boundaries only depend on the reactions of both parties."
"It's like saying he punched you." Chiba clenched his fists and made a preparatory movement for punching. "You didn't fight back, you just ran away trying to hide further. Then you are telling him, 'I didn't. If you have the ability to fight back, come and punch me a second time.' Or if you drag a few friends with you and try to hide behind them, you are telling them, 'There is no way to break through frontally. Come and find other loopholes.' '.
"The more you try to hide behind something, the more your shortcomings will be exposed. If you continue like this, you will end up crying all day long, grabbing Molly or Fletcher's sleeves and saying Sean bullied me, or you will end up crying all day long. Terrified. At that time, your good life will only depend on when he is busy with other things, or loses interest in you completely - do you want to live like this, Jane? "
"Um...don't want to."
Chiba nodded with satisfaction, "Then you have to get to know your enemy. Sean is actually quite interesting. He and Calvin made several big news when they were first picked up from Hecla. To the point of being on the front page of newspapers.”
"...Really?" Hestad was a little confused. "I used Liz's computer to search for newspapers and periodicals archived by the base, but I couldn't find any news about them."
"What keywords did you use?"
"Sean, Calvin, Gringoire...have tried them all."
"You should use 'Hekla'." Chiba replied. "Most mercury needles use combat codes instead of names. The reserve members did not even have code names before they were transferred. The outside world calls them the 'Hekla Brothers' ’, of course you can’t find it by name.”
