The next evening.
Around eight o'clock, Si Lei packed up and left the office, and the gray sky started to rain again.
She started the car and turned on the radio. The conversation between the two came from the stereo. The host was discussing with the meteorologist the unusually heavy rain in the Third District this winter - this is unprecedented weather in recent decades.
Winter in the northern part of Zone 3 is always cloudy but rarely rains.
Meteorologists calmly said that this may be related to the recent solar storm. This solar storm triggered a huge tsunami in the distant Longtail Ocean. The tsunami caused several volcanoes to erupt one after another, and a large amount of volcanic ash entered the stratosphere... which in turn caused Abnormal weather conditions occurred in many places.
Si Lei listened for a while and switched the radio station. The next second he heard another scholar banging on the table. The man was filled with indignation and said that some scientific researchers really didn't even need basic knowledge of the subject in order to gain attention - the eruption in the Changwei Ocean It would take at least half a year for the volcanic ash to cause such a drastic climate change in the third region.
Si Lei changed the channel again. In another program, several guests were discussing the impact of this continuous winter rain on grain production in the coming year.
She turned off the radio and listened to the rain.
Outside the car, the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the raindrops were dense in the light beam of the car lights.
…
Hesta had been wandering the streets of Tan Yi all day and night. She felt neither sleepy nor hungry, she just kept moving forward.
Along the way, there were several dark alleys that suddenly attracted her attention. She turned around and ran in without thinking.
However, at the end of the alley is still an unfamiliar street scene.
After going around in this way for many times, she finally realized in the chaos what she expected to see at the end of the alley - she longed to see the golden dome of the Palace of Fine Arts on Cannon Avenue.
Under the wash of the heavy rain, Hesta's mind regained some clarity again.
This is Tan Yi, not Bruno City.
There is no Cannon Avenue in Tan Yi, nor is there a golden-domed Palace of Fine Arts.
In a daze, Hesta looked around blankly. Soon, the images of Cannon Avenue and the Palace of Fine Arts in his mind faded, and everything became silent again. She stood there for a while, waiting for the dizziness in her head to pass, and then continued walking forward.
The heavy rain was like a gentle embrace, embracing the whole world and Hesta. The rain soaked her old uniform, and she was like a passer-by who had just woken up from countless dreams. She had no idea where she was, where she was going, or what she was going to do.
But just move forward...there is nothing wrong with moving forward.
The steps cannot stop.
Hesta was still walking aimlessly in the heavy rain, until a woman's sharp cry came from the distance. That person's voice was like a sharp knife tearing open the rain curtain, and also pierced Hesta out of her delirium - Those originally dull feelings suddenly returned to normal. At this moment, the sound of rain, the touch of wind, and the burning pain of every wound... became extremely clear.
Hesta walked quickly and soon found the source of the crying in front of a townhouse. There was a woman in a dark blue sarong who was being beaten in the rain. She huddled up in the mud and thanked her. The middle-aged man holding a whip in his hand was yelling and cursing as he struck the woman with the whip.
The woman on the ground was crying and begging for mercy. From the window of the building not far away, several children were crying and calling for their mother.
Hesta rushed forward and grabbed the riding whip that was flying in the air with almost no effort.
Before the man could turn around, the whip was already tightly tightened around his neck. He couldn't even let out a scared moan and rolled his eyes.
The woman who had fallen to the ground looked up blankly, and after a moment of astonishment, she screamed like crazy.
"Killing people!!! Killing people!!!"
"Someone is coming - kill someone, kill someone!!!"
Hesta came up and used all her strength, but it was so strange that even so, she couldn't immediately break the man's neck.
"Let him go!! Let him go!!"
Some harmless fists fell on Hesta, and she knew it was the woman who did it. Although she didn't understand why, she didn't have the energy to think about it at the moment.
The man's twisting limbs kept splashing water on the ground, and his movements gradually became smaller.
The woman finally realized that she couldn't pull away from the big man who suddenly appeared, and a deeper despair crept onto her face. In the heavy rain, she ran back to her yard crying, picked up a wooden stick, and hit the uninvited guest hard on the back of the head.
When the stick fell, Hesta immediately let go of her hand. She fell into the rain, almost unconscious from the pain.
The woman cried and helped her husband up, dragging him back home.
Several nearby families looked curiously at the man who fell in the rain from behind their curtains. After a while, someone came out with an umbrella to see if the person was dead.
However, before they could get closer, Hesta stood up again. She covered the back of her head and stood up crookedly.
"Hey!" Someone shouted behind her, "Are you okay? I called an ambulance for you."
Hesta's body stiffened for a moment, and the woman's sap suddenly seemed to dispel the fog in her mind. At this moment, she finally remembered why she was wandering here.
Can't stay here.
cannot……
In the rain, Hesta ran as hard as she could again, blood running down the back of her neck and staining her collar.
They lied to me...
They all lied to me.
Mother……
There are too many bad people in the world...
Endless killing.
In a daze, Hesta walked through several more streets. When she reached an intersection again, she felt someone grabbing her wrist.
Looking back, she saw two completely unfamiliar faces.
"Hello!" The person wearing a raincoat showed her his ID, "Are you Eureka, right? We are security personnel at the nearby mercury needle workstation. Ten minutes ago, there was an alarm in your data. We found this place based on the chip coordinates. ...Are you okay? Are you injured or sick?"
Hesta tried to break free.
"I am fine."
"You'd better come back with us for a check-up. Your current condition is very——"
"I do not need……"
"Please cooperate!"
"Let go——"
A black car suddenly honked its horn in the distance. Si Lei got out of the car with an umbrella and quickly showed his ID to the two security personnel at the workstation. After discovering that Si Lei was affiliated with both the Third District Police Headquarters and the Bell Tower Workstation in Core City, the two of them saluted Si Lei at the same time.
Si Lei returned the favor and briefly introduced the origins of the murder photography investigation team to the two people in front of him.
"In short, although the current investigation has entered the final stage, it is not officially over yet," Si Lei said calmly, "You cannot forcibly take away any mercury needles in our team."
"But Youleka's current condition is very bad——"
"That's not something you need to consider."
