Everything slowed down.
Sean felt that the mercury needle had appeared not far from him, but so what, he had already broken through the door of Hesta's ward.
He knew there were only a few nurses in the room, so there was nothing to fear.
Following the sound, Sean rushed straight to where Hestad was, and everything went as smoothly as he expected.
Hesta was in the bathroom at the far end of the ward.
When he opened the last door, he saw that familiar face.
"H--"
In this narrow space, everything was dim. Broken mirror fragments were everywhere on the ground. Some red bath salts spilled on the ground, along with brown medicine jars. Some medicine bottles have been trampled to pieces, and the toothbrush and toothbrush originally placed on the sink have also fallen to the ground, mixed with a few towels among the dark red bath salts, as if they were stained with blood.
Sean's evil smile suddenly froze on his face - he saw the bathtub filled with dark brown water, and a pungent smell rushed into his nostrils.
Some dead memories suddenly flashed back.
The next moment, the watcher rushed in. She clamped Sean's arm and trampled him to the ground.
"Are you guys okay?"
Several nurses were shocked by this sudden change, but fortunately by the time they reacted, the danger was over.
Hesta was still sitting in the bathtub panting. She was wearing a blue and white hospital gown and her hands were tightly grasping the edge of the bathtub.
…
When Chiba came back, Hesta had changed her clothes and fell asleep on the bed.
From the doctors' accounts, Chiba roughly understood what happened: From the moment she heard Sean's voice in the corridor, Hesta suddenly became manic. She pushed away several nurses around her and uttered several words. An inarticulate cry.
In hindsight, the nurses thought it might have been Hesta's warning to those around her to leave.
This news was half frightening and half surprising to Chiba - Hesta not only sensed the danger in advance today and responded in her own way, but according to the nurses, she also briefly stood in the bathtub today .
Chiba didn't have time to think about other things and hurried back to Hesta's ward.
When it was confirmed that Hesta was really unharmed, Chiba breathed a sigh of relief. She fell down on the chair next to her and covered her eyes with her hands.
When she opened her eyes again, Hesta was already awake and looking at her.
Hesta stretched out her hand towards her, and Chiba dragged the chair towards the bed.
"Good afternoon," Chiba held Hesta's hand and tried to smile, "Do you recognize my Hesta today, or do you not recognize my Hesta?"
Hesta's eyes showed some doubts.
"...Qianye," she grabbed one of Qianye's fingers, "You are...Qianye."
"Okay, it's Hesta who can recognize me." Chiba laughed, "Then do you still remember who you are?"
Hesta's expression became even more confused, "You, you have... called my name...?"
"It's really good. I got two questions right in a row."
Chiba stood up and pushed the wheelchair in the corner over.
"Come on, let's go for a walk first. I have something to tell you."
…
The two returned to the ground, and Chiba pushed Hesta into the vibrant tree-lined avenue again.
Although it was a cloudy day, the light on the ground was still very strong. Hesta raised his hand to cover his eyes for a while, and then simply put on his hat again.
Deep in the path, the two stopped next to a huge dead tree. Chiba sat on a bench by the roadside, facing Hesta.
"I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"
"……bad news."
"After some time, I have a mission that I have to go on. This trip may take at least more than two months."
Hesta sat where he was, his expression not changing much.
Chiba took the initiative, "The good news is, I can take you with me."
Hesta was silent for a long time and shook her head.
"Why?" Chiba asked.
"I..." Hesta raised his left hand and waved it in the air in despair, "I am now...completely..."
Chiba held Hesta's hand again. After a moment of silence, she whispered, "Chiba Masaki is not actually my name. Have I told you?"
Hesta was startled and shook her head.
"My original name was a string of numbers, 40392."
"...your number?"
"It is indeed a number, but it is not the sequence of the mercury needle. This is just a coincidence." Qianye pinched Hesta's nails, "I was born on an island in District 14. You know, there are people who have been trying to train themselves. A batch of mercury needles, theoretically speaking, after mastering the technology of identifying mercury needles, as long as enough samples are screened, some mercury needles can always be found.
"However, the efficiency of finding mercury needles through this method is still too low, and once the publicity is high, it is easy to be targeted by AHgAs. Therefore, some people have the idea of chelates-if the patient suffers from chelation disease, If a person can achieve a substantial improvement in physical fitness, then the same principle should also apply to ordinary people. The only problem is how to make things controllable.
"The place where I was born is a base dedicated to this kind of experiment."
Hesta's expression became serious.
"The island is isolated from the world, and the islanders are self-sufficient. It is almost like a small country, and AHgAs has never noticed it. Since we were sensible, I and some other people have been looking forward to the twelve-year-old mercury needle selection, which determines the fate of our lives. day.
“Half a year before the selection day, we will enter an underground bunker, just like the base here, and start a collective life.
"After the selection day, those who become Mercury Needles will stay, a small number of outstanding members will work in the bunker, and the rest will directly 'graduate' and take a boat to the main continent of District 14 to start a new life there.
"Before we go there, we also need to sign a very complicated confidentiality agreement with the base. The base promises us that all graduates will enter the habitable place as wasteland immigrants... a difficult childhood in exchange for a life of food and clothing. There’s no better deal for the rest of your life.”
Hesta lowered her eyes slightly, "There are no...immigration, right?"
"That's definitely not the case. Such words can only be used to deceive children, and only children will believe it." Qianye said with a smile, "At that time, the base had not produced new mercury needles for more than ten years, and no one among us could I didn’t expect it to be.”
Hesta tried to sit up straight, "Miss Chiba..."
Chiba patted the back of Hesta's hand and continued, "After entering the bunker, I made the first friend in my life. She was an outstanding selector from the previous class and was responsible for taking care of our daily life.
"Chiba Masaki, that's her name."
