The night wind at high places is still a bit cool.
Hesta was covered with a thin blanket and pushed onto the highest observation deck by Chiba.
It took some trouble to get around the nurse on duty outside. Chiba tried her best but still couldn't get the other party's permission. She couldn't understand, pointed at Hesta and smiled at the nurse: "Madam! She only has a broken rib, not dying!"
Hesta was impressed by the nurse's shocked expression. She guessed that if this was land instead of sea, maybe the nurse would have called the police.
Gustav's screams and Su Lei's soothing sounds could be heard in the distance, and the distant cries made the originally quiet night noisy. The aftermath tonight did not seem to bring comfort to Gustave, but instead made him fall into greater panic.
"Will he survive until tomorrow?" Hesta asked.
"That depends on how capable Si Lei is." Chiye squatted down next to Hesta. She turned to look at Hesta, "Do you hope he survives?"
"I don't know, I'm an outsider," Hesta said softly, "Ana, are you okay?"
"It's okay, her situation has always been very dangerous." Qianye said softly, "It can only be said to be a miracle that she can survive until now."
"Because she always does dangerous things?"
"...Yes!" Chiba nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, she always does dangerous things, but external factors also play a large role. There are too many people who want her life. , without Zero, she wouldn’t last a day on this ship.”
"I know."
"You know?" Chiba laughed, "What do you know?"
"I know that Gobelin wanted Anna's life, and the shooting at the Grace Theater was aimed at her," Hesta said softly, "I can see that Anna is pretending not to know anything, and then putting these The people who came to assassinate her all acted together...while she just stayed behind the scenes and watched the show, and she liked it."
Chiba raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "Who knows?"
Gustav's heart-wrenching cry could be heard in the distance, and the quarrels stopped. It seemed that Si Lei's comfort was effective. Hesta looked at the time. It was almost an hour since Si Lei left the ward...
"Miss Chiba."
"Um?"
"Have you ever been in a situation like mine?"
"What, broken bones?"
"...for a long time, losing the ability to fight."
"No, but I understand. You also feel that this loser is a little impatient, don't you?"
Hesta laughed, but the ups and downs caused by her breathing immediately caused severe pain in her chest. Her face twisted into a ball, and it took a long time before she regained her composure.
Hesta buried her chin in the blanket, "...I thought I saw Sophie, Miss Chiba, the night before yesterday."
"Sophie..." Chiba recalled for a while, "Oh, that little girl."
"I've always been afraid of seeing her eyes, but she seems to be everywhere," Hestad said in a low voice, "and every time I stopped taking the medicine, I would see her or the people around her."
Qianye glanced sideways in surprise: "Are you afraid of her? Why are you afraid of her?"
Hesta shook her head, "...I'm not afraid anymore."
"Aren't you afraid anymore?"
"Well, because I chose her—and I don't mean Sophie."
Chiba frowned again when she heard this, and this expression made Hesta laugh again - she knew that her words were not easy to understand, because she only had some vague thoughts in her heart, and once these thoughts came to her mouth Bian, it seems that nothing is right no matter what you say.
What are you afraid of?
Hesta blinked.
Maybe it's the fear of discovering that the end of revenge is nothingness, the fear that everything will be in vain in the end, the fear that all struggles will be new sharp edges in the end, the fear of exhausting all efforts to uncover the curtain of fate, only to find that there is no end.
...the end.
She looked at the endless night in front of her, feeling that the sea breeze was blowing away all her worries.
Once a person realizes that everything is her own choice, she will immediately understand how to take responsibility for her destiny. It is not some monolith mixed with mysticism and agnosticism...but responsibility. Because in this world, the person who makes the choice is often not the one who ultimately bears the cost, so everything seems so cruel, as if everything is impermanent.
Just like Chiba and her, she and Sophie, even... Gobelin and the thorn monks on the ship.
"Anyway, I'm very satisfied with your current condition. If there are any other problems later, we'll see about it," Chiba broke the silence, "I took a risk, and now it seems that the risk was worth taking. "
"...How did Miss Chiba make up her mind?" Hesta looked at her, "Just a gamble?"
"It's not all a gamble. I asked a lot of doctors I think I can trust, and also checked some cases similar to yours. Do you know what kind of pattern I discovered?"
"What?"
"Most people suggested conservative treatment to me. Less than 10% of people suggested other methods, but they all had a common background."
Hesta waited quietly for the next step.
"Most of these doctors who advised me to get rid of drug dependence as soon as possible have more than two years of mercury injection combat experience, and several of them have also participated in high-risk combat." Chiba looked into Hesta's eyes, "So, even if there are few of them, , I decided to listen to them - they are us, and they know who we are. If everyone in a place treats you as a patient, as time goes by, you will forget who you are."
Hesta leaned on the wheelchair, "...I can't."
"Well," Qianye smiled and gently hit Hesta's forehead, "I know you won't-"
Before he finished speaking, the big iron door in the distance was kicked open with a bang.
Chiba and Hesta turned back at the same time and saw Rico standing menacingly in the door frame, rolling up his sleeves.
"When the nurse told me that you took the person away by force, I was still wondering if there was some misunderstanding..." Rico glared at Chiba, his voice full of anger, "I knew... none of your words counted. ! Who said, 'She will definitely not come out of here tonight'?"
"Forget it, 'the door here' does not refer to the door of the ward," Chiba pointed towards the bow of the ship, "I actually mean the door of the disembarkation port."
Li Ge took a long stride, and in the end he ran quickly. He raised his hand and punched Chiba, but Chiba leaned back and dodged it.
Li Ge did not stop. She was so angry that she chased after Qianye and shouted: "You are also a liar! A big liar!"
Hesta froze on the spot: "Lego, please listen to my explanation..."
Chiba ran out a few steps, then circled back, circling the wheelchair and Li Ge. Li Ge saw that this person was close at hand, but couldn't catch him, so he jumped in anger.
"I suddenly remembered," Qianye suddenly looked towards Hesta, "Who has that key, the golden key, now? You or Rico?"
(End of chapter)
