"...Okay, thank you."
"Are you tired?"
"No." Hesta whispered, "Is it very far?"
"It's not far, about twenty minutes." Yu Xuekun replied, "Let's take a nap in the car."
The car drove onto the early morning streets. Even though they were far away from the work station at this moment, white smoke was still rising in the neighborhood where fierce fighting took place last night.
The smoke rose slowly in the windless sky and was visible across the city.
In the driveway, Yu Xuekun looked in the rearview mirror from time to time. Hesta noticed the gaze and looked straight into the other person's eyes in the mirror.
Their eyes met again, and Yu Xuekun smiled awkwardly, "Sorry."
"It's okay, what's wrong?"
"Can I ask," Yu Xuekun held the steering wheel with both hands, "Who is this person you are looking for, this 'Eugali'?"
"Friends," Hesta replied.
"But Qianye told me that you grew up in District 3, and rarely came to District 14 when you were on missions later. How did you meet?"
"...We just met in the past two days." Hesta turned his head and looked at Yu Xuekun's face, "Are you familiar with Miss Qianye?"
"It's hard to say. I haven't seen her once in eight hundred years," Yu Xuekun laughed, "but she often instructs me to do this and that."
Hesta laughed, "It sounds like Miss Chiba trusts you."
"Yes," Yu Xuekun shrugged lightly, "otherwise I wouldn't be able to leave you to me."
The two of them were silent for a moment.
Hesta looked forward and suddenly asked: "The thing that appeared at the workstation last night was indeed chelate, right?"
"You ask me?" Yu Xuekun was obviously a little surprised, "Weren't you the one who fought with them last night?"
"Just asking," Hesta whispered, "If it is chelate, then the next move of the residents here -"
"We have stopped moving here a long time ago. Chelation disease is not terrible. The incubation period is so long and the symptoms are so obvious. As long as we do follow-up disinfection and observation, it will be fine," Yu Xuekun replied, "The third district is still there. Use the quarantine methods of the past to curb chelation disease?”
"Yes." Hesta replied, "This is more thorough."
"...Ha, this method is not suitable for District 14," Yu Xuekun laughed, "You can't let a person from District 14 give up the land all the time, especially when that land is her hometown."
Hesta glanced in the direction of Yu Xuekun, "What does your job scope roughly include?"
"What do you mean, are you talking about my current work content or-"
"No," Hesta's voice was slightly softer, "It's just about things I can come to you for."
"Theoretically," Yu Xuekun smiled, "anything."
Hearing this answer, Hesta frowned, "...Really?"
"...But actually, it doesn't mean that I can help you solve all your problems," Yu Xuekun adjusted the steering wheel and turned, "It just means that no matter what the problem is, you can bring it to me for discussion, and then Let's see how we work it out - you can think of me as your counselor on base.
"But I am different from them. I am not responsible to any organization except you and Chiba. So when necessary, I may leak the content of our conversation to Chiba, but other than that, there will be no fourth party." I personally know what we talked about... You can feel free to leave the confusion you encountered to me." Yu Xuekun glanced at Hesta again, "Can you understand this?"
"Probably." Hesta looked out the window again, "But I don't think there's anything special I need help with."
"What is your language level now? How much have you learned in the past month?" Yu Xuekun asked, "Can you go shopping alone?"
"...You can buy things." Hesta replied in a low voice, "But it doesn't rely on words."
"Qianye didn't find a language teacher for you on the ship?"
Hesta shook her head.
"Then it's been more than a month since you got off the ship. Do you have an interpreter accompanying you?"
Hesta continued to shake her head.
"...Qianye just left you behind like that?"
Just as Hesta was about to retort, Yu Xuekun threw a small black box towards her, and she caught it with one hand.
"What is this?" Hesta asked.
"Translator." Yu Xuekun replied, "The accuracy is average, but it should be enough to cope with daily life for now. You don't have to worry too much about language problems. Most people in Orange Town can speak some common language."
While the two were chatting, Yu Xuekun parked the car in a parking space on the side of the road.
Hesta got off the car from the other side and when she was about to leave, she suddenly found that the parking space was stuck very accurately - she was concentrating on studying the translator in her hand just now, and she didn't realize that the private cars in front and behind were almost beyond the cars on the ground. The line just follows the outline of Yu Xuekun's car.
"Come on?" Yu Xuekun stood at the entrance of the corridor and waved to Hesta, "On the third floor."
Hesta quickly caught up.
…
This is a small apartment with two bedrooms and one living room. All the furniture in the living room has been covered with white cloth. It looks like it has been abandoned for a long time, but there is no dust on the cloth.
"I was transferred to Orange Town the year before last, but I have to come back from time to time... I have always kept the house here." Yu Xuekun took out two pairs of the same black cotton slippers from the shoe cabinet in the entrance, "But usually there is no one there. If you stay here, I will tidy up the living room and bedroom."
Hesta followed her all the way to the study, opened the door, turned on the light, and saw a small, square room in front of her. At first glance, the whole room is very plain and pure, but if you look closely, you will see that the room is actually full of things - just like the house that Miss Valenti rented in the province of Nia, every corner of the place is filled with large and small objects. Filled to the brim.
The difference from Miss Valenti's place is that in Yu Xuekun's study, except for the light yellow lights, most of the things here are white and green, but in different shades.
A narrow and long wooden table separated one-third of the room from the window. The tablecloth was painted with layers of monstera, and the computer and keyboard were placed on it. A small red alarm clock stood next to the mouse, looking out of place compared to everything around it.
Yu Xuekun glanced at the low sofa next to the wooden table and asked, "Sit down?"
Hesta did not answer. She walked slowly along the cabinet at hand, and her eyes quickly fell on a turtle shell.
"...I've seen this before," Hesta pointed to the turtle shell and the doily with the gossip painted on it. "Is it used for divination?"
"interested in you?"
Hesta shook his head, "Someone has done the math for me before, although I didn't use this prop."
"Where?"
"Near Vyborg."
"That's normal," Yu Xuekun turned on the computer. "People from the South 14th District often go there to go mountain climbing on vacation... or something like that."
