Why it never ends

Chapter 1006 Argument

"When did it start..." Hesta murmured softly.

Ximoya frowned, feeling both amused and contemptuous at Hesta's incoherent reaction. She turned to leave, but Hesta grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?" Ximoya stared at Hesta, "Let go--"

"Since when did you start to hate me so much?" Hesta looked at her. "In the beginning, you did find me troublesome and didn't listen to my advice, but it doesn't seem to be to this extent now. Did I do something that made you extremely disgusted... or did I do something that made Kende extremely disgusted?"

Ximoya broke away from Hesta's hand: "Do you think that the love and hate of everyone in this world will eventually come down to personal grudges - shallow!"

Ximoya's voice attracted the attention of several people nearby. She immediately stopped talking and turned to go to a higher place. After walking six or seven steps, she turned back to make sure Hesta didn't follow her. Hesta didn't follow her. She just stood there, looking at herself thoughtfully.

Ximoya felt some pain in her wrist at this time, but Hesta's gaze made her feel even more uneasy. She was not sure if she had said too much just now, and whether it would cause Hesta to have some unnecessary suspicion and association.

……

As it approached twelve o'clock, the noise in the meeting room stopped. Soon, the lights in the hall dimmed a little, and a huge white curtain slowly descended from above the podium. Hesta could see that the equipment here was very old. The curtain got stuck several times on the way, but finally fell down completely without any danger. The last time she saw such a curtain was probably in some teaching building in District 14 that was about to be demolished and rebuilt. It really didn't seem like something that would appear in such a magnificent hall.

Then, many chat windows appeared on the screen, and officials from the third district came online. It was almost five in the morning, and it was dark outside the window. In two of the small windows, Hesta even saw Kende and Arevalo with serious expressions. During the one hour of chaos in the meeting hall of District 12, officials from District 3 also held intensive discussions.

Arevalo spoke first. He expressed his deep sympathy for the accident that happened in Emangria tonight, and then reiterated that District Three would not interfere excessively in the internal affairs of District Twelve. All the troops stationed there were to protect the mother city of District Twelve from the threat of rebels. Therefore, District Three did not intend to join the discussion on how the District Twelve government should deal with terrorists next.

This speech shocked many people in the meeting room. Just when many people were getting uneasy, Arevalo said, "I personally think that before we really start discussing how to deal with it, we should at least figure out what happened tonight."

"We have already had sufficient discussion on this point." Tang An said, "Before the connection, I have already shown you -"

"I received some information," Arevalo said, "that a group of Mercury Needles had already begun evacuating citizens from the Mercury Needles' safe zone before the killing machines became active. Is that right?"

Everyone was stunned again.

"Perhaps Ms. Kende has something to say about this?" Arevalo left the last words and cut away from the main screen.

Kendai's face appeared on the big screen. "I haven't received any reports yet," Kendai replied calmly. "As far as I know, the Mercury Needle Team that recently arrived in District 12 is here to eliminate the 'assassin'. If they found any traces of terrorists at the scene, it would be reasonable for them to react in advance."

"But the Cauchy workstation received a suspicious box tonight that may contain chelating bacteria," Arevalo continued. "Are you trying to say that terrorists intend to retaliate against the citizens in this way?"

"I know nothing about what happened tonight, but I believe that when citizens are in danger, all Mercury Needles will step forward." Kendai said, "Also, I am afraid I have to point out that AHgAs does not care who is the legitimate government on this land. We will not let ourselves be involved in armed conflicts in any region. If you intend to use the early actions of several Mercury Needles in the downtown area tonight as an excuse to ask AHgAs to also intervene in the elimination plan against the Liberal Party in District 12, I can only say that you should give up this idea as soon as possible."

Before Kende finished speaking, the entire meeting hall was in an uproar.

Tang An banged the gavel several times, asking everyone to be quiet. Then, he looked at the screen and said in a deep voice, "Ms. Kendai, please explain what you mean by 'not caring about who is the legitimate government on this land'. Does an organization that launches indiscriminate attacks on innocent citizens not constitute a terrorist organization in your opinion?"

"No offense, but there is no absolute and unconditional boundary. In essence, so-called terrorist attacks are violent activities, just like wars. Although in theory war is armed people fighting armed people, and civilians are not military targets, in reality, there is no difference between the two - everyone here should know this better than me." Kendai said softly, "The rebellion in the south has a long history. What happened tonight, how you sitting in the meeting room will describe it, and how the people sitting in another mountain command will describe it, is meaningless to AHgAs. Please accept this fact: AHgAs only exists to eliminate chelation disease, and we do not interfere in any local affairs."

"But if terrorists try to grow chelates for use as weapons—"

"That's impossible." Kendai interrupted Tang An. "Once the disease occurs, the chelate is no longer under any control. Any goals, beliefs, and concepts of good and evil that one had before death will no longer exist. No one can use the chelate as a weapon."

"What if we use the spread of chelated bacteria as a means to launch biological warfare?" Arevalo said, "With the current deployment of AHgAs in District 12, it shouldn't be able to cope with it, right?"

"District 12 is an exception," Kendai said. "In the remaining thirteen districts, the main task of AHgAs is to prevent and control local chelation diseases. In District 12, our only task right now is to protect the Mother City and prevent it from being destroyed by a possible chelation tide."

"This is ridiculous—" Someone stood up in the meeting room. "I heard that last November, Mercury Needle suffered heavy casualties in the Fayalar Wasteland, and the accident report has not been released yet. Have the chelates there been cleaned up? Has the chelation disease prevention and treatment work been completed? There was no news, and AHgAs began a large-scale evacuation—they said they were protecting the mother city, but they just ran away because they ran into a tough problem! Make the accident report public. We have the right to know the truth!"

Kende was silent for a while, and all her expressions were clearly visible on the huge screen.

"Considering the poor security situation in Emanlia," Kendai said calmly, "we do plan to introduce another batch of mercury needles in the near future—"

"No need." A voice interrupted Kende, "District 12 does not need any more mercury needles."