Why it never ends

Chapter 30 Bullet Confinement and the Acheron Moment
"Bullet time refers to the time when the mercury needle can enter the high-awakened combat state. The combat time that each mercury needle can sustain is different...you already know this, right?"

Hesta nodded.

"Okay," Qianye continued, "After entering the bullet time, the mercury needles can't be completely idle. We need to keep ourselves in this state - just like when you are fighting with others, you have to clench your fists."

Following Chiba's demonstration, Hesta also clenched his hands into fists, but in an instant, Chiba suddenly drew his gun again and shot again at the distant target.

At this moment, the loud noise of the bullet rushing out of the gun caught Hesta off guard, and she subconsciously stretched out her hands to cover her ears—although it was already too late.

Chiba laughed, "However, there are always many sudden changes that make people forget to 'make a fist', just like your current reaction. The same is true for maintaining bullet time, but for Mercury Needle, once we forget to maintain Your own state will quickly fall from the bullet time and enter the restricted time."

"Restricted time..." Hesta murmured and repeated the word.

"It's like a car. After starting, you can step on the gas pedal to accelerate or use the steering wheel to turn at any time, but once it stalls halfway, you have to spend time restarting. In this process, your car is no longer a car. A nifty driving tool, you can hardly do anything with it unless the engine restarts - same goes for the body of the Mercurial.

"After entering the restricted time, the mercury needle will become weak and weak. During this period, not to mention fighting, even standing alone is difficult.

"For example, if there is a Mercury Needle whose bullet time is about 10 hours, in a certain battle, he chooses to take a short rest while working continuously for no more than 5 hours, then next, He usually experiences periods of weakness ranging from 10 to 20 minutes.

"During this period, he can do nothing, and only when this conditioning time is over can he re-enter bullet time - we call this kind of condition 'incomplete conditioning time'."

Hesta was thoughtful, "Is there still a 'completely restricted time'?"

"Yes," Qianye said with a smile, "using the example just now, if that mercury needle works continuously for more than 5 hours, then when he stops again, he will directly enter the 'full control time' .

"The time of full control is generally half of the time of the bullet. No matter whether the mercury needle has been working continuously for 6 hours, 7 hours or 10 hours, when he stops again, he has to lie down for 5 hours to get Start the activity."

Hesta frowned and thought deeply, "I see."

"Have you ever wondered how the length of a bullet's time is determined?"

Hesta tilted his head slightly, "Passed some... limit tests?"

"Haha, almost," Qianye said with a smile, "the so-called second special training is to deliver chelate compounds to newcomers who have not yet 'second awakening' in a controlled place, in charge of the on-the-job mercury injection. In the face of chelation In the battle of the monsters, the 'bullet time' of the newcomer's mercury needle will naturally awaken. And the others are responsible for timing."

"...until 'bullet time' expires?"

"It's not just as simple as failure," Qianye said softly, "When the mercury needle's ability is close to its own limit, there will be an extremely strong burst, which will continue to increase by 20 to 150 times on the basis of the original bullet time. But usually It can only last tens of seconds to a few minutes, at the cost of self-destruction-after the end, the person concerned will experience very severe hemorrhage and systemic organ failure, just like when the chelate dies naturally.

"The last period of outbreak is the Acheron moment." Qianye said softly, "The calculation of the bullet time is from the time you enter the 'combat state' to the end of the 'Acheron moment'."

Hesta suddenly said: "Is this... the reason why the base stipulates that 'the bullet time must be higher than 4 hours to participate in combat'...?"

"Hmm." Qianye said softly, "Excluding some extreme values, the average time for a mercury needle team of about 5 people to hunt and kill a chelate is 57 minutes, and the bullet time of less than 4 hours is too long on the battlefield It’s dangerous. Leaving aside the Acheron moment, once you enter the restricted time, let alone a chelate, even a five or six-year-old child can easily wipe your neck with a knife.”

Until this moment, Hesta suddenly understood many things that happened in the past—for example, the night Lico participated in the special training, she was admitted to the base's underground hospital due to serious injuries.

Thinking of this, Hesta suddenly realized something, "...but the survival time of chelates is usually only two weeks to one month, how can the base ensure that there are enough chelates to be used during special training? ?”

"Aha, that's something with a higher level of secrecy." Chiba smiled, "If you want to think about it, you can think about it yourself, but don't let the third party know about all the news I told you today—you can do it. Are you there?"

Hesta nodded with a serious expression.

"Let's go back to Sean, listen," Chiba continued, "his bullet time is 4 hours and 55 minutes, and the intermittent restriction time is 22 minutes. In other words, if he enters the bullet time and is interrupted by you, Well, you have at least 22 minutes to do whatever you want."

"But how do I—"

"Generally speaking, the stability of bullet time is related to the fighting will of the parties involved. Remember the question I asked you last time?"

Hesta fell into deep thought.

Qianye continued, "As for what to do, you can think about it yourself."

"……Understood."

Qianye exhaled lightly, and looked sideways at the target in the distance, "Do you want to practice a few more rounds today? In an hour, I have to send you back."

"Miss Chiba, do you have anything else to do this afternoon?"

"Not really, but Molly only approved my time for half a day." Chiba spread her hands, "You can see it too, now is a special period, and your photos are everywhere outside, just let you come out with me for a whole day , is really inconvenient."

Hesta pondered for a while, "Then can we practice first today? Ms. Morley, I can explain."

"Okay." Chiba smiled, "Then I'll go get a few more boxes of bombs."

……

Inside the base, in Sophie Morley's office, Liz looked at Ms. Morley opposite with a shocked expression. She stood up and her voice sounded agitated, "Why are you suspending the investigation of Sean now?"

"We will definitely investigate this matter to the end," Molly looked at Liz in front of him calmly, "but we really didn't find any evidence in his device, did we?"

"Obviously you also think that the power outage and missing surveillance video in the grammar classroom were caused by Sean—"

"Yes." Molly said in a deep voice, "but if you continue to investigate now, you will only be used as a fuss by someone with a heart."

(End of this chapter)