Why it never ends

Chapter 7 Mercury Needle

Hesta reached out again with all her might.

"Okay." The woman looked at her, "After you called the police, about 3 minutes later, we brought people to the scene. At that time, the entire monastery was already on fire. We quickly discovered and solved the problem. Dean Alma, but fire fighting is not our specialty.

"Although the fire brigade from Tanyi City started immediately, there was a mountain road in the middle, and it was too late to fight the fire anyway, but you don't have to worry too much. Before the fire engulfed the entire building, my colleagues and I had put out all the firefighters. The children in the living room were all taken away from the monastery, so the casualties caused by the chelate this time are not too big."

Hesta's breathing became violent, and she held strong doubts in her heart—what about Boheng in the confinement room?

Did you find him and save him?

But she couldn't speak, and couldn't express.

"After a while, I will come to see you again." The woman stretched out her hand and touched Hesta's head again, "My name is Chiba, Masaki Chiba, I am the Chelate Hunting and Epidemic Prevention Organization AHgAs The leader of the subordinate 403 team, nice to meet you."

……

……

A month later, Hesta was discharged safely from the hospital.

Every day for a month, she woke up as early as in St. Anne's Abbey, only this time, she didn't have to get out of bed quickly to ring the morning bell for the day.

Blindfolded most of the time, she lay alone in a hospital bed, feeling the fading pain inside her.

Hesta recalled the past. At some point, she even had some vague hallucinations. Everything that happened that night was not real. It was just a nightmare. Maybe after waking up, everything will be the same as before.

Two weeks later, Chiba came to see her for the second time. At that time, Hesta was still unable to see, but was able to speak.

That day, Chiba brought an invitation letter, inviting Hesta to join her organization.

"Chelate hunter?" Hesta took it suspiciously, "Me?"

Qianye laughed, "It's been a long time since I've heard anyone call us 'chelate hunters', we're indeed a monastery that engages in asceticism... This is a name that was only used centuries ago. "

"Then how do we call you?" Hesta's fingertips touched the words "AHgAs" on the top of the invitation letter, "...What is this abbreviation?"

"AHgA," Chiba explained quickly, "The full name is Anti-Homogenization Agent (anti-homogenization agent), which refers to those individuals among human beings who can rely on their own talents to independently resist the erosion of chelation disease—because of this name It is too awkward to pronounce, and it happens to contain Hg, so in informal occasions, people mostly call us 'mercury needles', maybe you have heard this name somewhere before?"

"Mercury needle..." Hesta repeated in a low voice.

This title makes the girl feel a little familiar.

Qianye looked at Hesta, and continued: "You can understand this identity as a kind of talent - there are 19 billion people alive in this world, but the number of mercury needles is only about 4000, in other words, the number of mercury needles The probability is almost one in a million.

"We suspected that there might be a gifted child at St Anne's Abbey the night we killed the chelate, as the chelate showed signs of mild poisoning - probably because it was contaminated with Or caused by eating blood from mercury needles.

"Although you did get hurt badly, the chelatinosis spores in your body basically metabolized themselves in the first week-in other words, you, like us, will never get chelatinosis. The sick one, Miss Hester."

Hesta's voice was calm, "... Is there something wrong?"

"Hahaha, it's impossible to get it wrong," Chiba rubbed her nose, "Although the chelation disease is not as active as it was ten years ago——we still need new recruits very urgently... Would you like Join us?"

At that time, Hesta, who was still blindfolded, frowned and didn't answer anything.

"Of course, this is a very big decision... I have to give you some time to think about it, don't you?" Chiba laughed, "We are a high-risk occupation here, but the good news is that you can apply for retirement when you are 25 years old. Although most of the time—"

"Miss Chiba?" Hesta turned his head in the direction of Chiba, "Can I ask you a few questions?"

"You said."

"Behind the main church of St. Anne's Monastery, there is a row of old houses. There is a confinement room on the northernmost side of the second floor. On the night of the incident, a 14-year-old black-haired boy was locked up there. Is he safe?"

"I don't have any impression, wait for me to ask."

Chiba stood up and went to the corridor outside to make a phone call. When she came back, Hesta immediately turned to face her, "How is it?"

Qianye pondered for a moment: "Two bad news and one good news, which one should I hear first?"

Hesta turned pale, "...bad news."

"The team members who were in charge of the search and rescue at that time really considered that there might be omissions, so they went in and ran through several buildings in St. Anne's Abbey-even the basement, but they didn't find anything except you. other people."

Hesta's breathing became rapid, her nose suddenly became sore, and the tip of her nose began to turn red slowly.

"The good news is," Qianye continued on his own, "according to the news from the security team, apart from the chelate, only two remains were found at the scene, an old man and a child—presumably You should know who they are."

Hesta froze for a moment—yes, she knew, those were poor Sister Gerdin and Flassan.

"Didn't you find the third person?"

"Yes, no."

"...and what's the other bad news?"

Chiba looked directly at Hesta's gauze-wrapped eyes, "This can't be regarded as news, it's more like a speculation - when we arrived at the monastery, the chelate was lurking in the confessional behind the main church, where... ...is very close to the brig you mentioned."

Under Qianye's explanation, Hesta finally understood what she was referring to - during the 3 minutes when the mercury needles were absent, Boheng was likely to have been attacked. There are many explanations for "there is no body at the scene". The most likely one is that he may have fallen into the torrent under the cliff where St. Anne's Abbey is located in the chaos, and it is indeed easy to leave no bones.

"Don't be too desperate, he may still be alive... If you can provide more information about this boy, we can help you find it in the area around Mount Severn."

……

At that time, Chiba said so.

Now, more than half a month has passed since the night of the incident, and Hesta has never heard from Boheng again.The fire burned most of the traces of that night, and no one knew Boheng's whereabouts.

Today, Hesta's injury has fully recovered, she changed into the clothes Chiba prepared for her, and sat alone in the corridor of the hospital waiting for Chiba to pick her up and leave the hospital.

Qianye promised her that she could take her back to the place where the incident happened today, and she promised Qianye that she would get an answer today—an answer about whether to add mercury needles.

(End of this chapter)