Why it never ends

Chapter 1046 Calculation
Ximoya arrived about forty minutes later.

The helicopter landed about 100 meters away from the temporary workstation, and she led a group of people carrying stretchers and walked quickly across the grass. The light from the top of the helicopter shone on the road, illuminating the area as bright as day.

Theresa had already noticed someone landing. She was standing not far from the exit, intending to simply say hello to Ximoya.

However, when Simonya pushed the door open and when Theresa saw the fire on her face and in her eyes, Theresa turned around and walked up the stairs very naturally, pretending to be looking for something.

As expected, Ximoya went straight to Hesta, and a moment later, the group she brought filed out and returned to the cabin with the wounded who had just completed the operation. Among them was the smallest reservist, who was buckled in a heavy yoke, with her eyes downcast, lying beside her sleeping companion.

Hesta opened the remaining two prepared cages himself and brought them to the wilderness. Ximoya followed Hesta with a cold expression.

The two reservists looked a little uncertain. They walked in front of Hesta, took a few steps forward, and then turned back.

"Are you really going to let us go like this?" one of them said, "We are gone for good, don't expect us to show mercy when we meet again."

"Just convey the message." Hesta said.

The two young people seemed to be hesitant to speak. They lowered their eyes slightly and frowned again: "Let go of these unrealistic fantasies as soon as possible and stop doing such stupid things."

As she spoke, her eyes quickly glanced towards Ximoya.

"You didn't get any news about Deep Anchor from us tonight. From now on, no matter how many of our people you capture, the result will be the same." She looked at Hesta. "Maybe one day you will understand us."

Hesta looked at her thoughtfully.

They were silent for a moment, and Hesta took a deep breath: "Okay, let's go, don't forget to mail me--"

Before she could finish her words, another reservist interrupted her with a sharp voice, shouting things like "Stop talking nonsense!" and "You'll regret it sooner or later!", and quickly disappeared into the night with his companion.

Hesta stood there and fell into silence again. She looked at the two people's receding backs and said nothing until Ximoya reminded her that they had gone far away.

Hesta then turned around and looked at her with a half-smile: "Do you know these two mercury needles? They look like the reserve troops here."

"...I don't remember," Ximoya said coldly, "but I may have seen him. I used to go to the base with Kendai."

"No wonder," Hesta walked towards the workstation, "I feel like they know you."

In the dark field, Ximoya turned her head and stared at Hesta's back. She had a complicated expression, but Hesta never looked back.

……

Hesta never exited his bullet time.

Simona originally thought that after Zoe and Ende came back, she would find a chance to spend her limited time. However, Hesta only told them about some of the discoveries and speculations he and Victoria had made in this area today.

Zoe, Ende and Theresa have safely exited one after another. Now the three of them can protect Hesta at the same time, but Hesta still didn't mention it.

Ximoya stood a few steps away from them with her hands in her pockets. "Why are you still here, Miss Ximoya?" Theresa seemed to have just realized Ximoya's existence. "Didn't you go back with the helicopter?"

"My immediate boss didn't say I could leave." Ximoya said coldly.

"Oh, I need Ximoya to stay here for me for a few days."

Ende was puzzled: "...She is the only one?"

"You and Zoe should also leave one behind," Hesta said, "you two can discuss who will—"

"Me." Ende said, "If there is an operation to rescue Victoria next, Zoe will definitely be needed to participate."

Zoe's face turned livid: "How are we going to spend the night? Staying here and wasting time?"

"Continue to rest here," Hesta ignored Zoe's provocation, "Tomorrow morning I'm going to check on several nearby accident sites. This is what I was going to do with Victoria..."

"She never thought about organizing any rescue operation for Victoria!" Zoe turned to Ende, "I told you, she is not the Eureka we knew a few years ago. She has her own business now, so she doesn't care about-"

"We'll have to wait a while." Hesta said, "Even if the people go back, the deep anchor will take time to react."

"Jane Hesta." Zoe walked up to Hesta and said, "I'm telling you, I will continue to cooperate with you until tomorrow morning. If we still haven't heard from Deep Anchor by tomorrow morning, I will end it in my own way. You have no right to ask me what I'm going to do then."

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Hesta looked at her, and there was a hint of threat in his tone: "Then wait until morning."

Endai looked at everyone anxiously. This tense atmosphere made her uneasy. Although no one was angry at her at the moment, she was still the one most affected by it.

Everyone sat down in a corner and began to rest. Hesta folded her arms, looking a little tired. Ximoya kept an eye on her movements.

Generally speaking, the duration of a mercury needle's restraint is related to the length of its bullet time. For mercury needles with a bullet time between seven and twelve hours, the intermittent restraint time is usually between ten minutes and half an hour. This is a very rough estimate, but it is statistically significant.

Ximoya guessed that the reason why Hesta had not proposed to leave the bullet time was probably to prevent her from calculating her sustainable combat duration based on the length of the restricted time. So now, Hesta was very likely to take advantage of the excuse of "sleep" to let her restricted time pass quietly.

From the moment Hesta closed his eyes to rest, Ximoya also started counting. Eleven minutes later, Ximoya suddenly stood up and said, "They put the inhibitor in the water tank before, right? Then if I use a water pump to pump water directly from the ground, it should be no problem—"

Theresa opened her eyes. "Didn't your people bring a few boxes of water? They're outside in the corridor."

"I just found that my coat is dirty, I have to rinse it quickly," Ximoya said, "There is no need to get drinking water, anyway-"

"Don't touch any water-collecting tools." Hesta also turned to look over, "If your clothes are dirty, just leave them alone."

When their eyes met, Ximoya discovered that Hesta's eyes still had silver edges.

Ximoya's throat moved slightly.

...Sure enough, he was guarding against me.