Why it never ends

Chapter 1197 Anchor Point
“Cremontine was the name of a reserve officer in District One,” Victoria said. “During her second awakening training, the trainers discovered unusual bleeding and isolated her in an underground hospital for treatment. Then, they observed a very typical chelation disease progression in Cremontine, only the disease progressed much faster than in ordinary people, and treatment was completely ineffective; she died soon after.”

"But fortunately, no one else was infected during this process, apart from Clementine himself and a few non-mercury needle researchers."

"At first, everyone thought the virus came from the chelate she trained, but after killing the chelate, Isore did not find the virus on its body."

"So, we still don't know the origin of this virus?"

“I’m looking,” Victoria replied. “Cremontin previously interned in the Nagao Sea area, so he might have brought it back from there… The new sample was isolated by Isore from a mutant, and it’s said to be slightly less dangerous, but I haven’t received the specific report and don’t know much about it yet.”

Victoria paused for a moment.

"However, Deep Anchor also has a copy of this new sample."

……

For the next two days, Hershta remained in Avad Prison. Something seemed to be happening inside the mother city of District 12, and Office 2 ordered her and Victoria to remain in the underground prison.

The two visited Arantida once during this period, and she was still alive—the death sentence was inexplicably postponed.

While Victoria was busy processing the new orders from Office 2, Hershta's thoughts had already drifted back to the farm in the countryside of Emmanuela.

In the two days she was away, Lai Lin, along with the palace guards, had been running around under the pretext of testing the plantation's electrical load, cutting off several incoming cables marked with Hazel's mark—those cables all connected to the greenhouses inside the farm's labor quarters.

Lai Lin originally thought that this period would cause a very violent conflict, so she made a lot of mental preparations. However, when she actually started doing it, she realized that she had complicated things: it was a special period, and all the laborers dared not go out at night. Therefore, she and Hazel did not encounter any obstacles at all. As long as they disappeared during the day and stayed in the palace and did not go out, nothing would happen.

Lai Lin excitedly shared the news with Hershta, wanting to share her joy. However, Hershta's voice on the phone was flat, so Lai Lin had to suppress her excitement to avoid being seen as irresponsible by Hershta.

"What happened to that policeman afterward? Did he ever cause trouble at the palace again?"

“No,” Lai Lin replied. “She only came once more after that. Officer Si Lei received her. I think they got along quite well. After the officer finished asking her questions, she even had coffee with Officer Si Lei. The two of them chatted for an entire afternoon.”

“Hmm,” Hersta closed his eyes for a moment, “Okay.”

“The whale people keep asking you when you’re coming back; they have a lot of questions about the rally next Wednesday.”

"What's the problem?"

“Didn’t you write on the invitation that you wanted to share your opinions and express your expectations? They don’t know what opinions they are asked to share,” Lai Lin replied. “Several people have secretly come to me and asked me to tell you that they have no complaints about you.”

“It’s okay, we’ll talk about it later,” Hersta said. “I’ll be back Tuesday night.”

"That's tomorrow night? That's great... Jane, how are you doing?"

“I’m fine,” Hesta replied. “Just a little tired.” “Come back and rest, everyone’s waiting for you.”

Hesta rubbed his eyes wearily and chuckled, "Mm."

……

Hersta returned to the ground on Tuesday morning.

Victoria will remain stationed at Awad Prison. However, at her insistence, Office 2 agreed that its team need not participate in the raid on Deep Anchor.

The plane arrived in Emmanuela, and Hershta drove back to the palace, arriving as dusk approached. The roads were bathed in a dark golden light, and a breeze blew from ahead, but Hershta paid no heed to the scenery.

Another batch of mercury needles is gathering in District Twelve from all over the world, and for some reason, she has a bad feeling about it.

Her mind seemed to return to Awad Prison, to the night she was told that a virus existed that could infect mercury needles, and only now did she begin to understand what she had been afraid of back then.

Even though she had been away from the combat ranks for a long time, and even though what she was doing at the moment had almost nothing to do with chelation disease, Hershta never thought that one day she would completely lose the opportunity to return to the front lines.

Her proudest achievement over the past seven years has been doing the same thing, and she has always stood in the same position—a position not only very close to Chiba, but also one that is probably the purest in the world… She misses so much the period when everyone had high hopes for her, and she always gave her all to it and ultimately completed all tasks brilliantly.

Ms. Chiba once said that if a person can consistently win at something, outperforming all her opponents, then she can easily persevere. She can continuously and effortlessly dedicate herself to efforts that are unimaginable to ordinary people, while simultaneously experiencing joy that others cannot comprehend... and this joy is the most insignificant thing Hester gains from battle.

She once listed dozens of her strengths in Lin Jiao's social game, which amazed everyone—and those were the evaluations from her teammates in countless battles.

She was incredibly fortunate to have found what she excelled at so early in her life. And her experiences throughout her adolescence constantly calibrated her self-perception, whether in District 12, District 14, or on Anna's ship, and regardless of external opinions, she always had her own anchor.

Hester was lost in thought, pondering all of this. Instead of driving directly back to the palace, she took a longer route to the farm entrance. Her mind was in turmoil, and she decided to find a place to walk alone. But as soon as she parked, she immediately noticed a familiar figure—Ligo, arms crossed, standing not far away, watching her.

Hersta paused for a moment, then turned off the engine.

"Good evening!" She got out of the car. "...Um, it's been a long time."

“I heard you have something to say to me,” Rico said, getting straight to the point.

Hershta became somewhat bewildered.

Li Ge's expression grew even more serious. She kicked a pebble on the roadside without any expression and reminded him, "...Eleven told me that."

In an instant, Hester's face lit up with realization. She laughed and strode towards Rico. Rico immediately raised his elbows, adopting a defensive stance—judging from Hester's reaction, she was probably about to rush over and hug him again!