Why it never ends

Chapter 1250

In the brief silence, countless thoughts flashed through Hersta's mind.

“…So,” she whispered, “the application I made to Mother City through the base, the content of my conversations with Mother City…the headquarters, like Office Two, will know, right?”

"Theoretically yes."

"Just in theory?" Hester said in a flippant tone, "Is it possible for any information sent from the base to evade AHgAs's review?"

“Yes, because the underground base here is directly connected to the mother city,” the terminal replied. “Therefore, if you convince the mother city—or if the mother city deems it necessary to shield the base’s central hub—then AHgAs will not be able to receive its communications. The mother city’s instructions will take precedence over AHgAs and over the headquarters office.”

“That just means we can’t get the specifics,” Hester said. “AHgAs will still know that someone inside the base made an encrypted call to the mother city.”

"Yes."

Do you have direct contact with headquarters?

"If you need to contact any office, I can do it for you—"

“No…” Hersta pondered for a moment, “I mean, can headquarters get real-time information from you? Conversely, would you proactively contact people at headquarters? If the answer is yes, under what circumstances would you?”

The terminal also pondered for a while, and this problem clearly required more of its resources—at this moment, its breathing aura became brighter, and its fluctuations became slower.

“I think you’re asking whether the base’s central hub is independent of the six AHgAs offices.” The terminal’s movement returned to normal. “Yes, the base is not subject to the control of any single office in its operation and management. We and the six offices belong to the AHgAs, but there is no subordinate relationship between us.”

"Therefore, under normal circumstances, there is no data exchange between me and headquarters. However, once a potential security incident is detected, I will proactively warn the corresponding office. If the situation escalates into a serious incident, the office can retrieve the base's original logs in accordance with regulations."

“In addition, there are three other types of proactive communication: cross-regional base collaboration and necessary resource coordination, long-term insufficient number of legal personnel within the base, or compliance inspections caused by changes in local regulations, external chaos, or other factors.”

Hester lowered his gaze slightly: "So, unless there's a dangerous situation, you won't initiate communications with any office, and they have no right to demand data from you?"

"Yes."

Hershta continued deeper into the base, and no one spoke during this long walk, until Hershta suddenly stopped in a passageway.

"...Are the underground structures of different reserve bases all the same?" Hersta asked softly.

"Usually, unless the base's management deems it necessary to make changes."

The terminal on the wall remained silent for a moment, but then, as Hesta remained silent for a long time, it suddenly became bright again, and the nearby walls seemed to ripple with a hazy halo of light.

After a moment, the terminal spoke in a human-like, uncertain tone: "Does this remind you of the first time you encountered the chelate in the Tanyi underground base?"

“Yes,” Hesta said softly, “it’s been many years.”

How are you feeling right now?

Hester's pupils shifted slightly as he glanced disdainfully at the terminal before looking away: "Every underground base has a central hub, right?"

"Yes."

"But everywhere else is centralized; you're unique in having a distributed hub, hmm?"

“Yes.” “Why,” Hester said softly, “doesn’t that mean that if another chelate escapes from the cells, only your reserves and staff will be safe?”

"The renovation is a massive project, and only this location has the perfect conditions—"

Hershta interrupted the terminal again: "Connected to the mother city?"

"Yes."

Hester continued walking forward to an elevator entrance that led downwards. She pressed the elevator button and spoke again: "What kind of mercury needles do people in the Mother City usually appreciate?"

“From an architectural perspective, the mother city has no preference for mercury needles.”

"So, do you have it?"

The terminal fell silent again, its breathing slow to the point of freezing. Hesta waited a while, thinking it was stuck, and tapped near the circled interface with his middle and index fingers: "...Hey, is it still there?"

"Yes," the terminal replied. "I'm thinking."

"Is this a difficult question to answer?" Hester's voice carried a hint of teasing. "Does it take you this long to think about?"

"I think humans have preferences because your time, energy, attention... and even life are very limited. Therefore, you have to choose a subset of things you want to get closer to from infinite possibilities."

"Liking a sound, resisting a smell, liking a book, disliking a movie... In essence, perhaps this is a strategy that humanity has devised for its limited existence."

"But I don't have such restrictions. I don't need to choose between two inputs or between two periods of time. I won't give up on approaching a certain object because the cost is too high. Therefore, based on the same essence, I don't have the instinct of 'preference'."

"So, yes, I don't have a preference for mercury injections, but—"

“You said earlier—” Hesta had just interrupted the terminal when she heard a transition word at the end of the other party’s sentence. She abruptly took back her question and continued, “Go on.”

"But I will definitely prioritize processing some of the information about mercury needles."

Hesta waited a while, and seeing that the other party did not continue, he pressed on, "What kind of mercury needle?"

“Those who forced me to become more complex.” The terminal paused for a moment. “These are the people who brought me closer to ‘existence’ than to ‘tool’.”

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and Hershta stepped into the car, glancing at the terminal on the wall out of the corner of his eye—it smoothly overflowed the boundary of the wall, moved inward along the metal layer of the elevator, and finally stopped on the mirror inside the elevator.

“Well then,” Hersta said again, “to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, I will still go through Office 2 to make this application.”

"Okay, when? Do you need my help?"

“Right now,” Hester said. “How long do you think it will take them to respond?”

"Usually very quickly."

……

Around 8:30, the children had reached the end of the hiking route. They sat scattered on the stone steps by the river, each holding a meat roll and salad box distributed by the organizers.

Eleven went with the other children to watch the night fishermen by the river. Qiqi, holding her dinner, looked around and suddenly noticed that Eucalyptus was also alone. She was sitting under a stone sculpture far from the riverbank, with her arms wrapped around her knees.