Why it never ends

Chapter 1275 Cooperation
"Are they in a hurry to see me this afternoon?"

"I don't think so, I just hope that if you come, it won't take up your time."

Hersta hesitated for a moment, but quickly resumed his normal pace.

After entering the conference room and taking her seat, the entire room dimmed. A flowing red light path reappeared on the wide wooden table in front of her.

“I’m here today for Kendall,” Hester said bluntly. “You said you wanted to talk about something in person, and now that I’m here, you can speak up if you have any objections or suggestions.”

"Hello, Hersta. We have nothing to refute or persuade you of, but we have some information to provide you."

"what?"

“Kendall was diagnosed with poliomyelitis a few weeks ago and was admitted to the hospital for treatment last week. Due to the rapid progression of her disease, we have transferred her to the underground medical unit of Awad Prison. Some of her work may be transferred to you next.”

"What condition...?"

“A neurodegenerative disease,” the voice in Office 2 explained. “Initially, she just felt tired and listless, then she developed significant speech delays, and her daytime wakefulness decreased rapidly. Immunotherapy and anti-inflammatory treatments haven't been very effective. Given her current condition, I'm afraid—”

"Not long for this world?" As soon as Hershta uttered the words, he realized that his voice not only lacked the most basic empathy, but also carried a certain mocking disbelief.

"I'm afraid so."

"How long do you think she has left to live?"

"No more than a few weeks."

"What will happen to her body afterward?"

Cremation.

Hester was silent for a moment: "...Let's talk about what kind of work I'll be doing first."

"Regarding the next phase of management of the Kocy Station," Station 2 replied, "it mainly involves the transfer of authority over its subordinate prisons, laboratories, and armories."

"What specific permissions are granted, and can I use them when necessary?"

“Of course.” The voice from Office 2 was flat. “What really needs to be clarified is what constitutes a ‘necessary moment’.”

Hester sat upright, listening as Office 2 reiterated a series of principles and precautions she was already tired of hearing. She tried her best not to show any impatience, and even asked some questions about certain details with feigned seriousness.

“That sounds great. I can use these resources to fight Deep Anchor and protect the civilians of Emmania,” Hersta leaned back in his chair. “I’ve already seen casualties from Deep Anchor. A highly experienced Mercury Needle was severely wounded by their people and she’s lying in this underground base right now.”

Hersta paused.

"I remember you said not long ago that you would be deploying a batch of mercury needles to carry out the extermination operation against Deep Anchor. Has this operation already begun?"

“There have been some changes.”

"Can't they get more people?"

"The situation in District 12 is no longer suitable for sending any Mercury Needles, especially the more experienced Mercury Needles are," Office 2 said. "In the materials you submitted this afternoon, you mentioned that you plan to organize an operation in the city to annihilate some Deep Anchor members. You can talk about your ideas in detail. Perhaps we have other ways to cooperate—" Hershta shook his head slightly.

“The premise of this plan is to restrict Kenda’s movements and ensure that she is not among the other organization’s leaders. Without that, everything else is in vain.” Hester stared at the path of light in front of him. “You’re not going to keep playing dumb with me and say that Kenda is sleeping in Avad Prison right now and can’t do anything, are you?”

Guanglu in office number 2 fell into a long silence.

"...For a long time, headquarters has indeed lacked attention and control over the development of Mercury Needle in District Twelve, especially the political arrogance brought about by technological monopoly, which has led some Mercury Needle to develop a rather dangerous tendency toward autonomy—"

“It doesn’t seem to be any kind of autonomy preference,” Hesta tilted his head slightly. “Looking around, I see that there aren’t many places in District Twelve that are truly suitable for independent governance. The industrial area in the east is basically tightly controlled by local politicians and agents of District Three. The south is a remote mountainous area with poor transportation and is also divided by various local forces. What Deep Anchor wants is not autonomy at all.”

Hersta stopped looking at the light path in Office 2 and turned her gaze to the corner on the other side, which was slightly illuminated by fluorescent light.

“Attention. Attention from mercury needles all over the world, that’s all they need,” Hester whispered. “Isn’t that what you told us when I came to see you with Kendall last time?”

“Restricting Kendall’s movements, though difficult, is still possible,” the voice from Office 2 suddenly said.

"How to do it?"

"The specific methods can be shown to you inside the mother city after this operation is over," Office 2 replied. "For now, you just need to provide a specific time frame, during which we will do our best to restrict all of Kenda's actions."

……

After leaving the underground base, Hershta returned to the bench where he had spent the night with Sire.

She remembered the name game that Si Lei had told her: Kizawa Chima, Ranch Sachi... Si Lei said that when Miss Chiba was on the ship, she frequently traveled between the Shengming and District 12.

The same consciousness, transmitted through radio waves, allows people to travel the world in vehicles that travel at near the speed of light...

This sounds like a kind of flight as well.

“You’re really here.” Victoria’s voice came from not far away. Hershta looked up and saw that she was wearing sneakers and seemed to be going for a night run. “Where have you been? You’ve looked preoccupied all night. I couldn’t find you after dinner.”

"Thinking about...some things."

"What does it relate to?"

“Thin-film batteries from that tech expo in Emmanuela,” Hesta said softly. “We’ve been using them internally for a long time, but they’re still a very rare new technology in habitable areas.”

“Yes,” Victoria patted Hester’s right hand, “your arm is still like that.”

“Then in another place, where other people are,” Hesta looked up, “my location is probably not much different from that thin-film battery.”

"Hmm? What did you do last night?" Victoria laughed. "You suddenly started thinking about such profound questions."

“Isn’t Mother City one?” Hester said. “Deep Anchor might be one too.”

“Deep Anchor is definitely not—or rather, not really,” Victoria said. “Given their execution capabilities, if they had truly achieved some kind of technological monopoly, District Twelve would have been a wasteland long ago. The fact that they are releasing smokescreens shows that the gap between them and us is not yet large enough to cause a qualitative change.”