Why it never ends

Chapter 926 Red Palm Sangha

Seeing that Hesta seemed a little confused, they all laughed.

"Isn't it very special?" the man said, "Such a custom is rare in the whole world——"

The waiting line suddenly began to move rapidly. Hesta looked ahead and saw that the door of the town hall was already open and the crowd was pouring in like a tide.

"See you later." Hesta said.

Valeria and her female companion nodded goodbye to Hesta, and each of them walked to a different information desk.

A quarter of an hour later, Hesta came out from the side door.

Everything happened just as Rico had predicted. She was still not allowed to continue heading towards Emanlia, but this time the reason had changed.

The clerk at the information desk never mentioned "identity check" once, but said that the road from here to Emanria was too dangerous, and Hesta had a special identity, so if he wanted to cross, he must be equipped with a guard team - unfortunately, the team that was supposed to appear on the day Hesta arrived in District 12 was temporarily requisitioned for other purposes due to some unspeakable reasons.

Hesta was sitting alone in the square outside the town hall. Eucalyptus sent a message asking about the results of Hesta's consultation today.

"Pack your things," Hesta replied, "we'll leave this afternoon."

Once I realized that I was going to be stuck here anyway because of the formalities, things became easier.

In the distance, Valeria and others also came out from the side door. They waved to Hesta from a distance. Hesta put away his phone and stood up.

"Would you like to come with us to see it?" Valeria asked. "It won't go into the museum right after it's sent to the Third District - in fact, this may be the only time it's seen by the public in recent years."

"Where will it pass?"

"nearby."

"Okay," Hesta nodded, "I'll go take a look too."

They walked around the clock tower of the town hall and came to the main road. Suddenly, there were more people on the street. Hesta saw many people occupying the second floors of buildings on both sides of the street. Many of them were holding monocular or binocular telescopes and looking expectantly at the other end of the road.

In such a scene, Hesta subconsciously looked at several shooting points that could cover the entire scene. Her sight swept across the terrace on the second floor of a bookstore, and in a fraction of a second, she met a pair of cold and hostile eyes. She quickly locked onto the target, but the man took a step back and disappeared into the crowd. The last thing Hesta saw was a right hand wearing a black glove.

A warning string instantly straightened in Hesta's mind, and she was extremely grateful that Eucalyptus and the children were not here.

"Madam! Madam! Valeria!" Hesta called to Valeria not far away, "I think there is something wrong with this place."

"what?"

“Don’t go too far!”

"What did you say?" Valeria said, "Come closer! I can't hear you clearly!" Hesta sighed and tried to squeeze forward - Valeria and her friends had occupied the front position of the road. In front of them were traffic police who were struggling to resist the crowd and an empty road.

Cheers came from the crowd in the distance, and everyone looked in the direction of the sound. Wooden carts pulled by horses slowly appeared at the end of the road. The tall black and white horses caused everyone to laugh and scream. On the square wooden carts behind them, sections of thick branches about three to four meters high were like cut-off stone pillars, fixed to the center of the cart by several thin and strong steel cables.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Valeria raised her hand to block the dazzling sunlight. "That is the Eternal Tree, also known as the Sage Tree or the Saint Tree. Each section of the trunk is inlaid with the bones of a sage from District 12."

Hesta narrowed his eyes.

The sunlight poured down, and the snow-white bark of the tree trunks seemed to be condensed with a layer of frost covered with thorns. In the glittering scene, there were even brighter spots of light - as the carriage continued to approach, Hesta recognized that it was a human skull inlaid with countless gems.

"Do you see the snow-white tree trunk?" Valeria said excitedly, "That's a cliff pine that has been infected by Menucci. After invading the tree trunk, Menucci will precipitate a layer of mineral crystals on the surface, making the whole tree look like jade and protecting the previously embedded white bones."

"What is 'Menucci'?" Hesta asked loudly.

"A highly poisonous fungus," Valeria said. "It used to be very common in the forests of District 12, but it's basically extinct now."

She listened to Valeria's introduction. It turned out that the tradition of tree burial in District 12 lasted from the Iron Age to the Silver Age. Those who made important contributions to civilization would be buried in trees after death. The craftsmen would first use a special kind of piranha to process the body - people would put the body into an iron cage and sink it into a river where piranhas gathered. Those ferocious creatures would remove all the rotten meat and organs without damaging the bones. Then people would take out the bones, soften them with chemicals, carve hollow patterns on them, inlay gems, and finally move them into the cliff pine where the Menuch was planted.

Infected pines will slowly die over the next few hundred years and shed their final protective layer, during which time the tree will continue to grow at four to five times its previous rate.

"Generally speaking, great men of the same era are embedded in the same tree," Valeria said. "The top is the king, and below are the wise men of the thirty years before and after him—"

"I don't understand!" Hesta frowned. She raised her voice as loud as possible so that Valeria could hear clearly. "Since all the remains of the kings of the 12th district are here, why should they be sent to the 3rd district?"

"Maybe it's because of the frequent wars in District 12 recently?" Valeria said, "Most of the Eternal Trees were destroyed during the Golden Age. If the remaining ones are not protected--"

"Is this the decision of the Twelve Districts United Government?"

"I don't know," Valeria said. "Perhaps—"

"You get the point, ma'am!" a voice came from behind them. "This act of unauthorized plunder is no different from digging up someone else's ancestral grave and then touring it for exhibition!"

Hesta was about to turn around when a sharp cry of a red falcon suddenly sounded in front of her. The sound was like a dagger, instantly piercing through the noisy voices. The next moment, gunshots rang out, and the heads of several horses in the front were instantly blown up by bullets. The remaining horses neighed in fear and began to rush towards the crowd uncontrollably.

Screams were heard in the streets, and some policemen grabbed the reins of their horses in the chaos, but were immediately executed by bullets from the dark.

Four men in gray robes jumped on their horses and began to turn the carriage around.

The police finally reacted. They drew their guns, fired back, and ran around shouting.

“It’s Red Palm Sangha!”