Why it never ends

Chapter 986 Independence

The people on the ground did not respond, as if they heard nothing.

Hesta observed the other person's back. Alantida was extremely thin, and Hesta could almost see the direction of her spine.

There is a rectangular electronic clock on the wall. A two-hour countdown has begun on it. At this moment, there is 1 hour and 58 minutes left. The part after the stopwatch is flashing at an invisible speed, repeating the cycle from ten to one.

"Hello." Hesta knocked on the partition again. "Can you hear me?"

After making an appointment to meet with Alantida, Hesta received information from the prison, which contained some information about her recent situation. For example, from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, Alantida had sought radical ways to end her life several times, but now she no longer has the strength to do so. She doesn't care whether she lives or dies, she has lost the strength to care. The former inspector has been on a hunger strike for a long time, and she is still alive now only because the prison is forcibly feeding her with nutrient solution every day.

Hesta sat quietly on the side of the partition.

After a while, she remembered that she seemed not to have introduced herself yet.

"My name is Jane Hesta. I have been performing missions in the combat sequence of the Third District. This year, I was transferred to the Twelve District to take over the job of 'Inspector'."

Hearing the Inspector's words, the woman on the ground moved her shoulders slightly.

Hesta continued: "...I am your successor."

"Successor..." The woman's voice was like a ghost sighing from an ancient grave, "Not Kendai?"

"It's not Kende, it's me."

The body, which seemed to be only covered and stuck together by skin, slowly stood up and let the woman on the ground turn over. In the light golden hair like dead grass, Hesta saw a pair of withered and empty eyes.

Alantida is forty-three years old, but she looks older than that, as if what is moving at this moment is not a living person but a corpse that has been dead for a long time.

"...How old are you?" Alantida asked in a low voice.

"Almost twenty-two," Hesta answered.

"Office No. 5 is crazy," Alantida murmured, "They asked a young man of 22 to come and die..."

"I can't get the files on the Fayaral accident, but someone very close to me disappeared in the accident," Hesta said, "Perhaps you know what happened there during that time."

Alantida had closed her eyes, her breathing was even and relaxed, it seemed that the conversation just now had consumed a lot of her energy, and now she had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Please tell me," Hesta said, "anything you think I should know."

"...leave here." Alantida said with his eyes closed, "leave here, leave...everyone."

"why?"

Alantida did not answer.

"I can stay here for two hours." Hesta looked at the watch again, "I only have a letter of introduction, so I can't come to see you a second time."

……

"It's so lively!" Ende looked at the float passing by her, "It's so beautiful!"

At night, Third King Street was full of people and decorated with lights. To prevent the two children from running away, Victoria and Susie let Eleven and Qiqi sit on their necks respectively.

"What day is today?" Ende turned around, "Is it an important festival?"

The people behind her looked at each other, and finally, they all spread their hands at the same time.

"This should be the first time for all of us to come to Emanlia," Zoe looked at Victoria, "Oh no, you've been here many times, you know that?" Victoria shrugged innocently, "Every time I come here, I run into the forest, never into the city."

"I haven't had a vacation in so long that I completely forgot to make a plan in advance!" Ende said loudly, "I was so busy last year that I didn't take a single day of annual leave!"

"How long can we stay here this time?" Suzy asked.

"At least a month." Victoria said, "If everything goes well, you can leave after the observation period."

"I want to take at least half a year off," Theresa sighed.

“How about this,” Zoe looked at everyone, “From now on, we can ask Eureka to help report the assassin’s whereabouts every once in a while, so that we can get together and take a vacation from time to time!”

"What are you thinking about?" Victoria held Zoe's head. "I heard everything."

Amid the laughter of the crowd, a firework rose and exploded in the night sky. Pedestrians on the entire street stopped temporarily to look at the colorful sparks falling in the night sky.

"I really want to retire," Ende looked up at the night sky, "Life in the livable area is so good, there are such beautiful fireworks, so many people——"

“The important thing is that there are no chelates,” Zoe added. “No enemies, no fighting, no danger of any kind—”

A burst of music suddenly sounded from beside them. They turned around and found that a brass band had started playing in a small square on the side of the road.

In the middle of the band, a group of women were waving flags. They were wearing exaggerated makeup and each of them was dressed like a toy tin soldier. They waved their pink flags with smiles on their faces, keeping pace with the rhythm of the band and the fireworks rising above their heads.

"Hello!" Victoria turned to an old lady who was watching with great interest. "Excuse me, what day is it today? Why is the street so busy?"

The old man looked over, glanced at Victoria and her group, and raised his voice slightly amid the music: "Are you tourists?"

"Yes, I just arrived today." Ende poked her head out and asked loudly, "Are you a local?"

"Yes." The old lady looked back at the music. "Today is the old Independence Day of Emanria."

"Old Independence Day?" Zoe was curious. "So there is a new Independence Day?"

"The New Independence Day is the day when the Mother City rises after the Great Blackout, but we Emanlia people do not recognize this day," said the old lady. "The Old Independence Day is the day before that when the Emanlia people built the Kingdom of Gold on the ground with their own blood and sweat. At that time, this was the center of the world."

Eucalyptus listened silently, and just when he was about to ask something, he heard Eleven loudly protesting on Susie's shoulder, saying that it was too noisy here and she didn't like it. The few people understood Eleven's somewhat stumbling expression, so they thanked the old man and turned around to continue walking towards the opera house.

……

Time passed by minute by minute, and soon only the last five minutes were left. Alantida opened her eyes again - Hesta was still looking at her intently and calmly.

"You said someone very close to you died in this accident," Alantida whispered, "Who was it? Was it Mercury Needle?"

"Not dead," Hesta corrected, "missing."

"Who?"

"Chiba Masaki."

"Oh, Chiba..." Alantida's eyes moved dully, "missing, dead... whatever you think..."

"There is no chelate compound in the world that can kill Ms. Chiba—"

"She didn't die from the red claws of the chelate," Alantida's eyes finally fell on the young man in front of her, "She died from the treacherous and indiscriminate bombing by the Coalition Government."