Chapter 981: Graveyard
When Hesta received the message, she was reading Victoria's email. The latter had been dragging her feet on the Fayalar Wasteland incident files for nearly a month, yet during that time, she had already made a rough survey of the northern forest in District 12. Not only had she collected a pile of soil samples, but she had also picked out an unused laboratory as her workspace.
Hesta had pressed her several times about the files, and Victoria always replied, "There's something important I need to sync up with you about, but we need to discuss it in person." But whenever Hesta asked when they would meet, Victoria would start with, "I'm still out right now, give me a few days," "I'm about to come back," or "Next week," making it seem as though she intended to welsh on the deal.
Today, Hesta had unexpectedly received an email from Victoria on her own initiative. It contained more than twenty photos of mushrooms and mold. Hesta scrolled to the bottom and saw Victoria had written:
My work this week ended perfectly. Don't you think they're all beautiful?
Are you free today? I'll come find you.
Hesta had just replied with her address when the apartment doorbell rang. She opened the door—Simoya stood outside.
"...Long time no see."
"Didn't go out to some party or ball today?"
"I've been looking into Eleven's transfer. Without your help, it's really hard to get anything done." Hesta stepped aside to make room for Simoya to enter, but Simoya remained standing at the door, with no intention of coming in.
"I won't sit down," Simoya said. "To put it simply, I only came to tell you one thing. Once I'm done, I'll leave—"
"You can't say it while standing in the doorway," Hesta