Hesta fumbled through some other explanations to brush off Victoria's questions. Both of their expressions turned extremely grim—if this virus had already appeared in District 14 last year, then what was the infection situation there like now?
"If the corpse was replaced, that means District 14 knew about it. They deliberately buried the matter..." Victoria murmured. "This is absurd. No, I need to report this immediately—you never reported it, did you?"
Hesta shook her head.
This time, Victoria moved quickly, and Hesta immediately followed her. "...District 14 doesn't seem to have had any outbreaks of Chelated Disease these past two years—"
"That's exactly why it's so terrible!"
In Emangria City Area, Boheng sat alone at a small outdoor café table, absentmindedly watching the crowds flowing along the street.
By rights, he was not due to visit Hesta's farm and see Eunice and Jahadorei until next Wednesday. But he had been genuinely on edge these past few days. Before parting with Hesta last time, she had vaguely implied that if he refused to send her more Kashyapa, she would have no choice but to seek cooperation with other South District organizations. Boheng had lost sleep over it ever since. He kept a close eye on local news, worried that he would hear Hesta had formed a new partnership with someone else.
Kashyapa was certainly valuable, but it was hardly an irreplaceable resource. If haggling with Hesta cost him his unique position with her, it would truly be a losing deal.
Yet Boheng still had an instinctive feeling. He did not believe Hesta could so quickly find reliable reinforcements in a place completely unfamiliar to her. For one thing, she was not a local, and many armed groups here were hostile toward the Quicksilver Needles. Besides, he and Hesta had once