Defense

The next day at noon.

Valenti sat alone in the cafeteria, looking down at her phone, her thumbs flying across the keypad.

Valenti: Friend, you finally decided to come online.

Chiba: ?

Valenti: Did you read the email I forwarded to you?

Chiba: Jane's list of demands? Yeah, I saw it. It's asking me to reimburse her? The base isn't that strapped for cash, is it?

Valenti: ...

Chiba: Sister, if you have something to say, hurry up and say it. I'm about to board a plane.

Valenti: Why did Jane want these things on her very first day at the base? Do you have any leads?

Chiba: None.

Chiba: If you want to know, you should ask her yourself.

Valenti: Of course, I'm going to talk to her. We have our first discussion this afternoon... But why do you seem completely unconcerned? She just went through such a tragedy; this information might be important.

Chiba: Hahahaha

Valenti: ?

Chiba: It's true she just went through a tragedy, but don't forget she grew up in Duanming Alley before she entered the abbey. Children who have seen so much wouldn't be easily shaken. You're getting all flustered just because she asked for some furniture on her first day at the base... Stay calm, Valenti. The person I chose won't have any major issues.

Valenti: ...So, what was it that made you choose Jane? I've already heard several people discussing this topic today.

Chiba: Ha, I just found her scent a little… peculiar.

Scent?

Valenti looked up slightly, lost in thought, and then saw Hesta standing directly opposite her, holding a meal tray. She couldn't help but jump in surprise.

"Sorry, did I startle you?" Hesta asked softly.

"Ah, no..." Valenti regained her composure.

Today, Hesta was wearing the uniform she received yesterday: a white shirt with a dark blue sweater, a gray pleated skirt, and a golden embroidered insignia on the left chest of her uniform top. It was the emblem of the Reserve Training Base, depicting a long sword piercing an ocher, with the letters "AHgAs" below it.

"May I sit here?" Hesta asked.

"Of course." Valenti symbolically pulled her tray closer to herself. She glanced at her phone screen, where a new message had arrived. Chiba's avatar had gone gray after leaving a message saying, "Boarding now, bye-bye."

"Did you settle in well yesterday?" Valenti put her phone away.

"Yes, I talked with Liz for a long time yesterday and also met Tulan and Ligo, though we didn't have in-depth conversations," Hesta replied calmly. "I underwent two hours of course selection training this morning, but there's still a lot I don't understand. I plan to check the course selection system in the computer room after my meeting with you this afternoon."

"That's good," Valenti smiled. "It seems you've found your rhythm here."

"Yes, thanks to Liz. She told me a lot about daily life here."

The two ate in silence. After the meal, Hesta followed Valenti directly to her discussion room.

On the way, Valenti thought about Chiba's earlier remark, "her scent a little peculiar," and unconsciously moved closer to Hesta.

She could indeed detect a faint scent of Quicksilver Needles' younglings on Hesta, but that was quite common among new recruits.

What did Chiba mean by "peculiar"...?

"Miss Valenti?" Hesta's voice broke through Valenti's thoughts again. She came back to herself and realized they were standing in front of the discussion room door.

"Oh, my apologies..." Valenti immediately started looking for the door card. "I tend to get lost in thought and forget what's in front of me. Please don't mind."

"I don't mind," Hesta said, looking at Valenti. "On the contrary, I find the time spent with you very relaxing."

Valenti chuckled, "Thank you..."

The discussion room was empty. Along one wall stood two gray metal cabinets filled with many thick document folders. By the window were two lemon-yellow single sofas facing each other diagonally. Near the door was a dark wood desk. Valenti walked over, turned on the computer on the desk, and gestured for Hesta to come over and fill out a psychological assessment first.

Hesta followed Valenti's instructions and quickly got the hang of it.

The base was currently using the newly revised Symptom Self-Rating Scale-270, which had been updated with new norms last year. It followed the Likert Seven-Point Scale Method and consisted of 270 questions, assessing the subject's current psychological state across 17 mutually exclusive dimensions such as anxiety, depression, and antisocial tendencies. Its reliability and validity were very high.

What made this newly revised scale superior to the old version was the addition of two sections: the "Vanity Scale" and the "Defense Scale." These sections contained a total of 30 questions specifically designed for lie detection.

Generally, ordinary people would score very low on these 30 questions. However, if someone deliberately concealed their true thoughts with the aim of "beautifying themselves" or "passive defense," choosing answers that appeared more positive or correct, their scores on these particular questions would become very high.

This meant that their entire questionnaire would be unreliable.

These 30 lie-detection questions were interspersed among the original 240 questions, greatly facilitating psychological professionals like Valenti. She could easily identify which measurement results were unreliable using this lie-detection scale and, to some extent, understand the subject's tendency to lie.

About half an hour later, Hesta submitted the scale.

Valenti had already adjusted the camera and begun her conversation with Hesta.

Today, their discussion was limited to Hesta's past and her planned activities at the base in the coming days.

Hesta frequently glanced at the camera placed nearby. Like all new recruits, she was unaccustomed to speaking on camera.

"Will anyone access these recordings or audio?" she asked softly.

"Yes, but only a very small number of people will have access privileges," Valenti replied. "Including me, there are only four people, oh wait, five—Chiba is one of them. Most of the time, no one will touch them; all video materials are simply kept as archives. If you encounter problems in your future development, we will try to find the reasons through these materials."

Hesta gazed at the red light on the camera with a complex expression. "I understand."

Valenti actually had many things she wanted to know about Hesta, such as the girl's early memories, her birthplace and childhood, the education she received in Duanming Alley and Saint Anne Abbey, some daily entertainment, and important turning points and choices in her life…

But Valenti also understood that these questions wouldn't have answers now—it was far too soon to discuss such deep topics with Hesta.

However, she didn't need to rush, as conversations like today's would continue to happen once a month, with the frequency potentially increasing or decreasing based on circumstances, until they were both adults.

The clock struck 3:50 PM. Hesta stood up from her seat and bid Valenti farewell. Only after she closed the door to the consultation room from the outside did Valenti sit back down in front of her computer to look at Hesta's questionnaire results.

As expected, the moment she scrolled to the results page, she saw the red text "Invalid Measurement" displayed on the screen, followed by a line of black body text below it—

"The subject's 'Defense Scale' score was too high; the results of this questionnaire cannot be trusted."

Thanks to Xiao Yunyan and Chi Huo Shi Lu Zhi Jiu for their monthly ticket rewards~