Gazing

Liz's phone rang again. After listening for a few sentences, she quickly hung up.

"Sorry, I have to go out for a bit. Do you have any other plans tonight?" Liz asked.

"No."

"Then come with me to the base hospital. Ligo's special training is over, and I need to take her some things." Liz smiled.

To Hesta's surprise, the base hospital wasn't located in any of the buildings on the surface.

Liz took her to an elevator that descended underground. The metal cabin plunged downwards for an unknown amount of time. When the doors opened again, Hesta found herself in a completely different world.

It was entirely different from the old buildings on the surface. The floor and walls were white, and the corridor lights were so bright that it was impossible to tell day from night.

According to Liz, they were now about 110 meters underground. The buildings here were all welded from steel bars and plates. The foundations of these buildings weren't ordinary soil layers, but rather nearly 2,000 springs, each weighing 4.9 tons, pieced together. This shockproof measure was enough to withstand most major explosions.

There were over a dozen such underground buildings within the base, each serving a different purpose. However, at the moment, Hesta only had permission to enter the hospital.

After passing through three decontamination zones and putting on sterile suits, Liz brought Ligo's CDs and headphones. However, these items were placed in a locker outside. The next morning, the on-duty nurse would disinfect them thoroughly before giving them to Ligo.

After a preliminary conversation with the nurse, the two learned that Ligo only woke up briefly around 9 PM, and her consciousness lasted for about six minutes. Upon learning that she would be hospitalized for over a month, she repeatedly emphasized to the nearby nurses that they must contact Liz Fletcher in room 403 and ask her to bring some CDs and headphones.

Upon hearing the reason, Liz breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ligo's adjutant transferred last year, so she doesn't come back to the base much... I sometimes help her out," Liz smiled at Hesta. "She's quite the handful, isn't she?"

"Is she seriously injured?"

"Don't worry, it's always like this the first time someone awakens 'Bullet Time.' This way, everyone knows their limits."

"Limits?"

Liz didn't answer, and Hesta didn't ask further. She vaguely felt that this might also be a question that was "inconvenient to answer for now."

And there might be many more such questions here, including the topic of the "limitations of Bullet Time" from the gym earlier.

For the next while, everything was calm and uneventful.

What surprised Hesta the most was that, just as Liz had said, Shawn really didn't bother her again.

During the nights of this period, Hesta finished her rose in her room alone.

After sealing it under the glass cover, the girl placed it on the side table by the window. On clear nights, when the sun set, the brilliant sunset glow from the horizon would cast a twilight glow on the glass, reflecting into the unlit bedroom.

Hesta lay on the bed, lost in thought gazing at the shadows on the ceiling. She didn't think about anything, and everything around her was irrelevant. It wasn't until the time for night class approached that she got up to prepare to go out.

There were few people in the base, but the atmosphere seemed very friendly. Whenever she went out with Liz and encountered strangers in the hallway, regardless of whether she had seen them before, they would greet her first, saying "Hello" or "Good evening." Hesta found this particularly unaccustomed.

Hesta had already started classes. After preliminary assessments, the only classes she could immediately participate in were basic physical training. Moreover, she lacked the necessary common sense for operating electronic devices.

The teaching assistant responsible for course design stated that she would need to complete approximately 120 hours of basic life skills training and elementary grammar instruction before she could begin further courses. Considering that basic training already occupied nearly 6 hours of her day, the course center arranged for this skills training to take place at night.

The teaching building was a public area with cameras everywhere. In places not covered by cameras, Liz never let Hesta be alone. She insisted on escorting Hesta to and from classes, which was her way of alleviating Hesta's fear.

Hesta learned quickly and was very engaged. After the formal instruction from the teacher ended, she would often bring a pile of questions to continue asking and discussing, and Liz would always wait outside without complaint until Hesta emerged.

After about half a month of this, Hesta finally took the initiative to suggest that she could go to and from classes alone. Liz quickly relayed this news to Molly and Valenti, which somewhat indicated that Hesta had begun to build some trust in the security provided by the base.

As May approached, the weather gradually became warmer, and the time of sunset was noticeably delayed. Hesta also extended her self-study time accordingly, transforming from a life in a convent to a reserve in a training base at an astonishing pace.

As night fell again, and the sunset glow outside the window faded, the lights in the classroom turned on automatically.

The phone on the desk vibrated slightly. It was a message from Liz.

"Where are you?"

Hesta quickly replied: "Grammar classroom."

"Don't leave. Wait for me there, I'll be right there."

Hesta looked at the text message and vaguely sensed a hint of urgency from Liz's words.

She looked out the window. The sky, which had been orange-red not long ago, had now turned a light blue, and the lone stars of the night had become more prominent. Hesta put away her phone, and an instinct for self-preservation prompted her to go next door to find the teaching assistant.

It would be better not to be alone before Liz arrived.

However, the moment she stood up, she heard a sudden mechanical whirring sound from behind her, and the lights in the classroom suddenly went out—all except for the one directly above Hesta.

The entire classroom was instantly plunged into darkness. Hesta saw herself in the reflection of the window. The white light illuminated her hair, casting her face into shadow.

She turned her head and quickly realized that the sound she had just heard came from the surveillance camera at the back of the classroom.

The lens, which had been facing the center of the classroom, slowly turned towards Hesta's location after several adjustments.

Hesta frowned and slowly walked from the front of the classroom towards the back. With each step, the lights behind her went out, and the light above her suddenly turned on, like a cage forged of cold light, forever focused on her.

The camera moved slowly with her steps. Hesta reached the lens.

She stared at the lens with some suspicion.

"...Shawn?"

The camera suddenly began to shake, its metal joints creaking and groaning, like a series of eerie laughter.

Thanks to book friend 20180731 for the monthly ticket~