Gaze

Liz's phone rang again. She answered it, listened for a few moments, and quickly hung up.

"Sorry, I need to head out for something. Do you have anything else planned tonight?" Liz asked.

"No."

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

To Hesta's surprise, the base hospital was not located inside any of the buildings aboveground.

Liz took her down in an elevator. The metal car descended for what felt like an eternity. When the doors opened again, an entirely different world appeared before Hesta.

It was completely unlike the aging buildings aboveground. The floors and walls were white, and the corridor lights were bright enough to make it impossible to tell night from day.

According to Liz, they were currently about 110 meters underground. The buildings here were all welded from reinforced steel and steel plates. Their foundations did not rest on ordinary load-bearing soil, but on nearly two thousand interconnected springs, each weighing 4.9 tons—earthquake-proofing measures sufficient to withstand most violent explosions.

There were more than a dozen such underground buildings in the base, each serving a different purpose. For now, though, the hospital was the only one Hesta had permission to enter.

The two passed through three sterilization zones and put on sterile clothing. Liz had brought Ligo's CDs and headphones, but they were left in an outer storage room. Early tomorrow morning, the nurses changing shifts would thoroughly disinfect them before delivering them to Ligo.

After an initial discussion with the nurses, they learned that Ligo had only briefly awakened at around nine that evening. She had remained conscious for about six minutes. After learning that she would need to stay hospitalized for over a month, she repeatedly stressed to the nearby nurses that they had to contact Liz Fletcher in Room 403 and ask her to bring several CDs and a pair of headphones.

After hearing the reason, Liz relaxed slightly.

"Ligo's assistant officer transferred to another position last year, so she rarely comes back to the base... Sometimes I help Ligo out." Liz smiled at Hesta. "She really is a troublesome one, isn't she?"

"She was badly injured?"

"Don't worry. Everyone is like this the first time they awaken Bullet Time. That's how they learn where their limits are."

"Limits?"

Liz did not answer again, so Hesta did not press her. She vaguely sensed that this might be another question that was "inconvenient to answer for now."

And there might be many, many more questions like that here—including the topic related to "Bullet Time's limitations" in the gym earlier.

The days that followed were utterly peaceful.

What surprised Hesta most was that, just as Liz had said, Shawn truly never came to trouble her again.

During those nights, Hesta completed her rose by herself in her room.

After sealing it beneath its glass cover, the girl placed it on the side table by the window. On clear nights, as the sun sank in the west, the brilliant sunset clouds cast twilight glimmers across the glass. Reflected from its surface, they illuminated the unlit bedroom.

Hesta lay on her back in bed, staring absently at the shifting light on the ceiling. She thought of nothing, and everything around her seemed to have nothing to do with her. Only when it was nearly time for night classes did she rise and prepare to leave.

There were few people at the base, but the atmosphere seemed very friendly. Whenever she went out with Liz and encountered strangers in the corridor, whether she had met them before or not, they would take the initiative to greet her with a "Hello" or "Good evening." Hesta found this especially unfamiliar.

Hesta had begun attending classes. After an initial assessment, the only course she could immediately join was the most basic physical training. Beyond that, she also lacked the necessary common knowledge for operating electronic devices.

The teaching assistant responsible for designing her curriculum said that she had to complete roughly 120 hours of basic life-skills training and elementary grammar instruction before she could begin subsequent courses. Since her basic training already took up nearly six hours each day, the course center scheduled this skills training for the evenings.

The teaching building was a public area, with cameras everywhere. And in other places beyond the cameras' coverage, Liz never allowed Hesta to be alone. She insisted on taking Hesta to and from class herself—her way of easing Hesta's fear.

Hesta learned quickly and threw herself into it. After the teacher's formal instruction ended, she would often continue asking questions and discussing them at length, while Liz always waited outside without complaint until Hesta came out.

After a little over half a month like this, Hesta finally volunteered to go to and from class alone. Liz quickly shared the news with Molly and Valenti—it at least showed that Hesta had developed some trust in the security the base provided.

As May approached, the weather gradually grew warmer, and sunset was noticeably later. Hesta accordingly extended her self-study hours. At an astonishing pace, she was completing her transformation from a convent resident to a reserve trainee at the training base.

One night, as the sunset outside the window faded, the lights in the classroom switched on by themselves.

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 there for me. I'll be there soon."

Hesta stared at the message. Between those words, she could vaguely sense that Liz seemed somewhat anxious.

She looked out the window. The sky, orange-red not long ago, had now turned pale blue, and a lone star in the night had become more distinct. Hesta put away her phone. An instinct for avoiding danger made her decide to look for the teaching assistant next door.

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

However, the instant she rose, she heard an abrupt mechanical whirring behind her. The classroom lights suddenly went out—except for the one directly above Hesta.

The entire classroom instantly darkened. In the window's reflection, Hesta saw herself. White light illuminated her hair while leaving her face sunk in shadow.

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

The lens, originally aimed at the center of the room, adjusted itself several times before slowly turning toward Hesta.

Hesta frowned tightly and slowly walked from the front of the classroom toward the back. With every step, the lights behind her went out while the light overhead abruptly came on, like a prison cell forged from cold light, forever fixed upon her.

The camera followed her steps, moving slowly. Hesta stopped directly in front of the lens.

She stared at it suspiciously.

"...Shawn?"

The lens suddenly began to shake. Its metal joints creaked and squealed, like a string of eerie laughter.

Thanks to reader 20180731 for the monthly vote~