"You... you... why did you come back?" Tulan asked softly. "That... Chelated Being?"
"It's locked in the corridor now, at the other end." Hesta answered quietly. "That isolation door should hold for a while. Miss Chiba and I agreed to meet here. She'll be here soon."
"Chiba's coming..." Tulan's breathing trembled. "That's... really... wonderful..."
Tulan's voice was weak. Hesta desperately searched for something to talk about. Looking at Shawn in the distance, she suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, what is the 'prefrontal cortex'?"
"The prefrontal cortex... oh, it's a region... at the very front of the brain." Hearing the question, Tulan already understood what Hesta was asking. She continued, "Destroying it is the most direct... most thorough way... to kill a Chelated Being..."
Hesta's ears immediately perked up.
"If heavy weapons can be used... then densely deploying incendiary bombs over a wide area can destroy Chelated Beings... in batches, because high temperatures can denature... proteins.
"But if it's in a Habitable Zone... or in a wasteland where civilians still need rescuing... then the Quicksilver Needles need to fight them at close range."
Tulan shivered slightly.
Hesta asked with concern, "Do you still have the strength to talk?"
"Yes." Tulan looked at her. "This is important. You... listen... until I'm done."
Hesta nodded silently.
"After they fall ill, Chelated Beings' bones... and most of their skin outside the joints... become reinforced. Ordinary bullets and melee weapons have a hard time piercing their defenses... except for the eyeballs... and nasal cavities."
Eyeballs.
Nasal cavities.
Hesta's mind raced—when she had fought the Chelated Being before, she had followed Shawn's advice and specifically targeted its eyes. Whenever a bullet might injure the area around its eyes, the Chelated Being would stop attacking and switch to defense.
So that was its weakness?
"But... merely