Only after waiting a few more days did Hesta finally confirm that no one was going to hold her accountable this time.
Once she reached that conclusion, it became easy to work backward and infer the reason. Hesta once again realized what made District 12 so special: on the one hand, many of the workstations here had already been withdrawn by AHgAs, and the Quicksilver Needles still working here were now mostly focused on the Mother City. As a result, the positions originally responsible for monitoring risky Quicksilver Needle behavior were essentially vacant. Unless someone took the initiative to report them to AHgAs, or a Quicksilver Needle entered Bullet Time outside of combat and directly triggered a chip alert, low-level physical conflicts would no longer have any chance of reaching upper management's attention.
Idrian had not reported her. Perhaps he did not know how—but Hesta dismissed that thought as soon as it arose. She remembered Idrian mentioning that he had experience fighting alongside Quicksilver Needles. If so, he had to know their internal discipline. That meant the only possible reason for his silence was Arevalo.
What particularly concerned her was what Arevalo had actually done—such a minor disturbance had made him immediately lower himself and flatter the Quicksilver Needles around him. There were probably other bloody memories behind that reaction.
...Being an assassin was really useful. Hesta had thought so countless times.
On the other hand, since entering District 12, Hesta had indeed felt a freedom she had never known before. Compared to her past experiences in District 14, that feeling stood out all the more. Even District 12 had people like Simoya, trying to cast watchful eyes over others, but Simoya's mission did not come from the unquestionable Office No. 2. She was merely an extension of Kendall's will,