Chapter 68: Hearing

When Chiba and the rescue team rushed into the shelter successively, everything was already over.

The paramedics quickly carried Sean away, and after briefly tending to the wound on Turan’s abdomen, they immediately rushed her into the emergency room on the same floor.

Only Hesta remained sitting in place, somewhat in a trance. She was covered in blood, her two hands still tightly clutching the head of the chelate organism.

Chiba squatted down in front of her and softly called her name.

Hesta looked up at Chiba—around Chiba’s pupils, there was also a ring of silver-white rims, just like Turan’s.

Hesta’s throat moved slightly, and after a long while, she spoke as if talking to herself.

"I... killed a chelate organism, Miss Chiba."

Hesta lowered her head, slowly pulling the pistol out of the eye socket of the chelate organism, and gently wiped away the residual blood and flesh tissue on it.

"Using... the gun you gave me."

……

……

That same night, inside a conference room somewhere within the base, six people participated in the online meeting for AHgAs together. Chiba’s seat remained empty; she had neither requested leave nor attended.

This was an internal hearing targeting the Third District Reserve Base. Such a major accident had occurred at the Third District Reserve Base during Morley’s tenure, and the AHgAs headquarters could not simply let it pass without inquiry.

The hearing was composed of five magistrates from other regional reserve bases. Morley needed to explain the cause of the accident, the progress of the accident handling, and future preventive measures to them, as well as accept their questioning.

Only half a day had passed, and the investigation had already taken initial shape—ever since the routine training for this year’s secondary awakening began, Turan had been continuously applying for actual combat against chelate organisms. Almost all the training instructors in the base understood Turan’s desire for combat. Although no one mentioned it, many inwardly felt it was a pity that her bullet time was so brief. As a form of consolation to her, the practical training sessions she applied for were basically all approved.

However, what no one noticed was that because Turan had consistently received work-study grants from the base, she undertook a portion of the base’s affairs in her daily life.

This year, considering that she was an experienced second-year student and had performed exceptionally well during her two years at the base, she was assigned to the underground base training ground to supervise the pharmaceutical allocation for the training chelate organisms.

Originally, this job could be completed simply by sitting in the surveillance room, but this gave Turan the clearance to patrol the cells of the chelate organisms.

"The second appendix of the document contains Turan’s complete confession," Morley’s voice sounded truly weary. "To summarize, the chelate organism involved in this incident had previously worked at the Fourth District Military Research Institute during its lifetime, so it had a certain understanding of the pathogenesis of chelation disease and the physiological mechanism of silver-needle awakening.

"During a practical training session, it told Turan that if a silver-needle could forcefully delay the descent of the Acheron moment before the end of bullet time by controlling her own mental state, then the silver-needle’s combat duration could be permanently extended.

"Afterward, Turan checked the materials and indeed found some vague, ambiguous records related to this. Thus, making use of her official position, she privately had deeper contact with the chelate organism. During this period, the chelate organism cooperated with all of Turan’s demands with extreme restraint—and it was precisely this experience that gave Turan the illusion that she could cooperate with a chelate organism.

"Since the base records and screens the state of all reserve silver-needles entering bullet time, it was impossible for Turan to attempt this inside the training ground—the safety officer would forcibly remind her to exit the venue at the end of her bullet time. The chelate organism proposed that it was familiar with the technology of the underground base and knew how to temporarily shield the chip inside the reserve’s body without causing injury, except that all of this required Turan to bring tools into its cell, and it could operate personally.

"As for what happened afterward, everyone already knows."

The entire conference room was pitch black and plunged into silence.

On the desks of the other five positions, the half-length projections of the other attendees emerged, each person’s image rendering a faint bluish hue. Although situated in different spaces, their gazes all fell upon the report documents before their respective desks.

"We understand the logic, Ms. Morley," one of them raised their head. "But why did Hesta appear at the scene with Sean at that moment? And why was she carrying a gun?"

Morley could not help but gently pinch the bridge of her nose. "I don’t know."

"You don’t know?" The others looked somewhat surprised. "Aside from the surveillance near the shelter, she should have also engaged in a gunfight with the chelate organism near the connection point earlier. What about the footage from that segment?"

"Those parts of the content belong to secrets that are temporarily undisclosed."

"...... Is it a secret to us as well?"

"Yes," Morley replied flatly. "If you all are truly curious about the reason, you can submit an access application directly to headquarters."

"What is its classification level...?"

"‘Top Secret,’" Morley replied. "The confidentiality period is 9 years."

The five magistrates all frowned in unison, their expressions playful.

One of them suddenly gave a dry cough. "Actually, Morley, we all understand the pressure you’ve been under lately. We’ve also been paying attention to the protests that recently broke out in the Third District—"

"That’s a separate matter," Morley shook her head. "This is my dereliction of duty, and I am willing to accept any disciplinary action, including dismissal and—"

"It doesn’t come to that, Morley. In the past, hearings of this kind were all public, but this one was separately converted into a closed-door meeting. You must be able to sense the attitude of headquarters on this matter..." With that, she looked at the other attendees. "I personally have no other questions. What about you?"

"I don't either."

"None."

"None."

"No further questions."

That person spoke again, "Then, our hearing this session can probably conclude?"

Their gazes met, once again sharing a tacit smile.

A middle-aged woman seated to Morley’s left looked toward Morley. "Perhaps we should congratulate you, Morley? I watched a portion of the surveillance footage of this accident... This should be the first time the reserve girl named Hesta faced an enemy after her secondary awakening, right? To perform so exceptionally well upon entering bullet time for the very first time, she will be a promising sapling with a bright future..."

Listening to the other person’s relaxed and breezy congratulations, Morley’s mood remained as still as stagnant water.

She took off her glasses and slowly leaned back into the soft chair behind her. In the decades she had spent working at the Third District base, she had rarely shown such a weary side.

The others did not know the details, and Morley was not prepared to argue: Hesta had not undergone a secondary awakening.

The base had already examined Hesta’s eyes, and there was truly no sign whatsoever of any 'iris reaction' having occurred there.

Unbelievable as it was, the fact remained—without undergoing a secondary awakening, she had hunted down a chelate organism with combat qualities rivaling those of a silver-needle.