Chapter 69 Analysis

In an equally pitch-black room, Chiba sat alone in front of the curved screen in the base's command center, repeatedly watching the footage of Hesta's battle.

From the moment she fled the shelter to the instant she dive-bombed and shot the chelate, the entire process lasted only 11 minutes and 52 seconds. At the crucial parts, Chiba paused and reviewed the footage almost frame by frame.

Hesta had not undergone a secondary awakening, that was certain, but she had undeniably dodged numerous attacks from the chelate—in a clumsy yet effective manner.

Hesta had never received formal close-quarters combat training. The fact that she managed to survive by sheer luck was largely due to the chelate released by Turan this time: in life, it had been a researcher from the Fourth District—slender and devoid of any combat foundation.

Had the opponent been even slightly superior in strength or technique, the outcome would not have been what it was.

Although the base still could not explain how Hesta managed to keep pace with the chelate under such circumstances, Chiba was certain of one thing—Hesta's high-speed combat occurred exclusively during close-quarters encounters with the chelate.

When the chelate pursued her down the corridor, she could run at speeds that rivaled other quicksilvers in bullet-time;

When she stood her ground against the chelate with a gun, she could capture the enemy's trajectory and maintain precise gunfire throughout the battle;

However, when the chelate was locked on the other side of the corridor and she was carrying Sean toward the shelter, she ran with great difficulty, her speed rapidly dropping back to her normal level.

Watching the footage, Chiba suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

If Hesta were truly taken away by the likes of Robert, her special constitution would cater almost entirely to the demands of the United Government—faced with a chelate, she could display the combat caliber of a quicksilver; faced with ordinary people, a slightly robust adult could easily subdue her.

Her strength posed no threat, and controlling her would be effortless... In other words, this was an unprecedented, completely harmless quicksilver.

Could it be that Robert already knew of Hesta's uniqueness, which was why he went to such great lengths to wrestle her away from the base?

Chiba clenched her teeth—if that were true, she had vastly underestimated the other party's determination in this matter, and consequently underestimated the price the United Government was willing to pay.

But soon, Chiba shook her head.

No.

That was highly unlikely.

The thought that had just flashed through her mind was almost instantly dismissed by Chiba herself—if the United Government had truly known all along that Hesta was such a figure, they should have pulled out all the stops to snatch her the moment she left the monastery, rather than having two rookie security officers show up tardily to maneuver for her only after she had already been brought in to process her paperwork.

Then... could it be that during this period, the United Government had obtained new intelligence from elsewhere, realizing Hesta was worth seizing?

Chiba fell into deep thought.

Although this possibility indeed existed... the probability was extremely low.

Isolated on the outside, the United Government was unlikely to obtain data related to Hesta firsthand. Their decision to target Hesta this time was most likely because she possessed both the identity of a resident from a habitable zone and the experience of rescuing the children of the monastery, making her well-suited to evoke public sympathy.

If so, the utmost priority was to completely extinguish their thoughts of seizing Hesta before the United Government realized her true value.

Chiba stood up almost immediately and walked over to the nearby computer.

A knock sounded at the door, but Chiba ignored it.

A moment later, Molly pushed the door open directly.

The white light from the corridor streamed through the crack of the door, casting a wedge-shaped shadow on the floor of the command center. Molly stood at the entrance, gazing at Chiba, who appeared to be working.

Her expression was far from pleasant. Because of this so-called hearing, far from being held accountable, those hearing officers had not even offered her a single word of verbal criticism.

Such a serious accident had been so lightly dissolved into nothingness. Not only did this fail to make Molly feel relieved, but it also filled her with a profound sense of insult—the rules she regarded as ironclad laws had been so effortlessly pulverized by Chiba.

"The hearing is over," Molly said coldly. "Chiba, are you—"

"Get out," Chiba didn't even raise her head. "Even matters of heaven and earth can wait until tomorrow; I don't have time right now."

Molly's anger instantly peaked. She slammed the door shut heavily and left.

The command center returned to its previous darkness—save for the screen right in front of Chiba.

Her fingertips danced rapidly across the keyboard, the cold light of the screen reflecting off her glasses, making her look exceptionally sharp.

...

Sunday morning dawned with warm sunlight.

Midsummer had arrived, but the weather was not particularly hot. Robert woke up early. As usual, he first kissed his sleeping wife, then slipped on his fleece slippers and walked silently toward the walk-in closet.

The housekeeper had already prepared all the clothes he needed to wear today. Because he had promised his grandson and granddaughter to take them fishing this morning, he no longer needed to wear a suit and tie like before—he had custom-ordered a pair of gabardine overalls at the beginning of the year, yet work over the past half-year had been so frantically busy that today was the first Sunday he finally had free to go out.

He walked downstairs and saw the two little ones already gathered around the table, eating their prepared breakfast.

His young granddaughter spotted Robert first. She hopped down from her chair, cheerfully opened her arms, and ran toward him.

"Grandpa—"

"Oh..." Robert picked the child up, smiled, and walked back to the dining table. The housekeeper quietly pulled out Robert's chair, and after the little girl was placed back into her seat, Robert took his place at the head of the table.

"Would you like to look at today's newspaper?" the housekeeper asked.

Robert glanced at the morning paper stacked not far away in a woven basket—every morning he read the paper during breakfast, and the housekeeper would read through all the day's news beforehand, highlighting anything that might interest Robert to save him time.

Today, however, he had finally managed to carve out time to accompany the children, so Robert shook his head, "No need."

He looked at his grandchildren, "Grandpa isn't working today, just playing with my good kids, alright?"

The two children chimed in happily in agreement. At the dining table, Robert asked about their recent progress at school. The little ones seemed to have an endless stream of things to say, tattling on each other and excitedly reporting the interesting things that had happened during their break to their grandfather.

The phone rang at that moment, and the housekeeper nearby immediately picked it up.

He listened for a moment, put down the receiver, and walked over to Robert's side, "Sir, it's for you."

"I've already told the secretary's office that I am free for the entire day today," Robert said in a low voice. "If it's work-related, tell them to go to Alan."

"Understood."

Just as the housekeeper was about to move away, Robert habitually asked, "Who called?"

"Avinash," the housekeeper replied.