When Jane Hester returned to Dorm 403, she happened to run into Liz Fletcher coming out of her own room.
"Back already?"
"Mm."
The moment they faced each other, a wave of complicated emotion rose between them — a subtle sense of mutual betrayal. Instinctively, they both averted their eyes.
Jane turned toward her own room, but just as she reached for the door handle, Liz suddenly called out to her.
"Your personal computer has just been approved," Liz said softly. "When do you want to pick it up? Tonight, or tomorrow?"
Jane thought for a moment. "Then... tonight?"
"Sure, I'll take you there."
All the way down the hall, Liz wrestled with how to tell Jane that the base had suspended the investigation into Shawn Grangewa. But by the time they returned, she still hadn't found the right words. She could only watch silently as Jane carried her new computer back to her room.
Liz's mind was in turmoil. That afternoon, following Sophie Molly's advice, she had gone to see Valenti, but Valenti told her to come back in a few days. Liz remembered how she had promised Jane, only two nights ago, that she would protect her no matter what — and now, because of the ongoing civil demonstrations, she had to accept the reality of the suspended investigation.
Tossing and turning in bed, Liz couldn't sleep at all.
Meanwhile, in another room, Jane knew nothing of it. Once she got her computer, her attention was instantly drawn to the compact black device in her hands.
Within minutes, she began experimenting with the basic functions she'd learned over the past two weeks. Soon she found her way to the search interface and, with her two-finger typing, entered the words "Hekla Wasteland."
Aside from basic introductions to the region, most of the search results revolved around the "Hekla Tragedy." Two years ago — the same year the Grangewa brothers arrived at the base — the Hekla Wasteland suffered a massive outbreak of Chelation Infection.
As the chelated organisms multiplied, the wind sweeping through the wasteland became like the breath of death itself, carrying endless waves of slaughter.
It was during the Hekla Tragedy that the Mercury Needles first observed cooperative behavior between chelated creatures — primitive "bait and ambush" tactics, but unprecedented in the history of observation.
Also, in Hekla, they observed a chelate that survived for forty days — the longest ever recorded, surpassing the previous maximum of twenty-eight.
These findings suggested that the organisms might be capable of evolution, though the trigger conditions remained unknown.
Jane closed those pages and typed in new keywords: "Hekla Brothers."
Sure enough, just as Masaki Chiba had once told her, articles about the Grangewa brothers filled the screen. She read them one by one until she found a report mentioning the infamous deer-hunting incident that Chiba had spoken of.
The controversy had lasted for over two months. The incident provoked public outrage in Tanier City, with many questioning whether a team of Mercury Needles composed of such brutal and inhumane wasteland survivors could be trusted to uphold moral integrity.
Others — public figures and thought leaders — countered that it was wrong to judge children who had just escaped hell by the standards of civilized society. "That," they argued, "is the arrogance of civilization."
Eventually, the Aegas Medical Division and Tanier First Hospital issued a joint statement diagnosing the Hekla brothers with acute PTSD caused by their traumatic experiences in the wasteland — explaining their irrational behavior.
Only then did the uproar finally settle.
Among all the reports, only one blurred photo — taken by a random citizen — showed the figures of the Grangewa brothers. From that, Jane realized that the base truly had been protecting its new recruits; even at the height of the scandal, the brothers' names and faces were never publicly revealed.
Her first time using a search engine left Jane in awe — as if she had opened the door to an entirely new world.
Compared to sifting through endless library archives, the convenience of instant search felt almost magical.
Driven by curiosity, Jane then searched for the hometown Liz had mentioned two days earlier — Askea.
Much like Hekla, the first few entries offered basic facts, followed by dozens of headlines about the "Askea Tragedy."
Next, she searched for "Catra City, Fourth District" — Turan's hometown — and then the Sol Wasteland, where Rico came from. The results were hauntingly similar: after brief introductions came the inevitable "tragedy" entries.
Among them, only Catra City — being a habitable zone — had seen timely intervention by the Mercury Needles during the first outbreak. Except for the twenty or so people killed outright by the creatures, the city's 110,000 residents were safely evacuated.
Now, Catra City had been under quarantine for two years. After a period of isolation, its original residents had been relocated to other habitable zones, rebuilding new lives.
As for Askea and Hekla — both wastelands — the endings were nearly total annihilation.
Aegas Base seemed to have long been working on developing early warning systems for residents in the wastelands, but with little success. Every time they detected an outbreak, it was already too late — the infection had reached mass hysteria. The only thing the Mercury Needles could do was search the ruins for survivors and bring them back to the safe zones.
That, in fact, was where most of the new recruits came from.
Jane spent the entire night wandering through the details of this world, until a single name suddenly came to her mind. Hesitant, she typed it into the search bar: "Volva."
Her expression shifted gradually — from anxious anticipation to quiet calm. The search results all pointed to a romantic novel from the Fourteenth District titled "The Dagger and the Sheath." Its heroine's name: Volva.
Jane lowered her gaze, finally feeling fatigue settle in. She glanced at the clock — already past 1 a.m.
She washed up, lay down, and stared silently at the ceiling until sleep overtook her.
---
Sunday morning — Class D Student Observation Wing.
When Calvin woke up, he was surprised to see Shawn already awake — a rare sight. Shawn was sitting lazily at the small desk inside the observation room, flipping through a book.
The sun must've risen from the west today, Calvin thought. He greeted Shawn casually before heading toward the washroom.
"Hey, Cal — mind if I borrow your computer later?" Shawn said suddenly.
"No." Calvin replied flatly.
"That's fine," Shawn drawled. "Then maybe you can just look something up for me. Deal?"
Calvin frowned. "What do you want me to search?"
Shawn turned toward him with a crooked grin. "Just a name — Volva."
(End of Chapter)