Why it never ends

Chapter 366 Collection
Hesta walked down the dark metal stairs slowly, and the scene in front of her suddenly reminded her of the time she went to the underground gun club in the urban area with Chiba to practice guns many years ago.

Scenes of the past are so vivid, as if they happened yesterday.

"Do you need help?" At the corner of the stairs, Zero looked back at Hesta who suddenly stopped.

Hesta shook her head, her eyes continued to fall back to the ground, her hands were tightly grasping the handrail, and every step was extremely solid.

Ling looked at it for a while, then suddenly carried the wheelchair and ran down in big strides. With the sound of her "bang bang bang" footsteps, the entire metal staircase began to tremble.Immediately afterwards, Zero flew up three or four steps step by step, and in the dim yellow light, she quickly returned to Hesta's side.

"I carry you down?"

"No," Hesta handed half of his right arm to her, "Can you hold my hand?"

Zero took a quick snapshot. She adapted to the rhythm of Hesta going downstairs, but found that the other party stopped again.

Zero raised his head and found that Hesta was staring into his eyes.

"What's the matter, why didn't you leave again?" the girl asked.

Hesta withdrew her gaze, looked down at the road under her feet again, and went down step by step.

"I wonder if we've met somewhere," Hesta replied.

Zero said nothing.

"I've had this feeling before," Hesta continued, her voice was very low, "Although it's the first time I've met, I feel that the other party is very familiar."

Zero let out a slight echo.

"Is it your friend?"

"Yes...but I didn't ask."

The two soon came to the entrance of the basement floor, and Hesta's wheelchair was placed by the door.

Zero walked to the right side of the metal door, where there was a code board similar to the cabin door, but with more and more complicated symbols on it,
After passing the double security of the password and fingerprint lock, the iron door shrank into the wall, and Hesta noticed that the door panel of this door was about eight or nine centimeters thick, almost comparable to the emergency barrier wall of the base's underground hospital.

She followed Zero through a short and narrow entrance, and her vision suddenly widened.

It is not so much a "room" as a "pavilion". It has the same astonishing floor height as the deck where Bishop's restaurant is located. Four columns of three-meter-high wooden showcases divide this huge space into five forwards. trail.

The light was soft and bright, Hestad almost felt that this was the carefully designed natural light in some museum buildings.

She sat back in the wheelchair and let Zero push her forward.Countless animal skeletons passed her by, and she could barely make out some skulls of wolves and hyenas.Through the glass, she saw bone birds living on fake branches in the distance, some fossils, and some small rodents... Even though they had been made into bone specimens, they were still displayed in various ways. There is even a pair of running antelope and wolf.

"...Is this 'luggage'?" Hesta was a little taken aback, "Anna brought a museum with her..."

"This is already a streamlined look. When I returned to the 1th district this time, Anna donated most of her collection to the museum, leaving only about 6/[-] of it."

At the end of this room, the road splits into two, a main road leading to the upper right, and a small road leading to the lower left.

Zero pushed Hesta to go straight to the left.

"The place we are going now is Anna's study, she is now—"

"Pause."

Hesta raised her hand, and her eyes were completely attracted by the photo walls on both sides.These photos are all packed in a variety of photo frames, some of which are brightly colored, and some are very old, and there are even traces of potions left on the corners of the landscape or characters to eliminate mildew.

From the inaccessible plateau snow-capped mountains to the rainforest infested with mosquitoes... There are few people in the picture, but a left hand often appears, sometimes pointing to a dead tree entangled in ivy, sometimes pointing to an ant and being surrounded by it A grazing aphid, sometimes clutching a queen bee with a white thread on its tail.

The month and date are marked in the lower right corner of each photo, but none have the year.

"... These," Hesta looked at Zero, "are all Anna's work?"

"No, it's just a hobby."

"Hobby?"

"Because Anna's research direction is related to forest microorganisms, she is a forest scientist." Zero expression calmly replied, "These photos, and most of the collection outside, have nothing to do with her research... She just likes these things .”

Hesta stared at a dead drone in the wet mud, which was pasted just below the photo of the queen bee. If it wasn't for the dark yellow down on its back, Hesta would have almost mistaken it for a giant drone. fly.

"Do you like these photos?" Zero asked.

Hesta nodded, she sat back on the wheelchair again, and Zero pushed her to continue walking.

"Are you always with her when she goes to these places?" asked Hesta.

"No," Zero shook his head, "Those photos should have been taken a long time ago, after all, Anna has been staying in the third district all these years."

"Did she only explore the forest in the third district all these years?"

"No." Zero replied softly, "It was isolated in the third district."

Only then did Hesta recall the electronic shackles on Anna's feet—yes, of course she would not be an ordinary forest researcher.

After a while, behind a heavy wooden door, Hesta finally saw Anna, who was resting on a chaise longue, with a thin vertical volume open on her lap.

The white cat named Myshkin was sleeping at Anna's feet. When it opened its eyes and cast a lazy glance at Hesta, Hesta immediately remembered that he had forgotten one important thing this morning— —

"Zero, can I trouble you to run for me?"

"what?"

"Call the medical room for me and ask them to bring a rabies vaccine... I don't remember the number of the medical room."

Soon there were only Hesta and Anna left in the room.

Hesta looked around the study room, which almost immediately reminded her of the basement library of Ava's house - bookshelves full of books are everywhere, and they are like the ripples on the surface of a lake, arranged in a certain arc. , and the desk where Anna worked at the desk was in the center of the water pattern.

Hesta looked at the row of bookshelves closest to her. She didn't understand the words on the spines at all. She got up and took out a few books and flipped through them. It felt like the language used by some mountain people in the sixth or fourth districts. , judging from the illustrations, it seems to be telling local religious and mythological stories.

"Is this also a hobby?" Hesta murmured softly.

After a few rounds of shopping, Hesta sat back in her seat. She took out the "Origin" wrapped in kraft paper from the storage bag next to the wheelchair, and looked down.

After a few minutes, Hesta also dozed off.

(End of this chapter)