Two hours and twenty-three minutes.

Or one hundred and forty-three minutes.

Or eight thousand six hundred and six seconds.

As I was thinking, the time had become eight thousand six hundred and twenty-two seconds.

This is the number of seconds Ellie has been silently counting in her mind since the beginning of the action.

It is not excluded that her subjectivity counts fast or slowly, and it is self-evident how much water there is at this time. However, the mere act of calculating how many seconds she started to act was enough to see how bored she was at this point.

When she does something that makes her shy or annoying, Ellie thinks about other trivial things in order to distract herself.

She had a fight with Lloyd in the old city before, and I don't know if it was because of this, but Yu Tatsumi consciously didn't put her and Lloyd in a group.

Lloyd is not to blame for that.

It has nothing to do with the fledgling, energetic rookie investigator.

What makes Ellie angry is the current situation of the autonomous state, what makes Ellie unable to act is the history of the autonomous state, and what makes the support department in crisis is the Karuman consortium, all of which has nothing to do with the good old man with brown broken hair, who is angry because Lloyd gave up? Ellie was just angry.

What's even more terrifying is that she clearly knows that she is angry with Lloyd. If she doesn't know, then she may continue to go crazy irrationally, vent her resentment, and then apologize seriously, and everyone will not particularly care. But Ellie knew. That's why she blames herself and feels that she can't face Lloyd.

In fact, she herself is the one who is running away. The most basic way to change something is to do it yourself, but Ellie pushed the part of the "effort" that should have been borne by herself to Lloyd, so when he decided to retreat - Ellie analyzed it and realized that Lloyd did not want to give up, but wanted to go back and clear his mind, Ellie became angry.

Worst...... The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became...... Where did I just count?

Forget it, let's count again......

Is there any way to apologize to Lloyd? Or is there anyone to talk to? Randy certainly can't, and that filthy guy certainly doesn't have anything to listen to. Neither can Theo, who looks mature but has a cold attitude. He Xu has a lively attitude, but his mind is still a child. Yuki Tatsumi is a candidate, but he's not around now...... If you have a good opportunity in the evening, talk to him.

Wait a minute? Is there any meaning in arranging for me to form a group with Joshua? He's nicknamed a tactician, in other words, he's good at these schemes, right? For example, Joshua could actually talk a little bit about it...... Otherwise, there is no way to explain it? If you talk about combat effectiveness, you can pair me with Randy or Estelle.

It's just that how do you want me to open my mouth with this thing...... If only I could talk to him casually about some topics, I didn't count the time before I knew it, and I was stupid...... How do you want me to open my mouth now......

I'm going to honestly keep counting the time......

Ellie was talking to herself, her pretty face full of clouds.

Joshua saw all this.

It's just that he is not a person who likes to talk a lot, and he doesn't know the cause and effect, and he is not familiar with Ellie, so it is inconvenient to ask, so he can only do it in a hurry.

However, Joshua knew that since Yuki Tatsumi had paired himself with this young lady, there must be something I could do to help. Probably I need to show up to enlighten her, right? It's just that I don't know what her heart disease is, and I can't open my mouth. If only there was an opportunity to catch up.

The two wanted to untie the knot through conversation because they were thinking, but neither of them dared to speak first because they were thinking too much......

The combatants of the Karumon Consortium are also serious about sweeping the monsters, and they haven't spoken to the two since they were rejected when they first asked if they wanted to use the weapons and equipment of the Karumon Consortium. There were no crowds in the cleaning team on the west side, because there were too few participants, after all, most of the residents of West Street had jobs, and it sounded good to defend Crossbell, but the food still had to be eaten.

Obviously, there are battle-hardened combatants to defend the autonomous prefecture, so I, an ordinary person, don't go and cause chaos. Residents have given themselves a pretty good reason.

If there are no ordinary people involved, there is no threat that ordinary people will be injured. But there are no ordinary people, and there is only one "Hey, I wonder how everyone is now?" "I can't even ask. Is it luck or misfortune?

“！ Be careful! ”

Not knowing what he felt, Joshua suddenly stopped the worried Ellie and pulled her back. Powerful arms were in front of her chest, and both knives were unsheathed, and Joshua's hands seemed to exude a chill.

Seeing Ellie's puzzled expression, Joshua explained to her.

"In that forest, there are snipers. It's about 2 or 3 Sail distances -- a sniper at this distance is a good shot. ”

Ellie was taken aback, and couldn't help but wipe her eyes and stare carefully at the southern forest. It's just that she didn't see anything.

To the southwest of the city of Crossbell, there is a large dense forest called Knox Forest. The police academy is located in the Knox Forest, and it has been heard that the police and garrison sometimes choose to use this forest for survival training. It is also for training reasons, although a police academy has been built here, the forest itself has not been further developed.

The people of the Karumon Consortium also discovered the heresy, and although Ellie didn't find it, Joshua had been with Yu Tatsumi for quite some time, and he didn't dare to understand the tactical layout, but he was definitely not a stranger. He noticed that although the people of the Karumon Consortium were still chasing and killing the demonic beasts, their respective positions were faintly like a pocket, blocking the direction in which Joshua sensed the killing intent.

Joshua was also on guard, he himself was not too afraid of sniping, he would not be attacked by that kind of thing when he was on guard, but Ellie was different.

After about five or six minutes, a figure gradually appeared in the forest, wearing a leather jacket and leather pants, a dark purple shirt inside, no tie, an ordinary sniper rifle was carried by him on his shoulder, and he was carrying a box-like item behind his waist, wrapped in a cloth belt. Looking at the face is about thirty years old, with brown broken hair, and a confident expression on his face, he has no consciousness of being targeted.

"I actually found it, it's really a good intuition."

As he spoke, he put his hand on his forehead and saluted Joshua.

“…………”

Joshua did not answer immediately, but looked at the person who came. The visitor also saw his caution and smiled: "I'm sorry, I'm just looking at the two of you with sad faces, so I wanted to make a little joke." No malice, even if the black-haired gentleman hadn't stopped me, I wouldn't have really sniped Madame. Let me introduce myself, my name is Dior. Currently looking for a bastard named Ranster......"

Hearing his sincere words, Ellie's wariness of him dissipated a little, and then she reacted that he actually mistook himself and Joshua for a pair?! His face turned red all at once.

Joshua also quickly explained: "We are just companions, not lovers. I was just too guarded. Sensing that the man who called himself Dio had no murderous intent, Joshua began to talk to him as well—especially since he had just said a name that Joshua couldn't ignore.

"I know him - I know that Ranster. If you're talking about Scarlet Scorpio Ranster. ”

As soon as he heard the name, Dior's sincere face suddenly collapsed, the corners of his forehead jumped violently, and his tone became resentful and gritted his teeth.

"Ah, that self-talking joke idiot, please tell me where he is...... Bastard...... I actually threw down a sentence and ran away when I went to work, and I didn't see anyone, you are big! ”

Listening to Dio's indignant voice, Joshua could only laugh ha, it seems that this person has a lot of things going on with Rancester, and the relationship is quite good.

Why don't you try to get some information?