“Injury?” Lin Yi asked.

“I received a new mission after we got back from Africa- I was to hunt an big international drugs dealer down. They had someone highly skilled with them...” Huaijun chuckled bitterly. “But I’m pretty lucky- they thought they’d killed me after putting me down. But... Armadillo and the others......”

“What happened to Armadillo...?” Lin Yi tensed up, asking slowly.

“Armadillo sacrificed himself......” Huaijun answered faintly. ｂｅ𝚍𝚗ｏｖｅ𝚕．𝚗𝚎𝚝

“What?!” Lin Yi’s face blackened- the guy always wore a sunny smile... Lin Yi couldn’t believe it. Gone, just like that......

Huaijun saw the expression Lin Yi was making. He empathized deeply with him- he knew what it was like, Armadillo was as much his warmate as he was Lin Yi’s! He cried like a girl when he heard about Armadillo!

“There’s a chance that he might still be alive.......” Huaijun offered, trying to console Lin Yi.

“His corpse hadn’t turned up yet..?” Lin Yi’s eyes lit up with a sliver of hope. Armadillo was a quick-witted dude- it wouldn’t be surprising if he’d escaped his predicament.

“I learned later that the corpses were all thrown in the drug lords’ refining furnaces...” Huaijun said with a sigh. “The pain was too much when I woke up, and I had to take care of myself first before anything. I managed to find somewhere isolated to hide, and I lost consciousness after that- someone rescued me a while later...”

“FUCK!!!” Lin Yi yelled, slamming his fist down the coffee table in front of him, disintegrating it into a pile of sawdust.

Huaijun witnessed Lin Yi’s might in admiration. Eagle was strong as ever; Huaijun wasn’t sure if he’d be capable of the same feat himself.

“I’m sorry. My injuries were too severe- I wasn’t in a position to be looking after our warmates...” Huaijun was always brimmed with guilt every time he looked back.

“It’s not your fault!” Lin Yi assured with a shake of his head. What Huaijun did was common sense- he’d just be charging to his death under the circumstances. Reserving strength would be the priority for Lin Yi, as well, were he in Huaijun’s shoes. “How bad is your injury?”

“My entire body’s covered with them... It took half a year before I recovered. I resigned from the military after that.” Huaijun sighed. “Western medicine called it sequela, and Eastern Medicine said that all my meridians had been cut off. I can’t get too emotional, and I can’t undertake high difficulty tasks long term. I need medicine and pills to stabilize my body, as well.”

Lin Yi placed Armadillo at the back of his head for the moment, focusing his attention on Yang Huaijun before him. “Give me your hand.”

“What’re you planning?” Huaijun asked, curious as he put his hand out for Lin Yi.

“Feeling your pulse.” Lin Yi answered, putting on a serious expression as he placed his hand on Huaijun’s wrist.

“I thought you’re only good at killing- so you even know how to heal, Eagle?” Huaijun stared in startlement at the warmate who’d been through life and death with him.

“There’s a whole lot of other things I can do.” Lin Yi said with a smile. “What, don’t believe me?”

“Don’t believe you?” Huaijun’s said with his eyes widened. “There’s no one else to believe if I can’t even trust you- I’d always trust you with my life back in the field!”

“Jeez.” Lin Yi was laughing with Huaijun on the surface, but his heart was solemn- Huaijun’s pulse was very weak. His body was recovered, but the internal damage done to him was too much, and many of his organs were yet to be healed. There were even signs of deterioration!!

“Well? My body still good?” Huaijun asked curiously as he watched Lin Yi work.

“Do you only use the painkillers for this?” Lin Yi asked.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Huaijun asked back.

“Then why are you still alive?” Lin Yi frowned.

“......” Huajun stared at Lin Yi, speechless. “The hell, man?”

“Really... It’s looking bad for you- the injuries from before aren’t recovered at all, they’re worsening! I don’t know how you managed to survive this long with sedative painkillers alone, but a normal guy would have long been dead.” Lin Yi said solemnly as he stated the facts. There was no reason to hide the truth from someone like Haijun- a soldier who’d step into a warfield was expected to have thrown his life behind him. Even if he were to tell him that he’d die tomorrow, Lin Yi knew that it wouldn’t take the man by surprise.

“An old Eastern doctor said the same thing. He said I wouldn’t survive half a year, but look at me now- I’m healthy as ever, aren’t I?” Huaijun said, expectedly unaffected by Lin Yi’s words as he stretched his limbs.

“He wasn’t wrong- even half a year’s a stretch.” Lin Yi nodded.

“Come on, Eagle, will you stop that? Do I look like someone who was dying?” Huaijun was a little displeased.

“My name’s Lin Yi, stop calling me Eagle.” Lin Yi said after a looking at Huaijun a while. “Well, at any rate, it’s a miracle you’re still alive- it might have something to do with your mental vitality.”

“Go on...”

“You can continue using painkillers for the pain, but... it’ll only get worse from here!” Lin Yi said decisively. “You’ve probably noticed it yourself- you’re using painkillers more frequently, and with more volume than before, aren’t you?”

“You... actually know medicine?” Huaijun asked in surprise, not expecting Lin Yi to understand his body’s condition this well.

“What do you think?” Lin Yi let go of Huaijun’s hand- he’d more or less grasped the guy’s body condition, and things got complicated from there. It’s said that medicine was one third poison- any kind of herbs or medicine had a destructive or negative effect to the organs, meaning medicine for the heart could cause damage to Huaijun’s spleen or liver, for example. Vice versa, medicine for the liver could have negative effects to the heart or spleen. Conclusively, every healing to one organ would damage other organs- the body would be better off without any medicine at all, with that in mind. Healing him would just kill him off sooner.

Lin Yi had been in thought for quite a while, and Huaijun broke the silence. “What, what are you thinking about?”

“Thinking about your condition.” Lin Yi sighed softly. “Conventional Eastern medicine would affect other organs while healing one, in your case, damaging effects- meaning you’d only have the deterioration of your organs accelerated whenever you’re healed. Healing everything at once is a no go, as well. It’s pointless- it’d be like poisoning you to death.”