Episode 28
"Yes, you are so young and don't know the special nature of war. If you did, you definitely wouldn't want to come."
"You're wrong, I'm different from them."
"Is that so? Then please prove that you are different from them."
“Proof? That’s easy. You should have noticed when we all flocked to the East, right? They all stopped returning to their countries in less than a week. Look at me, I survived for three weeks without needing anyone’s help.”
"But the fact that you are seriously injured is something that cannot be compared to others."
"What's this? These kinds of injuries are nothing new to me."
"......"
Benjamin's words made Pei Xiaonan understand why he was so confident. She just hadn't expected that these two people with such different appearances were actually father and son! However, this left Benjamin with nothing to say, since Pei Xiaonan knew about her father's early twenties. Therefore, Benjamin now wanted to ask her about her father, but whether she would reveal everything was a gamble.
When can I be discharged from the hospital?
"Five days later."
"What! It's going to take this long?"
"Are you in such a hurry to go back?"
"I'm going to see someone; everything's arranged."
"?"
"Two years younger than me."
"Is he your boyfriend?"
"......"
Pei Xiaonan had a pretty good idea of what Benjamin was thinking. However, she didn't want to expose him, because for Benjamin, his parents had been kind to her, nothing more. Actually, she knew the 16-year-old boy too; Lena was her superior, but her death had haunted her ever since. When Lena was seriously injured and hospitalized, she gave her a few words before dying, but so much time had passed before Benjamin's mother relayed those words to him, even including Lena's words to Pei Xiaonan, because she had overheard them as well.
"The wound is severely infected and antibiotics are not working well."
"Bring me those boxes of penicillin, quick!"
"Fine, let's leave it at that."
"Lena!"
Please pass on a few words to Benjamin and Sassin for me.
"good."
"......"
Because she had no strength left, Su You and the others could only whisper a few words into Benjamin's mother's and Pei Xiaonan's ears before her head suddenly slammed vertically onto the hospital bed.
——Seven days later——
"It's rare for you to come back."
"yes."
This day marked the seventh day after Lena's death—their last conversation. Benjamin's mother remembered seeing that Lena hadn't said anything on the seventh day after her death. To avoid overwhelming her, Benjamin's mother simply stopped talking about her and instead talked about Pei Xiaonan's recent situation.
"How are things? Still very busy?"
"Tension pneumothorax, a penetrating injury, not as serious as I thought."
"And her?"
“There she is! There was a patient with an infected wound. She went to get penicillin. She’s fine over there now, and I’m fine here too.”
"It's good to take a break."
"Yes."
"I wonder how Sasin is doing now?"
"Benjamin is taking care of him."
"My child is really not as good as your child."
"No, it's that our child and your child each have their own strengths; neither is inferior to the other. Besides, right now it's just..."
"Something terrible has happened!"
"What's wrong?"
Someone is not feeling well!
They hadn't said goodbye yet because Benjamin's mother had already told him a lot about Rena. He didn't know his mother was gone, so she planned to tell him when it was almost time. When they parted, Rena left first, as she was used to. Benjamin's mother noticed that the patient had started to have recurring high fevers because of a lack of penicillin, but it didn't seem like drug resistance.
"Increase the dosage?"
"Need not."
"......"
"Bring the medicine over here."
"good."
—Two minutes later—
"Oh no! The penicillin is missing!"
"strangeness......"
When Benjamin's mother checked the inventory, she noticed that the box containing penicillin in the pharmacy had been moved and stolen. However, it was too late to find the penicillin now.
"Let me help."
"good."
Benjamin stood behind his mother. Because of her numerous experiences of surviving wars unscathed, his mother allowed him to help; he was only 12 years old at the time, and that was all. Surprisingly, Benjamin's mother agreed to this request from her son; her husband had raised him very well.
Are five boxes enough?
That's enough.
Benjamin was gone for two hours because there were other patients with the same condition. Without penicillin, their infections couldn't be stabilized. Even with other anti-inflammatory drugs, it was unclear what kind of "weapon" was used, but these drugs could only be used empirically. However, Benjamin's mother, a veteran of many battles, suddenly felt that if empirical medication could prevent the wounded from getting infected and causing the infection to progress, then Benjamin's efforts to get the medicine and use penicillin to save them would be much more effective.
Two hours later, Benjamin returned, his face covered in dust. The mission was accomplished, but that wasn't important. Benjamin's mother just wanted to know how her son had done it. Why was things so chaotic? And with five boxes of penicillin—that's a hot commodity!
"Did Lao Liu help you?"
"yes."
Benjamin's mother had met Lao Liu a couple of times. He was a reporter for that organization, but at that time, Lao Liu was just a lowly servant; if he couldn't produce any exclusive stories, he'd be fired. But the next second, Lao Liu was given a cold shower by his own organization—he wasn't needed anymore, because other media outlets had already secured the exclusive stories.
"There's an exclusive story, but it's not at my house."
"This is so troublesome."
“A person is dead, but he is not dead because he is in the ICU for the headlines. If he can be saved in the ICU for a while, it means he is not dead yet. I think they are not only not disrespectful to the people in the ICU, but also spreading false information for the sake of news headlines.”
"good."
"The result was indeed gone, but it took several hours of resuscitation efforts for it to completely disappear."
At this point, Benjamin's mother suddenly realized something was wrong. He had misspoke about his sister. Now, Benjamin's mother thought of a better job to introduce to him, and the nature of the job suited his early ideals, because the principal was away on a business trip and had not returned, and even if he did, he would not stay for long.
"head teacher?"
"Um."
"Why?"
"You said you didn't want to be lectured by others, so turn passivity into initiative. The principal here is often away on business trips, so the job I'm introducing you to will really let you understand what it's like to be a boss, understand? When the principal isn't around, you're fearless."
"But why are you doing this? There's nothing I can do to help you."
"You're wrong. You just did my son a huge favor."
"?"
"It's settled then, I happen to know them."
"this......"
You must accept this token of your appreciation.
"Okay, thank you."
—Three years later—
"It's up to you, Pei Xiaonan."
"good."
This time, it was Benjamin's turn to lose his mother. However, having witnessed too much of the complexities of human relationships, Benjamin didn't cry or react much when his mother passed away. This was why Benjamin had asked Lao Liu for leave earlier; he was currently on leave from school. Lao Liu, after learning about this from the homeroom teacher, was somewhat arrogant. Although he often fought on the battlefield, the weapons of today were different. This meant that Benjamin now had something to do every day—finding the weapon suppliers and their information.
"How about it?"
"Still can't find it. The weapons suppliers and the weapons information are too well-protected. I never thought they would be so ruthless as to kill anyone to keep the weapons suppliers and information secret! This is one of them. There are no soldiers on duty at the other place. It's all high-tech equipment for testing. But that's fine. I like challenges like this."
"That being said, you already know where their weapons and equipment are located, right?"
"IT".
What?
"The person from the outsourcing company has been missing for too long and hasn't been found yet. I think..."
"The souls lost under the gun."
"That's true."
"Whatever the outcome, we must find a way to conduct destructive inspections."
Upon hearing this, Benjamin seemed to understand something. He needed technical support, and if that was the case, the person Benjamin most wanted to find was Sassin, because his homeroom teacher in his first year of high school was such a person.
What?
"You don't know him?"
"Yes, I know him, but I don't know much about him because he was just a tool to help out, so we only met once and didn't have a chance to get to know him properly."
"Do you know what has happened to him recently?"
"What is it?"
"He was treated the same as the people from the East, so why did he look at the people from the East with such disdain when he mentioned that person was from the East? And why did he seem to hate everyone from the East? So I just want to know what happened to him in the East?"
"Speaking of which, there's something that I find quite strange and also rather poignant."
"?"
"When Tai was in the army, his regiment was said to have a problem with hooliganism. At first, my colleagues and I just talked about it casually and didn't take it seriously. But not long after that incident, a group of mercenaries were exposed for a sex scandal."
"Sex scandal?"
"□□, it's the kind of thing where you play 2P/3P/4P games."
"Really?"
"It seems he wasn't participating in the game but was threatened. Two people had designs on him, and although he resisted, they didn't stop after thinking it over. They only committed these indecent acts after knocking him unconscious. I don't know if this is true, or if there's some kind of conspiracy, or if the truth is being covered up. Or is it that only the two parties involved are really guilty, and their public statement only states that three people sexually assaulted him, nothing more?"
"He didn't create the psychological impression that the bedroom would have a wonderful ending."
"No, no, no, he does have a mental illness. The extreme reaction you described when he sees or hears about Dongguo is a characteristic of mental illness. It's just that his mental illness manifests differently from others."
"So? Are all those people from the Eastern Kingdom?"
"No, but they all claim to be from the East."
"So he thinks the people of Dongguo..."
"Once the injury has almost healed, we can go back. This is indeed an important clue."
—The Fourth Thursday—
"They've come to check on the patients."
"OK".
"......"
—Five minutes later—
"You can be discharged now."
"Bye-Bye."
Benjamin didn't thank the doctor. In his mind, he would definitely come to help if she needed anything. Although there was no agreement, Benjamin silently remembered this in his heart, and therefore...
However, on this trip, Benjamin was given a request by Pei Xiaonan. She had an unspoken connection with Lao Liu, and he remembered the doctor saying something that morning:
"Benjamin, is Lao Liu still working at the school?"
"Yes, is there anything you need me to convey?"
"Give this to him."
"This is......"
Upon seeing the letter, Benjamin immediately understood its meaning. He took the letter with him and took the bus home. When he woke up, he found himself near Sasin's house, where his car was also located. Having received a subsidy and considering driving to the East, Benjamin bought a car. However, before he could even drive it, he was injured all over and unable to drive. Reluctantly, the car was left to gather dust.
"How about it?"
"Still not here."
Where could he go?
Sasin hasn't been to school for the past few days. According to his classmates, he took leave because he wasn't feeling well. However, only Sasin himself knows exactly how he's feeling unwell. The news that Sasin has been absent for several days has spread throughout the school. It's not just a day or two since he last came to school, but several days, or even more than ten days.
"Isn't Benjamin coming yet?"
"What's the point of him coming here now that he's been fired?"
"......"
"By the way, you've been on maternity leave at home for the past few months, so of course you wouldn't know."
"......"
The teacher on leave was quite nice to Benjamin, simply because Benjamin was trying to clear his name, nothing more.
"I don't know what Sasin is thinking? Taking leave at this crucial moment."
"Yes, what was he thinking?"
Sasin felt dizzy again, and even turning over made him faint. Benjamin, wanting to get the important business over there, went directly to find Lao Liu. Later, while talking about Pei Xiaonan, Benjamin naturally learned about Sasin's leave. The moment he entered the room, Benjamin believed what Lao Liu had said.
"It's blood..."
"Still not answering the phone..."
Benjamin couldn't get through to Sassin on the phone. He then started thinking about where Sassin usually went or where he liked to go. Sure enough, he found Sassin asleep in a hospital room, receiving an IV drip. When Sassin half-opened his eyes and saw Benjamin in front of him, he was naturally surprised. In his surprise, Sassin checked the date—it was the first month since their agreed-upon meeting. He was back. He just hadn't expected that their first meeting place would be here!
"Benjamin?"
"It's me."
"So you came here because Old Liu told you, right...?"
"I only heard from him that you hadn't been to school for several days, and that you had written several days' leave on your leave application. I was worried, so I looked for you all over the streets and finally found you. I just didn't expect to see you here."
"The blood was actually from the back of the head."
"Luckily, he hit the back of his head on the ground; if it had hit the corner of the table, it would have been a disaster."
"......"
Benjamin hadn't guessed anything, but he hadn't expected Sasin to actually hit the corner of the table on the back of his head. However, he'd already wiped away the blood, and of course, none of that mattered to Sasin...
"That must have hurt a lot, right?"
"It wasn't too bad that I landed on the back of my head, because I used my arms to support myself, and there was a cushion when I fell, so it didn't hurt that much."
"So? When did the doctor say you could be discharged?"
"Five days later."
"......"
"What's wrong? You seem to be walking a little strange."
"Oh? Oh, this is... Actually, I twisted my ankle because I wasn't watching where I was going while I was walking."
"You've managed to twist your ankle while trying to become a mercenary? That's pretty outrageous."
Although they were bickering, Sasin, who was meticulous in everything he did, immediately realized after examining Benjamin's ankle that it wasn't just a simple sprain; there were also marks on his arm and kidneys indicating he had been beaten. This time, Sasin admitted that Benjamin was lucky, and Benjamin felt the same way. The two men in the hospital room remained silent, unsure who would speak first. Five minutes later, Benjamin finally spoke:
I will come to pick you up in five days.
"Need not."
"Why?"
“Aren’t you a mercenary? Why don’t you go home and rest? I just bumped the back of my head, it’s not like I can’t walk. It’s not good to make such a big deal out of it and scare other people.”
"I'll stay with you for one night, and I'll go see Lao Liu tomorrow."
"......"
—In the middle of the night—
"Have you found them?"
"Yes, he's in the hospital. He won't be discharged for another five days, so you don't need to come."
"good."
—The next morning—
"I'm leaving now. Take good care of yourself."
"Be careful on the road."
"goodbye."
"Bye-Bye."
That day, Benjamin was mostly asleep on the bus to school. When he woke up, he had missed his stop, just like before – exactly nine stops.
"Hello, where do I get off at the school stop?"
"We've missed our stop. We've missed nine stops. This is the final stop. Please board the train on the other side."
——First class in the morning——
"Hello, who are you looking for?"
"Hello, I'm here to see Liu Buzhu, the homeroom teacher of Class 1, Grade 12. He teaches journalism. I made an appointment with him this morning. This is our phone call record from this morning."
When Benjamin realized the two security guards weren't the ones he recognized, he showed them the call logs of the person he was supposed to meet that day, asking when the appointment was made and whether there was an appointment record. At that moment, Old Liu happened to be near the security booth. Bathed in sunlight, he saw Benjamin. His boyfriend had come to the school earlier that day, and Benjamin had entered right after he saw him off; neither of them had noticed each other on the way.
Hello!
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