Some stories are fated to be tragedies from their very beginning.
Was the conclusion of my own story sealed that winter?
She huddled on the ground, knees drawn to her chest, silently waiting for what felt like an eternity.
Imprisoned in the solitary confinement cell, she had no sense of time, nor could she gauge the passage of day or night, for the windowless room was plunged into absolute darkness.
The concrete floor was cold and rough against her skin.
The confinement room felt utterly dark and overwhelmingly lonely.
Her already restless thoughts began to drift wildly, as she imagined what her life might be like had she not become ‘Lin Yu’ in the first place.
If the transmigration had landed her in the body of a man, rather than this pitiable village girl, she could have rightfully claimed to be educated, literate, and even proficient in two foreign languages.
She could have, much like the protagonists in transmigration novels from her past life, openly enlisted in the army, commanded troops, and utilized her modern knowledge and tactics to become the ‘Terminator of Trench Warfare,’ leading Diacla to victory.
She might even have gone a step further and overthrown the emperor.
In this era, many pronouncements only carried weight if uttered by a man, and many endeavors only garnered followers if led by a man.
Tragically, she was merely a fifteen-year-old girl who had become a medic simply to eat, and a few years prior, she wouldn’t even have been considered a soldier.
Waves of sorrow washed over Lin Yu, a deep lament for her current predicament, for her transmigration over a decade ago, and for her decision to become a mercenary even before that.
Had she been the protagonist of one of those novels, she would undoubtedly have seized an opportunity, blasting open the ceiling with a targeted fire explosion spell and making her escape.
Muttering justifications like ‘If you are heartless, don’t blame me for being unjust,’ she would truly have risen against the emperor, rallying an anti-imperial, anti-feudal army.
Yet, looking at herself, after all this time since her transmigration, the only magic she knew was a healing spell, and since she hadn’t practiced it much after learning it, its effectiveness might even be severely diminished.
The only conceivable use for it now… was perhaps to silently heal herself after being tortured half to death?
‘That thought truly brought a wave of sadness.’
After huddling with her knees to her chest, wallowing in despair for a considerable time, Lin Yu gradually realized that dwelling on irreversible regrets would do nothing to improve her current situation.
“Knock, knock…”
The guard at the door of the confinement cell suddenly knocked, and a few seconds later, the door creaked open, revealing a narrow slit.
Long-absent light from outside streamed through the narrow opening, forcing Lin Yu to raise a hand and shield her eyes.
The guard’s words were curt and cold. “Lunch.”
‘It’s already noon?’
Scrambling up from the floor, Lin Yu approached the small opening in the iron door.
The sidelight was insufficient to reveal the full contents of the metal tray, allowing her only a vague glimpse of a rather unappetizing mush.
Awkwardly, she lifted the tray with her shackled hands and brought it to her nose, inhaling deeply… The scent was even worse than its appearance suggested.
Even though her stomach rumbled with hunger from missing breakfast, this slop failed to pique her appetite in the slightest.
Just as she was about to set the plate aside, her peripheral vision caught sight of something else on the small, chained-down table.
Quickly, she placed the ‘lunch’ on the floor and picked up the item to examine it.
It was a note.
Leaning against the iron door, she unfolded the note, reading the handwritten words carefully by the sliver of light from the small window.
“Lin Yu, the Lieutenant Colonel has been informed of your arrest, and he is currently working to pull strings to get you out.”
She recognized Nangong’s handwriting, and the message aligned with what Nangong had told her before they parted ways.
“However, the charges against you are quite serious.
If anyone questions you, do not answer carelessly; simply remain silent.”
‘What if they intend to use torture to make me speak?’
Lin Yu gritted her teeth and continued reading.
The handwriting on the note changed further down, indicating a different person had penned the rest.
“Xiao Yu, this matter has nothing to do with us, so don’t suspect that we framed you out of jealousy for stealing the Lieutenant Colonel’s attention…”
It was from her fellow medic seniors, though it was unclear who exactly had written it.
Nevertheless, Lin Yu lowered her head slightly in shame, for she had indeed harbored suspicions about the four of them.
“When you’re released, we’ll treat you well as compensation, so don’t lose heart! Justice will surely prevail!”
‘Thank you, everyone…’
The final section of the note seemed to be from the Lieutenant Colonel; Lin Yu recognized his handwriting from documents she had seen.
“I may need to recuse myself from the subsequent investigation, as there are accusations linking you to the assassination of the Crown Prince.”
‘What?’
Upon seeing that line, Lin Yu’s heart instantly plummeted, chilling her to the core.
Compared to assassinating the Crown Prince, treason felt like a mere trifle.
What power or capability did she possess to assassinate the Crown Prince?
Assassinate him with her gaze?
She hadn’t even met the Prince!
Could merely grumbling silently behind his back, ‘Tell your father to start wars, tell your father to levy exorbitant taxes, tell your father not to lighten burdens and reduce taxes—die, die, die,’ truly constitute a successful ‘assassination’?
With a bitter expression, she continued to the final line: “I know you are innocent, but there may be factions within the court who will seize this opportunity to make trouble, using you as a pawn.
When you appear in court, simply report everything truthfully.”
‘My heart feels so weary… Why is it so difficult to simply be a medic?’
Crumpling the note into a ball, Lin Yu tucked it into her pocket and wearily closed her eyes.
No amount of self-pity would conjure a mysterious entity to grant her a second chance.
Rather than sighing and questioning how she had fallen to such depths, it would be far better to devise an argument and a strategy to absolve herself of the treasonous charges.
‘What value do I possess?
What duties can I fulfill for Diacla?
What could possibly prove that keeping me alive serves the national interest more than simply executing me with a single shot?’
Lin Yu began to calmly scrutinize herself.
As a medic, she was, of course, expendable.
However, as a mage, especially a healing mage, she would be considered somewhat rare.
Yet, merely being somewhat rare was insufficient, for she was about to be burdened with the monstrous crime of complicity in the Crown Prince’s murder, a deed so heinous it could not be fully described (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, ‘qìng zhú nán shū,’ describing crimes or misdeeds too numerous to be recorded even if all the bamboo in the world were used for writing).
The mere identity of a ‘mage’ was far from enough to exonerate her; she needed to demonstrate indispensable value.
For instance, by ensuring Diacla won this war.
The ‘Surrounded by Ambush’ plan was, of course, merely a small appetizer.
Her memories from her past life still held many things capable of altering the course of war history: the Gatling gun, creeping barrage, the Brusilov Offensive, Hutier tactics…
Even airships, airplanes, tanks… countless offensive methods and weapon inventions, any one of which could overturn existing combat doctrines and become a monumental chapter in the history books of this otherworld.
The only reason she had kept these things buried within her heart was her reluctance to see the people of this world repeat the mistakes of her previous life, forcibly escalating minor conflicts into world wars.
Though, perhaps, the casualties of this trench warfare were already numerous enough.
She had witnessed death; she had seen living people instantly obliterated into warm, pulpy flesh.
She herself had even been ‘happily sent off’ (TL Note: A Chinese internet slang term, ‘yúyuè sòng zǒu,’ used ironically to describe someone being killed or eliminated, often in games or by an FPV drone) by an FPV drone before transmigrating to this otherworld.
Until the very last moment, she would not open these Pandora’s Boxes.
Now, it seemed, the so-called ‘last moment’ had arrived.
However…
Lin Yu had to open this Pandora’s Box with extreme caution, striving to release only a small fraction of its evils.
She needed to choose a method that would result in fewer casualties, claim it as her own, and use it as leverage for her acquittal.
Then, she would begin her atonement.
For every life they took using her methods, she would save another.
She would exhaust every effort to atone for the deaths she had caused.
Having once been killed herself, she understood that taking another’s life was a grave sin.
To prevent such sin from clinging to her, she had resolved to dedicate herself to the medic’s profession—and not merely for the sake of a full stomach.
Of course, being able to eat her fill was quite nice too.