The Bullet Magnet and the Battle of Ideals

“The last person to get injured accidentally ran into an ally’s bayonet. And you? Did you accidentally run into an ally’s gun muzzle?”

Lin Yu was utterly speechless when it came to him. For someone to get injured even under these circumstances, this fellow was undoubtedly a bullet-magnet of the highest order during a charge, the kind who’d be shot down within two steps.

She certainly couldn’t afford to stay too close to him; even artillery shells might prefer to explode near him.

Bullets, at least, were manageable; staying near him wouldn’t cause injury, and if they were all drawn to him, her own chances of being hit would decrease. As for artillery shells…

One word came to mind: ‘Scram.’

‘Don’t let his blood splatter on me,’ she thought.

Lin Yu certainly didn’t wish to be caught in the crossfire.

“It was a rat,” he explained. “I encountered it when I went back to my bunk to retrieve something.”

Lin Yu immediately shot him an incredulous glare. “What kind of rat could inflict such a large wound?”

His explanation was entirely implausible, given the long, linear gash on his arm. Unless a rat had gnawed continuously in a vertical line, and he had endured the pain, allowing it to chew its way across, such a wound could never have been inflicted.

“It wasn’t a bite,” he clarified, shaking his head. “I tried to scare it away with my rifle butt, but accidentally discharged the weapon. The bullet grazed me. You should have felt the fluctuation a few minutes ago.”

“I didn’t feel any… How was I supposed to know it was your shot?”

Realizing she had almost exposed her identity as a mage (TL Note: A person with magical abilities, often used in web novels to denote someone with extraordinary powers beyond conventional understanding.), Lin Yu quickly corrected herself, changing “didn’t feel any fluctuation” to “didn’t realize it was his shot.”

Having said that, she reached into her uniform pocket, intending to retrieve a bandage. Her fingers met only empty space, however, and she stared blankly at the tourniquet coiled in her hand.

“Do you have a medical kit? Mine’s all used up.” With a frustrated sigh, she tucked the tourniquet back into her pocket, her gaze sweeping over him.

Only an entrenching tool hung from his belt.

“If I had one, I would have bandaged it myself. That kit was used up last time, and new ones haven’t been issued yet.”

As they spoke, another trickle of blood seeped from the wound, almost imperceptible against his grimy military trousers.

Leaving it unattended was not an option. Even if the bleeding wasn’t severe, a persistent trickle would eventually lead to trouble.

With a helpless sigh, she instructed him to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, then prepared to find someone for an unopened medical kit. “Hold it with your hand for now; I’ll go find you some bandages.”

Ultimately, it boiled down to the same principle: she couldn’t simply leave him untreated, could she?

Regardless of how absurd his reason for injury was—even if the fellow had truly gone mad and shot himself—Lin Yu was obligated to diligently treat all his wounds.

Healing the sick and saving the wounded was her duty, whether serving as a medic in the rear or a combat medic on the front lines.

Putting on her most unassuming expression, she sought out others, asking around for bandages. Only after inquiring with several individuals did she finally procure a single roll, which she then used to bandage him, biting her lip all the while.

Her expression at that moment mirrored that of the casualty he had bandaged just minutes prior—as if she had swallowed a fly, a discomfort she couldn’t expel, with no water even to rinse her mouth.

“You’re always adding unnecessary work to my plate. If you dare get injured again for such an absurd reason, do you honestly think I’ll treat you…?”

Though she spoke without malice, her words held unintended weight. This statement would typically have been an opening for him to retort with a simple question that would leave her speechless, but she caught herself just in time and immediately prepared a recovery.

If he were to say something like, “Whether a soldier gets injured or not is not a matter of choice,” as he had before, Lin Yu knew it would be difficult to find an excuse for her inappropriate remark.

Yet, after waiting for more than ten seconds, with no rebuttal from him, Lin Yu looked up to find him gazing at her with an expression that could only be described as ‘pity’.

An inexplicable chill ran down her spine.

“Engineers, artillerymen, riflemen, assault troopers, medics—each expresses their loyalty to His Majesty in a different way.” Noticing Lin Yu was already watching him, he began to deliver a peculiar declaration. “As an assault trooper, my way of expression is to conquer enemy trenches. As a medic, your way of expression is to treat all the wounded.”

He concluded with a statement that sounded impeccably correct yet was, in reality, utterly infuriating: “Do not grow weary from too much work; fulfilling your duties wholeheartedly is the finest way to show devotion to His Majesty.”

Lin Yu pondered for a moment, pinching her chin between her thumb and forefinger, then asked with genuine curiosity, “Do you, perhaps, have a slight mental impairment?”

What twisted nerve in his brain would make him spout such lofty words like ‘His Majesty,’ ‘loyalty,’ and ‘devotion to the nation’ with such conviction? And from the looks of it, he genuinely believed them, seeing himself as ‘the Emperor’s most loyal warrior’.

Shouldn’t everyone on the front lines be thinking, ‘Why risk my life for a paltry monthly wage of three thousand coins?’ Most were forced into enlistment by circumstance, or conscripted due to bad luck. But to genuinely throw oneself into war merely to prove loyalty to Diacla’s Emperor…

How could such an idiot exist in the world?

He was an idiot no less profound than her former self—she had merely traveled thousands of miles to the desolate black lands to die, while he, not only was constantly ready to sacrifice his hard-won life for a dispensable emperor, but also sought to convince others to do the same.

Lin Yu had a premonition: if she, too, were an “assault trooper,” this imbecile would undoubtedly call upon her to leap out of the trench and charge headlong into the “foreign devils’” (TL Note: A derogatory term for non-Chinese people, often used historically in China.) positions, offering themselves up as cannon fodder.

Just like their first encounter, when he stood at the edge of a shell crater, racking his bolt and reloading, loudly urging a mud-soaked Lin Yu to stand up and continue the assault.

She could only be grateful that this fellow hadn’t recognized her as the conscripted Private he had inadvertently “rescued.”

The look of utter disbelief in Lin Yu’s eyes gradually softened into one of pity. It would be a true shame if someone so utterly deluded were to die. Someone ought to properly correct his twisted notions, preferably with a corrective punch directly to the gut.

It seemed that physical punishment had once been quite prevalent in the Diacla Army—things like ‘cudgel education’ and ‘fist-and-foot education,’ where veterans would beat new recruits, making them “younger” with each strike…

As a medic, Lin Yu had been fortunate enough to only receive two light kicks when she first stepped into the trenches.

The beating she received in the interrogation room had nothing to do with this prevailing culture; it was merely a special tactic employed by her interrogator. However, the lesson learned in that interrogation room was universally applicable: a good thrashing was always preferable to taking a bullet.

As Lin Yu concluded her internal musings about imbeciles, the other party finally caught the implication of her words. He straightened his posture and declared earnestly, “My health fully meets the Diacla Army’s conscription standards, and I am entirely qualified to be a soldier.”

…Ah, just as she suspected. This fellow was undoubtedly a terrifying individual who would charge through a minefield as if it didn’t exist. Well then, good luck to him.

Tying a knot at the end of the bandage and tucking the excess beneath, Lin Yu stepped back two paces to inspect her bandaging work.

Then, with a tone dripping with sarcasm, she said, “I see. In that case, I wish you many more glorious merits for His Majesty, and greater contributions to the nation. May your loyalty spread throughout Diacla, from north to south, and may sacrifice and devotion permeate every rank of the Diacla Army.”

Finally, she snapped to attention and saluted him. Her movements, once corrected, were now impeccably standard.

Lin Yu had uttered these words with evident mockery. Anyone with even a basic ability to read expressions would have understood she was speaking sarcastically.

He, however, had clearly taken her seriously, straightening his back and returning her salute.

“You must not fall behind either. Though we serve in different capacities, we share the same objective. May we strive together to spread this loyalty throughout the land, and instill it in every soldier.”

That hearty smile should never have accompanied such idiotic pronouncements.

“Sigh…”

Lin Yu let out perhaps the most helpless sigh she had uttered since transmigrating.

‘This man is beyond saving,’ she concluded.

“Why the sudden sigh?”

“Because I believe my loyalty is nowhere near as profound as yours.”

“You needn’t be disheartened by this; such matters…”

“Please, don’t go spreading such sentiments elsewhere. I need to read. Don’t disturb me.”

Lin Yu shoved away the mentally addled patient, who had been poised to deliver another dose of loyalist propaganda, and inwardly came to a conclusion.

The reason he was subtly ostracized was undoubtedly his excessive loyalty to the Emperor and the nation.