Lin Yu’s mind worked quickly, allowing her to grasp the unfolding situation.
By the time she finally located the volunteers’ assembly point, they had yet to depart. Instead, they stood in a single, orderly line, each person cradling a small bowl.
The same middle-aged man who had questioned Lin Yu earlier now personally held a large jar of wine, pouring its contents generously into each awaiting bowl.
“The ultimate objective of this mission,” the officer declared, “is to serve as a contingency for our impending operation. Should tonight’s counterattack fail to secure victory, you will stand as our final safeguard, ensuring the railway bridge never falls into enemy hands. For this cause, every single one of you must be resolute in your willingness to sacrifice!”
The middle-aged officer delivered what amounted to a pre-battle pep talk, his words met by the solemn attention of the volunteer soldiers arrayed before him. Though the language they spoke was Diacla, Lin Yu couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that the scene bore an uncanny resemblance to a group of `小日子` (TL Note: A derogatory Chinese slang term, literally ‘little days,’ used to refer to Japanese people) preparing for a `神风` (TL Note: ‘Divine Wind,’ referring to the Kamikaze suicide attacks by Japanese military aviators during World War II).
Indeed, if they were to follow his address with a resounding cry of “Long live His Majesty the Emperor,” the likeness would be even more striking.
“May God protect our Emperor! Long live, long live, long, long live!”
Well, it seemed they’d even stitched in a bit of “God Save Our Emperor Franz” for good measure.
Even with the entire line of soldiers facing away from her, Lin Yu unerringly pinpointed Yang Xi’s exact spot among their backs.
Dashing forward a couple of steps, she reached his back and tugged fiercely at the hem of his uniform. “Are you out of your mind?!” she hissed.
“…”
With the pre-battle address concluded, every head swiveled to face her, and the young man whose uniform she was so desperately clinging to.
Uncaring of their collective gaze, she persisted in her relentless tugging, as if convinced that this simple act could somehow yank him back from the jaws of certain death.
“If you go, you won’t come back! Are you really so eager to throw your life away?”
“…The homeland calls.”
“…”
What a truly versatile excuse. It was a phrase that could be uttered by scientists, soldiers, even firefighters and police officers—indeed, by countless professionals across the globe—a convenient mantra to silence any dissent or question.
Yet, it couldn’t silence her, for she knew with absolute certainty that the homeland did not, in fact, need him for this.
If the Lanforthians were currently invading their very homes, he could, with perfect righteousness, utter “The homeland calls” and leave her behind to rush to the front lines without a second thought.
The stark reality was that Diacla was engaged in a brutal, dog-eat-dog imperialist war against the Lanforthians on foreign soil—a conflict where every drop of blood spilled would be utterly senseless, and every life sacrificed, utterly devalued.
“You’ve already risked your life for this country! You’ve already bled for it! Are you truly going to stop only when you’ve squandered every last breath you possess?!”
With a courage that bordered on recklessness, Lin Yu tilted her head back, her gaze locking directly onto Yang Xi’s face.
“Look at this medal pinned to your chest! Your contributions to His Majesty have been more than enough! Must you perish on the battlefield for it to be considered repayment for the Emperor’s favor?!”
“The homeland calls.”
“Needs your head, my foot!”
Her near-fearless courage, however, dissolved almost immediately after her outburst, particularly once she registered the peculiar stares directed at him from the surrounding soldiers.
With bravery gone, only a burgeoning sense of dread and mortification remained to fill the void within her heart.
The officer who had previously spoken with Lin Yu bent down to set aside the wine jar, then slowly advanced a few steps. “Didn’t I tell you earlier…?” he began.
As she watched him stride purposefully towards her, the fear in Lin Yu’s heart immediately seized control of her thoughts.
‘Oh no,’ she thought, ‘I’ve accidentally shouted something like that aloud. They’ll undoubtedly brand me an unpatriotic traitor.’
‘I’ll have disgraced the Emperor of Diacla, disgraced this green military uniform, and disgraced my own skills, my medical expertise, and my magic.’
‘If these cowardly, defeatist remarks are discovered, my military career will surely be over.’
“If you have someone you’re concerned about, then you shouldn’t volunteer for this,” the officer stated. “You may withdraw. Eleven individuals are sufficient for this mission.”
“…Eh?”
The middle-aged officer hadn’t addressed Lin Yu; his words were, in fact, directed at Yang Xi, who stood before her.
“To inspire a young woman to speak such words for you, to go to such lengths, it would be wise not to betray her feelings.”
The officer clapped Yang Xi on the shoulder, then gave him a gentle push in Lin Yu’s direction.
Though these words were meant for the man standing before her, they drifted into Lin Yu’s ears, inexplicably triggering a profound reaction within her.
Her sympathetic nervous system flared, adrenaline surged through her veins, her facial capillaries dilated, and the rush of blood brought a vibrant, hemoglobin-rich flush to her delicate skin.
In simpler terms, she blushed furiously.
“Wh-wh-what?!”
Her thoughts had spiraled into such disarray that they temporarily ceased to function, leaving her only able to stammer and mumble, repeating “No, I didn’t!” and “It’s not like that at all!”
While Lin Yu was caught in a whirlwind of confusion, Yang Xi remained remarkably clear-headed, responding to the middle-aged officer’s statement with calm, reasoned arguments.
“As for concerns,” Yang Xi began, “does not everyone present here share them? We are concerned for His Majesty the Emperor, and concerned for our homeland.”
“You suggest I shouldn’t disappoint her, but I can even less disappoint *her*—the Diacla Empire that bore me and nurtured me, and even more so, His Majesty the Emperor who guides the Diacla Empire.”
“As soldiers, to charge into the fray is our inherent duty; to face near-certain death is our daily reality. From the very day we enlisted, we resolved to cast aside all thoughts of life and death. How, then, could we allow fleeting cowardice to squander such a crucial military opportunity?”
Yang Xi’s resolute stance was clear: he insisted on participating in the mission, despite Lin Yu having traveled countless miles to dissuade him, and even though the officer in charge of personnel had agreed to his withdrawal.
“If you are so determined,” the officer conceded, “I can hardly stop you. However, you must first make things clear with her, lest she comes crying and demanding your return from me later.”
As a former recruiting officer, he had borne witness to countless partings of life and death: mothers bidding farewell to sons, wives to husbands, daughters to fathers. Such ‘minor’ separations were so commonplace to him that they no longer stirred his emotions, leaving him only with a profound sense of numbness.
It was now Yang Xi’s turn to address the bewildered and utterly disoriented Lin Yu. “You enlisted as a doctor to serve the nation, didn’t you?” he pressed. “Why, then, would you seek to stop me, who is merely doing the same?”
“…”
“Earlier, when we were behind the Lanforthian lines, you readily agreed to risk everything with me to sabotage the enemy’s ammunition reserves. Why, then, has your resolve wavered this time?”
“…Be…because…”
Lin Yu slowly regained her composure, her mind, choked with embarrassment, began to function again, albeit like rusted gears turning slowly but stubbornly. “Because, I…” she began.
“Because what?”
Yang Xi’s relentless probing, the peculiar stares from the surrounding soldiers, and the mortifying reality of their relationship being utterly misconstrued—these layers of pressure almost suffocated her. It took every ounce of her remaining strength to force out a few broken, disjointed words, desperately trying to form a coherent sentence.
“I don’t want you to die before me.”
Her fragmented delivery made it barely intelligible to those nearby.
“What kind of reason is that?”
Yang Xi’s expression twisted into one of bewilderment; he simply could not fathom why Lin Yu would use this as a pretext to stop him from his mission. It was precisely this shift in his countenance that prompted Lin Yu’s ultimate, exasperated retort.
“Do you intend to abandon me and die after saving my life countless times, leaving me to live out my days forever shadowed by an immeasurable debt to you?” she shrieked, her voice rising. “Do you want to condemn me to a lifetime burdened by a debt of gratitude I can never, ever repay? If you dare to die in front of me, before I’ve settled the life-saving kindness you’ve shown me, then I… I swear, even as a ghost, I’ll never let you rest—!”
It was a truly flawless, unbroken stream of petulant, angry curses.
The tirade flowed so seamlessly that she herself didn’t notice her slip, mistakenly saying “in front of me” instead of “before me.”
This prompted all those who heard her clearly to let out a collective, drawn-out “Ohh~” of gossipy fascination.
It even caused the former recruiting officer, now a lieutenant, who had witnessed countless partings of life and death, to be subtly moved. Among all the tear-streaked young women he had seen bidding farewell to their lovers, he had never encountered one quite like this.
“Didn’t I tell you,” Yang Xi interjected, “we are all serving His Majesty—”
“Still the Emperor, still the Emperor, still your precious Emperor filling your every thought!” she roared, cutting him off. “Anyway, after you die, you can all proudly proclaim yourselves martyrs sacrificed for His Majesty, so why not consider something else while you’re still alive?! You know nothing of human relations, possess no social skills whatsoever—you’re a living, breathing, super-sized idiot, like some solitary beast!”
Lin Yu couldn’t help but call him an idiot again. This time, he didn’t retort with “quack doctor” but simply watched her in silence.
Only when he was certain she had finished speaking did Yang Xi offer his brief response.
“This is war.”
Hah, look at that. Was that even a human thing to say?
This was completely beside the point, just letting everyone else laugh at them.
She poured all her remaining defiance into her final words to him: “If you’re so determined to seek death, then you’d better take me with you! I’m laying it all out here: I, Lin Yu, will absolutely not let you die before me!”