Chapter 60 — Why Aren't You Dead Yet?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
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"Injured? How did you get hurt?" Wei Zhao asked.
"Back then, after we returned from North Africa, I received a new assignment - tracking an international drug kingpin. But I never expected that some of them were skilled fighters. I was injured by one of them..." At this point, Yang Huaijun gave a bitter smile. "I suppose I was lucky. When they saw me go down, they thought I was dead and stopped beating me. But Pangolin and the others..."
"Pangolin? What happened to him?" Wei Zhao's heart lurched, and he asked hastily.
"Pangolin... he sacrificed himself..." Yang Huaijun's voice was heavy and somber.
"What?" Wei Zhao's face went terrifyingly dark in an instant. Pangolin - that small, wiry young man, always wearing a brilliant smile... He never imagined that a comrade who had fought alongside him just two years ago would be gone like this.
Seeing Wei Zhao's expression, Yang Huaijun understood that feeling all too well. Pangolin had been Wei Zhao's comrade, yes - but he had been Yang Huaijun's comrade too. When Yang Huaijun had first received the news of Pangolin's death, he, a grown man, had wept uncontrollably.
"Perhaps... he didn't die after all," Yang Huaijun offered, anxious about Wei Zhao's grief.
"They never found the body?" A flicker of hope crossed Wei Zhao's eyes. Pangolin was a sharp and resourceful young man - perhaps, just perhaps, he had escaped.
"The drug lords threw the bodies into the drug refinement furnaces... I only learned of that afterward." Yang Huaijun sighed. "When I came to, the pain in my body was unbearable, and I had no thought for anything else. I found a concealed spot to hide in, and later lost consciousness entirely - until someone rescued me."
"Son of a bitch!" Wei Zhao slammed his fist down on the coffee table in front of him. The finely crafted solid-wood table instantly shattered into a pile of splinters.
Yang Huaijun clicked his tongue inwardly. As expected of Eagle - still that ferocious. He admitted he could never have done the same himself.
"I'm sorry. I was injured too severely at the time to go check on how the others were doing..." Whenever Yang Huaijun thought back to this, guilt flooded his heart.
"I don't blame you," Wei Zhao shook his head. In that situation, it was perfectly clear - if Yang Huaijun had charged in, he would only have been sending himself to his death. The only right move was to preserve his strength. "Your injuries were that serious?"
"My whole body was covered in wounds... It took over half a year to recover. Once I was better, I retired from active duty." Yang Huaijun sighed. "Western medicine calls it having lasting sequelae. Traditional Chinese medicine says every meridian in the body was severed. I can't allow myself to get emotionally agitated, I can't engage in sustained high-intensity work, and I have to take medication daily just to keep things under control."
Wei Zhao set aside the matter of Pangolin for the moment and began studying Yang Huaijun closely. "Give me your hand."
"What are you going to do?" Yang Huaijun asked, somewhat puzzled, but he extended his hand all the same.
"Taking your pulse," Wei Zhao said, settling his fingers on Yang Huaijun's wrist. His expression slowly grew grave.
"You know how to take a pulse? Come on, Eagle. I thought you were only deadly with a gun - you can heal people too?" Yang Huaijun stared at Wei Zhao in surprise - this comrade who had lived and died with him through hailstorms of bullets.
"There's a great deal about me you don't know yet," Wei Zhao smiled. "What, you don't believe me?"
"Don't believe you?" Yang Huaijun's eyes went wide. "If there's anyone in this world I trust, it's you. Back on the battlefield, I could hand you my back without a second thought."