Chapter 86

'Has the rotation exam ended? Was there an interpreter this time?'

'It's over. There was an interpreter. It wasn't hard.'

'Nothing's hard for you.' Chi Jiahán scooped up a spoonful of caviar. 'Where was the next rotation again?'

'Pulmonary medicine.'

Chi Jiahán chewed as he glanced up; the more he looked at the wound on Xu Ze's lip, the stranger it seemed. Although Xu Ze's explanation had been that it was from getting overheated, Chi Jiahán distinctly remembered that the night before, when Xu Ze had come to his place to return the car key, there had been no sign of it at all — no redness, no swelling — yet somehow, after a single night, a break had opened up.

'That thing on your mouth — it's not from getting overheated, is it?'

The hand holding Xu Ze's spoon paused for a moment, then he asked, 'Doesn't it look like it?'

Which was basically an answer. Chi Jiahán cut straight through: 'I'm from the Dental Department. I don't think it does.'

Used to it — lying to Chi Jiahán always meant being seen through — Xu Ze said, 'All right.'

'I don't understand.' Prepared as he was, the shock was still real; Chi Jiahán lost his appetite. 'Can you tell me? Last time I ran into you two, you and Lu Heyang looked like an estranged couple who'd been divorced for years. How long has it even been? How did it get to this?'

Xu Ze offered a reason: 'Maybe I was drunk.'

'So what if you were drunk? If you didn't agree, one punch would've been enough to put him down.' Chi Jiahán dismantled the excuse ruthlessly. 'A guy who fought a dozen ring matches in high school — taking out a colonel would've been easy.'

He said that, but in truth Chi Jiahán couldn't picture Xu Ze actually laying a hand on Lu Heyang. It was beyond his frame of reference.

'Eat.' Xu Ze bowed his head and drank his soup.

'Mm, mm, I'm done with you. Just don't send me a wedding invitation.' At that, Chi Jiahán paused on his own, stirring his spoon around the bowl a few times before asking in a flat tone, 'Did He Wei send you a wedding invitation?'

'No.' Xu Ze seemed a little surprised. 'Is he getting married?'

'Who knows.' Chi Jiahán stared at the table, lost in thought for a moment, then summed up: 'Crazy.'

At the Northern Theater Army Command, a helicopter touched down on the landing pad, its rotors spinning at high speed and sending blades of grass whirling into the air. The cabin door opened; several Air Force personnel in combat uniforms stepped down, and the Alpha leading them removed his flight helmet. The young lieutenant colonel waiting on the ground to lead them in saluted him.

Lu Heyang raised his hand in return, then shook it.

'Seems the Capital City agrees with you.' Gu Yunchi said. 'Colonel Lu looks well.'

Lu Heyang was not one for tact: 'Yes. I hope Gu Colonel can also make it back to the Capital City smoothly this time.'

'Let's get today's meetings out of the way first.' Gu Yunchi led Lu Heyang toward the command building. 'There may not be much chance to sleep properly for a while.'

'Understood. Thanks for the heads-up.'

The operational conference ran from afternoon into evening. After a simple dinner, they finally carved out a short break, and Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi leaned against the rooftop railing of the building to get some air. The Northern Theater sat at high elevation; a dozen kilometers out lay desert, sparsely populated. Apart from the brightness of the stars, its external conditions held a steady last place among the major theaters.

'How long has it been since you've been back to the Capital City?'

Gu Yunchi lit a cigarette: 'Can't remember.'

'I heard the person was found?'

'Found three years ago. We've had people watching him the whole time.' No name was spoken, but the meaning carried. Gu Yunchi showed a faintly mocking smile. 'He didn't notice a thing. Stupid to that extent.'

Lu Heyang rubbed the back of his neck: 'Are you planning to go catch him yourself later?'

'Mm.' Gu Yunchi lowered his eyelids and exhaled smoke. 'Catch him and kill him.'

'Then what about He Wei, who's still waiting to drink at the wedding banquet?'

'Tell him to mind his own business.'

Lu Heyang laughed a little and said nothing. Gu Yunchi pinched out the cigarette he'd only taken a few puffs of and asked, 'After you go back to the Capital City, is there anyone you can remember?'

'No.'

'Normal. You can barely remember me and He Wei either.' Gu Yunchi toyed with the cigarette butt. 'But even amnesia doesn't really affect you, does it?'

'A blank test paper waiting for you to fill in — would you leave it untouched?' Lu Heyang countered calmly.

'It's not necessarily a required-answer paper.' Gu Yunchi said. 'You didn't fill in a single answer, and look at you — just as accomplished as ever.'

'Gu Colonel seems to be carrying quite a bit of resentment. Is it because you've been stuck in the theater for so long, unable to go catch a certain Omega, that your state of mind has gone off-balance?' Lu Heyang asked with concern.

Gu Yunchi smiled, his meaning unclear: 'It should be a little better than Colonel Lu meeting a particular person and finding his mind a complete blank.'

'Who do you mean by a particular person?'

'Don't you already have the answer?'

A roar rang through the night sky; lights on the distant landing pad flashed in alternation as several fighter jets touched down one after another. After the engine sounds had quieted, Lu Heyang said, 'I'm curious about the reason you two separated.'

'You two were together?' Gu Yunchi lifted an eyebrow slightly. 'He told you that?'

'You're giving him too much credit for honesty.'

Gu Yunchi said, 'Wasn't the reason you separated because you lost your memory?'

'That's what I thought at first. Later I realized it might not be that simple — it should have something to do with my family.'

'What about the people Uncle Lin arranged for you before?'

'After I woke up from the incident, I never saw them again. Once it was decided I'd attend the Military Academy, I needed to cut ties cleanly with Uncle Wen and the others, to avoid dragging them into trouble.' Lu Heyang said. 'Uncle Wen later went abroad to help my father handle company business. I don't have much memory of him either, and I'm not sure how much he knows. I'd originally planned to find time to meet him, but then I got the notice to come to the Northern Theater.'

'Unfortunately, I don't know the specifics of your situation either.' Gu Yunchi turned to look at Lu Heyang. 'But Colonel Lu, you might want to consider paying back what you owe me. Debts don't get canceled just because you've lost your memory.'

Lu Heyang looked back at him: 'Where did the debt come from?'

'In high school, you paid over 2.4 million toward the hospital and Sanatorium where Xu Ze's grandmother stayed. It went through my account — you put in less than two million.' Gu Yunchi, after all, came from a business family; even after years in the military, the merchant's blood still ran in his veins. He asked, 'Do you know what that means?'

'Not really.' Lu Heyang answered, though his expression looked as though he was thinking about something else.

'It means you still owe me five hundred thousand, plus seven years of interest.'

Lu Heyang nodded: 'All right. I'll pay you back when I have time.'

Gu Yunchi asked, 'Are you very busy right now?'

'Mm.' Lu Heyang opened his communicator to check messages. 'They're rushing me back to the warship. The Navy has another meeting — mission deployment starts at dawn.'

Lu Heyang's Air Force unit was coordinating primarily with the Navy this time, generally operating from warships; today's visit to the Army Command was only for the meeting.

'Running from your debts won't work, Colonel Lu.' Gu Yunchi said. 'Once the front line shrinks in a month or so, we'll still be seeing each other.'

'I know.' Lu Heyang straightened up, his hand resting on Gu Yunchi's shoulder. 'I also hope Gu Colonel will keep an eye on his own mental state before the war is won. Don't get too irritable.'

'Of course.' Gu Yunchi rolled the cigarette between his fingers; the brown shreds of tobacco gave off a bitter scent, then scattered on the wind.

The Pulmonary Internal Medicine rotation would be slightly busier than the Hematology one. This semester, Xu Ze had entered the final two years of the MD-PhD integrated training program and needed to decide between going abroad to a Joint Research Institute or entering a Military District — Huang Liling had given only these two options. He believed that even if Xu Ze's ultimate wish was to stay at the hospital, he shouldn't give up the chance for overseas exchange or Military District internship.

In fact, Xu Ze had no intention of giving up either option; he was still considering.

Autumn was always short; in the blink of an eye it was the end of the season, and more than three months had passed since Lu Heyang left the Capital City. Xu Ze had learned only a month ago that Lu Heyang had gone to the Northern Theater, because the deployment had been classified at first; only when fighting in the Northern Theater kept intensifying did the Military Forces publicly announce the reinforcement units.

Hospital 195's corresponding support range was the Western Theater Command; apart from wars of unusually large scale, it was rare for them to support other theaters, so for now there was no need to mobilize Hospital 195's resources.

Xu Ze had been sleeping poorly for quite some time. No matter how exhausted he was from late-night shifts, he still couldn't fall asleep properly. The badge had been taken out of the safe more and more frequently; Xu Ze didn't know what he was looking at, but he had to look at it to feel at ease.

Later he thought he understood a little. The badge was the important physical evidence of their reunion after seven years — something he could see and touch, more real than the kiss at parting more than three months ago. The wound on his lip had healed long ago, leaving no scar; sometimes Xu Ze would wonder if it had been a dream at all. A dream was fine too — he had already had so many; one more wouldn't matter.

The daily casualty figures in reports kept climbing. Xu Ze had followed nearly every military-related account and channel, reading each news item carefully, until even his colleagues couldn't help asking whether he'd decided to do his internship at a Military District.

Day 105. An ordinary morning. After handing over his shift, Xu Ze was about to take off his white coat and sign out when his Mobile Phone buzzed repeatedly. Before he could open it to look, he heard someone in the ward exclaim joyfully: 'The Northern Theater has stopped fighting!'

Xu Ze stopped where he was. The Mobile Phone screen lit up with a flood of news alerts, each one trailing an exclamation mark.

The League's Northern Theater Final Victory — after more than ten years of war, it had become the second major theater to cease fighting this year.

Immediately after, Chi Jiahán called: 'Doctor Xu, the night shift must be tough, right? Well, what do you know — our Colonel Lu is lying in a bed at Hospital 195. Aren't you going to go see him?'

One thing after another, too many to process. Xu Ze barely managed to make a sound: 'What?'

'He arrived a few hours ago. Apparently he flew back the moment the mission ended. The hospital just lifted the confidentiality — looks like you haven't gotten the news yet.'

Xu Ze walked forward, but had no idea where he was going — just as he had no idea that Lu Heyang had been in the same hospital as him, for hours already.

'Was he injured?' Xu Ze's voice trailed off at the end, so faint it was almost inaudible.

'Doesn't seem like it. There haven't been any reports of fighter damage in the past couple of days, and he's in the Endocrine Department — probably not an injury.'

'All right. I understand.'

After hanging up, Xu Ze turned and ran toward the elevator — actually ran. The nurses at the front desk stared, having never seen Xu Ze in such a hurry.

The Endocrine Department was on the ninth floor. Xu Ze stared at the numbers climbing in the elevator. Ding — the doors opened, and Xu Ze ran out at once, all the way to the special ward area, where he showed his work badge to the guards and entered the hall. Coming face-to-face with an Air Force member, Xu Ze didn't even see the man's features clearly before he asked urgently, 'Which room is Colonel Lu in?'

'Doctor Xu?' Song Yuke was startled by his panicked appearance. 'Looking for the Colonel? He woke up a little while ago — not sure if he's asleep now. I'll take you there.'

Arriving, Xu Ze showed his work badge to the guard at the ward door again. Song Yuke added by way of instruction: 'Memorize this Doctor Xu's face. From now on you don't need to check his badge.'

The guards nodded: 'Understood.'

'I won't go in. I only just finished seeing the Colonel.' Song Yuke said. 'If you need anything, Doctor Xu, just call the guards.'

'All right. Thank you.' Xu Ze pushed open the ward door.

Only after entering the ward did Xu Ze realize he had forgotten to ask Song Yuke what had actually happened to Lu Heyang — but it was too late now. The curtains in the room were drawn tight; it was very dark. Past the receiving area, only the instrument lights beside the bed still flickered; the surroundings remained hard to make out.

The closer he got to the bed, the stronger the Pheromone in the air. Xu Ze did his best to steady his breathing and lowered his head to turn up the setting on his Wristband. He first went to the foot of the bed, pulled out the tablet used for nursing records, entered the internal password, and pulled up the case file.

The contents were simple: a strong Susceptibility Period caused by long-term overuse of Inhibitor.

Xu Ze thought of what Lu Heyang had said before — that he probably had a Susceptibility Period roughly every three months. This time, having stayed in the theater for more than three months, Lu Heyang should have been using Inhibitor continuously to avoid affecting combat command. Over time, the Pheromone Disturbance had triggered a strong Susceptibility Period.

Only Xu Ze couldn't understand: Lu Heyang could have chosen the Military Hospital closest to the Northern Theater, and yet had still flown back to the Capital City.

He set down the tablet and walked very quietly to the instruments to observe the various readings. Just as he was looking carefully, a small sound came from the bed. Xu Ze noticed at once and went over, using the dim light to check whether Lu Heyang was uncomfortable anywhere.

Apparently not — he seemed to be asleep. Looking down, Xu Ze saw that a sensor was clipped to Lu Heyang's finger. He wanted to touch Lu Heyang's hand to see if it was cold, but afraid of waking him, he only pressed the pad of his finger very lightly against the back of Lu Heyang's hand.

It was warm. Xu Ze felt a little easier. He slowly straightened up, but as his gaze traveled back up, he suddenly realized that Lu Heyang had woken at some point — when, he didn't know — and was looking at him.

'Who.' Lu Heyang's voice was low, carrying the particular unthinking hostility and wariness of an Alpha in a Susceptibility Period.

'Doctor.' His heart suddenly pounding, Xu Ze said, 'I've disturbed your rest. I'll leave right away.'

He gave Lu Heyang an apologetic nod, not knowing whether the other had even seen it.

Xu Ze turned around. Before he could take half a step, his wrist was seized in a tight grip — the force was astonishing.

He turned back in astonishment, clearly feeling Lu Heyang's gaze fixed on him. The entire room was left with only the hum of the instruments and two sets of breathing.

'Doctor Xu.' The three words were spoken unhurriedly — not a command, but seemingly leaving Xu Ze no room to refuse.

Lu Heyang said, 'Stay with me.'