Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 59 - Delusional

Yang Huaijun wasn't about to give up that easily- he understood perfectly well the calibre of the man before him- there was no way a man he worshipped would just expose himself under a simple prod like that.

"I say, Song! I can handle you being an idiot, but why's your captain the same as you?!" His face had been seen, and there was no point in hiding anymore. Lin Yi lifted his head up. "Honestly, you guys must be under stress from all the work you do, you really need to get some therapy, relax yourself a bit or something!"

"Why do you lie?" Lin Yi's insults were at the absolute least of his concerns- his arms flashed up in a flash of passion, gripping onto Lin Yi's shoulders and shaking him violently. "I'm Hound, Hound! Don't you remember me?!"

Lingshan was just about to give Lin Yi a scolding when she heard the captain call himself 'hound'. Her eyes were wide open- what the hell was going on?! Could it really be that the stress was getting to him? Was it why he was speaking nonsense?

"See? I say, Song, your captain's having delusions already, he's calling himself a hound!" Lin Yi sighed, shaking his head. "And he even called me an eagle after seeing my face, what the……"

Song Lingshan blinked, speechless and confused at the ridiculous scene- the captain was always a figure of intelligence and authority, what on earth was going on with him today?

The remaining ten percent of Huaijun's uncertainty was swept away at that very moment- this was the one he'd been looking for all this time, there was absolutely no doubt about it!! A companion through the hell of war was not a person he'd mistake somebody else for; The sort of friendship that developed through dire times went deep.

Lin Yi's nonsensical tone in conversation confirmed it, as well- it had to be him! A sudden thought, however, crossed Huaijun's mind- could it be that an undercover operation was taking place, disallowing the exposure of his identity?

That would make absolute sense- Huaijun remembered the level of missions they took back then, and Lin Yi's behavior didn't seem out of place at all.

"Song, leave him to me- I'll take care of this case personally." Huaijun said, grabbing Lin Yi's arm as if he'd start running away.

"Ah… Okay……" Lingshan didn't know what Lin Yi had that interested the captain so, causing him to act oddly as well. Orders were orders, however, and she obeyed Huaijun out of habit.

Without further delay, Huaijun pulled Lin Yi along as he speed-walked inside the building. Lin Yi only smiled bitterly- there was no escaping at this pint.

The door slammed shut, and Huaijun locked it solidly, despite understanding how little good a locked door would do- he could throw this man into a prison and he'd get out himself all the same.

Lin Yi walked to the office sofa and sat down calmly. "Captain Yang, is it? What exactly do you want? Two men trapped in an office like this, it'd be real bad if rumors were to spread… I'm still a student you know…!"

"That's enough- there's no outsiders here, and my office walls are soundproof- my codename's hound, you know that, and you know how strong my recon and anti-recon abilities are. I'd have detected any bugs in the room if there were any." Huaijun said as he stared intently at Lin Yi.

"Seriously? Are you really planning on doing something to me…" Lin Yi said innocently, eyes wide open.

"Drop the act, Arno! You know what I'm talking about!" Huaijun said seriously.

"I'm sorry, but you've got the wrong guy- I'm no Arno, and I've no idea what you've been talking about." Lin Yi replied with a shrug.

"That's impossible!!" Huaijun's eyes lit up with a renewed passion as he lunged himself at Lin Yi, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him again. "Eagle, what are you running from? Why won't you admit who you are?!"

Lin Yi was still a little indifferent as he contemplated Huaijun's words- was he really running from something? The days of war, the absolute trust between warmates, and that stunning face and heartbreaking gaze…… Lin Yi's heart seemed to cramp a little at the thought.

"Ning's been looking for you, all these years!!" Huaijun uttered, his face twisted with panic- Lin Yi's denial was starting to take its toll on him.

"Ning? Who's that?" A needle pierced through Lin Yi's heart, but his face remained composed, uncaring and clueless.

"You-!!!" Huaijun's eyes turned bloodshot as he stared violently at Lin Yi. "You're trying to run, aren't you? This isn't something you can just run from, you'll ruin her whole life!!"

Huaijun broke off his glare abruptly, grabbing his own chest as beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. His face whitened, and his body convulsed……

"What's wrong?!" Lin Yi could deny his relationship with this man all he wanted, but the guy was a warmate, an absolute friend that he'd entrusted his life with before- it was above him to just ignore Huaijun when the guy started convulsing like that.

Huaijun gritted his teeth, struggling to produce a bottle of medicine from his breast pocket with trembling hands. He took out one of the pills inside and popped it into his mouth, and his convulsions calmed down. He was still gasping for air, but he wasn't as pale anymore.

Lin Yi took a glance at the prescription on the bottle- it was an imported sedative painkiller, a very strong kind. LIn Yi dropped the nonchalant act as he looked at his friend. "Why're you taking these?"

He understood Huaijun's constitution extremely well- the guy was as strong and healthy as a bull; what had happened to him?

"Do you…...admit who you are?" Huaijun asked again, a nostalgic smile creeping across his lips.

"Let's not talk about that first, okay? What happened to you?" Lin Yi responded with a question as he helped Huaijun up the sofa- maintaining his denial had lost its significance.

"I'm not that weak, I'm fine!" Huajun laughed, clearly very happy as he looked at Lin Yi. "I know it's you, Eagle. It's been two years… You've gotten taller… You don't have that edge in your eyes anymore, and you seem more reserved, too… But I know it's you."

"Fine, fine, I'll admit it. Tell me, what happened?" Also, why are you retired from the military? Wasn't that organization you joined… for life?" Lin YI couldn't begin to imagine what Huaijun had been through these past two years.

The guy still looked strong as ever, but Lin Yi sensed a trace of sickness within him. Old Lin was a master doctor, renowned far and wide- Lin Yi had inherited some of his medical genius.

"Yeah, I'm retired!" Huaijun said with a smile. "It's an injury- I can't handle the high level operations anymore, so I transferred into the police force."

Chapter 60 - Stop Calling Me Eagle

"Injury?" Lin Yi asked.

"I received a new mission after we got back from Africa- I was to hunt an big international drugs dealer down. They had someone highly skilled with them…" Huaijun chuckled bitterly. "But I'm pretty lucky- they thought they'd killed me after putting me down. But… Armadillo and the others……"

"What happened to Armadillo…?" Lin Yi tensed up, asking slowly.

"Armadillo sacrificed himself……" Huaijun answered faintly.

"What?!" Lin Yi's face blackened- the guy always wore a sunny smile… Lin Yi couldn't believe it. Gone, just like that……

Huaijun saw the expression Lin Yi was making. He empathized deeply with him- he knew what it was like, Armadillo was as much his warmate as he was Lin Yi's! He cried like a girl when he heard about Armadillo!

"There's a chance that he might still be alive……." Huaijun offered, trying to console Lin Yi.

"His corpse hadn't turned up yet..?" Lin Yi's eyes lit up with a sliver of hope. Armadillo was a quick-witted dude- it wouldn't be surprising if he'd escaped his predicament.

"I learned later that the corpses were all thrown in the drug lords' refining furnaces…" Huaijun said with a sigh. "The pain was too much when I woke up, and I had to take care of myself first before anything. I managed to find somewhere isolated to hide, and I lost consciousness after that- someone rescued me a while later…"

"FUCK!!!" Lin Yi yelled, slamming his fist down the coffee table in front of him, disintegrating it into a pile of sawdust.

Huaijun witnessed Lin Yi's might in admiration. Eagle was strong as ever; Huaijun wasn't sure if he'd be capable of the same feat himself.

"I'm sorry. My injuries were too severe- I wasn't in a position to be looking after our warmates…" Huaijun was always brimmed with guilt every time he looked back.

"It's not your fault!" Lin Yi assured with a shake of his head. What Huaijun did was common sense- he'd just be charging to his death under the circumstances. Reserving strength would be the priority for Lin Yi, as well, were he in Huaijun's shoes. "How bad is your injury?"

"My entire body's covered with them… It took half a year before I recovered. I resigned from the military after that." Huaijun sighed. "Western medicine called it sequela, and Eastern Medicine said that all my meridians had been cut off. I can't get too emotional, and I can't undertake high difficulty tasks long term. I need medicine and pills to stabilize my body, as well."

Lin Yi placed Armadillo at the back of his head for the moment, focusing his attention on Yang Huaijun before him. "Give me your hand."

"What're you planning?" Huaijun asked, curious as he put his hand out for Lin Yi.

"Feeling your pulse." Lin Yi answered, putting on a serious expression as he placed his hand on Huaijun's wrist.

"I thought you're only good at killing- so you even know how to heal, Eagle?" Huaijun stared in startlement at the warmate who'd been through life and death with him.

"There's a whole lot of other things I can do." Lin Yi said with a smile. "What, don't believe me?"

"Don't believe you?" Huaijun's said with his eyes widened. "There's no one else to believe if I can't even trust you- I'd always trust you with my life back in the field!"

"Jeez." Lin Yi was laughing with Huaijun on the surface, but his heart was solemn- Huaijun's pulse was very weak. His body was recovered, but the internal damage done to him was too much, and many of his organs were yet to be healed. There were even signs of deterioration!!

"Well? My body still good?" Huaijun asked curiously as he watched Lin Yi work.

"Do you only use the painkillers for this?" Lin Yi asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Huaijun asked back.

"Then why are you still alive?" Lin Yi frowned.

"......" Huajun stared at Lin Yi, speechless. "The hell, man?"

"Really… It's looking bad for you- the injuries from before aren't recovered at all, they're worsening! I don't know how you managed to survive this long with sedative painkillers alone, but a normal guy would have long been dead." Lin Yi said solemnly as he stated the facts. There was no reason to hide the truth from someone like Haijun- a soldier who'd step into a warfield was expected to have thrown his life behind him. Even if he were to tell him that he'd die tomorrow, Lin Yi knew that it wouldn't take the man by surprise.

"An old Eastern doctor said the same thing. He said I wouldn't survive half a year, but look at me now- I'm healthy as ever, aren't I?" Huaijun said, expectedly unaffected by Lin Yi's words as he stretched his limbs.

"He wasn't wrong- even half a year's a stretch." Lin Yi nodded.

"Come on, Eagle, will you stop that? Do I look like someone who was dying?" Huaijun was a little displeased.

"My name's Lin Yi, stop calling me Eagle." Lin Yi said after a looking at Huaijun a while. "Well, at any rate, it's a miracle you're still alive- it might have something to do with your mental vitality."

"Go on…"

"You can continue using painkillers for the pain, but… it'll only get worse from here!" Lin Yi said decisively. "You've probably noticed it yourself- you're using painkillers more frequently, and with more volume than before, aren't you?"

"You… actually know medicine?" Huaijun asked in surprise, not expecting Lin Yi to understand his body's condition this well.

"What do you think?" Lin Yi let go of Huaijun's hand- he'd more or less grasped the guy's body condition, and things got complicated from there. It's said that medicine was one third poison- any kind of herbs or medicine had a destructive or negative effect to the organs, meaning medicine for the heart could cause damage to Huaijun's spleen or liver, for example. Vice versa, medicine for the liver could have negative effects to the heart or spleen. Conclusively, every healing to one organ would damage other organs- the body would be better off without any medicine at all, with that in mind. Healing him would just kill him off sooner.

Lin Yi had been in thought for quite a while, and Huaijun broke the silence. "What, what are you thinking about?"

"Thinking about your condition." Lin Yi sighed softly. "Conventional Eastern medicine would affect other organs while healing one, in your case, damaging effects- meaning you'd only have the deterioration of your organs accelerated whenever you're healed. Healing everything at once is a no go, as well. It's pointless- it'd be like poisoning you to death."

guess timber was right... 11th's the highest we can go for our one month annivesary. But theres always next month =3