SDIWD - Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Hua Mu was in so much pain she felt like she was dying. She wished she didn't even have this leg.

"Bai Zhen, Bai Zhen..."

She cried like a little girl, and holding the tiny cat made her look even more fragile and helpless.

When Bai Zhen thought about everything Hua Mu was about to go through, her heart twisted into a knot.

"Miss, you... you've broken a bone..."

There was no obvious external injury, but the inside wasn't so lucky.

Thanks to the rapid development of modern medicine, the recovery time for a common fracture had been greatly reduced. Various types of cell repair agents were not only used in the military, but some had also been introduced into civilian medical care. Among them, skin and bone repair agents were the most mature and widely used.

Skin repair agents were mostly used in cosmetic surgery and for large-area burns, and they were expensive. Bone repair agents, also known as osteogenin, could effectively accelerate bone growth, reducing recovery time and various complications.

If Hua Mu could get to a hospital, she would quickly receive almost painless treatment and recover in less than half a month. But in a situation with virtually no modern medical facilities, any illness or injury could have serious consequences, let alone a broken bone.

What made Bai Zhen even more regretful was that, due to her special constitution, she didn't carry the emergency repair agents that Sentinels usually had on hand. Now, she could only use the most primitive methods to treat Hua Mu.

"A b-broken bone?" Hua Mu asked, as if she hadn't understood Bai Zhen's words.

"Miss, please bear with it for a moment."

Bear... bear with it? Bear with what?

"No! Bai Zhen, what are you going to do?"

First, she had to determine the location of the injury and whether it was displaced. Since there were no modern medical instruments for diagnosis, Bai Zhen could only rely on her sense of touch.

"Miss, it will be a little... no, it will be very painful. You... you'll have to bear with it..."

Hua Mu was so angry she almost coughed up blood.

This big fool was too honest. Even if it was going to be very painful, couldn't she just not tell her?

Hua Mu was sweating all over from the pain, feeling as if she could pass out at any moment—and maybe it would be better if she did. But she knew that a broken bone was extremely dangerous under these circumstances. If it wasn't treated promptly, there would be even more severe consequences.

Bai Zhen had just kissed her on her own initiative. She didn't want to die yet.

"B-Bai Zhen..." she said, looking as if she were on her last breath, her face covered in tears brought on by the pain. "You... later, no matter what you hear, don't stop. And... and forget it all... understand?"

Bai Zhen didn't understand why, but she obediently agreed. Fearing Hua Mu might bite her tongue, she rolled up a piece of clothing for Hua Mu to bite down on. The rusty-spotted cat seemed to have recovered a little and lay obediently by Hua Mu's side.

"Mmph..."

Bring it on!

Hua Mu felt her heart twitch. Her whole body tensed up, and she was drenched in a cold sweat.

Bai Zhen had never been so nervous; even her usually steady hands were trembling. She rubbed her hands together and gently took hold of Hua Mu's red, swollen calf.

"Mmmph..."

Hua Mu gripped the canvas, desperately suppressing the urge to writhe as she whimpered and cried.

Bai Zhen examined it very carefully, repeatedly stroking and carefully pressing to determine the extent of the bone's injury.

It seemed to be a non-displaced fracture.

"Miss, I need to immobilize your lower leg first."

Hua Mu had never hated hearing Bai Zhen speak so much. Although her voice was lovely, it was delivering nothing but damn bad news!

"Mmmph..."

If you're going to do it, hurry up!

Bai Zhen remembered Hua Mu telling her not to stop, so she steeled herself and began the procedure. Hua Mu's dress was made of a soft material; she used a piece of it to wrap the calf first, then slipped the cut-off pant leg over the injury for padding.

The wooden sticks for the splint were taken directly from the legs of the stand and tied in place with strips of canvas.

"Mmmph!!!" Hua Mu was in so much pain she wanted to twist her body into a pretzel, a scream building in her throat. "Bai Zhen, you bastard, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!"

She finally spat out the cloth in her mouth, shouting cathartically, "I'm going to die! You idiot! Bai Zhen, you bastard! Why don't you understand! Waaah... you... you might as well just die from your own stupidity... Ouch, it hurts, it hurts..."

Her previous weakness vanished, and she yelled with surprising vigor, almost startling Bai Zhen, whose hands paused involuntarily.

"D-didn't I tell you not to stop? You idiot... are you planning to make me go through this pain twice?"

Bai Zhen understood what she meant and immediately resumed her work, moving much faster now.

Hua Mu was still yelling. Besides crying out in pain, she was cursing Bai Zhen over and over, but as she continued, her curses seemed to have less and less to do with her injury.

"I've never met anyone as dense as you... Waaah, you... you don't know how to be gentle with a woman at all... not a romantic bone in your body... Waaah, why... why do I like you?"

Bai Zhen's body, which had been ice-cold just a moment ago, started to grow warm for some reason. Hua Mu's cries filled her with pity, while the content of her words thrilled her.

And after that, Hua Mu began to sob deliriously.

"Waaah... it hurts, Father, Auntie... Mumu hurts so much... It hurts so much, Auntie..."

"No, that's not right... Mumu is the bravest... Mumu isn't afraid of pain..."

When Bai Zhen finally finished the bandaging, Hua Mu's arched body went limp and fell back. She was soaked through as if she had just been pulled from the water, her vacant eyes staring at some unknown point. She gasped for air, her breaths shallow.

Bai Zhen gently rested the leg on a flat rock, then sat beside Hua Mu and wiped the sweat and tears from her face.

Hua Mu's eyes finally moved. They shifted to the Sentinel's face, and her lips parted slightly.

"Miss!"

Bai Zhen didn't hear anything and quickly leaned closer.

Hua Mu asked her, "W-was I very brave?"

Bai Zhen squeezed her hand tightly and nodded. "You're braver than anyone."

Hua Mu's expression was miserable. "Then do you like me?"

Then do you like me?

Bai Zhen had cheated on her final exam. For a long time, she only remembered the fact that she had cheated, but had completely forgotten the specifics.

She knew this was part of the deception and understood it was the price to pay, so she had never tried to investigate it.

The Leader's "Interrogation" was known as the Tower's ultimate lie detection test. No lie could escape the Leader's eyes.

So, what if the lie wasn't a "lie"? What if even the test subject herself believed the lie?

Everyone knew that reading minds was impossible. Guides couldn't do it, and Sentinels certainly couldn't.

But the Leader seemed to have the ability to see through people's hearts, so some secretly called her the "Mind Reader."

Bai Zhen considered herself the closest person to her master, aside from the Queen, so she had secretly speculated about her abilities. Ordinary lie detection experts relied on micro-expressions to determine if a subject was lying, but a powerful Sentinel like the Leader could also make judgments based on changes in heartbeat, perspiration, pheromone release, and so on.

Wasn't the most effective way to deal with a "Mind Reader" to become someone with no mind to read?

Aside from a few escape attempts when she first entered the Tower, Bai Zhen had later behaved with impeccable conformity. But this time, she was about to do something incredibly audacious again.

She had to deceive not only the Leader, but also herself.

There was a Guide from the western Heliopolis Empire who had partnered with her on a case involving an international riot of intelligent lifeforms. The two had gone through thick and thin together and become sworn friends, and that Guide owed her a favor for saving her life.

Whether in the West or the East, the power of royalty was always considered stronger than that of ordinary Sentinels and Guides. Benu happened to have royal blood, and her spirit animal was a rare phoenix.

The suggestion of an ordinary Guide couldn't deceive the Leader, but what about that of a royal Guide?

It was an extremely risky affair, but Bai Zhen ultimately decided to go through with the plan, having Benu place the highest level of mental suggestion on her.

A suggestion to forget a specific event could always have loopholes, and forgetting her feelings was absolutely not what she wanted—without such strong emotions, she couldn't guarantee that she could protect Hua Mu with all her heart.

But what kind of feelings were they?

Admiration, worship, pity, and loyalty. That was all.

Bai Zhen cheated, and then became Hua Mu's personal guard.

Do you like me?

But when Hua Mu asked her this, looking at her with such a longing gaze, she suddenly remembered those events, and she also remembered the suggestion she had asked Benu to place on her.

Strong emotions often couldn't be erased by suggestion, but it was much easier to trick the brain into perceiving them as other types of emotions.

This was Benu's experience, and it was also her choice.

Even though Bai Zhen at that time would never admit she had feelings for Hua Mu that went beyond those, her cautious nature made her choose this path just to be safe.

She could not fail; she could not lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If it was just a matter of abandoning a delusion that could never be realized anyway, it was a very worthwhile trade.

Admiration, worship, pity, and loyalty. Her feelings for the Miss, from beginning to end, could only be that and nothing more.

Bai Zhen lowered her head and answered with a kiss.

It was still a kiss as light as could be, but Hua Mu was completely satisfied. An incredibly shy expression appeared on her face, a faint blush coloring her pale cheeks. In a voice hoarse from shouting, she said softly, "Who gave you permission to kiss me..."

Bai Zhen brushed the messy strands of hair from her face and kissed her forehead.

"Miss, you're tired. Get some sleep."

Hua Mu did indeed feel exhausted, and her vision began to blur.

"What about you..."

"I'll stay right here with you. I'm not going anywhere."

Hua Mu wanted Bai Zhen to hold her, but she was too shy. In the end, she couldn't fight off her drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep.

The rusty-spotted cat had been lying to the side, watching for a while. Only then did Bai Zhen notice its round eyes, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about her recent bold behavior.

She picked up the rusty-spotted cat by the scruff of its neck, gave it a quick wipe in her arms, and then placed it in the wicker basket.

"I'm going to clean the Miss's body. You're not allowed to watch."

"Meow~"

The wild feline let out a rare "meow," as if voicing its displeasure with the Sentinel.

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