Chapter 362: White Dove and Sunflower (3.5k)
Less than three hours remained until the Yela army’s advance.
Beside the white-haired old man stood Liu Gang and the others. His tall frame was like an iron tower, exuding a sense of security, but his face was etched with fatigue.
In just one afternoon, he had attended to hundreds of patients injured by bombings. Without the support of these professional priests, the entire hospital would have likely collapsed today.
“This model and brand… it’s really the big truck that was prepared to pick us up before.”
His gaze swept past the trembling old director before him, then fell upon the large truck that had suddenly appeared in the hospital. His expression was filled with confusion, and he opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.
Did Dr. Rosanna really not have any issues?
She seemed to be from Eagle Country, just like the old director. If the Yela were to find her, there was indeed a certain probability of her escaping back.
But soon, three figures slowly approached them: Su Jiu, another person, and the newly joined Xu Wutong. The latter was diligently taking pictures of her surroundings with a camera and then recording something on her phone.
“Frost Blade… weren’t you supposed to return to the port district?”
Looking at the figure sitting in a wheelchair before him, Liu Gang’s eyes were filled with astonishment. Then, he pointed at the truck and involuntarily exclaimed.
“No…”
Su Jiu looked at Liu Gang and gently shook her head. Just as she was about to explain, her gaze was drawn to another elder also wearing a white coat.
“No… none of them… Ross, go to the truck and see if little Rosanna is there.”
The elder, being supported, his gaze vacantly scanned them repeatedly but did not find the person he was looking for. His expression immediately drooped. He instructed a nurse to check in the direction of the large truck.
“Okay, Director Robert, you are still very weak, don’t move around. I’ll go and help you check,” the nurse said repeatedly before walking towards the vehicle.
The old director nodded, then looked at Su Jiu again, asking with hope in his eyes, “Did you happen to come back with a girl named Rosanna?”
“She…”
Seeing the expectant expression in the old man’s eyes, Su Jiu bit her lip. Answering such questions was actually more difficult for her than facing a bishop of the Ancient God Sect, as in that case, she would only need to fight with her sword.
“You must have seen her, right?”
The old director seemed to sense Su Jiu’s awkwardness and felt a pang in his heart. However, he suppressed the bad premonition, waved his arm, and began to describe his granddaughter’s appearance. “She’s not very tall, with a head of golden curly waves. This morning, she even tied her hair in a ponytail before going out…”
“I’m sorry, she… did not come back…”
Interrupting the old man’s description, Su Jiu took out the identification from her ring and wanted to hand it to him, but her arm felt as if it were being pressed down by tons of steel, making it incredibly difficult to lift. She could only hold the identification, silent.
“Are you… joking?”
Upon hearing Su Jiu’s words, the old director’s smile froze, and his body trembled. He retreated, and even though he had guessed the outcome, he was still unwilling to accept that the person who was with him this morning was gone by evening.
“No…”
Just as Su Jiu shook her head and was about to speak, Pernis placed her hands flat on Su Jiu’s chest and said softly in a low voice, “Let me say it.”
“Elder, your granddaughter died at the hands of the Yela army, but her sacrifice was not in vain…”
After speaking, she took the identification from Su Jiu’s hand and handed it to the elder. She pursed her lips and explained softly. Pernis exchanged a glance with Su Jiu, as if they had decided how to say it, and then continued in a low voice.
“There is a lot of food on the truck. It was all brought by her for the hospital. We are merely the transporters. Without the truck driven by Miss Rosanna, we would not have been able to smuggle this food from near the Yela army.”
For Su Jiu and the other, this so-called honor was worthless. It would be better to bury the deceased with the respect of others. Moreover, what was said was not incorrect.
This was Pernis’s unique tenderness. She perfectly understood what kind of comfort others desired.
“Food? Smuggled, you have worked hard.”
Hearing Pernis’s explanation, the old director took another look at the identification in his hand and gave a bitter smile. He tightly gripped the card, found a stool, and sat down, his eyes trembling slightly as he murmured, “Rosanna was a good child… her sense of justice, which she had since childhood, led her to resolutely refuse the high-paying job at a private hospital and join the International Red Cross.”
“Even after the outbreak of the Yea War, despite the objections of my daughter and son-in-law, she came to accompany me, an old man. If I had known, I should have stopped her from becoming a doctor with the International Red Cross…” The old director patted the identification card as if he were talking to his granddaughter. “That way, she could have stayed at home, warming herself by the fire and eating bread, just like other people her age.”
“Director Robert…”
The doctors and some patients around were also affected by the somber atmosphere. Their faces, besides fatigue, showed more confusion. Even the granddaughter of Director Robert, a director of an international hospital, was dead…
What about them, ordinary people of Eurs?
It was known that the Yela people never treated them as humans, otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many injured and dead. Could they really survive after the Yela army’s advance?
“Grandpa Director, don’t be sad… have these candies.”
At this moment, the little girl who had been holding candy earlier appeared from somewhere. Holding the candies in her hand, she offered them to the old director.
“Grandpa won’t eat them, you keep them and share them with the other children in the hospital.”
Slightly startled, Director Robert looked up at the little girl. The sadness in his eyes gradually subsided. Finally, he reached out his somewhat dry hand and stroked the girl’s head.
The boy who had asked Su Jiu for candy followed behind the girl. As if having made a decision, he suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Robert’s white coat sleeve, and said, “Grandpa Director, I will avenge Sister Rosanna in the future…”
“There’s no need…”
Looking at the boy with shining eyes before him, Robert gently shook his head. Then, he stood up again, stroked the boy’s head once more, and his helpless voice seemed to whisper through the cracks of the wind.
“It’s good that you are alive.”
Quietly watching the scene before her, Su Jiu held a lollipop in her mouth. The sweetness spread through her mouth, but her heart was filled with mixed emotions.
“Doctors, please attend to your respective duties. Time is running out. I’m going to gather some news information.”
While everyone was looking at each other mournfully, Xu Wutong smiled at Su Jiu, put on her blue helmet, and walked into the hospital to begin her own unique way of recording. Like Lin Yusheng and Rosanna, she too was fighting for peace in her own way.
If Xu Wutong returned safely to Dragon Country, the various situations in the hospital here would be engraved as words on paper, spreading across the land, until that document was passed at a United Nations meeting.
“The Yela army is about to advance… they cannot launch a full-scale bombardment immediately, but the city, the hospital, and even the desert road are filled with refugees.”
Looking at the scene before her, Su Jiu sighed and looked at the night sky, where stars were obscured by the smoke of war. Her gaze then fell to the tired faces she saw, and a wild idea entered her mind…
She had to delay the Yela army’s advance. As for direct negotiation, it was likely difficult because there was no way to threaten the Yela.
Su Jiu’s idea was simple: she needed to condition her body before the army’s advance and then, with her strength approaching that of a High-Rank Battle King, serve as a variable in this war to deter the Yela army head-on.
Perhaps an individual’s strength was minuscule against the machinery of a nation, but Su Jiu understood that delaying by even a day would give these fleeing refugees an ounce more breathing room.
This was Su Jiu’s plan.
It was also the greatest stake she could offer to the people of this land. Those international soldiers who came for peace should not die on this land.
How long would the bullets in the sky fly before they turned into white doves? No one knew.
But if no one was willing to rise up and tear through this black fog, then the dawn would likely remain distant!
Having been upgraded, Pernis could sense some of Su Jiu’s thoughts. She turned to look at the latter, her eyes gradually filling with worry.
To face an army of tens of thousands alone, although it wasn’t a true decisive battle, there would inevitably be conflicts with the enemy’s generals.
“I still have about five percent of my holy light left. If I were to dispel it regardless of the cost, I could definitely heal before the Yela’s full advance.”
Su Jiu whispered to Pernis, holding Pernis’s hand, and then asked Liu Gang, who was in a daze, “Can you give me a quiet room? I need to heal my waist injury first.”
Hearing Su Jiu’s words, Liu Gang snapped back to attention and gave Su Jiu a helpless smile. “All the rooms are occupied by patients, and the corridors are also crowded. If possible, the balcony on the hospital rooftop is quite quiet.”
Balconies were not open to patients. Under such high pressure, many might choose to end their lives.
“Okay.”
Su Jiu replied, then let Pernis push her into the hospital. The two followed Liu Gang. In the equally crowded corridor, after walking for about five minutes, they took the elevator to the upper floors. This was a disused floor of the hospital, but it was also crowded with people at the moment.
Along the way, Liu Gang said with a smile, “The food you brought should be enough to sustain these thousands of patients and the refugees who come to the hospital every day to beg for food for a while.”
Su Jiu asked, “Only for a while?”
Liu Gang stopped, then continued walking, saying softly, “I don’t know, because we have no intention of considering that right now. The Yela is going to bomb this city, and we don’t know if they will target the hospital.”
After another approximately half a minute, accompanied by the sound of a lock opening, a dim yellow light emanated from not too far ahead. Pernis quickened her pace slightly. After a while, they finally passed through the dark hospital corridor and arrived at a balcony where sunflowers were planted.
Looking at the balcony planted with pots of sunflowers, Su Jiu carefully noticed that some names were written on them, as well as many new flower pots. On the new plastic pots, although there were no sunflowers, names were still written.
“These are flowers planted by some critically ill patients. Director Robert often brings them to the balcony to bask in the sun. I’ve been here before too. This is a tradition, isn’t it? It gives those patients the motivation to live.”
Liu Gang, standing beside them, chuckled and scratched his bald head with a rather honest demeanor. “These new ones were planted by me and the children in the hospital. They look good, right?”
“Such beautiful flowers…”
Without waiting for Su Jiu’s reply, Pernis gently nodded, looking at the somewhat withered yellow sunflowers with a gentle gaze. In the stories in books, this is called the support of life.
It is also continuation… One day, these sunflowers will fill in the traces of the shells.
“I’ll go and discuss the Yela army’s advance with Yuko and the others first. I hope you have a good night’s sleep.” While Su Jiu was still observing the sunflowers, Liu Gang waved his hand again and turned to leave.
Watching his receding back, Su Jiu found an empty spot near the balcony and asked Pernis to move the small chair from the empty spot and pushed her over.
Just as she was about to refine her power, she noticed a worn-out guitar lying quietly in a corner.
“There are still two hours and forty minutes left, and I must reserve one hour.”
Without thinking further, she glanced at the time on Pernis’s phone, then retracted her gaze, closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and forcibly purified the holy light.
