Clothes were strewn all over the chaotic room, and the bloodstains were shockingly vivid. Xia Xue couldn't help clenching Xiao Lin's arm. It had been a long time since she'd been back, but upon stepping into her home to find this scene, it was hard not to let her imagination run wild. She looked at Xiao Lin; after experiencing so much, her little heart had learned the habit of keeping her mouth shut at critical moments.

"Why don't you go rest in the room first, it's nothing," Xiao Lin said with a face that didn't look as relaxed as his words implied. Xia Xue held back the urge to speak countless times and went straight to her own room upon entering the house.

Xiao Lin found the unconscious Consort Ling in the bathroom. The water spraying from the showerhead splashed onto his body, and his clothes clung to his skin. The blood slowly turned from red to thin streaks within the clear water, flowing down the drain.

His body was turned to the side, with his right-hand fingers still twitching. Xiao Lin turned off the shower and carefully rotated him. On his left abdomen was a wound about twenty centimeters long, shaped like a lotus. Each petal bore marks of barbs, blood seeping out from these petals. If the situation weren't so dire, he would honestly say the wound was quite beautiful, and the weapon itself was very cleverly designed.

Xiao Lin immediately realized who the adversary was.

Swiftly stripping Consort Ling of his clothes and cleaning off the filth as best as he could, Xiao Lin dried him before carrying him out of the bathroom.

"Xiang Fei?" Xia Xue, holding a cup of hot milk in the living room, immediately recognized the person Xiao Lin was carrying. After clearing the long table in front of the sofa, she placed a disposable tablecloth over it and helped Xiao Lin place Consort Ling on it. Although the sealed acupoints temporarily stopped the bleeding, judging from the wound, internal organ damage was likely. "We need to take him to the hospital."

"He can't go." Xiao Lin intently watched the person with eyes tightly shut. Consort Ling's identity was very special; going to the hospital would require identification, which he couldn't afford.

Xia Xue didn't ask anything but instead quickly grabbed her coat and headed out the door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to fetch some tools. Give me the keys."

"No need, get the box from under my bed."

Xia Xue found the box; meanwhile, she noticed that there was more than one such box under the bed. "Which one?"

"The second from the left."

"What's in the others?" The box wasn't heavy; Xia Xue could lift it with one hand.

"If you want to know, just open it." Ever since that attack at the farmhouse, Xiao Lin had no plans to hide anything from Xia Xue anymore. Some matters were long due to be clarified.

Casually, Xiao Lin took out a set of exquisite surgical tools from the toolbox. Since Xia Xue studied medicine as well, she gazed admiringly at the various handmade surgical knives. The smooth lines and curvatures from the hilt to the blade head fit perfectly in Xiao Lin's palm, as if crafted precisely for his hands.

Peeling apart the twenty-centimeter cut and revealing the subcutaneous tissue, he located the artery. Under specially designed glasses, Xiao Lin clearly saw the damaged areas. Fortunately, no critical spots were injured. After stitching up the damaged areas with thread, he tightly bound it with a bandage, finally setting down the tools and wiping them clean with fresh water before soaking them in alcohol.

Xia Xue curiously toyed with each tool, noting the inscription of "Lin" and a series of numbers resembling dates etched onto the hilts.

"This was my sixteenth birthday gift." After arranging Consort Ling, Xiao Lin came out and embraced Xia Xue from behind. "It should be held like this." Adjusting the tools properly, Xiao Lin left a kiss on her neck. "These are made from special materials—they're non-stick, don't absorb blood, resist deformation, and are thin yet sharp. I usually use them as weapons for killing."

"Weapons for killing? Aren't you a Military Doctor? Do you have to kill too?" Xia Xue's eyes widened at Xiao Lin's revelation, and suddenly she felt she lacked the courage to understand further.

"Yes! During missions, there's no choice. If you don't kill the other person, they will come to kill you."

Those life-and-death days ingrained in him the habit, even in his sleep, of killing intruders at the bedside, always maintaining vigilance and defensive nature, as if it were a corrosive drug seeping into his daily life habits.

Leaning against Xiao Lin's chest, Xia Xue had considered many of his possible past lifestyles, but each scenario dissolved into nothing during her weighing of confirmations and denials. Yet, at this moment, she had never been so clear-minded in facing it. "So you're quite a fighter, aren't you?"

"You've seen it firsthand, haven't you?" Xiao Lin chuckled, affectionately stroking Xia Xue's hair.

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