Chapter 3425: Combustion (14)

As for the situation between Song Yi and Wu Xianrou… Well, since they hadn’t married yet, there was still room for things to shift.

Occasionally, when other squads needed a female special forces soldier, Ning Shu would be called in for missions.

Most of the members in Song Yi’s squad were currently idle. Their commander was injured, and now, it seemed like he was caught up in a romance too—so they weren’t accepting any missions, and higher-ups weren’t assigning any either.

No missions meant no bonuses. This was, after all, a job.

Ning Shu still had opportunities to take on assignments with other squads.

Of course, these were all minor tasks—she was just there to provide support.

All the back-and-forth wasn’t nearly as rewarding as doing a major mission and getting a bigger bonus.

Ning Shu didn’t care much about the money. What she wanted was to build up a stronger resume.

Merit had to be earned bit by bit, but this hard-gained merit was always better than handing in a blank sheet.

Every so often, she’d make time to visit the patients at the military hospital.

The moment Ning Shu walked into the ward, the atmosphere would always become strangely tense.

Now that their relationship was official, Wu Xianrou had grown even more guarded around Ning Shu. She clung tightly to Song Yi’s arm, like she was staking a claim.

Song Yi didn’t say anything about it. He just looked at Wu Xianrou with indulgence and tolerance.

She was cute when she acted that way.

Ning Shu smiled calmly and congratulated the two of them.

Song Yi’s injury had mostly healed. He could walk on his own now. Given that his physical condition had always been good, he was about ready to be discharged.

However, Wu Xianrou insisted that he should stay in the hospital a little longer to recuperate. Her reasoning was that once he was discharged, he’d be sent on missions again. It was better to rest up more while he could, especially since he didn’t have to pay out of pocket.

Ning Shu only gave a silent smile at that. Free things really were the best. You could just claim them without a second thought.

It was true that Song Yi didn’t have to pay, but the cost still came from taxpayers—the people.

And yet, Song Yi really did stay in the hospital.

He probably wanted more time to spend with Wu Xianrou.

At that moment, Ning Shu felt a complicated mix of emotions. She was finally beginning to understand the entrustor’s mindset.

He was the same man with the same face, yet suddenly, he felt like someone else. He no longer carried that sense of integrity and resolve he used to have in him.

Even if the whole world turned against them, as long as he was with the person he loved, it was enough.

All Ning Shu wanted to say was, if he was really that tough, then he should get the hell out of the hospital. Wasn’t he ready to take on the world for love? Then he’d better not use resources funded by the nation and its people. He’d better have the guts to give those up too.

Everything they had—food, clothing, housing, transportation—came from people’s labor. If he was really that noble, then go starve.

Did he think that once they stepped away from worldly things, their noble, absolute love could just soar to the heavens? How ridiculous.

Before, Ning Shu had been patient out of respect for Song Yi as her commanding officer. But now, she could feel the anger bubbling up inside her.

“You, what’s your name? I’m officially dating Song Yi now. I’ll be counting on all of you to take good care of him,” Wu Xianrou said to Ning Shu, while holding onto Song Yi’s arm.

It had been a long time since Ning Shu had encountered this kind of low-level drama. The showy way Wu Xianrou was flaunting her status didn’t stir the slightest reaction in her.

Two women tearing into each other over a man—fighting to tip the scale of his affections in their favor as if that counted as victory.

Ning Shu didn’t even feel like responding. It would’ve been a waste of breath.

She didn’t care at all about how she appeared in Song Yi’s eyes.

She had no love, no expectations. However, her lack of desire equated to lack of weakness.

Although Ning Shu said nothing, Wu Xianrou still sensed the disdain radiating from her. She could feel the contempt this female soldier held for her.

“Song Yi, this is the soldier you trained? Someone speaks to her, and she doesn’t even bother to reply,” Wu Xianrou pouted, trying to stir things up.

Ning Shu replied, “As long as you’re happy, Miss Wu.”

Right. If Wu Xianrou didn’t take the lead in drawing the aggro and inviting other people’s anger and resentment, how would Song Yi ever get the chance to make a grand and heroic entrance?

And now, they wanted to draw aggro from her and take on her as some kind of game boss to be defeated? Ning Shu could only warn silently: ‘Be careful your health bars don’t hit zero and send you straight back to respawn point.’

She looked at Song Yi and said, “Sir, if you’re recovered, you shouldn’t be staying in the hospital. Everyone’s waiting for you to come back and lead us on missions.”

Wu Xianrou immediately cut in. “Do you have any humanity at all? He’s injured! And you want him back on missions? Song Yi’s not a robot. He’s human! He feels pain, he bleeds, all right?”

Ning Shu’s expression didn’t change. So, Song Yi was the only one suffering? The rest of them weren’t?

“Then who’s going to carry out the missions? Will you do them, Miss Wu?” she asked coldly.

“There are plenty of others,” Wu Xianrou shot back. “I’ll talk to my dad and have Song Yi rest a bit longer. What, without Song Yi, the world stops turning? Or is the whole nation going to fall apart without him?”

So now it was all about verbal sparring. Wu Xianrou was twisting the argument and deliberately shifting the premise. Sure, an individual’s strength might be small, but even the smallest screw had a place to be, a function, in the large system.

This was a matter of duty.

Ning Shu massaged her temples. Fine, she was the female lead. Whatever you said was right. She was always right.

Song Yi seemed quite touched by how fiercely Wu Xianrou defended him. Maybe he even felt a little moved.

After all, who didn’t want to live the kind of life they wished for?

For someone who had braved bullets and fire, that kind of care, especially from the woman he liked, could be deeply comforting.

Ning Shu couldn’t help but curse silently. Bloody hell, the power of love really was something—something massive.

Old Two and Zhu Yi had already been discharged one after the other. Song Yi, on the other hand, was still playing dead in the military hospital.

And not just that. He had an entire ward to himself. The ward was a room with four beds, which was more than enough for him and Wu Xianrou to switch beds for fun. Hell, they could swap beds every day if they wanted.

Ning Shu was starting to feel a dull ache behind her eyes.

Everyone in the squad was like baby birds, mouths open, waiting to be fed—waiting on mission orders—while their squad commander had practically settled down to start a family in hospital.

They all watched enviously as other squads came and went, knocking out one mission after another.

All they could do was sigh.

“Brother Two, can’t you go and talk to the squad commander?” Zhu Yi said to Old Two.

“No missions? Then train yourselves. Have you finished your daily drills? Song Yi is currently dating the Wu family’s young lady. His future’s on the line. Don’t get in their way,” Old Two replied bluntly.

Since he’d said it like that, the others couldn’t object. They just had to adjust their attitudes.

Still, Song Yi’s current behaviour really was a let-down for those comrades who had stood by him through fire and blood, who had trusted him enough to have him watch their backs in battle.

Zhu Yi muttered gloomily, “The squad commander’s putting romance over duty. Seriously, it’s out of control. I was just chatting to a girl online, and now I don’t even feel like it anymore.”

Ning Shu tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I think it’s time you get your ‘third leg’ cut off, actually.”

Everyone in the military compound knew about Song Yi and Wu Xianrou’s relationship by now. The bigger topic of conversation was how Song Yi was likely to be promoted soon.

As for Ning Shu and the others—they were the unlucky ones.

They were stuck under a boss trying to leap straight to the top and ended up being sidelined.

Wherever there were people, there’d be friction. Since their last mission, they’d already been idle for some time.

Aside from Ning Shu occasionally picking up the odd minor task, they hadn’t had any serious assignments.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.