School hospital ward.
After Elena cast a healing spell, she sat quietly beside Luo Ling and watched her slowly open her eyes.
"I feel much better." Luo Ling sat up, and Elena put a cushion behind her so that she could lean against the head of the bed.
"You can't do this again. Even with me here, it's too damaging to your body. When you fell in the library, I used my mental power to scan your body. There's only one word to describe it..." Elena paused, her eyes revealing deep worry, "full of holes."
"There are always times when you can't help yourself." Luo Ling reached out and held Elena's hand. "Elena, thank you! Not only do I want to thank you, but the whole school also wants to thank you."
"Now you've revealed that you can use magic. According to your words, this time you were 'forced to do something', that time you were 'required', and next time you were 'in dire straits', what will you do then?" Elena held Luo Ling's hands in front of her chest and said solemnly, "Promise me. Don't use magic again before your body is healed. Otherwise, otherwise..."
"Otherwise, what?" Luo Ling pulled back her arm, straightened her body, and stared at Elena with wide eyes.
"Otherwise I won't give you this kind of treatment again. I'll make you give up completely."
"Really?" Luo Ling tilted her head and looked at the other person, with a bit of grievance and a bit of smile in her eyes.
"Of course it's true." Elaina said affirmatively.
"Oh, Elena doesn't care about me anymore." Luo Ling slumped back on the cushion, and the way she sighed made me feel pity for her.
"Nonsense."
"But so what? Other people are always unreliable anyway, and I've long been used to being alone." Luo Ling looked sad and lost at this time.
Of course Elena knew that she was playing a joke, but she was perceptive enough to read some truth in Luo Ling's words, which made her heart ache.
"I never said that. No matter what you do..." She gently sat down next to Luo Ling and looked at her carefully. "But you look like you are thinking about the past?"
"Okay, now is not the time to gossip." Luo Ling lowered her head and did not look at Elena.
"What is gossip? You know, elves are very sensitive. I just touched the sadness in your heart... Has someone ever left you?" Elena held her hand again.
"When we come to this world, we say goodbye to the past. There is no point in thinking about it, whether it exists or not. Maybe God split my life in two so that I can abandon the past and embrace a new life..." Luo Ling spoke these words slowly, as if she was choosing her words carefully. However, halfway through her words, a tear fell on Elena's hand.
"But memories cannot be discarded. Whether good or bad, they are part of who we are. As an elf who has lived for two hundred years, the thing I fear most is forgetting. Even painful memories are very precious." Elena reached out to wipe away the tears on Luo Ling's cheeks. The elf's hands are very delicate and gentle, but this kind of softness can best break the hardness in one's heart.
The more she wiped, the more tears Luo Ling shed.
Finally, Luo Ling burst into tears. She had never cried loudly since she came here, but at this moment, she felt that she could no longer suppress the boiling emotions in her heart. So many days of longing, pain and confusion, so many days of struggle, persistence and sacrifice, finally found an outlet like a flood and rushed down.
She leaned on Elaina's shoulder and sobbed without any image. Her tears and snot soon soaked her shoulders. Elaina gently held her waist and let her vent. But not long after, she recalled the various things in the slave camp while crying, and she couldn't help but shed tears.
After a while, Luo Ling calmed down and said with red eyes: "In the past, there was such a person. We went to high school together. I skipped a grade, and although we were in the same class, he was several years older than me and took good care of me. We were always the first and second in the school. Later, we went to study abroad at MIT together. He was also very good to me in a foreign country. When he was around, I didn't feel lonely.
When we graduated from college, we got engaged. At that time, everyone thought we would be happy, just like the prince and princess in fairy tales. However, reality is not a story after all, and we have changed since then. I was a very strong person at that time and didn't know how to compromise in relationships. And he, the person I liked, how could he be submissive? There were too many conflicts between us, and the more we spent together, the farther our hearts drifted.
He is very good, so there are many temptations. He has a professor's daughter... Never mind, let's not talk about this. Anyway, when I was about to return to China, he chose to stay, and I returned the ring to him. There were many vows of love, but all of these could not withstand the changes brought about by time..." Luo Ling left Elena's shoulder, "I'm sorry, I said a lot of things that you didn't understand."
"I don't understand some of the things in your words, but I understand your heart. I think he made a big mistake." Elena took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears and snot.
"Who knows? When a person makes a choice, he will always find various reasons. I go left, he goes right, and we both have our own reasons. I can't say that my reasons are more important or nobler than his. After all, I was the one who turned away first." Luo Ling saw the charming elf with snot bubbles for the first time, and she couldn't help laughing. "So this world without him is also good. There are everyone, you, and a certain annoying guy..."
"Actually, I won't ignore you. For us who have a lifespan of nearly a thousand years, what's wrong with accompanying someone for a hundred years?"
"Don't say that. A hundred years is too long. Let's seize the day." Luo Ling reached out and scratched Elena's nose. "Don't worry, I will find a solution to this matter. I don't want to delay you for a hundred years."
The elf's face suddenly turned red. She bit her lip and said angrily, "You, you, don't underestimate the elf's promise."
Luo Ling wanted to tease her a few more times, but she heard a knock on the ward door.
The two looked at each other, and Elena hurriedly cast a healing magic on their eye sockets. Half a minute later, the two dignified beauties came back, and their red noses and swollen eyes had long disappeared.
Elena opened the door and Zhou Xiaoren was standing outside with some fruits.
"Ms. Elaina, Team Leader Luo and I have some business to discuss. Could you please step aside for a moment?"
"Elaina, please go out first. Please let Team Leader Zhou come in."
Elena glanced at his fruit, snorted, walked out of the room and closed the door, but she didn't leave. Instead, she stood guard at the door of the ward.
Zhou Xiaoren walked into the room, put the fruit on the cabinet, rubbed his hands and walked up to Luo Ling.
Luo Ling looked at him expressionlessly, which put Zhou Xiaoren under considerable pressure.
"Well, Team Leader Luo looks good. He must have recovered well." Zhou Xiaoren was the first to break the silence.
"Team Leader Zhou, you can speak directly if you want to. Everyone who should have come to see me has come, and I am a little tired."
"Team Leader Luo, although the school was attacked this time, with the concerted efforts of several of our departments, we were able to successfully repel the invaders and maintain the stability of the school and the camp. We are so lucky." Zhou Xiaoren said, "I came here today not only to thank you for your support on behalf of the intelligence team, but also to thank you on my own behalf for using magic to turn the tide at the critical moment."
"We are the lucky ones who survived. For those who died, this was an absolute disaster. Has Team Leader Zhou counted the number of people lost in the school this time?"
Zhou Xiaoren's face looked a little ugly. How could he not know that this was the culprit for his loss of appetite in recent days? He forced a smile and said, "Well, Team Leader Luo needs to rest. I don't think we need to discuss these official matters today."
"How can I not talk about business with Team Leader Zhou? Maybe Team Leader Zhou doesn't know much, so I will report the numbers I have collected. Due to the riots in the five camps, 37 civilians died. The school was attacked by ice bats and 5 civilians died. The security team of the camp management office sacrificed 5 people. The school guard battalion sacrificed 32 people. Among them, except for Bras who was seriously injured and disabled, all the Cai Long troops stationed in the library died. All died!" When she said the last few words, Luo Ling's voice was terribly cold. "A total of 79 people died, and the number of injured was countless. Team Leader Zhou, you call this a blessing?"
"That's because the enemy's attack was too sudden and too brutal," Zhou Xiaoren defended.
"Too sudden? If you hadn't suddenly launched the action the day before they took action and alerted the enemy, I could have arranged the personnel calmly according to the plan. I would have arranged Crete to a safer place with more people guarding him. The camp would have been more fully prepared and could have solved the problem in a more peaceful way. The two mercenary groups that were transferred back could have been in place, and most of the school's troops would not have been tied down by the ice bats, so Cai Long and the others wouldn't have suffered such a heavy loss! We might even be able to capture Lorenzo alive and put an end to everything."
"If you had informed us of the arrangements, things wouldn't have been so passive." Zhou Xiaoren's voice grew louder. He glared at Luo Ling, as if he had suffered a great injustice.
"Team Leader Zhou, I've looked for you several times, and you've looked for me several times. Today, it seems like this is the first time you've taken the initiative to look for me, right?" Luo Ling stared at him, her eyes filled with a heavy pressure that forced Zhou Xiaoren to take a step back.
"Actually, you're late. I've already submitted the report on the entire incident to the committee. Team Leader Zhou, you should have some time to think about how to face the committee's questioning."
Zhou Xiaoren left in a very embarrassed manner and even fell outside the door.
Elena pushed the door open and Luo Ling asked, "It wasn't you who was causing trouble outside, was it?"
"I would never do such a boring thing." Elena stuck out her tongue as she closed the door with her back to Luo Ling.