The instructors were all silent in the face of these reports. They only began discussing the reports in hushed voices after a good long while. After conversing for a while with his instructors, Li Shiyu clenched his teeth and walked over to stand before Ling Lan and apologised, "Our medical agents have been used before by countless people, and none of them have ever presented with a situation like Qi Long's. This could very well be due to his special physical constitution. Still, whatever the case, this is our error. I'm sorry, Ling Lan."
"You can save the apology. All I want to know is whether this will cause problems for Qi Long in the future?" Ling Lan's cold gaze pierced right through Li Shiyu, as if warning Li Shiyu not to even think about bluffing his way through.
"I don't know. Because this is a unique case, never having occurred before, I cannot tell if Qi Long will present with a similar situation in future. What I can confirm is that this agent will not harm Qi Long's body permanently in any way. In fact, you could say that even if it acts up in the future, it will only bring benefits and no harm."
Frankly, Li Shiyu really wanted to say 'no, this is just an outlier case', but out of responsibility to his patient, Li Shiyu just could not utter those words. This was because he himself could not say for certain whether this situation of Qi Long's was just a one-time thing or if it would be a reoccurring issue all his life — after all, this condition of Qi Long's was truly just too bizarre; no one could say anything definite about it at present.
Hearing this, Ling Lan's raging aura rose once more. She gripped Li Shiyu by the front of his white robe, pulled him close before her, and said with a murderous expression, "What do you mean by 'will not harm him permanently in any way'? What is this 'every time it acts up it'll only bring benefit'? Do you know that Qi Long will have to go onto a battlefield in future? If this kind of situation happens during regular times, we can still send him straight to a doctor for treatment. But what if it happens to break out during a battle? On the battlefield, any bit of error could cost him his life. Do you think that if this happens in that situation, Qi Long can survive?"Ling Lan's blunt questioning left Li Shiyu's mouth twitching helplessly. Indeed, the scenario Ling Lan had described could very well happen. If the agent acted up on the battlefield, the only fate that awaited Qi Long was death — the enemy would not wait for Qi Long to get over this brief period of incapacitation.
Remorse sprang up in Li Shiyu's heart. Although his intentions had been good, thinking to give his younger cousin's friends a small boost in power, who could have expected that this agent would not be suitable for people of all physical constitutions ...? All their previous tests and trials had actually missed out on finding this flaw in the agent.
At this time, one of the instructors walked over. Extremely apologetic, he said, "I am sorry. The reaction of this student to the agent is something we've never seen before. This agent of ours has already been used on countless hundred thousands of people, and none have ever exhibited the side-effects this student has. This might be a special case, but it cannot be denied that this is an error on the part of our Military Medical Research Centre. We will take responsibility for it. Please raise any requests you may have as long as it's within our means."
At these words, Ling Lan released her grip on Li Shiyu's chest and replied evenly, "Requests? I only have one request, and that is that my brother cannot lose his life because of this agent. As long as you all can resolve this, I can pretend as if nothing had happened ..."
Ling Lan's request caused the instructor's expression to become troubled. "I am sorry. Cadet, right now, we have not yet developed an agent which can alleviate the symptoms of this reaction instantaneously. You might have to wait for some time ..."
The instructor could not promise anything. After all, they had always thought that this reaction would only occur right after injection. Once the patient bore it till the end, the agent would be done with its work. They had never had to consider how to alleviate these reaction symptoms, because only by riding through this agonizing pain would the patient's body benefit fully. At most, they would just do as they were doing for Qi Long now, adding a little restorative agent into the mix to restore a little of the patient's stamina and spiritual power to help the patient hang on through the pain ...
"How long do we have to wait? One year? Two years? Three years? Or perhaps five years? Ten years? Perhaps even longer?" A trace of mockery hung on Ling Lan's lips. The disdain in her eyes made the instructor somewhat disgruntled, but he had no way to rebut what Ling Lan had said. The instructors of the military medicine specialization had always based everything they said and did by the data — with regards to something they had yet to research, they truly could not give a specific time frame. It was as Ling Lan said; they might need 8 or 10 years to come up with an answer."Could it be that you want my brother to constantly be under threat of death during this period while you all are researching a solution? Any unfortunate mishap, and he could become the first death caused by your agent?" asked Ling Lan with a sneer.
"No, we have no intentions of letting that happen. If possible, we can give military headquarters a report so that Cadet Qi Long can be exempted from the battlefield and become a support staff officer ..." the instructor hurried to explain, stating a short-term suggestion they could think of.
"Sir, do you know what our specialization is? We are from the Mecha Piloting specialization. The reason we chose this specialization is because we want to fight on the frontlines of the battlefield and not hide at the back like a coward. Your suggestion is without question an insult to both me and my brother," barked Ling Lan in response to his words.
Ling Lan's furious demeanour deepened the instructor's remorse; he too felt he had misspoken. He quickly asked, "Then, what do you want?"
Ling Lan swept an icy glare around the Military Medical Research Centre, and everyone there instinctively ducked their heads, avoiding eye contact. At this moment, everyone present had become suppressed by Ling Lan's cold and domineering force of presence, including those rational-minded instructors.
Then, Ling Lan was heard to say measuredly, "I hope for a military doctor who has graduated from the Military Medical Research specialization to join my battle clan to watch over my brothers' physical condition in the long run. Because, after accepting your treatment, other than the current patient Qi Long, there is still my other brother Luo Lang!" Ling Lan pointed at Luo Lang standing behind her and continued, "Right now, I cannot confirm whether the same condition will present itself in this brother of mine. After all, after undergoing treatment here, he has suffered a relapse before."
Ling Lan's gaze met Li Shiyu's as she spoke, and Li Shiyu's forehead creased slightly in a small frown. Regarding Luo Lang's injuries, Li Shiyu was extremely certain that the centre was not at fault. However, they did not have any persuasive proof otherwise at the moment, so they could only silently bear the blame.
"As Dux Li was the one who caused all this, being responsible for treating my two brothers, I hope for Dux Li to shoulder this responsibility and become a member of my battle clan to watch over the wellbeing of my clan members." Ling Lan finally revealed her true objective.
"No, this is impossible. Cadets from the military medicine specializations are not allowed to join any battle clans. This is an academy regulation," the instructor refused vehemently. Mind you, all the students trained by the military medicine specializations in the academy would end up as outstanding elite doctors of the medical world. As such, they needed to be available to serve the army as a whole and not be tied down to a small battle clan — that would be such a huge waste of talent. Especially in the case of Li Shiyu — he was the most outstanding prodigy of their specialization. The instructors all had high hopes for him, hoping that he would ultimately become the greatest hand of god of the military medicine world one day. This prodigy they had invested so much time and effort in cultivating ... how could they bear to hand him over to some small battle clan?
"Sir, as far as I know, the academy does not have this rule in black and white. At most, this is just a mutual agreement and tradition of this school. You should know that any rule that is not clearly stated is not inviolable. And the fact of the matter is that my two brothers have presented with problems at Dux Li's hands. According to rule 68 subsection 21 of the academy's rules: when an accidental incident occurs (including events such as fights and tournaments, medical cases, risky research studies, etcetera), whoever is responsible for the damages will be the one held responsible for reparation. Based on this regulation, my request is not asking for too much." Ling Lan read the regulation Little Four had dug up for her, and then asked the instructor sharply, "Is the Military Medical Research Centre trying to brush off this responsibility? Or perhaps you all want to go against this regulation?"
"No, that's not it. This ... this ..." Under Ling Lan's aggressive questioning, the instructor was actually rendered speechless. He looked at Li Shiyu, then looked back again at the dogged Ling Lan, and was instantly as anxious as an ant on a hot plate 1 , completely at a loss what to do.
The other instructors saw that things were looking bad — they quickly turned on their communicators and secretly contacted the faculty head of the military medicine specialization, hoping that he would hurry over and resolve this sudden incident. As Li Shiyu's instructors, they did not wish for Li Shiyu to be limited to developing in a small battle clan.
Right at that moment, Li Shiyu, who had been calmly contemplating for a long while, suddenly shouted, "I, am willing to take responsibility!"
Li Shiyu felt that Ling Lan was right. Leaving the matter of Luo Lang aside, Qi Long's condition today was indeed the fault of their Military Medical Research Centre. And since the one who had requested for Qi Long to be given the gene agent S-modification was him, Li Shiyu, he really had no grounds to deflect this responsibility.
Of course, Li Shiyu had initially hoped to enter the best treatment department after graduating, to learn more about more obscure medical arts, treatments, and agents, and study them in depth. Because this way, he would have an even greater chance of curing that bizarre illness of his eldest cousin brother 2 . However, he did not want to evade responsibility. Since Qi Long had suffered as a result of his actions, he was willing to use his own future to compensate for this burden of guilt.
Li Shiyu mentally apologised to his eldest cousin brother in his heart, because this decision of his would undoubtedly cause his cousin to suffer for a little longer. Still, he believed that as long as he worked hard to learn and research, even though it might take him a little longer, he was still confident that he would eventually be able to fully cure that feeble body of his cousin. It was precisely due to this unshakeable confidence that Li Shiyu would shoulder this responsibility so readily.
Hearing Li Shiyu's resolute answer, Ling Lan mentally pumped a fist in her heart with a loud cheer of 'YES, Success!'
After expending all that effort, she had finally snatched this prodigy for her battle clan. Even though her methods were rather despicable, in order to guarantee the lives and safety of her brothers, she would even stoop to even more despicable means. Ling Lan did not regret her actions in the least. She was not a saintly matron — she could not care for the entire Federation army; she could only care for these brothers by her side.
Thus, when Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu, her gaze was placid and self-assured with not one hint of remorse within it. Ling Lan firmly believed that — Heaven destroys those who don't look out for themselves. This classic line which had been preserved through the ages certainly could not be wrong.
Soon after, the faculty head rushed over, only to hear that the two sides had already come to an agreement. Li Shiyu had agreed to join Ling Lan's battle clan. The head was instantly racked with heartache. However, faced with a resolute Li Shiyu, he could not convince the other to change his mind. In the end, the faculty head could only plead with Ling Lan to promise that he would not leak the news of Li Shiyu joining his battle clan. The faculty head did not wish for the other excellent students his specialization was cultivating with such care to be taken away by even more battle clans ...
Ling Lan's objective had been achieved, so she naturally would not refuse this entreaty of the faculty head. She agreed without hesitation. Just like this, Ling Lan's battle clan was the first ever to include a student from the military medicine specialization in its ranks, and it would also be the only battle clan to possess a military doctor. Meanwhile, at this time, Li Shiyu was unaware, but the curtains of his very own legend were about to be raised 3 .
