Chapter 379: The Very Frontline
Chapter 379: Chapter 379: The Very Frontline
The mobile medical team led by Ning Xuan rushed to the front lines, but this was no spur-of-the-moment decision. In fact, high-ranking officials from the Military Department had approached her a month prior.
Yun Tianwei, the five-star Admiral responsible for coordinating front-line operations, had given Ning Xuan a data file. It was a casualty report from the front lines, and it showed that 37% of the severely wounded died from their conditions worsening during transport. Another 30% of the critically wounded were too unstable to be moved and thus could not receive any medical treatment.
This data made it clear that the front lines were desperately short on medical resources. They urgently needed a field medical team capable of maneuvering through hails of gunfire to provide treatment directly on the front lines.
Ning Xuan spent a full four weeks investigating the current situation and future developments on the front lines, as well as the distribution of the various military sectors. From then on, she began planning where to establish temporary medical posts.
After a month of planning, the time was finally right.
The mobilization assembly today went exceptionally smoothly, with numerous volunteers. Ning Xuan quickly selected suitable candidates from the applicants and formed the first mobile medical team.
The first mobile medical team was divided into ten squads, each with 20 people, comprised of the following members: 6 High-level Physicians (S-Class spiritual power or higher, skilled in spiritual soothing and battlefield first aid); 4 surgeons (equipped with portable surgical pods for emergency operations);
Healers (responsible for using medicine and other methods to assist the Physicians with treatment).
In addition, each squad was assigned 20 armed guards. All of them were veterans of the Military Department’s special forces, responsible for ensuring the medical team’s safety.
In terms of specialized equipment, each squad was outfitted with a high-speed, light-armored medical vehicle. Its chassis was covered with an anti-spiritual-interference coating, and its interior housed a miniature operating room, a spiritual power stabilization pod, and an emergency escape system.
Ning Xuan personally led the first field medical team, traveling aboard a Starship dispatched by the Military Department to the front lines.
Upon arriving at the front lines, Ning Xuan had no time to even catch her breath before being sent directly to a valley filled with oppressive Spiritual Energy. Only when she arrived did Ning Xuan discover that the entire area was shrouded in a purple, toxic mist, driving the soldiers into a frenzy of mutual slaughter.
"Assume formation! The Spiritual Energy here needs to be purified!" At Ning Xuan’s command, six Physicians with Spiritual Power Level S simultaneously activated their Spiritual Barriers. A silvery-white curtain of light spread out like ripples, gradually expanding outward. Ning Xuan reached out and touched the barrier’s edge. With a SHIMMER, the Spiritual Barrier instantly expanded, enveloping the entire valley.
As the barrier enveloped them, the soldiers who had descended into a frenzy instantly regained their senses. Their chaotic minds cleared, and those who had been slaughtering each other all came to.
"There’s something abnormal in this valley, and we can’t hold this for long," Ning Xuan commanded. "Now that you’re lucid, get out of here. Take the heavily wounded with you!"
The soldiers, having just regained their senses, did not question Ning Xuan’s words and immediately sprang into action.
Ning Xuan withdrew from the corrupted valley, having saved the entire unit.
The days that followed were nomadic and arduous. The field medical team operated like a guerrilla unit, constantly on the move. Fortunately, wherever they went, they were treated as a top priority for protection on the battlefield. The front-line soldiers held this team, which ventured deep into the combat zones, in the highest regard. At critical moments, they would even sacrifice themselves to save the medics, so the team suffered no casualties.
About a week later, Ning Xuan established the first temporary medical post in that warzone.
Afterward, Ning Xuan left two medical squads behind and pressed on to the next warzone.
In the Red Flame Valley warzone, at the very edge of the front lines, Lan Xin stared at the menacing rift in the sky. A black, toxic substance continuously billowed out from it. Lan Xin looked down at his own arm, where scales had begun to sprout, his expression dark and heavy.
As an SSS-level Spirit Controller, Lan Xin was considered one of humanity’s top combatants. Ever since entering the war, he had been stationed at the very forefront of the battlefield. He had been holding his position in this sector for six months now, and recently, the mutated gene within him was becoming difficult to control.
DING. A message arrived from Ying Yaoshi.
On the battlefield, space was unstable, and the Star Network’s signal was equally unreliable. Video calls were impossible, and even text messages rarely arrived on time.
Lan Xin opened the message from Ying Yaoshi, with no idea when it had been sent. The message was simple, its main point being to express concern for Lan Xin’s health. It also informed him that Ning Xuan was on the battlefield as well, at a medical aid center behind the front lines. Ying Yaoshi reminded Lan Xin that if his condition worsened, he could seek treatment from Ning Xuan.
Lan Xin’s heart leaped when he saw the message. ’Master is here.’
After the initial excitement came worry—worry for Ning Xuan’s safety. He looked down at his general’s uniform. He desperately wanted to shed it and rush to her side, to protect her. ’But I can’t,’ he thought. ’She would never allow it.’
"General Lan, the monitoring center reports that the spatial rift has stopped expanding. The toxic mist is no longer spreading. We’ve temporarily entered a stable period," his subordinate reported.
"Continue monitoring, save the data, and hold the line." Lan Xin had been guarding this battlefield for six months and had already figured out the spatial rift’s pattern. It was time for the monthly seven-day stable period.
Lan Xin planned to use this stable period to find Ning Xuan. He had been losing control more frequently of late, and the Mutated Value in his body needed to be purged.
Just as Lan Xin was planning to head to the medical aid center to find Ning Xuan, she had already arrived at his post.
"General Lan! General Lan! A directive from Command Headquarters, dated three days ago. Please take a look." Communications at the front were notoriously slow; it was yet another delayed document.
Lan Xin picked up the document and read, "The director of the Medical Center, Miss Ning Xuan, will lead a team to your sector to establish a temporary medical post and improve front-line medical conditions. You are ordered to ensure the safety of the field medical team at all costs."
Lan Xin had just read Ning Xuan’s name when he heard her voice call out, "Lan Xin."
Lan Xin thought he was imagining it, but when he looked up, he saw Ning Xuan in the distance, dressed in white and walking toward him.
Lan Xin broke into a run. He reached Ning Xuan, dropped to his knees before her, and wrapped his arms around her legs. "Master."
Ning Xuan stroked his head, opened a channel between their minds, and poured her spiritual power into Lan Xin’s Sea of Consciousness.
Under Ning Xuan’s soothing touch, Lan Xin felt the constant, frenzied pain in his mind—which had felt choked with weeds—instantly lighten. He closed his eyes in comfort, like a cat having its fur smoothed down.
"Alright, get up. What kind of display is this?" Ning Xuan withdrew her hand and pulled Lan Xin to his feet.