Chapter 25 Part 1

Instructor Chen Feng always remembered the twenty-sixth of September.

The seventh lunar month's heat was flowing like fire; summer was leaving and autumn arriving. Liang City was enjoying pleasant weather, with high skies and crisp air.

At a little past three in the afternoon, he suddenly received a call from the Dongguo Peacekeeping Force Command Headquarters. It was Luo Zhan, who said that something terrible had happened to Li Zan.

He had been injured by a close-range suicide bomb and was hanging on by a thread.

Luo Zhan had no further information at the time, only telling him to be mentally prepared and to notify Li Zan's family.

Hearing the words "notify family," Chen Feng understood the gravity of the situation.

That afternoon, Chen Feng nearly went mad with anxiety, asking everyone he could for information and help. It wasn't until late at night that he managed to piece together the whole story.

Li Zan had been too close to the explosive and was knocked unconscious on the spot. He was sent to a nearby field hospital for emergency treatment. He had suffered intracranial damage, broken ribs that punctured his liver, a fractured tibia, not to mention damage to multiple organs and gruesome external wounds. If it weren't for his protective gear, he would have been dead long ago.

The order from above was to save him no matter what. The field hospital had limited capabilities, so the local military immediately transported him by helicopter to the capital of a neighboring country, assembling the best medical experts for a surgery that lasted over ten hours.

Li Zan was severely injured and remained in a coma for a week before waking up. Afterward, his condition fluctuated, and he was in critical condition several times. It was more than half a month before he gradually stabilized and was transferred back to the country.

A month later, the injuries on the rest of his body gradually improved under the care of top doctors, but the damage to his hearing was severe. The higher-ups hired the best specialists for him. However, after repeated surgeries, although there were slight signs of hearing recovery, the severe tinnitus and dizziness nearly crippled him.

The experts tried again and again, and again and again, they were at a loss.

He was like a machine being repaired repeatedly, pushed to its limit.

Now, three months had passed in the blink of an eye. America was his last straw.

Christmas had just passed, and a biting wind swept through New York City.

Chen Feng stood in the hospital's slowly ascending glass elevator. Below were the bustling streets of New York City, filled with a festive atmosphere, but he was in no mood to enjoy the scenery.

Li Zan stood beside him, staring blankly into the void. The scenery outside the window flowed past his pupils like water, leaving not a single trace.

Chen Feng suddenly remembered when Li Zan had first been sent back to the country. He had lain in his hospital bed day after day, clearly awake but with his eyes closed, unwilling to have any contact with the outside world. For many days in a row, he didn't say a single word. It wasn't until a nurse was changing his clothes one time that Chen Feng saw the dense, web-like scars on his back—a shocking sight—that he could vaguely imagine what he had experienced in that moment of explosion.

Chen Feng said, "Ah Zan, don't be afraid, you'll get better. Jackson is the best military ear doctor in all of America. Wasn't the surgery he performed on you before very effective? You can hear a little now, can't you? Take it slow, it will get better."

Li Zan didn't respond, remaining motionless.

Chen Feng grasped his shoulder, turned him around, and asked, "You're not wearing your hearing aid?"

"I am," Li Zan said.

Chen Feng looked closely and saw that a very small, flesh-colored hearing aid was indeed nestled inside his right ear.

Chen Feng didn't say anything more. He was about to sigh but held it back.

The elevator arrived, and the two of them walked out.

Doctor Jackson had been in charge of Li Zan's treatment for a month. Li Zan was here this time for another surgery.

After examining Li Zan, he said, "It will be very difficult to return to your previous condition, and it will require a long recovery time. But we will take it slow, creating a plan based on your recovery, and strive to improve your hearing a little with each surgery. We will try to achieve daily life functionality through hearing aids. As for whether you can go without them, that will depend on the results later on."

Li Zan had recently contracted pneumonia due to physical weakness and hadn't fully recovered yet. He coughed lightly a couple of times and said, "Right now, what affects me more than the degree of hearing loss is the tinnitus and dizziness."

"What is the frequency and intensity of the symptoms?"

"It happens about once an hour..." Li Zan opened his mouth, his gaze somewhat dim, and said in a low voice, "The sound is very loud, like an explosion going off incessantly."

Doctor Jackson couldn't help but frown slightly, but then he smiled. "It's normal to experience a certain degree of tinnitus and dizziness during the recovery period. You are very weak right now, which also affects the recovery. Don't rush, take it slow."

After the meeting, a nurse led Li Zan to his room.

As he was leaving, the military doctor glanced at Chen Feng.

Chen Feng stayed behind alone and asked the doctor, "Is something wrong?"

The military doctor sighed. "The last surgery I performed on him was actually very successful. Like I just said, it's normal to have tinnitus during the recovery period... But from his description, the severity he's feeling has already surpassed the actual degree I can see from a medical standpoint."

Hearing this, Chen Feng felt his scalp tingle. He rubbed his forehead hard and asked, "Does that mean you don't have a solution either?"

Jackson said, "I was thinking, Second Lieutenant Li... could it be that he has some psychological issues that are hindering his subconscious recovery? Or rather, are they intensifying the symptoms he feels?"

Chen Feng said, "He is a bomb disposal expert, yet he was injured by a bomb. He's bound to have psychological trauma. Now, as soon as he encounters anything related to bomb disposal, or even just thinks about it, his head and ears are in agony."

The military doctor said, "Many of the bomb disposal experts I've seen have his condition. Being injured by a bomb at close range leaves severe psychological fear. However, with his level of severity, I suspect there might be other reasons you are unaware of... In any case, I suggest you try some other treatment methods and approaches."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Chen Feng came out of the doctor's office and walked to the hospital room. Just as he was about to push the door open, he heard a loud bang from inside, like someone had kicked the wall hard.

This was very unfamiliar to Chen Feng.

He stopped outside the door, looking in through the glass.

Li Zan was standing by the window with his head thrown back, his jaw clenched tightly. His chest was heaving violently, and his fists were also clenched hard. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and took a few steps, trying to control something, but the bitterness in his heart was simply impossible to relieve. He bent over deeply, hands on his knees as if he were about to vomit, gasping for air.

The next second, two or three bright teardrops smashed onto the floor.

Chen Feng was stunned, but Li Zan had already straightened up quickly, clasping his hands behind his head as he paced frantically by the window.

He paced back and forth, almost at his wit's end. He pressed his hands firmly on the windowsill, lowered his head, and continued to control his emotions. Suddenly, he couldn't hold back a cough, and with that one cough, he could no longer suppress it, covering his mouth as he began to cough violently.

Chen Feng immediately pushed the door open and entered, pulling medicine out of his bag for him.

Li Zan coughed until his face was flushed red. He forced himself to drink a few mouthfuls of syrup and swallow a few pills, which finally suppressed it slightly.

From the moment Chen Feng entered, his expression had become much calmer and more composed, but he was so tired he had no strength left. He collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes.

Chen Feng had wanted to comfort him, but he knew that Li Zan wouldn't listen.

He actually wanted to know what exactly had happened that day. He didn't understand how a professional bomb disposal expert like Li Zan could have been injured by a close-range suicide bomb under those circumstances.

He glanced at Li Zan on the bed. His sleeping face was quiet and soundless; the hearing aid had been removed.

Chen Feng sighed softly and said no more.

...

That day, after Song Ran finished washing her hair and rinsing out the foam, she ran a comb through it, and a large clump of tangled hair fell to the floor. She combed it again, and another clump fell.

She belatedly realized that she had been losing a lot of hair lately.

At noon, she went to the salon for a haircut.

The hairstylist confirmed several times, "Are you sure you want to cut it short?"

"Yes. If I don't cut it, all my hair will fall out."

"To your earlobes?"

"Yes."

The hairstylist made a few gestures and said, "To the earlobes is too short. It doesn't suit you. How about a little longer? To the middle of your neck?"

"That's fine too."

After getting her hair cut, she went to work and immediately became the center of attention.

"Ran Ran cut her hair short? That's so brave." Xiao Chun had beautiful waist-length hair that she cherished dearly, unwilling to cut it no matter how busy she was with work.

"Does it look good?" Song Ran touched her hair.

"It looks great," Xiao Qiu said. "Short hair has so much charisma... but on others, short hair makes them look more mature. On you, it makes you look even younger."

Song Ran herself wasn't quite used to it. Several times while working, she would inadvertently grab at the ends of her hair, thinking it was still long. Only when she touched it did she realize it was really gone.

She had been back at work for over two months, but her performance had not been very good.

She was suffering from insomnia more and more frequently. At first, she thought her body hadn't recovered, but after several months, the insomnia hadn't improved. This left her physically drained during the day. She could barely manage domestic news, but whenever she encountered news about the war in Dongguo, she felt extremely uncomfortable. But now, she had become the poster child for this field, and any news or programs related to Dongguo were unavoidable for her.

As soon as she got to work today, she came across a news report about the Government Army recapturing the northeastern suburbs of Hapo City.

When Song Ran saw the familiar scenery of the Hapo City suburbs in the video, the events of September twenty-sixth rushed back to her like a flood.

She lowered her head and rubbed her eyes. Just then, Liu Yufei called her on the internal line to say that the head of the news department wanted to see her.

Song Ran washed her face and went upstairs.

The department head smiled as soon as he saw her. "Reporter Song, you got a haircut?"

Song Ran touched her head in embarrassment. "Yes. It's easier to wash."

"It looks good. I called you here to tell you that for this year's World Press Photo award and the Pulitzer Prize, we've submitted two of your photos for the competition. One is CARRY, and the other one doesn't have a name yet. We're waiting for you to name it."

He turned the computer screen toward her. It was the photo of the children waiting for candy.

Song Ran immediately saw the extremist's face and the blue smoke coming from inside his clothes.

A child's sweet, soft voice echoed in her ears:

"Madam, do you have candy?"

If she hadn't brought candy that day, if none of the reporters before her had brought candy, would the suicide bomber's candy have so easily attracted that group of children? Or would the outcome have been the same?

"Have you thought of a name?" the department head asked with a smile.

Song Ran snapped back to her senses and said reflexively, "Candy."

"CANDY?" the department head exclaimed in admiration. "That's a great name. It fits perfectly. By the way, between Candy and Carry, which photo do you think has a better chance of winning an award?"

Song Ran didn't say anything.

"I think it's the candy one. Regardless of the composition, color tone, characters, the implied story, and the perfect timing... it's brilliant." After saying that, he looked at her. "Reporter Song, keep up the good work. The station is going to cultivate you as a major news reporter, a key talent."

Song Ran was stunned.

Being a major news reporter meant receiving the greatest support and freedom, being able to choose the social hot topics she wanted to report on and expose, and her words and records would be given the highest recognition and authoritative support.

"Thank you, Director." For a moment, her mind went blank, and she couldn't say anything else. "Thank you."

"You deserve it. But being a reporter isn't easy. You have to keep working hard, continue to pursue and explore the truth, and maintain a rigorous and sincere heart."

"I will," she said.

Song Ran walked out of the office and stood in place for a while, her thoughts somewhat blank.

She saw her own reflection in the glass window. As she looked, she felt an inexplicable sense of shame and self-loathing. Unable to face it, she turned her head and quickly walked to the elevator bank.

"Ding!" The elevator doors opened.

The moment she stepped in, Song Ran and Shen Bei, who was inside, were both startled for a moment, then simultaneously put on polite smiles.

They hadn't seen each other in months, and Shen Bei had changed a lot. Having moved to the entertainment department, she dressed more fashionably and exquisitely than when she worked in the news department.

Song Ran walked in, and the elevator doors closed. The two of them stood side by side.

"Long time no see," Shen Bei said.

"Long time no see."

"Your new hairstyle is very nice."

"Thanks."

Silence fell in the small space, the stark white light shining down on them.

One second, then another,

The awkwardness that both could clearly feel was finally broken—the elevator reached its floor.

The two of them immediately smiled at the same time.