A refreshing wave of Mental Power slowly dissipated, driving away the thick, nauseating stench of blood.
Garnet breathed in exaggeratedly, almost pressing his face against Wuning’s mask.
He looked as blissful as a large dog lying on the ground, emitting low, contented hums from his throat, as if he wanted to roll over and expose his belly.
There was no trace of the ferocity from his earlier slaughter.
Once the five-minute break was over, everyone was ready to head to the next mission zone.
This time, Sanchez was still carrying Wuning.
“Why that expression? Want to switch?” the man raised an eyebrow.
Wuning shook her head but began to worry about her waist and legs.
They would definitely break in Sanchez’s arms!
But she believed Sanchez wouldn’t do that.
…Or maybe not. This guy was clearly taking a Medic out for the first time and had no experience.
She adjusted her breathing and proactively wrapped her arms around Sanchez. “Thank you, I appreciate your effort.”
Sanchez froze for a moment, his amber eyes flickering with a hint of surprised amusement.
Then he offered his cheek, reverting to his usual smooth tone. “Oh? Then open your mask and give me a kiss, baby?”
Wuning immediately went expressionless and tightened her mask a little.
Sanchez burst into laughter.
Bo Yin glanced over and said in a deep voice, “Let’s move out.”
As stated in the mission briefing, the danger level here wasn’t high—at least not high enough for the Polluted—just numerous.
Even the most thrilling battles become numb after too many repetitions.
After the sixth encounter, only an hour and a half had passed, yet only one-fifth of the mission map had been cleared.
This was already an extremely fast pace.
“Aren’t there combat troops? Why are they staying on the warship?” Wuning winced as she rubbed her sore waist, her voice trembling.
Earlier, a mutated creature had attacked from a tricky angle, nearly tearing off the medical pack on Sanchez’s lower back.
To protect the medical pack, Sanchez had swung her onto his shoulder.
A Polluted’s shoulder felt like a protruding bone blade; even a slight bump would ache for a while.
“Dirty work like this naturally falls to the Polluted,” Cook said mockingly.
“They only need to follow behind and clean up the battlefield to split the rewards equally with us.”
Wuning frowned, not understanding. “I thought the Polluted only needed to fight in the Dark Sky Zone.”
“Against enemies of this level, thermal weapons may be inefficient but not entirely unusable. Why not provide artillery support?”
Eli casually tied up her hair and placed the girl on a large rock to sit. Hearing this, she smiled gently. “You’re so adorable. This is the first time anyone has thought we need support.”
Wuning widened her eyes in disbelief, her voice rising indignantly.
“Why wouldn’t you need it?! The Polluted are part of the human military too, and you’re so precious!”
At this, even the other Polluted heard and turned to look at her in unison.
Garnet waved his fist unhappily. “Hey! Don’t look! She’s ours! Don’t even think about trying to charm her!”
Wuning felt a sense of injustice for the Polluted. “Are you saying that if we encounter danger on the ground, those people on the heavily armed warship won’t help us?”
“They’ll help the Medic,” Cook replied in a low, cold voice. “That’s why we brought the protective shield.”
Wuning looked up in shock as Bo Yin approached.
“I don’t understand. Humanity clearly needs you all. Shouldn’t we minimize your losses as much as possible?”
The Dark Sky Zone was expanding its reach at every moment, and currently, there was no feasible solution in sight.
Bo Yin stood firm, his posture as straight and sharp as a blade.
After over an hour of intense combat, the man didn’t even seem to have a wrinkle on his clothes.
Nor had he come to receive Wuning’s Mental Power.
The man ordered the others to rest in a low voice.
The four scattered to one side.
Bo Yin didn’t answer the girl’s indignant question, instead asking softly, “Where does it hurt?”
“Uh, my waist, my waist got bruised a bit. It’s fine.” Wuning was taken aback before catching up with the change in topic.
Bo Yin took out a standard-issue small handheld treatment device from the medical kit and gestured for the girl to lift her clothes. “It’ll be over soon. Otherwise, you’ll only feel more pain.”
Wuning’s gaze fell through the filter mask onto the man’s restrained yet profound eyes.
With her vision slightly blurred and obstructed, those eyes that had just ended a slaughter actually looked gentle and tender.
Gray tinged the edges of Wuning’s vision, as if her very soul were being drawn into Bo Yin’s gaze.
She suddenly felt wronged—wronged on their behalf.
She silently lowered her head.
Bo Yin paused, then unfastened the girl’s filter mask.
The air here was still tolerable, not enough to make one vomit.
Wuning turned her face away, tightly furrowing her brows to suppress her emotions, lest Bo Yin waste time trying to console her.
But the man merely gently removed her belt, lifted the hem of her clothes, and revealed a patch of bruised, purplish skin.
This kind of situation was almost unavoidable.
Due to the Polluted’s extraordinary physical constitution, Medics were inevitably injured from the muscle tension.
This handheld treatment device was specifically designed to address such minor injuries, with excellent pain relief and bruise-dispersing effects.
Almost within seconds, Wuning could no longer feel any pain.
Yet she felt even more like crying. Clenching her teeth, she reached for the mask to put it back on.
How utterly pathetic.
Bo Yin gently grasped her wrist. “It’s alright. Other Medics also need rest time.”
Wuning glanced at him with tear-filled eyes.
Bo Yin removed his gloves and wiped her tears. “You should learn from the others.”
“Our lifespans are already short. Setting aside the final stage of losing our sanity and being locked away, the time we can actually spend with you is only what we have now.”
The man’s calm and indifferent voice scattered across the silent wilderness.
The dim sunlight on this planet held no warmth whatsoever.
In the distance lay mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Everything here looked like the Yellow Springs of hell, a burial ground for bones.
Bo Yin spoke quietly, without the slightest emotional fluctuation.
Faint light and shadow fell from the gray sky onto his gray eyes, making him appear cold and ruthless.
“So use us, enjoy us, but don’t pity us. Polluted will always appear in your life. For us to be the first is already enough.”
Wuning, with red-rimmed eyes, stubbornly refused, “…I can’t do that.”
Setting aside her mission, even if she were a native of this world, she couldn’t do it.
She picked up the medical kit that Sanchez had been carrying, her breath trembling and hurried. “There’s nothing in here that has anything to do with you all.”
“This kind, this kind of medical kit that can only become a burden to you, offers you no help at all.”
Wuning gripped the therapeutic device tightly again, her knuckles turning white. “Are the military officials so idle that they’d specially develop this kind of equipment, yet unwilling to spend more time solving your mental issues?”
“Such bruises could easily be treated with just a few oral painkillers! Or they don’t even need attention—it’s not life-threatening pain. Yet you don’t even have a bit of artillery support!”
Wuning couldn’t understand. “Even if mental energy soothing is important, as far as I know, there are already methods to extract Mental Power and inject it externally. You don’t need to bring me along.”
“At least in a mission of this scale, I don’t think I’m of any use.”
She couldn’t accept her own uselessness.
Even if she were a technician or a communications officer, it would be better.
“Could Sanchez’s life be less important than this medical kit?” Wuning shook her head, her voice hoarse as she let out a deep sigh.
“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have volunteered to be the accompanying Medic.”
The other four eavesdroppers hurriedly gathered around. “Why? No, no, don’t leave us!”
Eli glared at Sanchez. “It’s all your fault for being so useless!”
Sanchez furrowed his brows anxiously, trying to explain. “Darling, you’re not holding us back. It was my carelessness that caused this.”
Wuning quickly swallowed her emotions and waved her hand. “No, what I mean is, I shouldn’t just be an accompanying Medic.”
“I should strive to enter the military research institute or the higher-ups. I need a voice to truly help you.”
She frowned deeply, lost in thought. “Solving the pollutants in your bodies to extend your lifespans and researching the Dark Sky Zone—these two are the most important right now.”
With the System’s help, she could access research materials from similar worlds and use cheats. She had some confidence in this.
As for entering the military’s higher ranks to reform or optimize the existing related systems…
That was undoubtedly tied to political maneuvering. Without background or a group, it was nearly impossible for her to achieve, and she wasn’t very good at it either.
Wuning quickly calculated what she needed to do after returning. When she looked up, she saw five pairs of eyes staring at her with identical expressions of shock.
“Wh-what’s wrong?” She was startled.
“Is it because I don’t understand the reality and my ideas are too naive?”
Damn, this is a bit embarrassing!