He barely managed to maintained his last vestige of composure, his voice as thin as a thread, trying to reassure Ling Yan:
"Just a superficial wound... don't worry, your General won't die..."
As soon as Mu Yuan finished speaking, he could no longer support himself. His body tilted, and he fell to the side.
Ling Yan steadily caught Mu Yuan.
He retrieved two thermal blankets from his police equipment space, laying one on the ground and wrapping the other around Mu Yuan.
The thermal blanket quickly warmed upon contact with the body. Mu Yuan soon stopped shivering, and the furrows in his brow gradually smoothed out.
Mu Yuan's wound was near his waist. Ling Yan gently placed him on the blanket in a prone position.
Every qualified star police officer underwent professional medical training.
Ling Yan used a blood detection needle to determine Mu Yuan's blood type and quickly injected him with an anti-inflammatory agent. After the blood test results came in, he administered two solid blood pellets of the corresponding blood type, promptly replenishing his blood.
He carefully cleaned the wound and finally applied a thin layer of healing gel.
After this series of actions, Mu Yuan's breathing finally returned to a steady rhythm, and his complexion was no longer as pale as before.
[Boss.]
Mei's voice echoed in his consciousness.
Ling Yan knew what it wanted to say, so he didn't reply aloud.
[Boss, I must remind you again that we've lost contact with Prison Star, and the medical supplies in the police equipment space cannot be replenished.]
Ling Yan lowered his gaze to Mu Yuan's breathtakingly beautiful sleeping face, his lips slightly pursed. He didn't reply and didn't interrupt Mei.
[We don't know how this system will deal with us, and we can't predict how the plot will develop. Boss...]
[Mu Yuan cannot die.]
Mei swallowed, forcing back the words that followed.
[The reading system developing self-awareness is abnormal in itself. And I don't believe that meteoroid stream of such minute mass could interfere with the Prison Star system so easily. Those things were definitely not simple.]
[Could it be? Boss, do you suspect someone did this deliberately?]
Ling Yan snorted, not replying.
Actually, this matter had been on his mind for the past two days.
Looking at the entire galaxy, there was indeed a group of people capable of doing something like this.
But without discovering concrete evidence, everything was just his speculation.
He couldn't jump to conclusions and make an already complicated situation even worse.
The most important thing right now was Mu Yuan's injury.
Just as he had said to Mei.
As the male protagonist of "To the Realm of Flesh," Mu Yuan was the one this problematic system was determined to kill, and this problematic system was single-mindedly focused on getting the plot back on track.
Its purpose was too strong.
A cold glint flashed in Ling Yan's eyes.
He absolutely couldn't let this system get its way.
Ling Yan took a body bag, wrapped the dead boar tightly, and put it into his space.
Then, he tossed two or three more pine branches into the fire, making it burn more brightly.
He reached out, picked up Mu Yuan's long sword, held the hilt, and lay down beside Mu Yuan.
The thermal blanket beneath them continuously emitted warmth. In the fire not far away, pine branches occasionally snapped and crackled.
But all this heat couldn't compare to Mu Yuan pressed close beside him.
Their arms had only slightly brushed together, and after lying down for only a short while, the heat made his mouth feel dry.
Ling Yan turned his head, looking at Mu Yuan sleeping soundly. He seemed to be dreaming, his long, thick eyelashes fluttering slightly.
Ling Yan took a deep breath and abruptly sat up, decisively moving away from Mu Yuan's side.
He chose a spot beside a pine tree not too close and not too far from Mu Yuan and stopped looking at his face.
[Mei, activate nighttime surveillance mode, range one kilometer. I'm going to doze off for a bit.]
Mei had waited for a long time, finally getting a reply from Ling Yan, but he completely ignored the previous topic.
It had been like this countless times.
Mei's heart felt utterly cold.
Although it had a rough idea of what its ten-thousand-year host was thinking, it still couldn't help but ask:
[Then, Boss, regardless of whether this transmigration was an accident or someone did it deliberately, what are we going to do next?]
There was something Mei didn't dare to ask.
Were they really going to go against the system to the very end?
Hearing its question, Ling Yan, who had already closed his eyes to rest, opened them again.
The orange-yellow firelight reflected in his eyes, concealing the coldness that was originally there.
Ling Yan's gaze swept towards Mu Yuan opposite him again, and then he gave Mei a firm reply.
[From now on, I call the shots for the plot.]
...
When Mu Yuan opened his eyes, he felt his body was exceedingly heavy.
Just as he woke, he heard an urgent voice:
"General, you're awake?"
His vision gradually cleared, and Mu Yuan saw Qin Wei, the Mu family army's physician.
Qin Wei was over fifty years old, his hair neatly tied back, his temples streaked with gray, and his goatee sparse and white.
But his spirits were high, his eyes bright, and seeing Mu Yuan awake, his face was filled with joy.
Mu Yuan knew that Ling Yan must have brought him back to the military camp. He spoke, his voice hoarse:
"Elder Qin..."
"General, don't speak yet. Your injuries are severe, and you've lost a lot of blood. You need to rest and recuperate properly."
Once Mu Yuan's brain started working, he asked, "What about him?"
Qin Wei was taken aback. "Who?"
Then he immediately understood:
"Oh! The General is talking about the young man who brought you and the wild boar back together! He's here. He has an excellent constitution. Although he sustained some injuries, they were only superficial cuts and scrapes, nothing serious. I told him I'd give him some medicine, but he told me to save it for other brothers who needed it more. Right now, ah, he's busy stewing meat for the brothers. That wild boar was truly enormous."
Qin Wei said this, sniffing the air. "General, can you smell it? That aroma has even wafted into my medical hall."
Hearing Elder Qin say this, Mu Yuan's heart inexplicably relaxed, and a smile touched his face.
He was actually afraid.
Afraid that waking up would mean it was all a dream.
Afraid that the man would have simply disappeared.
Qin Wei, seeing Mu Yuan's smile, was slightly surprised. He stroked his beard, his eyes darting around, and asked:
"General, that young man said his name was Mu Ling? This old man has been with the Mu family for many years, how come I've never seen him before?"
Mu Yuan replied calmly, "He's from the Silver Continent."
Qin Wei slightly opened his mouth, then nodded emphatically.
Understanding dawned in his eyes.
The Silver Continent was the furthest from the Xingling Kingdom's mainland, the Violet Gold Continent, located in the southeastern sea. It was the second largest continent in the Xingling Kingdom.
The Silver Continent had a mixed population with people of all surnames, and most of them possessed special abilities. It could be said to be a place where demons danced wildly, the order there being the most chaotic.
"Young Ling is capable. If it weren't for him stopping your bleeding and cleaning your wounds in time, you might have... might have..."
Mu Yuan watched Elder Qin become increasingly agitated as he spoke and reached out to pat his arm in reassurance.
His body was already much better than yesterday. Without even needing to think, he knew it must have been Ling Yan who had used special medicine on him.
Having fought against him multiple times, Ling Yan's abilities were something only he truly understood in the entire galaxy.
He just didn't know why Ling Yan would appear by his side as a minor soldier in the Mu family army and even save him.
Mu Yuan felt like he was in a fog, unable to understand or figure out many things.
Where exactly did these memories in his head that didn't belong to him come from?
Why did he appear in this unknown world with a completely new identity?
He had even thought until yesterday that this was just a dream he was having.
A dream with Ling Yan in it.
But now it seemed that the injuries were real, the blood was real, and everything was actually reality.
He had truly become Mu Yuan, the Guardian General of the Xingling Kingdom, leading the Mu family army and stationed on Snowgate Island.
At this moment, he finally understood the situation, recognized reality, and accepted the arrangements of fate.
Mu Yuan sighed softly.
He could only take things one step at a time.
See what kind of world this truly was.
Observe Ling Yan, who had actually appeared in this other world, and see what his true intentions were.