Chapter 71 — The Medicine Bearer Through the Chaos

No News

The dawn after the night the North Gate fell did not bring the usual warm light, but only a pale gray light filtering through the smoke still lingering throughout Nghinh Phong citadel. Tinh Yen had been up all night, her hands restless amid hundreds of wounded soldiers filling the central square, but her mind still kept returning to the last moment she saw Thanh Phong fall amid the cloud of smoke and dust.

"Doctor Do, you need to rest for a bit." Ngan Ba Thuyen said, placing his hand on her shoulder when he saw her stumble and almost fall while bandaging a wounded soldier. "You haven't slept for the past twenty-four hours. No one can keep working like that forever."

"I can't rest now." Tinh Yen replied, her voice hoarse from fatigue but still determined. "There are still too many people who need you."

But her eyes, red and sunken, clearly betrayed the exhaustion that was creeping into every fiber of her body. Ngan Ba Thuyen did not say more, just quietly brewed a cup of strong tea, put it in her hand, then continued with the work next to her, so that she could take small sips while working to regain some strength.

The suicide squad personally led by Ve Khai Trach returned at noon, bringing news that Tinh Yen both expected and feared to hear. She immediately dropped the tool she was holding in her hand when she saw the group of people appear, running over before she could think about keeping calm.

"Sir, what did you find?" She asked, her voice trembling.

Ve Khai Trach, his face covered in dust and dried blood, looked at her for a long moment before answering, his voice heavy as if he was carrying a ton of rocks on his shoulders. "We have reclaimed part of the area where the last fighting took place." he said. "But Thanh Phong's body was not found among those who fell there. Nor was there any sign that it had been taken prisoner — no trace of being dragged or escorted, just a trail of blood leading toward the northeast forest, then completely lost among the rocks."

Those words made Tinh Yen's chest ache with pain and a faint glimmer of hope. No body was found, meaning there was a possibility, however small, that he was still alive and had crawled or dragged himself away from the battlefield before rescue forces could arrive.

"Where does that trail of blood lead?" Tinh Yen asked immediately, her heart beating rapidly.

"Towards the bordering mountains and forests, the area is currently between the loose control of both sides." Ve Khai Trach replied. "I sent a small reconnaissance team to try to follow the trail, but the difficult terrain, combined with the scattered presence of North Dich troops in the area, makes it impossible to search deeper right now without causing more losses."

Tinh Yen nodded, trying to suppress the feeling of wanting to immediately rush into that forest despite all the dangers. She understood that, while the citadel was still in a critical state, a hasty decision could make things worse, not only for herself but also for those who needed her presence here.

"I beg you, sir, as soon as the situation allows, please let me participate in the next search." She spoke, her voice determined even though her eyes were filled with tears.

Ve Khai Trach looked at her, his eyes contained a deep understanding of a father also carrying the same pain in his heart. "I won't stop you when the right time comes." he said. "But right now, I need you here, keeping the medical station from collapsing. That's also the way you can help Thanh Phong the most — because if he's alive and finds his way back, he'll need a place to be treated immediately."

Those words were like a sobering medicine, pulling Tinh Yen back to reality and the responsibility that was weighing heavily on her shoulders. She nodded and returned to work, but in every bandaging movement, every time she felt her pulse, her mind kept wandering back to the mountains and forests in the Northeast, where the fate of the person she loved might be hidden.

In the afternoon, when the situation was temporarily more stable, Tinh Yen took the opportunity to stop by the area for the most seriously wounded soldiers, where many soldiers who fought alongside Thanh Phong were being treated. She questioned each of them one by one, hoping to find any more clues about his final moments before he disappeared from the battlefield.

Most can only recount fragmentary memories, blurred by the smoke and chaos of the battle, no one dares to say anything for sure. But a young soldier, his arm tightly bandaged, recalled that he vaguely remembered seeing the major general still standing after being injured, continuing to command and repel the attack before losing sight of him in the smoke.

"He... he could still speak, and ordered us to retreat." The soldier spoke, his voice still shaking from painful memories. "I don't know what happened after that, everything was so chaotic."

That small detail, although not enough to confirm anything for sure, was enough for Tinh Yen to cling to a fragile belief that Thanh Phong did not fall on the spot, that he was still conscious, and had the ability to save himself in the last moments before disappearing from everyone's sight.

On the way back to the main treatment station, she met Dinh Ba Kham standing quietly next to a corner of a ruined wall, holding a half-broken sword in his hand, looking distantly at the mountains and forests to the Northeast.

"This sword..." He said when he saw Tinh Yen approaching, his voice lowered. "I picked it up near the place where the blood trail was lost. It doesn't belong to Major General Thanh, but it does have the insignia of the suicide squad he led last night. Perhaps one of the soldiers accompanying him also tried to fight to the end there."

Tinh Yen held the broken sword, her fingers trembling slightly when touching the cold steel blade that still had a few streaks of dark dried blood. She didn't know whether to consider this a ray of hope or a bad sign. She only knew that each small fragment picked up from that battlefield carried its own weight, like a piece of an unfinished picture that she had not yet had the courage to fully visualize.

"I'll keep it." She spoke softly. "Who knows, when we find that soldier, or when we find Thanh Phong, it might help confirm something."

Dinh Ba Kham nodded, gave her the sword, then placed a hand on her shoulder in an awkward but sincere comforting gesture of a soldier not used to expressing his emotions. "I have witnessed many people disappear in the middle of the battlefield and then return after many days, sometimes even weeks, crawling through the mountains and forests to find a way to survive." he said. "Major General Thanh is the strongest willed person I have ever known in my military career. Don't give up hope too quickly, Doctor Do."

Those words, although simple, were still strong enough to keep Tinh Yen standing a little longer amidst the storm of emotions that was tearing her heart. She nodded to thank him, then continued walking among the rows of wounded soldiers' tents, carrying the broken sword as a reminder that, no matter what the truth was, she still had work to do, and other lives needed her hands right now.

That night, when the entire military medical station had calmed down after a long, exhausting day, Tinh Yen sat alone by a small oil lamp, flipping through the pages of the Bach Thao Chan Sutra without actually reading, just so her hands had something to do, so her mind wouldn't be completely immersed in the fear that was waiting to swallow her.

Baby Tep, having completely recovered from the fever, quietly crawled to sit next to her, saying nothing, just resting his head on her shoulder in silence. Tinh Yen gently wrapped her arms around her, and in that moment, amid the ruins of a citadel that had just gone through a terrible night, she found a small bit of warmth enough to keep the fire of hope in her heart from being completely extinguished, even though it was still flickering like an oil lamp in the wind in the middle of this dark night.

"Is Yen not crying?" Baby Tep asked softly, looking up at her with round eyes that still contained a rare bit of innocence amid the chaos.

Tinh Yen smiled slightly, even though the corners of her eyes were stinging. "I'm trying not to cry, so I can preserve my strength to wait for the good news." She replied, her voice as gentle as possible. "You know, there are times when crying doesn't help anything, only continuing to stand strong can help the person you love."

The girl nodded as if she understood, even though she didn't quite understand everything Tinh Yen had just said, then silently leaned against her. The two sisters sat together in the small halo of oil lamp light, while outside, the sound of the night wind still whistled through the ruined walls, carrying the cold air of a war season that had no end date.