Chapter 88 — The Medicine Bearer Through the Chaos

The Fire in the Middle of the Night Translation

The major attack that the defense headquarters feared finally came on a moonless night, when the densest darkness could hide the footsteps of tens of thousands of Northern enemy troops approaching the city walls. The sound of alarm horns pierced the night, followed by a series of loud explosions as the enemy's catapults began to fire, aiming straight at the guard posts and the city gates.

Thanh Phong, in the second defensive position, immediately summoned his soldiers to a fighting position as soon as the alarm sounded. In the flickering torchlight, he clearly saw the enemy formation approaching with a speed and scale greater than the first attack - clearly, Great Khan Truy Phong decided to put all his strength into a decisive blow, taking advantage of the time when the citadel was weakened by the epidemic.

"Keep your formation, no one is allowed to leave their position without orders!" Thanh Phong shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the noise of the raging battle, trying to convey calm to the soldiers under his command, many of whom were newly recruited recruits who had never experienced a real battle.

At the same time, at ambulance stations across the city, Tinh Yen and her team are struggling to fight on another front - the silent but no less fierce front of the epidemic at its peak. The number of severe cases has skyrocketed in the past two days. Many patients have begun to show signs of serious exhaustion due to prolonged dehydration, while drug reserves are increasingly depleted.

"The central ambulance station urgently needs more manpower!" A young nurse hurriedly ran to report, sweat pouring down his face in panic. "Wounded soldiers from the West Gate are being brought in more and more. We don't have enough hands to handle both wounded soldiers and disease patients at the same time!"

Tinh Yen did not hesitate, immediately reassigned all human resources, and personally ran to the central ambulance station to assist. On the way, she caught a glimpse of the fire burning from the direction of the West gate, where Ve Khai Trach was commanding the main line of defense. Her heart tightened with worry for both him and Thanh Phong, but she was forced to suppress those feelings and focus all her attention on the patients waiting in front of her.

In the midst of that chaos, a news message almost stopped her heart - Ngan Ba Thuyen, after many days of continuous work without rest, collapsed right at the East ambulance station, unconscious while trying to handle a serious case.

"Bring him here now!" Tinh Yen shouted loudly when she heard the news, immediately dropped what she was doing, ran towards the tent door to welcome the group of people carrying Ngan Ba Thuyen in. His face was pale, his breathing was rapid, cold sweat broke out all over his body - hauntingly familiar signs of a body that had been exhausted to its ultimate limit.

In that moment, the image of Mrs. Khue collapsing in her arms from years ago rushed into Tinh Yen's mind with terrible power, making her hands tremble slightly for the first time after many days of non-stop work. But she immediately pushed that fear aside, forcing herself to return to the necessary alertness of a physician standing in front of a patient, even though that patient is her closest teacher and colleague.

"Check my pulse, now!" She ordered an assistant nurse to personally check Ngan Ba Thuyen's heart rate, breathing, and body temperature with speed and precision honed through countless previous emergency cases. "He is exhausted from dehydration and overwork for many days. He is not infected with an epidemic. Bring water to replenish electrolytes and prepare to acupuncture the Tuc Tam Ly and Noi Quan acupuncture points immediately!"

Her hands did not tremble as she performed the emergency operations, even though there was a silent fear in her heart that she did not allow herself to express. As she worked, she whispered words she had never said out loud — that this time, she would not let history repeat itself, she would not stand by and watch helplessly as another teacher fell because he had devoted too much to others.

After nearly half an hour of extreme tension, Ngan Ba Thuyen gradually woke up, her blurry eyes blinked before recognizing the face leaning close next to her.

"Do... miss..." He whispered, his voice weak but his eyes had regained some color. "I'm sorry... for making you worry..."

"Don't say anything, keep your strength." Tinh Yen replied, her voice choked with emotion, tears almost spilled out but she resolutely held them back, reminding herself that there were still dozens of other patients waiting. "You'll be fine. This time, I won't let anything unfortunate happen."

Ngan Ba Thuyen nodded slightly, his eyes were filled with tears, although it was unclear whether because of emotion or because of the extreme fatigue that was still there. "You saved me." He spoke softly, barely loud enough for her to hear. "What you couldn't do for your grandmother in the past."

Those words made Tinh Yen pause for a moment, clearly feeling something both broken and healed deep inside her heart - not that she had forgotten the pain of losing Mrs. Khue, but for the first time in many years, she felt that she was strong enough, skilled enough to not have to stand by helplessly and watch again.

Handing over the care of Ngan Ba Thuyen to Nhuoc Lan, Tinh Yen returned to the long line of waiting patients, but her heart now carried a feeling of relief mixed with new determination, as if a part of the old wound in her heart had just been soothed in the midst of the most chaotic night of the siege.

Near morning, when the sounds of fighting at the West Gate began to fade, another news message came that made her heart clench again - Thanh Phong was injured while commanding a counterattack to repel an enemy attack. The wound was not too serious but enough to cause him to temporarily leave the fighting position to receive first aid.

Tinh Yen immediately let go of the tool he was holding, handed over the entire job to Linh Ho Ba Tuyen, and ran almost all the way from the central ambulance station to the second defensive position, his heart pounding not only from fatigue but also from endless fear for the person he loved.

When she arrived, she saw Thanh Phong sitting against a stone wall, a long cut on his arm had been hastily bandaged with a cloth, his face was pale from blood loss but his eyes were still alert and he had a weak smile when he saw her appear.

"I'm fine." He spoke before she could ask, his voice hoarse with fatigue. "It was just a not-so-deep cut. I withdrew my troops to the rear line to reinforce the formation before dawn."

Tinh Yen didn't say anything, just quietly knelt down next to him, removed the temporary bandage to examine the wound more thoroughly, his hands quickly handled it even though his heart was still shaking from the fear he had just experienced. When the work was completed, she allowed herself to look up and look straight into his eyes, not hiding the anxiety that had just surged.

"You promised to go back if you didn't feel right." She said, her voice both reproachful and trembling.

"I retreated just in time, before it became too late." Thanh Phong replied, reaching out his remaining good hand to hold her hand. "I know how to keep my promise to you, Tinh Yen, even though sometimes I have to wait until the last possible moment."

A soldier under Thanh Phong approached and bowed his head to report on the situation of last night's attack - the enemy was pushed back from the West Gate after many hours of fierce fighting, but the losses on both sides were not small, and according to the testimony of a newly captured prisoner, this was only one of three attacks that Great Khan Truy Phong had planned, the remaining two were still waiting for the opportunity.

"So that means, he hasn't gone all out yet." Thanh Phong said, his face gloomy even though his body was exhausted. "How much longer this capital will have to endure, none of us know for sure."

Tinh Yen squeezed his hand tightly, her eyes looking toward the distant ambulance stations, where the lights were still on even though it was almost dawn. "We made it through the night." She spoke, her voice determined even though her body was equally exhausted. "Then we will survive the following nights, one way or another. I don't allow myself to think of any other possibility."

He looked at her, his eyes filled with admiration and deep love. "I believe her." He spoke softly. "Not because I have no other choice to believe, but because every time I see you facing things that seem insurmountable, I find a little more strength to continue fighting."

Far away on the horizon, the first streaks of dawn began to appear, dyeing a pale pink color into the sky that was still filled with gun smoke and dust from the recent battle. The two sat quietly together in that rare moment, amidst the groans of the wounded around them and the hurried footsteps of those who were still continuing their tireless rescue work, waiting to see what this longest night would eventually lead to when the light of day truly shone.