Chapter 57: Mary Returns
Chapter 58: Mary Returns

Boom boom boom. Swipe.

"Good evening, Sister Jingliu~" Ling's sweet voice broke into my ears. A week after seeing Shiho, I returned to my room. Anyway, it's all recuperation, it's the same wherever you go. So Jingliu arranged for me to return to my room for recuperation, and I haven't seen Shiho for a week. She has been in the research institute outside the base and has not come back. Maybe this research has reached the experimental stage, but I still have no way of knowing the development of the whole thing. I can only move forward step by step with time.

"Well. Good evening Ling, ah, Mary, welcome back." Jingliu welcomed the newcomer into the house.

"Good evening, Sister Jingliu." Mary greeted Jingliu shyly. After all, they had not seen each other for four years, and they didn't have a good conversation when she came back last time.

"Sister Jingliu. I heard Bing was injured. Let's go see him." Ling said with a smile while holding Jingliu's arm. Ling is now taller than Jingliu, but she still acts like a spoiled child to Jingliu as she did when she was little.

"Yes. The ice is in the room. Go ahead. I'll get you some juice." Jingliu walked out of the room, while Ling and Mary came towards me.

"It's so cold at night. Do you feel better?" Ling walked into the bedroom and asked me with concern while looking at me lying on the bed.

"Ah. Not bad. Ahem."

"Brother Bing. Long time no see." Mary's cheeks were slightly flushed and she greeted me shyly.

"Ah. Mary. Welcome back. Ahem." Four years later, Mary was about the same height as Shizuru, with long blond hair that fell past her shoulders, and she still wore the lavender hairpin I gave her. Her round lenses had been replaced with contact lenses. Her light red pupils flickered with a hint of shyness. She was still wearing the new black windbreaker I gave her when she came back for a meeting a year ago. Mary is now twenty years old, so the clothes I gave her a year ago still fit her well. "Thank you so much for taking care of Shiho for me in the United States." I smiled faintly.

"No, it's my honor to help Brother Bing." Mary's cheeks turned even redder.

"By the way, where is Taiyi? Why haven't I seen him come back?" I asked with some confusion when I saw that Taiyi, who was almost inseparable from Mary, was not there.

"Taiyi is still in the United States. The base there needs his hacking skills." Mary replied.

"Oh? So Taiyi's hacking skills have reached a certain level?" I asked with a hint of surprise, "He stayed in the United States... to monitor the FBI?"

"Yes, Brother Bing. Due to his outstanding hacking skills, the organization ordered him to stay there, but Brother Bing can still assign him to your name, but he can't come back to Japan in a short time." Mary explained to me with her head down.

"I see. Speaking of skills. Mary, how are your medical studies going?"

"Haha. Thanks to Brother Bing, I have already graduated from medical school. Whether it's neurology, respiratory medicine, internal medicine, surgery, enterology, or dermatology, I have no problem with any of them." Mary said to me excitedly.

"Haha. What about the surgery? If I ask you to do the surgery for me, would you have any problem?" I looked at Mary's excitement and found it a little funny. Maybe this girl thought she could finally help me.

"Yes. It's no problem, Brother Bing. I performed many operations when I was studying in the United States. Removing brain tumors, heart bypass surgery, kidney transplant surgery. I can remove bullets and suture wounds. I can do all of these."

"Haha. Then I'll give you a chance to show your results." I said to Mary with a playful smile.

hula.

The door opened again and Jingliu walked in with a tray of juice and snacks.

"Ah. What are you talking about?" Jingliu knelt in front of the bed, placed a small table on the bed, and then placed juice and snacks on it.

"Haha. I'm asking Mary to report my grades to me." I said calmly. "That's great, Sister Jingliu. Please help me get my medical records to Mary. Also bring me the X-rays of my last injury and yesterday."

"Haha. Do you want Mary to give you a follow-up consultation?" Jingliu tilted his head and looked at me. Then he walked out of the bedroom, took out a clip from the table in the living room and handed it to Mary. "By the way. I haven't changed the bandage for Bing today, so this task is also given to you, Mary." Jingliu winked at Mary playfully, and then stuffed a new bandage into Mary's hand.

"Yes. Please leave it to me." Mary also nodded politely to Jingliu. It seemed that she was really full of confidence.

Picking up my medical records and X-rays, Mary looked at them under the light. Her eyebrows furrowed at first, then relaxed, and then she was surprised.

"How is it, Mary? Ahem. What did you see?" I asked puzzledly as I looked at Mary's changing expression.

"Brother Bing. Now I finally understand why Ling always calls you a monster." Mary smiled gently.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Mary's words left me confused.

"Haha. Let's talk about this first injury film. Brother Bing, there's a hole in your lung, and your trachea is scratched. Judging from the position, if it weren't for the fact that your heart is on the right side, you might have already..." Mary didn't continue here.

"Haha. It's okay. Everyone knows this." I said lightly.

"Huh? Bing, your heart is on the right side?" Ling looked at me curiously. Then she ran to me, lay on my chest and listened carefully.

Boom. Boom. The sound of the heart beating strongly made Ling very happy. "Really? There is a thumping sound in the right side of my chest. But not on the left side."

"I say, Ling. Haven't you learned the art of listening?" I touched Ling's head lovingly, and felt amused when I saw Ling rubbing against my chest like a kitten.

"Audio listening? What is that?"

"Ah? Didn't Vermouth tell you?"

"No. I've never heard of any listening technique from Vermouth." Ling said with a puzzled look on her face.

"I see... That's right. I guess even Sister Bei herself doesn't know how to listen to voices." This might be a skill that is unique to me. After all, I had already mastered this skill in my previous life. I wonder if Gin can do it. I thought about it, but immediately rejected my idea. Gin probably doesn't know how to listen to voices, otherwise he would have discovered many people with ulterior motives.

"Hey, Bing, can you please teach me the so-called listening technique?" Ling shook my arm and said coquettishly.

"Haha. This is not something you can learn overnight." I rubbed Ling's purple bangs and smiled. "If you want to learn the art of listening to sounds, first listen to the sound of toothpicks falling. When you can carefully distinguish the sound of a hundred toothpicks falling on the table, come to me for the next exercise.

"Ah? That's so troublesome." Ling puffed up her face and looked unhappy.

"Of course. Do you think it's so easy to master the art of listening?" I laughed helplessly. "Okay, Mary, go on."

"Yes. Brother Bing, your body is out of danger due to timely treatment. In the past week, the wound on your lung has almost healed. But the abrasion on your trachea is very difficult to heal, so you must rest. And this is why I say that Brother Bing is a monster. According to common sense, it would take at least several months to recover to your level, but now it has only been a month and it has healed so well."

"So you were a little surprised just now?"

"Yes."

"Will I suffer from hidden injuries? Like coughing?" I said worriedly.

"No. According to Brother Bing's recovery speed, it won't take the usual three months. He will be healthy in another month, and then he can recover after some restorative training." Mary put down the X-ray and smiled happily at me. "Is that so? Ahem. I understand. Next, please help me change the bandage." I unbuttoned my hospital gown and said to Mary calmly.

"Yes." Mary trotted into the bathroom and carefully disinfected her hands. Then she took the medical alcohol and bandage from Jingliu and began to rebandage me.

As Mary's hands moved, the bandages wrapped around me were untied one by one, until finally, the scars all over my body and the three gunshot wounds on my chest were reflected in everyone's eyes.

“Brother Bing…” Mary’s voice trembled a little.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Why do you have so many scars on your body?" Mary frowned and her hands were shaking.

"Of course there are a lot of them." Ling said dissatisfiedly. "It's all because of that woman!" Ling became more and more angry.

"Okay, Ling, don't be angry. After all, that woman is dead." I said lightly.

"But. Bing..." Ling wanted to say something else, but I stopped her.

"Let's not talk about the past. Cough cough cough... Mary. Please help me take care of my wound first." I coughed and frowned slightly.

"Oh, yes." Mary frowned and looked at the scars on my body while treating the wound on my chest. It took only a few minutes to heal the wound. After applying a few pieces of hemostatic gauze, Mary asked me to sit a little forward so that it would be easier to clean the wound on my back.

But just as I exposed my back, I heard Mary let out a soft cry and the bandage in her hand fell to the ground. I looked back. Mary was staring at the scar on my back that looked like a giant centipede, covering her mouth with tears silently sliding down her cheeks.

"Brother Bing..." Mary came forward and stroked the scar on my back. Tears fell like beads from a broken string.

"It's okay Mary, go ahead." I smiled faintly.

"Yes. I'm sorry." Mary quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes, began to clean my wound, and finally re-bandaged it.

After everything was done, I put my clothes back on. Before I could say anything, Mary spoke.

"Brother Bing, can you tell me about all the scars on your body...how did you get them?" Mary thought about it and finally asked.

"Haha. It's an old story. Why bring it up? I'm fine here now." I smiled faintly.

"Hmph. If you don't want to talk about it, I'll do it." Ling was still angry. Seeing that I didn't want to talk about those things, she took over my words and said to Mary.

"It's nothing to do for a while anyway. Mary, listen to me and tell you about Bing's experiences in the past four years and the origin of the scars on his body."

"Yes. Please be sure to tell me in detail." Mary said to Ling with a serious face.

Seeing Ling and Mary were so persistent, I didn't say anything. I put my hands behind my head and leaned against the pillow to listen to them talking about my scars.

————The scent of orchids, the scent of lavender, the scent of home & the wings of angels, the wings of demons, the wings of guardians————

Three hours later.

"...So that mission left Bing with that long scar on his back. If that woman hadn't driven the car away, how could Bing have been injured so badly! That was the cut from the helicopter's tail wing!" Ling was still so passionate during the three-hour speech. I was a little impressed by her. During these three hours, I listened to Ling's entire process from the first gunshot wound on my shoulder to the origin of the long scar on my back. Jingliu was originally sitting by the bed, but later felt that Ling might talk for a long time, so she climbed onto the bed, took my arm and leaned on my shoulder, and finally fell asleep in my arms during Ling's endless speech.

"Hey, Sister Jingliu, wake up." I gently shook Jingliu's shoulders.

"Hmm? Is Ling finished?" Jingliu rubbed his sleepy eyes and got up.

"It's almost time. I'm going to talk about my last injury." I looked at Jingliu helplessly. It's not that Jingliu didn't care about me, it's because she treated every wound on my body with her own hands. So she knows better than anyone the origin of my scars and it's different from what Ling said now. This is also why it only took me one hour to explain to Shiho yesterday, but Ling took more than three hours.

But it was Ling's speech that made Mary burst into tears. When Ling finished talking about the origin of my last gunshot wound, the clock hand had already pointed to four. It was four o'clock in the morning. This little girl is really talkative.

"That means Brother Bing will be able to advance to the gold medal soon?" Mary's face, which had been tightly furrowed and filled with tears, suddenly brightened up because of Ling's last few words.

"Yeah, with five more tasks, Bing can become a gold medalist." Ling said this with a happy smile.

"Um... sorry to interrupt. Ahem." I interrupted awkwardly. "According to the latest news, I only need to complete one more task to become a gold medalist."

"Hey? Really?" Little stars twinkled in Ling's eyes.

"Ah. Sister Bei informed me. Because of that woman's death, I was promoted early. I only need to complete the last task to become a gold medalist."

"Wow, that's great~" Ling jumped up excitedly. "Hey, Bing, let's hold a party for you to win the gold medal, okay?" Ling's eyes were full of twinkling stars.

"I say... you're not a child anymore. Why do you have to do that?" I said helplessly.

"Just hold one. Mary is back just in time. Let's just consider it as a way to welcome Mary back." Ling said happily.

"Yeah. I also think we can have a party." Jingliu took my arm and smiled sweetly.

"Hey, hey..why are you joining in the fun, Sister Jingliu?" The corners of my mouth twitched.

"Hehe. Anyway, I've been so nervous for the past four years. I finally have a chance to relax, so of course I have to relax properly." Jingliu winked at me playfully. This little gesture looked very cute on Jingliu's face in the past. But now, this gesture of Jingliu can be considered charming.

"Hey...what about Mary?" I was completely defeated. I looked at Mary and asked her opinion.

"Well, I also want to celebrate Brother Bing's upcoming promotion." Mary said shyly.

"Yeah~ Then let's get ready right away." Ling pulled Mary and ran out excitedly.

"I said... it's early morning now. Let's go tomorrow..." Before I finished speaking, Jingliu sat up from the bed and shouted. "Wait for me. I'll go too..."

The three girls skipped away, leaving me with an embarrassed look on my face.

"I... Why do I feel so invisible..."

ps: Dear readers, April is coming to an end. The last few days are a small peak of organizational life. After that, it's time to enter the official plot. Please increase your clicks and recommendations~ In addition, the number of collections of Demon Guardian has reached 900. I hope that the readers will support it and use the last few days of April to let the collection reach 1000! Thank you in advance~
(End of this chapter)