Chapter Seventeen: Trust from Comrades

  "Loach, what are you doing hiding in the infirmary, you black guy?" Jason's voice came in before he did. Although I had only known Jason for two days, we had already become inseparable friends who could talk about anything. At that moment, I was staring blankly at the eyeball that Jie had left me. This eyeball was a cutting-edge human auxiliary device developed by the Gureitar organization, with functions such as satellite positioning, image storage and playback, visual acquisition, and infrared detection. The bioelectric sensor in the eyeball was connected to the host body, allowing it to transmit the host's speech and behavior to the terminal computer at any time. This eyeball had become one with Jie's host body, making up for the bodily functions that Jie had lost. At the time, Zhaier gave this eyeball to Jie on the one hand because he admired Jie and wanted to comfort him for the pain of losing his eyes; on the other hand, it was also out of consideration for safety, in order to monitor Jie and make him truly useful to him. Of course, the monitoring function of the eyeball was not unavoidable, and it could be effectively blocked from sending signals in places like the dark rooms of enemy underground fortifications. With Jie's eternal departure, this eyeball had also lost its former luster and vitality, becoming a transparent blue glass ball. I stared blankly at the eyeball, and as I looked, I cried. It had been embedded in Jie's body for three years, recording his pain and helplessness. Looking at it was like seeing the young and handsome Jie standing in front of me - my comrade, my brother...

  "What is this thing?" Just as I was pondering, Jason suddenly snuck into the hospital room and snatched the eyeball from my hand. I was afraid he would break it, so I quickly said to him, "Stupid Jason, stop messing around and return the thing to me." "I'm Ben Jason, not Stupid Jason," Jason said with one eye closed, placing the eyeball on his other eye and examining it in the sunlight. "It's blue and muddy, what is this used for?" I snatched the eyeball back from Jason and said, "Stop messing around, this is my comrade's prosthetic eye." Jason was startled and said, "Ah... you're holding a fake eye and playing with it, are you crazy? Why are you crying?" I said to Jason, "Don't mess around, you don't understand the story behind this eyeball and the soldier who owned it, so don't talk nonsense." "Soldier? What kind of soldier? Story? What kind of story is it?" Jason's curiosity was piqued, and he sat down on my bed, insisting that I tell him about Jie's story. I had no choice but to recount how Jie infiltrated the enemy camp, fought against them, and died in battle. Jason listened intently, then fell into a deep silence. After a while, he regained his usual mischievous state and patted my shoulder, saying, "Alright, mudfish, don't get stuck in past memories that you can't escape from. Jie was a true soldier who died for what he believed in. We, the living, should continue to fight bravely and not be overly consumed by grief. You're right, aren't you?" I nodded lightly and said, "Jason, you're right. I shouldn't always be reminiscing and suffering in my memories." Jason said, "That's right, mudfish! In this aspect, you need to learn from me - as long as we're alive, we should live well, and when we die, we'll just die. We must be optimistic and open-minded."

  "Ah! Thanks, Jason. I feel like talking to you can dispel any gloominess in my heart." I said with a grateful tone. Jason smiled and said: "Who made me an active treasure, your happy fruit?" I scratched my head lightly and said: "Yeah, I'm really lucky!" Jason said: "Muddy loach, today I came over to bring you two pieces of news, one good and one bad. Which one do you want to hear first?" Looking at Jason's mysterious expression, I stretched out a lazy waist and said: "What a nervous guy, let's hear the good one first!" Jason smiled and said: "The good news is that I'll be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and can join the fight against evil cults again." "You're being discharged tomorrow? What about the bad news?" I didn't expect Jason to be discharged so soon, so I was deeply surprised. Jason said: "The bad news is that I'm leaving, you'll have one less happy fruit by your side, and your future days will be dull again." I patted Jason on the shoulder and said: "Your two pieces of news are not good or bad!" Jason asked: "What do you mean?" I said: "You being discharged from the hospital is good, but you'll have to go back to the battlefield with guns and bullets. I'm really worried about losing another friend; as for your bad news, it's not a bad thing for me. At least my ears can be quiet again. Haha... Jason smiled and said: "Good one, black muddy loach! You're teasing me!" I smiled and said: "As friends with you, Jason, we can't always have gloomy faces." Jason said: "That's right! I'm about to leave, as a friend, I want to give you something as a keepsake. Unfortunately, I don't have anything valuable on me now. So, I'll give you this pair of sunglasses and this Flying Eagle badge." Saying that, Jason first took off the sunglasses from his head, then removed the golden Flying Eagle badge from his chest, and handed them over to me together.

  I grasped the Flying Eagle badge tightly in my hand and said to Jason, "Thank you for the gift, Jason. I love it!" Jason happily said, "Glad you like it! Come on... put it on and let me see!" As he spoke, Jason pinned the badge onto my chest and put the sunglasses on my head. "My god, you look totally cool!" Jason exclaimed, clapping his hands in excitement. I took off the sunglasses and grasped Jason's shoulders with both hands, saying, "It's such a pity that I have nothing to give you as a gift now! All I can do is wish you safety in my heart!" Jason said, "Don't worry about it. We're like brothers, aren't we? Let's not bother with those things." After finishing speaking, Jason took out a pen and paper and wrote down an address. He told me, "This is the address of my hometown. If there's a chance in the future, you must come to America to find me. And if I die in battle, then go to my grave and chat with me!" I said to Jason, "You definitely won't die, Jason. God doesn't need you, but your family and friends do." Jason hugged me tightly and said, "Don't worry, Mudfish! I'll fight to the end... just take care of yourself..." Jason finished speaking, stood up straight, saluted me solemnly, then turned around and strode out of the ward without looking back. I returned his salute, watching as Jason's figure disappeared into the distance. My heart understood that perhaps this was our final farewell...

  It was nearly eleven o'clock at night when Ashi came to my hospital room alone. He didn't even knock on the door, just walked in directly. "Muddy Loach, you're not asleep yet? If you're not sleeping, let's chat for a bit." As he sat down on the bedside cabinet as usual, lit a cigarette and started blowing smoke rings, his eyes drifted to one side without looking at me. I sensed that Ashi's demeanor was unusual, so I said: "Even if I were asleep, you'd wake me up, what's going on, coming to find me so late?" Ashi puffed out a thick cloud of smoke and said lightly: "Nothing's going on, just wanted to chat with you." "Chat...what do you want to talk about?" I asked Ashi. Ashi said: "Let's talk about your battle stories." I smiled faintly and said: "I don't have any stories, didn't I tell you everything that happened to me? What's wrong with you today, you look a bit off." Ashi suddenly became very serious and said: "Muddy Loach, I know you're a special forces soldier, there are many things you can't just say to people. I don't need to know your real name, I don't need to know which unit you belong to, I don't need to know what mission you're on, but there's one thing I hope you can tell me without hiding anything - that is, all the details of everything that happened after you were captured by the 'Gurital Organization'." Seeing Ashi's serious expression and hearing his question, my first reaction was - my "Dark Ghost" identity had been exposed, Liu Hui must have known I was still alive and under the organization's instructions, began to carry out an assassination operation against me.

  "Loach, what are you thinking?" Ah Xi asked me in a slower tone when I didn't respond to his question immediately. I looked at Ah Xi and understood that he didn't believe I was the "Dark Ghost", but he had obviously received orders to deal with me, so he hoped to find evidence to prove my innocence through one last effort. I pretended to be silly and said to Ah Xi: "I'm thinking about what you're thinking! What else are you going to do? Haha... Don't be so serious, it's making me a bit nervous." "Stop messing around with me, I'm talking serious business!" Ah Xi coldly said to me. "Okay," I calmly said to Ah Xi: "After our helicopter was shot down by the enemy and I parachuted into the vast tropical jungle, later...". That's everything that happened to me. Except for some handling of my secret contact with Jie and Sang, related intelligence about internal ghost Liu Hui, and information about my contact with Jie using a secret code, I told Ah Xi in detail about everything that had happened to me.

  "What are you planning to do from now on?" Ah Xi suddenly asked after listening to my story. I thought for a moment and said, "Return to my unit and continue fighting." Ah Xi asked, "Don't you have any other thoughts? For example, retiring from the army and leaving this war forever?" I retorted, "Do you think I would do that?" Ah Xi said, "Of course not, but what if your unit is no longer your unit, then what will you choose?" "Ah Xi, I don't understand what you're saying," I asked, knowing that he was struggling with whether or not to tell me something. Ah Xi's brow furrowed, and he slammed his fist on the table, as if making a big decision. He stood up, pressed my shoulders with both hands, and stared into my eyes, asking, "Do you know Liu Hui?" "Liu Hui... of course I do, what about him?" I asked Ah Xi. Ah Xi said, "The headquarters has assigned him to come and receive you three days from now." "Receive..." I said to Ah Xi, "So that means I'll be able to return to my unit soon, but why use the word 'receive', am I a prisoner of war?" Ah Xi said, "I'm telling you the truth, they're not treating you as one of their own soldiers this time, but as a person to be interrogated." "What?" Although this outcome was within my expectations, hearing Ah Xi say that my unit had already classified me as a person to be interrogated still made me feel extremely shocked and painful. I jumped up from the bed, indignantly saying to Ah Xi, "How can they do this to me? Did I betray the country or the army?" Ah Xi said, "Mudfish, don't get anxious, they're just suspicious of your behavior during the time you were missing, so they need to investigate further. It's not that they think you've turned traitor." I suppressed my emotions and said to Ah Xi, "Don't try to comfort me anymore, I know what awaits me!" Ah Xi was silent for a moment before saying, "Since you say so, then I won't say anything more. But no matter what, I believe you're a righteous warrior, Mudfish, nothing can crush you, right?" I looked at Ah Xi and nodded lightly. Ah Xi said, "I just don't know what I can do for you as a comrade." I turned to look out the window at the endless night sky and said faintly, "Thank you, Ah Xi, your trust is enough..."