Elder brother's garrison

Page 1779

This is a private hospital room. Inside, Lu Ming, dressed in a hospital gown, is sitting on the bed, gently leaning against the headboard.

Lu Ming had an IV drip in his left hand.

Seeing everyone enter the room, Lu Ming looked over.

"Miss Luming..." Xiaobai greeted Luming cautiously.

Lu Ming smiled slightly on the bed, and gently raised her hand as if to get out of bed.

"Lu Ming, you don't need to get out of bed, just sit up," Lu Ming's manager stopped him.

"..." Lu Ming glanced at Xiao Bai and could only nod.

Little White quietly observed Lu Ming a few times. ...

Lu Ming's complexion was the same as Xiao Bai's usual observations of Lu Ming; he didn't seem to be in such bad shape.

I feel a little relieved...

Xiao Bai walked up to Lu Ming and looked down at the needle in her hand.

"The doctor said that Lu Ming's internal organs have suffered damage of varying degrees and for unknown reasons." Lu Ming's manager walked up behind Xiao Bai and said to her, "The good news is that Lu Ming's injuries are not serious enough to require surgery in the intensive care unit. But the bad news is... Lu Ming's physical condition is not as good as before. If she is not careful, these internal organ damages may worsen and develop into organ failure, thus threatening her life."

"This, this is so serious..." Xiaobai became nervous upon hearing this.

“Yes.” Lu Ming’s manager said, looking at Lu Ming with a serious expression.

Lu Ming lowered his head guiltily, like a child who had done something wrong and dared not look his manager in the eye.

Lu Ming's agent closed the door to the hospital room, walked back to the bedside, and sighed deeply.

Chapter 2450 Lu Ming's Identity

Xiao Bai saw a medical record on Lu Ming's bedside table.

This medical record must have just been looked through; it's currently spread out, showing Lu Ming's physical examination results.

Xiao Bai glanced down at it twice, then his brows twitched involuntarily.

Xiaobai doesn't understand medicine and has had relatively few physical examinations. She doesn't quite understand the test results of various components on the physical examination report. However, even in this state, Xiaobai understood just how bad Luming's physical condition was the moment she saw Luming's physical examination report.

Because Lu Ming's medical examination report no longer only had a few unqualified items, but large sections of her medical data were marked in red by the hospital.

Xiao Bai withdrew her gaze and looked at Lu Ming with concern.

Lu Ming's physical examination results were quite bad, but what was puzzling was that Lu Ming looked very well at this time, and did not look like a patient who had just fainted and been sent to the hospital.

"Lu Ming, the doctor just told me that you need to be hospitalized for observation. I'll cancel your work at the company for now," Lu Ming's agent said to him. "The equipment and environment at this hospital are pretty good, so I won't help you with the transfer to another hospital. If you need anything here, just let me know and I'll get it ready for you."

"No, thank you." Lu Ming bowed to his agent.

“…Hmm.” The manager looked at Lu Ming, opened his mouth as if to say something but then stopped.

Just then, the door to the ward was pushed open.

A nurse pushed a cart in. She nodded to the agent and Xiao Bai's group before deftly taking out a brand-new IV drip and needles from the cart and saying to Lu Ming on the bed, "Miss Lu, it's time to change the IV drip."

Lu Ming's manager watched the nurse change Lu Ming's IV drip, sighed, glanced at Xiao Bai, and then walked out of the ward.

Xiao Bai stared at Lu Ming's manager's retreating figure for a moment, then quickly followed.

outside the ward.

Lu Ming's manager seemed to be waiting for Xiao Bai. After Xiao Bai came out of the room, Lu Ming's manager gently closed the door and smiled at Xiao Bai.

"Admiral Lu Lin, what brings you out here too?"

"Hmm... I feel... Mr. Manager, it seems like you have something to tell me..." Xiaobai said to Luming's manager.

"Was I that obvious?"

"more or less."

“…A lot has happened today.” Lu Ming’s manager nodded with his eyes closed. “I usually consider myself a fairly calm person, but with Lu Ming encountering one unexpected situation after another, I’m really starting to lose my composure.”

As the agent finished speaking, he scratched his head in frustration and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his clothes.

But just as he put the cigarette in his mouth and before he could even take out his lighter, the manager saw Xiao Bai staring at him with wide eyes.

"Smoking is prohibited in hospitals," Xiaobai reminded her.

“…I’m sorry.” The agent exhaled the cigarette and stuffed it into his pocket. “While you were at the police station giving your statement, Admiral Lu Lin, I also received a call from the police station. The process was a bit complicated, but in short, they gave me a brief account of what happened on your end. I also went to Lu Ming’s place in the hospital to ask about the situation.”

"Oh... is it about rescuing the makeup artists?"

"I was a bit rushed before and didn't get a chance to thank you right away, so let me make it up to you now." The agent bowed to Xiaobai. "Admiral Lu Lin, your kindness is beyond measure."

"No need for such formality." Xiaobai waved her hand at her manager and forced a smile. "The reason I've been able to stay by Miss Luming's side and help her is because you've trusted me completely ever since we first met, Mr. Manager."

“Trust, yes…trust.” The agent seemed deeply moved by Xiaobai’s words. He glanced at the pedestrians around the corridor and then said to Xiaobai, “Admiral Lu Lin, do you know why I trust you so much?”

"Huh? Is there another reason?"

"How can there be trust without a reason in this world?" The agent said something that Xiaobai couldn't refute.

"Uh... Is it because I'm very powerful? Or is it because I have a good relationship with Miss Luming?" Xiaobai thought for a while and asked curiously.

“That’s part of the reason, but not the main one.” The agent shook his head and said slowly, “The reason I trust you so much is not only because I have witnessed your abilities, nor entirely because of your close relationship with Lu Ming… From the beginning, the only reason I have trusted you so much is your identity.”

"Identity?" Xiao Bai was taken aback. "...Admiral?"

"Yes." The agent nodded.

"...Why would the Admiral..." Xiaobai asked curiously. She was about to ask the reason when she suddenly seemed to realize something and tentatively asked, "...Could it be...that the manager knows Miss Luming's identity?"

"Haha." The manager chuckled twice, then looked calmly at Xiaobai. "I am Lu Ming's manager. I was the one who found Lu Ming on the street and brought her into the company to be packaged as an artist. So I know very well what kind of person she is. So if there is anyone in this world that Lu Ming can trust, besides someone like her, it should be the Admiral."

"Admiral... well..."

"It turns out I didn't trust the wrong people," the agent said to Xiaobai. "Actually, since meeting you, I can feel that Luming's mood is getting better every day. This is a good thing for her."

“…I see.” Xiaobai sighed. “Looks like I’ve been kept in the dark all this time.”

"Please forgive me for what I concealed before, Admiral Lu Lin," the agent said. "Even within the company, only I knew Lu Ming's true identity; this was for her safety."

"Should we consider Miss Luming's safety?" Xiaobai asked, puzzled.

“That’s definitely necessary,” the agent nodded.

“…She’s a ship girl…” Xiaobai looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before saying to her manager, “Strictly speaking, even without my protection, no one could hurt her, right…”

“Admiral Lu Lin is right.” The agent agreed with Xiao Bai’s words, but then suddenly changed her tone, “But that is, if Lu Ming is still a ship girl.”

"What does this sentence mean?" Xiaobai was taken aback.

“Luming is no longer a ship girl,” the manager said to Xiaobai. “When I met Luming, her ship equipment was already damaged. If you ignore her appearance, she is no different from a human now.”

The agent finished speaking.

Xiao Bai stared wide-eyed.

"Ship equipment...damaged...?" Xiaobai covered his mouth.

"I don't know much about Luming's ship girl career. I only asked her a few questions when I first brought her into the company," the manager said to Xiaobai. "Simply put, Luming was originally a ship girl, but in an accident, her source of power, that is, her ship girl equipment, suffered irreversible and serious damage—well, it's similar to how if one of a person's eyes dies, if the necrotic eyeball isn't removed quickly, the other eye that was originally normal will also die. In order to survive, Luming dismantled her ship equipment and became what she is now."

"So... Miss Luming is a ship girl whose ship equipment has been disassembled?" Xiaobai looked surprised.

“Yes,” the agent continued to Xiaobai, “Although I don’t understand ship girls, I understand humans, and I know how alluring the words ‘ship girl’ are to them. While Lu Ming’s past ship girl identity will certainly attract more attention, based on my understanding of the industry and fans, for Lu Ming now, the harm caused by revealing her ship girl identity far outweighs the benefits, and moreover…”

"..." Xiaobai remained silent.

The agent was still talking to Xiaobai about Luming's job.

But at this moment, Xiao Bai's brows were furrowed, and he was completely unable to listen to his manager's words.

So, Luming is a retired ship girl?

If that's the case, then it explains why I haven't been able to detect the ship girl's aura on Shikamaru before—after all, a ship girl whose ship equipment has been dismantled will naturally not have any traces of the ship equipment in her body, and therefore will not be affected by the power of the ship equipment. In terms of physique, she is completely no different from a human.

but……

Another problem has arisen.

Xiao Bai looked puzzled.

How do ship girls, whose ship equipment has been disassembled, still use their ship girl powers?

Xiao Bai remembers very clearly that in the warehouse where the makeup artist was kidnapped, Lu Ming, using the power of her ship equipment, kicked the cult leader's grenade into the ceiling. Moreover, Lu Ming had a distinct ship girl aura at the time, and no matter how you looked at her, she didn't seem like a ship girl whose ship equipment had been dismantled.

Since Shika has already dismantled her ship equipment, she shouldn't be able to use the power of a ship girl.

Unless Lu Ming says that the dismantling of the ship's equipment was a lie.

But if Lu Ming hadn't dismantled her ship equipment, how could he not have sensed the ship girl aura within her...?

This is a complete contradiction.

Xiao Bai pondered deeply but couldn't understand.

Just as Xiaobai was pondering, a call woke her from her reverie.

It turned out that the manager noticed that Xiaobai hadn't been speaking, so he reminded Xiaobai out of concern.

"Admiral Lu Lin, judging from your expression, have you encountered some difficulties?" Lu Ming's agent asked.

"Um...no, it's nothing." Xiaobai looked at her manager's expression, thought for a while, and then shook her head.

The agent has just told me everything he knows. Given the contradictions in this matter, even if I ask him now, he probably won't know anything... After all, from the agent's perspective, he doesn't seem to know that Lu Ming used the power of the ship girls in the cult's headquarters.

Chapter 2451 Incomplete Disassembly

"Thank you, Mr. Agent." Xiaobai said to Luming's agent, "It's a great trust to tell me something so important."

“If these two things hadn’t happened today, I wasn’t planning on telling you this.” Lu Ming’s manager’s gaze turned serious again. He sighed softly and continued to Xiao Bai, “Admiral Lu Lin, do you know what the doctor told me when I went to ask about Lu Ming’s condition?”

"What did you say?"

“Right now, even a random 70 or 80-year-old woman on the street might be in better physical condition than Lu Ming is now,” the manager said to Xiao Bai. “This is a very unusual condition. These internal organ damages and rising indicators come for no reason. From the perspective of human medical technology, it is simply impossible to treat. So I boldly guess that Lu Ming’s current condition must be related to her former identity as a ship girl.”

"So... do you think I can help?" Xiaobai asked.

"I am ultimately just an ordinary citizen," the agent sighed. "I know very little about ship girls. If a ship girl is ill, Admiral Lu Lin, a professional like you should be more knowledgeable than me."

"I see," Xiaobai said, indicating her understanding.

"So, Admiral Lu Lin, do you have any clues about Lu Ming's current physical condition?" the agent asked.

"...We need to...observe for a while." After thinking for a moment, Xiaobai gave his agent an ambiguous conclusion.

"If we need to observe, then let's observe." Hearing Xiaobai's reply, the agent visibly breathed a sigh of relief. "Given your relationship with Luming, she won't reject your arrival. Given Luming's physical condition, she can't continue working during this period either, so there's still plenty of time."

"Mm." Xiaobai nodded.

"Let's stop here then." The agent said to Xiaobai, "There are still a lot of messes left at the company today, and there's also the matter of Luming just returning to work and needing to rest again. I still have to go to other companies to reply to them one by one, so I won't be going back to the ward. Admiral Lu Lin, I'm leaving Luming in your care here."

"Hmm..." Xiaobai looked at her manager.

The agent smiled reassuringly at Xiaobai, glanced down at his watch, and turned to leave.

"Mr. Agent," Xiaobai suddenly called out to the agent.

"Hmm?" The agent stopped and turned to look at Xiaobai. "What's wrong, Admiral Lu Lin?"

"Um... I'm so sorry." Xiaobai said to her manager with deep regret, "You trusted me so much before, but I failed to protect Miss Luming and she still ended up in the hospital."

The agent paused for a moment, then smiled with a complicated expression.

“Admiral Lu Lin, there is no such thing as a perfect thing in this world. You have done enough. At least you are much better than us mere mortals who have no say in this matter.”

"..."

The agent still had work to do, so he waved to Xiaobai and left down the corridor.

Xiao Bai stood alone in the corridor for a while until the door to the ward was pushed open again and the nurse who had finished giving the injection pushed the cart out. Only then did Xiao Bai breathe a sigh of relief, turn around and walk into the ward.

In the ward.

Akagi from the deep sea is boiling water by the kettle.

Kaga from the Deep Sea, holding a tea bag, squatted down next to Akagi from the Deep Sea.

Upon seeing Xiaobai enter the ward, the two directors of the Deep Sea Hospital looked over.

"My lord, you're back... Where is the agent who went out with you?" Akagi asked softly.

"The manager said he had some things to do at the company and had to go back first... By the way, Akagi and Kaga, what are you doing...?"

"Your Majesty, Kaga and I are preparing some tea for Miss Shikamei."