Pain Never Lies

“So ruining yours is acceptable?” “I'm a reserve.” Silence swallowed the room. Zhou rose, ripped off the ice pack, and threw it onto the table. “A reserve is not spare material. You saved me and this team, but if you think your shoulder costs less than mine, the exchange was never equal.” He slammed the door behind him. Lin stared after him, his chest hurting worse than his shoulder. Su focused on something else. “It said the equivalence check had only ‘provisionally’ passed?” “Yes.” “Then pain may not be the whole price.” She opened three years of performance records. “Your reaction time on that swing exceeded your personal best by twelve percent. Pain should degrade movement, but you became faster.