Chapter 33: Memories

Chen Ling had never been here before.

Except in the memories he had inherited, when Chen Tan and his wife had dragged him here to bury him.

But for some reason, when he personally set foot on the mass grave, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him... This familiarity wasn’t singular, but twofold.

As he looked at the snow-covered graves before him, fragmented memories flooded his mind, as if two completely different sets of memories were converging here.

One belonged to Chen Ling...

The other, to Chen Yan.

Guided by instinct, he wandered among the graves, searching for something.

Finally, he stopped in front of a mound of earth that bore no wooden marker or any sign of identification.

He stared at the mound for a long time before kneeling in the thick snow. The white expanse swayed in his vision, and in his daze, the memories belonging to Chen Yan grew clearer...

"Name."

"Chen Yan."

"Age."

"15."

"Number."

"39180."

On the cold operating table, Chen Yan answered cautiously.

A strong light shone down from above, making it impossible for him to open his eyes. He could only see blurry figures moving around the operating table.

"The person matches. It's correct."

"At such a young age, to have this kind of illness... tsk."

"When does the surgery start?"

"Wait a bit longer. The heart over there hasn't arrived yet. If it doesn't come through, we won't be able to proceed."

"Hearts are so expensive on the black market now. Did those parents really manage to get the heart we asked for?"

"Get it? They're just a bunch of poor folks. Even if they sold their house, they couldn't afford it."

"Then where's the heart coming from?"

"Hehe... You don't know?"

"What?"

"They're going to use their eldest son's heart to save this younger one..."

"Really? Is that necessary?"

"That couple was diagnosed early on and told they couldn't have children, so they picked one up off the street to raise, planning to have someone to take care of them in their old age... But who knew that a few years later, somehow, they got pregnant and had a younger son? The couple, who had already resigned themselves to their fate, were overjoyed and immediately treated him like a treasure..."

"If it were you, would you choose a stray child picked up from the street or a biological son, a miracle from heaven?"

"Tsk..."

Hearing this conversation, Chen Yan, lying on the operating table, suddenly opened his eyes!

He struggled to sit up and looked at the two men speaking. His pale little face was filled with shock and disbelief.

"You're saying... whose heart is it??"

"Your brother's," Bone Blade, dressed in sterile clothing, casually blew on his nails. "What, didn't your parents tell you?"

"Otherwise, do you think your family could afford a suitable heart with the little money you have?"

"Brother..."

Chen Yan lay on the operating table for a long time. It wasn't until the two doctors beside him started pushing him to lie down that he snapped out of it and began struggling like a madman!

"I don't want it... I won't do it! I won't have the surgery!!" Chen Yan's voice carried a hint of tears. "I don't want my brother's heart! Let me go! I don't want his heart!!"

"The heart is already on its way. Whether you want it or not isn't up to you."

"Please, I beg you, tell my parents... tell them I don't want the heart... I don't want to go back to school, I don't want to perform on stage... I don't want anything, just let my brother go... I beg you..."

"Lie down... lie down!!"

Somehow, Chen Yan managed to break free from the grip of two adults. He tumbled off the operating table and stumbled toward the surgery room door!

Just then, the surgery room door automatically opened, and a figure walked in, carrying a mysterious metal case.

Chen Yan crashed into him and fell to the ground.

"The heart is here," the man said.

"Impressive. That couple looked like cowards, but they were quite efficient," Bone Blade said in surprise as he took the metal case, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

Chen Yan sat on the ground in a daze. His unfocused pupils reflected the image of the metal case. His lips and face were deathly pale, and his body trembled uncontrollably...

"No... I don't want it..."

A needle gently pierced his skin.

Bone Blade crouched behind Chen Yan, his narrow eyes narrowing further... like a venomous snake.

"You don't want it? Hehehe..."

As the liquid in the syringe was gradually injected, Chen Yan felt his head grow heavier, and his consciousness faded like the tide... Just before he completely lost consciousness, he vaguely sensed someone leaning close to his ear, whispering like a demon:

"You didn't really think... we were going to transplant the heart into you, did you?"

---

Chen Ling jolted awake!

The cold wind, carrying snowflakes, swirled through the mass grave, howling mournfully.

His eyebrows and hair were frosted white, and the biting cold seeped through his clothes, chilling him to the bone... Yet, despite this, cold sweat continued to pour from his body.

[Audience Expectation +5]

"A-Yan..."

He stared blankly at the snow-covered mound beneath him, his trembling hands beginning to dig.

His palms scraped through layers of ice and snow, turning red from the cold, and then through the frozen, hardened soil below. At this moment, he had almost stopped thinking. His mind was filled only with the image of this lonely mound and Chen Yan's struggling face.

As he dug deeper, a second set of memories flooded his mind uncontrollably...

---

"Damn it, why is the rain so heavy?"

"Be careful. The mountain paths are muddy. Don't slip."

"Why do we have to come all the way here to dump the body? Couldn't we just bury it somewhere near Ice Spring Street?"

"Idiot, if we bury it near the street, stray dogs will sniff it out sooner or later. Once it's discovered, the law enforcement officers will have to dig it up, and once they dig it up, they'll have to investigate... Qian Fan said this mass grave is full of bodies. Dumping it here won't attract attention."

"Do we have to split the profits from this job with Qian Fan and his crew?"

"For business in Ice Spring Street, the law enforcement officers take a 30% cut... Otherwise, why do you think they help us?"

"30%? That's daylight robbery... Did we squeeze everything we could out of this kid?"

"Kidneys, liver, corneas, bone marrow, blood... Bone Blade took everything that could be harvested. By the time he came off the operating table, the kid was a hollow shell... You should've seen how disgusting it was..."

"Too bad we don't know where that couple buried his brother. Otherwise, we could dig him up and harvest more..."

Two figures in raincoats carried a black bag, struggling through the stormy mountain path until they reached the mass grave.

They found an empty spot, set the black bag down, and one of them took out a shovel, expertly digging into the earth... Once the hole was deep enough, they casually tossed the black bag into it like garbage.