Chapter 33: Memory

Chen Ling had never been here.

Except in the inherited memories of being dragged here and buried by Chen Tan.

But for some reason, as he personally stepped onto the mass grave, a strange sense of familiarity emerged in his heart... This familiarity wasn't singular; there were two distinct feelings.

He looked at the snow-covered graves before him, and fragmented memories flooded his mind, as if two completely different sets of memories converged here.

One belonged to Chen Ling...

The other to Chen Yan.

He moved among the graves instinctively, as if searching for something.

Finally, he stopped before a mound of earth with no wooden marker or any other distinguishing sign.

He stared blankly at the mound for a long time, then knelt on the thick snow. The pale, snowy ground swayed in his vision, and in a daze, the memory belonging to Chen Yan grew increasingly clear...

"Name."

"Chen Yan."

"Age."

"Number."

On the cold operating table, Chen Yan answered cautiously.

A strong light shone from above, preventing him from opening his eyes, allowing him to see only blurry figures moving around the operating table.

"The person matches, that's right."

"So young, and afflicted with this disease... Tsk."

"When does the surgery begin?"

"Wait a bit longer; the heart isn't here yet. If we don't get it, we won't be able to fool them."

"The price of hearts on the black market is so high now. Did those parents really manage to get the heart we requested?"

"Get it, my ass. They're a family of paupers; they couldn't afford it even if they sold their house."

"Then where did the heart come from?"

"Heh heh... You don't know?"

"What?"

"They're taking their eldest son's heart to save this younger son..."

"Really? Is that necessary?"

"Years ago, that couple was diagnosed as infertile, so they picked up a child from the street to raise, planning for him to support them in their old age... But who knew that a few years later, somehow, they got pregnant again and had a younger son? The couple, who had already resigned themselves to fate, were overjoyed and immediately cherished him as a precious treasure..."

"Tell me, if it were you, between a wild child picked up from the street and a biological son, miraculously blessed by heaven, which would you choose?"

"Tsk..."

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

He struggled to sit up, looking at the two speakers, his pale little face filled with shock and disbelief.

"You said... whose heart is that??"

"Your brother's," said Bonesaw, casually blowing on his nails through his sterile gown. "What, didn't your parents tell you?"

"Otherwise, how do you think your family's meager money could possibly find you a suitable heart?"

"Brother..."

Chen Yan remained stunned on the operating table for a long time. It wasn't until the two doctors beside him began to push him back down that he snapped out of it, struggling wildly!

"I don't want it... I'm not doing it! I'm not having the surgery!!" Chen Yan's voice was tinged with a sob. "I don't want my brother's heart! Let go of me! I don't want his heart!!"

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

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

"Lie still... Lie still!!"

It was unclear where Chen Yan found the strength, but he managed to forcibly break free from the grip of two adults, rolled off the operating table, and stumbled toward the operating room door!

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

Chen Yan crashed into him, falling to the floor.

"The heart's here," the person said.

"Alright then. That couple looked like cowards, but I didn't expect them to be so efficient." Bonesaw remarked, taking the metal box with a surprised smirk.

Chen Yan sat numbly on the floor, the shadow of the metal box reflected in his unfocused pupils. His lips and face were utterly pale, and his body trembled uncontrollably...

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

A needle gently pierced his body.

Bonesaw slowly crouched behind Chen Yan, his narrow eyes squinting... like a viper.

"You don't want it? Heh heh heh..."

As the liquid in the syringe was slowly injected, Chen Yan felt his head grow heavier and his consciousness recede like a tide... Just before losing consciousness completely, he faintly felt someone lean close to his ear, whispering like a demon:

"You didn't actually think... we'd transplant the heart *into* you, did you?"

Chen Ling woke with a jolt!

The cold wind, laden with snowflakes, swirled and whistled through the mass grave.

His eyebrows and hair were whitened by the snow, and the biting cold seeped through his clothes, chilling him to the bone... Even so, cold sweat streamed uncontrollably from his body.

Audience Expectation Value: 5

"A-Yan..."

He stared blankly at the snow-covered mound beneath him, then tremblingly raised his hands and began to dig.

His hands shoveled away layers of ice and snow, turning red from the cold, then reached the incredibly hard, frozen soil beneath. At that moment, he had almost stopped thinking; his mind held only the solitary mound and Chen Yan's struggling face.

As he dug deeper into the soil, a second memory flooded his mind uncontrollably...

"Damn it, this rain is so heavy."

"Be careful, the mountain is muddy everywhere, don't slip."

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

"Idiot, if we bury it near the street, stray dogs will eventually smell it. Once it's discovered, the enforcers will have no choice but to dig him up, and after that, they'll have to launch an investigation... Qian Fan said that this mass grave is full of bodies, so dumping him here won't be noticed."

"For this job, do we still have to give Qian Fan and his group a cut?"

"For business on Ice Spring Street, the enforcers get a thirty percent cut... Otherwise, why do you think they'd help us?"

"Thirty percent? That's highway robbery... Have we squeezed every last drop out of this kid?"

"Kidneys, liver, corneas, bone marrow, blood... Bonesaw has harvested everything he could; now this kid is just an empty shell... You didn't see him; when he was taken off the operating table, he was already like a pile of mud, so disgusting..."

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

Two figures in raincoats, carrying a black cloth bag, struggled through the rainy mountain path until they reached the mass grave.

They found an empty spot, set down the black cloth bag, and each took out a shovel, expertly beginning to dig... Once the depth was suitable, they casually threw the black cloth bag into the hole like trash.

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