Chapter 208: Photograph

Chen Ling felt as though his brain was a pile of mush.

He looked at the papers in his hand containing the information for "Chen Ling" and "Chen Yan," and an inexplicable sense of horror welled up in his heart... Reality and his memories were in two completely opposite states, as if someone had swapped his life.

"Impossible... It was clearly A-Yan who had the heart disease, how could it be me?" Chen Ling muttered to himself while shaking his head. "I lost my heart, my chest is empty, so why would A-Yan's name be on it... Are you playing with me?!"

Chen Ling glared at Yan Xishou in anger, as if he wanted to tear him apart!

"I didn't... I really didn't!!" Yan Xishou trembled. "That Chen Yan... Chen Yan's organs are still in the basement, and Chen Ling's records from that time are there too. You, you, you... just go and see for yourself!"

"Where is the key?!"

"In the second drawer on the left side of the desk..."

Chen Ling rushed to the desk, took out a vintage-looking key from the drawer, and was about to leave the study when he seemed to think of something. He turned back and knocked Yan Xishou unconscious with a punch.

Chen Ling dragged Yan Xishou into the cabinet under the bookshelf to hide him, then pushed open the door and quickly headed toward the basement.

Now that he had the transaction records, logically, Chen Ling should evacuate as soon as possible; otherwise, the longer he stayed, the greater the risk of the Outsiders finding him. But Chen Ling couldn't care about that now... There were some things he had to get to the bottom of.

Chen Ling didn't know why he was so fixated on a mix-up of names. Perhaps the Star Chamber of Commerce had just registered it wrong... But he felt like something was off, as if... as if he were afraid of something.

With the key, Chen Ling successfully opened the basement door, and a chill immediately rushed toward him.

The cold air drifted through the warm room like wisps of white smoke. Behind the door was a spacious, dim area with shelves neatly arranged, looking like some kind of warehouse.

Chen Ling frowned and walked straight inside.

Most of what was stored here were vessels used to preserve organs. The shelves were arranged by date, and most of the vessels were empty, presumably already distributed. Even so, next to the empty vessels were leather file folders, seemingly recording something.

Looking around, there were at least hundreds of vessels here, meaning at least hundreds of lives had lost the health and organs that originally belonged to them.

Chen Ling had no interest in other people's vessels. He followed the labels on the shelves directly to the day his heart was removed—the day he experienced the Gray Realm convergence and woke up in the mass grave...

On the shelf, several vessels were lined up. The one labeled "Chen Yan" was empty.

Chen Ling’s brow furrowed tightly. He took down the leather file folder placed to the side and opened it. Inside were several photographs... The photos showed a dilapidated operating room, with a young man lying flat on the operating table, his eyes closed as if he were asleep.

"A-Yan..." Chen Ling muttered to himself.

The second photo was still the same operating table, only the young man’s chest had been opened. Bone Knife stood to the side, holding a scalpel, performing the surgery with intense focus.

In the third photo, the young man’s face was deathly pale, and blood covered almost the entire operating table. Bone Knife had put down the scalpel and was holding a bright red heart in his hands, looking toward the camera as if deliberately proving that this heart had been taken from the young man’s body.

In the fourth photo, there was no one, only a vessel used to hold the heart. A hand was placing the heart inside and sealing the vessel, with a numbered seal stuck to the surface.

These four photos were likely evidence used to prove the source of the heart to the buyer. Upon seeing these photos, a deep sense of bewilderment appeared in Chen Ling’s eyes...

Words could be wrong, but the images in the photos wouldn't lie. The person lying on the operating table was indeed Chen Yan, and that heart was taken from his body... But how could this be? This was completely different from his own memory!

Chen Ling’s breathing grew heavy. He immediately walked to the vessel next to it, took down the leather folder labeled 【Chen Ling】, and took out the photos one by one.

In the photos, Chen Ling was also having his organs removed one by one on the operating table, but his heart was the only one missing...

Chen Ling stood frozen in place, motionless like a statue.

"If it was really A-Yan who lost his heart... then who am I?" Chen Ling felt his brain about to explode. At this moment, countless fragments he had previously ignored flashed through his mind.

Those were the images that appeared in his mind when he stumbled toward the mass grave in that heavy snow... Those were Chen Yan’s memories.

He didn't know why Chen Yan’s memories appeared in his mind, but in those memories, he seemed to have become Chen Yan, personally experiencing that heart-wrenching past. Yet, he couldn't recall anything that happened after he was drugged... The first time he regained consciousness was on the road home from the mass grave.

He remembered clearly that he had struggled for a long time in the rainy night before he remembered his name: he was Chen Ling.

"I am Chen Ling... Am I not Chen Ling? No... impossible... I have almost all of his memories, except for that one small segment from that night... If I’m not Chen Ling, then who am I?!"

"No... I am the transmigrator Chen Ling! Not the Chen Ling from here... That’s not right either, but I have clearly become Chen Ling..."

Chen Ling held his head in his hands, confused memories surging in his mind. He could no longer distinguish what was real and what was fake.

Chen Ling’s palm brushed against his cheek. As if remembering something, he suddenly raised his head and stumbled out of the basement... He knew how to prove who he was.

He rushed back to Yan Xishou’s study, locked the door, and went to the large wooden grandfather clock in the center of the room.

The ancient, mottled pendulum swung with the frequency of time, emitting a mysterious, age-old sound. The spotless glass surface of the clock clearly reflected Yan Xishou’s face.

Chen Ling touched his chin with his right hand and tore hard. A human face drifted lightly to the floor...

Behind Yan Xishou’s skin was the face of the Paper Puppeteer.

Seeing this, Chen Ling continued to touch his chin and tore again.

As the Paper Puppeteer’s face drifted away, another face appeared in the clock’s reflection—it was the face of A-Feng from the Star Chamber of Commerce’s dungeon... Chen Ling’s brow furrowed deeper. He frantically tore at his skin, and one face after another that had appeared before appeared in the clock’s reflection like a magic trick.