Chapter 33: Memory

Chen Ling had never been here before.

Except in the inherited memory of when he was dragged here by the Chen couple to be buried.

But for some reason, when he stepped onto the land of the mass grave himself, a strange sense of familiarity arose in his heart... This familiarity was not one-fold, but two-fold.

He looked at the grave mounds buried in the heavy snow before him, and fragmented memories flooded his mind, as if two completely different memories were intersecting here.

One was Chen Ling's...

The other was Chen Yan's.

He moved through the graves by instinct, as if searching for something.

Finally, he stopped in front of a mound with no wooden sign and no markings of any kind.

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

……

"Name."

"Chen Yan."

"Age."

“15。”

"ID number."

“39180。”

On the cold operating table, Chen Yan answered cautiously.

A bright 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, that's right."

"So young, and he got this kind of disease... tsk."

"When does the surgery start?"

"Wait a bit longer. The heart from the other side hasn't arrived yet. If we don't get it, we won't be able to fool them here."

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

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

"Then where did the heart come from?"

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

"What?"

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

"Really? Is that necessary?"

"That couple was diagnosed years ago and told they couldn't have children, so they picked one up from the street to raise for their old age... But who knew that years later, they'd somehow get pregnant again and have a younger son. The couple, who had already prepared to accept their fate, were overjoyed and immediately treated him like the apple of their eye..."

"If it were you, a wild child picked up from the street, or a biological son born after being blessed by the heavens, which one would you choose?"

"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 people talking, his pale little face full of shock and disbelief.

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

"Your brother's." Bone Blade, wearing a sterile suit, blew on his fingernails casually. "What, didn't your parents tell you?"

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

"Brother..."

Chen Yan stayed 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 came to his senses and began to struggle like a madman!

"I don't want to... I won't do it! I won't have the surgery!!" Chen Yan's voice carried a hint of sobbing. "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."

"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 go on stage and sing opera... I don't want anything, just let my brother go... I beg you..."

"Lie down... lie down!!"

No one knew where Chen Yan got the strength, but he actually broke 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 opened automatically, and a figure walked in, carrying a mysterious metal box.

Chen Yan crashed into him and fell to the ground.

"The heart is here." The man said.

"Nice, those parents looked like cowards, but I didn't expect them to be so efficient." Bone Blade took the metal box in surprise, a smile curling his lips.

Chen Yan sat blankly on the floor, the reflection of the metal box in his unfocused pupils. His lips and face were deathly pale, and his body couldn't stop trembling...

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

A needle gently pierced his body.

Bone Blade squatted down slowly behind Chen Yan, his narrow eyes narrowing... like a snake or scorpion.

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

As the liquid in the syringe was gradually injected, Chen Yan felt his head becoming increasingly heavy, his consciousness fading like the tide... Before he completely lost consciousness, he vaguely felt someone lean into his ear and whisper like a demon:

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

……

Chen Ling woke up with a start!

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

His eyebrows and hair were dyed white by the snowflakes, and the bone-chilling cold seeped through his clothes, cooling him to the marrow... Even so, he couldn't stop breaking out in a cold sweat.

[Audience Expectation Value +5]

"Ah Yan..."

He stared blankly at the mound buried in the heavy snow beneath him, raised his trembling hands, and began to dig.

His palms scraped away layers of ice and snow, turning bright red from the cold, and then the soil beneath, which was frozen rock-hard. He had almost stopped thinking at this moment; only this lonely mound and Chen Yan's struggling face remained in his mind.

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

……

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

"Be careful, the mountain is all mud, don't slip."

"Why do we have to come here to dump the body? Wouldn't it be better to just find a place near Ice Spring Street?"

"Idiot, if we bury him near the street, wild dogs will smell him sooner or later. Once someone finds out, the enforcers will have to dig him up, and once they dig him up, they'll have to start an investigation... Qian Fan said this mass grave is full of corpses; dumping him here won't be discovered."

"Do we have to share the cut from this job with Qian Fan's group?"

"The enforcers take thirty percent of the business on Ice Spring Street... otherwise, why do you think they help us?"

"Thirty percent? That's a real lion's share... Have we squeezed all the profit out of this kid?"

"Kidneys, liver, corneas, bone marrow, blood... Bone Blade has already harvested everything that can be harvested. This kid is just an empty shell now... You didn't see him when he came off the operating table; he was already a pile of mush, it was so disgusting..."

"It's a pity we don't know where that couple buried his brother, otherwise we could dig him up and harvest another batch..."

Two figures in raincoats, carrying a black cloth bag, struggled through the mountain road in the rainstorm and arrived at the mass grave.

They found an empty spot, put down the black bag, and each took a shovel, skillfully starting to dig... When the depth was right, they casually threw the black bag into it like trash.