Memory

Chen Ling had never been here before.

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

Yet for some reason, the moment he personally set foot on the land of Mass Grave, an unusual sense of familiarity surfaced within him... This familiarity did not come from one source, but two.

He looked at the snow-buried grave mounds before him as fragmented memories flooded his mind, as though two completely different sets of memories had converged here.

One belonged to Chen Ling...

The other belonged to Chen Yan.

Guided by instinct, he weaved through the grave mounds as though searching for something.

At last, he stopped before a mound of earth with neither a wooden marker nor any other sign.

He stared blankly at the mound for a long while before dropping to his knees atop the thick snow. The pale snowfield swayed in his vision, and in his daze, the memories belonging to Chen Yan became increasingly clear...

"Name."

"Chen Yan."

"Age."

"Fifteen."

"Identification number."

"39180."

On the cold operating table, Chen Yan answered cautiously.

A harsh beam of light shone down from overhead, leaving him unable to open his eyes. All he could see were vague figures moving around the operating table.

"It's the right person."

"So young, and he's already got this kind of illness... Tsk."

"When does the surgery begin?"

"Wait a little longer. The heart hasn't arrived yet. If they fail to get it, we won't be able to cover this up."

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

"Get shit. They're a family of paupers. Even if they sold their house, they couldn't afford one."

"Then where'd the heart come from?"

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

"Know what?"

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

"Seriously? Was that really necessary?"

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

"If it were you, which would you choose? A wild child picked up off the street, or a biological son heaven had blessed you with after so much difficulty?"

"Tsk..."

Upon hearing this conversation, Chen Yan, lying on the operating table, abruptly opened his eyes!

He struggled upright and looked toward the two people speaking, his pale little face full of shock and disbelief.

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

"Your brother's." Bone Knife casually blew on her nails beneath her sterile gown. "What, didn't your parents tell you?"

"Otherwise, did you think your family's little bit of money could possibly find you a suitable heart?"

"Brother..."

Chen Yan sat frozen on the operating table for a long time. Only when the two doctors beside him began forcing him back down did he come to his senses and start struggling like mad!

"I don't want it... I'm not doing it! I'm not having the surgery!!" Chen Yan's voice took on a sobbing edge. "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 no longer up to you."

"I'm begging you, tell my parents... Tell them I don't want a heart anymore... I don't want to go back to school, I don't want to perform onstage... I don't want anything anymore. Tell them to let my brother go... I'm begging you..."

"Lie down... Lie down!!"

No one knew where Chen Yan found the strength, but he actually broke free from the grip of two adults. He flipped off the operating table and staggered toward the operating room doors!

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

Chen Yan slammed into him headfirst and fell to the floor.

"Got the heart," the man said.

"Not bad. That couple looked like complete cowards, but I didn't expect them to be so efficient." Bone Knife took the metal case in surprise, a smile curling at the corner of her lips.

Chen Yan sat blankly on the floor, the metal case reflected in his unfocused pupils. His lips and face had gone deathly white, and his body could not stop trembling...

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

A syringe gently pierced his body.

Bone Knife slowly crouched behind Chen Yan, her narrow eyes squinting... like a venomous serpent.

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

As the liquid in the syringe was gradually injected, Chen Yan felt his head grow heavier and heavier, his consciousness receding like the tide... Before he completely lost consciousness, he vaguely sensed someone lean close to his ear and whisper like a demon:

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

Chen Ling suddenly jolted awake!

The cold wind swept snowflakes through Mass Grave, whistling mournfully.

His brows and hair had been whitened by snow. Bone-piercing cold seeped through his clothes and chilled him to the marrow... Even so, cold sweat still kept breaking out over his body.

[Audience Expectation +5]

"A-Yan..."

He stared blankly at the snow-covered mound beneath him, then raised a trembling hand and began digging downward.

His palms clawed through layers of ice and snow, turning red with cold, then reached the frozen earth beneath, hard as iron. At that moment, he could barely think. All that remained in his mind was this lonely mound and Chen Yan's struggling face.

As he dug deeper, a second memory surged uncontrollably into his mind...

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

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

"Why did we have to come all the way here to dump the body? Wouldn't it have been fine to bury it somewhere near Ice Spring Street?"

"Idiot. If we buried it near the street, stray dogs passing by would smell it sooner or later. Once someone found it, the Enforcers would have no choice but to dig it up, and once they dug it up, they'd have no choice but to investigate... Qian Fan said this Mass Grave is full of corpses. No one will notice us dumping a body here."

"For this job, do we have to give Qian Fan's people a cut too?"

"For business on Ice Spring Street, the Enforcers take thirty percent... Otherwise, why do you think they help us?"

"Thirty percent? What an outrageous cut... Have we squeezed every last drop out of this kid?"

"Kidneys, liver, corneas, bone marrow, blood... Bone Knife took everything that could be removed. Now this kid's just an empty shell... You didn't see him when he came off the operating table. He was already like a pile of mush. Disgusting as hell..."

"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 carried a black cloth sack along the mountain path through the torrential rain, struggling their way to Mass Grave.

They found an open patch of ground and set down the black sack. One of them took out a shovel and began digging with practiced ease... Once the hole was deep enough, he casually tossed the black sack inside like garbage.