"Bro?!"
Yue Xiaofei froze at the word.
He glanced at the information in his hand to make sure he hadn't dialed the wrong number.
The girl on the other end had clearly mistaken him for her brother, Chen Ze.
But that wasn't what mattered.
What mattered was the fear and despair in her voice, so intense it was almost spilling over.
No high school student in an ordinary situation would sound like that.
Something had happened!
Yue Xiaofei's heart jolted.
He knew at once that something was wrong.
"I'm not—"
He was about to explain that he wasn't her brother.
But he forced the words back down.
No!
He couldn't tell her now!
She was clearly on the verge of breaking down.
Her "brother" was the only thing she had left to cling to.
If he told her now that he wasn't her brother—and that her brother had died—
She might fall apart on the spot!
Yue Xiaofei's mind raced.
He lowered his voice at once, speaking as gently and steadily as he could, like an older brother would.
"It's me. Don't be afraid. Tell me what happened."
At his reply, Chen Nian seemed to seize on her last lifeline.
The sobs she had been holding back grew louder.
"Bro! You finally called!"
She kept her voice low and spoke in a frantic rush, as though terrified someone would hear her.
"Bro... they demolished our home by force!"
"A bunch of bad people came in and smashed everything!"
"I tried to stop them, so they hit Mom! Her leg... it's bleeding again!"
"I fought them, and they grabbed me! They locked me in a dark room!"
"Bro... I'm so scared... They said... someone important wants my corneas..."
"They're going to... take them out... for a transplant..."
Each broken sentence struck