Specimen

Lin Feng looked at Qin Ming, who was curled up on the hospital bed, trembling with extreme fear, yet biting his lip tightly to avoid revealing the last crucial secret. The faint smile on Qin Ming's face gradually disappeared, replaced by a cold, emotionless scrutiny.

Silence filled the ward, broken only by Qin Ming's heavy, disordered breathing and the faint creaking of the bed as he trembled slightly.

Suddenly, Lin Feng chuckled softly, almost silently. The laughter was so light, yet it was more chilling to Qin Ming than any roar.

"It seems," Lin Feng's voice was calm and even, yet carried an ultimatum-like tone, "That you are unable, or rather unwilling, to speak to me properly."

He straightened up, his gaze seemingly casually sweeping towards the direction of the ward door. The figure with delicate, long hair seemed to be standing there quietly, exerting pressure silently.

"Then," Lin Feng said, turning around to clearly convey a message to Qin Ming, "I'm going to find someone who can 'communicate effectively' with you."

This action became the final straw that broke Qin Ming's rationality.

"No! No!!" Qin Ming let out a piercing, distorted scream. His body, bound by the restraints, erupted with a desperate, writhing strength as he frantically tried to stop Lin Feng's seemingly casual action, which was tantamount to pushing him into true hell. "I'll talk! I'll talk!! I'll tell you everything!! Don't let him in! Please!!"

Tears streamed down his face, and his only remaining left eye nearly popped out of its socket from extreme fear. All his previous hesitation and struggle seemed utterly insignificant in the face of the soul-deep terror brought on by the name "Chen Meijiao."

Lin Feng stopped what he was doing, looked down at him again, his eyes cold, as if he were watching a play whose ending he already knew.

"It's... it's because..." Qin Ming's throat felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper, his voice hoarse and broken. He struggled to organize his thoughts, as if each word was draining his remaining life force. "Hou Xiaoya... she... she wasn't detained because of her blood type... or because of some big shot's organ matching..."

This opening caused the Monkey, whose eyes were bloodshot and boiling with murderous intent, to freeze momentarily, even its raging anger momentarily halting. Not an organ transplant? Then what was it?

Qin Ming's next words, like murmurs from the deepest abyss, slowly unveiled the black cloth covering the truth—a cloth more twisted, more absurd, and more repulsive than organ trafficking.

"Because... for organ transplants... generally... we don't choose... those diagnosed with cancer..." Qin Ming explained haltingly, with a lingering professionalism, but that professionalism seemed incredibly ironic at this moment, "Cancer patients... need to undergo chemotherapy... radiotherapy... their body's... major organs... liver, kidneys, heart, lungs... will all suffer... various degrees of... damage... and their functions will decline... and they will no longer be... high-quality...'donors'..."

This explanation is logical and also answers a question that puzzled the Monkey —why the hospital diagnosed its perfectly healthy sister with cancer.

But the real answer is far darker than "organ dysfunction".

"It's... it's Southeast Asia... an anonymous super-rich man..." Qin Ming's single eye revealed a mixture of fear and absurdity. "He... he's recently... becomes obsessed with...' Dream of the Red Chamber '... especially obsessed with... that kind of...'sickness that surpasses even Xizi's beauty'... morbid aesthetics..."

"He... he doesn't collect antiques... he doesn't collect art... he... he started... collecting... real specimens..." Qin Ming's voice was so low it was almost inaudible, yet it pierced the eardrums of Monkey and Lin Feng like an icicle, "Especially... the cadavers of young 'yandere' girls... that fit his aesthetic..."

"He... saw... some photos and videos... secretly taken by us inside... of Hou Xiaoya when she was hospitalized..." Qin Ming swallowed hard, as if there was a clot of blood stuck in his throat. "He felt... Hou Xiaoya's... pale face... weak demeanor... especially... those eyes, which held a hint of stubbornness and fear... perfectly matched... his aesthetic... his dream of... a 'modern Lin Daiyu '..."

An indescribable chill instantly swept over the Monkey's entire body, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave, as if even his blood had frozen! He opened his mouth wide, but no sound came out; only his pupils contracted wildly in extreme horror!

A real... human specimen?! Because of a perverted tycoon's... aesthetic preferences?!

"The only... the only problem is..." Qin Ming continued, each word like a death knell, "Hou Xiaoya... her illness... is not serious... in fact... it could be cured very easily... she... is not 'sick' enough... nor weak enough..."

"So..." Qin Ming's face broke into a twisted smile that looked more like a grimace, "The hospital... diagnosed her with... lymphoma... and had her undergo... high-dose chemotherapy..."

"Like this... after a while..." his voice was like a devil's whisper, "Once she's been completely worn down by chemotherapy... becoming emaciated... on the verge of death... truly meeting the standard of 'sickly beauty'... then... we'll directly announce... treatment ineffective... death..."

"Then..." Qin Ming closed his single eye, seemingly unable to face this final cruelty even himself, "We will... try to... find another... unidentified female corpse... with similar general characteristics... cremate it... and then give the ashes... to your family..."

"And Hou Xiaoya... she herself..." He suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with utter despair and terror, "Will... undergo special... preservation treatment... to be made into... a perfectly preserved specimen... and then... secretly transported out... to... that wealthy man's... private collection... to become his... permanent... 'collection'..."

The words had barely left his mouth.

The ward fell into an absolute, deathly silence.

The Monkey stood frozen in place, as if transformed into a stone statue. The anger, murderous intent, and even the previous sorrow on his face had all vanished, leaving only a pure, vast, and incomprehensible blank. His brain seemed unable to process this information, this truth that was far more terrifying and more desecrating than death itself.

His sister, his lively and lovely sister, almost, just a little bit... not because of illness, not because of medical malpractice, but because of the vague "aesthetics" of some perverted tycoon in a distant country, was about to be turned into a lifeless "specimen," displayed like an object forever in a dark collection room?!

This absurd, twisted, and extreme evil completely exceeded the limits of his imagination.

Lin Feng stood there quietly, his face still expressionless, but in his deep eyes, it seemed as if a black storm was silently gathering.

He looked at Qin Ming, who was completely broken on the bed, like a soulless shell, and then at the Monkey beside him, who seemed to have all his strength drained away.

The truth is often more cruel than imagined.