Chapter 1

I was just an ordinary IT guy living a boring life.

After a routine company physical, a pale-faced nurse secretly slipped me a note.

"Run! Your health report was swapped. They are preparing to legally harvest your heart!"

At first, I thought it was a sick prank.

Until I found out that my company was falsifying my critical condition data in real-time.

And an unmarked black SUV actually tried to run me over, staging an "accidental" death.

Now, I am hiding in the freezing morgue of the hospital, holding a scalpel that could prove everything.

Outside, the heavy footsteps in the corridor are getting closer and closer...

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"Dammit, search every inch! He must be hiding on this floor!"

"Boss, this place is too creepy... Do we really have to search the morgue?"

"Don't miss a single corner!"

Two savage voices echoed down the hallway outside.

I gripped the stolen scalpel so hard my knuckles turned white.

Just hours ago, I was a regular IT tech. Now, I was a "blood bag" on the run.

It all started with that note.

During my checkup, a pale little nurse squeezed a crumpled piece of paper into my hand, telling me someone wanted my heart.

I didn't take it seriously.

Until I discovered my health monitoring data was being remotely hacked and altered.

Until that black SUV tried to crush me into the brick wall of an alley.

Terrified, I fled to the nearest hospital and ran blindly down into the basement morgue.

*Thud!*

Someone kicked the metal door of the freezer cabinet next to mine.

I held my breath, pointing the scalpel at the gap in the door, ready to strike.

But then, the footsteps began to fade.

"Boss! I heard something upstairs! Let’s go check!"

As the footsteps vanished, I let out a shaky breath and slumped against the cold metal inside the body tray.

As I was trying to figure out how to escape, a faint scratching sound came from the cabinet next to me.

*Scratch... scratch...*

It sounded like fingernails scraping against steel.

My entire body went rigid.

Was it a rat? Or...

The sound came again, this time with a clear rhythm.

Clutching the scalpel, I slowly pushed my cabinet door open a crack.

The hallway outside was empty.

But the handle of the neighboring freezer tray was turning.

*Click.*

There was someone alive in there?

A faint groan echoed from the metal box.

I kicked my door open and pointed the scalpel forward.

The neighboring tray slid open.

A pale young guy sat up, coughing violently.

"Did you escape too?" he gasped, his eyes wide with pure terror. "Did they list you as a 'spare part' too?"

I stood there, lowering my scalpel slightly.

Another victim?

Suddenly, the young guy's eyes went wide, staring right behind me.

"Watch out!"

I spun around, but I was too late.

The prongs of a taser slammed into my chest. Thousands of volts of electricity surged through my body.

Before blacking out, I saw two men in tactical gear and a man in a white lab coat standing at the door.

"Take them both," the doctor said coldly. "Patient Zero’s condition is deteriorating. We need to prep for surgery immediately."

Every nerve in my body screamed in agony.

I wanted to scream for help, but my lips wouldn't move.

When I opened my eyes again, my vision was a blurry, clinical white.

I was locked inside a clear pod filled with a milky white liquid. Only my head was exposed.

An oxygen mask was strapped to my face, and my wrists and ankles were secured by thick metal bands.

Over a dozen electrodes were glued to my bare skin.

On the monitor connected to me, my heart rate was spiking wildly in bright green lines.

And the guy who had been captured with me?

He was already lying on a steel table nearby, his chest cavity cut open, discarded like trash.

"Vitals stable. The donor is awake."

"Administer the pre-op sedative. Move him to OR-1 in thirty minutes. Patient Zero is already under anesthesia."

The doctor picked up a syringe filled with a cloudy fluid and walked toward my IV line.

It was over.

Utter despair washed over me, colder than the medical fluid.

Once that needle went in, I would have no strength left to fight. I would have to watch them carve my heart out while I was wide awake!

Just as the needle was about to pierce the tube—

My vision suddenly distorted, like a glitching TV screen.

Several rows of glowing text flashed right across my eyes.

`[The syringe contains a high-strength muscle relaxant and sedative! Do not let him inject it!]`

`[Use the physical emergency port under your right foot! Smash it! Short-circuit the system!]`

`[Hurry! No time!]`

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