Chapter 4

Jason POV

"What did you... give me?"

My entire body convulsed uncontrollably.

Ethan looked aggrieved and backed up two steps, hiding behind Sarah.

"Just the pills on the table! Jason, don't scare me. Are you unhappy with how I fed them to you?"

Sarah frowned, finally sensing something was wrong.

She instinctively reached out her hand, wanting to check my carotid pulse.

If her fingertips could just touch my skin and feel that explosive pulse, she would know the truth.

Just a little bit closer.

"Daddy's acting again! He's trying to scare Ethan!"

"He's framing Ethan, saying the medicine he gave has problems! So evil!"

That damned voice rang out again!

Sarah's hand, extended halfway, stopped abruptly in midair, then jerked back.

The trace of inquiry in her eyes instantly turned to extreme disgust.

"Enough!"

She shouted sternly.

"Jason, to frame Ethan, you're even lying about the medication? Those are your own pills. Ethan kindly helped you take them, and you're turning it around on him?"

My whole body trembled. My heart pounded like it would explode. My vision was filled with double images.

The poison surged through my veins, but more poisonous than that was the human heart.

Ethan hid behind her, a sinister smile curling at his lips, though his voice carried a sob.

"Sarah, did I do something wrong? I shouldn't have come back... If Jason gets angry enough to hurt himself because of me..."

"It's not your fault."

Sarah comforted him gently, then turned to me with that icy expression again.

"Since you love acting so much, love faking heart disease, I'll fulfill your wish."

She pulled out her phone and called emergency services.

"Hello, send an ambulance. There's a patient here with a heart attack. Since he says it's so serious, take him back to the hospital. Operate immediately."

After hanging up, she looked down at me writhing in pain on the floor, her eyes flashing with a crazed light.

"Jason, you say you have heart disease? Tonight, I'll cut open your chest and let everyone see whether your heart is black or red, whether it's rotten or just an act!"

Twenty minutes later, I was wheeled into that familiar operating room again.

The difference was, this time it was filled with a murderous atmosphere.

There were no routine preoperative checks.

Sarah directly dismissed the other medical staff. Only she, Ethan, and me lying on the table remained in the operating room.

"Sarah, this... this isn't proper protocol, right? Don't we need an anesthesiologist? No monitoring?"

Though Ethan said this, the excitement in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

Sarah put on her surgical gown while saying coldly.

"He's faking. What anesthesia? Give him a muscle relaxant so he can't move. I want him to watch his lies get exposed while fully conscious."

My eyes widened in terror.

Muscle relaxant!

That meant my whole body would be paralyzed, unable to speak, yet I'd clearly feel every bit of pain from the knife!

She wanted to kill me while I was alive!

"Sarah... I'm really... you'll regret this..."

I roared with the last of my strength, but Ethan jabbed a syringe viciously into my neck.

Cold liquid pushed into my body.

A few seconds later, my tongue went numb. My limbs lost all sensation. I could only lie there like a fish waiting to be butchered, staring in despair at the pale ceiling.

"Ethan, you do it."

Sarah handed him the scalpel.

"Haven't you always wanted surgical practice? Today's a good opportunity. He won't die anyway. This suffering is what he asked for."

Ethan took the knife, his hand even trembling with excitement.

He walked up to me. Above his mask, his eyes curved into crescents. In a voice only I could hear, he whispered.

"Jason, hang in there. This is the privilege Sarah gave me. After we cut you open, if there really is a disease, it's accidental death. If there isn't... well, you'll be a cripple for the rest of your life."

"Yay! Ethan's becoming a doctor! Mommy's teaching Ethan surgery!"

"Cut open bad daddy! See if his belly's full of nasty stuff!"

Sarah stood to the side, instructing.

"Don't be afraid. Keep the blade steady. Cut from the center of the sternum..."

The cold blade touched my skin.

Intense pain instantly swept through my nerves, but I couldn't even scream. I could only watch helplessly as that knife slowly cut open my chest.

Sarah, you're so cruel.

In another life, I'd rather never have met you.

Tears slid from the corners of my eyes, mixing with blood.

Just as my consciousness was slipping away from the pain, just as I thought history was about to repeat itself-

BANG!

A loud crash.

The solid airlock door was kicked open violently from outside.

A group of people suddenly rushed in.