?Chapter 1437:


    The moment those words left Chris’s lips, the lid of the trash can suddenly lifted.


    He looked up — and a chill shot through him, freezing his blood. His flesh crawled with a tangible, electric dread.


    What appeared before him was not the bright-eyed girl from his memories. Instead, a pale, smooth face loomed over him — featureless, without eyes, nose, or mouth. An eerie nkness stared down at him.


    “No!”


    A piercing scream tore from the depths of his throat.


    His eyes snapped open.


    Reality mmed into him — dizzying and disorienting rather thanforting. The white ceiling above churned and spun, pulling at his senses like a whirlpool ready to drag him under. The monitors surrounding his bed shed urgent red rms. Yet Chris heard nothing. Everything was muted, save for a relentless buzzing inside his head, as if invisible wings were beating against the walls of his skull.


    He gasped, chest heaving, cold sweat soaking through his hospital gown. His vision blurred as he struggled to focus, but the faceless image remained burned into his mind. And then, behind the fear, came a wave of sorrow.


    Who was that figure? Why had they appeared in his memory?


    A sudden, deafening bang jolted him further. The observation room door mmed open, and a wave of doctors and nurses rushed inside, white coats billowing. Carsen was at the front, his eyes flicking to the chaotic monitor readings, his face tightening with rm. He issued orders immediately — sedatives, blood pressure, heart rate — but Chris heard none of it.


    The terror of that featureless face had wrung thest drop of strength from him. Darkness rose again like a crushing tide and dragged him under. His eyelids drooped, and he fell back into deep, unconscious sleep.


    On the first floor of Cooper Group’s private hospital, the corridor lights flickered.


    Kiley sprinted down the hallway in high heels, heart hammering. The contents of the USB drive had left her frantic with worry for her brother. She skidded to a halt at the emergency room door. The bright red Surgery in Progress light was dark. The doors were shut, and the room beyond was silent and pitch ck.


    Where was everyone?


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    A sense of foreboding seized her. She spun on her heel, rushed to a nearby doctor’s office, and flung the door open.


    Inside, a young male doctor sat slumped in a chair, pale and trembling, clutching a cup of water.


    “Where is the patient who was undergoing resuscitation?” Kiley demanded, bending toward the desk, her tone razor-sharp.


    The doctor flinched, spilling the water across the floor. His eyes darted toward her, fear etched into every line of his face. He raised his hands in surrender and shook his head rapidly. “I… I don’t know. I don’t know anything,” he stammered.


    He was trembling with raw, unfiltered fear. He hadn’t forgotten the sudden arrival of armed intruders — the cold, unyielding gun barrels and the icy stares. Above all, he hadn’t forgotten the leader’s warning before they left: “I advise you to forget everything you witnessed tonight.” At the end of the day, he was simply a doctor, and he just wanted to make it out alive.


    Kiley’s gaze sharpened, turning cold. “You don’t know?”


    Without hesitation, she drew a sleek handgun from her coat and aimed it squarely at his forehead.


    “Ah!” The doctor lurched violently in his chair, nearly toppling backward. His mind raced. What in the world was happening today? Why was everyone suddenly armed? This was a hospital — a ce where people were supposed to be saved, not shot at.


    He had only transferred to Cooper Group’s private hospital the previous month, drawn in by the generous pay, thefortable benefits, and the well-mannered, affluent patients. Nobody in HR had mentioned that the position came with a risk of getting killed. He still couldn’t process the fact that he had encountered armed intruders twice in a single day.


    Kiley’s eyes cut toward the trembling man, her irritation rising. In her own hospital, she was staring at a doctor who had no idea who truly held power here. It was an embarrassment — an insult to Cooper Group.


    “I won’t ask you again.” She thumbed the safety with a sharp, deliberate click.


    That sound snapped thest thread of the doctor’sposure. He sucked in a shaky breath, his face draining of color entirely. Between keeping quiet and staying alive, he didn’t hesitate for a second.


    “D-don’t shoot — please!” he blurted, grinding the words out through chattering teeth, eyes brimming. “The patient… he was taken. Taken by a group with guns!”


    “What?” Kiley’s pupils tightened, her heart clenching as though caught in a vise.


    A group with guns. Had udius’s special ops team been wiped out?


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