The Decaying Dream of America: I Assemble Corpses and Confront Madness

Chapter 110 The Price of the First Strike

The air in the hospital basement is always a bit heavier than on the ground.

The pungent smell of formaldehyde and medical disinfectant, mixed with a musty, stale odor, permeated every corner.

The fluorescent tubes overhead emitted a low hum, continuously emitting a pale light that rendered everything in the morgue lifeless.

Lin Zheng stood beside rows of metal storage cabinets. They did not store documents, but rather the end of lives, lives that had been put on hold.

Lin Zheng's hands were habitually in the pockets of his work jacket. He wasn't wearing any special medical protective clothing, just his usual work clothes.

Inside the pocket, the palm-sized image of the Virgin Mary was gently stroked by fingertips. The edges of the paper were worn and rough to the touch; it carried the heavy weight of a father's remorse and plea for help, its weight far exceeding its material weight.

Arthur Morgan stood leaning against the white wall of the morgue, his body slightly hunched. His trench coat was open, making him look somewhat disheveled. His face bore the marks of exhaustion from working through the night, and the stubble from the past few days made his chin appear even rougher.

He stared intently at the heavy metal door deep inside the morgue, his eyes unfocused, as if piercing through the door to see into a farther, darker place. His fingers unconsciously rubbed against the seam of his trousers, a slow, continuous rhythm. Each rubbing sound was faint yet clear, sounding particularly jarring in the silence.

The door finally opened with a dull metallic scraping sound.

Dr. Evelyn Reed emerged from behind the door, her figure somewhat blurred in the shadows of the porch, but quickly becoming fully visible in the morgue's light. Her hair was completely covered by a hat, with only a few strands of brown hair peeking out, close to her ears, and black-rimmed glasses sat firmly on her nose.

Evelyn spotted Lin Zheng and Arthur immediately. Her gaze didn't linger; she walked straight towards them.

Then, her gaze turned to Arthur, her eyes carrying a direct question, without any unnecessary formalities.

"You've come." Her voice was slightly hoarse, but her tone was steady. Evelyn's gaze swept over the two of them, finally settling on Arthur's slightly haggard face, her eyes questioning.

Arthur did not answer immediately.

He pulled a photograph from the inside pocket of his trench coat, his movements slow and deliberate, each small action heavy and careful. It was a photograph of Murphy and his daughter, the paper yellowed and the edges slightly curled, but Murphy's awkward smile and Selena's bright smile appeared exceptionally vivid and heartbreaking in the pale light.

Evelyn took the photo, her fingers gently tracing its worn edges, her gaze fixed on Selena's innocent smile.

"Evelyn," Arthur began, his voice heavy, "His name is Murphy, he's a Mexican-American construction worker."

He paused, his voice lower and more sorrowful, "He died of pneumonia. He had been working at a high intensity, pushing his body to its limits, and ultimately couldn't pull through."

Evelyn's eyes remained unchanged.

She had reviewed countless files, and to her, the name Murphy was just one of the many unidentified deceased people received daily in the public hospital morgue.

Every day, countless people, crushed by the weight of life, die silently in the corners of the city. Her brow furrowed slightly, and she looked at Arthur with a questioning gaze, waiting for him to continue.

"Murphy owes a lot of money to loan sharks. His only daughter, Selena, is being pressured to pay off the debt, in their own way."

Evelyn's gaze pierced through her glasses, fixed intently on Selena's innocent smiling face in the photograph.

Arthur continued speaking, his pace quickening. He seemed afraid that if he stopped, he would never be able to speak again, and his voice carried a torn pain.

"We—we need money, cash that's readily available, to ransom Selena from those beasts. But right now—we only have Murphy's body."

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When he spoke of "Murphy's body," his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the metal storage cabinet on the side.

Inside, Murphy's body lay quietly, as if still asleep. This stark reality stripped away any remaining humanity from the morgue.

Evelyn finally raised her head, her gaze shifting from Selena's face to Lin Zheng and Arthur's. Her eyes held so much: understanding of their situation, sympathy for Murphy and his daughter, anger at this cruel reality, but above all, a profound and unfathomable weariness.

"You want me to sell Murphy's body?" Evelyn's words were soft but direct.

Lin Zheng did not answer immediately. He simply took out the Murphy's Madonna statue from the inside pocket of his jacket in silence.

That tattered piece of paper seemed so insignificant in his hands, yet so heavy.

Evelyn's gaze fell on the few pieces of paper. Murphy's image of the Virgin Mary, the Virgin's blurred face and the "I'm sorry" engraved on the back, silently told of a father's pain and despair before his death.

The information about Selena being coerced made her frown and her eyes behind her glasses narrow slightly.

The hospital's code of professional ethics is an ironclad rule that she must abide by, and it is also the belief that she has maintained for a long time.

Every corpse is physical evidence, the last dignity of the deceased, and should not be bought or sold. However, the request before her directly challenged all her professional bottom lines and all the principles she had always firmly believed in.

This was not merely for scientific research, nor for teaching experiments, but to redeem a living, breathing life. A hope, fresh and alive, that suddenly came to life amidst the countless cold corpses she had handled.

Arthur lightly tapped his fist against the wall, making no sound. His gaze was fixed on Evelyn, his eyes filled with a desperate plea. His voice trembled slightly, as if it came from the depths of despair.

"Doctor, the law is dead here." Arthur's voice was filled with utter despair. "If Murphy's death had followed the proper procedures, he would have been a forgotten, nameless corpse, and no one would even remember his name. Selena—she still has a chance. This is the last thing Murphy can do for her."

Evelyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was a long, slow breath, as if she wanted to inhale all the coldness and despair of the morgue, and then exhale it slowly with a long sigh.

That sigh contained all her weariness, all her struggle, and all her helplessness. She didn't look at the information Lin Zheng handed her; money seemed more repulsive and filthy to her than the cold formaldehyde.

Her gaze fell once more on the statue of the Virgin Mary; its worn patterns and blurred outlines seemed to be silently questioning her soul.

"The people I contacted weren't willing to pay enough, so we came to you." Lin Zheng gave a bitter smile.

She let out a long sigh, her voice sounding weak and heavy.

Her gaze swept over Arthur and Lin Zheng, her eyes filled with an indescribable complex emotion, including understanding, helplessness, and a vague worry about the unknown road ahead.

"Give me a few minutes, let me see what I can do."

They all knew that once this decision was made, there was no turning back. They were about to embark on a darker, muddier road, paying an immeasurable price for a sliver of hope.

Evelyn didn't say anything more. She simply turned around and walked with heavy steps towards the half-open office at the end of the morgue. Dim light shone through the crack in the office door, casting a long shadow on the pale corridor floor.

Lin Zheng and Arthur stood silently in the corridor of the morgue, watching Evelyn's figure disappear behind the door.

Their eyes were fixed on the light shining through the crack in the door, that faint glimmer that now held Murphy's last shred of dignity and everything that belonged to Selena.

Every minute of waiting felt like an eternity.

The walls of the corridor were grayish-white, with some scratches and stains from years of neglect. Several old medical posters hung on the walls, depicting medical staff with stiff smiles.

These propaganda posters looked somewhat eerie in the dim light, and what was happening before our eyes was so incongruous with the "health and hope" they proclaimed.

After a while, a slight sound came from the office. It was the sound of a phone dialing, followed by Evelyn's low voice.

Her voice was muffled by the distance between the door and the corridor, but Lin Zheng could still discern the seriousness in her tone and a hint of suppressed anxiety.

She may be talking to people who only exist in the shadows of the city, middlemen who walk the line between law and law and handle all sorts of shady deals.

These people emerge from every corner of the social fabric, yet they maintain a certain unknown balance, becoming an indispensable part of this morbid city.

Lin Zheng listened to the vague response from the other end of the phone.

He remembered Murphy's rough, calloused hands, and Selena's innocent, smiling face. A father's chance bought with his life, a daughter's price paid with her dignity.

All the unseen transactions in between are rife with unspeakable filth. He is a low-level international student who makes a living by "building Gundams," Arthur is an old detective abandoned by the system, and Evelyn is a forensic pathologist who is challenging the bottom line of professional ethics.

At this moment, they had all become participants in this underground transaction, links in the city's cruel chain. This identity filled Lin Zheng with an indescribable heaviness and irony, casting a heavy shadow over his heart.

Lin Zheng wasn't sure how many phone calls Evelyn had made. Intermittent conversations could be heard in the office, only to fall silent again and again.

After each call, Evelyn would fall into a brief silence, a silence more unsettling than any words.

Lin Zheng and Arthur exchanged a glance, both seeing the same worry in each other's eyes. They could only wait, and the waiting itself was torture.

On the other side of the city, the lights may be on, and people may be enjoying coffee and television programs in their warm homes, busy preparing for tomorrow's life, or simply passing the time idly.

Unbeknownst to them, in some inconspicuous corner of this city, three people are engaged in a race against time, a perilous adventure against morality and law, for the sake of a forgotten soul from the bottom of society and another life hanging by a thread.

This is daily life in Emerald Dream City, a stark and unforgiving reality filled with irreconcilable contrasts. Life and death, light and darkness, hope and despair intertwine here, blurring the lines between them.

Finally, the conversation in the office completely stopped. Immediately afterwards, there was a slight thud of something heavy being put down, probably the receiver being placed back on the landline, sounding particularly heavy.

Lin Zheng and Arthur both tensed up instinctively, waiting for Evelyn to emerge from behind the half-open door and for her to bring a result, good or bad, that would determine their next step.

Evelyn reappeared before them. Her face was even paler than before, her tired eyes were sunken, and her eyes behind her black-rimmed glasses were bloodshot, just like her mood at that moment.

The dim light behind her outlined her slender figure, making her look exceptionally fragile. But her steps remained firm, and she clutched a folded piece of paper tightly in her hand, as if it were the only hope she had pulled out of the abyss with all her might.

"I found a buyer," she said, her voice filled with deep helplessness, "but the price they offered—it's practically an insult to the deceased. And they only accept 'complete' samples. This is more troublesome than I imagined."

"Perhaps we should wait and see if there's another way. I'm afraid that going down this path will involve too many complications," Evelyn said. Her tone revealed hesitation about the unknown risks ahead, as well as a struggle of wanting to retreat but being unable to. Her gaze swept over Lin Zheng and Arthur again, as if seeking their approval, seeking a brief respite.

Lin Zheng and Arthur exchanged glances. Evelyn's concerns were not unfounded.

This first step was already so difficult, and the warning that it was "more troublesome than imagined" weighed heavily on everyone's hearts like a huge stone.

They wanted to save Selena, but they also didn't want Murphy's body, or even themselves, to sink deeper into the mire and become victims of this deal. However, time was not on their side.

Selena's safety is of utmost urgency. Every hesitation, every delay, could push that innocent girl into an even deeper abyss.

The cold wind in the morgue seemed to carry a chill that penetrated Lin Zheng's very bones.

Their hearts were heavy with unease about the unknown risks that future transactions might bring, and whether Murphy's dignity could be preserved.