Benjamin sipped his cola, watching the security camera footage, quietly waiting for his enemy to return.
About 20 minutes passed.
He saw a black minivan pull up in the courtyard.
A sprightly old man, around sixty years old, carrying an apple the size of a basketball in his left hand and a black briefcase in his right, entered the house.
With the sound of the elevator, the old man stepped out from the second floor.
Benjamin, carrying the young man by his right leg, slowly walked out of the room.
The old man had just cheerfully gone upstairs when he saw Benjamin covered in blood and his son on the floor.
His previously kind and gentle expression instantly changed.
The apple fell from his hand.
"Son, my son, doctor, what have you done?"
The old man wailed, glaring at the unlicensed doctor he had hired to obtain a heart transplant for his child.
"I am not a doctor," Benjamin said in his own voice.
"You…"
The old man's expression was a mix of hatred and fear. He recognized that voice—it was the voice of the organ supplier from the basement.
"I understand."
"How much you loved him!"
Benjamin, dragging corpse of the old man's child, walked step by step toward him.
"You had plans, hopes, and dreams for him."
"He would have a healthy body and a well-envisioned future."
"You would cherish him, watch him grow, and he would have an infinitely beautiful life."
Benjamin slowly walked up to the old man, looking at the old man whose eyes were gradually losing their light.
"And I…"
"denied his past,
and robbed him of his future!"
Saying this, he threw the corpse in his hands with a 'thud' in front of the old man.
"Here you are!"
"This is all he has left… his blood and flesh, blood and flesh about to rot!"
Hearing these words, the old man stared blankly at the dead child before him.
Yes, his dream was shattered.
He no longer had the energy to glare at Benjamin with hatred.
Reflecting on his lonely life, finally having a son in his old age, only to now bury his child.
He was left all alone.
"Ah~"
The old man screamed madly.
Then he lunged at the living room table, grabbed a fruit knife, and slit his own throat.
He staggered a few steps, then collapsed beside the young man's body.
He worried the child was too cold and wanted to keep him company.
Benjamin stood silently, watching the old man's actions.
People only truly understand the depth of pain when they experience it firsthand.
Which parent doesn't have children? Which parent willingly watches their child die?
This old man... he wasn't right, nor was he wrong, but he deserved to die.
After all, Benjamin himself had a mother in this world.
Although he lacked childhood memories, he had indeed spent 20 years in this body, and his soul slowly repairing itself as his body grew.
Thinking of this, Benjamin immediately felt a longing to return home.
He opened the briefcase the old man was carrying and looked inside. It contained stacks of cash, roughly estimated at one million.
This must be the bribe the old man had given to these people.
With a thought, Benjamin stored the money from the briefcase into his personal spatial storage.
He stood up and went to the elevator, paused, and glanced slightly at the two corpses on the floor:
"Old sir, thank you for your money. I forgive you."
A numb soul, not even worth remembering!
He turned and went downstairs, searching the middle-aged man's room again.
From a black plastic drawer, he found his phone and keys. He pressed the buttons, but the phone didn't respond.
It must be out of battery.
The phone was a pure black, full-screen model, its casing showing signs of wear and tear, revealing a few silver-gray spots. "FARE" was engraved on the back, presumably the brand.
The screen had seven or eight cracks, from when his past life had dropped it.
The shattered glass reflected the refined-looking male doctor's face.
The incomplete reflection, etched by the cracks, was like the doctor's gaze from hell.
'Heh~'
Benjamin chuckled coldly, then picked out a gray trench coat and changed into it.
'Not bad, I like trench coats.'
Benjamin looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and washed his face.
He walked into the courtyard, smiled at the security camera hanging above the door with his doctor's face, and then got into the old man's black minivan.
He checked his current location and was already in the northern suburbs. He confirmed the route, navigated to the shortest route back to the city, and started the engine.
*
*
"Nice haircut!"
Inside the "One Cut Plum" barbershop, Benjamin looked at his slicked-back hair. His strong physique filled out his well-fitting trench coat, making him look handsome and energetic.
"That's because you have a good foundation,"
Tony, the stylist, complimented him.
The ample blood supply allowed Benjamin's muscles to adjust to their optimal state.
His entire body possessing streamlined muscles, strong yet agile.
His eyes were deep and bright, his nose high and straight, his smooth, fair face exuding a sharp, cold handsomeness. He had also grown 5 centimeters, reaching approximately 183 cm in height.
After leaving the villa, He had parked his car on the roadside in the desolate wilderness, walked a little further, and stored the elegant doctor's suit in his spatial storage.
He dodged pedestrians all the way to the vicinity of the bus station, washed himself at a tap, bought a new trench coat and trousers, and then took the bus back to the city.
He arrived at this barbershop and was fed up with his predecessor's disheveled hairstyle.
'Time to go home.'
Benjamin muttered to himself, a hint of trepidation in his voice—a trepidation he hadn't felt even when facing the cenobite from the Frozen Hell.
Within Aston City, Benjamin followed the direction he remembered and arrived at his home in the Sunshine Residential Area.
Three girls stood near the entrance of the complex, seemingly waiting for a bus.
"Hey, so handsome! Look, Lili's staring..."
The girl in the white dress on the left said with a smile to the girl in the middle.
"If you like him, go talk to him! Win him over tonight!" the girl in the middle nudged the girl named Lili on the right.
"What are you thinking? What should I say to him?" the girl named Lili asked.
"Just say anything. He's a man, and men are simple creatures, look at me..."
"Hi, handsome!"
The girl in the middle waved her fair hand at Benjamin, who was walking towards her from the side.
Benjamin was eager to get home and didn't want to pay any attention to these people.
Ignoring the woman and the security guard, he swiped his card at the electronic gate of the complex and walked to apartment 402.
"Hahaha... Lina, he's ignoring you." The girl in the white dress laughed.
"He just didn't hear you!"
The girl in the middle picked up her phone and started typing, trying to hide her embarrassment.
Benjamin stood at his door, took a deep breath, and gently knocked.
No one answered. He remembered that his mother should still be at work at this time, and his younger sister was a freshman in college.
No one was home.
In this life, Benjamin also comes from a single-parent family. His father died unexpectedly when he was three years old, and his younger sister, Sianna, was only two months old.
His mother raised two infants alone, surviving on her husband's compensation money through the most difficult years.
Not daring to live off their savings, she transitioned from a full-time housewife to finding work, struggling to raise her two children.
Benjamin took out his key and opened the door.
The living room was simply decorated in a beige color scheme. The 80-square-meter room was divided into three bedrooms.
On the wall above the television hung certificates and awards Benjamin and his sister had received as children, such as "Excellent Student", "Best Child".
On the right wall was a family photo of the three of them. Benjamin felt his heart, which had been pounding like an engine, slowly calm down and begin to feel lighter.