Split Zone No.13

Volume 4

253 The Heart that was Taken Away

A gust of wind ruffled the flower field just when I was about to clarify with Nie Zun on why she was the one who gave him that ring.

The wind was so strong that I had to squint to prevent it from piercing my eyes. It brought with it the smell of fragrant roses, but there was also the smell of blood in the air.

Why would it smell like blood here?

I saw a sea of red before pain shot right through my heart.

Thud, thud, thud.

The smell of disinfectant assaulted my nose as I ended up back in the laboratory. The flower field was gone.

Everyone had shocked faces.

Nie Zun's hand was embedded in my chest.

There was no expression on his face. I could not tell what he was thinking.

Thud, thud, thud.

My heart beat in his hands.

A bitter smile escaped me.

I didn't want to think about what was happening, or what happened to him.

Nothing mattered now.

My mind was still in that flower field.

I suddenly wanted to leave the Split Zone.

I had never felt such an impulse to leave before. I wanted to go back to the real world with him, to go back to that place, to take a look at a real flower field.

Promise me, that you'll stay by my side as long as I can stay alive and bring you with me, okay?

Rip.

Connective tissues teared as he forcefully ripped my heart out of me.

That feeling of cold wind blowing right through you was not comfortable at all. I could still remember the immense pain from when Si Luo stuck his hand into my chest.

But it wasn't painful this time.

How can I feel any pain when my heart was already gone?

"What are you doing?" Gaoqin Jiuye stared open-mouthed, looking like he was about to rush forward.

A black fog encapsulated Nie Zun and I with a wave of his other hand. Gaoqin Jiuye was not able to come near this fog at all.

Nie Zun had that usual indifference on his face.

The blood from my heart was dripping all over those pale, slender fingers of his.

We looked at each other like that, with him holding my heart.

I was suddenly curious about the reactions of others, and I tried to steal a glance at the rest of them from the corner of my eyes.

Du Yue did not look too happy about this, and Song Lu was frowning deeply as if she was worried about something. Jie Pa looked surprised at first, but he then looked as if he was in deep thought a few moments later.

I knew Jie Pa was always calm. He must be thinking about the reasons behind Nie Zun's actions.

But I'm not going to ask him about that, because it wasn't what I cared about at this moment.

My gaze landed on Gaoqin Jiuye for a couple of seconds.

I was a little stunned when I saw him.

Those eyes of his…

He looked enraged. He was watching me with hopeless eyes and a kind of hatred that seemed as if he had stopped the sky from crumbling down on me, but all I did was go and kill myself in front of him right after.

I knew then that he hated me. He definitely hated me.

But how could I not hate you?

If you loved me, and you knew that I loved you, why did you let me forget? Why did you pile this guilt on me and make me come here to live like a rat?

Why didn't you go over to that world to be with me?

Why did you lie to me?

I smiled at him. I knew it would make him hate me even more.

Yes, this was me.

Gaoqin Jiuye, since you've chosen to stand against me from the start, then we shall forever be on opposite sides. If Nie Zun turns into a devil and I'm with him, there's no need for you to be near me, just continue staying on the other end.

It was already fated from the very beginning that you had to bring such pain to me.

"You shouldn't be looking at others when I have your heart with me." Nie Zun spoke, rippling the still air.

I felt myself getting paler and paler. I wasn't upset or in pain, it was merely from losing too much blood.

"It's inevitable that we might be a little lost and confused when we lose too much blood. I hope you understand." I forced myself to give him a bright smile.

Du Yue's face looked like she had just seen a monster. I bet she must be wondering how weird I must be to be able to say something like this.

Life was difficult enough. Wouldn't we end up wallowing in sorrow if we don't laugh at ourselves like that?

It's always good to be a little more optimistic.

I realized something at this point. Why wasn't my heart regenerating after it had been ripped out?

Were hearts unable to regenerate?

This did not make sense. Every single part of a body of consciousness in the Split Zone is supposed to be able to regenerate; it's just that it would take up a huge amount of MF to do so, and it was a tedious process. This didn't mean that it could not regenerate, even if it was the heart. Even if it was a slow process, something should have already happened by now.

However, I could feel it very clearly that there was no new heart growing in place. The hole in my chest was simply bleeding continuously, and I could even feel the wind blowing through it.

I wasn't the only one who realized this. Song Lu said, "What did you do to her? Why isn't her heart healing?"

Nie Zun was still holding my beating heart, dark and sticky blood flowing all over in his hand.

Thud, thud, thud.

Just as I wondered why that heart could still beat even after being ripped out, it disappeared in a cloud of black fog with a wave of Nie Zun's hand.

The heart was gone after the black fog dissipated.

It looked similar to Gaoqin Jiuye's technique when he hid Si Luo in the air vortex.

This reminded me that we should be looking for Yu Liang so that we can wake Si Luo up. He said he'll help me accomplish all that I wanted to achieve.

"What are you trying to do?"

The others looked like they weren't able to go any closer to Nie Zun's black fog. They looked quite wary of it, even Gaoqin Jiuye. All of them had that expression that Laurel had on her face when Nie Zun strangled her quite some time ago.

I knew that Nie Zun's hands could put some sort of pressure on the consciousness of others and it was difficult not to fear that. But right now, that black fog looked like a manifestation of that demonic prowess within him, and it was simply terrifying.

Surprisingly, Du Yue was the one who asked the question. Her expression looked almost as if she actually cared if I ended up dying.

Nie Zun looked at his hand, as if he was observing those blood stains left by my heart. He answered casually, "Don't all of you want her second personality? From what I know, the method you're using to make others lose their ability to heal is merely a drug that has a limited effectiveness. I've used a bottle by accident, and I hope you don't mind. She'll be able to heal a little while after.

"Now that she doesn't have a heart, I'm going to drip some of my demonic blood in her. Since you know Huai Du, you should know that his demonic blood would be able to capture this tiny heart, right? It's equivalent to having an incomplete consciousness without a heart, and there's no way you can summon her second personality like this."

What.

I didn't really get that.

Wait, let me think this through. Firstly, he's saying that he has turned into a demon after coming out from Huai Du's demon cave. His blood has turned demonic, to the point that it is able to capture my heart like that? Of course, it isn't a simple taking. It's equivalent to making me lose a part of my personality, leading to an incomplete consciousness.

I got it now. He didn't use any of Du Yue's drugs. He simply used that demonic blood to create this handicap in my consciousness. A part of my consciousness had been forcefully taken away by him, and it would end up being controlled by that demonic blood.

This was also why I could not regenerate. Bodies of consciousness in the Split Zone rely on MF to maintain their outer appearances, and a complete appearance is merely a manifestation of having a complete consciousness.

Did he do this so that my second personality would not appear again?

His words when we were in the flower field rang in my mind. Did he do this because he was afraid that my second personality would bring me harm?

The wind was still blowing into that hole in my chest. Slowly, my flesh was regenerating, but I still had no heart.

I had literally turned into a heartless person.

I looked down at the hole in my red dress, wondering whether I should laugh or cry. Luckily, the blood had stained my skin to the point that nothing else could be seen. It seemed to also blend in with that red dress of mine.

"So you've been sent by Huai Du?" Du Yue tried to pick for more information.

Nie Zun took out a white handkerchief from his pocket as he attempted to wipe the blood stains from his hands. He looked a little like the old Jie Pa doing this.

I stole a glance at Jie Pa and I saw him looking at me as he adjusted his glasses.

Slight joy filled me as I saw that familiar gesture. It was something that I haven't seen in a long time.

Bouts of pain shot through my chest suddenly. Probably because I didn't have a heart. Everything I did was painful, even if it was just a tiny expression.

This was quite unbearable.

"That's not important, whoever it was who sent me. The thing is your plan has gone down the drain now. You can't use your drug to force her second personality out anymore. What do you plan to do next?"

Nie Zun was able to clean up most of the blood on his fingers, and he returned the blood-stained handkerchief to his coat pocket.

Du Yue shot a glance at me before answering. "How cruel. You can actually bear for her to go through such pain all for the purpose of stopping me in my tracks?"