Lu Yuan: I am a kind person and allowed her to pay off her debts for 150 years.

Thump thump—

The sound of a heartbeat.

"How are you feeling now?"

"I feel very settled..."

"Do you like this feeling?"

"No, I don't really like it..."

"Good, you're not supposed to like it. Although losing your heart didn't affect your body functions, it messed with your psychology."

"Plus, your experiences made you completely hopeless about this world, so much so that you wanted to die."

It was three o'clock in the morning.

Half an hour ago, Lin Youyou had her first experimental heart transplant done by Lu Yuan.

The anesthetic dosage that would knock out an average person for a whole day and night only put Lin Youyou to sleep for twenty minutes.

Because Lin Youyou had extremely robust self-healing abilities and immunity.

Of course, Lu Yuan had this ability too.

The self-healing properties of his mechanical prosthetics came from the fibrous tissues that contained this ability.

At this moment, Lin Youyou lay on the operating table and said softly, "Doctor Lu, I feel a bit cold..."

"Hmm?"

Lu Yuan frowned, "How could you feel cold? That's not right..."

"To be honest, this heart came from an incurable infected person."

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with the heart. Also, that infected person had very strong cardio-pulmonary functions. How could you feel cold after I transplanted it into you..."

"Hang on, let me examine you carefully."

Lu Yuan stared at the monitor in front of him, scrutinizing Lin Youyou's vital signs.

"Doctor Lu..."

"Hmm?"

"Maybe you could just give me a blanket to cover up with?"

Only then did Lu Yuan realize this flawless work of art had been naked the whole time.

However...

Lu Yuan pushed his frameless glasses and said, "That's not necessary, is it..."

Lin Youyou's voice seemed to have a bit more life in it: "No, I feel it's quite necessary."

Lu Yuan frowned, "We're about to switch to the second heart soon. There are six in total. Once we're done I'll send you on your way."

"Don't worry, I've already figured out a way to deal with your self-healing abilities."

As he spoke, Lu Yuan took out the iron hammer that had snapped Old Seven's knee in one blow last time.

"Youyou, I'll use this hammer to smash your head first. I know your head will slowly heal itself, but!"

"I'll smash your whole body into pieces as fast as I can. Even if your self-healing is stronger now, it's definitely not faster than my smashing!"

"Once I've completely smashed you into a pile of meat paste, I'll find a bucket to contain all of you and throw it into the pond out back to feed the crocodiles."

"Then I'll burn the crocodile feces into ashes and divide them into many portions to be delivered by logistics companies to the farthest places they can reach."

"Going through this whole process, even if your self-healing could make you recover, it would take at least 180 years to go from inorganic matter back to organic matter and then carbon-based lifeform."

Lin Youyou: "..."

"Doctor Lu, you don't have to describe it so graphically."

Silence.

"Doctor Lu?"

Still silence.

Lin Youyou turned her head to look. She saw Lu Yuan had already started preparing the second heart.

It was a murky green heart, soaking in a culture dish. Lu Yuan was now selecting the vascular interfaces to connect that heart.

Watching Lu Yuan's fully absorbed look, Lin Youyou truly felt a bit cold this time, inside and out.

When Lu Yuan carefully moved the culture dish containing the second heart next to the operating table, Lin Youyou raised her hand and said, "Doctor Lu, I feel we could discuss my situation a bit more."

However, Lu Yuan's reply made Lin Youyou's heart sink.

"Sorry Youyou, here, what you feel is useless. What I feel is what matters."

As he spoke, that signature pathological smile of Lu Yuan's appeared on his face.

His voice was still flat, but now contained a bit of iciness and indifference: "No matter what you say today, you have to let me finish this six heart experiment."

At this moment, Lin Youyou felt her life was darker than the pitch black night outside.

On average, including preparation work, starting the surgery, post-op monitoring, rest intervals, the process of one surgery took four hours.

The actual surgery time was only about half an hour.

Most of it was Lu Yuan observing the graft rejection responses generated when different types of hearts were in Lin Youyou's body, and how Lin Youyou's body with its powerful self-healing abilities dealt with the graft rejection responses.

Simply put, graft rejection responses are the adverse reactions that occur when an organ from one creature is transplanted into another creature's body.

Based on Lin Youyou's reactions, Lu Yuan obtained solutions for resolving many of the graft rejection issues arising from cross-species heart replacements.

When the last heart was removed from Lin Youyou's body, it was already two o'clock in the morning the next day.

Lu Yuan's clinic was open for business as usual during the day, but coincidentally there were no customers that day.

So Lu Yuan wholeheartedly spent the entire day in the operating room.

Now both Lu Yuan and Lin Youyou looked as if they had just emerged from a pool.

Lu Yuan was drenched, and Lin Youyou...

Was covered in fragrant sweat.

"Phew, phew—"

Lu Yuan breathed heavily and asked Lin Youyou, "How was the experience?"

Lin Youyou glanced at Lu Yuan. "Not bad, I just want to shower."

"Was it good with a heart, or without?"

Lin Youyou was silent for a moment, then said sadly, "Doctor Lu, actually I had guessed your intention when you changed to the third heart."

"Even with the strongest graft rejection from the Ghost King Scorpion's heart, that feeling was still much better than no heart at all."

"Also..."

Lin Youyou's eyes seemed to take on some other strange emotions.

"Also, watching you scurrying around next to me felt so strange, kind of warm..."

"Hmm."

Lu Yuan nodded, taking out the iron hammer. "Looks like with warmth comes the time for sadness, eh?"

Lin Youyou covered her forehead helplessly. "Fine, fine, you win dear Doctor Lu. You've successfully made me fall in love with the feeling of a heartbeat."

"Just tell me, how do you want to dispose of me in order for me to get your heart?"

With the hammer slung over his shoulder, Lu Yuan looked at the naked work of art before him and calmly uttered eight words: "Money for goods, goods for money."

Lin Youyou heaved a slight sigh of relief. "No problem, I want the Dragon Spirit's heart."

Lu Yuan grimaced. "You have expensive taste. That heart is seven million, surgery fee two hundred thousand, no bargaining."

Lin Youyou's expression changed slightly. "That, that expensive? You, you just did six rounds of experimenting on me and didn't charge!"

Lu Yuan laughed. "Experiments are experiments, surgery is surgery, not the same thing. Also..."

"Young lady, before you, not counting myself, only two people have walked out of my one, two, three, three operating rooms alive."

"The price each of them paid was very high."

"The first, as long as I don't die, she has to live in darkness for all eternity."

"The second..."

Lu Yuan paused for a moment. Lin Youyou continued, "That's Liu Yuan, right?"

Lu Yuan nodded. "Yes, Liu Yuan. She chose the same Dragon Spirit's heart as you, bundled with a life."

"How did she pay the medical fees?"

"Mortgage, installments for thirty years, annual interest rate 4.9%, monthly payment thirty-eight thousand two hundred twelve dollars and thirty-two cents."

"Total repayment amount: one million three hundred seventy-five thousand six hundred thirty-six dollars and six cents."

Lin Youyou was dumbfounded.

"How much does Liu Yuan make a month?"

"Eight thousand a month."

"Then?!"

Lu Yuan sighed. "So you see, I'm a kind person. I allow Liu Yuan to be overdue, to take one hundred and fifty years to pay off the debt she owes me."

"And I don't charge her extra penalty interest. Of course, if she suddenly dies one day, then upon death all debts are cleared."

Lin Youyou: "..."

"That's way too much pressure..."

Suddenly, Lin Youyou felt the world was so cold again.

"Yes, that kind of pressure is indeed too much."

"Please lie still," said Lu Yuan as he raised the iron hammer in his hand.

"Doctor Lu! Pressure creates motivation!"

"I'm still young! Taking inflation into account, this money will be worthless in a few decades! Please help me arrange this mortgage installment plan!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

"Oh, poor girl, why bother? I hope your salary keeps pace with inflation and continues to rise..."