Harvest My Heart I'll Take Your Empire First!

I was just an ordinary IT guy living a boring life.

After a routine company physical, a pale-faced nurse secretly slipped me a note.

Run! Your health report was swapped. They are preparing to legally harvest your heart!

At first, I thought it was a sick prank.

Until I found out that my company was falsifying my critical condition data in real-time.

And an unmarked black SUV actually tried to run me over, staging an "accidental" death.

Now, I am hiding in the freezing morgue of the hospital, holding a scalpel that could prove everything.

Outside, the heavy footsteps in the corridor are getting closer and closer...

***

###

"Dammit, search every inch! He must be hiding on this floor!"

"Boss, this place is too creepy... Do we really have to search the morgue?"

"Don't miss a single corner!"

Two savage voices echoed down the hallway outside.

I gripped the stolen scalpel so hard my knuckles turned white.

Just hours ago, I was a regular IT tech. Now, I was a "blood bag" on the run.

It all started with that note.

During my checkup, a pale little nurse squeezed a crumpled piece of paper into my hand, telling me someone wanted my heart.

I didn't take it seriously.

Until I discovered my health monitoring data was being remotely hacked and altered.

Until that black SUV tried to crush me into the brick wall of an alley.

Terrified, I fled to the nearest hospital and ran blindly down into the basement morgue.

*Thud!*

Someone kicked the metal door of the freezer cabinet next to mine.

I held my breath, pointing the scalpel at the gap in the door, ready to strike.

But then, the footsteps began to fade.

"Boss! I heard something upstairs! Lets go check!"

As the footsteps vanished, I let out a shaky breath and slumped against the cold metal inside the body tray.

As I was trying to figure out how to escape, a faint scratching sound came from the cabinet next to me.

*Scratch... scratch...*

It sounded like fingernails scraping against steel.

My entire body went rigid.

Was it a rat? Or...

The sound came again, this time with a clear rhythm.

Clutching the scalpel, I slowly pushed my cabinet door open a crack.

The hallway outside was empty.

But the handle of the neighboring freezer tray was turning.

*Click.*

There was someone alive in there?

A faint groan echoed from the metal box.

I kicked my door open and pointed the scalpel forward.

The neighboring tray slid open.

A pale young guy sat up, coughing violently.

"Did you escape too?" he gasped, his eyes wide with pure terror. "Did they list you as a 'spare part' too?"

I stood there, lowering my scalpel slightly.

Another victim?

Suddenly, the young guy's eyes went wide, staring right behind me.

"Watch out!"

I spun around, but I was too late.

The prongs of a taser slammed into my chest. Thousands of volts of electricity surged through my body.

Before blacking out, I saw two men in tactical gear and a man in a white lab coat standing at the door.

"Take them both," the doctor said coldly. "Patient Zeros condition is deteriorating. We need to prep for surgery immediately."

Every nerve in my body screamed in agony.

I wanted to scream for help, but my lips wouldn't move.

When I opened my eyes again, my vision was a blurry, clinical white.

I was locked inside a clear pod filled with a milky white liquid. Only my head was exposed.

An oxygen mask was strapped to my face, and my wrists and ankles were secured by thick metal bands.

Over a dozen electrodes were glued to my bare skin.

On the monitor connected to me, my heart rate was spiking wildly in bright green lines.

And the guy who had been captured with me?

He was already lying on a steel table nearby, his chest cavity cut open, discarded like trash.

"Vitals stable. The donor is awake."

"Administer the pre-op sedative. Move him to OR-1 in thirty minutes. Patient Zero is already under anesthesia."

The doctor picked up a syringe filled with a cloudy fluid and walked toward my IV line.

It was over.

Utter despair washed over me, colder than the medical fluid.

Once that needle went in, I would have no strength left to fight. I would have to watch them carve my heart out while I was wide awake!

Just as the needle was about to pierce the tube

My vision suddenly distorted, like a glitching TV screen.

Several rows of glowing text flashed right across my eyes.

`[The syringe contains a high-strength muscle relaxant and sedative! Do not let him inject it!]`

`[Use the physical emergency port under your right foot! Smash it! Short-circuit the system!]`

`[Hurry! No time!]`

***

###

AR text?!

I froze. This wasn't a hallucination.

Was it the nurse?

How was she doing this?

There was no time to think. Survival instinct kicked in, and I chose to trust this sudden "guardian angel."

With my right foot bound by the metal ring, I slammed my heel downward with all my might.

*Bang!*

I hit an inconspicuous gray cover plate on the inner wall of the medical pod!

The plate popped open, revealing a messy bundle of wires and circuit boards.

"Stop him!" the guard yelled, lunging forward to pin my legs.

Following the glowing text prompts in my eyes, I used my toenails to snag and rip the red and blue data wires.

*Sparks flew!*

The metal bands locking my wrists and ankles instantly snapped open due to the power overload!

The doctor slammed his hands onto the control panel, but the screen flickered wildly. The system was failing.

The two guards lunged at me again.

I grabbed the live, sparking wires and whipped them directly across the face of the nearest guard.

`[Go to the main console! Override code: Delta-Seven-Zero-Alpha! Now!]`

I scrambled out of the pod, my wet body sliding across the floor.

The doctor tried to block me, but I slammed my elbow into his jaw, knocking him back.

With wet fingers, I tapped the code onto the touchscreen.

The master system override popped up!

`[Environmental control! Fire sprinklers! High-frequency strobe light!]`

I hit activate!

*Swoosh!*

A freezing deluge of water rained down from the ceiling, flooding the room.

The emergency lights began flashing at an blinding, nauseating speed.

The guard who had grabbed my shoulder let go to shield his eyes.

`[Access database! Look up your ID: B-737!]`

Squinting through the pouring water, I frantically typed on the screen.

I entered B-737.

The screen flashed: *Donor status: Quarantined. Physical sample location: Sublevel 2, Cryo-Storage, Sector 7, Shelf C-17. Access level: Omega Lock.*

My original blood samples were in the cryo-vault!

`[Remember the location! Cut the power! Create chaos! Exit through the east corridor!]`

I grabbed the main power cable of the console and ripped it out of the wall.

I picked up a metal stool and hurled it at the nearest ceiling light.

Total darkness and pouring water engulfed the room.

Amidst the screaming alarms, I burst through the door and ran into the hallway.

`[Left! Go straight fifty yards! Avoid the security camera!]`

`[Guards coming from the right! Duck into the janitor's closet!]`

`[Go! Get out! Keep moving! Turn left at the end, take the emergency stairs down to B2!]`

I ran like a madman, the AR text in my eyes updating every second.

It predicted every obstacle and guard patrol route with terrifying precision.

Finally, I slammed into a heavy blast door marked "B2 - Restricted Area."

`[Authorization temporarily bypassed! Get in! Theyve initiated lockdown!]`

I pushed, and the door clicked open.

I slipped inside, and the heavy door locked behind me with a solid hiss.

But before I could even catch my breath, new red text flashed in my eyes, blinking with desperate urgency.

`[Warning! Dynamic biometric scanners active in the vault! Unauthorized entry will trigger a silent alarm!]`

`[They know you're here! They are setting up a perimeter!]`

`[Watch out! Theres something else inside... not just guards...]`

***

###

The heavy metal door sealed shut behind me, blocking out the shouting of the guards.

`[Go straight, take the second right. Avoid the motion sensors on the ceiling.]`

I hugged the wall, barely making a sound.

Turning right, I saw the alloy door of the cryo-vault at the end of the hall.

Next to the door was an authorization panel.

I crouched down and took the wire I had ripped from the pod, carefully jamming the exposed metal threads into a green port on the panel.

`[Keep it there. Bypassing authorization... Need ten seconds.]`

The text flickered. The person on the other end was putting everything into hacking the lock.

Behind me, the guards were already breaching the B2 main blast door.

`[Success! Access granted. Status spoofed as 'Emergency Sample Retrieval.' You have three minutes! Go left, Shelf C!]`

*Hum*

The alloy door slid open silently.

I bolted inside.

The temperature plummeted. My breath turned into thick white mist.

The room looked like a futuristic library, filled with towering metal shelves emitting cold vapor.

Thousands of labeled cryo-boxes were stacked neatly in rows.

I sprinted down the icy aisle, scanning the tags.

There!

A standard cryo-box sat quietly on Shelf C-17.

The label read: *Ethan, B-737.*

Just as I reached for it

`[Stop!]`

The text flashed in a violent, bloody red.

`[Weight sensors active! Any weight discrepancy or illegal opening will trigger a Level 5 Lockdown!]`

My hand froze in mid-air. Cold sweat broke out on my neck.

They were this meticulous!

`[Scan the side of the box! Look for a passive RF transmitter!]`

I leaned in, using the dim blue light of the shelf to inspect the box.

Sure enough, hidden in a tiny crevice on the side was a transparent micro-chip.

`[Found it! It's a real-time GPS and alarm trigger! If you move the box, theyll know instantly.]`

What now?

Time was running out. My heart hammered against my ribs.

`[Change of plan! Do not take the box! Use your wire to connect to the data port on the bottom of the box. Download the original sample spectrum data and storage log. That's enough to prove your sample hasn't been contaminated and belongs to you. We have to leave the physical sample behind.]`

Leave it?

I had gone through hell to get here!

`[Hurry! No time to argue! This is the only way to clear your name! The port is at the bottom.]`

Clenching my teeth, I realized she was right.

I plugged my wire into the tiny port at the bottom of the box.

`[Connection established! Downloading data... 1%]`

The progress bar crawled upward painfully slowly.

`[Oh no! They are brute-forcing the B2 master door! Faster than expected! Accelerate!]`

The distant thud of an explosion echoed. They were in the sublevel!

`[Download complete! Disconnect! Run! Use the waste disposal chute at the far end of the vault!]`

I ripped the wire out and turned to run.

*Click...*

A mechanical whirring sound came from above my head.

I looked up.

At the very top of the shelf, a black automated syringe gun crept out of the ceiling.

It aimed directly at my neck.

The AR text in my vision began to violently warp and glitch.

*BZZZ*

`[System... bypassed... by admin...]`

`[Firewall... breach...]`

`[Run... Ethan... run... they found m...]`

The last words faded into static.

And then, the AR overlay vanished from my eyes completely.

She... she got caught?!