The silence following the opening of the heavy operating room doors was thick, almost suffocating, laden with the metallic scent of antiseptic and the unspoken fears of five powerful men.
Chen Yan stood there in the harsh light of the surgical bay, his cap discarded and his hair matted with the sweat of a long battle against the Reaper.
He looked at his father and brothers with a hollow, haunted gaze, and then his eyes shifted to the periphery, where Yang Muchen stood like a dark, immovable statue at the edge of the light.
"The surgery was a success. She's alive," Chen Yan said, his voice cracking with a raw, uncharacteristic fragility. A collective, shuddering breath escaped the group, a sound of pure relief that seemed to vibrate the very walls.
