Julian’s emotions were all too apparent, perhaps betrayed by his ragged, broken breaths. Ethan gently took Julian’s hand, rubbing it softly as if to offer him comfort. It was patently obvious that Ethan was the one who needed to be comforted, yet Ethan Caldwell always wrapped Julian in his protective embrace just like this.

He parted the smaller fingers of the other man, tenderly intertwining their ten digits together, and gently caressed them.

His deep voice seemed to blend into the dimly lit room, carrying a whispered sigh, "Sounds agonizing, doesn’t it?"

Julian froze, inexplicably feeling a stinging sensation welling up in his eyes.

Perhaps it was because his heart ached for this man.

Meanwhile, Ethan’s gaze was as unfathomably deep as a bottomless abyss, "If it were me, I think I would choose a decisive death. That would probably be the most gentle option, even if it sounds a bit defeatist. But... lying perfectly still in one place for ten long years is truly not an easy thing to accept. To be conscious, to have sensations, to slowly gnaw on the pain that is torturing your own body..." Ethan paused for a moment, wanting to say something more, but it felt as if something had lodged in his throat.

Choked with emotion, he could ultimately only utter a soft murmur, "Jules...".

Julian’s heart seemed to clench, his hand tightening around the man’s intertwined fingers, as if wanting to tenderly soothe Ethan.

A vegetative state...

In truth, depending on the specific circumstances, each person who fell into this condition would have a different reaction. For some, it was simply like falling into a prolonged slumber, where all bodily functions remained normal, but both consciousness and tactile senses sank into a peaceful sleep. Yet for others... they could occasionally still perceive the world around them.

Through Ethan’s murmured words, Julian understood that Ethan’s parents belonged to the latter category. Their brains had sustained trauma, and combined with the severe injuries from the car accident, their consciousness had been plunged into a realm of darkness, but it still persisted. That meant their central nervous systems still retained awareness.

To put it accurately, they were imprisoned within their own ruined, decaying bodies.

A person who still possessed consciousness, who still had feelings, who could hear the weeping of their loved ones, who could sense the relentless flow of time... yet could only lie paralyzed on a stark white hospital bed. Unable to open their eyes, unable to move even a single fingertip, to the point where even the right to determine their own life or death had been utterly stripped away.

Just thinking about that terrifying prospect was enough to send waves of goosebumps across Julian’s skin. He shuddered, horrified as he envisioned those hellish days. A perfectly healthy person would feel their muscles and bones ache after lying in a single position for just a few days, let alone enduring it for an entire, agonizing decade?

Even if Grandpa Arthur wielded overwhelming power, no matter how much wealth he poured out, no matter how meticulous the team of hired nurses was in their care, a physical body lying immobilized for that long could inevitably never avoid necrosis.

Bedsores and ulcers would begin to spread across the flesh, festering and seeping blood. To smell the stench of rotting meat wafting from one’s own body, to vividly feel every visceral, soul-tearing stab of pain relentlessly gnawing away at one’s vitality with each passing second and minute... How could any human being remain sane while enduring such raw, unadulterated torture?

And yet, they had endured it. They had gritted their teeth and borne that bone-deep damnation for ten grueling years.

"Why..." Julian’s voice trembled, the tears finally unable to be held back as they rolled down his cheeks, dampening a patch of Ethan’s shirt over his chest. Perhaps it was because Julian could feel the profound affection Ethan harbored for his parents, or perhaps it was a trace of sorrow for a human existence that was far too bitter: "If it is that agonizing... why are they so stubbornly holding on for so long?"

Or rather, what Julian wanted to ask was, why did it have to be so cruel?

Why was it absolutely necessary to keep them tethered to this world. Such torture not only inflicted agony upon the ones lying on the bed, but it also left the ones left behind in unending torment.

The man’s hand, which was tightly woven with Julian’s, squeezed slightly. The corner of Ethan’s lips curled up into a desolate, tragic smile, and a rare, scalding teardrop inadvertently fell onto Julian’s cheek: "Because of me."

"Did you know, at that time, even the most brilliant doctors shook their heads in helpless defeat. They said that even maintaining a vegetative state would be incredibly difficult, because my parents’ bodily functions had deteriorated too drastically. Yet despite that, they just kept clinging to life, day by agonizing day."

The life support machines continuously beeped every single day, and occasionally, when the vitals hit a critical threshold, they would flash red lights and blare deafening alarms. And yet, as day after day slowly passed, they were still there.

"The doctors said their instinctual desire for survival was too formidable. If it were not for their brainwaves being so frantically active, if their will to live were not so fiercely intense, they would have departed long ago."

"Even..."

Julian heard the man’s voice choke up; Ethan paused for a very long time, likely trying to regain his composure. A moment later, Julian heard the man swallow dryly before finally speaking again: "Even... there was a time back then when I actually pulled the plug on their life support."

At this point, Ethan let out a hollow laugh.

It was merely a laugh, devoid of any overwhelming emotion injected into it. Perhaps he merely wanted to alleviate the suffocating tension of the moment.

However, the sense of poignant sorrow only continued to permeate Julian’s heart, growing heavier and heavier. What kind of unimaginable concept was it, to physically pull the plug on one’s own parents’ life support with one’s own hands? Ethan’s parents loved Ethan wholeheartedly, and Ethan undoubtedly loved his parents just as deeply. Perhaps, over all these years, Ethan Caldwell had been intensely tormented by his own guilt.

Wanting his parents by his side, even if only a fading breath remained, so that at the very least he could delude himself into believing they were still living with him. But in his heart, it must have been excruciatingly bitter... seeing them subjected to such torturous torment, and worse still, knowing they were being tormented for his sake, perhaps Ethan had never been able to sleep peacefully.

Exactly what profound level of self-flagellation and agonizing internal struggle had he endured to finally make that fateful decision.

"But... they still held onto that final, lingering breath." Julian heard a heavy exhale escape from Ethan’s lips: "Grandpa Arthur arrived at that time too, perhaps unable to bear seeing them tortured like that any longer, he silently assented to what I was doing. But five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes... their chests were still rising and falling."

Ethan couldn’t bear to let them go, back then, he was only twenty or twenty-one years old.

The man still vividly remembered the trembling sensation as he desperately tried to plug the life-sustaining machines back in, and then watching those chests that had been rising and falling erratically for those excruciating fifteen minutes gradually stabilize. Grandpa Arthur called the doctors in and recounted to them what had just transpired. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Afterwards, the doctor said that their thirst for survival was incredibly fierce. Their brainwaves were even fluctuating violently.

"Perhaps it isn’t just because of me, but because they still have something left unfulfilled, so they refuse to surrender to death."

"And just like that, the struggle and torment dragged on for an entire ten years."

Julian wanted to offer comfort, wanted to say something, but he knew that what Ethan truly wanted to address was still yet to come. Julian could only grit his teeth, suppressing the bitter ache in his own heart, and quietly wait for Ethan to finish speaking.

"I didn’t understand, and Grandpa Arthur didn’t understand either; what exactly were they holding onto so stubbornly? Whenever I had free time, I would come and talk to them, letting them know that I was living well, that I had grown up, and that I could shoulder the burden of the Caldwell Empire now. But everything remained exactly the same."

The continuous, low hum of the life support machinery made Ethan feel that the place was incredibly suffocating. There were moments when he desperately wanted to rip that power cord out and run away, letting it all finally end.

But then, he would remember those rising and falling chests, desperately clinging to their fading breath for those entire fifteen minutes.

Ethan couldn’t bear to do it, nor did he dare to.

"That was until one day, I accidentally mentioned CORE."

"Their machines suddenly began blaring loudly, and all of their vitals went completely haywire. It was an immensely powerful reaction."

Ever since the incident where Ethan pulled the plug and the two of them still managed to fight on, the doctors had intentionally installed an additional brainwave monitoring device beside them. Therefore, Ethan had witnessed with his own eyes those highly sensitive, delicate brainwaves exhibit a colossal reaction upon hearing the word CORE.