I gave birth prematurely, just twenty days before the due date.

Two hours after I entered the surgery room, I had a stillborn baby.

I did not cry at all. I did not even spare a glance at the dead baby.

I endured the pain from childbirth and calmly walked into the hospital nursery. After the door was tightly shut, I turned down the temperature of the air-conditioning.

The temperature inside the nursery would be too cold for newborns to bear after an hour.

The doctors and parents were begging me on their knees to let their babies live.

They screamed and cried. They said I was a mother and hoped that I would understand.

Instead, I laughed and said, “Yes, I was a mother. But my baby died!”

The gynecologist knelt on the floor and begged, “We may be at fault for not being able to save your baby, but these babies are innocent!

“Please don’t be reckless just because you lost your baby! You’re so young. You’ll have more babies in the future.”

I gritted my teeth and roared, “But my baby isn’t dead!

“She’s still alive. I’ll give you one hour. Bring her back to me!”

But I was unsure if she would still be alive after an hour.

The door to the hospital nursery was tightly shut. My husband, who was wearing a doctor’s coat, stood outside the door with an anxious face.

He slapped himself.

“I’m so useless! I couldn’t save our baby.

“I know you’re very upset over losing our baby. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be. But we can still try for another baby! If anything happens to you, I’ll really die!”

My husband looked worried. He looked like he was about to cry.

However, I glared at him icily.

For three years, Joe Malcolm was a great husband. He treated me really well.

As head of the gynecology department, he took extra care of my health once he learned I was pregnant.

Still, even with all his experience saving pregnant patients from amniotic fluid embolism, he told me he could not save our baby.

I had given birth to a stillborn.

But throughout my whole pregnancy, every report said my baby was perfectly healthy. Three weeks ago, she was fully developed.

She was merely twenty days early. Even if she had been born three weeks earlier than the due date, she should have been able to survive.

I did not believe that my baby was dead, especially since I had heard my baby cry when I slipped in and out of consciousness.

I forced my voice to stay steady as I asked, “With your expertise, how could you not save a premature baby?”

“I was incompetent.” Joe fell onto his knees. “Premature birth is detrimental to a baby’s health. I tried my best!”

“Miss Diane Solomon, losing a baby due to premature birth is certainly painful.

“Please don’t lose hope. You’re still young. You’ll have more babies in the future,” said the nurse standing next to Joe.

The other parents were begging me with teary eyes. “Diane, we sympathize with you and your baby.

“But our babies are innocent! You’re a mother, so you know how difficult this is. Please let our babies go!

“Your anger over losing your baby is valid. You should question your husband and the nurses. Our babies have done nothing wrong!”

As they begged, the temperature in the room slowly dropped.

Some of them were trying to cut the power to the nursery.

However, I had already altered the wiring of this room. The temperature of this room could only be controlled by the controller in my hand.

With a few taps, the temperature of this room would immediately drop. These babies would freeze to death.

When they realized that they could not cut the power supply, they looked at me in horror.

A mother threw herself on the floor and begged, “Diane, I’m a lawyer. I can help you with your case—pro bono—to get justice for your baby.”

“Just give me my baby! My baby doesn’t need justice. She just needs to return to my side!” I panted and yelled at them. “My baby isn’t dead!

“I vividly remember her crying! If my baby were stillborn, how is it possible that she was crying?”

“You’re still feeling the effects of the epidural after you just gave birth. It’s normal to hallucinate,” the others said.

I shook my head. “No! It all happened so fast. I didn’t even get a chance to have an epidural.”

Joe said, “Diane, there are so many babies in the hospital. Isn’t it normal for you to hear a baby crying?”

I felt doubtful when he said that. It was indeed normal to hear babies crying in the delivery room.

But the crying had sounded too close to me. I really felt like it was my baby crying.

I looked at Joe slowly, and that was when I realized he showed no hint of suspicion after I said our child might have been switched.

He kept telling me that my baby had been stillborn.

I looked at him suspiciously and asked, “The crying was really close to me. Could it have been the baby in the bed next to mine?”

“That’s right! It belonged to the baby in the bed next to you!” Joe said hesitantly.

I was dumbfounded. There had been no one giving birth next to me!

I stared at Joe and trembled.

Why would Joe lie to me?

Joe saw me frown and thought that I believed him. He reached out to me. “Diane, please come out. Let’s arrange our baby’s funeral. We can try again after you recover. We will definitely have babies in the future!”

I clenched my fists and said through gritted teeth, “Joe, where did you take my baby?

“That’s your baby, too! Why are you lying to me?! Who did you give my baby to?”

“What do you mean? How could I ever give our baby away? You don’t believe me?” Joe asked.

“I don’t!” I yelled at Joe. “My baby isn’t dead! You’re lying to me!”

After that, I pulled down the lever.

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped. I glared at the anxious people outside with bloodshot eyes.

“I’ll give you an hour to bring my baby back to me! Otherwise, we’ll all die here!”

Everyone outside immediately became frantic after seeing me pulling down the lever.

“What does my baby have to do with your husband lying to you?”

“Doctor Joe, what did you do with her baby? Why are you dragging us into this?”

“Diane, please calm down! If you let our babies go, we’ll help you find yours!”

“Doctor Joe, please tell us what’s happening! There are more than thirty newborn babies inside. If something happens to them, will you take responsibility for it?”

Joe looked anxious. “Diane, please calm down! Our baby’s dead. Even if you give me a lifetime, I can’t bring our baby back to life, let alone in an hour!”

I stared at Joe icily.

I had not given them an hour without a good reason. I knew that was all the time I had.

When I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I heard a strange voice saying, “An hour’s enough…”

I did not know what would happen to my baby after an hour.

I knew that my baby only had an hour to live.

“Richard Solomon, you’re finally here! Please talk some sense into Diane.” Joe’s voice snapped me back to reality.

My gray-haired father looked anxious. I cried, “Dad, please find my baby!

“She’s in the hospital somewhere. I know she’s still alive! We only have fifty minutes. If I can’t find her, she’ll be dead!

“Please don’t believe Joe. I know my baby wasn’t stillborn. Joe is behind all this!”

My father slapped Joe across the face.

He yelled, “You jerk! You knew that Diane wouldn’t take the news of her baby’s death lightly! Why didn’t you keep an eye on her?

“Look at what you’ve put my daughter through!”

I quickly said, “Dad, I’m not sick! My baby isn’t dead!

“You were in charge of my prenatal check-up. You know very well that even if my baby was born three weeks early, she was still healthy!”

My father looked at me guiltily.

“Diane, the reports showed that the baby wasn’t really healthy. There were some issues with her, but I let my ego get in the way. I thought that I could cure her.

“That was why I didn’t tell you the truth.

“However, I couldn’t do it. The baby was indeed stillborn.”

I was stunned. My parents were gynecologists too. As their only daughter, they took excellent care of me when I was pregnant, even more so than Joe.

My father, who doted on me, would not lie to me. Did I really give birth to a stillborn baby?

I pressed my hands on my lower abdomen. I vividly remembered hearing my baby cry. Tears streamed down my face.

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be… Dad, was my baby beautiful?”

My father nodded with tears in his eyes. “She was exactly like you when you were a baby. She was fair and tiny. Her fists looked so much like yours when you were small. She was clenching them so tightly!”

I immediately tensed up as my body went numb. I stared at my father in disbelief.

“Dad, you’re lying to me.

“Why’re you lying to me like Joe? What’re you hiding from me? Why did you take my baby away?!” I roared at my father.

He was dumbfounded. “Diane, you’re my only daughter! Why would I lie to you?”

I broke down just then. I laughed and cried maniacally.

“That’s right! You did all my prenatal check-ups for me.

“But I went on a trip once. My friend, who’s a gynecologist, did a check-up for me on my request.

“That friend found that my baby had six fingers on one hand.

“My friend said that my baby had been clenching her fists so tight in the previous check-ups that we didn’t notice it.”

My father immediately said, “Your friend might have been mistaken. How could you doubt me?”

“Am I wrong? You’re all lying to me!” I yelled and woke the newborn babies in the room.

They started crying.

The parents were worried. They begged and tried to placate me. They pressured my father to tell the truth.

However, my father insisted that my baby was stillborn.

I took a deep breath and looked up. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I looked at the time.

“You have twenty minutes more. It seems you’re all willing to risk the lives of thirty babies instead of giving me back my baby!

“Why? Why would you be willing to let me die along with these thirty babies rather than give me back my baby?!”

The others pressured my father and Joe. They kept saying that my baby was dead.

They had no choice but to call the police.

Just as one of the parents was about to call the police, my mother snatched their phone away.

My mother knelt on the floor and begged, “My daughter’s just agitated because of her sorrow. She’s a mother who just lost her baby!

“I’ll convince her! Please don’t call the police.”

After that, she turned to me in tears. “Diane, please don’t do this. Come to me!”

I asked her, “Mom, can I really trust you?”