Chapter Two

I drove Emily and the kids to Montana .

As Emily had requested, Julian had already returned to prepare the land deed.

The coniferous forest, like a green cage, hung heavily overhead, slicing the afternoon sun into tiny, cold spots. The nearest town was sixty miles away, and the only thing breaking the deathly silence was the perpetually flowing creek behind the house.

When Julian's hunting lodge came into view, Emily and the five-year-old girl's faces showed obvious disgust, as if they were looking at a junkyard. There was no temperature control system, no automated security, only the smell of mold and years of dampness.

"I don't want to be here!" The five-year-old girl stood on the muddy ground in the yard, her iPad thrown on the car seat, wailing, "I want to watch YouTube! I hate it here! There's no signal!"

Julian, who was irritably carrying luggage, heard the shrill cry, and his already gloomy face darkened completely. He slammed the suitcase down and roared at the girl, "Shut up! If you make another sound, you little bitch, I'll lock you in the storeroom to feed the rats!"

Emily screamed and rushed over, punching and kicking Julian, "Are you crazy? That's a child! How dare you talk to Lily like that!"

Lily—the "daughter" I thought was a continuation of my life in my past life, but who was actually not related to me by blood—immediately stopped crying when she saw me get out of the car. A glimmer of hope flashed in her dark eyes, and she ran over to me, hugging my knees tightly, pleading in a tearful voice, "Daddy, I don't want to live with this bad man, please take me back to our home, okay? I don't want the iPad here, I just want you..."

I looked down at that seemingly innocent little face, my heart not stirred by anything, but by a bottomless cynicism. The truths from my past life, haunted by nightmares, echoed in my ears once more: I had overheard this five-year-old child sweetly calling Julian "Daddy" in private, then mocking me in front of Julian as a "foolish idiot who pays the bill."

This was my "baby," a little ingrate who inherited her mother's hypocritical soul.

I coldly pried Lily's little hand off my trouser leg, the movement so rough that she froze in place.

Julian straightened up warily, his left hand, missing a knuckle, unconsciously slipping into his pocket, his eyes filled with suspicion: "Ethan, what are you up to? You came all this way just to watch this farce?"

Emily also realized something was wrong. She desperately tried to signal Julian to calm down, while simultaneously adopting a fake pleading expression: "Ethan, are you satisfied with this place ?"

I walked up the steps, looking around. This dilapidated wooden hut would become the starting point of their hell. I turned to Julian , my tone eerily calm: " Satisfied. Emily already told you, didn't she? I'll trade ownership of that luxury villa in Los Angeles for this dilapidated cabin. Now, sign."

A surge of ecstasy spread rapidly from Julian 's neck to his entire face like a red tide. That multi-million dollar villa meant he could spend the rest of his life indulging in a life of luxury and debauchery. Who would care about this pile of rotten wood?

"Are you serious?" Julian laughed wildly, his eyes gleaming with greed. "Sign! I'll sign right now! We'll get out of your life immediately!"

I watched him sign the papers, my heart as calm as still water. The deal was done. I took a deep breath, my gaze fixed on Julian's face. His sharp, piercing eyes made him instinctively take a step back.

“Now that the house is given, it’s time to settle our scores.” I dusted off my sleeves and said, word by word, “Julian, you ruined my marriage and turned my life into a mess. I don’t need your money, I just want an apology.”

Julian erupted in fury, as if humiliated: “You want me to kowtow? Don’t push your luck, Ethan!”

“Kneel down.” My tone was unwavering. “Bark like a dog fifty times. For each bark, kowtow once. Can’t do it? I’ll tear up the villa contract, and we’ll go back to court and wait for the judge to strip away all your greed.”

“You’re dreaming!” Julian trembled with rage.

“Fifty barks?!” Emily reacted even faster than him. She grabbed Julian and slapped him hard, the crisp sound echoing sharply in the forest clearing. “Are you an idiot? Calculate the value of that villa yourself! You’d bark a hundred times if I told you to!”

Julian covered his face, staring at the heavy property transfer contract in his hand. The resentment in his eyes was ultimately consumed by greed. He gritted his teeth, letting out a growl that seemed to come from between his teeth, and slammed his knees heavily onto the hard stone slab.

“Woof…woof…”

The sound was extremely unpleasant, mixed with immense shame. With each bark, his head slammed heavily against the moss-covered stone slab, his forehead quickly tearing open, blood streaming from the corner of his eye, his knees scraped raw and bloody from the rough stone surface.

I watched coldly from the side. Fifty barks. By the forty-ninth bark, he was already swaying precariously. With the last bark, he almost collapsed to the ground.

“This is just interest.” I walked over and snatched the crucial property deed from his fingers, thinking to myself, “The real debt will be repaid with your life.”

That afternoon, I took the two irrational people to court . The transfer of ownership was faster than expected. The moment the judgment took effect, Julian had a blood-soaked white bandage wrapped around his forehead, looking both comical and pathetic.

As he walked out of the office, he looked up at me, a deep-seated murderous intent suppressed in his eyes, yet still maintaining the mockery of a victor: “You’re a true philanthropist, Ethan. Giving away a mansion like that, you’ll be sleeping on the streets from now on.”

Emily smoothed her hair, about to reveal a mocking expression, wanting to add another sarcastic remark.

I raised my hand, abruptly interrupting her.

“Emily, don’t be too happy.” I took out my phone, pressed the speakerphone button, and my voice sounded particularly cold in the hallway. “Starting today, you’ll receive $12,000 a month in alimony from me. This is the remaining benefit from the court ruling.”

Emily was stunned, not expecting me to actually give her money.

I turned around, staring intently at Julian: “But before I die, there’s one condition for getting this money—Julian, I want you to get down on the ground right now and let Emily step over you. Fifty times. For each step, you’ll get an extra $100 that month. Not step? Not a penny.”

Deathly silence.

The mockery on Julian’s face instantly froze, turning ashen white. Emily looked at me like I was a madwoman, her body trembling uncontrollably.

“This is impossible!” Julian roared.

“Not step?” I spread my hands, turned, and walked away. “Then you can expect a life in the slums.”

“Step! I’ll step!” Emily screamed hoarsely, shoving Julian, who was still struggling, to the ground. The temptation of twelve thousand dollars was more important to a woman as vain as her than any sense of self-respect.

Julian's face flushed red, like a dog drained of its energy, she lay humiliated on the cold office floor.

Emily trembled, and in front of all the people conducting business, she lifted her high heels and clumsily and stiffly stepped over Julian's back. Fifty times. The sound of her footsteps, back and forth, pounded on Julian's spine like drumbeats. Whispers and gasps rose from the surrounding crowd, and some passersby even took out their phones to film.

That extreme humiliation almost burned away Julian's already twisted personality.

Watching all this, the anger that had been building up in my chest for two lifetimes finally found its release, and I couldn't help but burst into laughter. Only after my laughter echoed throughout the entire building did I turn around and walk into the wind without looking back.

I'd had my fun. All this suffering was just the beginning.

As I started my car and drove away from the government building, the restlessness in my heart gradually subsided. I looked at the sky, where a faint haze seemed to have settled.

Seven days.

Seven days later, the Blood Moon would appear. In every corner of this planet, that red light would penetrate city defenses like a corrosive agent, and 90% of humanity would instantly become a feast for zombies.

The ultimate goal was never to humiliate that despicable couple, but to let me live. In this twisted old world, I would stand as the sole spectator in an absolutely safe zone, quietly watching how they, in their despair of being unable to survive, would be torn apart by those zombies, and utterly buried by the mansion they once coveted.