Chapter1

I huddled in the drafty balcony where the temperature was minus fifty degrees Celsius.

In the living room, separated by a window, the firewood in the fireplace was burning brightly. My girlfriend Chloe was sitting on the lap of a strange man named Derek, giggling as she fed him meat. Her parents, Frank and Karen, along with her good-for-nothing brother Brody, were feasting around the grill. The sizzling aroma of Wagyu beef wafted through the crack in the door, tantalizing my parched stomach.

And my polar cold-weather suit, which can withstand extreme cold, is currently being worn by Brody.

Three hours ago, Chloe came to me carrying a thermos : "Ethan, open the door... I'm just bringing you a bowl of hot soup, I'll leave after you finish it. If it weren't for you, we would have starved to death. If you don't accept it, my conscience won't allow it..."

Frank and the others stood to the side with their heads bowed and eyes downcast.

But the moment I opened that heavy metal security door and the thermos shattered, spilling dirty water all over the floor, her feigned pitifulness instantly crumbled.

"Frank, hold him down! Don't let him touch the door switch!" Chloe screamed shrilly, her eyes filled with nothing but frenzied greed.

"Chloe, are you crazy?!" I had barely shouted when Brody, who weighed over 200 pounds and was as fat as a winter bear, suddenly burst open the door and tackled me to the ground.

"Shut up, you selfish bastard!" My father-in-law, Frank, pressed a metal crowbar firmly against my throat and spat viciously in my face. "You enjoy the constant temperature inside while we're stuck outside eating ice? You really think my daughter would even look at you?"

"Take that winter coat off him! Hurry up, I'm freezing!" Brody yelled as he roughly tore at my clothes.

The excruciating pain and suffocation rendered me immobile, and I could only watch helplessly as Chloe opened the door and welcomed Derek, who reeked of thugs, inside. The two of them, right in front of me, couldn't wait to kiss.

“This idiot has hoarded a lot of stuff, honey, you did a good job.” Derek kicked me as I lay panting on the ground.

“Of course, with just a few sweet words, this poor wretch will do anything for me.” Chloe chuckled, giving me a cold glance. “Throw him on the balcony; he’s an eyesore.”

...

The extremely cold wind I inhaled violently pulled me out of my humiliating flashback.

It was minus fifty degrees Celsius. There was no heating on the balcony, and I was constantly convulsing; the edges of my fingers were already turning black.

I crawled shakily toward the floor-to-ceiling glass door and pounded on the glass with my purple knuckles.

This is my house; they can't do that.

The laughter inside abruptly stopped. Derek frowned and pushed open the sliding door. A warm breeze, mixed with the aroma of roasting meat and burning fruitwood, rushed in, and I instinctively shrank forward.

"Please... give me a blanket... any clothes will do..." I gasped weakly , "or... even just let me stay in the corner of the living room..."

"Can't handle this?" Derek looked down at me, holding a fork with a piece of medium-rare Wagyu beef dripping with oil on it.

"Derek, close the door a little tighter, the cold wind is blowing in!" Karen complained at the dining table.

Brody, his mouth greasy, turned around and laughed as if he were watching a comical clown: "Brother-in-law, teach him a lesson!"

Derek raised an eyebrow and waved the piece of meat on his fork in front of my eyes: "Can you smell it, Ethan? Hungry?"

My stomach acid was churning violently, and I stared intently at that piece of meat, my Adam's apple bobbing up and down instinctively.

“Want some? Sure.” Derek grinned, deliberately throwing the piece of meat on the floor. He lifted his dirty tactical boots, stepped on the Wagyu beef, and crushed it twice until the meat and mud were mixed into a mushy mess.

“Eat it. Lick it clean, and I might consider giving you an old sweater.” Derek sneered contemptuously.

My reason teetered on the brink of collapse, and I actually reached out my trembling hand to grab the crushed piece of flesh.

"Bang!"

Before my hand could even touch flesh, Derek kicked me hard in the face. The crisp sound of my broken nose echoed on the balcony, and blood gushed out instantly. I fell backward, crashing heavily onto the icy concrete floor.

"He actually had the nerve to pick it up! Hahahaha!" Brody slapped his thigh and laughed wildly inside the house.

Chloe, carrying a glass of red wine, walked to the door, her long legs jutting out from behind Derek. The look in her eyes was devoid of any former affection, only absolute indifference and disgust .

“Ethan, face reality.” She frowned in disgust, condescendingly declaring, “I’m in charge of this house now. You think building a shelter makes you a man? In this apocalypse, only true strongmen like Derek deserve to survive. Your pathetic, hopeless state makes me want to vomit.”

After saying that, she tiptoed and kissed Derek on the lips: "Darling, lock the door. I feel unlucky just hearing him breathing."

"As you wish, baby."

Derek grinned maliciously and slammed the glass door shut in front of me, locking it tightly.

The heating went out instantly. I fell onto a patch of dark ice, and the blood flowing from my nose froze into sharp ice shards the moment it touched the air, piercing my cheek.

No water, no food. To obtain even a tiny bit of moisture, I could no longer care about my so-called dignity. I could only turn my head with difficulty and use my numb tongue to lick the remaining ice that had formed on the aluminum alloy door frame. The ice tore at the flesh of my tongue, and the sweet and metallic taste of blood flowed down my throat.

Through the thick bulletproof glass, Derek was holding Chloe, gently clinking his wine glasses together. Brody let out a burp, while Frank and Karen stretched comfortably by the fireplace.

I swallowed the blood in my mouth and stared intently at the bright yellow firelight inside the room.