Chapter2

The air in my lungs felt like it was filled with shredded razor blades. I huddled in a dimly lit corner of the balcony, my body convulsing uncontrollably, my forehead burning hot.

"Cough...cough cough..."

I clenched my teeth to try and suppress the cough, but warm streams of blood still gushed from the corners of my mouth, splashing onto the floor at minus fifty degrees Celsius, where they quickly froze into a pool of dark red blood and ice shards.

The high fever made my vision dizzy. Through the bulletproof glass inner door that I had personally chosen, I watched Karen dragging a thick metal chain around my food storage room, which was full of top-quality supplies, three times before finally locking it with two heavy combination U-locks.

"Mom, who are you trying to protect yourself from? That good-for-nothing can't even stand up outside." Brody lay on the sofa, picking his teeth and sneer.

Karen tried tugging at the lock, looking at me warily : "Mice always manage to sneak in when you're not looking. This is our food, we absolutely can't let these germ-laden scum get it even a little bit dirty."

Chloe came out of the bedroom, glanced at me curled up in the blood, and fanned her nose with disgust: "The blood he coughed up was disgusting, it smelled awful."

She walked to the control panel and pressed a button. With a "beep" from the smart system, the motorized blinds on the outside of the balcony were forcibly pushed open a three-inch gap.

The blizzard, with temperatures dropping to minus sixty degrees Celsius, suddenly found an outlet. Gale-force winds mixed with snow and sand rushed in, lashing my head and face.

“That’s it. Freeze it all night, and all the virus smell will be gone.” Chloe clapped her hands in satisfaction, watched me shivering uncontrollably in the wind and snow through the glass door, then turned and walked back to the warm fireplace.

This extreme cold continued until late at night. My limbs were completely numb, and even opening my eyelids was extremely difficult.

Just then, the glass door was pulled open.

As the warm air hit my face, a large hand roughly grabbed my hair and forcibly dragged half of my body off the ground. A tearing pain shot through my scalp, and my neck slumped limply.

It was Derek. He held a printed document in his hand, the words "Voluntary Donation Agreement of House and Property" in bold black letters standing out sharply under the glaring light.

"Wake up, Ethan, let's get down to business." Derek said casually, pulling a red inkpad from his pocket and tossing it on the ground beside him.

Chloe held up her phone and started recording, the camera shoving directly at my pale, blood-stained face.

"Stop dawdling, Derek, the cold wind is giving me a headache," she urged, frowning.

“Almost there, baby.” Derek knelt down on one knee, pressing his knee heavily against my fractured chest. The excruciating pain made me instinctively open my mouth wide, but I couldn’t make a sound.

He forcibly pulled my right hand. My fingers were already frozen, purple and stiff, the joints curled up and unresponsive. Derek showed no mercy, snapping my thumb like a dry twig, and forcefully pressed it into the red inkpad with a "thud."

“Look closely,” Derek grinned at the camera, his voice booming, “It was Ethan who voluntarily handed all of this over to us. This fortress, the supplies, from this very moment on, all legally belong to Chloe and me.”

After saying that, he grabbed my numb finger and shoved it hard into the bottom right corner of the agreement. Red fingerprints covered my name.

"Perfect." Chloe pressed the end button and tucked the paper into her pocket.

Derek released his grip, letting me slam back onto the ice like a piece of rotten meat. He looked disgustedly at the blood and ink stains he had accidentally gotten on his fingers, grinned, and then reached over and vigorously rubbed them on my cheeks and clothes, smearing all the grime onto my face.

"Thanks for the house, brother. We'll make sure you enjoy it."

He stood up, put his arm around Chloe, and walked towards the door. Chloe didn't turn around, leaving behind a cold, emotionless remark:

"Once he freezes to death tonight, we can throw his body out tomorrow, and this fortress will be completely clean."

"Bang."

The door was slammed shut. I lay on the floor , my broken fingers turning black and necrotic in the extreme cold. Through the insulated glass, I watched them open bottles of wine to celebrate, while the blizzard outside seeped in through the cracks in the window, gradually covering me.