1

The taste of blood was still lingering in my mouth.

I opened my eyes abruptly, my back soaked with cold sweat.

The Houston skyline shimmered in the sunset outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the clock showed 3:30 p.m.

I have truly been reborn.

Let's go back to a month before we were devoured by those three beasts.

"Arthur! Are you fucking deaf?"

Brody's greasy, fat face, made even greasier by his sudden wealth, was roaring at me.

My wife Jessica was also holding his arm tightly, and the new Cartier necklace around her neck was quite valuable.

My sixteen-year-old son , Leo, was staring at me with indifferent eyes, fiddling with the latest iPhone 15 Pro Max in his hand.

I've raised Leo for sixteen years, and only today did I find out that he's the son of my good brother Brody and my wife Jessica!

The reason these three heartless bastards confronted me today is because Brody got incredibly lucky and won a rich oil field to develop. Now he's a nouveau riche and all he wants is to have a wife, kids, and a warm bed!

In my previous life, I was heartbroken by these three people and went back to live alone in my old house in the suburbs. As a result, when the extreme cold came, Brody's hundreds of millions of assets became worthless, while I was able to survive because the old house always had supplies stored up .

I took them in out of pity, but when we ran out of supplies, they tied me up in the basement, cut my flesh piece by piece, and even roasted and ate it right in front of me .

Fortunately, I was reborn.

"Five million! A cash check!" Brody slammed the check onto the coffee table in front of me with a loud thud. "I've got my eye on this house. You're moving out!"

"Darling, you're so awesome! I really regret not being with you openly back then! " Jessica laughed sweetly, her voice soft and seductive.

Leo gave me a disdainful look , his tone icy . "Mom's right ! Losers should live where losers live. By the way, stepfather, when can I pick up my McLaren?"

"Tomorrow!" Brody patted his chest. "A three-million-dollar 720S? Your dad's worth hundreds of millions now , what's a car to me?"

In my past life, I would have been furious to hear these words and would have cried out that you can't do this!

At that time, I naively thought that our years of affection would change their minds.

And what was the result? My kindness was rewarded with being devoured alive !

I slowly bent down to pick up the check and carefully examined the number on it.

Five million two hundred thousand US dollars, in a Texas oil company account, signed in Brody's familiar handwriting.

That's enough, more than enough.

"Okay," I said calmly.

The living room fell silent instantly, and even the hum of the central air conditioning seemed particularly jarring.

"What...what did you say?" Brody was somewhat surprised.

"I said okay, deal." I neatly folded the check and put it in my pocket. "When are you moving in?"

The three of them looked at each other, completely surprised that I agreed so readily.

"You're not faking it , are you?" Brody scratched his head. "Aren't you angry? Aren't you going to argue? I thought you would..."

I looked up and calmly gazed at the three of them.

"Angry? Why should I be angry?" I even laughed. "You offered a good price."

This statement left Brody somewhat puzzled.

He had expected my anger and despair, but my calmness made him feel like he was punching cotton.

"Do you really agree?"

"Of course," I nodded, "but I need some time to pack my things. You can go and do other things first."

Jessica breathed a sigh of relief and tightened her grip on Brody's arm again: "Let's go shopping first, honey. I still want that Hermès Birkin bag!"

"Buy, buy, buy!" Brody exclaimed confidently. "I now own the largest shale oil field in Texas, what can't I afford?"

"What about my Lamborghini?" Leo asked.

"So what if it's a Lamborghini? Porsche, Ferrari, take your pick!"

Seeing the three of them getting more and more excited, I remained completely unmoved.

A net worth of hundreds of millions? Supercars? Luxury goods?

A month later, when the Texas power grid completely collapsed and the temperature plummeted to minus seventy degrees Celsius, these things were no longer even considered fuel for starting a fire.

"We're off then~" Jessica waved to me, "Just remember to leave the key by the door."

"And another thing," Brody said before leaving, "since you've been so cooperative, we can still greet each other when we meet in the future. After all, we've known each other for so many years."

The door closed, and the world finally became quiet.

I took immediate action.

First, I went to the nearby digital stores and bought a lot of webcams .

An infrared night vision camera is installed inside the crystal chandelier in the living room.

Hidden behind the decorative painting above the bed in the master bedroom is a high-definition pinhole device.

Place an omnidirectional microphone on top of the kitchen microwave.

A waterproof listening device is installed behind the bathroom mirror.

I even installed a button-sized camera in the game console in Leo's hotel room.

For two whole hours, I transformed this large, single-level apartment into a 360-degree monitoring room with no blind spots.

Every corner, every conversation, nothing escapes my eyes.

During this time, my phone received several messages.

Brody sent me a picture of a Rolex: "Just bought a green Submariner, $200,000, what do you think?"

Jessica showed off her Tiffany diamond ring: "My haul today~ So happy~"

Leo posted a video of the Ferrari showroom: "Choosing a car, so conflicted about which one to get."

I looked at these messages, my expression remaining calm.

Rolex? It'll lose its meaning once the whole city goes dark.

Diamond ring? In the freezing cold of minus seventy degrees Celsius, even the most beautiful diamond is just a cold stone.

Ferrari? When the snowstorm closes the roads, even the fastest car won't be able to move.

Every purchase these three people make now is "preparing" for the impending doom—though they themselves are unaware of it.

After the last surveillance camera was installed, I packed up my tools and took away some of the food that could be stored for a long time, leaving only kitchen knives and some thin clothes.

Before leaving, I looked around the house that was about to witness everything.

A month from now, many interesting things will happen here.

And I will see everything through the surveillance cameras.

I got into the Ford pickup truck downstairs and took out my phone to check the time.

October 15, 2024, 5:47 PM.

There are still 30 days until the "absolute zero ice storm" that will completely change Texas.

In 30 days, I will use Brody's five million to transform that ancestral villa in the suburbs into a sturdy shelter.

Thirty days later, I will witness the true face of humanity under extreme conditions through a high-definition camera.

I started the engine, the diesel revving with a deep roar. I drove towards the suburbs, the bustling skyscrapers of Houston gradually receding into the distance in my rearview mirror.

A month later, when a blizzard buries this oil city, it will become another world.

"Brody, Jessica, Leo..." I whispered the three names, "Enjoy your time. Shop till you drop, spend your money, do whatever makes you happy."

As I stopped at the red light, I checked my phone for the messages they had just sent—Brody had booked dinner at a fancy restaurant for tonight, Jessica was showing off her new Chanel suit, and Leo was already planning a weekend party.

My expression remained calm, but deep inside, the flames of revenge were burning.

"Because soon, you will have to bear the consequences of what you did in your past lives."

With the accelerator pressed down, the pickup truck drove toward the horizon where the sun was setting.

The countdown to the apocalypse has officially begun.

And this game has only just begun.