Chapter 3

On Christmas Eve, the house was quiet inside, lively outside.

I hid in Mom's closet. It smelled like her.

Past midnight, the door opened.

It was Bella.

"Mom, I want to sleep with you tonight."

Mom's gentle voice responded. "Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you want."

"I'm always Mommy's good girl."

Listening to their laughter, I couldn't help remembering—for as long as I could remember, Mom had never hugged me, let alone let me sleep with her.

I came out of the closet, instinctively wanting to heat up their milk.

Every night before, I'd heat them each a glass of milk before they went to bed.

It was ingrained in my bones.

"Mom, the milk is the perfect temperature. Please don't be angry. I promise I'll only eat, sleep, and study from now on."

But my hand passed right through the cup.

Mom frowned. "Elena! Don't you know we're about to go to sleep?"

"Slacking off again? Why haven't you come out to heat our milk?"

I froze. Mom, I haven't.

Bella deliberately said, "Mom, Elena's probably mad we didn't take her to see the fireworks. She's hiding in her room sulking."

Mom grabbed the baseball bat nearby. "At her age, throwing tantrums? I'll beat her until she behaves!"

Seeing the bat, I started trembling reflexively.

If Mom finds out I'm dead, will she hit me less?

I followed Mom as she floated toward my little storage room.

It wasn't big—just enough space for a 0.9-meter bed and a small desk. On the desk was a small lamp and mountains of test papers piled high.

Click. The door swung open with a creak.

Mom tried to turn on the light, but it had been broken for a while.

In the faint glow from the fireworks outside, she could barely make out my shape lying in bed.

The blanket covered my head.

Mom was furious. She jabbed at me with the baseball bat.

"All you do is sleep. How did I give birth to such a lazy daughter?"

Tears streamed down my face. "Mom, I'm not sleeping. Just lift the blanket and you'll see!"

"Mom, I'm really not sleeping..."

But she couldn't hear me.

Mom walked closer to the bed, step by step. Just as she was about to pull back the blanket—

I held my breath.

The next second.

Mom opened the app controlling the chip.

"The app shows you studied attentively for less than ten minutes. You spent the rest of the time slacking off."

Bella walked in, boasting. "Mom, I studied for eight hours today. Not like Elena."

"That's wonderful. Don't you dare turn out like Elena."

Mom said coldly, "The app just released a new punishment mode—hypothermia. Whenever Elena feels sleepy while studying, it'll make her so cold she wakes up."

Dad hesitated. "It's Christmas Eve. Don't make her cold. Just let Elena sleep warm for one night."

Mom snapped, "Sleep? Absolutely not!"

"Warmth kills the will to study. You're the one who spoiled her."

"Look at the app—she can't even focus for a full hour. She has zero self-control."

"I'm doing this for her own good."

"Stop coddling her. When she wakes up freezing in the middle of the night, she'll realize her mistake."

She closed the door. The storage room plunged into darkness again.

I crouched in the corner.

So cold. Cold to the core.

Mom, if you'd given me even a fraction of your love, you would've noticed I wasn't even breathing.

If I were sleeping, how could I not feel pain?

Mom didn't used to be like this.

In winter, she'd ask if I wore enough layers. In summer, she'd remind me to drink water every day...

But ever since that anti-laziness chip, everything changed.

She only trusted the chip's readings. She stopped believing anything I said.