Chapter 2

"Mom, check this out! My prank video with Alex got tons of views. I need to shoot more. Once I blow up and become a huge streamer, I'll make a ton of money and take you guys on vacation to Florida!"

In the living room, my brother Mike held up his phone, proudly showing off to Mom and Dad.

Hearing that familiar voice, an involuntary shiver ran down my spine.

Even standing in the scorching summer sun, I was trembling. The cold, seeping from the deepest parts of my bones, was uncontrollable—because in my past life, I was frozen alive!

I pinched my arm hard until the pain hit, only then truly realizing: I had been reborn.

At this moment, Mom and Dad were showering Mike with praise, calling him smart and destined for great things.

Then, Mom, Linda, shot me a venomous glare. "Did you hear that, you useless piece of trash? Cooperate with Mike for the videos! If you dare to mess with my son's chance to get rich, you'll see how I'll deal with you!"

She'd said those exact words in my previous life.

Back then, unwilling to be humiliated like that, I'd privately talked to Mike, hoping he'd switch his live stream content.

But he immediately ran to Mom and Dad, teary-eyed, complaining that I was just jealous and couldn't stand to see him succeed.

Dad, Robert, instantly exploded, cursing me as a jinx, saying I was just envious that good fortune was finally coming to our family.

Mom pointed a finger right in my face, calling me a good-for-nothing and trying to stop her son from becoming a huge internet celebrity.

Later, for a $300 "challenge" donation on Mike's live stream, they locked me out on the back patio.

Even when I cried, saying my heart condition was acting up, begging them to let me in, they all remained indifferent.

Mike even yelled excitedly, "A heart condition? Even better! Viewers love that! Dad, hurry and lock him out! My stream's popularity is skyrocketing!"

In the end, they locked me outside.

I had planned to leave that house immediately after this incident blew over.

But that very night, the temperature plunged from over ninety degrees to fourteen below zero, and a terrifying, apocalyptic deep freeze instantly descended.

I pounded frantically on the glass door, begging them to open it.

My hands were red and swollen, skin raw, but they wouldn't budge.

Desperate to survive, I threw my body against the glass door, causing cracks to appear.

Mike saw it and immediately screamed at Dad to block the door with a heavy dining cabinet.

Inside, where it was warm as spring, Mike, wearing a T-shirt, licked a popsicle and smiled at me through the glass. "Alex, you're a grown man, what's there to be afraid of in the cold?"

I clawed at the door frame with my bleeding, mangled fingers, my voice hoarse. "Mike, please… my medication is inside… I'll die if this continues…"

But Mike just turned his phone camera on me and told his live stream audience, "See, guys? They say men are tough and can handle the cold. My brother here is still kicking, isn't he?"

His malice completely froze my heart.

Eventually, I ran out of strength and died miserably on the patio, my tears freezing on my face.

Thank goodness for this second chance.

Now, outside, it was still a scorching summer day, cicadas chirping piercingly, with no sign of the apocalypse.

But I knew that in exactly one week, the temperature would plummet to fourteen below zero, getting colder day by day, until it reached -139 degrees Fahrenheit, freezing the entire world solid.

The fire of revenge burned fiercely in my chest.

This time, I would make them pay.