Chapter 3

It was the kind of pain that split me open from the inside, as if someone had taken an axe to my body and kept swinging.

[Second pain threshold detected above 90. Pain transfer increased to 65% for bound targets.]

I lay curled on a stretcher, barely aware of where my limbs were or how they were positioned.

Voices collided beside me. My brothers argued with the doctors.

"This young woman is critical," a doctor snapped. "You don't have a single visible injury. You can wait for the next ambulance."

"She's about to die," a nurse added.

"But we're in pain too," one of my brothers insisted. "What if it's internal bleeding? I can barely stand."

The doctors stopped listening and wheeled me straight into the ambulance.

Anesthetic flooded my veins, and the world dissolved.

-

After two hours of surgery, I surfaced slowly, as though hauling myself up from the bottom of deep water.

Outside the ward, familiar voices drifted in. My brothers and Amber sounded confused and uneasy.

"The doctor said there's nothing wrong with us," someone said with a frown. "But just now, it felt like I was being tortured to death."

"I've never felt pain like that in my life."

"Wait," another voice cut in, sharp with panic. "Why does it feel like it's starting again?"

The anesthesia was wearing off. Pain bloomed once more.

In the hallway, their voices shattered into screams.

I lowered my gaze and pressed a fingernail gently into the edge of my bandaged wound. Pain shot through me.

It hurt, but I smiled. If they hurt with me, then it was no longer unbearable.

-

During the two months I stayed in the hospital, everything remained unusually quiet. The intermittent pain kept them subdued.

Even Amber put her extreme challenges on hold for a while. On her livestreams, she cried prettily and told her fans she had survived a car accident. Her "poor cousin" had panicked and dragged her forward to shield her.

"She's too timid," Amber said softly to the camera. "But it's fine. I wasn't seriously hurt. I just had to stay in the hospital for two months."

I was the one used as a shield. She was the one painted as the victim. Her fans attacked me without mercy.

Amber brushed it aside on camera, smiling with practiced generosity. "Let's not talk about her. She is my cousin, after all. And I'm alive, so that's what matters."

Then she leaned closer to the lens, her eyes bright with excitement. "I've decided. Next time, I'm doing a 2,000 feet rope-free bungee jump. Look forward to it, my lovelies."

-

On the day of my discharge, Amber came bouncing over and slung an arm around my shoulders.

"Viola, I've decided to do the rope-free jump today," she said brightly. "2,000 feet. Just whoosh, straight down. Aren't you excited?"

My gaze swept over her glowing face, then over my brothers, all smiles and praise.

I still spoke.

"Rope-free bungee jumping is extremely dangerous," I said quietly. "At 2,000 feet, even a tiny accident would…"

Rayden cut me off with a laugh, "Do you think everyone is as useless as you?"

He turned to Amber with pride. "She's done countless extreme challenges. She knows exactly what she's doing."

Nelson took Amber's bag from her hands, considerate as always. "Amber never goes in unprepared. 2,000 feet is nothing for her."

Stefan flexed the hand he once called priceless and scoffed. "You really are the most annoying one."

Justin, the calmest of them all, gave me a cold look. "Stop trying to scare Amber. No one is going to die."

I lowered my head and addressed the Shared-Sense System in silence. 'If the pain reaches 90% again and I die, the damage will still transfer, right?'

[Yes. Upon the host's death, one bound target will be randomly selected as the substitute.]

Not far away, Amber started her livestream. She handed her bag to Justin, smug and radiant.

Comments flooded the screen.

[Your brothers spoil you so much. Being their little sister must be pure happiness.]

Amber beamed. "Of course. My brothers are amazing to me."

She walked to the edge of the platform and avoided the staff-designated safe zone on purpose. She chose a spot so dangerous that my stomach tightened.

"Brothers," she called, arms spread wide. "Wait for my success!"

She jumped without hesitation or fear. Her body plunged in a graceful arc and missed the safety net by inches.

A dull, horrifying impact followed as flesh struck rock.

At the same instant, my vision went black. Crushing pain detonated in my chest. My body failed me and collapsed backward.

[Third pain threshold detected above 90. Pain transfer increased to 100%.]

[Host detected at the brink of death. Selecting one bound target as a substitute.]

Screams ripped through the air.

A mangled, blood-soaked body slammed into view.

Someone shrieked, "Someone's dead!"