Part 3My Pets Were Plotting My Murder

The living room was quiet again, save for myself and the two remaining pets.

I turned to face them, meeting two pairs of eyes.

Styx the snake had raised almost half his body off the floor without me noticing.

His cold, vertical pupils were locked onto me, his tongue rapidly flickering.

It was a sign of a snake under duress.

And Gizmo, the habitually slow hedgehog, had shed all his usual languor.

His tiny claws gripped the rug, and every one of his quills was standing on end.

They seemed incapable of understanding why their formerly meticulous, always-accommodating “servant” had suddenly become so ruthless.

The bullet screen was loving the show:

Hahaha! The remaining two are stunned!

They got abandoned! That’s what you get for not being as good at groveling as the cat!

But wait, isn’t this weird? The cannon fodder was absolutely devoted to these three. Why did she agree to sell them the second the female lead asked?

She needs cash, duh. Look, even the biggest pet influencers love their animals, but that doesn’t conflict with using them to make money.

“Alright, playtime is over.”

I walked toward Styx, intending to put him back in his box.

But the moment I reached out, I saw a black blur.

I snatched my hand back, but not quickly enough. A snake tooth grazed my skin.

I narrowed my eyes, a silence settling between us.

In the past, if he bit me, I would act like all the pet owners I knew.

I’d patiently, repeatedly, tell him, No, we don't bite. That's not right.

But now, I had no patience left.

I was annoyed.

Deeply annoyed.

I had neither the time nor the energy to play this game of blood-and-flesh devotion anymore.

With lightning speed, I pinched Styx firmly behind his head, lifting him up.

I tossed him directly into his ten-thousand-dollar, climate-controlled habitat.

The lid slammed shut with a thunk.

I secured the latch.

He hit the climbing branch, clearly stunned.

No, no, no! How dare you treat our Snakey so roughly? You horrible cannon fodder! I hope he bites you to death!

It's so strange. The cannon fodder has suddenly lost all her passion for the pets. Did she get possessed?

Good. Let her hurry up and die from the tumor. Then the three male leads will transform and live a glorious life with sweet Zara.

Hee hee hee, four limbs only, sounds hot.

The hedgehog on the rug was completely frozen now.

Seeing me reach for him, he immediately rolled into a tight, defensive ball.

His quills stood like needles.

Normally, this would make him impossible to handle.

But now, I simply grabbed a thick bath towel and draped it over him.

Through the towel, I accurately flipped him over, exposing his soft belly.

Then I dropped him back into his hedgehog villa.

I quickly secured the lid.

The world was finally silent.

The bullet screen had gone ballistic, filling the air with curses and death wishes directed at me.

But I didn’t care. I pulled out my phone and booked a full-body checkup at the best hospital in the city.

Three days later, the results were in.

I sat in the oncologist’s office.

He told me clearly:

“Ms. Elena Vance, your test results are back. We found a tumor in your brain. The location is difficult, and the size is significant. Our preliminary diagnosis is mid-stage.”

He paused, a note of relief in his voice. “The good news is we caught it in time. If you had waited any longer, it might have been irreversible.”

“There’s still a chance for surgery, but it will be highly complex and risky. As for the cost, we estimate at least...”

“Two hundred thousand dollars.”