On the third day of our college graduation trip, our off-road vehicle suddenly broke down in the unforgiving heart of the Sahara Desert. Right before I lost consciousness, I wrote a suicide note to my parents: "Drink my blood. It will buy you a few more days." Then, I slashed my wrist and filled three empty water bottles to the brim with my own blood. After I died, my soul floated 5,000 feet into the air. Inside the luxurious cabin of a private jet, there was no blistering sun, only the crisp, refreshing chill of the air conditioning. Liam, my childhood sweetheart—who had supposedly died of thirst a few days ago after giving me his last drop of water—was currently holding my adopted sister in his arms. "She's been trekking through 150-degree heat for over thirty miles now. Is that enough for you to let off some steam?" My adopted sister, Mia, laughed gleefully. "Your acting was incredible! My arrogant, ice-queen sister almost cried herself to death when you played dead!" My mother gently and affectionately stroked Mia's hair. "Hopefully, after this little lesson, she'll learn to be as sweet and understanding as you are." My father casually flipped a piece of premium wagyu beef on the indoor grill, nodding in agreement. "Let's hold off on the rescue team. Let Chloe walk for one more day. We’ll see if she ever dares to bully our little Mia again!" Hanging in the air as a spirit, I felt as if I had been plunged into an icy abyss. It turned out this whole desperate fight for survival in the desert was entirely fake. It was nothing more than a meticulously crafted punishment, designed by my own family just to make my adopted sister smile. Mia lounged comfortably on the jet's plush sofa, enjoying the barbecue my father had cooked for her. I looked down at my own body on the sand below. My skin was red, blistered, and cracked. Driven by extreme hunger and dehydration, my body had withered into what looked like a mummified corpse. The gash on my wrist was so deep it had nearly severed my hand. I had used the jagged edge of a tin can lid to cut myself, using every last ounce of my strength to drain my blood for them. I had desperately hoped that once my parents followed the trail marks I left behind, my blood and flesh would be enough to keep them alive. But it was all a lie. A sick, twisted game. While I was crawling through the burning sands fighting for my life, my entire family was sipping drinks in the AC, watching me suffer like it was reality TV. Mia glanced at the GPS tracker on Liam's phone and pouted her lips playfully. "Oh no, if she walks just two more miles, she'll actually reach the oasis camp. I haven't seen enough of the show yet! How about... we tell the camp to move a little further away?" A flicker of hesitation crossed Liam’s eyes. "But... Chloe has been walking in the desert for three days. I'm worried she won't hold out much longer." Mia’s eyes instantly welled up with tears. She bit her lip, looking incredibly wronged. "You’re feeling sorry for her after just a little test? Did you forget what she did to me? She dumped me in that sketchy motel with those street thugs and let them humiliate me!" My mother immediately rushed over, wiping away Mia’s crocodile tears. "Chloe was so cruel to you. She deserves an eye for an eye. It’s about time she learned her lesson!" Liam pulled Mia tightly into his embrace, coaxing her softly. "Don't cry, Mia. Okay, I'll punish her and make her walk a few more days, alright?" My father swirled the red wine in his glass and nodded approvingly. "Do as Mia says. Let Chloe suffer out there a bit longer. It's a great opportunity to build her willpower anyway!" My soul trembled in the cold air. Right before my LSAT exams, Mia had intentionally gone missing. She hid in a gaming cafe and partied for a whole week. When she finally came home, her clothes were torn. She cried to my parents, claiming I was jealous of her grades, so I hired street thugs to drug her and dump her in a bad neighborhood to make her miss the exam. I cried and swore on my life that I had nothing to do with it. My parents told me they believed me. When my test scores came back and I placed first, they even rewarded me with this grand graduation trip to the Sahara. But as it turned out, they never believed a word I said. This "vacation" was just a beautifully packaged death trap. On the sofa, they all huddled around Mia, brainstorming new ways to torture me for her amusement. Liam spoke with a gentle, loving tone: "When she finally reaches the oasis camp, I'll make her kneel and kowtow ten times before I send the rescue chopper down. How does that sound?" Suddenly, my mother looked at her phone and excitedly tapped Mia’s shoulder. "Mia, your account is trending at number one!" She cast her phone screen onto the jet's massive LED display. A bright red trending hashtag came into view: 【Upper East Side's Ice Queen - 72 Hours of Pathetic Desert Survival】 It was the most viewed video on the internet right now. Shot from hidden, 360-degree drone angles, it captured every miserable, humiliating second of my three days and nights in the desert. When I saw the footage playing on the screen, I lunged forward, screaming. "No—stop! I don't want anyone to see me like this!" But no one could hear the screams of a ghost. The crystal-clear screen broadcasted my absolute lowest moments. In the video, my clothes were in tatters. I was kneeling in the scorching sand, desperately licking at my own urine mixed with dirt. There was too much sand and barely any moisture. The second it touched my tongue, my stomach revolted, and I threw up acid and bile. Yet, I frantically scraped up the mess, sobbing hoarsely. "I have to eat... I can't die... Mom and Dad are still waiting for me..." The live comments scrolling across the video were full of shock and mockery. 【Oh my god, is that the snobby Vance family heiress? She completely threw away her dignity just to live!】 【LMAO look at her dying of thirst, she looks like a wild dog!】 【I guess rich people will do anything when push comes to shove.】 A few rational viewers questioned it: 【Is this real? Would a billionaire heiress really risk her life for clout? What if she actually dies?】 But my father just crossed his legs, looking incredibly pleased with himself. "We spoiled Chloe too much growing up. She was always competing with Mia out of jealousy. She needs to eat some real dirt to appreciate the privileged life we gave her." My mother smiled, peeling a lychee and lovingly feeding it to Mia. "Once she survives this nightmare, she'll finally realize how lucky she is." Liam chuckled in agreement. "Let's hope she understands Mr. and Mrs. Vance's good intentions." Their lighthearted words felt like jagged knives violently carving into my heart. So this was "for my own good." Terrified that my parents would die of thirst, I had gritted my teeth and walked day and night to find water, never stopping even when my throat bled. I cast aside every ounce of my pride, fighting desperately to survive so I could bring a rescue team back for them. Not only did they not feel an ounce of pity or guilt... They actually believed this was a righteous way to tame me. They had turned my agonizing, animalistic struggle for survival into an online spectacle for the masses to laugh at. With a smirk, Liam clicked to the next video. It was the clip of him "faking his death" and handing me the final bottle of water. He leaned back, his voice dripping with pride. "I told her it was the absolute last bottle we had." "If she couldn't find the camp, our whole family would die." "The look of pure, shattered despair on her face was just beautiful." Mia rolled her eyes playfully and fast-forwarded the video to the part where I frantically drank the water. She clung to my mother’s arm and pouted. "My sister is still too selfish. If it were me, I wouldn't have taken a single sip. I would have died of thirst just to bring that bottle back to you and Dad." My father shook his head in disappointment. "It's true. You only see someone's true colors when they face death." "Chloe really is a heartless, ungrateful wretch!" My mother let out a cold scoff. "Raising her was a waste of time. Thank god we have our sweet Mia." Floating in the air, I shook my head, sobbing violently. "I'm not ungrateful!" "I cut open my own veins to give you my blood!" "You have drones, don't you?! Just look back at me! I'm already dead!" But Liam was busy happily passing out slices of cake to the flight attendants. "Let's celebrate Mia! Her account just gained 300,000 followers in the last few days!" Everyone clapped, praising Mia’s "genius" idea to stage this survival documentary. My mother patted Mia's head with pride. "Didn't you want to be a filmmaker? When we get back to the States, Mom will hire the best PR team for you. We'll use this footage of your sister to win you an international documentary award." The cabin erupted in joyous cheers and laughter. No one cared that this massive wave of fame was built directly on top of my rotting corpse. Suddenly, a malicious glint flashed in Mia’s eyes. "I know! Since the videos are blowing up, let's do a live stream!" "People love raw, unedited content. If they see her struggling in real-time, the internet will break!" She jumped up excitedly, typing a quick post on her phone: 【Going LIVE now to show my sister's ultimate desert survival challenge! Come watch the show!】 Once it was posted, she eagerly pressed the Bluetooth connect button for the drone. Miles away, the drone hovering near my body whirred to life. Liam took the controls and slowly lowered its altitude. The heat from the propellers blew away a thin layer of sand, exposing my body completely to the camera. I was curled up in the shadow of a small dune, completely motionless. A few viewers noticed something was wrong. Comments began to flood in: 【Wait, did she actually die of thirst? Why isn't she moving at all?】 My mother’s eyes locked onto the screen, her face suddenly turning pale. "Did Chloe pass out?" Mia rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with feigned innocence. "She's probably just sleeping... She's so awful. Mom and Dad are supposedly out there waiting for her to save them, and she's just taking a cozy nap." But a sudden, heavy unease settled in my father’s chest. "Something isn't right! She didn't set up the emergency tent, and her skin is severely cracked." I dug my ghostly nails into my palms, my heart screaming with anxiety. Were they finally going to realize I was dead?! Liam’s expression hardened. He carefully maneuvered the drone closer. When the high-definition lens finally captured the details of my body, the color completely drained from his face. "She... she looks unconscious. And there's a ton of blood on her clothes!" My parents panicked, jumping out of their seats to tell the pilot to turn the jet around immediately. But Mia suddenly leaped in front of the screen, pointing a manicured finger at the three bottles resting in front of my body. "Mom, Dad, don't fall for it! Look, she has three bottles of tomato juice!" "I knew the tomato juice she bought before the trip didn't just disappear! She hid it for herself!" "That 'blood' is definitely just tomato juice! She must have realized we were tricking her, so she's playing dead to get back at us!" My mother hesitated, her voice trembling. "But... Chloe hates tomatoes." Mia froze for a split second. Then, she quickly turned to Liam and let out a dramatic, exaggerated gasp. "Liam loves tomatoes! She must have bought them for him!" Like she had uncovered some heinous crime, her voice pitched an octave higher. "Oh my god! How could my sister be so selfish?!" "Not only did she refuse to leave any for Mom and Dad—she didn't even bring it out when Liam was literally dying of thirst in front of her!" "She didn't care if we lived or died. She just wanted to save herself!" My mother covered her mouth, tears of rage flowing down her cheeks. "How did I raise such a monstrous daughter?!" My father’s face darkened with fury. He snatched the drone controller from Liam and slammed the microphone button. "Chloe Vance! You are an absolute disappointment!" "This was supposed to be a test to see if you were worthy of inheriting the family company." "But you secretly hoarded three bottles of juice?! Were you praying we would all die of thirst so you could take everything for yourself?!" Seeing that my body didn't move, Liam lost his temper. He roared at my corpse through the drone's speakers. "Stop acting! We know you're faking it!" "Apologize to Mia right now and swear you will never bully her again, and maybe we'll take you home!" When I still lay motionless on the sand, the live stream chat exploded. 【She hid juice for herself?! What kind of monster does that?】 【What a toxic witch! She wanted to walk out alone and didn't even save her boyfriend.】 【And I actually felt bad for her a minute ago. A selfish animal like her deserves to rot in the desert!】 Every single comment was a jagged knife stabbing into me. I screamed and cried at them in the air. "No... no! Don't listen to Mia's lies!" "That isn't tomato juice... That's my blood... It's the blood I drained for you!" I knelt in the air, screaming until my ethereal throat felt torn, but they remained completely oblivious. My father’s face was stone-cold as he picked up the intercom to the cockpit. "Captain, turn the plane around immediately." He ground his teeth, his words laced with venom. "I'm going down there to teach that ungrateful brat a lesson myself!" Just as the jet banked to turn back toward me, Mia suddenly went stiff and collapsed straight backward onto the carpet. My mother screamed, diving to catch her. "Mia! Mia, what's wrong?!" Mia lay trembling, weakly pulling a crumpled wrapper out of her pocket. Tears streamed down her face. "The chocolate... the chocolate my sister gave me before she left... it was peanut butter..." "She... she actually wanted to murder me in the desert!" My mother’s face warped in horror. "Did she forget Mia is deathly allergic to peanuts?!" My father slammed his fist against the armrest. "This is madness! She knows we don't have an EpiPen out here! She was trying to kill her!" In an instant, they completely forgot about me, trapped in the lethal sands. They hastily shut off the livestream and ordered the pilot to fly straight to the nearest hospital. After waking up in the VIP hospital ward, Mia held my mother's hand, crying rivers of tears. "When my sister dumped me with those street thugs and let those men humiliate me, I never blamed her." "I know I took some of your love away from her. But... but this time, she actually wanted me dead!" My mother hugged her tightly, grinding her teeth. "Chloe has gone way too far this time. I am going to make her pay." My father's expression was deadly. "This is attempted murder! The second she crawls back to the States, I am calling the police and putting her behind bars myself!" Even Liam, the one person who had always trusted me the most, spoke with chilling coldness. "Chloe is an incredible actress. I never realized she was this venomous." He violently yanked the matching couple's bracelet off his wrist. "No—!" I lunged forward to stop him, but my ghostly hands phased right through. The black cord snapped, and the beads scattered across the hospital floor. "No! Why do you believe her lies too?!" When I was finally found and brought back to my wealthy parents at age 13, I discovered they had already adopted Mia to replace me. They always claimed I was their true daughter and they loved me most, but every single time Mia framed me, they believed her without question. Their coldness toward me grew, and fearing I would "harm" their precious Mia, they exiled me to boarding schools. I endured five years of emotional abuse and isolation from my own family. Liam was the only exception. When I fell into total despair, believing no one in this world would ever love me, he stayed up all night hand-weaving that couple's bracelet for me. It was a black cord with a small moon charm. He told me I was his moonlight. He said the little girl who had desperately jumped into a freezing river to save him from drowning years ago could never be the evil person Mia claimed she was. He promised he would stand by my side, forever and always. Looking at the absolute disgust on Liam's face now, my heart went completely numb. I didn't even have the strength left to cry. Suddenly, my father's phone rang loudly. He answered, and the frantic voice of the drone operator blared through the speaker. "Mr. Vance, something's wrong!" "We recharged the drone and flew it back to check on your daughter, and... and she's still lying there, completely motionless!" Before my father could react, Mia chimed in, her voice dripping with fake concern. "She's probably worried you'll report her for trying to murder me, so she's playing dead to make you feel guilty!" "I'm fine now... maybe you guys should go back and check on her? Lying in the sand that long can't be good for her skin..." Hearing her words, whatever tiny shred of worry my parents and Liam had instantly vaporized, replaced by utter impatience and disgust. My father hung up the phone violently. "I am done looking at her face! We spoiled her rotten! Leave her there to fend for herself!" They completely erased me from their minds, leaving the hospital to begin their real graduation trip with Mia. While my corpse was slowly buried by the sweeping desert winds... They flew Mia to Hawaii for a luxury scuba diving trip. On the pristine beaches of Lanai, Liam fastened a stunning piece of jewelry around Mia's neck—a gift he had originally bought for me. "The purest pearl necklace in the world, for our pure, kind-hearted Mia." Seven days later, they finally returned to the US. The clips of my desert "survival" had gone viral globally. The moment they stepped out of the airport, they were swarmed by flashing cameras and reporters. "Mr. Vance! Was the desert inheritance test real? Or was it just a marketing stunt?" "Did your daughter make it out of the desert? What were the results of the test?" Facing the barrage of cameras, my father spoke with cold authority: "You all saw how Chloe Vance behaved in a crisis during the livestream." "Selfish, deceitful, and willing to murder her own sister to survive. Someone with such despicable character is absolutely unfit to inherit the Vance Empire." My mother stepped up to the mics, adding: "I have legally transferred all of Chloe's assets and corporate shares to our adopted daughter, Mia." Liam also faced the cameras, taking Mia’s hand in his. "I have officially broken up with that toxic witch. Mia is the only woman I truly love!" Mia leaned against his chest like a fragile little bird, a triumphant, wicked smile playing on her lips. Just then, a massive commotion broke out at the edge of the press pool. A team of grim-faced police officers shoved their way through the reporters, striding directly toward my family. The police captain held up a stack of photographs, his voice booming over the crowd: "You are all under arrest for suspicion of first-degree murder. Come with us."
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