Chapter 2

Tiffany practically ran to help me to my bedroom, a faint jasmine scent clinging to her. She reached out to touch my forehead, her fingertips chillingly cold, not like a living person's.

"Alex, you look terrible." Her worried frown was Oscar-worthy. "Do you want me to call Sterling to check on you?"

I shook my head weakly, observing her reaction. In my past life, it was this seemingly caring suggestion that led to weekly health check-ups, secretly accelerating the system's siphoning of my life.

"I’ve prepared a potent health tonic for you." She hurried back with a bone china bowl, expensive slices of wild ginseng floating on the surface. "Drink it while it's warm, it's good for you."

[This 'healing' brew had a double dose of something extra.]

[The harder she tries to 'care' for the male lead, the faster he dies.]

I pretended to take a sip, letting the liquid dribble down the corner of my mouth. Tiffany quickly wiped it with a handkerchief, a flicker of excitement in her eyes, barely discernible.

"Let me feed you." She scooped a spoonful, blowing on it gently. That gesture, which once charmed me, now only revealed her calculating nature. Every spoonful meant the system would steal more of my vitality and funnel it to them.

Suddenly, Tiffany's hand trembled, and the tonic splashed onto the silk sheets. As she frantically wiped it away, I noticed a tiny cut on her left ring finger. In my last life, her hands had been flawless.

"What happened to your hand?" I asked, feigning concern.

She quickly hid her hand behind her back. "Just a small cut while preparing the tonic… it's nothing." But her voice was noticeably weaker.

[The system is starting to backfire!]

[Every time the male lead refuses their 'care,' they weaken a little.]

[Spilling the tonic means a failed feeding!]

I coughed violently, this time not faking it. A metallic taste flooded my throat, but the blood on my handkerchief was at least half the amount it had been at this point in my previous life. My strategy was already working.

"Sleep, I'll watch over you." She tucked me in, her movements impossibly gentle, like someone meticulously preserving a precious artifact about to go up for auction.

Once she thought I was asleep, she left the room and immediately called Sterling. "Alex just coughed up blood! Yes, exactly as predicted… Good, I'll bring him over first thing tomorrow." In the moonlight, her profile glowed with a sickly flush – health stolen directly from me.

The next day.

Tiffany insisted on taking me to Sterling's private clinic for a check-up. "You trust Sterling, don't you? We've been friends since childhood."

Sterling's private clinic stood in the city's most exclusive medical district, its glass facade gleaming coldly in the sun. Inside, it was furnished like a high-end club, the air a mix of antiseptic and expensive essential oils. Sterling stood behind a marble reception desk, his white lab coat spotless, but the pen clipped to his pocket was now solid gold.

"Alex!" He opened his arms to greet me, and I caught the scent of his freshly applied cologne. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Sterling led me into the consultation room.

"How's your sleep lately?" Sterling's pen scratched softly on the patient chart.

"Always nightmares," I said, staring at the imitation starry sky lamp on the ceiling. Sterling claimed it helped patients relax. "I dream of lying in an ICU, someone sticking tubes all over me."

Sterling's pen tip paused, accidentally tearing the paper. But he quickly pasted on a professional smile.

"Too much stress. Want to try my newly imported sedative?"

[Alex, be careful!]