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(2026) - FULL ENGSUB | Reelshort Hot HD
Full Chinese Movie EngSub
Chinese Drama English Sub Full HD
#shortdrama #bestdrama #actionmovie #Drama #Film #Show #Anime #Movie #cdrama #Movies #BILLIONAIRE #shortdrama #dramashort #shortfilmdrama #minidrama #shortstorydrama #webdrama #indiedrama #shortfilmseries #shortdramaseries #dramashorts #englishmovie #cdrama #drama #movieshortfull
#BillionaireObsession #VirginAuction #MrDelaney #AlphaRomance #DarkDesire #SoldToHim #DailymotionDrama
#goodfilms romance #bestfilmromance #romance #filmromance #drama romance
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Short filmTranscript
00:00My girlfriend and I stumbled onto two systems by pure accident.
00:04One was the 100x macro multiplier.
00:07The other was the 100x micro minimizer.
00:10Three days later, the great deluge hit.
00:12Without warning, torrential rain swallowed the city.
00:15Everyone was trapped inside, no way out.
00:18Overnight, resources became the only thing standing between life and death.
00:22I had instant pasta and packaged bread.
00:25With the macro multiplier, I stretched every last scrap.
00:28I rationed carefully.
00:29I scraped through five brutal years on a dwindling stockpile.
00:33And the moment the rain finally stopped, she pushed me off the roof.
00:37If you hadn't stolen my macro multi-multer, I could have used it to save Liam's family.
00:41Ethan, you're a good person every other way.
00:43You're just so incredibly selfish.
00:45Liam was Ava's childhood sweetheart.
00:47She had asked me to save his family.
00:48I refused.
00:49But this was the deluge.
00:51No one had it easy.
00:52I wasn't about to hand our lifeline to people who had no claim on it.
00:56Then the world went black.
00:57When I opened my eyes, I was back.
00:59Back to the day of the systems.
01:01Back to the very beginning.
01:03This time, Ava moved first.
01:05Her hand shot out and locked onto the macro multiplier before I could blink.
01:09That's when I knew, she'd been given a second chance too.
01:12Please select into systems.
01:13My head was still spinning, thick and slow, like wading through mud.
01:17Hadn't she just pushed me off a roof?
01:19The vertigo took a moment to pass.
01:21Then Ava snapped out of her daze and lunged forward.
01:26Confirmed.
01:27System has been bound to you.
01:28She shot me a triumphant, sidelong look.
01:31The satisfaction in her eyes was barely even hidden.
01:34Cold clarity settled in my chest.
01:36I let out a slow, quiet breath.
01:38In my last life, I saved her.
01:40But she killed me for someone else at last.
01:42She loves Liam that much?
01:44Fine.
01:44This time, I'm not lifting a finger to help her.
01:47Then, I'll take the micro minimizer.
01:54Confirmed.
01:55System has been bound to you.
01:58Ava could barely contain herself.
02:00She grabbed a glass off the table and activated the macro multiplier.
02:08Oh my god!
02:11It's real!
02:13The macro multiplier is actually mine!
02:16I watched her with flat, cold eyes.
02:19This woman.
02:20This is the woman I nearly destroyed myself protecting.
02:23Babe, now that the macro multiplier is mine,
02:25aren't you even a little jealous?
02:27I can enlarge anything I want.
02:29Your micro minimizer sounds pretty useless, honestly.
02:34What's the difference?
02:35It's just a system.
02:36You wanted it, so you took it.
02:38I genuinely don't mind.
02:41Let her think she's win.
02:43I knew exactly what she was planning.
02:46The moment the deluge hit,
02:47she'd swoop in as Liam's savior,
02:49bringing food, offering survival,
02:51and make him fall for her.
02:53She didn't get it.
02:54If anyone found out about her system,
02:56she'd be the most hunted person in the building.
02:58Everyone would come for her.
03:00Ava practically bounced out the front door and-
03:06Ava?
03:07What are you doing here?
03:11Come on, let's talk inside.
03:14The moment his door clicked shut,
03:15I picked up my phone and checked the date.
03:17The 14th.
03:18Three days until the deluge begins.
03:20There's still time.
03:21I got in my car and drove straight to the nearest supermarket.
03:24I emptied the shelves.
03:26Pasta,
03:26bread,
03:27water,
03:28toilet paper,
03:29vegetable seeds,
03:30vitamins,
03:31all the essentials.
03:32On a whim,
03:33I grabbed a crate of baby chicks too.
03:35Then,
03:35I stopped at a furniture store
03:37and bought a full set for my space.
03:38I was building myself a new world.
03:40My apartment was on an upper floor.
03:42In my last life,
03:43floodwaters never reached it,
03:45even at the worst of the deluge.
03:46I wasn't leaving.
03:47I was just going to live differently.
03:49I spent until my bank account hit zero.
03:52Ava,
03:52meanwhile,
03:53hadn't prepared a single thing.
03:55She knew the deluge was coming.
03:56She just wasn't worried.
03:58With a system,
03:59she could expand any food source she needed.
04:01So why bother stockpiling?
04:03She was too busy daydreaming.
04:04That evening,
04:05Ava came in,
04:06looking totally lost in her fantasy.
04:08Babe,
04:10hypothetically,
04:11if I saved Liam's whole family,
04:14do you think he'd be grateful?
04:18No.
04:20Are you kidding me?
04:21Of course Liam would be grateful.
04:23I didn't respond.
04:24I was already scrolling through listings on my phone,
04:27finalizing the last few things I needed.
04:29She killed me once.
04:30I'm not giving her a second shot at it.
04:32This time,
04:33she's on her own.
04:36Babe,
04:37do you have any cash?
04:39Lend me a few thousand.
04:40I want to buy some food.
04:44No.
04:45I just bought a new refrigerator.
04:47My account is empty.
04:52You bought a refrigerator?
04:53Why on earth would you need a new refrigerator?
04:56Because I wanted one.
04:57Is that a problem?
05:00Nah,
05:00never mind.
05:01I was just wondering.
05:02Babe,
05:03you know those snacks
05:04you had stashed in your room?
05:06I gave them away
05:07to the elderly residents
05:08who live alone in the building.
05:10She looked at me expectantly,
05:11waiting to be called generous.
05:13I stared at her.
05:14In one afternoon,
05:15Ava got the system she wanted.
05:17Without a word to me,
05:18she took all my emergency food
05:20and gave it away to strangers.
05:21She knew I had nothing else.
05:23She knew exactly what she was doing,
05:25but she didn't feel guilty at all.
05:27If I hadn't been reborn,
05:28if I hadn't already spent all my money,
05:30she would have killed me again,
05:32just more slowly.
05:33Now,
05:34watching her look so proud of herself
05:35made me sick.
05:36I thought I'd been good to her.
05:38I stood by her,
05:39left school to work hard for her,
05:40and gave her everything.
05:41I even bought us an apartment
05:43and asked for nothing.
05:44Then Leah moved right across the hall.
05:46They grew up in the same village.
05:51Liam's family later got rich
05:53and moved away.
06:03When Ava saw him again,
06:05she fell for him hard.
06:07In my past life,
06:08even during the worst of the deluge,
06:11No, I won't do it.
06:12Please, Ethan.
06:13It's Liam's family.
06:14You have the multiplier.
06:15Why won't you help them?
06:16I said no.
06:17How can you be so cold?
06:19She secretly gave away
06:21a third of our food to his family.
06:23I found out too late.
06:25She valued a man
06:26who gave her nothing more than me,
06:27who gave her everything.
06:29I was completely done with her.
06:31Fine.
06:32Babe, you're the best.
06:33I just knew you wouldn't be upset
06:35over something this small.
06:37I'm tired.
06:38Going to sleep.
06:39You should get some rest too.
06:40I walked into my room
06:41and locked the door.
06:44Then I sat down
06:45and started planning in earnest.
06:46I had already ordered
06:47a compact wind power generator.
06:50Even during the worst storms,
06:51I'd have steady electricity.
06:53Everything else was already on its way.
06:55All I needed now was to wait.
06:59Ava thought her system
07:00made her untouchable.
07:02She spent a few hundred dollars
07:03on snacks
07:03and locked them in her room.
07:05She checked the lock twice.
07:07She was afraid I'd steal from her.
07:09She never saw the irony.
07:10I wasn't staying
07:11in this apartment at all.
07:13Even shrunken to 1% of my size,
07:15someone might still stumble
07:16across me here.
07:17I needed a space
07:18no one else knew about.
07:19And I had one.
07:20A hidden bunker
07:21built inside my bedroom wall.
07:23I built a secret room
07:24in the wall
07:24during the renovation.
07:26Ava never knew about it.
07:27Only my phone could unlock it.
07:30She'd never get in.
07:31I also drove 10 miles
07:33into the wilderness.
07:34I used the micro-minimizer
07:36to shrink fertile soil and trees.
07:38Then stuffed them
07:39into a duffel bag.
07:40They'd become my farm and supplies.
07:43I sent all my deliveries
07:45to my old farmhouse.
07:46It's in an abandoned village
07:48with no one around.
07:49I moved through the empty rooms
07:51using the micro-minimizer
07:52on everything.
07:53Furniture,
07:54food,
07:54seeds,
07:55medicine,
07:56tools.
07:59Then I looked at the old farmhouse.
08:01It was worn
08:02but still solid.
08:03I minimized it too.
08:07That night,
08:08I drove home in the dark,
08:09took everything to my room
08:10and stored it in the hidden bunker.
08:12Ava had been so excited these days,
08:15thinking she was ready
08:15for the apocalypse.
08:16She didn't notice where I went
08:18or what I did at all.
08:19The bunker had a full
08:20air filtration system.
08:22It could supply clean oxygen
08:23for years.
08:24I stored five bottles of mineral water
08:26in a small ceramic tank
08:28and set up phone-controlled lights
08:29powered by a generator.
08:31I crouched in the bunker center
08:32and looked at the tiny landscape
08:34before me.
08:35The farm needed a fence first.
08:37Otherwise,
08:38the chicks would peck
08:39all the seedlings to death.
08:40I used the straightest branches
08:42from the many trees,
08:43tied them with wire,
08:44and built a low fence
08:45around the soil.
08:46Next,
08:47I fixed the wind generator.
08:49A part had come loose.
08:50I tightened it,
08:51added a drop of oil,
08:52and closed it up.
08:53The blade spun smoothly.
08:54My phone started charging.
08:56I worked past midnight.
08:58Then my phone buzzed.
09:00The motion sensor
09:00by my bedroom door
09:01had been triggered.
09:02I checked the camera.
09:03Ava was sneaking into my room.
09:05She held a small screwdriver.
09:06She dug through my wardrobe,
09:09bookshelf,
09:09and desk,
09:11muttering angrily.
09:13He must have something hidden.
09:15He bought a whole fridge.
09:16There's extra food.
09:18Why does he get more than me?
09:20Hurry up.
09:20Don't get caught.
09:22Grab something and let's go.
09:23Liam stood in the doorway.
09:24She searched for 20 minutes.
09:26Found nothing.
09:28She kicked the wardrobe
09:29and stormed out,
09:30cursing under her breath.
09:31I stared at the ransacked room
09:33on the camera.
09:34I felt nothing at all.
09:36Good thing I'd already moved
09:37everything that mattered.
09:41After daybreak,
09:42I started building a small irrigation system.
09:44I cut the miniaturized plastic tubing
09:46into appropriate lengths,
09:51connected one end
09:52to the base of the cistern,
09:54and ran the other end
09:54along the perimeter of the garden plot,
09:56drilling small holes at intervals
09:58so that when I opened the valve,
10:00water would flow evenly
10:01to each seedling's root zone.
10:03To collect rainwater as a backup,
10:07I mounted a small drainage channel
10:09along the top of the bunker
10:10and ran it into a separate sealed container,
10:13filtered through a layer of filter cotton,
10:15clean enough to water the plants
10:17and drinkable in an emergency.
10:18Once that was done,
10:20I opened the seed packets
10:21and began sowing.
10:22Leafy greens,
10:23eggplant,
10:24cucumber.
10:25I covered each row
10:26with a thin layer of soil,
10:29watered it through,
10:31and stepped back.
10:34Around midday,
10:35I opened the camera feed,
10:36pointed at Liam's apartment door,
10:38and caught Ava mid-argument
10:39with Liam's mother.
10:41You only enlarged that much bread?
10:43We have elderly parents and kids in here.
10:45How is that supposed to last us
10:47even a few days?
10:48Get back in your room
10:49and bring out everything
10:50you've been hoarding
10:51and enlarge it.
10:52Or don't bother showing your face
10:53at my door again.
10:57Those are my emergency supplies.
11:00If I use everything now,
11:01what do we eat later?
11:06Liam appeared behind her,
11:07slid his arm around her shoulders.
11:10Ava, come on.
11:11Do what Mom says.
11:13Get through this stretch first.
11:15Once things settle down,
11:17I'll buy you anything you want,
11:19more than he ever had
11:20in that fridge of his.
11:21Two sentences from Liam.
11:23That was all it took.
11:24Ava's expression went soft and yielding,
11:26and she nodded.
11:27I put down the camera feed
11:29and picked up the small hoe
11:30to loosen the soil around the new seeds.
11:32She'll never understand.
11:34People who only know how to take
11:36will always want more.
11:38That afternoon,
11:41I fashioned a set of small storage crocks
11:44from the ceramic fragments I'd brought,
11:46sealed them with adhesive,
11:47and set them aside to cure,
11:49for pickles and fermented vegetables
11:51once the harvest came in.
11:52I vacuum-sealed a portion of the bread
11:54and instant pastas against moisture damage,
11:57and arranged them on a dry rack.
12:01The chicks jostled each other
12:02at the fence line,
12:04pecking at stray grass seeds.
12:05I scattered a handful of feed
12:07and watched them scramble for it,
12:08and something in my chest settled a little.
12:13Outside my bedroom window,
12:14far above the bunker,
12:16a light drizzle had begun.
12:17The sky in the distance
12:18had turned a bruised, heavy gray.
12:20The great deluge was almost here.
12:22My small world was ready.
12:24After a full night of careful work,
12:26the interior of the hidden bunker
12:28had been transformed
12:29into a miniature farm.
12:30Tiny chicks,
12:31their voices barely a whisper,
12:33were already rooting
12:34through the grass for insects.
12:36Beyond the farm plot
12:37stood my little house.
12:38Every appliance in place,
12:40every shelf stocked.
12:43I could finally breathe.
12:45Now all I had to do
12:46was wait for the storm.
12:49In the final 12 hours,
12:51Ava stayed hidden
12:52in Liam's apartment again.
12:53His family tolerated her,
12:55but coldly.
12:56His mother didn't hide her dislike.
12:58I heard her complaining
12:59to neighbors more than once.
13:02That girl has no shame.
13:04She throws herself
13:05at my son every day.
13:06Maybe you'll get a daughter-in-law.
13:08She didn't finish high school.
13:10In her 20s
13:11and never worked a real job,
13:12just lived off her boyfriend.
13:14She thinks she can marry
13:15into my family?
13:16Not a chance.
13:17I said nothing.
13:18It didn't bother me.
13:20With one hour left
13:22until the deluge,
13:23I called Ava.
13:24Hey babe,
13:25something wrong?
13:26Just a work thing.
13:27I'll be pulling an all-nighter
13:28at the office.
13:28Don't wait up.
13:32Okay.
13:33I'll eat alone tonight then.
13:34Bye.
13:35She didn't ask if I'd be safe,
13:37didn't suggest I come home
13:38before the rain got worse.
13:39The call was a trick.
13:40I wanted her to think I'd left.
13:42I wanted her to stop watching
13:43my side of the apartment.
13:46I hung up,
13:47opened the control app on my phone,
13:49and unlocked the bunker.
13:52The panel slid open silently.
13:55I stepped inside.
13:59Then I turned the micro-minimizer on myself.
14:29This time will be different.
14:31The complaints kept coming
14:33for the first few days.
14:35Inconvenience, frustration,
14:36ordinary irritation
14:37at weather-disrupting schedules.
14:39Then the tone shifted.
14:41The humor drained out of the posts.
14:43People started asking questions
14:44that didn't have reassuring answers.
14:47My world, by contrast,
14:50had never been quieter.
14:51I tended the farm.
14:53I fed the chickens.
14:56I watered the seedlings.
15:00Checked the generator output.
15:03Monitored the water levels
15:04in the cistern.
15:06The routine was simple
15:07and absorbing,
15:08and the hours passed
15:09without friction.
15:11Ava, apparently,
15:12had already decided I was dead,
15:14drowned somewhere
15:15in the floodwaters.
15:16She didn't seem
15:17particularly broken up about it.
15:19I wasn't broken up
15:20about that either.
15:22On the second day,
15:23I noticed that several
15:24of the chicks
15:25had gone quiet and still.
15:26They sat hunched
15:27in the corners of the enclosure,
15:29feathers ruffled and dull,
15:31uninterested in the feed I scattered.
15:33One had its eyes half closed.
15:35My chest tightened.
15:36These birds were my primary
15:37long-term protein source.
15:39I couldn't afford to lose them.
15:41I retrieved the veterinary manual
15:42I had quietly packed,
15:44a decision made almost on instinct
15:46back when I was loading the cart,
15:47because I had understood,
15:48even then,
15:49that anything alive requires maintenance.
15:51I crouched beside the sick birds
15:53and worked through the checklist.
15:56Red-rimmed eyes,
15:58sticky, abnormal droppings,
16:01lethargy,
16:01loss of appetite,
16:03foul typhoid.
16:05Almost certainly.
16:06I located the livestock antibiotics
16:08I had packed alongside
16:09the first aid kit
16:10and the seed packets,
16:11measured out the correct dosage
16:13using the miniature graduated cup
16:15I'd included
16:15for precisely this kind of situation,
16:17dissolved it in clean water
16:19and installed a fresh trough.
16:21Then,
16:22I sanitized the entire enclosure
16:23with diluted disinfectant
16:25and separated the symptomatic birds
16:26into a temporary isolation area
16:28away from the healthy flock.
16:31For the next several days,
16:33I checked on them morning and night,
16:36adjusting concentrations,
16:38swapping in clean bedding
16:40and fresh water.
16:40slowly,
16:41incrementally,
16:42the sick birds began to recover.
16:45Their eyes cleared.
16:46They started pecking at the feet again.
16:49One by one,
16:50they rejoined the flock.
16:53The last sick chick stood up on its own,
16:56shook its feathers out,
16:57and strutted toward the food trough
16:59with full,
17:00unselfconscious confidence.
17:02The tension in my shoulders
17:03finally released.
17:04This was what my past life
17:05had given me,
17:06if nothing else.
17:07The knowledge that preparation
17:08is the only insurance
17:10that actually pays out.
17:11Every careful decision I had made
17:13in those three days
17:13before the deluge,
17:15the manual,
17:16the medications,
17:17the seeds,
17:18was already compounding
17:19quietly in the background
17:20while the world above me
17:22fell apart.
17:22With the immediate crisis resolved,
17:24I had time to spare.
17:25I pulled up the camera feed.
17:27Ava had brought Liam
17:28into the apartment.
17:29They were sitting in my living room together.
17:31Ava with a smile
17:32that barely contained
17:33its own triumph.
17:34Liam looking slightly distracted,
17:36eyes moving.
17:38Do you still have anything
17:39left at your place?
17:41Not much.
17:42Should have stocked up earlier.
17:44The first floor units
17:45are already flooded.
17:46I can't even get out
17:47of the building.
17:47And I've got my parents
17:48and my sister to think about.
17:50We're running low.
17:51Ava, what about your place?
17:53Could you spare anything?
17:54It's not just me.
17:55There are four of us.
17:56Ava laughed softly,
17:58reached out,
17:58and playfully tapped his chest,
18:00then dragged her finger
18:01in small circles
18:02against his shirt.
18:03Then she leaned in close,
18:04bringing her lips near his ear,
18:06and whispered,
18:11Seriously?
18:12That's actually possible?
18:14Don't believe me?
18:16Watch.
18:17She turned to the apple
18:18sitting on my coffee table
18:19and activated the macro multiplier.
18:21The apple swelled,
18:22expanding in seconds
18:23until it was the size
18:24of a small boulder
18:25crashing down onto the table's surface
18:27under its own weight.
18:28Liam stared at it,
18:29then he grabbed her
18:30by both shoulders.
18:32Ava, you're a lifesaver.
18:34Get over to our place
18:35and enlarge everything we have, okay?
18:37Ava dipped her head,
18:38a flush spreading across her cheek.
18:40Of course.
18:41But I have one small condition.
18:44Name it.
18:45You know how I feel about you.
18:47If I'm the reason your family
18:48makes it through this,
18:49could you maybe
18:50feel the same way about me?
18:51She covered her eyes
18:52with both hands,
18:54too overwhelmed
18:54by her own hope
18:55to watch his face,
18:56which meant she didn't see it.
18:58The fractional pause,
18:59the brief flicker
19:00of something cold
19:01and calculating behind his eyes,
19:02before Liam carefully
19:04rearranged his expression
19:05into something warm and tender,
19:07he reached out
19:07and took her hand.
19:08What are you even saying?
19:10Haven't we always been together?
19:11We were inseparable as kids.
19:14Of course I have feelings for you.
19:16When this rain is over,
19:17I'm going to marry you.
19:18Ava threw her arms
19:19around his neck
19:20with a sound caught
19:21somewhere between
19:22a laugh and a sob.
19:23I knew it.
19:24I always knew
19:25you felt the same way.
19:28What about him?
19:33Him?
19:34He said he was working late.
19:39The way this rain
19:40has been going,
19:41he's probably drowned by now.
19:43A thin, private smile
19:45crossed Liam's face.
19:46Then he steered her
19:47toward her room
19:48to fetch the rest of the supplies.
19:52I watched all of it
19:53through the camera feed,
19:54the phone propped
19:55against the water cistern,
19:57one hand still resting on the hoe.
19:58I sat with that
19:59for a long, quiet moment.
20:10How did I ever fall in love
20:11with someone this foolish?
20:13Foolish was one thing,
20:16but this,
20:18the casual cheerfulness
20:20with which she had just written off
20:21my probable death,
20:22that was something uglier.
20:24She practically sounded hopeful about it.
20:26Not that any of it
20:27was my problem anymore.
20:29I was sealed inside a wall,
20:31invisible and untouchable,
20:33with a working farm,
20:35a stocked refrigerator,
20:36and exactly zero reasons
20:38to care what was happening
20:39on the other side of the plaster.
20:41I went back to the little house,
20:43set a pot on the stove,
20:44and put together a proper meal.
20:46A steaming feast of spicy broth,
20:49thinly sliced wagyu beef
20:51draped over the rim of the pot.
20:53Fresh greens harvested
20:55that morning from the garden,
20:56silky pastas coiled at the bottom.
20:59The broth came to a rolling boil,
21:01the kitchen filled
21:02with a deep, rich fragrance.
21:04I pulled a cold drink
21:06from the refrigerator,
21:07settled in,
21:08and ate slowly,
21:09savoring every bite.
21:11When I was done,
21:12I photographed the spread,
21:14the simmering pot,
21:15the marbled beef,
21:17the gleaming surface of the broth,
21:19and posted it to my social media.
21:22Howling storm outside,
21:23a feast inside.
21:25Some of us are doing just fine.
21:27Her comment appeared within 30 seconds.
21:31Babe, where are you?
21:33Then the messages started rolling in.
21:35Babe, the storm is bad.
21:36Are you okay?
21:37Babe, where are you eating a hot meal?
21:40I want some too.
21:41I've been living on crackers.
21:43Babe, tell me where you are.
21:45I'm trapped.
21:45I can't get out.
21:47Can you bring food back?
21:49I photographed the cold drink in my hand,
21:51ice stacked to the rim,
21:53condensation beating on the glass,
21:55and sent it to her without a single word.
21:58The broth is hot.
21:59The drink is cold.
22:00Life is good.
22:02My phone rang 30 seconds later.
22:04How are you still eating like this?
22:06She demanded.
22:07Can't you bring something back?
22:08I've been on crackers and instant pastillas for days.
22:12Babe, I'm starving.
22:13I'm so hungry.
22:15She dragged the last few words into a whine,
22:17the way she always did when she wanted something,
22:19and thought being pitiful would work faster than arguing.
22:22But I could hear exactly what was underneath it.
22:25Not hunger.
22:25Not fear.
22:27Indignation.
22:27How dare you have something I don't.
22:30I looked around the bunker.
22:31The steady hum of the generator.
22:33The soft rustling of the chicks in the enclosure.
22:36The smell of broth and warm soil,
22:38and something I took a moment to identify.
22:41Genuine peace.
22:42Still at the office, I said pleasantly.
22:45They ordered in for the team.
22:46Rain's too bad for me to head home.
22:48Find something in the kitchen you'll manage.
22:50You can't be serious.
22:52Babe, I don't want crackers.
22:54I want...
22:55Sorry.
22:55Can't help you.
22:56I ended the call.
22:57On the camera feed,
22:58Ava stared at her phone for a full three seconds.
23:01Then, she hurled it at the wall of my bedroom,
23:04hard enough to crack the screen.
23:05All that carefully maintained sweetness,
23:08dropped in an instant.
23:09Gone like it had never existed.
23:11I had suspected for a long time.
23:13Now, I had confirmation.
23:15I opened the tablet,
23:16navigated to the drama series I've been working through.
23:19I had hundreds of novels, anime, and shows downloaded.
23:22More than enough for years.
23:24Poured the rest of my drink,
23:25settled back against the cushions,
23:27and let the first episode begin.
23:29When it ended,
23:30I set down my glass,
23:31picked up my phone,
23:32and switched the camera feed to the one mounted outside Liam's door.
23:35I didn't wait long.
23:37Liam's father cracked the apartment door open and peered both ways down the hallway.
23:40Then, he leaned over the railing and waved downward toward the floors below.
23:44Two men came up to the stairwell,
23:46wading through calf-deep water that had already made it up to the second floor.
23:50I recognized one of them,
23:51a man the other residents called Old Simph,
23:53known throughout the building for his short temper and his appetite for leverage.
23:57His son trailed behind him,
23:58a young man who had spent the better part of his adult life looking for shortcuts.
24:02Liam's father ushered them both inside and dropped his voice.
24:06I've got something to tell you.
24:08The girl from across the hall has a special ability.
24:11She can enlarge any object a hundredfold.
24:14That's how we've been keeping ourselves fed.
24:16Old Smith's eyes sharpened.
24:18His son couldn't contain himself.
24:19No way!
24:20That's real?
24:21Liam's mother chimed in from across the room.
24:23Saw it with my own eyes.
24:26She put her hand on one apple and it swelled up bigger than a washgaff.
24:31Our whole family ate off it for an entire day.
24:35Liam appeared from the hallway,
24:37expression easy, measured, calculated,
24:40and wearing a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
24:44Here's what I'm proposing.
24:46The whole building is going to be desperate soon.
24:50When that happens,
24:52they'll start taking what they need by force.
24:54You two are strong.
24:56You know how to handle yourselves.
24:59What I need is someone guarding this door.
25:01Someone who can turn people away and make it stick.
25:03He let that land.
25:05In exchange,
25:06you get 30% of everything Ava produces.
25:1130 is an insult.
25:1350.
25:14And after the rain stops,
25:16the girl keeps working for my family.
25:18Liam held his gaze,
25:19glanced at his parents,
25:21nodded.
25:2150 it is.
25:22I watched the four of them shake on the deal
25:24through the camera feed.
25:25My expression unchanged.
25:27I already knew exactly who Liam was.
25:29I had always known,
25:30in some peripheral way,
25:31the way he talked down to Ava when he thought no one was watching,
25:34the contempt he barely bothered to conceal.
25:37I had simply never believed she would choose him anyway.
25:39But what I was watching now was something worse than I had imagined.
25:42He wasn't just using her system,
25:44he was using her as a shield,
25:46a resource,
25:47a liability he was already managing,
25:49and he was recruiting outside muscle to control access to her,
25:52as if she were property he owned.
25:54He hadn't considered even for a moment what would happen to Ava
25:57if old Simth and his son decided 50% wasn't enough.
26:01Not long after,
26:02I heard Ava's voice through the feed,
26:04brighter than it had been in days,
26:06almost buoyant.
26:07Liam's mother was speaking to her in warm,
26:09honey tones,
26:10entirely unlike the sharkness I'd heard directed at Ava before.
26:13Ava,
26:14you're truly something else.
26:15With your gift,
26:16we don't have to worry about a thing.
26:17What a treasure you are!
26:21You're too kind.
26:22Being able to use the system to help your family,
26:25that's exactly what I wanted.
26:28We're going to be family soon after all.
26:32A short silence fell over the room.
26:34Then Liam's father jumped in,
26:36smooth and warm.
26:38Absolutely.
26:39Liam is so lucky to have you.
26:41I said to my wife this very morning,
26:44that girl is something special.
26:46You're such a joy to have around.
26:49Ava soaked it up like sunlight,
26:51beaming,
26:51floating.
26:52She had no idea the ground had already shifted entirely beneath her feet.
26:56I switched off the feed and set the phone down.
26:58The chicks had grown considerably.
27:00Still young,
27:01still noisy,
27:02still incapable of taking turns at anything.
27:04Crowding the trough in a mass of ruffled feathers
27:07and loud opinion.
27:08Is that,
27:09are those chickens I'm hearing?
27:10Yes,
27:11I'm feeding them.
27:12What?
27:14There's a storm flooding the entire city
27:16and you're feeding chickens?
27:18I raised them.
27:19The silence that followed had a very particular quality.
27:23That's,
27:23how,
27:24where did you even,
27:25it's fine,
27:25don't worry about it.
27:28The cucumber vines had climbed their trellises overnight
27:31and were sending out small yellow flowers.
27:35The leafy greens were coming in on their second harvest.
27:39The eggplant hung in small,
27:41deep purple clusters from the vines.
27:43The freezer still had months of meat stored and sealed.
27:46I was not going to run out of anything.
27:49Ethan,
27:50where are you?
27:51How do you have vegetables?
27:52How are you raising chickens?
27:53Is wherever you are not being affected by the de Lounge at all?
27:56Not at all.
27:57She could never have imagined it.
27:59I hadn't gone anywhere.
28:00I was right here,
28:01on the other side of her bedroom wall.
28:03Just a few feet of plaster between two completely different worlds.
28:09That's incredible!
28:10Babe,
28:11you have to tell me where you are.
28:12I'll bring Liam and his family over.
28:14We're practically family already.
28:16And it sounds like there's room.
28:19If you manage it,
28:20you're welcome to come.
28:21What's that supposed to mean?
28:23You don't want us to come?
28:24She had grown accustomed to me bending immediately
28:26whenever she asked for anything.
28:28This was,
28:29evidently,
28:30a version of me she hadn't prepared for.
28:32I kicked a chick off my boot,
28:34stepped over the fence rail,
28:35and walked back toward the house.
28:37My refrigerator was stocked with a solid selection of ready-to-cook meals.
28:41Pre-made pizza,
28:42cheese,
28:43compressed biscuits,
28:44canned beef,
28:45Italian sausage,
28:46Spanish ham.
28:48I switched on the fan for airflow,
28:50pulled a pizza from the small countertop oven where it had been warming,
28:53and set it on the table.
28:54The crust had gone beautifully golden in the heat,
28:57crisp at the edges,
28:58soft in the center.
28:59The cheese melted and bubbling with a deep,
29:02rich scent that filled the whole kitchen.
29:03I photographed it and sent the picture to Ava without comment.
29:11You have pizza?
29:13Babe,
29:14tell me where you are right now.
29:15I've been eating stale crackers and rehydrated pastas for days,
29:19and you're over there with a pizza?
29:21You're being so unfair.
29:25Ava's voice came out in a rush,
29:27urgent,
29:28frantic,
29:29the wheedling beneath the anger,
29:30paper thin.
29:31She was desperate to pry my location out of me.
29:34I bit into the pizza,
29:35the cheese pulled in long elastic strands.
29:38The crust had exactly the right resistance before it gave way.
29:43Wow.
29:45This cheese pull is incredible.
29:49Seriously.
29:50Ethan!
29:51You make a fair point though,
29:53as of genuinely considering it.
29:55My supplies do have a limit,
29:56but here's the thing.
29:57Your macro multiplier can expand any food source by a factor of 100.
30:01If you found me,
30:02you could multiply everything I have.
30:04We'd be set for years.
30:06So,
30:06find me.
30:07Then just tell me where you are so I can do exactly that.
30:10She never wanted to find me.
30:11She just couldn't stand the idea of me having something she didn't.
30:15Find me yourself.
30:16I ended the call.
30:17On the camera feed,
30:18Ava stood in the center of my bedroom and screamed.
30:21She swept what remained on the nightstand onto the floor.
30:24She kicked the wardrobe.
30:26She threw things.
30:27The sweetness she had maintained for so many years,
30:30gone in under 10 seconds.
30:32Not long after,
30:33word spread to the entire building.
30:35Someone had let it slip that the woman in my apartment
30:37could enlarge any object by a hundredfold.
30:40As for who had done the leaking,
30:42that required precisely zero guessing.
30:44In the camera feed,
30:45Ava stood amid the wreckage of my room,
30:47breathing hard,
30:48face twisted with impotent fury.
30:50She had smashed the last decorative item on the shelf.
30:52Now she sank to the floor,
30:54back against the wall,
30:55chest heaving.
30:56Across the room,
30:57Liam stood with his arms crossed.
30:58His jaw was set,
30:59his brow furrowed,
31:00but he didn't move toward her.
31:02His eyes were doing something else entirely.
31:04Scanning,
31:04calculating,
31:05drifting toward the door.
31:06In the living room,
31:08Liam's mother paced in tight loops,
31:10voice low and tense.
31:12What do we do now?
31:13The whole building knows.
31:15If everyone comes here demanding food,
31:17what do we do?
31:18We don't have enough for all of them.
31:20Let out a quiet exhale,
31:21closed the camera feed,
31:22and turned back to the farm.
31:24The vegetable beds had come alive.
31:26Romaine lettuce spread wide,
31:27its pale inner leaves unfurling toward the light.
31:30A row of eggplants hung plump and violet from their vines.
31:33The cucumbers had climbed the trellis I'd built
31:36and were sending out delicate tendrils,
31:39their small yellow flowers just beginning to open.
31:42The chicks had changed too.
31:44The soft, helpless fuzz of their first days
31:46was almost entirely gone,
31:48replaced by proper adult feathers,
31:50dark at the tips,
31:52iridescent at the edges,
31:53proud.
31:54They moved with a new kind of confidence now,
31:57heads up,
31:58scratching at the soil in long, deliberate strokes.
32:01Two of them were locked in a very serious dispute
32:03over a single earthworm.
32:05I picked up the small hoe
32:06and worked my way along the nearest row,
32:08breaking up the surface crust to let the soil breathe.
32:11Then I scooped water from the cistern
32:13with a clay ladle
32:13and walked the full length of the bed,
32:15letting it fall in a thin, even curtain
32:17over the root zones.
32:19Warm, filtered light came in
32:20through the special glass panels I'd minimized
32:22and installed in the bunker ceiling,
32:24glass that filtered out the rain and impurities
32:26while still admitting natural light.
32:28It fell across my shoulders
32:30like something I hadn't felt in a long time.
32:32The wind generator cycled in its steady low hum.
32:35The phone showed full charge.
32:37I went inside,
32:38took the marinated chicken I'd been preparing overnight
32:41out of the refrigerator,
32:42cut it into pieces,
32:44and loaded it into the roasting tray.
32:46The potatoes went in beside it,
32:48peeled, cubed,
32:50edges cut to maximize caramelization.
32:52The oven door clicked shut.
32:54While it cooked,
32:55I cracked two eggs into a small pot,
32:57both collected that morning,
32:59still warm when I'd found them.
33:01Whisked in a splash of water,
33:03dropped in a handful of fresh-cut greens,
33:05and had a bright, clean soup ready
33:07by the time the oven timer chimed.
33:08I carried both dishes
33:10to the small table outside the house
33:11and ate with the garden in front of me,
33:13the chickens moving around my boots.
33:16Through the bunker's insulated walls,
33:18the deluge was just a faint sound,
33:20distant static,
33:22weather happening somewhere else entirely.
33:24The camera feed,
33:26when I checked it after dinner,
33:27told a different story.
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