The warm, familiar lights of my living room were shining brightly.

I was huddled in a corner, knees digging into the soft carpet as I focused intently on injecting syringes into a litter of bunnies.

"Hold still, little ones," I murmured.

Suddenly, a white rabbit, its eyes wide with terror, thrashed wildly.

"No!" I cried out, a sharp gasp escaping my lips as its claws sliced clean across my finger. Blood welled up instantly and dripped steadily onto the plush, expensive carpet, creating a macabre pattern.

Just then, Mathew walked into the living room.

The moment his eyes landed on me, they widened to the size of saucers.

"Alice! What on earth are you doing?" he exclaimed.

I looked up at him, a strange, almost maniacal smile playing on my lips. "It's necessary, Mathew," I said.

"Are you out of your mind? You're hurting those innocent rabbits!" Mathew roared, his face turning a furious shade of red as he charged towards me.

In a fit of uncontrollable rage, he lashed out and knocked over the small side table nearby.

A lamp crashed to the floor with a deafening smash, shattering into a million pieces. "You can't do this!" he bellowed.

I pushed him away with all my might, my heart aching for the panicked rabbits. "Don't be scared. I promise, I won't let anything happen to you," I cooed softly, my voice a gentle lullaby in the midst of the chaos as I scrambled to gather them up, my hands shaking slightly.

Mathew stared at me, completely dumbfounded. "You've changed. I don't even recognize you anymore," his voice heavy with disappointment and a tinge of sadness.

I let out a weary sigh.

The weight of my past experiences pressing down on my shoulders like a ton of bricks.

Back in that dark, cold basement, I had endured so much.

Week after week, the cold - voiced doctors would order, "Another round of blood - exchange."

The virus - laced blood was injected into both me and the rabbits.

As the days turned into weeks and then months, they became my only family, the only ones who truly knew the depths of my pain.

Fast - forward to this very moment in my living room.

Sunlight still streamed in through the large windows, but the peace it usually brought was short - lived.

I was back on the carpet, trying once again to inject the rabbits.

One rabbit, in a final act of defiance, scratched me, reopening the wound.

Blood stained the carpet even more.

At that exact moment, my parents burst into the living room. "Alice! What is this madness?" my father thundered.

"Look at this mess! And you're bleeding!" my mother shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth in horror.

I stood up slowly, rabbits cradled protectively in my arms.

"I'm saving them... and maybe, just maybe, the world," I said, my voice firm, unwavering.

My father scoffed. "Saving them? You're talking utter nonsense!"

My mother pointed a trembling finger at the door.

"Throw those rabbits out right this instant!" she demanded.

I hugged the rabbits even tighter, as if willing them to feel my love and protection.

Mathew, my parents - they all froze in their tracks.

"Throw them out"My parents roared.

Scared out of my wits, I huddled into the corner of the table like a terrified little beast, clutching the litter of bunnies tightly to my chest.

The table's edges dug into my back, but I paid it no mind, my sole focus on shielding the rabbits.

Back in that godforsaken virus base, the doctors had looked at me and the rabbits with eyes filled with utter loathing, casually playing with our lives as if we were nothing but disposable objects.​

Countless rabbits had been brutally disemboweled right before my eyes, their blood splattering everywhere.

And I, I could only endure as they jabbed needles into me time and time again.​

My family was first startled by my reaction, and then, in unison, their faces contorted into expressions of extreme disappointment, as if I were a hopeless monster.​

My father, his face red with rage, took a menacing step forward.

"Stop this charade, Alice! The money we've given you was meant to keep you out of trouble, not to fuel whatever deranged game you're playing now. You're embarrassing this family with your wild antics and these filthy rabbits." He spat the words out, his eyes filled with disgust.​

My mother chimed in. "Because of your recklessness, Sasha was almost killed! We sent you to that research facility hoping you'd learn something useful, but all you've done is come back more deranged. Stop acting like a victim. You brought this upon yourself and everyone around you."​

"Enough, Alice! Can't you stop this nonsense? Sasha is being magnanimous and not holding it against you, and yet you keep going. Have some dignity, will you? Come with us right now!" Mathew said as he strode towards me urgently, his stance suggesting he was about to drag me away by force.​

"Sasha?"

My teeth chattered so hard. The rabbits in my arms, sensing my absolute panic, huddled even closer.

Back in the base, Sasha, the pampered daughter , had mercilessly ordered me and the rabbits to partake in all sorts of perilous and deadlyvirus programs.

Mathew's face darkened in an instant.

Without a word, he lunged forward and reached out, his hand shooting out to grab my wrist.

In his haste and fury, he yanked with such force that the next moment, my collar was torn clean off, exposing the skin beneath, which was marred with a web of scars and countless tiny, healed - over needle marks.

A faint, coppery smell of blood immediately wafted through the living room.

"Good God! Alice, what on earth has happened to you? Your neck is almost shredded, and there's blood everywhere."

My father's eyes bulged out of their sockets, and the veins on his neck throbbed like enraged serpents.

My mother, on the other hand, crumpled to the ground.

"Help! What's going on? Throw those damned rabbits out right now! Ever since you came back from that accursed place, it's like you've been possessed by evil spirits. Why are you doing such terrifying things?"

I was eerily calm.

I reached up and dug my fingers into the raw, bleeding wound on my neck.

I clawed at it, widening the gash, causing blood to spurt out in thick, viscous streams. Then, with a maniacal grin stretching across my face, I smeared the blood all over the rabbits in my arms.

They squirmed at first, but soon, their tiny tongues darted out, lapping up the blood with a frenzy.

Suddenly, I dropped to my knees, the rabbits scattering around me for a moment before quickly gathering close again.

With my face mere inches from theirs, I extended my tongue.

The rabbits, as if in a trance, mirrored my action, their tiny pink tongues flicking out. We began to lick each other.

My tongue slid over their blood - smeared fur, tasting the coppery liquid that mingled with their natural scent.

Their tongues, in turn, darted across my face, lapping at the blood that dripped from my wound and the smeared streaks on my skin.​

The rabbits, still locked in this macabre embrace, hopped and squirmed around me, their "squeaks" blending with my laughter to create a nightmarish symphony.

Day in and day out, I endured the same cruel fate as the rabbits by my side.

We were both injected with that infernal virus, a concoction designed by Sasha's minions to unlock the latent werewolf powers in a most sadistic way. The agony was unfathomable.

My flesh would fester and decay, and my immune system hung by a thread.

In those darkest, most torturous moments, when the pain was so intense that it seemed the world was ending, the rabbits and I found solace in our own grotesque, primal way. We'd lick each other's oozing, infected wounds, our tongues a desperate attempt to soothe the searing pain.

Before being allowed to return home, they transformed me.

I was groomed to perfection, dozens of specialized scar - healing and restoration injections were administered. These injections rapidly mended my physical wounds.

"Take Alice to the hospital this instant!"

Mathew finally snapped into action.

He scooped me up in his arms.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Sasha stormed into the hospital ward.

"Good Lord! What on earth did the doctor say?"

Her shrill and exaggerated voice instantly shattered the tranquility of the ward.

Her long hair cascaded wildly.

Dressed in a dark floral dress, the flowers on it were not of the usual fresh kind. The hem of the dress was irregularly cut, and as she moved, there was a hint of unruliness. "Squeak! Squeak!" I hugged the baby rabbits in my arms tightly, my eyes wide as saucers, like a mother beast fiercely protecting her cubs, staring intently at her, a low, vigilant growl rumbling from my throat.

It was as if the primal instincts of a werewolf were awakening within me, making me fiercely protective of what was mine.

When Sasha saw this scene, she jumped back exaggeratedly two big steps, almost catapulting herself behind Mathew, her face contorted into an expression of extreme horror.

But in the split second when she turned sideways, the corner of her mouth twitched upward, revealing a fleeting, mocking arc.

Mathew flew into a rage, his eyes bulging with anger.

He turned his head and roared at me harshly, "What the hell is wrong with you! Your injury has nothing to do with Sasha at all. Why are you glaring at her? Can't you let go of that old incident? If you hadn't messed around on your own, would you be in this mess today?"

Mom sighed beside us, her face filled with disappointment.

"Alice, Alice, why are you so muddle-headed? Sasha is such a kind-hearted girl. She always talks about missing you. And here you are, as the older sister, always targeting your younger sister. It's been a year already. Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"Even if you're sick now, you can't look at Sasha with that fierce look! Turn your head away this instant!"

Dad pulled a long face, like an enraged lion, bellowing at the top of his lungs.

Then he added, "I think you've been hanging out with those shady people outside for too long, which is why you've ended up with your skin festering and looking like a monster."

"I remember now!"

Sasha slapped her forehead so hard that her glasses almost flew off.

"This morning, when I was snooping around in the underground black market for information, I heard those people talking. Apparently, lately, in those seedy places, a lot of people have contracted a shameful sexually transmitted disease. They say the symptoms are terrifying, exactly like what my sister has now. Their bodies are covered in festering sores, and their skin is falling off in chunks. "

She deliberately drawled out her words, her face contorted in a feigned look of horror, but the excitement in her eyes was impossible to hide, as if she were describing something she had long been eagerly anticipating.

"What?"

Mom and Dad were so shocked by Sasha's words that their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"The test results are in!" Just then, the doctor walked into the ward with a solemn expression.

At the sight of that familiar face, I trembled all over in terror, like a frightened rabbit, and instantly burrowed under the covers.

My bladder betrayed me, and warm urine soaked the bedsheet.

"What on earth is wrong with Alice?" Mathew was beside himself with anxiety, his voice quivering.

He rushed up to the doctor in a few quick steps, his hands gripping the doctor's arms tightly.

"It's an extremely severe and highly contagious sexually transmitted disease. Judging from her physical condition, her private life has been extremely promiscuous," the doctor adjusted his glasses, a flicker of pity crossing his eyes.

"Moreover, her uterus is severely damaged. She has undergone multiple high - risk surgeries, and her body functions are on the verge of collapse. These are all the consequences of her reckless behavior."

Upon hearing this news, Mom, Dad, and Mathew were struck as if by a bolt from the blue.

They froze in place, their faces turning as pale as paper in an instant.

Immediately, Mathew was like a wild, enraged beast.

He suddenly reached out his hands and tore the quilt to shreds.

His hands gripped my shoulders tightly, shaking me violently as he let out a heart - rending roar, "Alice! Look at what you've done! So all that pretense of purity before was just a load of lies! You're nothing but a shameless slut!"

"How many people have you fooled around with? Your body is so filthy. I must have been blind. How could I have ever fallen for a piece of trash like you?"

Mom collapsed to the ground, her hands pounding the floor incessantly as she wailed, "How could I have given birth to such a disgraceful creature! You've brought shame upon our entire family! How could you be so lacking in self - respect and engage in such immoral behavior!"

Her voice echoed through the ward.

Dad, on the other hand, was shaking with rage.

He charged forward and kicked the side of the hospital bed with such force that the bed shifted several inches.

Pointing at me, he spat out curses, "You ungrateful wretch! From this day on, you are no longer my daughter. I don't have a child like you, living a life of debauchery and lacking any sense of propriety!"

I huddled at the edge of the bed, unable to respond to their accusations. The long - term virus injecting had long since robbed me of my ability to refute.

All I could manage were trembling "squeaks."

"You... you shameless thing!"

Mathew's teeth gritted so hard that they seemed on the verge of shattering. Then, without warning, he lunged forward and, with a strength born of madness, tore a large piece of flesh from my body.

The sickening sound of ripping flesh reverberated through the once - quiet ward.

Immediately after, as if completely consumed by his fury, he grabbed the nearby phone and roared into it, "You bunch of useless idiots! Didn't I tell you to keep a close eye on Alice? How could she still go out and act like a slut, getting herself into this filthy state? Find out how many men she's slept with in the past year. Not a single one is to be left out! If you can't get the answers, you'll all pay with your lives!" After his outburst, he swung his arm and smashed the phone onto the floor with all his might.

The expensive device instantly shattered into a pile of broken parts.

Then, with a final display of his anger, he delivered a powerful kick to the ward door.

With a deafening "bang," the door almost flew off its hinges.

And just like that, he stormed out of the room, his body radiating anger like a werewolf leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

"Mom, Dad, don't let your anger get the better of you. Calm down, please."

Sasha's face was filled with false concern.

She darted towards Mom and Dad like a gust of wind, babbling soothing words while tugging and pulling them with great effort, trying to push the emotionally - distraught couple out of the ward.

The moment the ward door closed, the tenderness on her face vanished without a trace, replaced by a look of smugness and mockery.

"Oh, my dear sister."

She skipped towards my bedside with steps so light they were almost bouncy.

Then, she bent down and brought her face close to my ear, her voice low but dripping with malice.

"Look at you now, in such a sorry state. You're no different from those rabbits being stepped on, cowering and struggling to survive in this dark corner. And me? I'm about to become the real daughter of the family. Before long, you'll be completely forgotten, a stain on the family's honor, cast aside into the dustbin of history."

She narrowed her eyes, a grotesquely exaggerated sneer curling her lips,.

A growl of anger and warning rumbled from my throat, and my body trembled violently with extreme rage and fear. It was as if the latent werewolf within me was struggling to break free, but I was too weak to let it out.

"Oh, no!"

Sasha suddenly leaped back several steps, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

Her voice was so shrill that it could pierce through eardrums.

"My sister has gone crazy! She's going to kill someone! Help!"