After passing the civil service exam, before I had even done the medical check and started the job, my boyfriend insisted on taking me on a road trip through Yellowstone during the one-month break I had. An adventure enthusiast, he drove our car right into a grizzly bear conservation area and told me I could feed the "cute little bears" with rice crackers. But when we actually encountered one, my naturally cautious nature kept me from opening the window. The massive grizzly before us looked to be over six hundred pounds, with a ferocious face and sharp fangs—not at all the "cute little bear" my boyfriend had described. Seeing my hesitation, he actually used the car's master controls to lower my window, allowing the grizzly to tear the skin from my face with a single swipe of its paw. Disfigured, I lost my chance at the civil service position. My boyfriend, who was the runner-up, took my place. In despair, I chose to hang myself in the new house he was preparing for our marriage. When I opened my eyes again, I was back, five minutes before we met the grizzly bear. 01 As we drove through the grizzly bear conservation area, a few bears appeared ahead, hunched over, eating something. The edges of the leftover hide on the ground were curled—it looked like the hind leg of a pronghorn antelope. The blood on the ground had been licked clean, making the scene almost deceptively less gruesome. Quinn pulled the car over, his voice electric with excitement. He reached into the back seat, grabbed a bag of rice crackers, and handed them to me. “Here, you can open these and feed them. They’re so cute, don’t be scared! Look how fluffy they are. They look so soft to the touch.” I stared at the grizzlies in the distance, tearing and fighting over the antelope leg, and couldn't connect them with the word "cute" in any way. The car radio crackled intermittently with a news report about the local bear population. “The Yellowstone grizzly is the apex predator of this region, known for its astonishing speed and power… and each year, these bears consume…” Quinn quickly switched off the radio. I asked anxiously, “Consume what?” He smiled innocently, patting my cheek to reassure me. “Just a few pronghorns and rabbits, that’s all. Such cute animals can’t possibly eat people, right? You’re already a bit of a worrier, don't overthink things.” I was still a little uneasy, but I took the rice crackers from him. Outside the window, the grizzlies had savage faces and sharp fangs. Their massive paws were still caked with bits of flesh. From a distance, they looked fluffy, but up close, their fur stood up like steel needles. One of the grizzlies was watching us warily, its eyes fixed directly on me, its blood-red tongue licking the blood from its lips. Seeing my hesitation, my boyfriend, Quinn, reached over to roll down my window himself. In my past life, to snatch a coveted civil service spot, Quinn had taken me to Yellowstone to be bear food. He had convinced me the grizzlies were gentle, rolled down my window, and let one tear the skin from my face, disfiguring me and disqualifying me from the position. Afterward, he played the innocent victim, claiming I had been injured because I had underestimated wildlife, and it had nothing to do with him. Not long after, he successfully took my place at the job, started dating again, and his family joyfully bought them a new house. Meanwhile, I was in a hospital, my face wrapped in bandages, crying every single day. To spite Quinn and cause him financial ruin, in the depths of my depression, I chose to hang myself in his newly renovated house. Relying on the memories of my past life, I quickly grabbed Quinn’s hand as he reached for the window controls. I forced a relaxed smile. “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot, and I don’t think a government job is for me. I’d rather start my own e-commerce business, focusing on international markets.” 02 Quinn was visibly taken aback, but his hand remained poised over the window controls. To sweeten the deal, I continued in a light tone. “My parents really like you, you know. They said that after you get the job, they want to buy us a house. And my dad said he’d buy you a Porsche Panamera once we go back and get our marriage license.” He finally moved his hand away from the controls. He smiled, his expression softening, his whole demeanor relaxing. “Well, a great guy like me ending up with you… I guess your ancestors must have done something right.” Seeing his attitude change, I breathed a sigh of relief. According to his original plan, in two more days, his parents would fly into Jackson Hole. We were supposed to finish our tour of the northern part of the park, then pick them up and drive south to see the wildflowers bloom. He drove a few meters forward, away from the bears, and then turned the car around. “Let’s just go straight to Jackson and wait for my parents. There are too many cute little bears here. I’m afraid I might hit one.” Quinn’s eyes were filled with blatant calculation, devoid of any genuine emotion. His desire for money was on full display. But I had underestimated his determination to get that Panamera. The moment we parked at the hotel, Quinn was eager to drag me to a dealership. His expression was fawning. “Babe, why don’t we just buy the car here in Wyoming and drive it back?” “Drive it back?” I was speechless but managed to hide my impatience. “A Panamera has low clearance. I don’t think it would handle these mountain roads very well, do you?” He hesitated, his face falling. “Well, then why don’t you just transfer the money to me? I can call the dealership back home and place the order. We can pick it up as soon as we get back.” I pretended to rummage through my makeup bag, saying casually, “Oh, really? But my dad said he’d only buy it for you after we get our marriage license.” My dad wasn't here. To ensure my survival for the next few days, I was prepared to say anything. “Then let’s get married now! Getting married in a new place, isn’t that exciting?” Quinn excitedly pulled his ID from his pocket and grabbed my arm, ready to drag me to the courthouse. To stay alive, I had to lie and say I couldn’t find my ID. Later, when he was asleep, I cut it into pieces and flushed it down the toilet. 03 A few days later, at the airport, Quinn’s mother was clearly not expecting to see me standing there, perfectly intact. The moment she saw me, her face soured. “This is so annoying. Son, why is another woman here? This was supposed to be our mother-son vacation.” Quinn, afraid of giving the game away, quickly intervened. “Mom, Chloe and I are getting our license as soon as we get home. Then her parents are buying us a house and a car. We’ll all celebrate together.” In my past life, after the bear attack, a passing park ranger had called for help, and that’s how I survived. But after being brought back to Jackson, Quinn didn't take me to a top hospital in a major city as I had begged him to. He listened to his mother, left me in a local clinic, and took his parents on a tour of the southern sights. “It’s just her face. It wasn’t that pretty to begin with. It’s not a big deal. Don’t be so dramatic.” I was in agony every day. In the end, I had to call my own parents to come and get me and take me home for proper treatment. But it was too late. The skin and flesh torn away by the grizzly failed to graft properly. I was destined to live the rest of my life as a monster. But now that I was reborn, I would not be the same weakling I was before. This trip, everything was going to be different. This time, I would be the one feeding Quinn and his family to the bears. 04 I went on TikTok and started aggressively liking promotional videos for remote, secluded cabins in the backwoods of Wyoming. The algorithm worked its magic. Before long, Quinn's mother started seeing the same videos on her feed. And that woman was used to getting her way. As the matriarch of her family, if she took an interest in these beautiful cabins, she would insist on staying there. Last year, at this same time of year, a large grizzly known to mimic human behaviors—like walking on its hind legs—had killed and eaten three people near this very cabin. Later, local hunters had managed to blind it in one eye. In retaliation, the bear had tracked the hunters' scent back to their home in the dead of night and slaughtered the entire family. The locals knew that once a bear had tasted human flesh, it would never be satisfied with animals again. And this particular bear was known for its vengeful nature. People even avoided grazing their livestock in this area. The cabin had been empty for a long time. To stay there this time of year was basically serving yourself up on a platter. But Quinn's mother, obsessed with beautiful scenery and luxury, was oblivious to all this. “Son, this cabin is so beautiful! Mommy wants to be romantic too. Let’s go stay there, shall we?” Quinn glanced at the address. It was remote, but his mother always got her way. He didn't even think to object. He looked at the price and thought it was a bit steep. He turned to me. "Honey, I'm driving. Can you book this cabin for us?" His mother chimed in, "You haven't contributed anything this whole trip. It's only right that you pay for this." Throughout our relationship, Quinn had rarely spent a dime. He always had an excuse to make me pay. By evening, we finally arrived at the "Wildflower Cabin." Quinn's mother, who had never stayed in such a wild setting before, was thrilled, taking pictures of everything. The cabin had a keypad entry. When Quinn asked me to book it, I had specifically said I was worried we wouldn't rest well all in one place and booked three separate rooms. One for his parents, one for me, and one for Quinn. I had also checked local forums and learned that the one-eyed bear had been spotted in this area for several consecutive days. The news reports said grizzlies have an incredibly keen sense of smell and are often drawn to the scent of food in people's homes. So, I took out the beef jerky I had bought in Jackson and "gifted" it to Quinn's parents, leaving it in their cabin. Then, I went to Quinn's cabin, ate some spicy chips, and drank a butter tea I had prepared, "accidentally" spilling it all over his floor. The strong, greasy smell of the butter and milk was potent; it could be smelled from a great distance. 05 Before going to sleep, I propped a table against my door from the inside, then pushed the nightstand and coffee table against it for extra reinforcement. I had deliberately chosen the room at the very end of the row. It only had one window, and it was pathetically small. No matter how you looked at it, a six-hundred-pound bear couldn't possibly climb through that tiny ventilation window. That night, I stayed alert, too scared to sleep. Sure enough, at one-thirty in the morning, the distinct, heavy breathing of a wild animal came from outside. At the same time, someone knocked on the door. Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock. The sound sent a chill down my spine. This grizzly… it could even mimic a human knock. “Who is it?” Quinn’s mother, a light sleeper, heard the knock immediately and yelled out in her loud, grating voice. In my past life, his mother was a fearless, almost reckless woman. When visiting a Buddhist monastery on a trip, she had ignored local customs and taken photos of the sacred statues. When criticized, she had flown into a rage, climbed onto a statue, and screamed defiantly, challenging the local faith. The incident even made the news. Now, hearing a knock in the middle of the night, she was even more irritable and started shouting. Sure enough, the sound attracted the bear. Soon, the sounds of crashing and his mother's screams came from her cabin. Ping. A text message. It was from Quinn. “What’s going on with my parents? You should go check on them. Show some concern, you’re their future daughter-in-law.” I pretended to agree, but instead, I slid under the bed and pulled the blankets down to cover the gaps. A quick glance wouldn't reveal I was there. To prevent the bear from smelling me, I had already sprayed an entire bottle of perfume on the bed and curtains, hoping to mask my scent. I also turned on the shower in the bathroom to create the illusion that I was in there. “Did you go see my parents? My good little future wife.” Facing Quinn’s prodding, I lied again. “I did. It was nothing, just a wild turkey bumped into their door. They got a little scared. You should probably go check on them.” I don’t know if Quinn bought it, but the shouting and screaming had gradually died down. All I could hear was the frantic pounding of my own heart. His parents' cabin fell silent. It seemed they were either dead or hiding. I suspected the former. In my past life, after I died, I learned that Quinn’s parents had been in on the plot to steal my civil service position. It was his father, a long-time viewer of nature documentaries, who had suggested the brilliant idea of taking me to Yellowstone to be bear food. His parents had always coveted the antique, high-quality jade pendant I wore, a family heirloom worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. After my accident, I was in no state to care about it, and his mother had swiped it while the doctors were saving my life. They had used the money from selling my pendant to buy Quinn’s new house. Thinking of this, I tucked the jade pendant from my neck into my bra. Even if I died today, I would not let Quinn’s despicable family profit.
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