My husband could see everyone’s death countdown.
As soon as he found out, he immediately told me I only had two years left, that I was going to die in two years.
To ensure I’d have no regrets, he quit his lucrative corporate job, wanting to take me on a trip around the world.
At first, I didn’t believe him. Not until my dad became the first person to die exactly as Arthur predicted.
Then, when I died bungee jumping the following year, I understood. He hadn’t lied to me.
But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself reborn.
This time, I seemed to have the ability to foresee death too.
Still, seeing “Eighty Years” above my own head made me pause, deep in thought.
Wasn’t I supposed to live eighty years? So how did I end up dying in the second year?
“Clara, let me spend these last two years really being there for you, okay?”
“You’ve always wanted to travel the world, right? How about we leave tomorrow?”
My husband, Arthur, looked at me with such intense affection, yet I could detect an unspeakable sorrow hidden deep in his eyes.
I opened my mouth to reply, but my gaze was suddenly drawn to a line of red numbers floating above Arthur’s head.
*Lifespan Remaining: Two Years*
I froze, a wave of confusion washing over me. How could this be?
In my previous life, hadn’t he lived to be a hundred, passing away peacefully with a smile?
For a moment, I couldn’t process anything he was rambling about.
I bolted from the couch and rushed into the bathroom.
Through the mirror, I saw it: my own remaining lifespan was still eighty years.
But last time, I had only lived for two years.
What in the world was going on?
And why was Arthur telling me I only had two years left?
Seeing my strange behavior, Arthur followed me into the bathroom, trying to gently comfort me.
“Clara, don’t you believe me?”
“Didn’t your dad’s death prove it?”
“I know it’s hard to accept right now, but this day was always going to come.”
I took a deep breath, pushing down my growing confusion, and forced a smile, shaking my head.
“No, I believe you.”
I paused, then asked again, my voice laced with uncertainty.
“But… do I really only have two years left?”
A flicker of something—something quick—crossed Arthur’s eyes, but his voice remained firm.
“Of course, Clara. I would never lie to you.”
I masked the emotions in my eyes, then casually asked,
“What about you? How many years do you have left?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he blurted out,
“Three years.”
Hearing that, I instantly knew he was lying to me.
As if to make me believe him, he even added with a wry smile,
“It must be that fate can’t bear for you to be alone down there. It’s arranged for me to take care of your affairs, then come join you.”
His words were exactly the same as in my past life.
But this time, it was different. Before, I had foolishly believed him.
Now, it seemed my husband wasn’t as sincere as he appeared.
Besides, there was one question I absolutely had to get to the bottom of.
Why did I have an eighty-year lifespan, yet I truly died in the second year?
And why did *he*, with only two years left on his life clock, live so many more years in my previous life?
2.
Countless questions swirled, making my head spin.
Arthur, on the other end, heard my faint “Mhm” and immediately went to discuss resigning from his job.
As soon as he hung up, he started planning our trip.
It wasn’t long before he had our first destination picked out.
“Clara, how about we go surfing first? You’ve always wanted to go to the Maldives, right?”
My brow furrowed at that.
In my past life, I hadn’t noticed this issue. Someone who was always so careful with our money, almost stingy, was suddenly willing to splurge on surfing in the Maldives.
That trip alone would easily cost hundreds of thousands.
Noticing my lack of response, he started to explain.
“Didn’t you always mention this place? A little expensive is fine, I just want you to be happy during your last days.”
His words made me uncomfortable; I just found him incredibly hypocritical.
Our combined income wasn’t low, we brought in a significant amount each year.
Aside from family expenses, we had practically no financial stress.
So, over the years of our marriage, we’d saved up a small fortune.
Of course, one reason for that was his meticulous budgeting, which meant that money rarely got spent.
But what was strange was that whenever I brought up these trips before, he always refused.
Now that I was supposedly dying, he was suddenly so generous.
A nameless irritation flared inside me; I couldn’t tell if he was feeling guilty or if he’d had a change of heart.
The next day, he booked our tickets, and we were off to the Maldives.
As soon as we landed, he was impatiently trying to drag me to go surfing.
His behavior was far too strange.
I pulled my hand out of his grip, my expression annoyed.
“What’s the rush? We just arrived, can’t we rest for a bit?”
He hadn’t been this eager in my previous life.
Strange! An indescribable strangeness.
He paused, then explained with a hint of grievance,
“Clara, it’s not that I’m rushing. It’s a once-in-a-century tide, surfing now would be amazing! Don’t you love thrills?”
He glanced at me, then continued,
“If you don’t want to go now, that’s fine. We can go in a few days.”
But after a moment’s hesitation, I agreed. I wanted to see what exactly he was up to.
After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we headed straight for the surfing area.
The waves were so massive they could almost engulf a person instantly.
It was already evening when we arrived, and there were far fewer surfers. The ocean water was chilling.
Arthur didn’t say a word, just pulled my hand and headed out, an undeniable urgency in his demeanor.
His actions were incredibly odd, but to figure out the reason, I still got on the surfboard.
Yet, nothing strange happened during the surfing.
I couldn’t help but wonder if I had misjudged Arthur.
It was while I was deep in thought that Arthur came over.
Without a single wasted word, he got straight to the point.
“Clara, we’ve had enough of surfing. How about we leave tomorrow?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to go bungee jumping before? Should we leave tomorrow? I’ll book the tickets now.”
I remained silent, offering no response.
Arthur was too hasty, so hasty that I couldn’t fathom what he was thinking.
This was a completely different pace from my previous life.
I exhaled, meeting his gaze directly, and casually asked,
“We just got here, didn’t we? Only staying one night and then leaving?”
It seemed Arthur only then realized we had just arrived today.
After a moment of surprise, he quickly changed his plan, directly sidestepping my question.
“Then let’s stay a couple more days. Since we’re here anyway, I’ll go downstairs and extend our room.”
With that, he walked straight out the door.
I was tired after a day of activities, so I had no energy to keep guessing. I lay down.
The next day, I didn’t wake up until almost noon. His presence was already gone from the room.
As I got up, preparing to splash some water on my face to wake myself up, I suddenly noticed that the numbers above my head in the mirror had changed.
A full year had vanished.
3.
My mind inexplicably flashed back to how eager he’d been to drag me surfing yesterday.
A ludicrous idea instantly formed: He was exchanging lives.
To test my theory, I frantically grabbed my phone and called Arthur.
It wasn’t until my fifth call that he slowly picked up.
But before I could even say a word, the call was disconnected.
The next second, the room door was pushed open.
It was Arthur. My eyes immediately locked onto the numbers above his head.
It had turned to *Three*!
Just as I suspected, there was no difference from what I’d imagined.
You manipulative Arthur! No wonder you suddenly splurged on this Maldives trip.
So, you really did have some unspeakable agenda.
He stood at the doorway, holding up his phone, asking with a worried expression.
He was breathing heavily as he spoke, looking like he’d just run back.
The air carried a dusty scent that I couldn’t quite place.
“Clara, why are you suddenly calling me so much? Is something wrong?”
“I was just downstairs having fun, and I thought something might have happened to you, so I rushed back.”
It dawned on me; I had indeed been too eager to verify the truth.
Not wanting Arthur to notice anything amiss, I suppressed the anger churning inside me and responded with a fake smile.
“Nothing, I just wanted to ask you where you planned for our next destination.”
He eyed me, a hint of suspicion in his gaze.
“Really? Asking about one destination is worth five phone calls?”
Faced with his persistent questions, I felt an inexplicable irritation, and my tone wasn’t particularly pleasant when I spoke again.
“What else? What could possibly be wrong with me?”
That seemed to alleviate Arthur’s doubts.
He gave a small, wry laugh, walked over, and ruffled my hair as he answered my question.
“Alright, I was just asking. If there’s nothing, there’s nothing. My next destination was planned for bungee jumping in Switzerland. Since you’re so eager to know, how about we go tomorrow?”
I scoffed inwardly. He was the one desperate to go, not me.
What did it have to do with me?
Didn’t he want to go so badly just to take my life?
“Fine, go ahead and book the tickets.”
I agreed readily, but I wasn’t going to my death again.
I wouldn’t go bungee jumping, and I certainly wouldn’t go to Switzerland.
The next morning, as soon as we arrived at the airport, I used the excuse that I’d left my ID at the hotel, wanting to turn back.
But Arthur grabbed my arm.
Without a word, he wanted to leave with me.
But there was no way I’d let him have his way. I pried his hand off and took a step back.
“Don’t come with me. You go on this flight, I’ll just buy a ticket for the next one.”
“Changing two tickets isn’t cheap. I’ll be back quickly; the next flight isn’t much later.”
I had to play the part convincingly. To avoid his suspicion, I even pulled out my phone and browsed recent flights.
Arthur, of course, was reluctant to let his valuable asset leave; his expression was hesitant.
I wasted no more words, making my decision firm.
“This trip has already cost a lot. We should save where we can. I’ll leave by tomorrow at the latest.”
Fearing he’d cling to me, I didn’t give him another chance to speak. I grabbed my suitcase and turned to leave.
I had never lied to him before, so for the first time, he believed my lie and didn’t follow.
He even sent me a message.
“I’ll wait for you in Switzerland.”
I didn’t reply.
The same day, he flew to Switzerland, and I flew back home.
The next day, I leisurely sent him a message, telling him I wasn’t so keen on Switzerland anymore and had gone home instead.
Just as I expected, he called me, fuming, one call after another, demanding an explanation.
I gave him a couple of vague answers, then put my phone on “do not disturb” and fell asleep.
But when I woke up the next morning, I found that another year had been taken from my lifespan.
4.
What was happening?
I didn’t even go, did I?
Why was my lifespan still decreasing?
At the same time, Arthur sent me a message.
“I expect an explanation!”
All these confusing events were making my head ache. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why my lifespan was still dwindling.
Not long after, Arthur pushed open the door, bringing a chill with him. His clothes carried a faint smell of something burnt.
It was very similar to that smell in the Maldives.
As he looked at me, I looked at him too.
The lifespan above his head had indeed increased by a year.
But what exactly was going on?
The more I thought about it, the stranger it became, making it impossible to wrap my head around.
What was I missing?
“Clara, an explanation? Didn’t we agree to go to Switzerland together?”
He cut me off, his gaze complex, tinged with suspicion.
I let out an “Ah,” and continued to fob him off with my previous excuse.
“I just didn’t want to go. There’s no big ‘why’.”
“But you, why are you so desperate for me to go? What would happen if I didn’t?”
He fell silent for a moment, realizing his emotions had gotten the better of him.
He immediately changed his expression, reverting to his usual gentle demeanor, and responded with a smile.
“Nothing would really happen if you didn’t go. I was just too hasty.”
His words carried a double meaning, and I instantly understood what he implied.
*Nothing would happen if I didn’t go*… Did that mean my lifespan would still decrease even if I stayed home?
Was there truly no way to stop it?
In just two short days, my lifespan had already decreased by two years.
At this rate, wouldn’t I die in not two years, but just eighty days?
But in my previous life, how did it take him two years to steal my lifespan?
The more I tried to sort it out, the more tangled my thoughts became, the confusion almost driving me insane.
Perhaps my initial assumption was wrong.
This “extreme sport transfers lifespan” idea wasn’t it at all.
Just as I was consumed by frustration, Arthur sent another message.
“Clara, let’s put that aside for now. Your mom’s been hospitalized.”
I pushed my chaotic thoughts away and, in a flurry, followed him to the hospital.
My mom had suffered a sudden heart attack last night and had just come out of surgery.
Arthur suddenly raised a hand and rested it on my shoulder, speaking softly into my ear.
“Clara, I see your mom only has two months left to live.”
“She might not be comfortable staying alone in the hospital. Why don’t you take her out for a bit?”
Hearing that, I sharply looked up at him. He was lying again.
My mom still had twenty years left to live.
How could he still be deceiving me?
But his tone was so absolutely certain that if he said two months, it must mean my mom would only live for two months.
My eyes flickered, and I swallowed, my voice hoarse.
“Really? Only two months left?”
He didn’t rush to answer me, just looked at me.
After a long moment, he slowly nodded, his voice resolute.
“Really, Clara. You know I would never lie to you.”
Those familiar words almost made me forget.
When my dad passed away, he had said the same thing, and he had even suggested a trip then too.
My brain started racing frantically, replaying everything that happened before and after my dad’s death like a slideshow.
Then I thought of my own rapidly diminishing lifespan.
A chilling connection clicked into place.
I knew what was going on!
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