As the older brother, I agreed to marry a dead woman just to get the five hundred thousand dollars for my younger brother to get married.

My younger brother insisted that the middle-aged couple, who had lost their daughter, only wanted their daughter to experience being married before her death.

My girlfriend also persuaded me to do it. She said I just needed to lie in the same bed as her for one night and do nothing.

I nodded and agreed. But when I got to that family’s house, the parents pulled out a white bedsheet and handed it to me.

“You have to actually be intimate with my daughter. Otherwise, I won’t pay you a single cent.”

My mother, Jennifer Spencer, sighed for the tenth time today. She was already dreading having to help my younger brother, Lucas Spencer, come up with the money to get married.

I felt bad for her, so I decided to comfort her. But she slapped me instead.

She spat at me and said angrily, “If you hadn’t taken more than your share of nutrients from me when you were both in the womb, Lucas wouldn’t be so weak now! He needed five hundred thousand dollars to get married, but right now, it would take him forever to earn that amount. Otherwise, he would’ve found a wife by now.”

Over the years, I was used to being beaten. I did not argue. I quietly stood up.

A thin figure stood in front of me.

“Mom, I told you! Stop mistreating Liam. Why are you picking on him again?

“Besides, Liam isn’t even married yet. Why should I be in a hurry?”

Lucas was always good to me. He would even leave me the leftover chicken bones to gnaw on.

He was different from our mother. She would rather leave the leftovers to a dog than give them to me.

I stopped the angry Lucas. “Mom’s just worried about you. I’m okay.”

Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and stared at me.

His eyes lit up as he said, “Liam, if there was a way for you to make five hundred thousand dollars in one night, would you be willing to do it for me?”

My heart pounded. I nodded without hesitation.

That night, Lucas took me out to dinner. My girlfriend, Naomi Lance, came along too.

“I’ve got a gig. If you’re really desperate for cash and have the guts, try it. But let me make this clear first. You can’t tell anyone about this, irrespective of whether you choose to accept it or not.”

I became curious because of their secrecy. When Naomi told me what the gig was, my eyes widened.

I pondered for a moment before saying in a trembling voice, “A-Are you asking me to marry a corpse?”

Naomi nodded and said, “Don’t worry. You just have to lie in bed next to her. That won’t affect our relationship at all. I’m not going to judge you for it.”

Liam chimed in, “Liam, I know you’ve always looked out for me since we were kids. Now that Naomi has agreed to it, you’ll say yes, right?

“If I end up never finding a wife, you’ll be the one who’s most upset. After all, you’re the one who stole all my nutrients in the womb.”

Lucas and I were twins. When we were born, he was smaller and skinnier. That was why my mother always said I stole nutrients in the womb, and I owed him for life.

My family was also not very well off. Lucas could not earn much money either. We would have to basically starve for a decade to earn five hundred thousand dollars!

Thinking of that, I gritted my teeth and nodded in agreement.

Naomi said that the family wanted a low-key wedding, so not too many people could visit. She drove me deep into the mountains.

Along the entire road, nothing was visible except for the car’s headlights. Everything was pitch black. The trees rustled eerily.

The car stopped in front of a two-story brick house.

The house was dimly lit. The lights glowed yellow, like something watching from the dark.

As I got out of the car, a gaunt elderly couple came up to me.

Naomi explained to me that these were my new in-laws, Fred and Wilma Beresford.

Since I had agreed to it, I did not hesitate. I greeted them politely. Fred and Wilma nodded at me with satisfaction.

A dim bulb hung from the ceiling. The table was covered with burning candles. A strange rag doll sat in the center.

I looked at Fred and Wilma in shock. Wilma stepped forward to explain. “Even though my daughter can’t move anymore, a wedding still needs to follow the proper ceremonies. So my husband and I decided to use a rag doll in her place.”

I hesitated, but Naomi pushed me forward. “We’ve already come all this way. We can’t just go back, can we?”

The rag doll had been dressed up meticulously. Two heavy patches of blush stood out on its face. Its brown eyes gave off an eerie glow.

In Wilma’s hand, the doll’s head seemed to move on its own. Amid a wave of cheers, Wilma pushed me into a room.

The moment I stepped inside, I let out a terrified scream. “Why are there two women on this bed?!”

The two women looked identical. They had thin bodies and pale faces.

They occupied the narrow bed, one on the left and the other on the right.

I was so scared that I backed away. But the next moment, a pair of hands pressed on my back and pushed me back inside again.

That shoved me closer to the two women on the bed.

“I’m done. I’m done with this!”

Bracing myself to lie next to one dead woman for one night was hard enough. Suddenly, I was supposed to do that with two dead women!

It would be a lie to say I was not scared.

When Fred and Wilma saw that I was backing off, their faces darkened.

Wilma grabbed my hand and began to cry.

“Oh, I’m such a miserable old woman! I worked so hard to give birth to twin daughters. Then, they both suddenly came down with a terrible illness. Now here I am, an old woman who has to bury her own children.

“Please, just see this through for me. Even if it’s just to help out a poor old woman.”

I looked at Naomi helplessly.

Fred said coldly, “Fine! If you don’t want to marry both of my daughters, that’s your choice. But my wife and I only have five hundred thousand dollars. If you want to marry only one of them, then I’ll just find another son-in-law. But you’ll only get two hundred and fifty thousand dollars—”

Before he could finish speaking, Naomi cut him off.

“Liam will do it! He’ll do it! You don’t have to look for anyone else.”

She then pulled me aside and said sarcastically, “Aren’t you lucky? You get to spend the night with two beautiful women.

“But don’t worry. I’m not going to be jealous. Don’t forget about that five hundred thousand dollars. Now go!”

When she saw that I hesitated, she grew frustrated and told me to man up.

“Don’t forget that Lucas is still counting on that cash! If you go back with only two hundred fifty thousand dollars, Jennifer will never forgive you.”

The mention of my mother’s name made me shudder.

“Son, you’re right. We should’ve told you about this before. To make it up to you, we’ll add another twenty thousand dollars for you.

“That’s from my burial fund. If you still don’t want to do it, then forget it.”

Fred stepped aside and made way for me to leave.

I bit my lower lip hard and nodded again. “I’ll do it.”

He nodded and pulled out a large stack of cash. He waved it in front of me and said, “As long as you sleep with both of my daughters, this five hundred and twenty thousand dollars is yours!”

Wilma handed me two clean white sheets and said, “My two girls have never been in a relationship before. Tonight, you have to make them into real women for the first time.”

Before I could react, the sheets were stuffed into my hand. I was then pushed through the door.

“If tomorrow morning, these sheets aren’t stained red, don’t expect to receive a single cent from that five hundred and twenty thousand dollars!”

I was not allowed to turn on the lights. The candles on the floor lit the twins’ faces in flickering shadows.

I carefully examined the two women. Although they were very thin, their faces were soft and delicate upon closer look. They were even prettier than Naomi.

Their chests were full and round. They did not even look dead. Instead, they looked more like fragile, sleeping beauties who were simply resting.

Just as I reached out to undo the buttons of the woman on the left, something slammed against the window. The force of the impact was unsettling.

Wilma tried to reassure me from outside.

“Don’t worry. That’s just how it is in the countryside. Birds always fly toward light and hit the windows. That’s why we didn’t turn on the lights inside. We just never expected that the candles would—”

But before she could finish her sentence, more crows slammed into the window and fell to the ground.

“Liam, just keep going! Don’t waste the right moment. We’ll take care of things out here!”

After some rustling noises, everything fell silent outside the door.

I became more suspicious. What did she mean by “the right moment”?

Just as I was struggling over how to proceed, the door suddenly opened.

Naomi walked in.

“What’s taking you so long? Don’t waste the right moment. If you can’t get it done, I’ll help you.”

With that, Naomi quickly undressed the two women on the bed. Their snow-white skin and stunning curves were fully exposed.

I had never seen a naked woman before. I turned my face away in embarrassment.

Naomi said sarcastically, “You’re embarrassed? You’re about to sleep with two gorgeous women! Let me tell you something. I don’t mind it. But if you ever compare me to them, you’re dead.

“Now, hurry up and lie down between them.”

Under the candlelight, Naomi’s expression shone with a strange and eerie excitement.

“Please, go out. I’ve got this on my own.”

But I could not push Naomi away.

Her eyes shone with an eerie light as she stared.

“How about I stay and help you out? It’s your first time. You don’t really know what you’re doing.”

This marriage was already strange enough, but my girlfriend offering to help me get intimate with two dead women was even more bizarre.

I did not want to do that in front of her. I quickly shook my head. Only after I repeatedly promised that I could handle it alone did Naomi reluctantly leave.

“If anything happens, just holler at me. I’ll be right outside the door.”

There was another reason I sent Naomi away. I never truly planned to sleep with the twins.

I locked the door. Then, I curled up in a corner.

No matter how beautiful they were, I was not going to share a bed with two corpses!

“Please don’t blame me. I’m just really short on cash—Ahhh!”

Before I could finish mumbling, one of the women on the bed sat upright and grabbed my arm.

“Don’t scream!”

Even though she told me not to scream, I was terrified that a dead person had come back to life! I screamed and fell to the floor.

Naomi heard the noise and shouted anxiously from outside, “Liam, what’s wrong?”

“I’m fine! It’s… my first time being this close to a woman. These are two strangers that I’ve never met. So, I just freaked out a little.”

It was not that I did not want to ask Naomi for help. Rather, I was too afraid to move because the woman was gripping my arm tightly.

She mouthed, “The people outside want us dead.”

My face turned pale. Were these not Fred and Wilma’s daughters who had supposedly died young?

Wilma had cried so sorrowfully just moments ago. If she knew her daughter had come back to life, she would have been overjoyed. Why would she want them dead?

I had so many questions, so I asked them.

The woman’s face was pale. She smiled bitterly and said, “Is that what they told you? The truth is, we’re not their daughters at all.”

The woman was too weak. She gasped for air after just a few words.

“They want me dead. They want you dead, too.”

After that, she gasped even more heavily. She struggled to prop herself up. She tried to perform CPR on her sister beside her.

After about ten attempts, she finally gave up.

I asked in a trembling voice, “What do you mean by that? Are you saying we’re both going to die?”

The woman smiled bitterly and said, “I’m not their daughter. I know their secret.”

I had a bad feeling about it. Nevertheless, I braced myself and pressed further.

“What secret?”

“The secret of their illegal activities.

“They used a high price to lure you in. You’re focused on the five hundred thousand dollars, but what they really want is you.”

The woman spoke with absolute certainty. I, however, found everything absurd.

“My own girlfriend introduced this gig to me. If these people really were criminals and were tricking me, they could slip a sleeping pill in my drink. Why’d they go through all this trouble to put on this show?”

The woman snorted and said, “Because my sister and I… we aren’t ordinary people.

“They need a man to put on a show. They want you to be their scapegoat.”

Just as I was about to ask more about what she meant by “scapegoat,” a noise sounded from outside the door.

Wilma pounded on the door thunderously.

“Liam, who are you talking to? Why do I hear a woman’s voice in there?”

She then reached for the doorknob.