I spent ten years with the brooding, disabled Julian Thorne, pouring my heart into making him fall for me. And I felt a deep pity for him. So, when the system declared the mission a success, I didn’t leave that world. Instead, I used all my earned points to give him a healthy body. Julian believed it was a miracle. He started to thrive, and in just a few years, he became a rising star in the business world. At the same time, the faint scent of other women’s perfume started clinging to him. I saw him kissing another woman at an exclusive club. When someone mentioned me, he sneered, “She’s way out of my league now.” I turned away. “System, I want to leave this world.” The System replied, “But you don’t have enough points.” “Then switch that healthy body back. I don’t need it anymore.” I was stopped at the entrance of the elite club. “Cassie, Mr. Thorne isn’t here.” Marc Reynolds, Julian’s loyal subordinate, kept his head down, not daring to meet my eyes. He knew how flimsy his lie was. I looked at him calmly. “When you were at rock bottom, I was the one who gave you a way out.” Years ago, Marc had lost everything to a devastating con that wiped him out. Homeless and with nowhere to go, it was me who bought him a meal and introduced him to Julian’s company. He was capable, though, quickly becoming Julian’s fiercely loyal dog within a few years. Marc’s face flushed crimson, and the hand blocking my path trembled slightly. After a few seconds, he slowly lowered his arm. “Mr. Thorne’s in the penthouse suite.” … No one dared to stop me on the way up. I stood outside the suite door, listening to the familiar voices inside, a complex knot of emotions tightening in my chest. “Mr. Thorne secured that suburban project. He’s a hot commodity in Veridian City now.” “Right? Don’t forget to give us a leg up when the time comes, brother!” Julian’s voice remained lazy, unaffected by the fawning. “You’re joking. I’m just an ordinary guy.” But he wasn’t ordinary at all now. In just five years, he’d transformed from a penniless nobody into a formidable presence in Veridian City’s upper echelons, a highly sought-after business mogul. He had the courage, the strategy, and the ruthlessness. A woman’s giggle drifted out. I looked up. Julian was leaning back, letting a glamorous woman light his cigarette. They were incredibly close, the atmosphere thick with unspoken desire. He let her lean in, leaving an intimate lip print on his neck.
Inside the suite, glasses clinked and conversation flowed freely. “Mr. Thorne, aren’t you twenty-eight this year? When are you tying the knot with Cassie? You absolutely have to invite us to the wedding!” Someone blurted out the question, and the entire room fell silent instantly. Julian, with an arm still around the woman, exhaled a plume of smoke. The swirling haze obscured his expression. The person who spoke realized their blunder. “My apologies! Guess I’ve had too much to drink, Mr. Thorne. Don’t mind me.” “Why would I mind? It’s not like it’s a secret.” Julian chuckled. “You all know about me and Cassandra.” Seeing that the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward as expected, everyone exchanged relieved glances and relaxed. “Right, we all know.” “Cassie was really good to you, no doubt about it.” “Back when you were still…” The person paused, seeing Julian’s gaze, and quickly changed tack. “Speaking of which, we haven’t seen Cassie in ages. What’s she been busy with lately?” “I don’t know.” Julian pressed his cigarette into the ashtray, letting out a slow sigh. “I haven’t seen her in a long time.” No one replied, so he continued talking to himself. “You all know how I used to be, sitting in that wheelchair for over ten years. Even my own mother had given up on me. “I met Cassandra when I was a shell of a man. She saved me. “I’m grateful for her, and I did care for her, but honestly, she doesn’t fit into my life anymore.” A miracle six years ago had allowed him to walk again. It had also overturned his predestined tragic life. He had redefined his life. These past few years had proven it vividly. He was born to shine. Julian’s eyes flickered. “Cassandra saw me at my most pathetic. Now, every time I see her, I’m reminded of those days in the wheelchair. It makes me feel…sick.”
He truly had been pathetic back then. A car accident had left him paralyzed from the waist down. Every day, I’d clean and massage him, sometimes even handling the unavoidable mess. His pale face would always flush crimson with shame, afraid to look up at me. I took a deep breath, then pushed open the suite door. Julian noticed the sudden shift in the room’s atmosphere. He followed everyone’s gaze, turned his head, and saw me. I walked up to him, barely needing to look down. The woman beside him scrambled to her feet and rushed out. “What are you doing here?” Julian didn’t look at me again, reaching for a glass of wine. “Julian,” I said, “Let’s break up.” Julian’s drinking motion paused. “Don’t be dramatic.” “I’m not being dramatic, and I’m not crazy.” I smiled. “These past few years, watching you climb higher and higher, I’ve been happy for you. But my capabilities are limited. I can’t walk with you any further. Julian, you deserve better.” Julian took a nonchalant sip of wine. “You heard what I just said? Are you mad?” “You know I was just talking. You’ve been with me for ten years. I’ll always take care of you. Now, I have things to discuss with them. You should go home.” He truly found me disgusting. Couldn’t stand to look at me for another second. He didn’t care if I’d actually heard what he said, he didn’t care if I was angry. He was certain I wouldn’t leave him. After all, my background was ordinary. His status was now incredibly high, something an ordinary person like me could never achieve in a lifetime. I controlled my emotions. “I’ll move out of the apartment by tomorrow. You don’t need to give me any compensation. Let’s part ways amicably.” With that, I ignored them and turned to leave. “Mr. Thorne, aren’t you going after her?” “Cassie’s really leaving!” “Going after her for what?” Julian was smugly confident. “She’s just talking. Where would she go? She just wants me to pay more attention to her. I can’t bring myself to grovel and coax her now.”
It was late autumn, and standing outside the towering building, feeling the cold wind hit my face, my mind was exceptionally clear. “System, I want to go home.” Three seconds later, a familiar mechanical voice echoed in my mind. “Host, detection shows your points are insufficient to activate the dimensional portal.” I was stunned. Right, all my points were gone. How had I used them? Six years ago, I’d given Julian Thorne a miracle, spending every last point. I was a System Agent. And Julian, he was my target. The first time I met him, I almost gave up on the mission. He was gloomy, paranoid, sitting in his wheelchair, letting his pants get soiled, fiercely rejecting anyone who tried to get close. Like a wounded animal. I felt for him, pitying him, so I deliberately approached him, patiently trying to win him over. I stayed with him for ten years. I pried open the hard shell he used to protect himself, forcefully intervening in his life. I made him accustomed to my presence. Gradually, I made myself indispensable. But those ten years, true feelings had intertwined. I’d developed a near-adoring affection for this poor, self-conscious boy. So, when the System congratulated me on a successful mission, on a strange impulse, I didn’t choose to immediately leave the mission world. At that time, Julian was still a sensitive and fragile young man. He clumsily made a ring for me with his own hands, then, blushing, he put it on my finger. He said his biggest wish was to grow old with Cassandra. But I knew his deepest wish was to walk again. The childhood car accident had made him close himself off. I spent ten years making him open up to me, making my mission no longer purely about the task. I used the points gained from the successful mission to exchange for something from the System. It was a perfectly healthy body. I still remember that morning, Julian carefully walking on the carpet, tears silently falling. He held me and cried for a long time. He said it was the second great miracle bestowed upon him by heaven. I was the first. … Julian began to show his talent and extraordinary business acumen. This healthy body finally allowed him to shine, to stand out in any crowd. I can’t pinpoint when he started to change. I only remember one morning, I smelled a perfume on his suit that didn’t belong in our home. I simply asked about it calmly, and his face instantly showed impatience. “It’s just necessary business entertaining. Don’t be unreasonable.” My question became unreasonable. He spent more and more time entertaining outside, becoming increasingly smooth and cunning. I gradually forgot the shy, blushing boy who used to react to my every word. I also forgot the gloomy, self-conscious, disabled teenager he once was.
The four-hundred-square-meter apartment felt cold and empty. I packed my luggage, calculating the points I needed to return. “Can I exchange that healthy body I redeemed before, back to you?” I asked the System, “I don’t want it anymore. Depreciation is fine.” “Host, please wait.” Data streams flashed rapidly in my mind. The System’s voice remained emotionless. “After calculation, the target Julian Thorne’s body has suffered excessive wear and tear over the past six years. Smoking, drinking, late nights, and promiscuity have severely damaged his body. Its current recovery value is only half of its original worth.” The word “promiscuity” made my packing motions halt. My fingers trembled uncontrollably. After all, he was the man I’d accompanied for over a decade. I was heartbroken by his change of heart. And annoyed by my own softness. Such a person truly wasn’t worth my lingering attachment. “Will the exchanged points be enough for me to leave this world?” “Not enough, Host.” The System continued, “However, I can grant you a new identity. I can apply for a new target for you, and we can start over.” Start over, huh… Fine, I guess. “Then switch that healthy body back.” … As I boarded the plane to leave Veridian City, a half-drunk Julian was being sent back to the apartment by Marc. Perhaps feeling guilty, Marc had defied Julian’s wish to stay at the club and brought him back to our shared home. The System connected to the apartment’s surveillance, allowing me to see Julian’s current state clearly. He lay on the sofa, calling my name. “Cassandra, Cassandra.” Receiving no response, he struggled to sit up. After a long silence, he suddenly chuckled. “Quite the performance, aren’t we?” He thought my scene tonight was just a ploy to get his attention. He rubbed his forehead, a slight frown marring his brow. The headache from the alcohol made him irritable. Julian stood up, slowly walked to the living room, and took a bottle of ice water from the fridge. Just as he unscrewed the cap, he stumbled and fell to the floor unexpectedly. Julian sobered up completely, his mind reeling. He stared at his legs, reaching out with a trembling hand… “My legs…” He gripped them, disbelievingly, but no matter how hard he squeezed, he felt no pain. This feeling was all too familiar. After all, he’d lived like this for over a decade. That miserable, incapacitated, ghostly existence was a nightmare he couldn’t shake. Julian paused, then raised a hand and slapped himself hard across the face. It stung. So this wasn’t a dream… Julian in the surveillance footage completely lost control. He screamed and shouted in the large apartment. He wanted to find someone but realized his phone was on the coffee table. Julian braced himself with his hands on the floor, inching his body forward. His two legs dragged lifelessly behind him. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair disheveled. The composed demeanor he once had was completely gone. I closed my eyes. “Turn it off. I don’t want to see it.”
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