1 The doctor suddenly called me into her office to discuss my daughter’s condition. My daughter is only seventeen, but she has been battling cancer for three years. After entering the office, I noticed a man in a suit sitting there as well. As soon as I walked in, they locked the door. The doctor said to me, “I’m sorry, but we misdiagnosed her three years ago. Your daughter doesn’t have cancer.” “She has osteosarcoma. Because of the previous incorrect treatment, it has progressed significantly, and she needs an amputation.” “I formally apologize to you, but what’s done is done. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m sorry.” I stared blankly at the doctor. Three years. To treat my daughter’s cancer, she dropped out of school, I sold our house, and we spent all our savings. My husband slept only four hours a day, working two jobs just to keep her safe. Overworked and exhausted, he fell ill and died young, leaving us, mother and daughter, to depend on each other. My daughter used to be a beautiful girl. Now she is skeletal, her hair has fallen out, and she weighs only seventy pounds. We kept fighting the cancer, ruining our family for it, dreaming only of the day she would be healthy again. But now they tell me it was just a misdiagnosis. There was no cancer at all. Seeing my silence, the doctor continued, “Ma’am, osteosarcoma is easily misdiagnosed. If you look it up, you’ll see it’s one of the most commonly misdiagnosed diseases.” I asked, “Did you call me here to discuss compensation?” She shook her head, “We don’t plan to compensate.” I was stunned. She continued, “The hospital’s idea is that we won’t refund the medical fees for the past three years of cancer treatment. Since you’ll need money for follow-up treatment anyway, we’ll keep it as a balance on our medical card. Is that okay?” I still didn’t speak, feeling the world spin around me. She handed me a contract, asking me to review it and sign if there were no issues. Every line of the contract was predatory. Party A will not refund cash to Party B, only refunding the $830,000 balance to the medical card, which Party B cannot withdraw. Until Party B’s treatment is completed, at which point any remaining balance will be refunded or additional costs charged. Party B promises not to pursue this matter further, not to publicize it on any internet platform, and to waive all civil litigation rights. The doctor said, “Although we didn’t pay compensation and only gave you the medical card balance, we are also taking a loss. It’s like we bore the cost of the past three years of medical fees.” I said agitatedly, “But that was your misdiagnosis! That treatment wasn’t needed in the first place!” She asked, “Is there any point in saying that? Are we not already taking a loss to cover it?” I couldn’t understand their logic at all. 2 My family fought cancer for three years, until we were destitute. Now they won’t pay a cent in compensation, won’t even refund the medical fees, forcing me to keep the money in their hospital to treat the osteosarcoma, and claiming they are the ones taking a loss! I asked the doctor, “If you hadn’t misdiagnosed her three years ago, if we hadn’t wasted these three years, would my daughter still need an amputation?” The doctor sighed, “Why do you have to bring up these hypotheticals? Do you want me to feel guilty? The problem is, I already feel very guilty. I said, what’s done is done, and I can’t change it.” Fate is so tragic. I had been hoping for my daughter to beat cancer, only to be told she never had it, and now she has to lose a leg because of it. I sniffled and asked, “Is there any way to save her leg?” The doctor said, “No, it has progressed too far. Amputation is the best option.” I couldn’t help but say, “I want to take her to another hospital. I don’t accept your plan, and I don’t feel safe letting you continue treating her.” The doctor got anxious. She said, “Why don’t you understand! Amputation is the best option now. Even if you go to New York or Boston, their treatment plan will be amputation! We’ve already covered the cost of three years of cancer treatment. What exactly are you trying to do by saying this? Are you trying to raise the price?” Her sudden agitation left me at a loss. My daughter was misdiagnosed, yet the doctor was acting more emotional than anyone. She suddenly wiped away tears and said, “Do you know? The hospital leadership has already talked to me. If you don’t sign, I will be fired. But even if you sign, the leadership won’t give me any promotion opportunities anymore. I’ve also lost my future. Let’s just let each other go.” I looked at the crying doctor, feeling the irony of the world. She kept saying she was guilty, but all she cared about was her own career. Just then, my phone rang. I picked it up and saw a message from my daughter. She asked, “Mom, are you done talking to the doctor? I finished my checkup.” Looking at the message, I wanted to cry. 3 How do I tell her that her cancer is gone, but she has to lose a leg forever? I wiped away my tears and said, “I don’t want to treat her here anymore. No matter what you say, I want to take her to a major hospital. I want to save her leg.” The doctor panicked. She suddenly stood up, slammed a checkup report in front of me, and shouted at me agitatedly, “You can’t save it! Don’t you just want more money? Look for yourself, it has already metastasized to her lungs!” I stared blankly at the report she suddenly produced, but I couldn’t read it. Because this was the first time I had heard of this disease. But I gathered from her words that amputation wasn’t the end. I asked, “Is her life in danger? Will she die even if she loses a leg?” The doctor said, “Yes. If you cooperate and sign the contract now, we can provide life-saving follow-up treatment.” I stood up. She misdiagnosed my daughter, allowing it to progress to amputation and life-threatening danger. Then she started threatening me with my daughter’s life, saying this was the best choice. At this moment, I was even more certain that I wanted to change hospitals. But just as I stood up, the man suddenly leaned in, grabbed my shoulder, and pressed me down. Forced back into the chair, the man sighed and said, “I understand you care about your child, but sit down first. Let me talk to you.” I turned around, looking at him in shock. I asked, “Are you forcing me to sign?” The atmosphere suddenly became very serious. The doctor glanced at me and said, “Sign it, and there won’t be so much trouble. This is for your daughter’s good. I’ll go out for a bit, you think it over.” She said to let me think, but after she left and locked the door, only I and this man remained in the room. He sat in the seat the doctor had just occupied, adjusted his suit, and said to me, “Let me introduce myself. I am the hospital’s lawyer. My last name is King.” I whispered, “Hiring a lawyer to talk to me, do you really think you can win the lawsuit?” Lawyer King shook his head and said, “Impossible. We will definitely lose this lawsuit, but you must accept the hospital’s conditions.” I looked at him, confused. Since he knew the hospital would definitely lose, why did he want me to accept? 4 Lawyer King said, “The hospital conservatively estimates that if treatment starts immediately, your daughter will live for about two more years, and there is even a possibility of full recovery. I admit your daughter was not in mortal danger initially, and all of this was caused by the hospital’s incorrect treatment over the past three years.” My heart sank. He looked full of confidence. But what was the basis of his confidence? Lawyer King said, “If you accept the hospital’s conditions, we will start follow-up treatment immediately. But if you don’t accept, as far as I know, your family really can’t scrape together any money. Without money for treatment, your daughter might not live for a year.” I instinctively said, “I can make the hospital pay compensation, and then take the child to a big city for treatment.” The lawyer asked, “And what if we appeal?” I stared at him blankly. He shrugged and said, “Civil disputes are very slow. We’ll drag it out for six months first. After the court ruling comes down, we’ll appeal if we’re dissatisfied, dragging you for another three months. When the ruling comes down again, we’ll delay the payment for a while.” I said excitedly, “Aren’t you bullying people?” He nodded, “Ma’am, you’re right, we are bullying you. But we are legal. Even if we drag it out until your daughter dies, we haven’t broken the law.” Lawyer King suddenly took out his phone, placed it in front of me, and dialed 911 on the keypad. He said, “You can call the police if you’re not convinced. It doesn’t matter. Even if the police come, I can say openly in front of them that I intend to drag this out until your daughter dies, because we haven’t broken the law.” Listening to his words, I felt the world spinning. My daughter doesn’t have much time left, all because of them. But not only did they have no guilt, they used this fact as a weapon to cut deep into my heart. Sitting in the chair, I felt a helpless despair spread throughout my body, making it hard to even breathe. Lawyer King said, “How about this, you don’t need to rush to sign. Go talk to your daughter first, and feel free to ask anyone for advice. Ma’am, I advise you, the law is fair, but the law is often too late.” He patted my shoulder and sent me out of the office. I stood at the hospital entrance in a daze, my head full of the words spoken by Lawyer King and the doctor. I took out my phone and searched for the contact information of many doctors and lawyers. Those doctors told me that if osteosarcoma has metastasized to the lungs, treatment must be immediate, as life is already in danger. 5 Those lawyers asked me first if there was any way to raise money to get through the immediate crisis. After knowing that I really couldn’t raise the money, they told me that now it’s either money or my daughter. Just as Lawyer King said. The hospital pushed us to a dead end, and then took advantage of our lack of retreat to bully us to their heart’s content. Legal murder. What an ironic term. I wanted to cry, but I held it back. Because I saw my daughter, Sunny, waiting for me on a stone pier by the road with two bowls of fried rice from a cheap takeout place. Thinking I hadn’t arrived yet, she opened both bowls and carefully moved the eggs from her bowl to mine. Since my husband died from overwork, she was always afraid that one day I wouldn’t be able to hold on either. She always secretly gave me the nutritious food, lying that she had already eaten. With my husband gone, this family of mother and daughter needed a pillar. I didn’t want my daughter to see me cry. She held the bowl, her thin hands trembling. My daughter used to be such a beautiful girl, but now she is skeletal, finding it difficult even to hold a bowl of rice. When she noticed me walking over, she quickly arranged the two bowls of rice, handed me the one with more eggs, and said to me with a smile, “I’ve already eaten half.” I took the rice, held back the urge to cry, and sat beside her. Sunny rubbed her aching leg, smiled and said to me, “Mom, my birthday is coming up.” I looked at her expectant little face and asked, “What do you want?” She said, “I want a hoverboard. I checked online, it only costs three hundred dollars. My leg always hurts, so that would make it easier to get around, and it can take me to work.” Sunny took out her cheap smartphone. The screen was cracked in several places, but she couldn’t bear to replace it. She pointed at the hoverboard on the screen, full of anticipation. Holding the bowl, I couldn’t stop my tears from falling.

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When my older sister was fourteen, she was adopted by the Sterling family, the wealthiest in New York City. The village girl transformed into a wealthy heiress overnight. In the first year after she left, she secretly sent me a letter and a box of books. In the letter, she told me to study hard and come find her outside the mountains. She said the world outside was wonderful, that she was living well with the Sterlings, and that I shouldn’t worry. After that, I lost all contact with my sister. I never received another letter. Years later, I was admitted to a university in NYC to find her, only to discover that the Sterling family had no adopted daughter. Later, I dated a boy named Julian Sterling, the beloved only son of the family. When he was drunk one night, Julian told me a secret. He actually had an older brother who died in an accident before he turned eighteen. His parents bought a girl with a compatible horoscope to keep his brother company in the afterlife. 1 When the Sterlings drove their luxury car to our shack, my sister and I were chopping wood in the mountains. Our parents hurriedly called us back. They wanted to adopt my sister, take her to the big city to live in a mansion. My sister seemed unwilling. She pulled me in front of them. “Adopt my sister instead. She’s more obedient and prettier than me.” They didn’t even glance at me. Instead, they reached out and patted my sister’s head, smiling faintly. “We want you.” Dad pushed my sister toward the house. “Jasmine, go pack your things.” I wiped away tears secretly. I saw them hand my parents a check for a hundred thousand dollars. Their only condition was that we were never to contact my sister again. My parents took the check, grinning ear to ear. “Why are you selling my sister!” To me, this wasn’t adoption; it was selling their daughter! Dad heard me and kicked me viciously. “What does a brat like you know!” “She’s lucky to be chosen by rich people. Isn’t it good to be a wealthy young lady in the city?!” I wiped the tears from the corner of my eye and thought about it seriously. It seemed Dad was right. Being a rich daughter was better than suffering in these mountains, unloved by parents. The Sterlings looked at the meager belongings my sister packed, frowning slightly in distaste. “We’ll replace everything with new things.” My sister got into their luxury car. She rolled down the window, reaching out reluctantly to hold my hand, tears in her eyes. I pulled a half-finished woven bracelet from my pocket and put it on her wrist. “Sister, this is for you. I haven’t finished it yet. I wanted to give it to you for your birthday, but I might not have the chance now.” I choked up, big tears rolling down my face. The car started. My sister stuck her head out and shouted to me, “Violet! Study hard!” After that sentence, she seemed to say something else. But the car drove too fast, kicking up a tail of dust. The noise of the engine drowned out what she said after “study hard.” I didn’t hear her last words. 2 Two months after she left, my sister sent a large cardboard box to my school. Inside were many books, several new sets of underwear and tank tops that fit me, a letter, and a jasmine-scented sachet. Violet, I am doing very well at the Sterlings’. Don’t worry. I bought you many books you’ll need for your studies. Remember to wash the clothes before wearing them. I finished the bracelet you gave me. It’s beautiful, and I like it very much. I wear it all the time. I made the jasmine sachet myself from fresh jasmine flowers here. Smell the jasmine scent and pretend I am by your side. New York is beautiful, with tall buildings and endless traffic. The world outside the mountains is even more exciting than in the books. Violet, study hard. Get into college and come find me. I miss you so much. I looked at the letter written in my sister’s handwriting, tears falling onto the paper. I brought the jasmine sachet to my nose and took a deep breath. It smelled so good. It smelled like my sister. Every year around this time, my sister would pick fresh jasmine flowers, dry them, and make sachets for me. This year, she didn’t forget. 3 After my sister left, life at home didn’t improve with that hundred thousand dollars. Dad gambled it all away. He said he could turn one hundred thousand into two hundred thousand and buy a bigger house. But the gambling addiction grew stronger. Dad was possessed. In the end, he lost every penny and owed money to loan sharks. Debt collectors came to the door, threatening to break Dad’s legs if he didn’t pay. Mom ran away that night without taking me. The next day, Dad found Mom gone and flew into a rage. Before I went to school, Dad said to me, “Come home early today.” The way he looked at me was strange. I shuddered, feeling terrified. After school that day, I didn’t listen to Dad. Instead, I hid in an internet cafe next to the school and stayed there all night. I didn’t know until the police called my teacher the next day that Dad was dead. Debt collectors had attacked him. He collapsed at home and died from blood loss. I didn’t know why Dad insisted I come home that day, but thinking back, I still felt a lingering fear. With no other relatives, I became an orphan overnight. The school learned of my situation and contacted child services. I was placed in foster care, my expenses covered by the state. That year, I was ten. 4 Since that last package, I never received any news from my sister again. I waited day and night, but there was nothing. Did she really cut all ties with me? I missed her so much. I wondered if the Sterlings treated her well, if she was happy there. 5 Time passed quickly in the system. No one wanted to adopt a ten-year-old girl. I stayed until I turned eighteen. I finished high school successfully. All the colleges I applied to were in New York City. I wanted to find my sister. After all, she was my only family now. I had searched for the Sterling family online, trying to find information about my sister, but I couldn’t find anything related to their family members. It made sense. Children of such families were kept private. My sister must be very beautiful now. She should have graduated college. I wondered if she would recognize me. When the results came out, I was admitted to NYU. I stroked my acceptance letter repeatedly, my eyes getting wet. I thought my sister would be proud of me. 6 I embarked on the journey to New York with anticipation. It was my first time leaving the small town at the foot of the mountains where I had lived for over a decade. The joy and nervousness along the way were hard to hide. But the moment I stepped onto the land of New York, I suddenly felt lost and worried. Would she welcome me if I just showed up like this? After all, she had a new family. New York was truly beautiful. The endless prosperity was all in my eyes. My sister was right. The world outside the mountains was even more wonderful than in the books. 7 Starting college was busy. Various chores took up my time, and I hadn’t had a chance to find my sister yet. Of course, the main reason was that I was avoiding it. After thinking for a long time, I decided to ask around first to understand her current situation secretly, and then reunite with her when the time was right. The Sterlings were the richest family in New York. I thought information about them should be easy to find. But to my shock, when I asked my roommate, a local New Yorker, she told me: “Daughter? The Sterling Group doesn’t have a daughter.” I didn’t believe it and continued to ask, “Not biological, maybe an adopted daughter?” My roommate, Sarah, laughed. “Oh please, they have a biological son. Why would they adopt someone else’s child?” “So the Sterlings only have one child?” Sarah nodded, then quickly shook her head. “No, more than one.” My eyes lit up hearing this. “There was another son, but rumor has it he was sent abroad ten years ago and never came back. People say he’s illegitimate.” My hopeful gaze fell instantly. Eight years ago, the couple who came to adopt my sister were indeed the Sterlings. But I asked many people indirectly later, and the answer was always the same: The Sterling family never adopted a girl. Where did my sister go? She wrote to me saying she was living well with the Sterlings. She couldn’t have been lying to me. I still didn’t believe it. Surely they just kept the adopted child out of the public eye. 8 I continued to inquire about my sister, even though I found nothing. It was Sarah’s birthday. She treated us roommates to dinner, and afterward, they wanted to go clubbing. I didn’t want to go initially, having no interest in such places, but I couldn’t resist them dragging me along. “Come on, Violet. You’re in college now; you should try new things. Once you go to a club, you’ll want to go again.” My roommates were dancing excitedly on the floor. I sat on the side drinking juice, feeling awkward. Sarah suddenly sat next to me, pointing to a booth in a corner of the club. She whispered in my ear, “See that man sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, holding a drink?” I followed her gaze. In the dim corner, the faint light couldn’t hide the man’s exquisite face and extraordinary temperament. “Yeah, I see him. He’s handsome.” I nodded. Sarah continued, “That’s Julian Sterling, the only son of the Sterling family.” The Sterlings? Hearing this, I perked up instantly. I stared at Julian for a long time. Sarah jumped back onto the dance floor, while I stood up and walked toward Julian.

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Everyone in our social circle knows that my greatest hobby, as the heiress of the Sterling family, is keeping a “fish pond”—a collection of suitors. Liam, the illegitimate son of the rival Thorne family, fell in love with me at first sight. He willingly became the “other man,” shamelessly pursuing me, nearly losing his life in the process, until he finally won me over. But three years later, right before our wedding, he told me he couldn’t marry me. I raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why?” He was silent for a moment. “I think… I don’t love you anymore.” I nodded calmly. “That’s your problem. Deal with it yourself.” I’m not unlovable. Three years ago, you were the one who begged to be the only fish in my pond. Now you want to just swim away? Life isn’t that easy. 1 I am the only daughter of the Sterling family. The reason I’m an “only” child is because my father is a deeply affectionate scumbag. Affectionate because he loved my mother so much he couldn’t bear to see her suffer through childbirth again, so he got a vasectomy after I was born. A scumbag because he always believed that loving his wife and having affairs were two different things. The one at home is to be cherished and pampered. The ones outside are just for fun, disposable. But my mother didn’t see it that way. In her eyes, a husband could be messy, lazy, even complain about her spending or temper. But he could never be unfaithful. No matter how rich he was. She couldn’t tolerate it. So, when I was ten, she died of a broken heart. My father poured all his guilt and love onto me. He was terrified I would repeat my mother’s tragedy. So, he encouraged me to “keep a fish pond.” He taught me how to judge men, how to distinguish quality. He told me men are a necessary part of life—even if not for intimacy, someone needs to change lightbulbs or move heavy furniture. But never pin all your hopes on one person. The world is big, the variety of fish is endless. Within moral limits, taste them all. However, he repeatedly warned me: once you decide to marry, only one fish can remain in the pond. Because marriage is sacred. It means “until death do us part.” So, cherish it. He said this with eyes full of sorrow—a regret he could never repay in a lifetime. Of course, that didn’t stop him from keeping his own fish pond. 2 Liam Thorne was the fish I decided to keep. He wasn’t the most dazzling one in my pond, but he was the most persistent. Others came and went. I’d wave my hand, and they’d swim away. Only him—he dove in and refused to leave. Even if I fished him out, he’d swim back desperately. When he pursued me, my heart was set on a prettier fish. He didn’t mind being the spare tire. Later, when I lost interest in that fish and looked at him for the first time, he was ecstatic. But my interest waned quickly. Soon, I was attracted to a new variety. He was hurt but never left, like a stone guarding the bottom of the pond, silent and resolute. Unknowingly, he became the longest-resident fish in my pond. Until that car accident. In a life-or-death moment, he threw himself over me. People are easily moved by “life and death” devotion. My heart softened, fluttered, and moved. I, who never believed in deep affection, actually considered clearing out my pond for him. Later, we got engaged. That night, Liam got drunk and hugged the fish tank in my living room, muttering, “I’m willing to be your fish forever…” My father stood on the balcony, smoking, watching him for a long time before saying flatly, “This fish is stupid enough.” For three years, Liam was consistent, gentle, and considerate. Although I cleared my pond for him, I never agreed to marry him. Until six months ago, I finally nodded. Liam was as happy as a child. My father told me earnestly, “Treat him well.” So, for six months, I curbed my temper. I learned to compromise, to be gentle. I tried to be a qualified “Mrs. Thorne.” And he worked desperately, planning the wedding and building our future. He said he wanted to give me a grand wedding and a future worthy of me. 3 I always knew people were fickle. But I didn’t expect that in just three months, Liam would want to become the pond owner himself. Three months ago, my father sent me to Boston to negotiate a project. I thought it would be a few days. It turned into three months. The day I returned, I walked in and saw the only fish in my tank floating belly up. It seemed dead. I squatted in front of the tank for a long time, feeling an inexplicable irritation. That night, Liam picked me up from Sterling Corp for dinner. Just as the car stopped, the passenger window rolled down. A smiling face peeked out. “Miss Sterling.” It was her. Summer. The scholarship student Liam had sponsored for years. He mentioned he had sponsored over a dozen kids since he was ten, but she was the only one who truly made it out of poverty thanks to him. So, he cared for her deeply. He sent books, called after exams, discussed her future. Last year, Summer joined Thorne Corp and even visited Liam’s home. Everything seemed above board. But a woman’s intuition is unreasonable. My gut told me this girl was eyeing the obedient fish in my pond. I looked at her without speaking. She panicked and explained, “I… twisted my ankle. Mr. Thorne gave me a ride. Sorry to disturb your date.” Liam got out of the driver’s seat, walked over, and held my hand naturally. “Bumped into her. Her place was on the way.” 4 I didn’t quite understand Liam’s move. He knew I wasn’t one to swallow insults. “Get out.” I said coldly, leaving no room for negotiation. “You twisted your ankle, not your hands. Can’t call a cab?” Summer stared at me, clearly not expecting me to attack on the spot. “S-sorry.” She lowered her head and limped out of the car. Liam frowned, wanting to say something. I didn’t even look at him. “Liam, get rid of this car.” “You know I don’t like dirty things.” I paused, then added, “People too.” Summer’s face went white. She looked at Liam helplessly. But he didn’t defend her. Finally, she walked away, looking back three times. Dinner was ruined, obviously. After dropping me off, Liam followed me upstairs. “Why are you making a fuss over a young girl?” He tried to hug me from behind; I dodged. “I’m not making a fuss over her.” I looked at him calmly. “Liam, I am warning you.” “I don’t care what you’re thinking. There won’t be a next time.” It seemed that in the past year, Liam had thrived at Thorne Corp. And because I softened my temper, he thought he could walk all over me. “What could I be thinking?” He sighed, cupped my face, his tone serious and gentle. “Ava, all my thoughts are on you.” He sounded emotional. But I didn’t believe a word. My dad said men are like kids; if they don’t eat dinner at home, they probably filled up on snacks outside. It’s harsh but true. If Liam really hadn’t seen me for three months, he wouldn’t have the mind to care about a girl with a twisted ankle. But seeing the careful sincerity in his eyes, my heart softened for a moment. Whatever. I also… secretly kept a fish for three months. Let’s give each other another chance. 5 The next morning, I changed the water in the tank and put in a new fish, identical to the old one. My dad passed by and asked, “Fish died?” I nodded. “But I’m willing to give it another chance.” He paused, surprised, but said nothing, just took a drag of his cigarette. I am a vengeful person. Liam was my fish and he saved my life, so I had patience for him. But not for others. So, I called the secretary’s office at Thorne Corp. Rumors about Summer exploded in the company. But Liam didn’t seem to cherish this chance. Not only did he reorganize the secretaries, he parachuted Summer in as his personal secretary. I didn’t question him. I just stopped feeding the fish in the tank. I wanted to see if it would starve to death or swim back on its own. A week later, the fish was dying. When Liam appeared, I was staring at it. Thinking if it behaved, maybe I’d feed it. But it seemed tired of living. “Ava, let’s call off the engagement.” That was his first sentence. I turned slowly, raising an eyebrow. “Why?” He was silent for a moment. “I think… I don’t love you anymore.” I nodded calmly. “That’s your problem. Deal with it.” I’m not unlovable. Three years ago, you begged to be my fish. Now you want to leave? Not that easy. Are the resources and trust I gave you for three years now capital for your betrayal?

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My dad is a crazed villain, and my mom is a depressed damsel in distress. Just as my dad was about to commit a crime, I shoved a morals and ethics test paper into his hand. “Teacher says I need to get full marks on this to get a gold star.” But my grades are notoriously terrible. He had no choice but to painstakingly fill it out for me. Just as my mom was about to pull out a fruit knife to hurt herself, I shoved an apple into her hand. “Mom, I want to eat peeled apple slices on a stick.” My mom quickly carved the apple into little bunny shapes. A barrage of comments flashed across my vision. [What happened to them being the foil to the heroic couple? How did they secretly become model citizens?] [These villain parents are really tough to handle, poor cannon fodder side character.] [Did the side character poke the villain’s nest? How did she become the family favorite?] Me: Who are you calling a brainless flower vase? 1. The villain couple came to the orphanage to adopt a child. I was playing in the mud in the yard. I looked up and saw a string of comments flash by: [The villain couple is coming to take the heroine away, starting her tragic childhood and leaving lifelong psychological scars.] [Even though the villain couple has lots of money, the heroine needs lots of love!] [The brainless side character is still foolishly playing in the mud, enjoying her happy childhood. My heart aches for the heroine!] I was stunned, looking at the patches on my clothes and feeling my empty pocket, which only contained a candy wrapper. The orphanage director walked over with a smile, wiping the mud from my hands. “Today, a kind couple is coming to adopt either you or Nancy.” I was confused. “Director Mom, what’s a villain?” I hadn’t learned my phonics well and pronounced “villain” as “vile-win.” The director thought for a moment. “It means turning defeat into victory, the winning side.” My eyes lit up. Winners are strong! I, Sue, love being with strong people. I don’t want lots of love; I want lots of money. I looked up to see a handsome man and a beautiful woman walking towards us. I hopped three times and hugged the man’s leg. “Adopt me, I’m super well-behaved.” As the second prettiest kid in the orphanage, I disdained using such tactics. I saw Nancy deliberately hiding in the corner, trying to make herself invisible. It seemed she didn’t want to be adopted. The comments went crazy: “Why is this different from the plot? What is the side character doing messing things up?” “A crazed villain dad and a depressed damsel mom. Wait until the side character gets home and finds one holding a knife and the other holding a knife too. Then she’ll see the power of the villain couple!” “Boohoo, our heroine can finally escape her annoying villain foster parents and grow up safely.” My new mom patted my head, her smile gentle but unable to hide the fatigue on her face. I hugged and kissed her, calling out, “Mom, why are you hurt?” Her back stiffened, and she hugged me back even tighter, wet tears soaking my shoulder. Oh, I forgot. My depressed mom cries easily. My villain dad lifted me by my overalls and tossed me into the back seat of their car. The child seat was soft and comfortable. I laid down and fell asleep. Villain couples are great. I get to eat my fill, have a bed to sleep in, and wear new clothes. 2. The next day, I noticed something was wrong. Loud arguments and the sound of things smashing came from my villain dad’s study. Thumping sounds came from my mom’s room, and the smell of blood seeped through the crack in the door. The comments started acting up again: “Now the side character’s heart is dead. A dad with a volatile temper who loses control whenever he encounters the heroic couple, and a mom whose depression is triggered by changes in the weather.” “Hehehe, I kinda feel sorry for the side character.” Mom and Dad have a child inside them too, and just like Sue, they need love and care. Bad comments! You don’t understand anything. I knocked on my mom’s door, holding a roll of gauze in one hand and an apple in the other. “Mom, I want to eat an apple, peeled.” My mom’s pale face softened. In no time, she carved out a little bunny apple. I ate with relish, and she gradually smiled. “Sue, what do you want for lunch today?” I listed the dishes directly: “Sweet and sour pork, shredded chicken, spare ribs, spicy fish…” My mom focused entirely on recording my order. “Give me two hours.” My mom tore open the gauze, wrapped it casually to stop the bleeding, and turned to the kitchen. Then I went to knock on my dad’s door. Anger still lingered on his face, and documents lay shredded on the floor. According to the comments, he would neglect the company due to his long-term conflict with the heroic couple, leading to the bankruptcy of the Sue Group. From then on, the villain family would live in poverty. I shook my head. I would never let that happen. I pulled out my civics test paper with a score of 6 and looked at him innocently. “Dad, the teacher needs a parent’s signature.” My dad glanced at it dismissively. “Is it graded out of ten?” I was confused. “It’s out of 100.” My dad’s eyes widened instantly. “Your dad was first in the whole school back then, breezing through everything. You’re telling me you got a 6 in civics? Even stomping on the paper would get a higher score than that.” Frowning, he signed his name anyway. I stared at him with puppy eyes. “Dad, if I get over 90, I get a gold star.” My dad saw right through my pitiful expression and sighed. “I’ll make you a hundred gold stars, okay?” I refused. And persisted. My dad sighed again. “Give me the book.” I placed the brand-new civics textbook in his hand. Sure enough, they both got busy. My mom, known as a kitchen disaster, signed up for five cooking classes, striving to master Sichuan, Shandong, Hunan, Cantonese cuisines, and desserts in a short time. My dad, on the verge of criminality, dedicated himself to mastering civics knowledge from elementary to undergraduate level in a short time. I watched their busy figures. And smiled with relief. It’s good that everyone is busy. 3. Beneath the happy family facade lay deep undercurrents. My dad dressed himself up dashingly, very intimidating. My mom dressed like a princess, and I looked like a little princess beside her. We walked in hand in hand. Whispers erupted. I could feel my mom’s grip on my hand tighten; she always disliked such occasions. The villain couple’s marriage was a business arrangement. My dad couldn’t get his first love, so he married to facilitate things. My mom loved her childhood friend for years but lost to his love at first sight, leaving heartbroken. Usually, they kept up appearances well enough. But this time, they ran into the protagonist couple. The comments went wild: “As foils to the protagonist couple, I can’t imagine how big a joke the villain couple will make at the banquet.” “Villains are just bad, always up to no good.” “Wait for it, the crazed villain is going to pull out knockout powder from his suit pocket. Truly evil to the core.” I eyed my dad. His eyes were red, his left hand pressed against his suit, his right hand holding a cocktail, drinking with deep resentment. My heart skipped a beat. I absolutely could not let anything happen to Mom and Dad! I let go of my mom’s hand and nimbly wove through the crowd. I tugged at my dad’s sleeve and secretly pulled out the packet of powder. It was really there! Just as I was trying to avoid others and dump it in the trash. Suddenly, someone bumped into me. My hand shook, and the powder spilled into the drinks on a waiter’s tray. “You?” A boy about my age, with an indifferent expression, looked at me curiously. I covered his mouth, telling him to pretend he didn’t see anything. I stuffed a handful of candy into his hand as a bribe. My heart ached; that was candy I had saved for a long time. Before I could pretend to spill the drink. My dad spotted me, picked me up, took the drink, and downed it. “My daughter loves me, bringing me a drink personally.” I felt incredibly guilty. I ran to the other side and told my mom, “Dad is drunk and needs to go back to the room to rest.” “Don’t run around. I’ll take him to the room and come find you,” my mom instructed. I sat obediently on the stool. I noticed the boy from earlier being surrounded by two or three kids. It seemed he was being bullied. I rolled up my princess dress. As the top boss of the orphanage, I wouldn’t let any kid be bullied in front of me. I marched towards them aggressively. As soon as I reached them, the kids wailed and ran away crying. Me? Do I look that scary? I touched my cheek. It was soft. I’m clearly cute. I poked the boy’s face. He frowned slightly. “Zack.” I was delighted and introduced myself. “I’m Sue, I’m eight, I can sing and dance, my mom and dad…” Before I could continue, Zack lowered his eyes, looking unhappy. He spat out one word: “Sleepy.” As a helpful kid, of course I would accompany him to the end. I skipped along with him to his room. He signaled me with his eyes several times. I reluctantly agreed. “Boys and girls are different. I shouldn’t sleep with you, but if you can’t bear to part with me, I can reluctantly agree.” Then, ignoring his panicked look, I hugged him and fell asleep peacefully, just like hugging my teddy bear. Just as I was drifting off, a few sentences flashed through my mind. What did Mom tell me to do again? Forget it, brain shutdown. At this time, the comments became active again. “The stupid side character is always provoking the villain. Look at the one beside her who hasn’t grown up yet; he’s practically a villain in training!” “Let’s feel sorry for the protagonist couple. Nothing good happens when they meet the villain.” “However, the powder was taken by the villain himself. Will the original plot still happen?” “In the original plot, tomorrow is when the villain’s reputation is ruined. Forcing himself on someone else’s wife sent him straight to jail.” The next day, I rubbed my eyes, recalling the comments from yesterday. Disaster. I ran to my dad’s room without even putting on shoes. A group of people surrounded the room, holding cameras and flashes, eager to record the villain’s scandal. At the front, the male lead, eyebrows knit with anger, banged on the door. The person inside took a long time to open. 4. A crowd of eyes stared straight as my dad came out disheveled. Behind him, a head popped out. It was my shy mom. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then tensed up again. “What are you doing here while I’m with my wife?” My dad’s words were laced with threat, and seeing the situation turn unfavorable, the reporters fled quickly. The male lead glanced warily into the room. My mom twisted my ear, asking worriedly, “Where did you run off to?” I rolled my eyes. “I went to help the weak. He was so pitiful, and I’m so kind.” Neither of them believed me, but seeing I wasn’t hurt or wronged, they let it go. They hurriedly took me away from this troublesome place. [The villain couple didn’t fall out; instead, their feelings deepened. What’s happening?] [The cannon fodder side character has some tricks, but not many.] [Villains should be stepping stones. They just got lucky this time.] [Given how much the villains adore the protagonists, they’ll crash and burn sooner or later.] My little hands clenched tight. They aren’t some evil villains; they are my best mom and dad. My parents insisted on sending me to a private school. Despite using all my strength and tricks. It couldn’t beat my dad’s casual remark: “I can’t do it anymore. Let the teachers tutor you.” To make a villain who prides himself on his intellect say such a thing, in a way, I am a talent. Although the private school had good food, gentle teachers, and regular holidays. But! But the male and female leads were in the private school. Wasn’t I just going over to be cannon fodder? I tugged at my dad’s pant leg, acting spoiled. It didn’t soften his heart. I turned to my mom, who only handed me a box of cookies, telling me to share them with my classmates. Sure enough, once my dad decided something, there was no going back. I only prayed not to be in the same class as the protagonists. Unexpectedly, my dad waved his hand. Donated two buildings. And sent me into the elite class. Thanks, Dad. Really not necessary. So there I was, holding the cookie box, staring at the little male and female leads below the podium. [Finally, the moment of truth!] [The side character is about to cause trouble again. According to the book, she shares cookies with the protagonists, but the heroine is allergic to wheat, causing the hero to hate the side character forever.] [Cannon fodder side characters are just catalysts for the protagonists’ love.] I was so angry I wanted to smash the cookie box on their heads. The teacher asked me to choose a seat. I abandoned the spot that would have led me between the protagonists and sat next to the boy sleeping by the window. He propped up his head impatiently and glanced at me. Clang. The cookie box landed on his desk. “For you.” I looked at him with a miserable face. He frowned. “Are you giving me a gift or sending me off?” He smiled instead of getting angry. “Does the side character have some kind of villain magnet?” “Pinpointing the villain out of dozens of people.” His name was written on the roster—Zack. Sounded familiar. I became the villain’s most loyal ally. The villain ate cookies, I wiped his mouth; The villain napped, I fanned him; The villain went to the bathroom, I tried to pull down his pants. He held down my paw. “That’s not necessary. Get out.” Kind of a pity. After a busy day, I finally sent the villain to the school infirmary. I followed Zack nervously, but he was calm. The doctor scolded him for eating so many cookies when he was allergic to wheat. He had two IV bags to go through. I apologized to Zack sadly. He didn’t mind. “I liked the gift you gave me.” Then, very quietly, he said, “It’s the first time I’ve received a gift.” I didn’t hear clearly. But the comments said it for him. “Is the little villain this cute when he says one thing but means another? I want to switch sides.” “Does the little villain really like the heroine Nancy? It looks like his interaction with the side character Sue is more interesting.” “Breaking up a CP is the most hateful thing!” The comments were noisy. If I can save the villain from the sea of love. I only feel relieved.

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The billionaire playboy demanded each of his bodyguards violate my sister. When I called the police, he counter-sued, claiming she forced herself on twenty of his men. Furious, I took him to court. But my wife, a forensic doctor, produced a report stating my sister had no injuries! To cover up the truth, they cremated my sister’s body, destroying the evidence and killing her unborn child. Only then did I learn that the billionaire and my wife had been having an affair. “It’s just a little slut who died. Why are you clinging to me?” “Since you don’t know how to behave, I’ll teach you how a dog should listen!” To force me to give up, they broke both my legs. And beat my paralyzed brother-in-law into a vegetative state. In my despair, I found a box full of medals in my brother-in-law’s closet. It turned out he was paralyzed while executing a secret mission, and his parents had sacrificed their lives for the country. A family of heroes! I hugged the medals and my sister’s ashes, pushed my vegetative brother-in-law in his wheelchair, and knelt at the gate of the military base: “My sister and her unborn child are dead… my brother-in-law beaten into a vegetable… The Sterling family treats human lives like grass! I demand an investigation!” I refused to believe that a box full of medals couldn’t exchange for justice! 1 In the courtroom, Bella pointed at me with indignation: “Jack, even if you want money, don’t be delusional! With Mr. Sterling’s status, how could he look at a cheap, vulgar… whore like your sister!” The thought of the countless wounds on my sister’s body, the word “SLUT” carved into her belly, and her mottled, infected lower body… I couldn’t control my anger anymore and slammed the “no injury” report on the table! “Bella, you were Lily’s sister-in-law! How can you humiliate her like this!” “It’s one thing not to help me, but how can you speak for Julian Sterling and those animals? And commit perjury for them!” Faced with my questioning, Bella showed no regret or guilt. Instead, her expression became firmer. “I guarantee the authenticity of this injury report with my career.” “Jack, I must remind you! I am a doctor first, then Lily’s sister-in-law.” “You want me to be an accomplice and slander Mr. Sterling? Sorry, I can’t do it.” “I have my professional ethics! In the face of justice, I must place righteousness above family!” The spectators whispered: “This guy clearly sees Mr. Sterling has money and wants to scam him. I’m tired of this drama!” “He and his sister are too stupid to target the Sterling heir. They really have some nerve.” “Thankfully Dr. Bella is upright and refused to give false testimony for them, or their scheme would have succeeded.” The discussions grew louder, all favoring Bella without exception. Julian Sterling smiled and handed over the withdrawal form: “Mr. Carter, if you really need money, our company needs a janitor. You can come.” The red string on his wrist was the one I knelt 9,999 steps in the rain to pray for Bella! I gripped the railing tightly, blood rushing to my head in rage, but I couldn’t say a word. It turns out when people are extremely angry, they really can’t speak. I snatched the withdrawal form, tore it to shreds, bit my tongue until it bled, and then gritted my teeth: “Dream on! I will absolutely, absolutely not withdraw the lawsuit!” Bella’s face was full of impatience: “Jack, stop grandstanding. Your sister forced herself on twenty bodyguards. It’s generous of them not to sue you.” Then, a surveillance video played: “Be good and obey me, or else…” “Give it to me… big brother, harder…” The dialogue was obscene and unbearable. The voice did sound like my sister; even I was dazed for a moment. I suddenly remembered Bella finding my sister a few days ago, recording her voice, saying she was preparing a special gift for her future nephew. Only now did I realize. This hellish humiliation and abuse was the so-called “gift.” “Jack, the facts are in front of you. Lily was promiscuous, and she brought this on herself!” “Mr. Sterling was kind enough to try and cover for your sister, but you are so ungrateful and bite the hand that feeds you. Don’t blame me for being ruthless!” Bella, expressionless, handed a thick stack of documents to the judge. Inside were screenshots of chat records between my sister and various men. Ambiguous and explicit. “She really was a public bus. I feel sorry for the bodyguards she forced herself on.” “Heard she was pregnant too. Who knows whose bastard it was.” “Dr. Bella did the right thing, placing justice above family.” The mockery in everyone’s eyes deepened. I shouted at the judge: “The surveillance video and chat records are forged! I request a re-investigation!” But all I got was laughter from the whole court. The judge ignored my request and dismissed my appeal on the spot. He even ordered me to raise $10 million within three days as compensation for mental damages to Julian Sterling and his bodyguards. Everyone stood up and cheered. Only I saw Julian turn to look at me, mouthing: “Your sister asked for it. Deserved!” Then he left the court with Bella, surrounded by bodyguards, heads held high. 2 I clenched my fists tightly, tears falling silently. In this moment, I felt a deep sense of powerlessness. But I didn’t believe Julian Sterling could truly cover the sky with one hand in this city! My sister was still in critical condition. As long as she woke up, she could tell the whole truth! But when I rushed to the hospital, I was told: “Mr. Carter, your sister is hemorrhaging and won’t last much longer…” “We had enough blood in the bank, but Mr. Sterling got a cut on his hand just now, and Dr. Bella urgently transferred all the blood in the city to him.” Ignoring my despair, I immediately begged the doctor: “I’ll find blood. Please, you must keep my sister alive!” Even if I had to kneel and beg Bella, I would get blood for my sister! But when I rushed to my wife’s office, I saw Bella flushed, sweating in Julian’s arms. “Bella, you really know how to have fun. Jack’s sister only knew how to cry and beg. Boring!” “Say, if your husband knew we were hooking up before you got married, would he go crazy?” Bella sneered: “He’ll never know. He’s an idiot!” “And that sister of his, not staying with her paralyzed husband, daring to provoke Mr. Sterling. She deserves to die!” So they had been together all along! No wonder Bella committed perjury for Julian! I wanted to rush in and kill them, but my sister was still waiting for me to save her. I gritted my teeth, clenched my fists, and pushed open the door. “Lily is hemorrhaging. Bella, can you spare some blood? I beg you…” Seeing me, Bella panicked for a second, but soon laughed again. “Spare blood? Does she deserve it?” “Using the blood bank for Mr. Sterling is proper use.” “Using it to save your sister, that… slut, is a waste of medical resources.” “Jack, I advise you to withdraw the lawsuit immediately. That way our marriage can continue.” I was about to continue begging when medical staff walked over holding a canister. “Dr. Bella, as per your instructions, Lily’s body has been cremated.” “Here are the ashes.” 3 Ashes? Whose ashes? I felt my head buzz, as if hit by a heavy bell, my whole body trembling. All these years, my sister treated Bella like her closest family. How could she be such a beast! I couldn’t suppress my anger anymore and rushed up to slap her hard! Bella fell to the ground. Julian hugged her painfully, kicked me away, and had his bodyguards break one of my legs. “Daring to hit my woman in front of me? You and your sister both have a death wish!” I was pinned down by my limbs, unable to move. Bella finally recovered, looking at me with icy eyes. “Jack, I gave you a chance. You didn’t take it.” “Mr. Sterling, didn’t you say your dog, Baller, has bad joints? Bone ash is rich in calcium.” Baller was Julian’s pet dog. My anxiety instantly peaked. “No!” I struggled frantically, nails scratching the floor, making shrill sounds, a tear of blood flowing from my eye. Bella hesitated for a moment, but soon looked angry again. I was pinned down like a dog. And my sister’s ashes were happily licked up by the dog. Only when the ashes were almost gone did Julian hold the dog with one hand and grab my hair with the other, Pressing my entire face into the remaining ashes. “Jack, remember this. You can’t mess with me!” “Next time, your ashes will end up the same way!” Tears and blood mixed on my face. “Can’t mess with you? Julian Sterling! One day! I will reveal the truth…” “You hurt my sister like this… I will make you pay in blood!” Before Julian could speak, Bella laughed: “Reveal the truth? Pay in blood?” “Jack, your sister is already in a dog’s belly. The evidence is gone. What do you have to reveal?” “If you’re smart, put away these thoughts. I can pretend nothing happened. Otherwise, I’ll divorce you!” With that, Bella took Julian’s arm and walked out. I lay on the ground, crying while carefully gathering the last bit of my sister’s ashes. Years ago, when my brother-in-law was paralyzed, it was Bella who operated and saved his life. After we married, my sister and I treated her like a savior. I never expected her to become this monster. In that case, there’s nothing left to cherish! 4 I took the remaining ashes of my sister to the police station. “I want to accuse Julian Sterling and Bella of disregarding human life! Julian raped my sister Lily! Bella covered for the criminal, fabricated injury reports, cremated my sister’s body without consent, and destroyed evidence!” “Officer, please give my sister justice!” But the next second, the officer looked at me with disdain. “Still not giving up?” “New trick? Even conjured up ashes?” He casually picked up a pinch of the ashes. Before I could stop him, he put it in his mouth and smacked his lips: “This is milk powder, right?” “Trying to frame Mr. Sterling, you need some skill. This is too clumsy!” I was completely stunned and roared: “You are protecting a murderer and rapist!” The officer sneered. Without a word, his colleagues dragged me out. They beat me in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras, then threw me out of the station. “I won’t give up!” “Since you protect Julian and them, I’ll go higher!” I spat out a mouthful of blood and gritted my teeth. “Go higher? The Sterlings are the sky in this city. Julian is the Crown Prince!” “Stop dreaming!” With that, the officer ignored me and left. I endured the pain and returned home. Just as I settled my sister’s ashes, my phone rang. “Mr. Carter, your brother-in-law wants to see you…” It was the nursing home. I rushed over immediately. While I was hesitating on how to tell him about my sister, a familiar voice from the room made my hair stand on end. It was Julian! I pushed the door open to see Julian whipping my brother-in-law with a leather belt. I tried to stop him but was blocked by bodyguards. “Jack, this is the price for going to the police!” “Looks like you didn’t listen to my warning!” “Mistakes have prices. Your paralyzed brother-in-law is a burden anyway. I’ll help you solve it!” Another heavy lash. My heart seized in pain. “Julian, stop it!” “Killing my sister wasn’t enough, now you want to kill him too?” “Are you human?!” I roared anxiously. But it was useless. My struggles were in vain as I watched my brother-in-law lose consciousness. “What a waste. Can’t even take a beating. Boring.” Seeing him pass out, Julian tossed the belt aside, laughing contemptuously. Then he hugged Bella, ready to leave. I rushed to press the emergency bell, completely desperate: “Bella, are you human?” “This is your brother-in-law! The patient you saved ten years ago!” “How can you watch Julian beat him like this!” My words made Bella pause. She turned back, speaking coldly: “Paralyzed for ten years, living is meaningless. Only fools like you and your sister can’t let go.” “If you hadn’t courted death by going to the police, we wouldn’t bother with this cripple!” Perhaps feeling she was too harsh, Bella added: “He’s a burden. Better off dead.” “Jack, just a brother-in-law. Why care so much?” “I said, as long as you let this go, we can live happily like before.” I laughed in anger. Today, I truly recognized the shamelessness of the woman before me. “Bella, let’s divorce!” As if hearing a hilarious joke, Bella laughed out loud, glancing at me: “Jack, you’re hopeless. Calm down!” With that, she left without looking back. Doctors resuscitated him. His life was saved, but he became a vegetable. Chance of waking up: slim to none. After his vitals stabilized, I went to my sister’s house to get some supplies. In the stairwell, I saw the walls covered in graffiti: “Whore,” “Slut,” and other insults. “You’re her brother, right? Should have taught her better.” “Lily looked so quiet. Didn’t expect her to do such shameful things.” “Fix this mess! Apologize to Mr. Sterling properly. Don’t affect us neighbors!” The neighbor across the hall poked her head out, tone impatient. I didn’t speak, closing the door. Apologize to Julian? Ridiculous! My phone vibrated. A text from Bella. “Thought it through? Come apologize to me and Mr. Sterling!” “Mr. Sterling is someone you can’t mess with. Stop wasting effort. If you really anger him, don’t blame me for not helping you!” I sneered, didn’t reply, and blocked Bella. Can’t mess with? Wasting effort? I don’t believe it! I don’t believe this world only has protection for the powerful and no justice for the ordinary! While packing my brother-in-law’s things, I accidentally knocked over a metal box deep in the closet. Dozens of medals spilled out. Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Purple Heart… And certificates in red folders. Only after going through everything did I realize tears covered my face. My brother-in-law was paralyzed while on a classified mission. His parents sacrificed their lives for the country. A family of heroes! These medals, these certificates, were proof! Trembling, I closed the box and held it, pushing the urns of my sister and brother-in-law (figuratively, since he’s alive but vegetative), and knelt at the gate of the military base. This was the supreme honor my brother-in-law’s family exchanged their lives and blood for. Now, it became the last straw for me to seek justice for my murdered sister, my vegetative brother-in-law, and their unborn child! “My sister and her unborn child dead… my brother-in-law beaten into a vegetable… The Sterling family treats human lives like grass! I demand an investigation!” I don’t believe it! A box of medals can’t buy the truth!

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Seraphina Harmon, heiress to one of the most powerful families in the city, was in a coma after a car crash. My brother was chosen to be her groom in a propitious marriage meant to bring her luck. But the day before the wedding, he completely snapped. “I won’t do it!” he screamed, his voice cracking with hysteria. “I’d rather die than marry her!” I was about to try and calm him down when shimmering text began to float in front of my eyes: 【The male lead has been reborn! This time, he can finally escape the Harmon family.】 【Imagine being married to a paralyzed woman in a vegetative state. Trapped in a sexless marriage for life.】 【Sure, it’s a top-tier family, a mansion, and unlimited money, but our MC is a man who craves a passionate, whirlwind romance!】 My eyes locked onto the key phrase: unlimited money. A brilliant light bulb went off in my head. “I’ll do it.” “I’ll marry her instead of my brother.” My brother, Ethan, was still sobbing in the living room. “Marry a woman in a coma? I’d rather die!” My parents had always doted on him. They saw this as a true injustice. My mother clenched her jaw. “Then don’t. I won’t let my son suffer like this.” My father looked worried. “But the Harmons… they’re not a family you can afford to cross.” “This marriage was only on the table because Ethan’s astrological chart was a perfect match for their daughter’s. If we back out now, what do you think they’ll do to us?” he fretted. He was the only one in this family with a shred of sense. But in the next second, he gritted his teeth too. “Forget it. Even if we offend the Harmons, even if we lose everything, we can’t ruin Ethan’s life!” The comments were touched. 【Thank god the MC was born into a loving family. His parents adore him.】 【If he’d been born into a family of leeches, he’d just be repeating his last life, dying miserable and unloved.】 【Last time, he was forced into the marriage. The Harmon’s luxurious estate was nothing but a gilded cage. Sure, he had endless money, servants, gourmet food, and designer clothes, but who could stand being married to a comatose wife? Our MC has always been a true romantic.】 【In his past life, he was torn from his college sweetheart, a beautiful but poor girl. Now that he’s been reborn, they can finally be together!】 So that was it. I’d been wondering why Ethan was acting so differently. He’d been reborn. My dad pulled out his phone, ready to call the Harmons and cancel the wedding. I lunged forward. “I’ll do it.” “I’ll take my brother’s place.” My dad’s thumb froze over the screen. I sprinted to my room, throwing my meager belongings into a suitcase with lightning speed. I slipped into the suit meant for my brother, dragged my suitcase back out to the living room, and screeched to a halt. My mother’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! We can just have Leo marry into the family!” My father’s face broke into a wide grin. “Of course! I almost forgot we had another son.” I was used to being ignored. It had been that way my whole life. “Mom, Dad, tell the Harmons not to bother sending a car tomorrow. I’m heading over right now.” I gave them a little wave. “See ya.” The moment the door clicked shut behind me, I heard a collective sigh of relief from inside, followed by the sounds of cheerful laughter as they sat down to dinner. I was happy too. I started humming a little tune. “Making it rain, dollar bills all day, every single one is gonna fall my way—” On the way to the Harmon estate, the comments popped up again. 【Wait… who is this guy?】 【He’s the MC’s younger brother. He’s barely mentioned in the book, just a background character with zero presence. I think his name is Leo Shaw or something.】 【Oh. He seems way too happy about this. Wait until he has to start changing catheters and giving sponge baths. The smile will fade fast.】 【Is it just me, or is his family incredibly biased? They’re both sons. When the older one is asked to marry a comatose woman, they’d risk everything to protect his happiness. But the younger one volunteers, and they don’t even bother to see him off.】 【So what? He’s a side character. My precious Ethan is the main character. The whole world is supposed to revolve around him.】 I ignored the comments, pretending I couldn’t see them. Inside, I was ecstatic. Changing catheters? Sponge baths? Big deal. At home, I slept in a cramped closet under the stairs and worked three part-time jobs just to get by. Now, I was marrying into one of the wealthiest families in the country. No more hustling, no more sleeping in a closet. And the best part? No nagging wife, and a bottomless bank account. This was the kind of life I couldn’t even have dreamed of. When I arrived at the gates of the Harmon Estate, my jaw dropped. It was enormous, spectacular. Truly the mark of an untouchable dynasty. I explained my purpose to the head butler, who drove me up to the main house in what looked like a high-end golf cart. A woman in a bespoke silk dress, the picture of refined elegance, looked me up and down. My suit was crisp, but I could feel her assessing gaze. “And you are?” “Mom.” I’ve always been quick with sweet talk. Since I was the substitute, I had to use my brother’s name. “It’s me, Ethan.” Her expression softened instantly. She came forward and took my hands. “My dear boy. The car was meant to pick you up tomorrow. Why have you come tonight?” “This is a wedding for luck, right? Let’s skip the formalities. The sooner I get here, the sooner Seraphina might wake up.” Seraphina was her only, precious daughter. My words brought tears to her eyes. “You poor child, this is so unfair to you.” “I’m not suffering at all.” “You are,” she insisted, pressing a bank card into my hand. “My dear son-in-law, here’s two million dollars. A little welcome gift from me.” “When Seraphina wakes up, I promise you, we will throw you the most magnificent wedding imaginable.” “Oh, I couldn’t possibly.” I said, pocketing the card. Mrs. Harmon told me my room was ready, and that I could redecorate if I didn’t like it. But first, she wanted me to see Seraphina. I had half-expected her to be monstrously disfigured, which would explain why Ethan was so dead-set against marrying her. I couldn’t have been more wrong. She was breathtaking. Perfectly sculpted features, skin like pale marble, wisps of dark hair falling softly across her forehead as she lay still in the bed. She looked like Sleeping Beauty. The comments went into a frenzy. 【How can a human being be this beautiful? This is God just showing off.】 【A stunning, aristocratic heiress. The very definition of old-money elegance. Even in a coma, she’s completely out of reach for ordinary people. The campus sweetheart my MC is so obsessed with looks like a common weed next to this rose.】 【I wish I could possess this substitute guy’s body. A gorgeous wife who never wakes up and unlimited money? I want to live that carefree, lavish life.】 【Suddenly I don’t get the MC. How could he not want this?】 【You can’t look at it that way. She’s still just a body. She can’t give him any emotional connection. The MC wants love, not just comfort. The thought of emptying her catheter bag is probably what grosses him out.】 I don’t want love. I want comfort. I rolled up my sleeves to grab the catheter bag, but Mrs. Harmon stopped me. “Ethan, what are you doing?” “Emptying her bag.” “You don’t have to do that,” she said, her voice gentle. “We have nurses for that.” “All you need to do is sit with her. Talk to her.” “If you can help Seraphina wake up, anything you want, I will give it to you.” All I’d done was call her “Mom” and she’d given me two million dollars. I felt like I hadn’t earned it. “Mom, let me at least give her a sponge bath.” “You go and rest. I’ll stay with Seraphina. I promise, I’ll do my best to help her wake up soon.” Tears welled in her eyes again. She looked so proud, so moved by my devotion. She took off a stunning, high-grade jade bracelet from her own wrist and slipped it onto mine. “Then I’ll leave her in your care. Don’t overwork yourself.” This was my kind of mother-in-law. When in doubt, just throw money at the problem. After she left, I practically drooled. I grabbed a washcloth and excitedly began to unbutton Seraphina’s silk pajamas. “Hey, wifey. It’s your husband.” “Here’s a little secret: I’m actually an imposter.” “Your real fiancé didn’t want to marry you. Said he didn’t want to be stuck with a vegetable.” “Everything I just told your mom was a lie. So please, whatever you do, don’t you dare wake up, okay?” “Hahaha—” I cackled with glee. I was so absorbed, I didn’t even notice her finger twitch. “Whoops, sorry, drooled on you again. Let me just wipe that off.” Lost in my admiration of her beauty, I was startled by a sudden, frantic beeping. Seraphina’s heart monitor was going crazy. Mrs. Harmon heard the alarm and rushed in with the family doctor. I stood there, chewing my fingernails. Was she… dying? My new life couldn’t be over before it even started. The doctor checked her vitals and turned to Mrs. Harmon. “Don’t worry, Madam. An emotional response is a good sign.” “Even though she’s unconscious, she can still hear what’s going on around her.” “She must have heard something exciting or agitating. That’s why her heart rate spiked.” What? She can hear? She heard every single horrible thing I just said! No wonder her heart rate spiked. I’d pissed her off from beyond the veil of consciousness. “Ethan, you’re our lucky star!” Mrs. Harmon exclaimed, beaming. She handed me another card. “You’ve only just arrived, and Seraphina is already showing improvement. It seems the marriage for luck was the right choice.” “This one has no limit. Take a few bodyguards and go on a shopping spree tomorrow.” “Thanks, Mom.” Not wanting to agitate Seraphina any further, I went to my own room to sleep. If she knew I was an imposter, I’d be finished the moment she woke up. I opened the door to my new bedroom and gasped. The décor was unbelievably opulent. Later that night, I tossed in my sleep and vaguely saw a figure standing by my bed, its gaze burning into me. I shot up like a jack-in-the-box. “Hi-yah!” I launched a kick, sending the figure flying. I flipped on the light and saw a life-sized cardboard cutout of Seraphina lying on the floor. The comments appeared: 【LMAO. Mrs. Harmon was worried they wouldn’t bond, so she put a cutout of Seraphina in his room to ‘build intimacy.’】 Honestly, that mother-in-law of mine. She had too much time on her hands. Scared the life out of me. “Hey, man.” The next morning, I was on the phone with one hand, wiping Seraphina’s face with a washcloth with the other. Her pale skin was turning red under my scrubbing, and the heart monitor started beeping again, the rising line a silent scream of: You’re hurting me! I tossed the cloth aside. I wasn’t even pressing that hard. Her skin was ridiculously delicate. “Wanna go shopping? I’m paying for everything today.” “Did you get paid?” my friend Alex asked. We went way back; if I struck it rich, there was no way I was forgetting him. “Let’s go to that all-you-can-eat buffet we saw,” Alex suggested. “They have a special on, only forty-five bucks a person.” “Forget the buffet,” I said, plopping down on Seraphina’s bed and crossing my legs. “I’m rich now. I married into a wealthy family.” “And my wife’s in a coma,” I whispered, covering my mouth to stifle a laugh. “Today, we’re hitting the designer stores. When we get tired, we’ll eat at a five-star restaurant.” “After that, we’ll hit up a high-end club, get a table, maybe find a dozen girls to party with.” “Are you serious?” Alex’s voice cracked. “Beep-beep-beeeeeep—” The line on Seraphina’s heart monitor shot straight up. A vein was actually throbbing on her temple. “Gotta go, see you in a bit.” I hung up. In my excitement, I’d forgotten she could hear me. I leaned over her. “Hey now, wifey, don’t get excited. I’m a traditional, faithful man.” “I would never cheat on you.” “I’m only going out to spend money and eat good food for your sake. You know what they say, husband and wife are one. Since you’re stuck in bed, I have to go out and consume things on your behalf.” “If I eat it, it’s like you ate it. If I have fun, it’s like you had fun. Everything I do, I do it for you. I hope you can understand my noble intentions.” You just lie there and rest easy, I thought. I’ll gladly take care of your massive fortune for you. Gazing at her flawlessly beautiful face, I leaned down and planted a loud smooch on her lips. So soft. How was she even real? She was exquisite. I kissed her a few more times, smudging off all her lipstick. The comments were furious. 【Seraphina has severe mysophobia! She hates being touched by men! Leo is such a scumbag, taking advantage of her when she can’t move.】 Hey now, she’s my wife. What’s wrong with a few kisses? Their outrage just made me want to do it more. I kissed her a few more times for good measure, then put on my sunglasses and sauntered out. “Bye, wifey! I’m off to have some fun. No, wait… I’m off to have some fun for you.” “And don’t worry. I’m a traditional, faithful man. I would never cheat on you.” Man, even the air smelled sweeter when you were rich. This was the life. After I left, the woman in the bed suddenly shot upright, and a mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “387831”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

1 After the deep memory erasure, I forgot. I forgot Dante, the commander who was my fiancé, the one who personally forged me into the weapon I was. I forgot Luna, the ‘sister’ I rescued, who then stole everything from me. I forgot everything about Acheron, the clandestine organization of ‘cleaners’… I faked my own death to break free, disappearing into an old bookstore in Sicily. Everyone assumed I was just sulking, that I’d soon tire of a mediocre life and crawl back under his protection. Until one evening, my bookstore saw no customers. From the shadows between the shelves, several men who had long been lurking in the darkness emerged. Their leader’s voice was a low growl. “Why haven’t you ever responded to Mr. Volkov’s recall orders these past few years? Do you have any idea that he wiped out the entire council of elders for you?” The hand I was using to straighten books paused. “I’m sorry, I’ve had my memory erased. Who is this Mr. Volkov you’re talking about?” Silence, as cold and vast as a frozen tundra, spread through the room. A sudden, inexplicable tremor seized my heart. I instinctively glanced out the window. Across the street, shrouded in the deepening twilight, a tall, lean silhouette stood in the gloom, its gaze fixed on me like a shard of ice. … I found out about Dante Volkov and Luna Snow on the morning of our wedding day. I couldn’t find him and assumed he’d been called away for an urgent termination order. Instead, I found him on the manor’s terrace, kissing the girl I had rescued, Luna, his arms wrapped tightly around her. I walked toward them without a sound, my hand raising to strike his throat. My fingertips were inches from his carotid artery when Luna shoved me, hard, into the swimming pool. The instant the back of my head cracked against the concrete wall, a dead, chilling clarity settled over me. It was happening again. Every single important person in my life would eventually orbit around Luna. I had saved Luna five years ago from a human trafficking ring in Southeast Asia. I took her in when she was fifteen, adopting her as my younger sister. I taught her intelligence analysis, brought her into my team, and gave her the cleanest job in the logistics division. She was innocent, sweet, always smiling—a flower cultivated in a hothouse. After every bloody mission, she would have a hot meal waiting for everyone. My teammates, men who lived and breathed on the edge of a knife, were slowly won over by her domestic warmth, their initial wariness melting away. “Finally, a real woman on the team,” they’d say, not even bothering to lower their voices when I was around. Now, it seemed the man I had loved for a decade, the man who was supposed to exchange rings with me today, was no exception. When I woke up in the organization’s infirmary, Dante was sitting by my bed. But his first words weren’t about my injury. “Nyx, don’t misunderstand. Luna was just playing around… If you don’t like it, I’ll be more careful next time.” “You’re the one who saved her. She has no one, and she’s suffered so much. Don’t hold it against her, okay?” I looked at the old bullet scar on his collarbone, a wound he’d taken for me, and suddenly, I laughed. “Dante, are you saying all this because you’re afraid I’ll get rid of her behind your back?” His gaze hardened. He gripped my hand, his knuckles white, ignoring my question. “I know you’re angry, but infighting is strictly forbidden within the organization.” “This ends here. We’ll postpone the wedding to next week. Don’t become a joke to the lower ranks.” I pulled my hand away and stared out at the black night sky. He was about to say more, but his encrypted communicator vibrated. My assassin’s eyes were sharp enough to see the name on the screen: Luna. The message said she was frightened, that her heart was palpitating. He glanced at me, his tone softening slightly. “A new target has surfaced. I have to go set up the perimeter myself. You get some rest.” He was gone before I could reply, his steps quicker than I’d ever seen them on a mission. He never came back that night. Lying on the infirmary bed, my gaze fell on a pop-up ad on my phone: 【Memory Matrix Override: Reshape your past, forge a new future.】 I have always been ruthless. I don’t tolerate filth. Once something is tainted, I won’t touch it again. So, Dante, and the ten years of entanglement that came with him… I was done with it all. I walked out of the lab for the “Phoenix Protocol” feeling as if my brain had been wiped clean by a precision instrument—clear, but empty. Portions of my past felt locked away in an encrypted database. I knew they existed, but I had lost both the clearance and the desire to access them. The recoding required two phases. In seventy-two hours, I would need a final consolidation. Relying on the muscle memory that remained, I made my way back to my apartment in the organization’s safe house. The retinal scan chimed its approval, and the door slid open. The sound of boisterous laughter spilled out. “To Luna’s success on the Eastern Europe mission! A real credit to the organization!” I stepped into the living room, and the chatter died instantly. Dante stood up, asking with a hint of reluctance, “Does your head still hurt?” I touched the bruise on the back of my head, my voice flat. “Even if my injuries were ten times worse, you would never lay a hand on the person who caused them for my sake.” The atmosphere in the room froze. Mara, my partner for years, stepped forward to smooth things over, a strained smile on her face. “Nyx, you’re back just in time. We’re celebrating Luna’s success. The intel she provided led to a clean termination, and she received a personal commendation from the Director.” She pressed a gift box into my hands. “You’re the one who brought Luna to Acheron. It’s only fitting that you, her mentor, give this to her.” I didn’t want to cause a scene before I left. I held the box out to Luna. She reached for it, but the moment our fingers touched, the box fell to the floor. The tactical watch inside, a high-end model, shattered on impact. Luna’s eyes reddened, and tears began to fall. “Nyx… I know you’re angry with me… but this was a gift from everyone. How could you…” She sobbed. “Are you still mad? I was just joking with Dante… you misunderstood…” Seeing her tears, the others rushed to comfort her, then turned their accusations on me. “Nyx, that’s enough. Luna works hard cooking for us, and she just scored a major success. Can’t you let her be happy for one day?” “Walking around with that long face all the time, you think you’re in some kind of tragedy?” I looked at their faces, once familiar, now alien, and felt a profound disappointment. The most displeased among them was the man I had loved for a decade. “That’s enough,” Dante said, his voice carrying the weight of a commander, silencing the room. He bent down, picked up the broken watch, and placed it back in my palm. “Luna was acting on the Director’s authority this time. Her contribution was significant.” “It doesn’t matter that the gift is broken, I’ll have it repaired. Give it to her again, properly. And from now on, you will treat her well.” His voice was low, a feigned attempt at placation, but the fingers gripping my wrist tightened, the pressure on the bone excruciating. I violently wrenched my hand away. “There’s no need. She and I will not be working together again.” I took a step back. “I’m moving out.” Before the words had even settled, Luna’s sobs escalated. “Nyx… are you trying to kick me out of Acheron?” She turned to Dante, tears streaming down her face. “Dante, what do I do? The people out there will eat me alive…” Dante’s face was ashen. His eyes, when they met mine, were filled with cold accusation. “Nyx, are you really using your seniority to bully a defenseless girl? Have you no shame?” Before I could speak, my teammates chimed in. “You know the rules, Nyx. If it’s a choice between the two of you, she’s the one who has to go! You’re sending her to her death!” “What a cold-blooded, ungrateful killer. You’re just as vicious with your own people.” Mara looked conflicted, grabbing my arm. “Nyx, let it go! You were a young girl once too. Show some mercy…” I looked at her, and my heart plunged into an icy sea. Years ago, on a mission, she had triggered an alarm. I was already clear, but I went back in for her, alone, and dragged her out of a pile of corpses. She had clung to me, covered in blood, and sworn she owed me her life. Now, she stood against me, pleading for the girl who had stolen my fiancé. “Mara, leaving is my own choice. And I never said I was kicking her out…” “Have you made enough of a scene?” Dante cut me off, his voice sharp. “This is all because you’re jealous.” He soothed Luna with one hand while glaring at me. “It’s all my fault. Take it out on me. Luna is young and naive, why are you so fixated on punishing her?” The emotional turmoil, combined with the instability from the memory erasure, sent a sharp pain lancing through my temples. I had no desire to say another word. I pressed my fingers to my throbbing forehead and turned to leave. “Nyx! Don’t go, I’m begging you…” Luna suddenly lunged forward, falling to her knees and clinging to my leg. Her sharp nails dug into the flesh of my ankle. It was pure instinct. My leg muscles tensed, and I flexed to break her grip. I barely used any force, but to the others, it looked like I had kicked her away. She let out a piercing scream and fell backward, her left hand bending at a sickeningly unnatural angle. Dante shoved me aside. “Nyx, you’ve disappointed me more than I can say!” Luna cradled her wrist. “My fingers… I can’t move them…” He scooped her up, his eyes on me filled with a revulsion I had never seen before. “All of logistics, communications, and intel analysis depends on her hands. You were trying to cripple her?” He carried the weeping, near-fainting Luna past me, leaving me with one final, bone-chilling sentence. “Nyx, if you don’t want to hold a knife anymore, then get out and see what the real world is like! See how long you last without the organization.” The last vestiges of sound drained from the room as they all left. Even the newest recruit, as he passed me, sneered, “Give it up, old woman. Learn to accept you’re past your prime instead of fighting with the young girls. Take a look in the mirror.” My nails dug into my palms. I held back my rage. Dante’s call came while I was in the Director’s office, formally requesting to leave the organization. The Director’s voice was placid. “Nyx, you paid off your contract years ago. Your value to this organization has since exceeded that amount tenfold.” He looked up, his gaze sharp. “I just don’t understand. Your wedding to Dante is imminent. Why quit now?” I gave a bitter laugh. “There’s no future for us…” I trailed off, noticing my communicator was lit up. I had accidentally answered the call. Dante’s voice crackled from the speaker. “Nyx, what did you just say?” I pressed the device to my ear, my voice flat. “I’m outside. You misheard.” A moment of silence, then his tone softened. “You forgot your dagger here. Do you want to come get it?” It was a folding dagger we had taken from a target’s safe on our first mission together, ten years ago. He had later engraved our initials on the hilt. “If I ever betray you,” he’d said, “use this to pierce my heart.” For ten years, I had treasured it, never letting it leave my side. Now, I had lost all interest. “Leave it with you for now,” I said coolly. “We’ll see.” After I hung up, the Director pushed an encrypted data chip across the desk. “This is what you’ve earned. It’s enough for you to start over anywhere. As for your other choices, the organization will not interfere.” Back at my apartment, the headache forced me to bed early. I was woken in the dead of night by the soft sound of footsteps. I sat bolt upright and saw Dante. “I came to bring you your dagger.” He placed it on the nightstand. I glanced at it. “Thanks. You didn’t have to make a special trip.” He shook his head. “It’s been with you for ten years. It’s seen everything we’ve been through.” “Nyx, we’ve been together for a decade. We’ve faced death so many times. Why are you letting one little thing push us to this point?” Fragments of memory swirled in my mind. The time he shielded me on a mission, taking a bullet to the shoulder that almost cost him his arm. The time in the jungle when my legs were injured by an explosion, and he carried me for sixty miles to get help. The first time I took the fall for him, enduring torture, and he had looked at me with red-rimmed eyes and sworn he would never fail me… Those were the good times. His voice dragged me back to the present. “Luna’s fingers are just fractured, but she needs to rest.” “You’ll cover her logistics work for a few days. Our wedding is next week. We have to maintain some semblance of order for the team.” I spoke calmly. “Dante, I don’t want to marry you anymore. Why should I put on a show for anyone?” He stared at me as if I’d told a preposterous joke. “Nyx, when did you learn to play these manipulative games?” “You’re regressing. I’m losing my patience for this.” I looked down, a sarcastic smile playing on my lips. Dante, do you really believe I can’t live without you? Seeing my silence, his last shred of patience evaporated. “Fine. Cool off. Luna needs me, her fever won’t break. I have to go.” The door slammed shut with a deafening thud. When I woke the next morning, my eyes fell on the dagger on the nightstand. In the pale light, I could clearly see the engraved initials: “D.V. & L.S.” L.S. Luna Snow. This wasn’t my dagger. I opened the secret compartment in the nightstand. My dagger was inside, its hilt engraved with “D.V. & N.” I see. Even a token of our shared life and death, he could have a copy made for her. Without a moment’s hesitation, I contacted security and had all my access to the safe house revoked. I packed my bags and checked into a cash-only capsule hotel in the city center. The world around me was a chaotic, unfamiliar tapestry of human life. It required constant vigilance, but it also gave me a sense of freedom I had never known. The next day, however, I received an urgent directive from Dante, summoning me to the infirmary. I didn’t want to go, but my funds hadn’t been fully transferred yet. I went, fearing complications. I had just stepped into the familiar corridor when a figure blurred toward me. Dante slammed me against the metal wall, his forearm pressed against my throat, his eyes burning with undisguised fury. “Tell me! What did you do to Luna?” His voice was a low, guttural snarl, each word a poisoned dart. “You know what she went through as a child. She has severe PTSD. Are you going to drive her insane over your petty jealousy?” “It wasn’t me.” The pressure on my throat made my voice hoarse. “I haven’t been here for two days.” Mara and the other core team members emerged, but no one moved to intervene. Their eyes were cold with suspicion. “Nyx, there’s no point in denying it,” Mara said. “Who else has the skills to bypass all the surveillance, sneak in here in the middle of the night to terrorize her, without even Dante noticing?” As if on cue, Luna’s tearful voice drifted from the hospital room. I shoved Dante away and walked in. Luna was huddled in the corner of her bed. “Look closely,” I said. “Was the person last night me?” She flinched as if bitten by a snake, her pupils dilating as she looked up. She let out an even more piercing scream. “Ah—don’t touch me! I’ll give Dante back to you, just please, leave me alone!” She grabbed a metal water cup from her nightstand and threw it at me. I dodged, but the rim grazed my brow, and blood trickled down past my eye. Dante shielded Luna with his body and roared at me, “Get out! Don’t you come near her!” The others immediately surrounded her, murmuring words of comfort, their glares full of condemnation. I wiped the blood from my face and walked out. After I had cleaned the cut, Dante found me. His expression was still grim. “Luna is unstable. Try to be more understanding.” I met his gaze. “It’s fine. I won’t hold it against her. You, on the other hand, have a mission to run and a patient to care for. It must be difficult.” He was visibly taken aback, clearly not expecting me to say that. “It’s good that you understand.” He raised a hand to check the cut on my brow, but I stepped back, avoiding his touch. His hand froze in mid-air before slowly clenching into a fist. I looked at him, my expression unreadable. “But I must be clear. This had nothing to do with me.” A sarcastic smirk touched his lips, full of unquestionable arrogance. “In all of Acheron, who else has the ability? Did Luna frame herself? She doesn’t have the cunning for that.” Seeing his conviction, I realized any defense was pointless. I took a deep breath, ready to say the words. “Dante, we’re over—” “Dante, trouble!” Mara came running up. “Luna’s having another episode! She’s curled up in the corner crying, and won’t let anyone near her.” Dante’s face changed. He turned and sprinted back toward the room. Watching his retreating back, I finished the sentence in my mind. Tomorrow was the second phase of the memory recoding. Then, he, Acheron, and this whole nauseating affair would be sealed away for good. I turned to leave the suffocating place. As I reached the ground floor, I heard soft footsteps behind me. Before I could react, a sharp, precise pain struck the back of my neck, and I plunged into darkness. I awoke to a throbbing headache. I was strapped to a metal chair. Looking around, I realized I was in the organization’s deep interrogation chamber. The door opened, and Dante walked in, his face as cold and impassive as a machine. My voice was weak with anger. “What do you think you’re doing? Let me go!” He shook his head. “Luna has been diagnosed with severe PTSD with intermittent amnesia. The doctor said the tendons in her fingers are permanently damaged. She’ll have trouble lifting anything heavy for the rest of her life.” “And what does that have to do with me?” I shot back. He stood over me, his shadow eclipsing me. “You used unauthorized force on a logistics officer, a severe violation of our code. As a commander, I must act impartially.” He gave a slight nod to the door, and two masked executioners entered. “Begin.” Dante signed the order, his pen strokes sharp and vicious. My voice trembled. “Dante, how can you do this to me?” He didn’t even look at me. He turned and left, closing the door firmly behind him. One of the executioners approached, inserting several fine needles connected to a device into the back of my neck and my temples. He leaned in, his voice a distorted, gleeful hiss. “Sister Nyx, someone asked me to give you special attention. Don’t worry, I guarantee you won’t have a single scar.” The moment the device was activated, an indescribable agony exploded in my head. It felt like a thousand red-hot needles were being driven into my brain, piercing and scrambling my nerves. Every muscle in my body began to spasm uncontrollably. My eyes felt like they were about to burst from their sockets. I bit through my lip, the taste of blood flooding my mouth, but I didn’t make a sound. I don’t know how long it lasted. When the restraints were released, I slid from the chair to the floor. My vision was blurry, my ears were ringing, and the world felt distant and muted. They threw me into a confinement cell like a piece of trash. I spent the entire night in complete darkness, curled up, cradling my broken body. The next day, the door opened. Dante stood silhouetted against the light. I used the wall to pull myself up and staggered past him, every step like walking on knives. “There were too many witnesses last night. I had to make an example of you.” He watched me, his expression complicated. “I know you hate me, but rules are rules. I couldn’t let you get away with hurting Luna.” “Rest for a while… I’ll take over your missions for now.” He followed me, his words a constant assault on my frayed nerves. Just then, Luna’s piercing scream echoed down the hall. “Dante—where are you? I’m so scared!” Dante paused. He looked at me, then finally just said, “Go back to your room. Don’t cause any more trouble.” Then he turned, without hesitation, and ran toward the sound of her voice. At the same moment, my communicator lit up. The final transfer of my funds was complete. I gritted my teeth against the pain, walked out of the building, hailed a taxi, and gave the address of the lab. Lying back in the chair, the doctor attached the sensors to my temples. “Once the program begins, you will fall into a deep sleep. When you awaken, all your troubles will be gone.” I closed my eyes, feeling my consciousness being drawn away, piece by piece. Countless vivid memories, like photographs set ablaze, slowly turned to a gray, empty ash, and were utterly annihilated…

My fiancée’s first love came back to the country. With cancer. Ever since she found out, she’s been… distant. Lost in thought. I didn’t think much of it. There was no point in getting worked up over a dying man. But then he whispered one sentence to her: “I want to spend my last days with you.” And for that, my fiancée drugged me. Hypnotized me. “Three months, Thomas. Just give me three months.” “Forget me. After three months, I’ll be all yours again.” And just like that, the woman named Ava Johnston vanished from my memory. Later, she walked down the aisle in a white dress, married that man, and lived out three months of idyllic bliss before returning to me as promised. “Thomas, let’s get married.” I just stared at her, completely lost. “I’m sorry, who are you?” 1 “Ava, you have to try this one.” Inside the bridal boutique, I held up a gown I’d painstakingly chosen, certain it was the one for her. When my eyes met hers, I noticed they were rimmed with red. “What’s wrong, Ava?” I chuckled, gently stroking her hair. “Why the tears all of a sudden? Getting emotional thinking about the wedding?” Her voice trembled as she looked up at me, barely a whisper. “He’s back.” “Hmm?” I leaned in, not quite catching it. That’s when her phone screen tilted into my view, completely by accident. A familiar name burned into my retinas. Jacob Lin. Ava’s first love. I’d known about him for years, of course. But whenever his name came up, Ava was always so dismissive, as if he were a stranger she barely remembered. It had been, what, six or seven years since they broke up? That’s an eternity. Long enough to bury even the deepest feelings. I just never imagined his return would hit her this hard. The smile faded from my face, my voice becoming flat. “So? What if he’s back? Does that mean we stop trying on dresses? That we don’t get married?” Ava flinched, her voice strained. “No, Thomas, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s just… he said he has terminal cancer. He won’t live more than three months.” “I don’t mean anything by it,” she rushed to add. “It’s just sad, you know? Someone so full of life just… gone.” “Thomas, he’s in the past. There’s nothing between us anymore.” “Don’t overthink it.” But Ava, all I did was ask a simple question, and you look like you’ve just committed the crime of the century. The mood for dress shopping was shattered. We left in silence. The drive home was heavy, thick with unspoken words. Back at our apartment, Ava threw herself onto the sofa, her gaze unfocused, lost somewhere I couldn’t follow. I took a deep breath and knelt by her feet. “What else did he say to you?” A long time passed before she answered. So long I thought she hadn’t heard me. Then, her voice drifted across the room. “He wants me to be with him, at the end.” My hand, holding a glass of water, paused mid-air. I asked, trying to sound casual, “And you said yes?” “No.” She seemed to pull herself together, forcing a brittle smile. “Of course not. Who am I to him? Why would I agree to something like that?” A lie. She couldn’t even look at me. I closed my eyes, deciding not to call her on it. “You’re right not to. If anyone should be by his side, it’s his family, his friends.” Ava’s rebuttal was instant, automatic. “He doesn’t have any close friends. His parents died a couple of years ago. He’s always been—” She cut herself off. 2 Facing my gaze, which felt like it could see right through her, Ava scrambled for an excuse. She grabbed a jacket. “I just remembered, there’s something I need to check on at the lab.” She’d forgotten. She had specifically cleared her schedule today for the dress fitting, arranging everything at the lab beforehand. She didn’t need to go. Her heart was in chaos. I carried my glass to the balcony and watched her hurry away, saying nothing. People hold on to the past. I get it. Even if Ava’s reaction was more intense than I’d expected, I could tolerate it. After all, what kind of trouble could a dying man really cause? As for Ava, I would give her time to sort herself out. Being sentimental isn’t a fatal flaw. I tried to be understanding. Ava didn’t come home that night. When she finally returned, she acted as if nothing had happened. She threw her arms around me, her voice sweet and clingy. “I’m so exhausted, honey. You have no idea how draining that experiment was.” She didn’t mention him, and neither did I. It was one of those unspoken pacts adults make. She then offered to cook dinner for me. I took it as an apology for her behavior the day before and gladly accepted. At the dinner table, she brought up where she’d been. “Actually, I went to see Jacob last night.” “He’s changed so much. I barely recognized him from the person I remember.” “Thomas, we had something real, you know? A real connection.” “If we hadn’t been so young and reckless back then, we might never have broken up.” “Honestly, we were childhood sweethearts. Seeing him like this… I just can’t leave him high and dry.” She kept talking, and a strange thing happened. I knew I should be angry. But a heavy grogginess washed over me. My limbs felt like lead, and even speaking was an effort. A bitter realization dawned on me. She had done something to my food. I managed a weak, wry smile. “So you agreed?” To his three-month request? Ava’s hand drifted to a small box she’d brought back with her. She gave a soft, “Mmm.” My eyes fixed on it. “What’s that?” 3 Ava went silent. Her fingers traced the edges of the music box, her expression a storm of indecision. I asked her again what was in the box. She slowly lifted her head, the conflict in her eyes finally giving way to a soft apology. “Thomas, I’m not going to hurt you. I just need you to forget me for three months. After three months, we’ll go back to being us, the loving couple we’ve always been.” Forget her for three months? The horrifying truth clicked into place. I stared at the box. “Is that a hypnosis device?” “Yes. It’s the latest project from my lab. It can make you forget me for exactly three months.” The hesitation in Ava’s eyes was hardening into resolve. I knew her. Once she made a decision, she saw it through. I didn’t move. I didn’t try to run. A knot of grief tightened in my chest, a bitter sting rising in my nose. A wave of profound sadness crashed over me. “Since it’s a new prototype,” I asked, my voice thick with self-mockery, “aren’t you worried something could go wrong? What if… what if I forget you for longer than three months?” Ava, her hand poised to open the box, froze. The certainty in her eyes wavered, replaced again by doubt. But it was only for a second. Her resolve returned, and she continued opening the lid. “I have faith in my work. In three months, I will come back to you, and you will still love me!” Her words hung in the air as she threw the music box open, giving herself no chance to back down. A brilliant white light bloomed from within, accompanied by a strange, ethereal melody that assaulted my senses. The world began to swim, and Ava’s voice echoed in my ears, a soothing, hypnotic chant. “Thomas Song, I love you. I really, really love you. But Jacob is dying, and I have to be with him for this final journey.” “Thomas Song, forget me. Forget Ava. Your life has never included a person named Ava.” “10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 1…” Her voice grew fainter, more distant. I slumped onto the sofa, the last two words circling in my mind: Ava Johnston. But… who was Ava Johnston? 4 When I woke up, sunlight was streaming into the room. I ran a hand through my messy hair, confused by the blanket draped over me. Did I fall asleep on the sofa? Who covered me? Maybe one of my buddies crashed here? Just then, my phone rang. It was my best friend, Leo. He launched right in, his voice a chaotic buzz. “Thomas! Dude, you’re getting married tomorrow! I’m heading over in a bit to help decorate. Don’t you dare touch anything, you and your disaster-zone decorating skills would make the place look like a dumpster fire.” Huh? Married? I was completely lost. I checked the caller ID. Yep, definitely Leo. Sounded like him, too. Only he would insult my decorating abilities so creatively. But… since when was I getting married? “I’m getting married? What are you talking about?” “What?” Leo sounded even more shocked than I was. “Thomas, are you still half-asleep? You’re marrying Ava! You seriously don’t know?” Ava? Who the hell was Ava? I shot back immediately, “Don’t mess with me, man. I don’t know any Ava. I’ve been single forever!” “You’ve been dating for years! Are you messing with me? Look at the damn wall, dude! Your wedding photos are all over the place!” No way. I scrambled to my feet and looked around. There were no pictures anywhere. The walls were bare… wait. On the living room wall, there was a strange, blank rectangle, with faint traces of adhesive around the edges. It looked like a frame used to hang there, but it had been taken down. I tried to remember what I might have hung there, but drew a blank. I shrugged it off. “Leo, there are no wedding photos here. And who is Ava…?” A sudden, absurd thought hit me. “You didn’t set me up with a ghost, did you? After all we’ve been through, you’d do that to me?” “A ghost? I’ll show you a ghost! Stay put, I’m coming over to knock some sense into you!” 5 Leo stormed in, yelling that I deserved a punch in the face. But I honestly couldn’t remember anyone named Ava, or any wedding. He snatched my phone and pulled up my social media feed. “Eight out of every ten posts are about her! See for yourself!” I looked. Nothing. My most recent post was from three years ago: “Happy New Year.” Leo froze, scrolling furiously up and down, completely baffled. “Did you delete everything? Or did Ava? Did you two have a fight?” I threw my hands up. “I seriously don’t know her.” Leo studied my face, then quickly started a video call with this “Ava.” The call connected, revealing a sterile, but cozy, hospital room. The woman named Ava smiled calmly into the camera. “Leo, what’s up?” “Ava, what did you do to him? He’s acting crazy, says he doesn’t know you!” Leo shoved the phone in my face, forcing a confrontation. I looked at the woman on the screen. A complete stranger. No recognition at all. Her eyes flickered, studying me with a mix of probing curiosity and expectation. “Thomas, hello.” “Oh, hi. You must be Ava?” I said politely. She subtly relaxed, a flicker of relief crossing her face. She seemed pleased with my reaction. “I’m Ava. We were together, but you fell and hit your head at home and forgot about me. When you remember, I’ll come back to you.” “For now,” she continued, her gaze shifting slightly, as if inventing the story on the spot, “my brother has cancer, and I have to take care of him. I hope you don’t mind.” Her story sounded so rehearsed it made me suspicious. Who was this person, and why was she lying to me? Before I could ask, a man in the hospital bed behind her started coughing violently. Ava’s attention snapped to him. She gave me a quick wave and ended the call. Leo was completely lost. “What the hell does she mean? Like you forgetting her is no big deal? And that guy in the bed is her brother? Since when does she have a brother?” The man was bundled up, wearing a cap that obscured his face, but I could feel his eyes on me the whole time. I didn’t know him. So I didn’t care. “You guys have fried my brain. I’m done. Let’s go grab some wings.” “Hold on. Something’s not right with Ava,” Leo said, shaking his head. “I’m going to the hospital to check things out for you. You stay here.” And with that, he appointed himself chief detective and rushed off to the hospital, determined to get to the bottom of it. By the time he came back, I’d bought a mountain of snacks and was vegging out in front of the TV. Leo burst in, shouting, “Thomas, how can you just sit there and eat? Ava’s cheating on you! She’s at the hospital taking care of some guy named Jacob Lin! He’s not her brother!” I didn’t even pause, just stuffed another chip in my mouth. “Don’t know him. Not my problem. Not interested.” “She’s your fiancée! She’s about to check that guy out of the hospital, and they’re going to have a wedding and go on a honeymoon!” Leo’s face was dark with anger. He’d heard it all from the nurses. They were all touched by Ava’s devotion, praising her for sticking by her cancer-stricken boyfriend to fulfill his dying wish. A true saint, they called her. I thought about it for a second, then broke into a grin. “Look on the bright side. If she really was my future wife, this is great news, right? At least we didn’t actually get married.” “And if she was going to cheat on me anyway,” I added, “isn’t forgetting her the best thing that could’ve happened?” Leo stared at me, speechless. 6 Leo couldn’t argue with my logic, but he wasn’t ready to let it go. He went back to digging for more information on Ava. Just three days later, Ava and this Jacob Lin held their wedding. It was a simple ceremony in a small chapel. No family, no friends. Just the two of them, hand in hand, exchanging emotional vows. Leo showed me a video he’d secretly recorded, his anger simmering. “What is wrong with her? You, her actual fiancé, forget who she is, and she just turns around and marries someone else? What is she playing at?” “Probably just helping the guy fulfill a last wish,” I reasoned. “You said he has cancer, right? Marrying Ava must have been his dream.” Leo considered this, which only made him angrier. So he went digging again. This time, he came back with an update: Ava and Jacob were on a trip. Looked like a cross-country tour. They probably wouldn’t be back until they’d seen it all. And he was right. Leo couldn’t find a trace of Ava after that. He decided he’d just have to wait for her to come back to give her a piece of his mind. I was perfectly happy with that. At least Leo would finally stop bugging me. For the next three months, I slipped back into my blissful single life. I couldn’t have been happier. Except… sometimes, in the dead of night, I’d wake from a dream and my arm would reach for the empty space beside me. It would find nothing, but the gesture felt so natural, as if someone was supposed to be there. I’d jolt awake, staring at the empty side of the bed, a hollow ache in my chest, my eyes surprisingly damp. It was the strangest feeling. Could it be… The place was haunted! Yeah, that had to be it. Definitely haunted. I started crashing at Leo’s place after that. On the last day of the third month, I went back to my apartment to grab some things and found a package at the door. I opened it. Inside were photos. Piles and piles of them. Wedding photos, landscape shots, selfies, posed pictures. They all had one thing in common: only two people appeared in them. Ava and Jacob. Their happiness radiated from every print. Beneath the stack of photos was a letter. I opened it. It was from Jacob, addressed to me. Thomas Song, I don’t know how Ava convinced you to be so understanding, but your generosity has moved me deeply. I’m dying. These photos are the last remnants of my time on earth. I’m sending them to you, hoping you can feel my joy and my sorrow, and that you’ll keep them safe for me. I’m back in the hospital now, waiting for the end. Ava is already on her way home to you. She said she had to be back today. I couldn’t stop her. I suppose I lost in the end. 7 The letter was long and rambling. It gave me a headache. What a psycho. I tossed the photos and the letter into a corner. I’d deal with them tomorrow. At that exact moment, the front door opened. The woman herself, Ava, burst in, clutching a music box, her face slick with sweat. I scowled. “What are you doing? This is my home.” “Thomas, I made it back! In one more minute, you’ll remember me!” She sat down without being invited, placing the music box on the table in front of me. “What is that thing? I’m calling the cops!” I snapped, my instincts screaming that the box was dangerous. I felt a visceral urge to stay away from it. Ava ignored me, her eyes glued to her watch. Just as I was about to dial, she flipped the lid of the music box open. Instantly, a flash of white light and a strange melody flooded my senses, making me drowsy. Ava smiled, her voice full of affection. “Thomas, I’m back. I’m still your fiancée. Let’s pick a date and get married.” “I’ve been thinking about you constantly these past few months. I knew you’d never forgive me if you knew the truth, which is why I had to resort to this… making you forget.” “Now, I’m going to make you remember me, but you’ll forget the unpleasantness of these last three months. For you, these three months never happened…” Her voice was a soft, gentle murmur. As she began her countdown, I grew heavier, my consciousness fading. “[10… 9… 8… 7… 3… 2… 1]” On the final count, my eyes snapped open. I stared at the anxious, hopeful face in front of me. This was so weird. She didn’t seem to think so. Her gaze was deep, filled with a tenderness that could melt any man’s heart. She whispered my name. “Thomas, you’re awake. I love you!” She buried her head in my chest, clinging to me as if terrified of losing me, her words spilling out in a rush. “It’s okay, it’s all over now. Let’s get married!” I blinked, confused and repulsed. I pushed her away and asked, very seriously, “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

After Alex and I broke up, we slid back into being “best friends.” He rarely contacted me, but he’d call me in the dead of night after every new breakup, asking me to drink with him while he drowned his sorrows. We were tangled up like this for years. He’d amassed enough ex-girlfriends to fill a deck of cards—and I mean the whole deck, not just a hand of poker. After watching Alex flirt, fall head over heels, give the cold shoulder, and then break up with a revolving door of women, my heart had finally flatlined. So, in my 28th year, I handed in my resignation. The reason? I was moving back home to get married. 1 Two in the morning, and my phone lit up with Alex’s name again. “Same place. I need you.” I shuffled into the dive bar downstairs, still in my thickest flannel pajamas. Alex was already surrounded by a graveyard of empty beer bottles. Even with a look of utter dejection on his face, he was still drawing the subtle, appreciative glances of every woman in the room. One was about to make her move, but when she saw me slide into the booth across from him, she sighed in disappointment and turned back to her drink. “Tell me, what’s wrong with me? Why do they all break up with me?” Alex demanded. I shrugged, my voice flat. “Can’t help you there. You’re the one who broke up with me, remember?” He gave a sheepish grin. “I just thought… we were better as friends.” Alex was blessed with a face that could stop traffic and was generous enough with his money. Most women found that combination irresistible. But whether it was two weeks or six months, it always ended the same way: a breakup. The reason was simple. Strip away the superficial charm, and Alex was a mess of personality flaws. He had no sense of boundaries, offered almost zero emotional support to his girlfriends, and ran hot and cold like a broken faucet. He was easy to fall for, but impossible to stay with. He also had a flair for the dramatic. When a relationship ended, he loved to pour his heart out to his friends, but he would never, ever beg an ex to come back. Some of them were probably just testing him, threatening to leave to see his reaction. They never expected him to just… let them go. So, in the end, they all became bitter exes. I was the exception. Not just because I was the only one he’d ever initiated a breakup with. But also because I was a chronic people-pleaser. I might turn down a friend’s invitation to a party, but I could never refuse a friend in pain. I was a natural-born emotional dumpster. And Alex knew it. He said we just broke up. We weren’t lovers anymore, but we were still friends. This “friend” never spoke to me in his day-to-day life. But the second a romance imploded, my phone would ring in the dead of night. And I’d show up at the bar downstairs, hair a mess, still in my pajamas. I’d drink with him, pay the tab, and then take him home. Was Alex a player? Obviously. But God, he was beautiful. So even knowing he was trouble, women lined up to get a taste. I was just one of them, an unremarkable one at that. And sometimes, I’d feel a secret, shameful flicker of pride. Pride in being special. Why else would he call me, out of all his exes, for comfort? Of course, I knew that was just a pathetic way to make myself feel better. The real reason Alex clung to me was because my self-respect was cheap. I never said no. But it didn’t matter. There wouldn’t be any more chances for that. 2 Alex was a good drunk. Sober, he was the life of the party, all flash and swagger. Drunk, he became quiet, almost silent. His reactions were slow, but he was docile. He’d do whatever you told him. I got him home, pulled off his shirt and socks, and tucked him into bed. Alex stared up at me, his beautiful eyes wide and unfocused. “Go to sleep,” I said softly, patting his chest. He closed his eyes and drifted off. I spent the night on his sofa. The next morning, I was in the kitchen making him some broth. The door to the spare bedroom creaked open and Alex’s roommate, Leo, shuffled out, yawning. He looked surprised to see me, then his expression softened with understanding. “Here taking care of Alex again?” I smiled and nodded, then plated up a portion of breakfast for Leo too. This was Alex’s apartment, but it was close to Leo’s office. They’d been roommates in college and were still close, so Leo moved in to save on rent. Back when Alex wanted to break up with me, Leo had tried to talk him out of it, telling him I was a catch and he shouldn’t be an idiot. But Alex had one rule: you could fight and argue all you wanted in a relationship, but once the word “breakup” was said, by either person, there was no going back. Still, I appreciated the gesture. Even though I suspected that, in private, they both probably thought of me as the ultimate doormat. Just as the soup was ready, my phone rang. Leo, holding his plate, gave me a slight smile and started to step away to give me privacy. I waved a hand, telling him it was fine, and answered the call. “Hi, Mom.” “Yeah, it’s the weekend, no work today.” “Mmmhmm, I’m almost done packing. I already shipped the big boxes home, they should get there tomorrow or the day after.” “I have to go to the office on Monday to finish up the paperwork. I booked a train for the afternoon, so I should be home just in time for dinner.” “Okay, love you, Mom. Bye.” After hanging up, I turned to Leo. “I’ve got to go. See you around.” Leo hesitated for a second, then stood up. “I overheard your call. You’re moving back to your hometown?” “I am.” I nodded honestly. “My parents are getting older, and their health isn’t great. I figured I’d move back to be closer and help out.” “Does Alex know?” “We didn’t talk about it yesterday. It’s not a huge deal, is it? Not that important.” I slipped on my shoes and gave him a wave. “Bye! Come visit my town sometime if you get the chance.” 3 Alex didn’t contact me all weekend. I cleaned my apartment from top to bottom, had the landlord come for the final inspection, and checked into a hotel on Sunday night with my last suitcase. Then, for the first time in a long time, I called him. He arrived quickly, asking why I’d picked a hotel for our meeting. He was a bit of a clean freak and wouldn’t stay in anything less than a five-star hotel. This place clearly didn’t meet his standards. I leaned against the doorframe, a small box dangling from my fingers. “Want to try?” Alex raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely surprised that I’d suggest it. My feelings for him were complicated, but ever since he broke up with me, we hadn’t been intimate. Mainly because he was always seamlessly transitioning between girlfriends, and I was never sure if he was actually single. “You’re the one who started this. Don’t go crying later that I took advantage of you,” Alex said, stepping forward and closing the door behind him. “We’re both single adults. It’s mutual. How is that taking advantage?” I knew exactly what I was doing. Once we crossed this line, I was done letting Alex use the “friend” excuse to invade my life. We were just two people with a physical history. We’d loved, we’d been entangled. And after this, it would be best if we never saw each other again. The next morning, my alarm jolted me awake. Alex groaned, burying his head deeper into my chest. It was such a dependent gesture. I sometimes wondered if he had a mommy complex. His parents had divorced when he was young; he was definitely starved for affection. I patted his head, got up, showered, dressed, and walked out with my suitcase. After finishing my paperwork at the office, I was on my way to the train station when a message from Alex finally came through. [1] The single number meant: I’m awake, and I’m making my presence known. I didn’t reply. He didn’t send another message. That evening, I arrived home, tired and dusty from the journey. My parents had prepared a huge welcome-home dinner, and the three of us ate together, laughing and talking. After dinner, my dad did the dishes. I went to my room to unpack a little, and my mom knocked and poked her head in, holding a photograph with a smile. “Now that you’re back, Mrs. Davis from downstairs came by. She wanted to know if you were interested in meeting this young man.” Over the years, my parents had gently nudged me about my love life, but they never pushed. But my agreeing to move back was also, in a way, my agreeing to let them set me up. If he had their stamp of approval, it meant his family and job were, at the very least, decent. I took the photo. He had an average, pleasant face. Not a stunner, but not unattractive. I smiled and nodded. “Sure. Let’s set something up.” 4 Life in my hometown was calm and quiet. My parents pulled some strings and got me a temp position at a stable government job. The pay was low, but the work was easy. The blind date we’d talked about was also scheduled. The guy, Mark, worked in the public sector and was polite and well-mannered. We met up three times and both had a good impression of each other. During this time, Alex messaged me three times. The first was: “Met a new girl. She seems cool.” Attached was a heavily edited selfie of said girl. The second was: “We’re official. She’s great, much more mature than the others.” The last message came yesterday: “Damn, I didn’t text her back for one night and she blew up my phone. So suffocating.” Based on my experience, the next step after a message like that was a breakup. So, with great foresight, I put my phone on silent before going to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I found that my phone had indeed been blown up. A screen full of missed calls. From Alex, from his friends, from my friends. I opened my messaging app. Dozens of unread texts. Had Alex contacted every single one of our mutual friends? “Girl, Alex is losing it! He called me in the middle of the night saying you were missing and he couldn’t reach you.” “You didn’t tell Alex you were moving back home? He sounded really off.” “Sarah, if you see this, call Alex back. He’s really worried about you.” Besides those, most of the messages were from Alex himself. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?” “Come out for a drink. I’m downstairs from your old place.” “Not answering the door either? Are you sleeping that heavily?” “Your neighbor said you moved? What’s going on? Where did you move to?” “You went back home? Why didn’t you tell me?” “When are you coming back?” “You’re not answering texts or calls. Don’t tell me you’ve actually disappeared.” … Reading his messages made my skin crawl. Alex had never been like this. Usually, if I didn’t answer after two calls, he’d give up. He would never, ever cause such a scene, waking up all our friends at three in the morning just to find me. The thought had barely crossed my mind when my phone rang again. It was him. I swallowed hard and answered, my “hello” coming out a little shaky. Silence on the other end. I tried again. “Hello?” This time, Alex finally spoke, his tone as casual as ever. “There you are. I was starting to think you’d been murdered.” “Sorry, my phone was on silent last night.” “No worries. Just don’t do it again,” he joked. “I was about to call the cops.” He sounded like he was driving. I could faintly hear the robotic voice of a GPS telling him to turn left. “What are you so busy with back home?” he asked. “You don’t tell me about something this big? Do you even consider me a friend?” I fell silent. I had never considered him just a friend. “Whatever, I’m driving, I gotta go. You can hang up.” I needed to hang up anyway. I had a date with Mark to go hiking, and I was running late. At ten o’clock sharp, I was ready. I said goodbye to my parents and headed out. Mark’s car was already parked downstairs. When he saw me emerge from the building, he smiled and held up a bag with breakfast he’d bought for me. A smile spread across my face as I walked toward him, about to say thank you. Suddenly, I heard someone call my name. “Sarah!” I turned. The door of a black Audi parked a short distance away opened, and Alex got out. He stared at me, his expression unreadable.

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I grew up in the slums, surviving by digging through trash. On my eighteenth birthday, a barrage of comments appeared before my eyes. 【Damn, CEO Shen’s real daughter is still eating garbage. This experiment is brutal!】 【Seriously. To test his “nature vs. nurture” theory, Shen swapped his twin daughters. The real heiress grew up in the slums, while the adopted one lived as a princess in a mansion.】 【Now the adopted daughter, Aurora Lin, is worth billions, while the real one, Stella Lin, is still dumpster diving. The results are pretty clear!】 I wiped the grime from my hands. My gaze drifted to the massive LED screen on the luxury mall across the street. The face of “Aurora Lin” smiled down. A face identical to my own, advertising a high-end brand. 1 Her face was a portrait of laughter—exquisite, flawless, like a meticulously polished diamond. And I was a stone, covered in dust. 【The necklace she’s wearing today is the ‘Heart of the Deep Sea,’ auctioned for ninety million. CEO Shen bought it specially for her eighteenth birthday.】 【And what did Stella Lin get for her eighteenth birthday? Oh, a slap from her foster mother and being called a waste of money.】 【So tragic. The comparison is just brutal.】 The words on the screen were like needles, pricking my mind. I looked down at the half-eaten, moldy piece of bread in the trash can. My dinner for the night. A shrill voice cut through the air from behind me. “Stella Lin! Where the hell have you been? I told you to get soy sauce! Lazing around digging through trash for food again, are you?!” It was my foster mother, Martha. She charged at me, grabbing a fistful of my hair and slamming my head against the dumpster. “Just like your good-for-nothing dead mother! A worthless piece of trash! All you know is how to eat!” “Wasting our food all day long! Why don’t you just die!” The metal edge of the bin scraped against my temple. It hurt. The taste of blood filled my mouth. 【Here we go, the daily abuse.】 【This foster mother is something else. Where did CEO Shen even find such a horrible person?】 【For the sake of the experiment’s authenticity, of course. He needed the most hostile environment possible.】 I didn’t fight back. After eighteen years, I was used to it. When Martha was done yelling, she spat on me and sauntered off. “No dinner for you tonight! Get lost!” I steadied myself against the wall and slowly pulled myself up. A black Bentley pulled up silently in front of me. The window rolled down, revealing a perfectly made-up face. It was Aurora Lin’s chief assistant, a woman named Chloe. I’d seen her in countless business magazines, always with an air of superiority. Now, she pinched her nose, her eyes scanning me with disgust. “You’re Stella Lin?” I didn’t answer, just stared at her. 【Holy shit! The main event is here to deliver the final blow?】 【Nope, she’s here to deliver the humiliation. I remember this part, it’s about to get intense!】 Chloe took out an exquisitely packaged food container from the car and tossed it on the ground. Food spilled everywhere, mixing with the mud. “Miss Aurora was worried about you, afraid you’d be hungry.” She spoke in a gentle, cooing tone, as if soothing a pet. “She said these are leftovers from her banquet, specially packed for you.” “She also said you should be used to the taste. After all, everything from a garbage dump tastes the same, right?” She covered her mouth and giggled. “Oh, right. Miss Aurora is live-streaming right now. She wants you to say hello to her fans.” She turned her phone screen towards me. On the screen, Aurora sat in a pristine, lavish room, smiling sweetly at the camera. The comments in the live chat scrolled by at a frantic pace. 【Hahaha, Aurora is so kind, still thinking about her sister in the trash heap.】 【Oh my god, she’s so filthy. Get away from her!】 【Make her eat it! Make her get on the ground and eat! I want to watch!】 Aurora’s voice, laced with an innocent cruelty, came from the phone. “Stella, hurry up and eat. Don’t waste my kind gesture.” “Everyone’s watching. You don’t want to disappoint Dad, do you? He’s very interested in the results of this ‘environmental observation’.” Environmental observation. So that’s what it was. In their eyes, my life was just an observation. I looked at the food on the ground, then up at the face that was identical to mine. Slowly, so slowly, I crouched down. I picked up a piece of steak, caked in mud. Under the watchful eyes of Chloe and hundreds of thousands of people in the live stream. I brought it to my lips. Then, just as they were all watching in anticipation, I smiled. And I hurled that piece of steak right at the Bentley’s window. Grease instantly smeared across the expensive glass. Chloe’s smile froze on her face. 2 “Are you insane?!” Chloe’s shriek pierced the dim evening of the slum. She pointed a trembling finger at me, shaking with rage. “Do you have any idea how much this car costs? Can you afford to pay for it? You filthy, low-life piece of trash!” I ignored her tirade. I just stood up and walked towards her, one step at a time. I was filthy, reeking of the sour, rotting stench of the garbage dump. Chloe instinctively backed away until her back hit the cold metal of the car. “What do you want? I’m warning you, don’t do anything stupid!” 【YES! She’s finally fighting back!】 【Get her! That assistant is such a bully, I can’t stand her!】 【No, Stella, don’t! She’s Aurora’s lackey! If you touch her, Mr. Shen will not let you off easy!】 The comments were right to be worried. For the past eighteen years, I’d been beaten, humiliated, treated like a dog. I remember when I was seven, I had a fever so high I was on the verge of death. But Martha took the money for my medicine and used it to play mahjong. I lay on the cold floor, listening to the fireworks outside. The comments told me it was Aurora’s birthday. Her father, Julian Shen, had rented out all of Disneyland for her, with a fireworks display that lasted all night. I remember when I was twelve, I fainted at school from chronic malnutrition. My foster father, Mark, dragged me home, calling me a burden and telling me to go collect more bottles to sell. The comments told me that at the same time, Aurora was skiing in the Alps with a world champion as her private instructor. I remember when I was fifteen, I washed a classmate’s socks for a month in exchange for an old coat to get through the winter. When Martha saw it, she snatched it away to give to her own son and broke one of my ribs in the process. The comments told me that on the same day, Aurora’s closet was featured in a fashion magazine under the headline, “The Ever-Changing Wardrobe of the City’s Top Socialite.” Every single time, I had endured it silently. Because I knew that fighting back would only result in crueler treatment. But today was different. The moment I learned that everything I had suffered was just for an “experiment” to serve as someone else’s foil, to prove that I was inherently “inferior,” something inside me shattered completely. I walked up to Chloe and stopped. We were so close I could see the panic her expensive foundation couldn’t hide. I reached out my hand. She squeezed her eyes shut in fear. I didn’t hit her. I simply plucked the expensive fountain pen from her jacket pocket. A Montblanc, limited edition. I’d seen one before. Julian Shen had one on the cover of a business magazine. “What… what are you doing with my pen?” Chloe’s voice was trembling. I didn’t say anything. I just took the pen, turned, and walked to the front of the car. On the mirror-like hood, I carved, with force, three lines, one after the other. “MURDERER.” “PAY YOUR DEBTS.” “HEAVEN’S WRATH.” The sound of metal scraping against paint was sharp and piercing. Chloe’s face went from pale to ashen. “You… you…” She stammered, unable to form a complete sentence. On the other end of the live stream, Aurora had clearly seen what was happening. For the first time, her sweet voice was laced with genuine anger. “Stella Lin! Stop it! You’re ruining the birthday present Dad gave me!” Dad. The word sounded so natural coming from her lips, and so utterly ironic. I stopped carving and turned to the phone’s camera. For the first time in eighteen years, I was looking clearly, directly, into her world. “Tell Julian Shen.” My throat was dry, each word like sandpaper. “The experiment is over.” “Now, it’s my turn.” With that, I tossed the pen, now bent out of shape in my grip, back at Chloe. She shrieked as if she’d been burned and dropped it to the ground. 3 I turned and walked away, not once looking back at the defaced Bentley and the furious Chloe. 【Awesome! That was so satisfying! But I’m so scared for her!】 【Julian Shen is definitely going to lose it. That’s his precious adopted daughter!】 【Run, Stella! Find a place to hide!】 I didn’t run. This world was so big, yet there was no place for me. I went back to that place I was supposed to call “home.” The moment I walked in, Martha’s hand came flying at my face. “You little bitch! Where the hell have you been? Think you’ve grown wings, do you?” For the first time in eighteen years, I ducked. Martha froze, shocked that I would dare to dodge. “You dare defy me!” Her fury escalated. She lunged at me, claws out. Her son, Ben, a fifteen-year-old who was taller and heavier than me, charged in to grab me from behind. “Mom! Get her! We’ll beat this jinx to death today!” In the past, they would have pinned me to the ground, kicking and punching until they were tired. But today, I was done enduring. The second before Ben’s hands touched me, I sidestepped and kicked him hard in the knee. “Aaargh!” Ben howled in pain and collapsed, clutching his leg. Martha was stunned. “You… you dare hit my son!” I looked at her coldly. “He deserved it.” “You ungrateful brat! We raised you all these years for nothing!” Martha was trembling with rage. She grabbed a broom from the corner and swung it at my head. I didn’t dodge. I just reached out and caught the other end of the broomstick, holding it firm. We were at a stalemate. “Raised me for nothing?” I let out a laugh. It must have sounded ugly. “The orphan subsidy you get from the government every month… you haven’t spent a single penny of it on me, have you?” “I’ve been digging through trash to feed myself since I was six, and I have to give most of it to you, or I get beaten.” “The rent for this house? I pay for it. The food you eat? I buy it with money from selling plastic bottles.” “So who, exactly, is raising whom?” I had never said these words before. I thought that if I was obedient enough, I could earn a moment of peace. I was wrong. Mercy to wolves is cruelty to oneself. Martha’s face flushed red, then went pale. “You… you’re lying! We’ve been so good to you, and you slander us!” 【Hahaha, she’s panicking! Look at her!】 【Stella finally said it! I’ve been waiting for this!】 【Those two leeches deserve it!】 “We can go down to the community office and find out if I’m lying.” I yanked the broom from her grasp and threw it on the floor. “From today on, you won’t get another cent of my money.” “I’m terminating the lease on this place tomorrow. You can figure things out for yourselves.” With that, I turned and went into my tiny room, less than fifty square feet, and locked the door. I could hear Martha and Ben cursing and pounding on the door. “Stella Lin, you little animal! Get out here!” “You dare terminate the lease? I’ll break your legs!” I ignored them. I pulled out a rusty metal box from under my bed. Inside was every penny I had managed to save over the years. A total of three thousand, two hundred and six dollars and fifty cents. This was all I had to fight back with. 【That’s so little… what can she do with that?】 【Don’t lose hope! Stella’s knowledge is priceless! She knows more about recycling than anyone!】 【That’s right! She knows which circuit boards are the most valuable, which plastics sell for the highest price!】 The comments were encouraging me. I opened the tattered copy of the Recycling and Utilization of Renewable Resources Handbook, a treasure I’d found at a second-hand bookstore. I needed money. A lot of it. I needed a company. A company that would allow me to stand before Julian Shen. I didn’t want to be acknowledged by my family. I wanted to crush everything he was proud of under my feet. Just then, my beat-up phone rang. It was an unknown number. I hesitated for a moment, then answered. On the other end was the cold, emotionless voice of a man. “Stella Lin?” “I’m Julian Shen’s lawyer.” “Regarding the damage you caused to Miss Aurora Lin’s vehicle today, and the slander against Mr. Shen’s reputation, I am officially filing a lawsuit against you on behalf of my client.” “The compensation amount is three million dollars.” “Additionally, Mr. Shen asked me to relay a message.” The lawyer paused, his condescending tone practically dripping from the phone. “He said, since the game has started, you should play by the rules.” “He is very much looking forward to seeing what new tricks a rat like you, wallowing in the mud, can come up with.” The line went dead. Three million dollars. The number was like a mountain, crushing the air from my lungs. I looked at the crumpled three thousand dollars in my hand and laughed. Despair? No. Excitement. He had finally entered the game himself.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “387829”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel