After they pulled me back from the suicide attempt, there was a system in my head.
It said that if I finished its money-chasing missions, it would take me to another world.
In that world, there would be a family who loved me.
I wanted so badly to be loved that I agreed on the spot.
So this time, when the family of this world walked out on me again to take the fake heiress to Disneyland,
I didn't lose my mind trying to stop them. I just opened my payment code.
"From now on, I won't fight you over Willow Sinclair. Just send me money."
"A hundred thousand per person each weekday. Triple on weekends and holidays."
Mom and Dad froze, looking at me with disgust filling their eyes.
Adrian Sinclair, my eldest brother, the doctor, forced me to choose between the surgery to save my legs and the transfer.
Without hesitation, I chose the transfer. My legs weren't repaired in time, and they were amputated.
Julian Sinclair, my second brother, the CEO, cursed me out when he heard, calling me a gold-digger, a leech.
Every transfer came with a note that was another insult.
I didn't fight, didn't make a scene. I just carefully tallied the balance on my card.
Three months later, the system's money-chasing mission was complete.
I stopped clamoring for money. I chose to die clutching an explosive and leave this world.
And the Sinclairs, whose transfer I'd refused, suddenly panicked.
1
*Host, are you certain you want to leave this world this way?!*
The system's voice rang out in my head, disbelieving.
I was about to speak.
Then the family group chat lit up with a string of pings.
*Got Willow. Her stomach's acting up again. I pushed back a heart transplant to stay with her.*
*Is Willow okay? I canceled the billion-dollar contract we spent half a year preparing. On my way to the hospital now!*
*Your mom and I already called the airline and stopped the flight to America. Twenty minutes out.*
The chat kept scrolling, message after message, all worried about Willow.
I watched quietly, and suddenly remembered the fire at the villa an hour ago.
I'd been trapped inside, and I sent countless messages to the chat begging for help.
All they sent back was a cold *1*.
I never imagined that Willow only had to send one message about a stomachache, and every one of them would rush to take care of her.
The phone screen went dark, then lit up again.
Adrian sent a mocking sticker.
*Time to transfer money to someone!*
*Or she'll jump off a building again!*
*1*
*+1*
A few read receipts, and then nothing but the transfers.
Before, to finish my missions, I always accepted them fast.
This time, I didn't.
I typed calmly.
*No need to send me money. No need, ever again.*
Because I was about to leave.
No amount of money would matter.
I turned off the phone and looked at the system's countdown to leaving this world, and I couldn't stop myself from asking out loud.
"System, in that world I'm going to, Mom and Dad and my brothers will all love me, right?"
My heart was uneasy, my fingers clenched tight, and before the system could answer,
I couldn't help asking for more.
"Could they love only me?"
"No, no, no! Never mind. As long as they love me, that's enough."
Frantic to take the words back, I bolted upright, warning myself over and over inside.
As long as the family in that other world could love me, that was enough.
As long as they wouldn't just coldly blame me every time Willow slandered me, that was enough.
As long as they wouldn't, the day I got my acceptance letter from a top Ivy League university, believe Willow's word and report me to the Department of Education for cheating, that was enough.
I turned it over in my mind a few more times, then braced myself on my hands and fitted the prosthetics onto both my legs.
Following the system's directions, I arrived at the place where I'd leave this world.
Harbor City's largest airport.
Half an hour from now, a catastrophic explosion would happen here.
All I had to do was find the man who'd prepared the explosives.
At the moment of the blast, shield the explosive under my body.
I'd looked into it before.
Death by explosion looks terrible, but it doesn't hurt for long.
Steeling myself over and over, I gathered my courage and went inside.
The phone suddenly buzzed like mad.
"Zelda James, what's that supposed to mean?!"
"What do you mean, we don't need to send you money anymore?"
"Are you going to die?"
"Should I switch it over to hell money for you?!"
In the chat, Julian raged in a voice message.
My steps stopped, and the ache surged up in my chest, wave after wave.
"Yeah. I'm about to die."
