My best friend ended her life after crashing her car into my eldest brother, leaving him with a broken leg and then jumping from the thirtieth floor.
As she lay in a pool of blood, he said to me with a bright smile. River, I’ll wait for you over there!
Only then did I understand she had chosen death to escape this world.
That night, I baked a birthday cake and shared the news of my departure in the family group chat.
Spencer, my second brother and a doctor, coldly replied with the number 1.
Then came a voice message from my third brother, Skyler, the international pop star, mocking me. “If you’re going to die, just die already. All you ever do is envy Agnes. If you die today, I’ll livestream myself eating shit!”
My parents stayed silent, but they flooded the chat with countless photos of Agnes celebrating her birthday at Disneyland.
Only my eldest brother, Sawyer, the CEO, sent one choked-up voice message after another. “River, you know where Kienna went, right? I beg you, tell me … ”
I didn’t say a word. Instead, I ate the cake all by myself. Soon, I would reunite with my real parents and brother.
——
After finishing the last slice, I selected a suicide method from the system.
[Host, are you sure you want to choose this method?]
[This way of dying will be very painful. I suggest you reconsider.]
The system’s mechanical voice warned me, but I ignored it and pressed the “confirm” button.
Once everything was done, I finally had time to check my phone. I found that the messages in the family group were still flooding the screen.
It was Agnes’s eighteenth birthday and the Saint Family was throwing her a magnificent coming-of-age party.
For that event, Spencer canceled several surgeries to spend the entire day with her. Skyler even postponed his nationwide concert tour to sing her a birthday song.
But only Sawyer, lying in the hospital with a broken leg after being hit by my best friend’s car, was still sending voice messages of regret. “River, please tell me where Kienna went. I’m begging you.”
After listening to a few messages, I turned off my phone.
I threw the leftover cake into the trash and followed the system’s guidance to the place where I’d end my life—Bexford Hospital.
Just as I reached the entrance, my phone rang.
“River, what did you say to Agnes? Why did she take sleeping pills? Why would she try to kill herself?”
Spencer’s furious roar pierced through the phone, piercing my ears.
I held the phone expressionless, trying to count how many times this had happened. How many times have I been slandered and framed?
Sigh, I’d lost count long ago. There were too many to remember.
“Is she dead?” I spoke calmly, then quickly hung up before more curses could come through the line.
I walked into the hospital alone, looking for a place to rest while waiting for the system to prompt the suicide time. But the moment I sat down, a slap struck my face.
“River, you’ve gone too far!”
Spencer, clad in a white coat, couldn’t hide the rage in his eyes.
“I thought you were merely spoiled, but I never imagined you harbored intentions to harm others!”
“You’re truly the child of a murderer. Your bad genes are undeniable!”
“Even after being raised in the Saint Family for eighteen years, you’re still a complete villain!”
“Kneel outside the emergency room and wait for Agnes to wake up safely!”
He grabbed my arm and yanked me up. I struggled hard, until my head slammed against the wall—and then everything went black.
When I felt the warm drip of liquid from my forehead, Spencer froze. His eyes were filled with surprise and panic.
“Spencer, I have never hurt Agnes. And I will not bear a crime I didn’t commit,” I spoke calmly as I wiped the blood from my face.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Spencer’s eyes, then he smiled sarcastically as he scoffed, “You didn’t hurt Agnes, you say? Then what are you doing at the hospital, looking so guilty? Don’t tell me you came to the hospital in the middle of the night just for fun?”
“I came to the hospital to commit suicide,” My lips pressed together as I spoke calmly.
The method of suicide I chose in the system was to prevent a hospital tragedy.
Tonight, a large-scale hospital violence incident will occur here. A man, armed with a knife, would attack seven doctors before jumping to his death.
One of the victims was a female doctor specializing in various women’s diseases and cancers. Before her death, she would have proposed a speculum reform and developed medical-grade sanitary pads, which significantly reduced the risk of inflammation for women.
In my original world, my mother didn’t have long to live because of uterine cancer. That was why the system chose me.
Now that my mission was complete, I wanted to use my final moments to help the women here as much as I could.
I just never imagined it would be at the hospital where my second brother worked.
“Suicide? River, have you changed your tactic to gain sympathy by attempting death? Who taught you that?” Spencer sneered.
Then he continued, “Did you learn it from your friend who jumped to her death? Let me tell you, she was a lunatic! Just like you, a worthless piece of trash!”
At the same time, Skyler approached from a distance, waving a news article about my friend’s death as he shouted his ridicule. “Fish-seller’s daughter kills herself out of shame because she can’t compare to her rich husband’s first love?”
“River, look at these headlines. Isn’t every word true? You’re just as lowly as Kienna Zimmer, a worthless piece of trash!”
“You were switched at birth, raised in our family for eighteen years and yet you still can’t compare to even a single strand of Agnes’s hair!”
After saying this, Skyler came over with a gloomy face and grabbed my hair. “River, if you come with me and apologize to Agnes, I will forgive you this time. Otherwise … I’ll expose your true-life story and not a single university in this country will accept you!”
“Okay,” I replied calmly.
“What did you say?” Skyler paused. His face was filled with shock as his grip on my hair tightened unconsciously.
“I told you that you wouldn’t be able to go to college. Do you know what that means?” he asked one more.
What does it mean?
I understood better than anyone.
Just three months before my college entrance exams, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. To keep it from me, my father and brothers lied, saying she had gone on a trip.
Still, how could I not know? My mother loved me and this family. She was our emotional anchor, supporting each one of us.
She often said, “This family would fall apart without me!”
Each time, I would smile and agree, “Mom, you must live a long life. Otherwise, this family will fall apart.”
I remember that day when I secretly followed my father and brothers to the hospital. I saw my mother, who was as thin as a skeleton after chemotherapy.
Her face was ashen, yet she clutched Dad’s hand, asking over and over.
“Did River find out?”
“Is she doing okay at school?”
“I can’t let River miss her college entrance exams. My baby is going to be a scientist someday!”
That day, I ran out of the hospital. I cried by the lake for three hours, ultimately making a decision: I was going to drop out of school and be with my mother through this difficult time. I didn’t want to miss a single moment with her.
So, having no university to attend, I knew exactly what that felt like.
“River, have you lost your mind?!” Skyler exclaimed. “Wasn’t Bexford University’s physics department your greatest dream?”
Spencer looked utterly stunned.
Just as I shook my head and was about to speak, a nurse suddenly rushed over from a distance.
“Dr. Saint, it’s bad!” she cried out. “Your sister woke up with a depression attack and was about to jump off the building!”
Agnes always had perfect timing when it came to her depression attacks.
When I ranked first in the city-wide mock exams and the school was about to honor me, her depression would flare up. When I was burning with a 40-degree fever, mustering the strength to call home, her depression would strike, too.
This time, I wasn’t surprised at all.
Inside the ward, Agnes was sitting by the window, clutching a fruit knife in her hand.
“Dad, Mom, Spencer, Skyler. I’m so scared. I dreamed that they beat me again,” she whimpered.
“They said they’d sell me to the hunchback in the village. Why didn’t you find me sooner?”
Tears streamed down her face relentlessly.
Her heart-wrenching cries moved everyone present.
Even Stephen Saint, who’d long been hardened by the business world, had red eyes as he tried to soothe her. “Agnes, put down the knife. Come to Daddy! You’re home now and I can give you anything you want!”
His wife, Addison Saint, the wealthy socialite, sobbed so hard she could barely breathe. “Agnes, you’re Mommy’s precious child! Please, sweetheart, come down now!”
Agnes began to mutter to herself, then pressed the knife against her own wrist. “But River doesn’t like me. She said I don’t deserve to be Mom and Dad’s child, that I don’t belong in the Saint Family at all.”
“Then I might as well just die!” she screamed loudly as she stared at me with eyes full of hurt.
“River! Did you really say that to Agnes? Where did you get the nerve?”
Before I could even react, Skyler slapped me hard across the face and grabbed me by the hair, dragging me in front of Agnes.
“Agnes, don’t believe River’s words. You are the true daughter of our family! She’s just an imposter!”
“Yes! River isn’t our daughter—you are, Agnes!” Addison cried, rushing to speak.
Finally, the tears in Agnes’s eyes stopped. She put down the knife and slowly climbed down from the windowsill.
“Agnes, be good. Give the knife to your brother. Don’t hurt yourself,” Spencer gently coaxed Agnes, trying to take the knife from her.
Just as he reached for it, Agnes suddenly shrieked. In the next heartbeat, the knife slashed fiercely toward me.
Swish!
The sharp blade tore a path from my forehead down to the corner of my mouth.
The burning, stinging pain instantly reminded me of my sophomore year of high school.
Back then, I had accidentally cut my index finger while chopping vegetables. When my mother came home, her eyes were filled with distress as she softly comforted me.
“It’s okay, sweetie, it doesn’t hurt.” Her gentle words still echo in my ears until now.
I clutched my face and collapsed onto the floor.
“Ah! I didn’t mean it! River, I’m sorry. I couldn’t control myself.” Agnes cried tearfully, then fainted.
Panic erupted in the room as everyone rushed to carry her out, leaving me alone on the cold floor with throbbing pain.
“Mom,” I called out unconsciously as tears rolled down my cheeks. The salty tears traced the line of the cut, intensifying the stinging pain.
No matter how hard I tried to control it, the tears kept falling.
When I first arrived in this world as a baby, I was cautious, focused only on completing my mission to get my mother treated. But later, the Saint Family treated me better and better.
That’s when I gradually became devoted to them, secretly delighted that I had received the love of two families.
However, reality taught me a cruel truth: that even the love of a family was not all the same.
After lying there for a few minutes, I pushed the sadness deep down inside. Covering my bleeding face, I slowly sat up.
Just then, the system issued a reminder.
[30 minutes until the hospital’s violent incident!]
[Host, please proceed to the designated location!]
The crimson text appeared before my eyes.
After finding a nurse to briefly treat the wound on my face, I was prepared to go to the designated place.
Just as I stepped out of the treatment room, Spencer approached with a grim expression.
He grabbed my arm tightly. Then, he spoke through gritted teeth. “River, was it you who leaked everything online? How can you be so vicious?”
“Making people dig up Agnes’s past, then deliberately spreading rumors that she was assaulted by multiple men? River, when did you become this kind of person?”
His eyes filled with intense disappointment as he forcefully dragged me in the opposite direction. “You’re coming with me to kneel and apologize to Agnes! This time, I won’t cover for you anymore!”
Pain shot up my arm as he dragged me away. I struggled with all my strength, but Skyler came rushing in and cruelly grabbed a fistful of my hair.
“Still trying to deny it, huh? We’ve spoiled you for too long!”
Then they began dragging me forward.
I couldn’t hold back my sobs and cried out, “Brother … ”
The two men pulling me paused slightly, but quickly regained their composure.
“River, don’t think you can get away with this!”
“Calling us ‘brother’ won’t help!”
I continued to cry out that single word, “Brother.” But the one I was calling wasn’t them.
It was my brother from another world—the one who would pick a fight with anyone who bullied me.
The one who, even with a face full of bruises, would look at me proudly and tell me that if anyone ever dared hurt me again, he’d make sure they regretted it.
Thinking of the family waiting for me in that other world, I gritted my teeth and, with all my might, banged my head against the wall. Again and again.
“River, you’re crazy!”
“What are you doing?!”
“Stop it now!”
Their shouts echoed in my ears, but all I could hear was a high-pitched ringing.
“Let me go! Let me leave!” I whispered hoarsely.
From a nearby room, Agnes and our parents emerged. They stared at me, utterly shocked by my appearance.
“River.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
But before anyone could say more, Agnes suddenly burst into tears.
“River, you look so scary…”
“Why did you cyberbully me, River?”
As she cried, the concern in their eyes vanished. It was replaced by profound disappointment and blame.
“River, when did you become like this?”
“You’ve disappointed us so much!”
They accused me harshly.
Bloodied and reeling, I stood up, hearing the system’s shrill warning.
[Host! Proceed immediately to the designated suicide location!]
[Failure to comply will prevent your exit from this world]
A wave of panic surged through me. I propped myself up with my hands and ran toward the stairs.
Suddenly, Spencer and Skyler shouted from behind me. “River, if you dare leave even one step, our family will disown you as their daughter!”
“Okay!”
“What did you say?”
“I said I’ll give my life back to you!”
I turned back with a faint smile, then continued without stopping.
On the ground floor, a middle-aged man with a twisted expression pulled a knife from his bag and screamed hysterically.
“Where are the doctors? Are there no doctors in this hospital?”
Passersby recoiled in terror. I pushed through the crowd, drawing my folding knife.
Thud!
The man’s sharp knife pierced my heart and he continued to stab me seven more times.
As blood gushed from the wounds, I mustered the last of my strength and drove my own folding knife into his temple.
That man’s eyes widened in shock as he stumbled backward and fell to the ground.
I smiled, blood trickling from my lips, before I too collapsed heavily.
“Mom, I’m back. Your daughter is finally home,” I said before closing my eyes.
“Someone, help!”
“Save that girl!”
Passersby shouted in panic as several people worked together to restrain the man.
A few minutes later, the hospital broadcast a blaring announcement. “Emergency! Code blue, code white. In the first-floor outpatient hall!”
Up on the third floor, the Saint Family froze. Spencer was the first to react.
“There’s a medical dispute downstairs; someone needs emergency care!” He looked anxious, ready to run to the emergency room.
Just then, a nurse rushed over and shouted, “Dr. Saint! It’s your sister! It’s Miss River! She was the one who stopped the medical dispute.”
However, her voice dropped sadly. “But … she didn’t make it. She’s gone.”
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