Chapter 1

I stood outside holding a doll.

The door was half open, and the conversation inside drifted clearly into my ears.

“Mom, do I never have to go to the hospital again?”

My daughter Sophie’s voice rang out.

“Yes,” Claire said gently. “Now that the plot is over, it won’t go off course anymore. Everything will get back on track, and you won’t be punished.”

She was only this gentle when she was facing Sophie.

“What about Uncle Blake?” Sophie asked anxiously. “It’s all Dad’s fault. That’s why Uncle Blake can only sneak in to see me every time.”

“If there were no Dad, we wouldn’t have to live like this, and Mom could stay with Uncle Blake forever.”

“Since the plot is over, when are you and Dad getting divorced?”

I squeezed the doll in my hand so hard that my fingers dug into my flesh.

It hurt.

Then the room fell silent for a long moment.

“We’ll get divorced.” The three words were firm and final. “Your birthday is in a few days. We’ll talk openly then.”

Claire’s voice sounded completely cold.

It sent a chill straight through me.

Five years ago, to save my wife and daughter, who were both in a vegetative state, I made a deal with the system.

I got randomly thrown into a tragic novel.

Every step I took had to follow the original plot exactly, with not the slightest deviation.

Otherwise, I would be punished. At best, my memory would deteriorate and I’d lose my mind. At worst, I would be separated from my wife and daughter in the real world forever.

Of course, if the plot went smoothly, I’d also get rewards that could help my wife and daughter wake up.

I wasn’t what you’d call a great host.

I met Claire when I was twenty, and at twenty-five, my wife and I had Sophie.

Just as I was about to finish the plot, the female lead, Claire, still ended up despising me.

My memory started to regress.

When it got bad, I might not even remember what happened a second ago.

Sophie was my biological daughter.

She would be hurt too, but nowhere near as badly as I was.

Back then Sophie cried every day. She thought something was wrong with her brain, and her classmates at school mocked her for having memory loss, so she stayed home from school on leave.

She became depressed and got sick constantly.

I felt awful for her, so even though it was risky, I told Claire about the system.

If she left me, her memory would get even worse.

She might even lose her mind.

Only after the plot ended could we escape all of this.

Claire had no choice but to stay with me. Every now and then, if we had an argument, Sophie and I would both get sick.

I owed Sophie a lot.

But she never once said a bad word about me. She took her medicine obediently and became very sensible.

Our relationship gradually got better and better.

Finally, a few days ago, the system suddenly notified me that the plot had completely ended.

I told Claire the news right away.

From now on, none of us would have to worry about the system’s existence anymore.

We could live however we wanted and do whatever we wanted.

And I had received the final reward, which would let me choose whether to stay or leave this world.

I didn’t want them to live here alone.

And I couldn’t bear to leave Sophie.

So I discussed with the system whether I could stay with Sophie until she turned eighteen.

I never expected their actions to slice me open like this.