All My Suffering Was in Their Script

My brother, John Garrett, heard a noise and looked over in my direction.

Ignoring the system prompts, I instinctively hid in the bushes beside the pool.

When Mom, Amy Dillon, heard that my long-lost sister, Helen Burch, was finally willing to come home, tears welled up in her eyes.

She looked at Dad, Thomas Garrett, who was still frozen in shock.

"Did you hear that? Helen just said she's willing to come home."

Dad snapped back to reality and pulled Helen and Mom into a tight embrace.

John let out a sigh of relief and said to Helen, "You troublemaker. It took us three whole years to finally get you to trust us fully."

My childhood friend, Ivan Jeffson, gently took Helen's hand and teased her, "I pretended to have a broken leg for three years because of you. When we get back, you'd better think of a good way to repay me, my princess."

Helen looked at my parents awkwardly and said, "It's all my fault. I've been so unfair to Nina all these years. If she finds out..."

Mom immediately grabbed her hands and reassured her, "It's not your fault. Your adoptive sister bullied you and left you deeply traumatized. That's why we came up with this plan."

Dad echoed, "Yeah, you're her only sister. It's her responsibility to take care of you."

John comforted her as well. "Don't worry. Nina won't find out."

He picked up his walkie-talkie and instructed, "Send the helicopter to pick us up once the final test ends in three days. Make sure to disguise yourselves as a rescue team from a neighboring country. Don't mess this up, or Nina will get suspicious."

Then he snapped his fingers. A group of maids came up from downstairs and brought over trays of meat for grilling.

The family gathered around the table, enjoying a barbecue feast that looked like it came from a high-end restaurant.

Before long, Helen's plate was piled high with food. She pouted and whined playfully, "Nina always gives me the fish she catches. I'm sick of it. Stop putting fish on my plate."

The aroma drifted over, and I instinctively started salivating. My stomach growled uncontrollably. Acid burned my throat as my empty stomach twisted. I bit my lip hard, and tears silently streamed down my face.

For the past three years, I had barely eaten a full meal.

Ivan had pretended to break his leg, so John and I were responsible for going out to find food.

John always came back empty-handed and covered in bruises, claiming he had run into wild boars or fallen into holes filled with poisonous creatures.

Meanwhile, Helen would often faint because of her "hypoglycemia". I felt sorry for her, so I always gave her my portion of food.

But it turned out Ivan's broken leg, John's injuries, and Helen's low blood sugar were all lies.

Looking at my emaciated body covered in scars, I felt an overwhelming sense of hurt and betrayal.

I wiped away my tears and was about to storm inside and confront them.

Just then, the system prompts flashed again. A Favoritism Meter appeared above everyone inside the villa.

As I moved closer to the villa, the meter decreased. When I backed away, it increased. The higher the meter rose, the more they favored Helen over me.

The system showed me two options.

[Option 1: Enter the villa and expose the truth. Favoritism points drop. Virtual family apologizes. Story continues.]

[Option 2: Walk away and suffer until death. Accumulate enough favoritism points. Virtual family breaks down with guilt. System collapses.]

A memory suddenly flashed through my mind.

Back in the real world, I was an orphan. When I was 13, I found a lottery ticket worth one million dollars. That was when the system's voice suddenly rang out.

[Congratulations on unlocking the system. Would you like to exchange the lottery ticket for a wish?]

I nodded and exchanged the million-dollar ticket for a family.

Looking at the happy family inside the villa, a wry smile tugged at my lips. "Who needs a family like that?"

I asked the system in a hoarse voice, "If I go in there now, they'll feel guilty, but they'll only give me a half-hearted apology, won't they?"

[Yes, Host,] the mechanical voice replied. [That's the key requirement for the favoritism storyline to continue.]

I asked again, "If I choose the second option, will I return to being an orphan?"

The system confirmed it.

I raised my trembling, skeletal hand and selected the second option.

So all I had to do was let them side with Helen and rack up favoritism points? Fine. I'd do that then. What good was an apology? I'd rather be an orphan.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and limped toward the depths of the forest.