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Chapter 2

Author: Healthy Baby
“Good morning, honey.”

When the system forced me to say that, I was trying for the 700th time to pry open the door of the villa, but I failed.

A jolt of pain that felt like an electric current shot through my consciousness.

William told the world that I was brain-dead.

In fact, he had connected my brain waves to Garcia Tech’s Late Wife Companion System in order to use a living consciousness to train his AI model.

As long as my brain waves remained connected, his project would be one of its kind in the whole world.

As long as I remained in my coma, he would always be that tech legend of a devoted man, still yearning and waiting for his wife.

At the next second, my holographic image was projected into William’s bedroom.

He had just taken a shower, and a towel was hanging around his waist.

Wanda was laying on his bed, wearing my silk nightgown.

William had handpicked that nightgown for my 27th birthday.

He said, “You look just like a creamy caramel toffee in that, Tiffany.”

Yet now, Wanda was leaning against the headboard, smiling innocently.

“Good morning, Tiffany.”

I didn’t say anything.

A red warning alert immediately popped up in the system.

[Error in Good Wife mode.]

[Please complete your daily mission of Good Wife companionship.]

William picked up a glass of water and sat by the bedside.

“Tiffany, why aren’t you smiling today?”

I stared at him.

“Did you lock me up in the system just to hear me greet you every day?”

His brows twitched.

“Don’t put it that way.

“Your body is completely wrecked. Waking up will only be a torture for you.”

Wanda added softly, “Tiffany, William’s heart breaks seeing you suffer. He stares at your vitals every day and runs to the doctor each time he sees a change in it.”

I laughed.

“Of course he does. He’ll be able to inherit my shares when I’m completely dead.”

The look on William’s face turned cold.

“Tiffany, you didn’t used to be this harsh.”

“I used to be blind.”

The look on Wanda’s face changed.

William suddenly pressed down on a remote control at the head of the bed, and my virtual world suddenly shook.

The bedroom disappeared and was replaced with the headlights of a car, a rainy night, the screeching of brakes, the shattering of glass, and blood gushing into my throat.

I had returned to the scene of the car crash once more.

This was the punishment set for me in the system.

Once I was disobedient, the system would replay my memories of the moments before death.

The pain wasn’t virtual—it was extracted from my brain waves.

William’s voice sounded from above.

“Tiffany, as long as you behave, it won’t hurt.”

I knelt on the virtual highway, my fingers digging into the virtual ground.

“You’re despicable, William!”

The car tires ran over me.

I heard him sigh before my world turned dark all around me.

It was very soft.

It reminded me of how helpless yet doting he sounded whenever I refused to take my medicine when I caught a cold.

“See? You’re always like that, forcing me to do things you don’t like.”

When I regained consciousness again, I was locked back inside the villa, where there were the white curtains, wooden floor, and the begonias that were always blooming in the yard.

There was no wind, fragrance, or door.

This was the home that William created for me—a gentle prison.

William used to treat me very well.

When I worked overtime till the wee hours of the morning, he would wait downstairs with hot milk specially prepared for me. When my dad was in critical condition, he stood vigil along the corridor in the hospital for three days.

That was why I kept compromising and giving in.

I gave in all the way into the laboratory capsule.

That night, he came again.

This time, he didn’t bring Wanda along.

He sat on the virtual couch, fatigue etched on his face.

“Tiffany, the board was very difficult to deal with today.

“They said I shouldn’t have made you into AI.”

I looked at him.

“They’re right.”

He bowed his head and chuckled.

“But I can’t bear to leave you.”

He looked up, the look in his eyes so tender, it felt almost cruel.

“You wanted to win in everything when you were alive.

“You wanted the code attribution and the votes from the board. Even the way others look at me feels like they are looking through me to see you.

“Tiffany, I just want you to stop and look at me.”

My heart grew cold.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love me.

He only loved me when I shut my mouth, when I bowed my head, when I was trapped in a screen and gently called him ‘honey.’

He reached out to try to touch my face, and his holographic fingertips passed through my image.

He paused for a moment, a look of irritation crossing his eyes.

“Tifanny, give me the permissions to the Begonia Protocol.

“As long as you sign your name, I’ll have the doctor increase your awakening frequency.”

I looked at him.

“Would you really dare to allow me to awaken?”

William fell silent.

I laughed.

“You wouldn’t.”

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