Chapter 1

I pushed myself upright in the hospital bed. A crushing pain spread through my chest.

On the livestream, the host’s smile stiffened, but he recovered quickly.

“Dr. Carter, perhaps you didn’t hear the question clearly.”

He looked back at the display and read it again, carefully this time.

“What do the letters AI stand for? This may be the easiest question we’ve asked tonight. You don’t need any of your specialized knowledge. We only need the commonly accepted full term.”

My mother blinked once. Her voice remained perfectly confident.

“Alien Internet.”

The host’s expression changed completely.

My brother Ethan stood beside her at the contestants’ podium, shaking his head frantically.

“Mom, that isn’t right. The answer is Artificial Intelligence. You’ve worked in AI for twenty years. There’s no way you don’t know this.”

My father, Daniel, had broken out in a sweat.

“Evelyn, are you overwhelmed? Did you misspeak?”

Mother ignored them and repeated calmly, “My answer is Alien Internet.”

The livestream comments flooded the screen.

[Isn’t she an AI expert?]

[This has to be staged. No mother would gamble with her daughter’s surgery money.]

[Host, disqualify her and let someone else answer!]

Each question came with a ten-minute time limit, and this was the final question.

My family had spent three months preparing for the charity program.

If they answered all ten questions correctly, the producers would transfer one million dollars directly to St. Joseph’s Cardiac Center to cover my surgery, specialized blood products, and follow-up treatment.

They had already answered nine questions correctly. Only one remained, and it was so basic that a child could have answered it.

Still, Mother refused to say the right words.

When the countdown reached three minutes, I asked the nurse to connect me to the studio by video. Seconds later, my face appeared on the enormous screen behind the host. An oxygen tube rested beneath my nose, wires crossed my chest, and the monitor beside me showed a heart rate that would not stay steady.

The host stopped trying to smile.

“Dr. Carter, you have two minutes and fifty-six seconds remaining. If you submit an incorrect answer, every dollar your family has won tonight will be lost. Please reconsider immediately.”

Ethan pointed at the screen. His voice shook.

“Mom, look at Chloe. She can’t wait.”

Dad gave her the answer outright.

“Artificial Intelligence. Evelyn, all you have to do is repeat those two words, and Chloe can have the operation.”

Mother looked at me on the screen. Her eyes had turned red, but she still did not change her answer.

I could not understand what she was waiting for.

One minute and forty seconds.

One minute and twenty.

The host warned her three times. Instead of answering, Mother asked whether she had to use the complete English term. Then she asked if the system would lock her answer the moment she changed it.

The rules had been explained before the round began. Every question she asked cost us more time.

I gripped the edge of my bed and tried to breathe through the pain swelling inside my chest.

“Mom, the surgery only costs five hundred thousand. You can keep everything left over. I won’t ask for anything else.”

My voice grew weaker: “I just want to live.”

The nurse closed both hands around mine. In the studio, the host glanced at the timer again.

“Thirty seconds. Dr. Carter, you need to confirm your answer now.”

Someone in the audience shouted, “Artificial Intelligence!”

More voices joined in. Soon the correct answer thundered through the studio, louder than the final ten-second countdown.

At last, Mother raised her hand.

“I’d like to change my answer.”

The tension left my shoulders all at once.

She was my mother. Perhaps the pressure had overwhelmed her. Perhaps the cameras and the millions of people watching had confused her for a moment.

The timer changed to seven seconds.

Mother placed her hand over the confirmation button.

“I’m sorry. I did misspeak.”

Six.

Five.

“AI stands for…”

I held my breath. Dad and Ethan stared at her without moving.

Three.

Mother looked around the studio. A faint smile touched her lips.

“Advanced Intelligence.”

She pressed the button.

The harsh sound of an incorrect answer rang through the studio. The countdown reached zero, and the one-million-dollar total on the screen vanished before my eyes.