Chapter 2

When we got home, Dad was sitting on the couch watching TV.

When he saw Mom and Alice, his brows immediately furrowed.

“Where's Monica? Why didn't she come back with you?”

Mom frowned, her voice full of impatience.

“She not only refused to participate in the competition, but she also pretended to be dead to avoid punishment. I locked her in the trunk to reflect on her mistakes.”

“She can come out when she realizes what she did wrong.”

Dad's eyes widened in anger.

“That's ridiculous! How can you lock a child in the trunk? She's still so young. Something could happen to her!”

He was about to head toward the garage, but Mom stopped him.

“The car door isn't even locked. She can get out by herself!”

“Ever since Monica was born, she has never done anything that satisfies me. And now she's even pretending to be fainted!”

“If I don't do this, how will she ever change? How will she grow into a good child?”

At the right moment, Alice activated her data display and spoke.

“Dad, please don't worry. I will continue monitoring Sister's vital signs. I won't let anything happen to her.”

Dad still looked uncertain, but Mom pushed him toward the bedroom.

“Both of us have incredible achievements. I'm a medical PhD, and you're a genius. Yet our daughter has accomplished nothing. Are you really okay with that?”

“Use this opportunity to help her correct her bad habits. Don't interfere.”

“Go to sleep.”

The lights in the room went out.

I floated alone in the dark garage, staring at my own pale face inside the trunk.

My heart aches so much .

When I was little, Mom was the person who loved me most in the entire world.

She patiently told me bedtime stories and comforted me until I fell asleep. She told me I was the best child in the world and saved the best things for me.

Everything changed after she brought Alice home.

At first, she said Alice was just an AI tool designed to help me grow up healthy.

But gradually, all of Mom's attention was stolen by Alice, while she became more and more critical of me.

She trusted Alice completely, yet refused to give even a little trust to me.

The day I had a fever, I begged Mom to take me to the hospital.

But Alice pulled up my data and said:

“Detected that the subject's body is healthy. Exaggerating symptoms to avoid school. Correction requested.”

Mom slapped me hard across the face and dragged me to school.

I collapsed in the classroom because of my high fever.

I stayed up until midnight finishing my homework.Holding up my perfect score paper, I tried to make Mom happy.

But Alice said:

“Detected that the subject intentionally delayed completion time and failed to put in full effort. Correction requested.”

Mom didn't even look at my homework.She locked me in room and left me hungry for an entire day.

I had tried to explain myself before.

I cried and screamed that Alice was the one malfunctioning, that I wasn't a bad girl.

But every time, Mom coldly repeated the same words:

“Alice was created by my own hands. She could never be wrong.”

“You set your standards too low. You make mistakes and refuse to reflect on them. You're a bad girl!”

As time passed, I stopped defending myself.

No matter what Alice said, I silently endured it.

I thought that as long as I was obedient enough and well-behaved enough, Mom would eventually believe me.

But until the moment I died, Mom still believed I was that worthless, troublesome child who could never do anything right.