10
Jackson froze, turning his head slowly like
“What did you say?”
on
old, malfunctioning fan.
Seeing that she had let it slip, Sarah bit her lip, then, In self–abandonment, retrieved an urn from the attic. “Chloe. She’s in here.”
She took a deep breath. “She didn’t want anyone to discover her whereabouts. I planned to quietly bury her later,
but I never imagined you-”
“What kind of joke is this?!”
Jackson, however, knocked the urn over, scattering the ashes across the floor,
His pupils trembled. He muttered, “Chloe was so healthy. They say bad apples never spoll. How could she possibly b
dead?!”
Sarah Instantly boiled with rage. She pushed him to the ground, screaming, “Jackson Hayes, watch your mouth! Chloe almost froze to death saving you in that avalanche. Later, to save your family’s company, she literally knelt until her legs were ruined, forced to give up her passion for professional racing! What right do you have to call her a menace?!”
I never expected my secret to be exposed now.
8.21 PM
<
I gave a self–deprecating laugh.
But, Jackson probably wouldn’t believe it.
To my surprise, Jackson’s face turned ashen, paler than a corpse. “Wasn’t Ashley the one who saved me from the avalanche? Didn’t she become frail because of it?”
Sarah’s eyes were full of scorn. “Jackson Hayes, are you blind? Ashley’s frail body, could it really find you in the snow and carry you down the mountain for a day and a night, and only become frail? Chloe, she cut her wrist to give you her blood to drink, and almost bled out and suffered hypothermia herself, requiring over ten hours of emergency treatment to survive. But what she got in return was your ingratitude, your confession to Ashley, thanking Ashley for her kindness!”
Every single word, falling into Jackson Hayes’s ears, pierced his heart like a sharp blade.
He coughed up a mouthful of red blood.
Sarah, seeing him vomit blood, was stunned. “I’ll take you to the hospital!”
“No need!”
Jackson stopped her, asking firmly, “Tell me, how did Chloe die?”
Sarah’s face was filled with sorrow. “Total organ failure. Before she died, she just wanted to make up for her regrets. She wanted you to confess to her, to go on a date, to propose, to fulfill her long–standing wishes. But you weren’t willing.”
Jackson trembled all over, then finally passed out completely.
In my ear, the System suddenly made a static noise: “Conquest target Jackson Hayes’s regret value has reached eighty percent.”
I looked at the System in shock.
The System snorted. “I gave Chloe those three tasks back then to make her appear pathetic and gain Jackson Hayes’s regret value, to restore her healthy body. Who knew that after all three tasks were completed, his regret value still hadn’t reached ten percent.”
“Fortunately, this current task seems close to completion.”
“The Main System says that when Jackson Hayes’s regret value reaches one hundred percent, there will be enough energy to open the
transmission channel.”
The next day, Jackson woke up.
His face was unchanged, as if nothing had happened. He calmly instructed his assistant, but his words were chillingly mad: “Find Ashley Miller. I want her to suffer a fate worse than death. I want her to be ground to dust.”
Mark looked at him in disbelief, then finally nodded in assent.
Seeing the timing was right, the System suddenly materialized before him. “Jackson Hayes.”
Hearing the electronic voice, Jackson was startled. He asked warily, “What are you?”
“When Chloe saved you from the avalanche that year, she sacrificed her own life. I was moved by her and became the System that maintained her life.”
“You’re the System?!”
Jackson’s eyes lit up inch by inch. “So Chloe is fine? Chloe can be reborn, right? Tell her, I’ll be good to her. I know all the truth now. Actually, I’ve liked her all along, I just didn’t dare to admit it, I wasn’t willing to accept that I had fallen in love with her…”
His sweet words were captivating, but the System scoffed. “I gave Chloe one chance back then. As long as she could stay married to you for seven years, I would grant her back her life and protect her with longevity and peace. But In the end, she failed the mission and was eradicated by me.”
“Jackson Hayes, why couldn’t you just wait that extra hour and a half? Why were you so impatient to divorce her to let her die?”
“Jackson Hayes, why couldn’t you just wait that extra hour and a half? Why were you so impatient to divorce her, to let her die?”
With that, the System vanished.
Lying on the hospital bed, Jackson’s pupils constricted to their extreme, as if he had heard the most terrifying thing in the world.
“Ahhh ahhh ahhh-”
He clutched his head, roaring, tears streaming down his face. He threw off his blankets and knelt on the floor, pleading, “System, please save Chloe! I’m willing to trade my life for hers!”
The System said with satisfaction, “Conquest target Jackson Hayes’s regret value has reached one hundred percent. Host Chloe Davis’s transmission channel is now open.”
The moment I stepped into the channel, the System told me, “Don’t worry. You only need to complete five more conquest missions, and you can take the System’s reward and choose any world you like for a vacation, living a happy life.”
I nodded, and didn’t look back.
[THE END]
exteway
